In a hard hitting article in today’s Irish Times, John Devitt of Transparency International (Ireland); exposes the Government’s latest deceitful attempt at pretending that Ireland is serious about tackling white collar crime.
The Minister for Justice is pretending that the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act
will provide protection to any person, in any sector, reporting suspicions of corruption in good faith.
Mr. Devitt says that the Act will only provide limited protection to those reporting the very narrowly defined offence of bribery.
He goes on to ask:
So why does the Government still think it inappropriate to introduce a universal whistleblowers’ charter that works for everyone?
The Government seems to have been swayed by three equally dubious argument writes Mr. Devitt.
I’m not going to waste my time analysing what are obviously ridiculous arguments by the Company Law Review Group, Ibec and the Government itself except to say that they are pathetic excuses put forward by a corrupt administration that will never act against its own interests by introducing effective anti-corruption laws.
Mr. Devitt also asks why the republic cannot introduce a universal whistleblowers charter similar to the very successful charter introduced in the UK in 1998.
The answer is simple but brutal; the State cannot introduce any effective anti-corruption legislation because to do so would immediately expose the appalling vista that Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state.
All states suffer to some degree from the disease of corruption but most states have effective authorities in place, free of political interference, that fight the disease on an ongoing basis.
When corruption is uncovered in these states the relevant authorities act against the corrupt; police investigations, trials and jail sentences are a normal and accepted part of the culture of these countries.
Some states, mostly in the Third World, are so corrupt, the disease is so ingrained in the culture that effective action is practically impossible because those who wield power are completely dependent on the corrupt system for their survival – Ireland is such a country.
Anyone with even the slightest knowledge of what’s gone on in this country in the last few decades cannot deny this reality.
For example, it is a fact that the Financial Regulator and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) are nothing more than fake enforcement authorities. They have only one effective purpose – to create the illusion that Ireland is a normal, functional democracy.
These authorities do not and have never taken any effective action against the corrupt. I can say with absolute confidence that the cases which are presently being dealt by these authorities will not result in any substantial accountability.
It is obvious that Ireland needs a universal whistleblowers charter, it is obvious, from the example of other countries; that such measures are effective in combating corruption but it is also depressingly obvious that no effective action will be taken until the corrupt political system itself is taken down.
Indeed asking this Government to bring in a whistle-blowers charter is like asking a fox to guard the hen-house, I think we all know what the result of that would be.
Again I am appalled at the lack of transparency in dealings by our departments and politicians in every sphere from finance to health. As a mental health professional I am now driven to action-writing to the paper, the Taoiseach & ministers –on reading of the dismissal of an Irish Advocacy worker for speaking up for vulnerable patients who are being treated in a less than human fashion.
Will it change anything?
I would like to know more about ‘Transparency Ireland’ as political reform and accountability will be toothless until we have the promised transparency to underpin it.