An open letter to the leader of the Green Party Eamon Ryan

We must get people re-engaged in politics.

These are the words of Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.

Here’s my reply:

Dear Mr. Ryan,

It is highly unlikely that you will understand never mind actually act on what I’m about to say. This is because, in common with most of your political colleagues, you live in a political bubble of delusion.

Created over many decades of corruption, arrogance and incompetence this bubble of delusion causes a complete blindness to what citizens are desperately looking for from the body politic/State.

What they are looking for is very simple – a political/administrative system they can trust.

But they never get what they want because the political/administrative system is corrupt beyond reform.

This is not to say that every politician/political party is corrupt. It is to say, however, that every politician/political party operates within a corrupt system particularly when wielding political power.

Every politician who enters the gates of Leinster House must make a decision, consciously or subconsciously – to challenge corruption or go along with the rotten system that has blighted the body politic for decades.

To date, most politicians have gone along with the system and by so doing have betrayed the people’s trust. The very few who challenge the system, like Roisin Shortall, are immediately and ruthlessly ejected from the club.

The system will not tolerate a threat from its most dangerous enemy – a politician with principles.

A brief look at recent political history over the last three decades proves the point.

The people trusted the Progressive Democrats because they promised accountability and reform in response to corruption within Fianna Fail.
Ultimately, the PDs betrayed the people when they abandoned their integrity and principles in exchange for power and influence.

The people rejected the PDs for their betrayal.

Dick Spring gained the trust of the people in the run up to the 1992 election on the basis that he would deal with what he called the cancer of political corruption that was doing so much damage to Ireland and its people. He immediately betrayed that trust when he went into coalition with the very cancer he had just condemned.

The people rejected Dick Spring for his betrayal.

In opposition, the Green Party gained the trust of the people by promising to reform politics, to challenge corruption. Once in power however, the party abandoned the responsibilities of power/government and instead focused entirely on getting its own green agenda enacted. The party looked the other way as political corruption continued to wreak havoc on the lives of Irish citizens.

Here’s John Gormley in response to political corruption:

We’re not the moral watchdog of any political party…we look after our probity and our standards…we cannot be responsible for events that took place before our entry into government.

The people rejected the Green Party for its betrayal.

The Labour Party (again) and Fine Gael gained the trust, of a by now desperate people, in the run up to the 2011 election by promising to take immediate action to counter political corruption, by promising to urgently introduce the political reform the people have been desperately seeking for more than thirty years. But once again the body politic betrayed the people.

The people will reject this government for its betrayal.

But, on this occasion, there is a difference in the people’s response. They have finally rejected the system itself that has betrayed them. Our country is now in a transition period that will ultimately see the end of the old regime and the beginning of a new type of politics.

Recent polls have clearly demonstrated that the people have lost all faith in the political system as currently constituted. This fact is most clearly seen in the form of hundreds of thousands of citizens on the streets in protest against oppressive taxes. These people are not on the streets primarily to protest against taxes, they are, effectively, in rebellion against the political/administrative system that has betrayed them for decades.

Your comment that the people must re-engage with politics is symptomatic of a political mindset that is in the process of passing into history. I would invite you to wake up and look around you.

A significant percentage of the people are in open rebellion against the political system that you represent, they have taken to the streets in rebellion, they have begun voting in their droves for Sinn Fein and independents for just one principal reason – they no longer trust you, your party or the political system that you represent.

Not since 1916 have the Irish people been so politically energised, not since 1916 have the people been so radically politicised, not since 1916 has the ruling power been so blind to what’s been happening on the streets and in the minds of the people.

Not since 1916 has the governing power been so disengaged from politics and the people.

Yours sincerely
Anthony Sheridan

Copy to:
Eamon Ryan

Oh my God, Sinn Fein must now be outlawed

Oh my God, Sinn Fein have done it now, they’ve finally crossed the line of no return. Now the Government/State have no choice – Sinn Fein must be outlawed and hunted down like the evil shower they are.

Why, pray tell?

Well, Mary Lou Mcdonald called the Tanaiste Joan (how much did you pay for that smart phone) Burton – a wimp.

