Bizarre decision benefits CRH?

I wrote recently that, while Cement Roadstone Holdings (CRH) have been brought to account for breaking the law in a number of countries, they seem to be immune from accountability in Ireland.

The latest controversy surrounding this very powerful company involves a farmer in Kilkenny who has been trying for the last 19 years to find out what’s been contaminating his livestock (Six One News, 8th report).

The farmer, Dan Brennan, claims that the highly toxic substance cadmium is the cause and most likely comes from a neighbouring brick factory owned by CRH.

CRH strenuously deny the claim.

After years of investigation the Dept. of Agriculture published an 800 page report on the matter earlier this month and it is this report that has shocked MEPs on the EU Petitions Committee.

It seems that because cadmium levels were so high in bovine blood samples that those conducting the investigation decided that the samples must have been contaminated and therefore excluded them completely from the analysis.

The first and most obvious thing to be noted here is that this bizarre decision by Dept. of Agriculture officials appears to be of benefit to CRH, who have always claimed cadmium levels around the factory are in fact very small.

The second point to note is the damage such inexplicable but suspicious decisions do to Ireland’s already tattered reputation.

Such considerations don’t seem to matter, however, when the interests of powerful organisations are at stake as the recent Jim Flavin/DCC farce amply demonstrated.

Gavin continuing to make an impact

Gavin, my nephew, continues to do Trojan work on his Freedom of Information campaign and is beginning to get noticed by the wider media.

Here’s a report from the Sunday Times on 24th January.

Blogger gets big discount on the price of freedom

Hats off to Gavin Sheridan, the blogger who has embarrassed the Moriarty tribunal into posting all the transcripts of 370 days of public sittings on the internet.

Sheridan first applied for the transcripts to the Department of An Taoiseach, under Freedom of Information.

It refused on the basis that they can be purchased from Doyle Court Reporters.

Doyles quoted a fee of €16,600 with a discount of 25% for anyone bulk buying.

“I did suggest that since the public had already paid nearly €1 million for the transcripts, it seemed a little odd that I, as a citizen, have to fork out another €16,600 to get copies.”

Sheridan writes on thestorey.ie.

Talk to the Moriarty tribunal, it suggested. So he did, and they said copyright rested with Doyles.

They later relented, offering Sheridan a disc with the transcripts, but such was the volume of requests that the tribunal is now posting everything online.

A small, but significant victory for freedom of information.

Some questions that come to mind.

What kind of contract does Doyle Court Reporters have with the state and how is it that the Moriarty Tribunal can, on the one hand, say that DCR have copyright and then, on the other hand, publish all the material?

Breaking the lotto bank

I went a bit mad last week and invested in a €4 lotto quick pick and won the stately sum of €5.

When I went to cash in my fortune, however, the shop assistant, with a sheepish grin, said that the lotto till didn’t have enough cash to cover my winnings.

Feck, says I, this must be the first time that the lotto bank has been broken.

The same shop assistant was on duty last night when I called in on the way home from a walk.

Sorry, she said, with a big smile, the lotto closes at 10pm, I hope you haven’t booked a holiday in the Seychelles?

We laughed but I was thinking to myself – How did she know?

Political hypocrisy has destroyed the country's reputation

Brian Cowen initially rejected an inquiry into the banking crisis because of the damage it could cause to the country’s international reputation.

On the Sunday Supplement this morning Mary Hanafin said that not having an inquiry could cause damage to the country’s international reputation.

The truth is that it is this political hypocrisy/dishonesty that has destroyed the country’s reputation.

RTE's news priorities

The legal expert deplored the event; he was quite surprised at what happened. He suggested that radical action needed to be taken.

The journalist was also surprised and agreed that further action must be taken on the issue.

The first politician said the action was wrong and indicated that action must be taken.

The second politician was shocked by the event and said that the Oireachtas was going to have to do something about this kind of behaviour.

So what was solicitor Frank Buttimer, journalist Ralph Regal, politicians Kathleen Lynch (Lab) and Dan Boyle (Greens) talking about on Today with Pat Kenny? (Friday).

