Author: Anthony

Simon Kelly: Obnoxious, obscene and puke-provokingly sickening

It’s good to see that at least some journalists are beginning to express appropriate rage for what has been done to our country and to identify those responsible.

Carol Hunt, writing in the Sunday Independent, does not mince her words in her assessment of failed property developer Simon Kelly.

Some quotes:

Every single person I’ve spoken to this week begrudges you your big house (an old rectory set in five acres), your five properties you collect rent on in Liverpool, your €80,000 income and the fact that you can send your kids to expensive private schools and make the rest of us pay for it.

Every family that fears losing, or already has lost, their home resents the fact that you got away with your “spousal asset transfers” when you asserted,

“My house is in my wife’s name. There are reports that developers are transferring homes into their wives’ names. Any smart developer would have done that right from the start.”

Ultimately, we resent the fact that you don’t seem to realise that what you’re doing is disgusting, immoral and pathetic. And yet you’re still moaning. You complain that Nama (that’s us, Joe Public), which you’re into for about €200m, isn’t paying you a salary despite you submitting a ‘business plan’ to it. You’re “in limbo”, you say.

You’re not in limbo, Simon, you’re in fucking La La Land and so are the people who let you, and all the others like you, get away with this sort of shit.

And hearing about smug gits like Simon who are allowed to ruin the lives of so many people and yet maintain their own exalted standard of living doesn’t help.

What sort of insane, upside-down banana republic are we living in at all?

A reader from Kerry responded in the letters page:

In her excellent article on developer Simon Kelly Carol Hunt wrote that what he is doing is “disgusting, immoral and pathetic”. I want to add the words “obnoxious, obscene and puke-provokingly sickening.”

And I want to add the words ‘chronically stupid’ to the failed developer’s list of characteristics.

Most of those responsible for destroying our country have wisely kept their heads down particularly in very recent times as ordinary citizens begin to realise the full horror of what has been done to them.

Not scumbag Kelly though, he’s taking every opportunity he can to insult ordinary Irish citizens (his victims) who are being forced to pay for his greed, arrogance and stupidity.

A challenge to Haughey’s friend; Colm Tobin

According to writer Colm Tobin writers and artists should be raising a secret glass to the disgraced Taoiseach Charles J Haughey (Sunday Independent).

Since it is not fashionable, or even wise, nowadays to raise a glass to Charles Haughey, I will follow Anthony Cronin in suggesting that those of us who have cause to be grateful to him, and to his policies, should wait until we are at home alone, and then we should turn off all the lights and raise a glass to him in the dark alone. Tell no one.

The suggestion seems to be that the legacy of the criminal Haughey is under attack by sinister forces and therefore his admirers should be careful when celebrating his great work, they should only do so at home, in the dark, tell no one.

Perhaps, one day, when the dark forces who oppose the hero have been banished from the land the Haugheyites can once again emerge from their dark, lonely, glass strewn hideouts into the bright sunlight of accountable, transparent, democracy – so beloved of the criminal.

Tobin’s attitude can be summed up in one sentence – Haughey did me a favour therefore I will always remain loyal to him no matter what crimes he has committed against the Irish people.

This selfish, intellectually narrow mindset is one of the principal reasons why criminals like Haughey can safely live out their long careers plundering the resources of the state without the slightest concern that they will ever be brought to justice.

Tobin’s ignorance of the origin of the disaster facing the Irish people today can be seen from the following bizarre statement.

It might be a comfort in what will be not only a hard time, but a time of strange introspection in Ireland, when we are deeply concerned with our own dilemma, the puzzling question of how we got here, and who is to blame, and who should pay for the party it seems some people had.

The puzzling question of how we got here, of who is to blame?

I’ll put this as simply as I can for Mr. Tobin’s sake.

We got where we are because the Irish political system is corrupt to the core.

The criminal Haughey introduced the disease of corruption to Ireland and his party was the chief carrier. The disease spread rapidly through every level of Irish society particularly in the political, financial and public service sectors.