But…but…why do you think this is such an evil thing to do?

I don’t, but the mainstream media are reporting it all over the place so it must be an issue of crucial importance to the welfare of the nation.

Rabbitte and cronies begin to stampede?

Oh dear, is the panic in government turning into a stampede?

I mean, c’mon deputy Rabbitte – The RTE board has decided to strangle Irish Water at birth?

paranoia:
noun
A mental condition characterized by delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, or exaggerated self-importance, typically worked into an organized system.

Oh wait; that’s a perfection description of Rabbitte and his fellow cronies.

Kelly’s bluff and bluster will not save his ‘legacy’ or his government

Do you want to see a government minister in panic? Do you want to watch as a government minister sees his beloved ‘legacy’ slip away right before his eyes?

Have a look here as Environment Minister Alan Kelly attempts to threaten Irish citizens with bluster and hot air if they refuse to pay their water bills.

Then, a few days later the same minister announces the latest extension of the deadline for people to sign up to Irish Water. Is that the 5th or 6th deadline?

Kelly’s panic is a direct result of the massive turnout at last week’s protetst. The Minister and his government are beginning to see the abyss that’s opening up beneath their feet. They’re beginning to realise that the rebellion against their arrogance and shady dealings is stronger than ever, that a significant percentage of the people have lost their fear of repressive government/politics.

And make no mistake, there will be major consequences, not just for Alan Kelly, not just for this government but for the whole rotten political regime that has betrayed democracy and the Irish people, when Irish Water is finally consigned to history.

That’s why the political system is becoming ever more undemocratic, ever more repressive in its response to the challenge from ordinary citizens.

Enda Kenny was right when he said it wasn’t about water. It’s about his job, it’s about his government but most of all, it’s about finally removing the corrupt political cancer that has infected Irish democracy for decades.

Irish Water: The meltdown begins.

The farce that is Irish Water has now descended into super farce.

For the first time since the Big Bang (13.7 billion years ago) a quango has given prior notice that it is about to engage in a massive exercise of incompetence.

When the bills go out next month Irish Water has admitted:

Details like the number of people in a house will be incorrect.
More than two thousand meters won’t be read because of technical details.
Up to 150,000 (feck) properties with a private well and septic tank will be (deliberately) mistakenly billed.

In the most understated understatement of the last 13.7 billion years Irish Water said it was anticipating ‘a lot of calls’ in response to its latest strategic debacle.

I’m literally on the floor in hysterics.

Gardai caught between serving the people and the State

Journalist Gavin Sheridan sent me this utube video.Published on Mar 23, 2015

At a repossession court sitting today in Castlebar, members of Integrity Ireland and the National Land League of Ireland objected to proceedings going ahead. Mayo County Registrar Fintan Murphy then abandoned the court and with the aid of An Garda Siochana, managed to switch courts and deny access to the public. Here’s what followed..

Here’s my interpretation of the incident.

What we are seeing here is ordinary people making a confident, well organised challenge against the State.

It is crystal clear that a large section of the people of Ireland have lost faith in the State and its institutions and are prepared, in growing numbers, to stand up and be counted. The Gardai involved in this incident are obviously nervous about the situation they have been placed in, they can give no credible answers to the reasonable questions put to them by the protesters.

This is not surprising because our police force never before had to deal with a challenge from highly motivated, well informed citizens who are determined to exercise their rights. Until recent times the Gardai enjoyed huge respect and cooperation from the general population but that respect and cooperation is no longer guaranteed.

Again, this is not surprising. All senior police officers are appointed by politicians, the political system is riven with the disease of corruption so it naturally follows that the Gardai, in common with practically all other institution of the state, have also become infected with the disease.

This is not just my opinion, the endless scandals of recent years prove the point beyond question.

The catastrophe of 2008 not only brought the economy down but, more importantly, it exposed the rot that lies at the heart of how our country is misgoverned.

Ordinary Gardai like those involved in this incident are caught between protecting the rights of ordinary citizens and obeying orders that serve the interests of a dysfunctional, failed state.