Was it the disgraceful news that Frank Flavin of DCC has been allowed off scot free with an €83 million fraud on the stock market? Was it the banana republic style inquiry into the banking crisis?

No, the outrage and demands for immediate action were triggered because a picture of Wayne O’Donoghue’s (who?) girlfriend appeared in a newspaper last Sunday.

In the republic Mrs. Robinson's activities would have gone completely unnoticed

In our dysfunctional republic Jim Flavin was found by the Supreme Court to have defrauded the stock exchange of €83 million.

This ruling, by the highest court in the land, has been effectively overturned by a mere High Court inspector. The whole matter took ten years to resolve and at no point whatsoever was there police involvement.

In the functioning jurisdiction of the UK Iris Robinson is under police investigation just weeks after allegations were made that she secured a paltry £50,000 from two developers to fund her lover’s restaurant business.

In our dysfunctional republic such interaction between politicians and developers is as much a part of the culture as Guinness and the shamrock.

If an Irish policeman suggested that perhaps the police should investigate such connections he would quickly find himself under the same acute psychiatric care as that of Mrs. Robinson.

Knocking down the brick wall of Irish corruption

Even for a country as corrupt as Ireland, the events of Tuesday 19th January represent a dark day for our country.

At the very moment that Jim Flavin and DCC were being let off with an €83 million fraud on the stock market our national parliament was initiating an inquiry into the banking crisis that will, without a shadow of doubt, result in the same farcical result.

On the same day I was in Dublin with my nephew, Gavin, to attend a meeting by Transparency International (Ireland) on the subject of protecting whistleblowers in Ireland. (Gavin created and maintains this website and also writes, campaigns and helps maintain Gavin’s Blog, The Story and Kildare St.).

What struck me about the meeting was, as far as I could ascertain, not a single ordinary citizen was present. My impression was that everybody present was there because they were victims of state corruption, had a personal agenda of their own or were involved in fighting corruption.

And this is the problem. Despite all the good work of organisations like Transparency International (Ireland), journalists like Fintan O’Toole, Tom Clonan and Justine McCarthy and despite the courage of whistleblowers who risk everything in an effort to bring about change, meetings like this, I am sad to say, are really a waste of time.

The disease of corruption in Ireland has become so bad, has become so ingrained in the administration of the country that campaigns like this are, as I said to Gavin in discussion, like trying to knock down a six foot thick brick wall with a soft rubber ball.

The vast majority of Irish citizens are angry over a whole range of events but that anger is not focused, it’s not being harnessed by visionary and courageous leadership.

Coupled with this lack of leadership is the chronic political ignorance of most Irish citizens. Because of the corrupt system of clientelism most Irish people believe that power comes from the top down instead of from the people up.

They believe the system works by selling votes to the local politician in return for a favour. This is why corrupt politicians continue to be voted in time after time.

Irish voters are almost completely incapable of making the connection between voting for a corrupt politician and the damage that that decision causes to the country and the rest of its citizens.

For so long as this situation continues campaigns like that of TI will make little or no progress and have no affect whatsoever on the brick wall of Irish corruption.

That’s why those who operate within the corrupt body politic have no fear of organisations like TI, they are (justifiably) confident that they are untouchable.

There is only one solution to the problem and that is to knock down the brick wall. The political and administrative system that has destroyed this country must itself be brought down.

The first step in that process must be the destruction of the present corrupt political system and that will require immediate and radical action.

I have no idea what form that action should be nor do I have in mind a potential leadership but I have no doubt whatsoever that those of us who want change, who passionately want to root out the rot will still be attending genuine but ultimately useless meetings in twenty years time unless such radical action occurs.

Just before the meeting came to an end Fine Gael TD Leo Varadkar made a short speech before excusing himself to attend a meeting with Paul Appleby of ODCE.

The announcement made at that meeting tells us all we need to know about how rotten our democracy is and will be the subject of my next posting.