Category: Bertie Ahern

Political lies cause suffering and death. Enda Kenny is a political liar

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Political lies cause suffering and death. Enda Kenny is a political liar.

War is the most obvious and most deadly consequence of political lying. Over the centuries, countless millions have died because politicians lied when they should have told the truth.

But war is not the only cause of death as a result of political lies. There was a massive increase in the suicide rate following the economic collapse in 2008 (Recession directly to blame for up to 566 suicides).

These desperate people died, at least in part, because our politicians lied to them.

In Ireland, alone among Western democracies, political lying has become a fully accepted part of political discourse. It is also common right throughout the civil and public service.

Political lying has become part of Irish political culture principally because lying politicians are rarely challenged by the media.

Here’s Pat Rabbitte casually demonstrating this truth when asked about election promises regarding child benefit:

Sean O’Rourke:

You didn’t go into all that detail before the general election, you kept it really simple – Protect child benefit, vote Labour?

Rabbitte:

Well, I mean, isn’t that what you tend to do during an election?

The criminal politician Haughey lied right through his decades long career, including lying under oath at various tribunals and investigations. Despite the enormous damage done to Ireland and its people by this criminal’s lying he was, largely, fawned upon by large segments of the media and members of the establishment.

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern almost certainly lied under oath at the Mahon Tribunal. My assertion that lying is the accepted norm in Irish political and administrative goverance is confirmed by the disgraceful fact that no action has been (or ever will be) taken against Ahern by any state authority.

Political lying is the principal cause of the catastrophic economic collapse of 2008 that resulted in thousands of suicides, massive emigration and the horrific destruction of the wealth, hopes and ambitions of hundreds of thousands of Irish citizens.

And yet, a disturbingly large section of the media and most of the establishment appear to be more than happy to live in comfortable denial amidst the wreckage and suffering caused by political lying.

The following is just a sample of various journalists, commentators and politicians who, for whatever reason, cannot or will not make the obvious link between political lying and the infliction of great hardship.

Caroline O’Doherty: Irish Examiner:

Kenny’s lie was:

A fisherman’s tale.

O’Doherty then went to use most of her article to advise Fine Gael on how best to present their (lying) leader to best advantage in the upcoming election campaign.

Caroline O’Doherty is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Editorial: Irish Examiner:

Kenny was, while dishonest, just a Walter Mitty character using:

Folksy parables.

The editor warned that Kenny must act quickly if he wants to be re-elected and, as always, took the opportuntiy to take a swipe at Gerry Adams/Sinn Fein.

The editor of the Irish Examiner is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Eilis O’Hanlon: Sunday Independent:

Kenny ruined it by going a ‘a little bit too far’ in attempting to portray himself as the man who saved the country from anarchy and, predictably, O’Hanlon blamed the media:

So why the outcry last week? The media, having got bored with the feel-good narrative which the Government has been pushing since the Budget, saw a chance to put the Taoiseach on the back foot.

Eilis O’Hanlon is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Michael Lehane: Morning Ireland (RTE):

On being asked did the whole issue matter:

It doesn’t matter but there is a political vacuum there because the Dail isn’t sitting so the focus didn’t come off it (but) it has gone the distance now.

Michael Lehane is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Pat Rabbitte: Labour TD: (Speaking on RTE):

The Taoiseach makes the point, perhaps in a folksy, homespun way.

Pat Rabbitte is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Noel Whelan: Irish Times:

Mr. Whelan believes that Kenny is a storyteller whose utterance was no accident.

It was part of a cleverly designed but clumsily implemented strategy from Fine Gael to remind voters of how serious the crisis was so as to talk up its part in turning it around.

Noel Whelan is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Gerry Adams: Sinn Fein president:

Mr. Adams accused Kenny of being a spoof who tells tall tales. Mr. Adams said he was not accusing the Taoiseach of lying but of just getting carried away with himself.

Gerry Adams is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Fergus Finlay: Chief Executive of Barnardos and former Labour Party advisor: (Late Debate RTE):

Why are we getting our knickers in a knot about it? Mother of God, this kind of thing happens all the time. It’s a bit of craic, that’s all it is, a bit of political craic and I don’t see how it affects anything other than the gaiety of the nation for a week.

I think it shows that we don’t have a sense of humour. You know, let’s get a grip for heaven’s sake, it’s about nothing.

Fergus Finlay is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Gary Murphy: Professor of Political Science, DCU (Late Debate RTE).

