Comments on: Elaine Byrne and the thee political morons http://www.publicinquiry.eu/2010/02/10/elaine-byrne-and-the-thee-political-morons/ Examining corruption in Ireland Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:13:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Fergus O'Rourke http://www.publicinquiry.eu/2010/02/10/elaine-byrne-and-the-thee-political-morons/comment-page-1/#comment-305664 Fergus O'Rourke Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:19:38 +0000 http://www.publicinquiry.eu/?p=2567#comment-305664 Back in the bad old days circa 1988 when Evil stalked the land, a well-got businessman of my acquaintance imported in his briefcase a floppy disc of business software for which he had paid £100. Being a man of integrity, he approached the customs officials at Cork airport seeking to pay the proper excise duty and/or VAT. The man to whom he spoke was very taken aback - "£100 for that ?" - and clearly had never seen a diskette or heard of imported software. He said "Yerra, go on, we'll let you off this time", but my friend was insistent. He tried to explain that he intended to use it in his business and it would cause all sorts of accounting problems, as well as awkwardness with the tax and VAT Inspectors if it wasn't all "above board". The official looked at him as if he had just tried to persuade him that Charlie Haughey was the Son of God, but agreed to see what he could do. He then walked down to the other end of the office, and made a phone call. The official was one of those endearing characters with a naturally clear voice which carried all the way down to where my friend waited. This is how it went: "Listen, Mick, I have this fella here with a piece of plastic that he says he wants to declare...no,no, he's from Cork, yeah, I know ... looks useless to me...£100...looseware or sumpthin'...no, that's it, soft, yeah...I dunno...is there a code ?...no, I already told him that but he don't wantta..." You say: "... the people should indeed take ownership, not of the reform process, but of the political system itself" I say that I already tried to get them to do that: they "don't wantta". It's not some kind of accident that we have a Fianna Fáil dominated government, or that we have had one so often: it is the result of a functioning electoral process that is not "rotten", and produces political leadership which is the genuine free choice of the voters. Like it or not - and I don't - we have to live with it. (That does not mean that many elements of the super-structure put in place by FF - and other parties - are not in need of reform or worse.) Destroying "the current rotten system" is the politics of tantrum. There is no reason to believe that Elaine Byrne, or those who share her views, is capable of putting into place one that works better. It just might be otherwise - though I doubt it - if everyone was like Elaine, or like you, or even like me, but everyone isn't, and they are never going to be. And don't fool yourself that it is otherwise anywhere else. Back in the bad old days circa 1988 when Evil stalked the land, a well-got businessman of my acquaintance imported in his briefcase a floppy disc of business software for which he had paid £100. Being a man of integrity, he approached the customs officials at Cork airport seeking to pay the proper excise duty and/or VAT.

The man to whom he spoke was very taken aback – “£100 for that ?” – and clearly had never seen a diskette or heard of imported software. He said “Yerra, go on, we’ll let you off this time”, but my friend was insistent. He tried to explain that he intended to use it in his business and it would cause all sorts of accounting problems, as well as awkwardness with the tax and VAT Inspectors if it wasn’t all “above board”.

The official looked at him as if he had just tried to persuade him that Charlie Haughey was the Son of God, but agreed to see what he could do. He then walked down to the other end of the office, and made a phone call. The official was one of those endearing characters with a naturally clear voice which carried all the way down to where my friend waited.

This is how it went:

“Listen, Mick, I have this fella here with a piece of plastic that he says he wants to declare…no,no, he’s from Cork, yeah, I know … looks useless to me…£100…looseware or sumpthin’…no, that’s it, soft, yeah…I dunno…is there a code ?…no, I already told him that but he don’t wantta…”

You say:

“… the people should indeed take ownership, not of the reform process, but of the political system itself”

I say that I already tried to get them to do that: they “don’t wantta”.

It’s not some kind of accident that we have a Fianna Fáil dominated government, or that we have had one so often: it is the result of a functioning electoral process that is not “rotten”, and produces political leadership which is the genuine free choice of the voters. Like it or not – and I don’t – we have to live with it.

(That does not mean that many elements of the super-structure put in place by FF – and other parties – are not in need of reform or worse.)

Destroying “the current rotten system” is the politics of tantrum. There is no reason to believe that Elaine Byrne, or those who share her views, is capable of putting into place one that works better. It just might be otherwise – though I doubt it – if everyone was like Elaine, or like you, or even like me, but everyone isn’t, and they are never going to be.

And don’t fool yourself that it is otherwise anywhere else.

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