Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett: Sanctimonious, inaccurate, insulting bullshit

I see Gene Kerrigan agrees with my analysis of the Ceann Comhairle’s disgraceful and stupid reaction to what was a brilliant example of good politics by independent TD Luke Flanagan.

Here’s a quote from Kerrigan’s article:

There is no more accurate term for this than bullshit. Sanctimonious, inaccurate, insulting bullshit. It mischaracterised what happened. It treated the facts of the matter as irrelevant and elevated Mr Barrett’s emotions above the facts. It treated without respect the reputation of an elected member and denied his right to bring to the minister’s attention, in a way of his choosing, the quality of the water being forced on Mr Flanagan’s constituents.

Irish democratic system is worthless

Disgraced former Labour minister and Rotherham MP Denis MacShane has been jailed for six months after admitting making bogus expense claims amounting to nearly £13,000.

The following mitigating factors were taken into account by the judge.

MacShane pleaded guilty.

He was of previous good character.

The money was paid pack.

The offences were not committed out of greed or personal profit.

MacShane suffered a long period of public humiliation and carried out the offences at a time of turmoil in his personal life which included:

Divorced from his wife.
Death of his daughter.
Death of his mother.
Death of his former partner’s mother.

Yet despite these strong mitigating factors MacShane was still sent to jail.

In Ireland, any one of these factors would probably have seen an Irish politician receive a full pardon, permission to keep the defrauded money plus a bonus and a massive vote increase in any subsequent election.

I say ‘probably’ because Irish politicians are, effectively, permitted to operate outside the law and therefore we never actually witness the application of justice when they defraud the state/taxpayer, as they regularly do.

In functional democracies where the legal/justice system operates independently of the political system we see judges make statements like the judge in MacShane’s case.

There was deliberate, oft repeated and prolonged dishonesty over a period of years involving a flagrant breach of trust and consequent damage to Parliament, with correspondingly reduced confidence in our priceless democratic system and the process by which it is implemented and we are governed.

Note the words: ‘Priceless democratic system’.

Irish politicians can plunder the state’s resources at will because our democratic system is worthless.

In our corrupt state useless words take the place of law enforcement

If a policeman, politician or regulator resident in a functional democracy read this article there would be immediate arrests, a special court sitting would be urgently arranged and jail cells prepared.

In our intrinsically corrupt state there is no independent authority with the power or will to act, not even the police.

There is no politician with the vision or courage to do what needs to be done.

Our political system is so mired in the culture of corruption that even endlessly outraged politicians like Shane Ross can only respond with pathetic bleating from the sewer that is our body politic.

They have been nakedly arrogant, dismissive and the whole thing smacks of hubris.

Arrogance, hubris? Just words, useless words.

I repeat, in a functional democracy these activities would be seen and acted upon as very serious criminal acts – Accountability would be swift and effective.

Stephen Collins: No notion whatsoever of the reality of how Ireland is governed

Clientelism is the virus that gives life to the disease of corruption that has destroyed our country.

The corrupt political/administrative elite that spawned the virus has emerged victorious from the recent economic crisis with its powers enhanced.

The pain, suffering and despair of Irish citizens is guaranteed to continue as a result of this victory.

The media are a crucial element in the health of any democracy. It is through the media that most ordinary people turn to for professional analysis of on-going events. Indeed, it is reasonable to assert that a great deal of citizens actually vote according to opinions formed from listening/reading to media professionals.

Sadly, the quality of Irish journalism is very poor. While some journalists are professional, hardworking and objective far too many are either captured, incompetent/ignorant, support a political party or are just bone-lazy.

I’m not quite sure which category Irish Times columnist Stephen Collins fits into but I suspect, from reading his piece in today’s paper, that he has no notion whatsoever of the reality of how Ireland is actually governed.

Here’s what he has to say about the clientelism virus:

While clientelism certainly has negative aspects for good governance there is also a positive aspect to a political system in which the voters have such direct access to their politicians. For instance the social cohesion that marked the country’s response to the financial crisis and the bailout was a testament to the strength of our democratic institutions.

Ceann Comhairle outraged by Flanagan's 'vandalism'

Luke Ming Flanagan had done his research. He knew that the word ‘piss’ was not a banned word within the rarified and sensitive environs of Dail Eireann. He had checked out the Consumer Act in order to bolster his political point.

He then planned and carried out a very clever and effective political stunt to guarantee maximum publicity.

Flanagan wanted to highlight the fact that the Government was planning to charge people for the ‘privilege’ of drinking contaminated water.

To make his point he walked across the chamber and placed a glass of what he described as ‘glorified piss’ in front of junior minister Fergus O’Dowd and challenged him to drink it.

Brilliant theatre, brilliant politics.

But Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett was not amused. It was, he thundered:

An act of vandalism.

Feck, call out the guard, the barbarians are at the gates.

He went on:

Never before in the history of this chamber have I seen such behaviour by a member in walking down and handing a glass of dirty water to a minister. That is just outrageous and unacceptable behaviour. I’ve asked for an immediate meeting of the Committee on Procedures and Privileges to deal with this matter.