It is this disease, introduced by Haughey, that has destroyed our country and impoverished this and many generations of Irish people to come.

It is clear that Mr. Tobin has cause to be grateful to Haughey for favours granted but I would like to challenge the writer to put pen to paper and explain to the Irish people why they, the victims of the criminal, should be grateful.

I won’t be holding my breadth.

Copy to:
Colm Tobin

Reality has arrived in gombeen land

An article in yesterday’s Irish Independent outlines the stark reality facing the Irish people.

It’s worth reproducing the article in full with emphasis and some comment.

IMF-EU plan forces State to come clean on its loans

By Emmet Oliver Deputy Business Editor

Wednesday February 09 2011

AS part of the IMF-EU programme, all government departments and state agencies have been told to disclose all their outstanding borrowings by the weekend.

The agencies and departments must disclose all “current encumbrances” by close of business on Friday, a circular from the Department of Finance has made clear.

From now on any fresh borrowing done by a department, local authority or state agency can only happen with the express permission of the Department of Finance.

(The reality is that the Dept. of Finance is merely the whip master to the IMF/EU. Brian Lenihan is the messenger boy who informs the whip master how many lashes are to be applied to Irish citizens).

These changes have been demanded by the terms of December’s €85bn EU/IMF bailout programme. The Department of Finance’s central capital unit will now handle all requests for fresh borrowing.

Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan has written to secretary generals at all government departments informing them of the new system. ”

“This is required to comply with the loan agreements with both the EFSM and EFSF under the EU-IMF support programme,” the instruction from Mr Lenihan makes clear.

From now on the Department of Finance will maintain a register of debts at each department and state agency in an attempt to streamline and tighten up the management of the public finances. No previously unknown exposures are expected to emerge from the trawl, sources said.

The list of public bodies who must comply with the instruction is extensive, although in many cases the organisations don’t borrow any money. But in a significant number of cases state agencies borrow on a short-term basis to deal with funding shortfalls.

Monthly

The list does not include commercial semi-states, but does include companies like Irish Rail. It also includes the IDA, FAS, An Bord Pleanala and Enterprise Ireland.

(FAS? EU/IMF officials should brace themselves for a severe shock).

The IMF and EU must also be provided with monthly management accounts by the Department of Finance itself, showing how much revenue the State is collecting and how much it is spending.

The whole area of how the public finances are managed is due to change at the end of June when a Budget Advisory Council will come into operation. This will oversee the budget process and make sure the State sticks to its debt targets.

The stark reality is that the EU/IMF is in complete control of the economy and obviously the purse strings.

This fact is going to have a very serious impact on the most important, most corrupt, aspect of our dysfunctional state – Clientelism.

Up until the catastrophe Iish politicians obtained their power by plundering state coffers and using the funds to buy votes from politically ignorant citizens.

They have now lost that source of power forever.

Only time will tell how an Irish electorate, who have lived for decades under the blissful delusion that their gombeen representatives were giving them something for nothing, will react to this sudden dose of reality from the EU/IMF.

Noonan confirms Lenihan as a liar

Interesting to note that Michael Noonan has effectively (and rightly) called Brian Lenihan a liar over his postponement of the injection of a further €10 billion into the banks until after the election.

Noonan said he did not believe the decision had been approved by the Cabinet, ECB or the IMF. This suggests that Lenihan was acting as a rogue minister outside of Cabinet and made the decision purely on the grounds that it was good for Fianna Fail.

This sort of behaviour is only possible in a seriously dysfuntional state.

Fianna Fail: Sticking firmly to its low principles and values

Mary Hanafin was on the radio this morning saying that Fianna Fail wanted to reach out to voters with the same principles and values that the party has always shown.

We witnessed a good example of those ‘principles and values’ just yesterday on Six One News (21.15) when Fianna Fail’s most accomplished liar Brian Lenihan pulled yet another stroke by postponing the injection of 7 billion into the banks claiming, falsely, that he no longer had a mandate for such actions.

