De Rossa’s claim on eliminating poverty has some credibility

January 17, 2012 in Body Politic, EU by Anthony | 1 comment

In fairness to Proinsias De Rossa his claim regarding the elimination of poverty has some credibility.

It is estimated that when his TD, ministerial and MEP pensions are added up he will have an annual income of €91,000.

This should provide De Rossa with some small measure of protection against poverty.

Should his pension pot prove inadequate he can always earn a bit extra by joining the ranks of ex politicians who regularly feature in the media lecturing impoverished citizens on the need to make sacrifices for the greater good of the country.

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Quinn family claims are outrageous

January 17, 2012 in Banks & Finance, Corporate, Regulatory Agencies by Anthony | 1 comment

Patricia Quinn and her children are claiming that the huge loans made to them by Anglo Irish Bank are invalid because they are tainted with illegality.

Obviously these claims are untrue.

I’m sure that if state authorities were aware of even the slightest hint of wrongdoing by those responsible for running Anglo there would be hell to pay.

It’s been three years now since Anglo got into trouble and not a single official has been charged with any wrongdoing

So obviously these outrageous claims are nothing more than sour grapes by the Quinn family.

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Obnoxious bully, Proinsias De Rossa, retires

January 17, 2012 in EU by Anthony | No comments

I see the obnoxious bully Proinsias De Rossa has decided to retire from politics.

Here’s a quote from his press release:

I have dedicated all my energies to the pursuit of peace and the elimination of poverty and inequality through peaceful change, and the deepening of democracy.

Well, what more can one add to that comprehensive self-praising assessment – Sainthood?

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Construction Industry Federation DG, Tom Parlon, blusters but doesn’t explain

January 15, 2012 in Corporate by Anthony | No comments

A board member of the Construction Industry Federation (CIF) has made some very serious allegations against the body (Sunday Independent).

The allegations, made by Jerry Beades, include:

That around €30m from the CIF pension scheme is controlled by senior CIF and trade union officials unknown to the membership of the CIF and employees who make contributions.

That the CIF has shown a blatant disregard for safe accounting and that the matter should be investigated by the Pensions Ombudsman.

That large sums have been collected which are not used for pension-contribution purposes.

The Director General of CIF, Tom Parlon, is not at all happy with Mr. Beades and has accused him of making wild allegations without foundation.

He accused Mr. Beades of showing a total lack of respect for the chair of the meeting, the integrity of the officers of CIF and the private business affairs of individual members

He demanded that Mr. Beades should conduct himself in a professional and civil manner at CIF meetings and that he apologise in writing to fellow members for his behaviour at a meeting last week.

The curious thing is that, apart from a lot of bluster, Parlon doesn’t actually deny or explain any of the serious allegations.

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Fianna Fail disease begins to spread again

January 14, 2012 in Fianna Fail by Anthony | 3 comments

Fianna Fail leader, Michael Martin, was doing the media rounds last week in an effort to promote himself and his party.

Inevitably, the question of Fianna Fail’s part in the economic crisis was raised and inevitably Mr. Martin wallowed in traditional Irish denial and dishonesty.

Here’s some of what he had to say in an interview last week with the Sunday Business Post (Sub req’d).

We made mistakes but I’ve a broader sense of history and big events like this have more profound and complex origins.

The underlying message here is twofold – what happened in Ireland was caused by the global crisis (the Lehman Bros. thesis) and most Irish citizens are not as intelligent as I am and so are unable to grasp the big picture.

Mr. Martin goes on:

Now people are reading articles about the origins of the crisis going back to the formation of the euro itself; that it was a fundamentally flawed design which has given rise to property bubbles in the periphery of Europe including Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

Suddenly, people are reading these articles and saying it’s a bit more profound, a bit more complex than ‘it’s all Fianna Fail’s fault, which was the refrain for nine months before the election.

This is a global crisis on a par with 1929.

So, people are beginning to read articles and wake up to the ‘fact’ that Fianna Fail is not so corrupt and incompetent after all.