My god, handing a glass of dirty water to a minister to make a political point; surely a crime without precedent, surely a crime against humanity?

And ‘immediate action’, no less?

Never in the annals of our glorious history has immediate action ever been taken against those alleged to have sullied the good name of Ireland.

Has the Ceann Comhairle suddenly woken up to the true nature of the cowboy outfit he regulates? Are we to soon see him take ‘immediate action’ against the many reprobates who regularly abuse and insult the national parliament?

Citizens are not advised to hold their breath.

Senator Crown has lots of questions to answer

What a very curious statement made under privilege in the Senate by independent senator John Crown (See full statement below).

The senator makes extremely serious allegations not just against staff at St. Vincent’s hospital where he works as a consultant oncologist but also against staff in other organisations.

The senator’s statement is curious because of its timing.

Eleven years ago in 2002 Crown discovered that staff of the hospital had been deliberately and fraudulently charging private health insurers in respect of cancer drugs which had been provided to that institution for free.

He notified the relevant authorities, the Irish Medicines Board at the time. An investigation began but was inexplicably stopped and reformatted several days later.

And there, it appears, the matter was laid to rest.

Now, eleven years on, the senator suddenly feels the need to have the matter further investigated.

He claims that new documents that have recently come into his possession and the increased scrutiny of the Public Accounts Committee are the reasons for his new enthusiasm for an investigation.

But there’s something not right about this sudden enthusiasm for further investigation.

For example; senator Crown tells us that he has long been troubled, on many fronts, about how his hospital and other hospitals do their business.

That’s a wide-ranging allegation apparently covering many matters in many hospitals. We need chapter and verse from the senator on exactly what matters and what hospitals he’s referring to.

The senator also needs to answer some other questions; for example.

Why didn’t he pursue the very serious allegations of fraud in 2002?

Why, when the Irish Medicines Board effectively stopped investigating the matter, didn’t he report the matter to other authorities like the Gardai?

Was he the one that suffered substantial intimidation at the time? If he was, did he tell anybody about it, did he make a complaint?

If not him, then who and what action, if any, was taken by him or other relevant authorities?

Why, given that the senator is not exactly shy about speaking his mind on a whole range of matters, has he remained silent on this matter for so many years?

We need a much fuller account from the senator otherwise it may look like he’s a rat abandoning a sinking ship as the allegations of corruption and scandal continue to spew from the health/charity sector.

The senator’s statement:

It is a matter of record that I have long been troubled on many fronts by the way in which the boards of my hospital in particular and of other hospitals do their business.

I would like to personally disassociate myself and any research organisations that I have the privilege of running from any connection with St. Vincent’s hospital group or the St. Vincent’s hospital foundation.

It will become apparent that the board of St. Vincent’s hospital does not enjoy my confidence.

This began in 2002 when I discovered that members of the staff of the hospital had been deliberately and fraudulently charging private health insurers in respect of cancer drugs which had been provided to that institution for free.

I notified the relevant authorities, the Irish Medicines Board at the time, an investigation began and inexplicably stopped and was reformatted several days later.

Documents have recently come into my possession which I’m quite happy to discuss and share with the minister for Health because they refer to money that was fraudulently taken from the VHI of which he is the sole shareholder and of other private insurers.

Documents that show conclusively that there is a cover up conducted by the management and board of St. Vincent’s hospital in respect of this.

Substantial intimidation was brought to bear at the time the whistle was blown on this ten years ago but I believe in light of these new documents coming my way and in light of the increased scrutiny of the Public Affairs Committee it is now time for this matter to be further investigated.

And I’m asking the leader to bring this to the attention of the minister.

Thank you.

Fergal Keane: Completely blind to the brutal reality of how Ireland is (mis) governed

In my previous article I wrote about RTE journalist Fergal Keane’s view that Ireland’s history of political violence was one factor that has prevented Irish citizens from taking to the streets in response to the economic collapse.

Here, in his own words, is his second reason for the docility of Irish citizens in the face of economic catastrophe.

There’s a collective sense of guilt. Everybody sinned in one-way or another. People took out too many loans; they bought stuff they shouldn’t have bought. Everybody felt responsible for it so we all took responsibility for it.

This simplistic, preachy and uninformed view is downright insulting to Irish citizens.

The vast majority of citizens did not sin, did not take out too many loans; did not buy stuff they should not have.

But even if some people did make bad decisions does that mean they were responsible, as Keane suggests, for the catastrophe?

Does he seriously believe that the individual actions of ordinary citizens were responsible for the loss of our economic sovereignty?

Does he really believe that Irish citizens then decided, en masse, that they were to blame and that they should therefore quietly knuckle down and take due punishment for their ‘sins’?

Disturbingly, it seems Keane does believe the above. It seems that, in common with far too many journalists, he is completely blind to the brutal reality of how Ireland is (mis) governed.

So here, for his enlightenment, is the brutal truth.

Broadly speaking there are just two classes of citizen in Ireland, those with power and influence and those with no power whatsoever.

These classes operate within what is laughingly called Irish democracy.

Those without power constitute the great majority of citizens, the great unwashed.