Lucinda Creighton’s choice: Inside or outside the gates of Leinster House

Lucinda Creighton’s new party, Renua, will ultimately fail in its mission to reform our corrupt political system.

The principal reason she will fail is that she is an insider herself. Her party is launching its laudable campaign for desperately needed reform from inside a system that will not tolerate any serious challenge to its corrupt culture.

In common with most other politicians, Creighton is aware that serious reform is needed if the political system is to serve Ireland and its people in the same manner as functional democracies do.

What she’s not aware of is just how diseased the whole regime has become. She naively believes that the system that has systematically abused power for decades will willingly divest itself of that power in the interests of democratic reform, it will not happen.

The Progressive Democrats, the Green Party and Labour all had similar ambitions for reform but as soon as they entered the political sewer that is Leinster House, they all succumbed to the benefits to be had by cooperating with the system.

The system maintains, for the moment, an iron grip on how things are done, how decisions are made and who benefits from those decisions. We only have to listen to the daily news for confirmation of that fact.

The only way the power of the corrupt regime can be successfully challenged is from an outside force, a force that is in no way associated with or in league with its corrupt culture.

Sinn Fein could have been that force after the last election if the party’s leadership had the vision to take the necessary radical action.

They could have stood outside the gates of Leinster House, surrounded by the disempowered/betrayed citizens, and demanded immediate political reform before any re-engagement with the political process.

An alliance of independent TDs could have done the same.

Such action, I firmly believe, would have had an immediate and dramatic impact on the power of the corrupt regime that has destroyed our country.

A large section of the electorate rebelled against the State over the property tax. That rebellion was suppressed by the power of Revenue. A much larger section of the electorate has rebelled against the water tax and have, in the process, become radically politicised.

There is no putting this genie back in the bottle. I believe the power of the current corrupt regime is coming to an end.

The people are outside the gates of Leinster House demanding real democratic reform.

Lucinda Creighton and her fellow TDs will soon be forced to make a decision:

Abandon Leinster House and join the people outside the gates or remain inside in a last ditch defence of the old corrupt regime.

Copy to:
Lucinda Creighton

Kenny talks the gombeen talk

Here’s one of the comments made by our great leader Enda Kenny in response to John Perry’s latest gombeen escapade.

I myself have been very careful over the years to demonstrate that a public job is a public job but personal appointments are personal appointments and I can’t make final decisions in that regard.

This statement makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. Kenny may as well have said:

I myself have been very careful over years to demonstrate that the moon is not made of cheese but there are those who do believe that the moon is made of Irish cheddar and I can’t make final decisions in that regard.

Roll on the election.

Time to force civil servants and politicians to serve the state

The appointment by Fine Gael TD John Perry of his wife as a parliamentary assistant is just the latest example of how our gombeen political system works.

Wink, wink, nod, nod and when caught out, throw out the first thing that comes to mind – Ah shure it was just a temporary arrangement and I’m now appointing somebody else.

The gombeen system is backed up by a civil service that’s 100% loyal to the politicians and their cronies. Secrecy is the principle weapon but legislation is also a powerful force when it comes to ‘looking after’ the lads and ladies in Dail Eireann.

I rang the Oireachtas this morning to ask what legislation they were referring to when refusing to tell the taxpayers of the country how much it was costing them to fund the salary of Perry’s wife.

Section 37 of the Freedom of Information Act, I was told. I had a look and, while I’m no expert in the area, it seems to me that using this Act to protect the likes of Perry and his wife is an abuse of the FOI Act.

It is long past time that politicians and civil servants are forced by law to serve the people of Ireland and not their own selfish interests.

Irish Independent does not approve of new ECB headquarters

The editor of the Irish Independent is not happy that the European Central Bank (ECB) is forking out €1.3 billion on a new headquarters.

I wonder has the editor said anything about the €147 million (probably €247 after all the nods and winks have been paid for) being forked out by our own Central Bank on its new headquarters which will include a seventh-floor cafe with an outdoor terrace where staff can enjoy stunning views of the river Liffey.

Just asking.