This is the grossly insulting stance Martin and his party have decided to run with in order to restore their status with Irish voters.

Depressingly, if recent polls are correct, the strategy is already succeeding.

Copy to
Fianna Fail
Michael Martin

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What return for E-voting machines debacle? – Just a sarcastic joke

January 12, 2012 in Body Politic, Government, The State by Anthony | 3 comments

Michael Noonan made a joke about the e-voting machines debacle and some Irish eejits over in America are upset.

Ciaran Staunton, for example, who owns two Irish pubs in New York, said he’s disappointed the machines are not going to be installed in embassies around the world in order to allow emigrants to vote.

In charity, I’m going to assume Mr. Staunton is trying to outbid Mr. Noonan in the sarcasm stakes.

Noonan’s joke did provoke great hilarity and that’s only appropriate for a gombeen minister in a gombeen state.

Over 50 million recklessly wasted on a very questionable enterprise with no accountability whatsoever and what is the return for Irish citizens?

A sarcastic joke from a leading figure operating within our corrupt political system.

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Something very odd going on in Wicklow

January 11, 2012 in Local government, Planning by Anthony | 2 comments

Ireland is a very shady country when it comes to property matters. This was especially true during the great Celtic Tiger era when the wink wink, nod nod culture reached its zenith.

But what went on in Wicklow County Council last July is very, very odd, even by Irish standards (Irish Times).

Last July Wicklow County Councillors voted to approve management plans to complete the purchase of a three acre site after they had been told a compulsory purchase order had been initiated in 2006.

Apparently, none of the Councillors thought it odd that a five-year-old compulsory order, initiated at the height of the property boom, was now being activated.

They may have been convinced by two assurances from management.

That an original valuation of €5.2 million had been reduced to €3 million after talks with representatives of the owner and occupier. Surely, a not to be missed bargain?

That the money would be recouped from the Department, as the land was earmarked for housing. In other words Wicklow County Council would be enriched at the expense of all other taxpayers.

And then some truth emerged; the land is actually worth no more than €400,000.

So, on first glance, it seems that somebody was trying to pull a fast one on the councillors – but who?

Was it somebody in Wicklow County Council management, was it somebody in the Department of the Environment, was it the owner of the property – was it a combination of all three?

The Attorney General has engaged a senior counsel to investigate the Department’s role in the whole matter so we should soon know exactly what happened.

Ah no, I’m only joking. Senior counsel has been appointed but we’ll never know what happened.

The matter will be dragged out in the traditional manner until it becomes just another giant impenetrable smudge on the by now very ragged taxpayer’s current account book.

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‘Don’t mullock with me or my septic tank’

January 10, 2012 in Government, Local government by Anthony | 1 comment

Some protesters against the septic tank charge were interviewed on Today with Pat Kenny.

We didn’t’ have assistance from any government of any sort or any society. We had to mullock all our lives to put the price of it together and now they’re trying to get more off us.

Well the first fellow that that will come and try to mullock me will end up inside in a coffin and I mean that.

I don’t care if I have to stay in jail for the rest of my life, he’ll get it.

My mother before us, when fellows tried to bully her, she blew the gun over his head and that was the last she saw of him.

Pat Kenny:

Dear o dear, passions running very high.

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Good news from Belfast

January 10, 2012 in Corporate by Anthony | 1 comment

The Irish Bank Resolution Corporation has succeeded in having Seán Quinn’s bankruptcy status in Northern Ireland annulled.

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Mary Raftery: A great loss to journalism and Ireland

January 10, 2012 in Uncategorized by Anthony | No comments

I’m truly shocked to hear of the death of journalist Mary Raftery at the young age of 54.

Ms. Raftery was one of the few bright shining lights in Irish investigative journalism.

She was the journalist principally responsible for the exposure of the child abuse holocaust perpetrated by the Catholic Church

Colm O’Gorman, survivor of clerical sexual abuse and current executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, put it well:

Mary Raftery was one of the most principled people of the highest integrity that I’ve ever been fortunate enough to meet.

She has done this society and this country an extraordinary service.

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