Those with power constitute the professional classes, the business sector, senior civil servants (particularly those working in the so-called law enforcement sector), union leaders, sections of the media and the body politic.

It is very important to understand that the body politic is, essentially, a single class that supports and defends its culture of clientelism, gombeenism and corruption.

All Irish politicians, on entering the political class must abandon all scruples and principles they may have in order to remain members.

This cynical abandonment of principles has become an open and fully accepted aspect of Irish political culture.

Those very few with the courage to challenge the corrupt system are immediately and ruthlessly ejected from its ranks in case any smidgeon of principle should infect the culture of greed, arrogance and corruption.

Nessa Childers and Roisin Shortall are recent examples of what happens to politicians who break the unwritten laws of the ruling political elite.

The electorate is the fodder for this political class. They have just two useful functions – to vote the gombeens into office/power and hand over their hard earned money to pay for the incompetence, arrogance and corruption of their political abusers.

Unlike functional democracies, there is, in effect, no opposition in Ireland. Parties or groups of parties simply take turns in exercising and abusing power.

Those waiting in the wings for their turn at the feeding trough of public money produce an endless stream of mealy-mouthed bullshit that’s supposed to resemble the democratic process.

And why, it may be asked, do the Irish electorate put up with this rotten system, why did they not take to the streets as a united group to bring down the corrupt system that continues to do so much damage to their interests?

Political ignorance is the answer.

Irish citizens, after decades of living under the corrupt system of clientelism, have little idea of what real democracy means.

In a sentence, the majority of Irish citizens believe that power emanates downwards from the gombeens they elected in exchange for a few favours paid for by their own tax money.

In functional democracies the electorate are very much aware that it is the ordinary people who own power; that power emanates from the bottom up.

They rightly treat those elected to political office as little more than ordinary citizens who have been temporarily granted power to run the state.

Add a complete absence of courageous and visionary political leadership to a largely politically ignorant electorate and you have the Ireland of today:

A nation of increasingly desperate and extremely angry people who are crying out for a leader to introduce them, for the first time in their history, to real democracy.

Copy to:
Fergal Keane
All political parties

Fergal Keane: Living in a bubble of denial

RTE journalist Fergal Keane ‘enlightened’ the nation as to why Irish people did not resort to rioting in response to the economic collapse (Drivetime, 13 Dec.).

He gave two reasons:

One: Irish people know the consequences of political violence; we’ve lived with it for 40 years or more.

Two: A collective sense of guilt. Everybody sinned in one-way or another. People took out too many loans; they bought stuff they shouldn’t have bought. Everybody felt responsible so we all took responsibility for it.

Keane could not be more wrong in his assessment and his ignorance reflects a disturbing lack of awareness within the media in general but particularly within RTE of the reality of how Ireland is really governed.

Let’s take the political violence argument first.

Keane, along with a great deal of Irish journalists, politicians and other commentators, has this bizarre idea in his head that, somehow, political violence in Ireland is special.

So, the death of an Irish citizen by bomb or bullet is infinitely more painful, more horrifying than the violent death of a citizen in Iraq or Afghanistan.

I remember a few years ago Ryan Tubridy losing the run of himself during an interview with a victim of the Northern Ireland conflict.

I’m so impressed with your courage; your suffering is surely the worst in history. (Or words to that effect).

I could almost hear the gears grinding in Tubridy’s head:

A bit over the top Ryan, what about World War One and Two, what about the Holocaust, the Inquisition, the countless billions of others who suffered and died in wars?

He eventually spluttered: Of course that’s not to take away from others who have suffered throughout history.

Leaving aside for the moment the absolute horror and loss personally suffered by the victims of the NI conflict it was, in reality, a dirty little war fought over a long, long, thirty years with a tiny death rate (about 3,000) in comparison to over half a million and counting in Iraq, 100,000 and counting in Syria which includes the death of nearly 7,000 children and over 4,000 women.

As for those of us in the Republic, there was no war, no suffering apart from some bombings and shootings which, while horrifying for those involved, did not have any substantial affect on the lives of the general public.

This apparent widespread idea that political violence in Ireland (1916, Civil War, NI conflict and all the rest) sets the Irish above the rest of the world in terms of political violence and suffering is part of the delusion that allows journalists and others to live in a bubble of denial.

And it is from inside that bubble of denial that Keane formed his second reason as to why Irish citizens are so docile in the face of the ongoing economic catastrophe.

I’ll come back to this in my next article.

Copy to:
Fergal Keane

Tubridy and Ireland's 'reputation'

Ahhhh…. You have to feel sorry for poor old Ryan Tubridy.

He’s all upset because the New York Times told the truth about Ireland.

The article has embarrassed us as a nation he said.

The article could be damaging to Ireland’s reputation, he said.

The journalist who wrote the article should be brought before some regulator or other, he said.

The New York Times should hang their heads for getting it so wrong, he said.

Well, from what I’ve read, the NYT got it absolutely right except for the funny claim that some guy was living on pigeons to survive.

Tubridy talks about Ireland’s reputation.

I ask – what reputation?