Irish politicians: No level too low to get at the loot

Even in what passes for normal times in Irish politics the payment of almost €90,000 as compensation for loss of ministerial salaries is grotesque in the extreme (Irish Independent)

In these times when the bulk of Irish people are suffering enormous difficulties as a direct result of the incompetence, greed, corruption and arrogance of the body politic such payments verge on the criminal and treasonous.

Here are some reactions from the political creeps who feel they’re worth it.

Fianna Fail leader Michael Martin:

The existing severance payments stand and that’s the way it will be.

Finance Minister Brian Lenihan:

They had been part of the pay arrangement for many years and had been accepted by former ministers of all parties.

Translation: You peasants out there will take any amount of cuts we, the ruling elite, impose on you even if your pay arrangements have been in place for many years and that’s the way it will be.

Green Party leader John Gormley: (Irish Independent).

These are things we aren’t thinking about at the moment. We’re just thinking about the election, but we will see obviously after the election.

Any bets that this alleged man of principle and accountability will loosen his greedy grip on taxpayer’s money? Let’s ask him after the election.

Former Communications Minister Eamon Ryan:

I would have to find out and look at it. Those are details when you’re working flat out in government and now on an election, it wasn’t the first thing on our mind.

Well I don’t think Mr. Ryan will be working flat out in the next government so, like Mr. Gormley, we’ll ask him again after the election.

Tanaiste Mary Coughlan, Mary Hanafin, Eamon O’Cuiv, Brendan Smith and Pat Carey also have their greedy heads in the trough because, apparently, they’re worth it.

Dr. Byrne; respect for politicians and political reform

Trinity lecturer and Irish Times columnist Dr. Elaine Byrne is obviously very passionate about the need for radical political reform in Ireland.

She may therefore be surprised to learn that she is part of the problem herself. No significant reform of the political system will occur until those in the media wake up to what is actually happening in Ireland.

That Dr. Byrne is unaware of the reality of the situation was evident last Wednesday on The Late Debate when she engaged in a comfortable, light-hearted discussion with Fianna Fail TD Mary O’Rourke.

Clearly, Dr. Byrne has great respect for O’Rourke saying at one point:

I think Mary O’Rourke has made a fantastic contribution (to politics) particularly on her Seanad reform report which was one of the better reform reports.

Here’s the reality that Dr. Byrne does not see.

Mary O’Rourke is a traitor to her county and people. In common with all Fianna Fail politicians O’Rourke believes strongly in loyalty; to herself, to her family dynasty, to her party, and most of all, loyalty to the rotten political system that sustains her in power and comfort.

O’Rourke is an admirer and supporter of the criminal Haughey and seems to have no problem with the fact that her party has been a hotbed of corruption for years.

As for that Seanad report – like all politicians, O’Rourke see such reports as nothing but a big joke on the Irish people.

If O’Rourke was a citizen of a functional/accountable democracy she would be treated with utter contempt whenever and wherever she showed her face. Neither she nor any of the cabal of chancers that makes up her party would last a week in public life.

In our corrupt state she is feted as the Mammy of Parliament and is treated with utmost respect by the media and academics like Dr. Byrne.

If Dr. Byrne was truly aware of what has happened to our country and who is responsible she would treat the likes of O’Rourke with the contempt she richly deserves and therefore greatly hasten the cause of real political reform.

People like O’Rourke are enemies of the state and a state that fails to act against its enemies is doomed to destruction.

Copy to:

Dr.Byrne
Mary O’Rourke

Shock/Horror: SIPO rejects Callely complaint

On 28th August last year I submitted a formal complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission relating to expense claims made by Senator Ivor Callely (Complaint reproduced below).

I received a judgement last Friday informing me that the Commission found no basis on which to initiate an investigation.

My reply to the judgement.

Dear Mr…

Thank you for your efforts in this matter. I would have been truly astonished if the outcome had been otherwise.

Yours sincerely

Anthony Sheridan

The judgement is worth reading because it demonstrates just how slyly intelligent our politicians are when it comes to looking after their own interests.

