Fianna Fail

I see former Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue has been appointed to the Oireachtas Committee on Economic Regulatory Affairs.

Such bizarre appointments are not unusual in Irish politics. For example, the corrupt Fianna Fail politician Liam Lawlor was once appointed to an ethics committee.

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.

The Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin made a royal sweep down the stairs to announce to the nation that lone parent allowances are to be phased out.

It’s not a financial issue she glibly lied; it’s a social policy issue. She gave three reasons for this new ‘social policy’.

The child of a lone parent is four times more likely to be in poverty than in any other family.

The lone parent herself is most unlikely to take up full time employment because she becomes quite attached to the social welfare payment.

The payment mitigates against stable relationships and marriage.

Am I getting over sensitive or is this an incredibly arrogant and patronizing attitude towards those receiving welfare allowances?

“Fuck you” said Green TD Paul Gogarty to Labour TD Emmet Stagg during a hot budget debate in the Dail.

The Irish Independent provides a full list of words that are prohibited in our (corrupt) parliament.

• Brat, acting the brat
• Buffoon, buffoonery
• Chancer
• Communist
• Corner boy
• Coward
• Fascist, fascist minister
• Gurrier
• Guttersnipe
• Hypocrite, bloody hypocrites, hypocrisy, etc
• Rat
• Scumbag
• Scurrilous, scurrilous speaker
• Yahoo

In a way this list makes sense because it reflects a reality that our incompetent and corrupt politicians would prefer to ignore. Take the chancer Bertie Ahern for example.

While the most severe budget in the history of the state was being debated he was traveling around Kerry promoting his rag of a book.

To ensure the comfort and safety of this hypocritical scumbag the screwed taxpayer is forced to provide him with a limousine, driver and two bodyguards.

According to RTE reporter David-Davin Power, John O’Donoghue gave a fine speech. The Nine News described the speech as a spirited defence.

I disagree; it was nothing more than an angry, dishonest and embittered rant. O’Donoghue blamed civil servants, the media, the system, administrative errors and the Opposition while heaping praise upon himself.

His pathetic excuse for releasing details of his expenses incurred during his time as Ceann Comhairle on the same day as the referendum is an insult to all intelligent Irish citizens.

Given the massive publicity and media frenzy that had attended the disclosure of my expenses as minister I assumed the same would occur in relation to the costs incurred as Ceann Comhairle.

I believed this would have been a distraction to the Irish public when matters of profound importance to the future of this country were the subject of a referendum.

In my view it was best to have that referendum decided on its individual political merits and that’s why I waited until Friday 2nd October.

I did not attempt to bury the information in other events as some have suggested.

This bizarre excuse is an indication of O’Donoghue’s stupidity. He is, in effect, saying that he buried the information so that voters wouldn’t be distracted while at the same time denying he buried the information.