I predict that this era of legal corruption is very close to an end.

(My emphasis throughout)

4 February 2010 (sic)

Dear Mr Sheridan,

I refer to previous correspondence to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Standards Commission) concerning a complaint about Senator Ivor Callely relating to expenses claims made by him while he was a Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children.

The Standards Commission sought and received copies of the expenses claims from the Secretary General of the Department, Mr Michael Scanlan.

It also asked the Secretary General to set out the relevant rules under which Ministers of State were allowed to claim mileage expenses at the time and to set out the steps taken by the then Secretary General at the time in his capacity as Accounting Officer to secure compliance with those rules.

The Secretary General replied stating that Government decisions of 16 September 1983 and of 7 February 1984 regulate the payment of mileage claims by Ministers of State.

He said that under those decisions the head of a department shall certify mileage claims for Ministers of State on being provided with a statement, certified by the Minister of State concerned, that the mileage travelled was for official purposes only.

The following are the relevant sections of the decisions:

16 September 1983

“3(a) that the new arrangements, in respect of Ministers of State,… should be made with effect from the 1st October, 1983,… that in all cases the arrangements under which they would provide their own cars in place of State cars, should be on the basis of a mileage allowance being paid in respect of mileage, other than that unrelated to their Office, and civilian drivers being provided by the state in lieu of Garda drivers”

“(b) that the mileage rates payable in respect of (a) above should be those applicable to members of the judiciary, subject to payment in respect of not more than 60,000 miles a year in each case,”

7 February 1984

“the Government following further consideration of the matter, agreed that paragraph 3(a) of that decision (of 16th September 1983) should be amended by the addition of

“such mileage allowances shall be payable and certified by the relevant accounting officer on the basis of a statement to be furnished from time to time by the office-holder certifying the total mileage travelled and related to the office in the car provided by the office holder in place of a state car, in the period covered by the claim.”

The Secretary General also stated that all payments were made on the basis of claims certified by the Minister of State concerned in accordance with those decisions. He said that on occasion some claims were queried by the (then) Secretary General but paid on the basis of certification by the Minister of State concerned.

Having considered your complaint in light of the documentary evidence provided, the rules under which the claims were dealt with and the observations of the Department’s Secretary General, the Standards Commission has decided that there is no basis on which to initiate an investigation under the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001.

Initial complaint

28th August 2010

To Whom It May Concern,

I wish to formally lodge a complaint under the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995.

The complaint concerns an article in the Sunday Tribune newspaper on the 22nd August 2010 which outlined the following expense claims made by then junior minister, Ivor Callely.

Claimed 5,000 miles per month in expenses during his term as junior minister at the Department of Health even though he lived less than three miles from his office.

Claimed for the 5,000 miles (the maximum allowed) even when he had been out of the country on government business, including March 2003 when he was away for at least eight days on trips to France, England, Malta and Slovakia

Claimed the maximum allowed mileage for May 2003 even though he spent seven days in the US during that month.

Claimed for more than a dozen dining expenses at the Leinster House restaurant. These particular claims were questioned by the department but were eventually paid out.

I request that these claims be investigated to clarify what appear to be very serious inconsistencies.

I include below a full reproduction of the newspaper article

Yours sincerely

Anthony Sheridan

Mary's despair

Letter in yesterday’s Sunday Independent

Demoralised and insulted by cuts

Sir,

It’s bad enough that he is on a two-day week. It’s bad enough that his salary has been cut time and time again. It’s bad enough that he is expected to work for nothing if the need arises. (Yes, for nothing.)

It’s bad enough that he is insulted with a cheque for €1 and 10 cent per week from the Department of Social Protection.

It’s all bad, but now the new social charge has cut his paltry salary by €70 per month.

He is not a young, newly qualified employee. He is a proud, mature, loyal and totally demoralised professional man with 35 years’ experience.

Shame on our so-called betters for bringing Ireland to this.

To save my husband’s embarrassment please don’t print my name and address, just call me ‘Mary’.

Name and address with Editor