The Taoiseach does have a habit of self-aggrandisement or over-egging situations. He’s guilty of guilding the lily so to speak.

Professor Murphy is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Catherine Halloran: Political Correspondent Irish Daily Star: (Ryan Tubridy Show, RTE):

I think it’s his folksy way of trying to relate to people.

It’s better than telling lies. At least we know he has his finger on the pulse he met the man or woman who told him this and I don’t doubt for a second that he has met those people, he’s a politician… The fact that Enda does take the time out to stop and talk to people and listen to their experiences means he’s in a position to make judgement on them.

Catherine Halloran is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Shaun Connolly: Irish Examiner:

Mr. Connolly believes Kenny was simply caught out telling an over-excited porkie. He was guilty of a slightly embarrassing, but ultimately harmless, comment.

Shaun Connolly is not aware or doesn’t care that political lies cause suffering and death.

Copy to:
Enda Kenny
All individuals quoted
All political parties
Government

Perjury law: Only applies to the peasants

Go away and give careful consideration to the manner in which you are giving evidence said the judge to Marie Farrell.

And in case there was any doubt whatsoever in Ms. Farrell’s mind the judge added:

There are very severe penal sanctions for people who commit perjury.

And the judge is right, there are severe penal sanctions for those who lie under oath but, and it’s a very important but…the severe penalties only apply to the little people, to the peasantry.

Politicians, bankers, government officials, and other members of the ruling class do not have to worry about such niceties when it comes to giving evidence under oath.

For decades we have watched such people, time after time, lie under oath without even a warning from a judge.

For example, it is almost certain that Bertie Ahern lied under oath to the Mahon Tribunal.

Much of the explanation provided by Mr. Ahern as to the source of the substantial funds identified and inquired into in the course of the tribunal’s public hearings was deemed by the tribunal to be untrue.

In a functional democracy Mr. Ahern would, at the very least, be put under immediate investigation. In Ireland the DPP and the Garda Commissioner are still sitting on the tribunal report a full two years after the final report.

Why is this? Well, again judge Mahon gives us a hint.

It (corruption) continued because nobody was prepared to do enough to stop it. This is perhaps inevitable when corruption ceases to become an isolated event and becomes so entrenched that it is transformed into an acknowledged way of doing business. Specifically, because corruption affected every level of Irish political life, those with the power to stop it were frequently implicated in it.

So we can ask the question – what are the chances that the current Garda Commissioner will act on the Mahon Tribunal Report.

Well, let’s put it this way. Politicians promoted Commissioner O’Sullivan and as a recent tribunal concluded – loyalty comes before duty in our police force so Bertie has nothing to worry about but Marie Farrell should watch her step.

Patriots, criminals and liars

1997: Bertie Ahern speaking at the opening of the Fianna Fail Ard Fheis.

Delegates, Fianna Fail will enforce a new set of standards for all its members.

We will not tolerate any deviation from the benchmarks of honour at local level or Leinster House be it in the past, the present or the future.

No one, no one is welcome in this party if they betray the public trust. I say this and I mean this with every fibre of my being.

2006: Bertie Ahern speaking at the grave of Ireland’s most notorious criminal politician Charles Haughey.

If the definition of a patriot is someone who devotes all their energy to the betterment of their country, Charles Haughey was a patriot to his fingertips.

Minister Howlin should be treated with the same level of respect as the liar Ahern

When Brendan Howlin, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, was asked why disgraced businessman Denis O’Brien was invited to the Global Irish Economic Forum last October he replied:

The invitations that went out replicated those that were invited to the first forum, and that’s what happened.

This pathetic excuse was (rightly) greeted with howls of laughter in the Dail.

Howlin’s excuse can be placed in the same category as that of the liar Ahern’s ‘I won my money on the horses’ excuse.

Both of these individuals show arrogant contempt for proper democracy and the intelligence of Irish citizens.

Minister Howlin deserves to be treated with the same level of respect as the liar Ahern.

Copy to:
Minister Howlin

Des Peelo locates the source of corruption

Recently, somebody, commenting on the liar Ahern’s claim that he won his money on the horses, said that Ahern wouldn’t know one end of a horse from another.

On Frontline last week, a Fianna Fail head responded to the comment saying that Ahern did indeed know one end of a horse from another.

In other words the liar Ahern’s ‘I won it on the horses’ excuse is reasonable and probably true.

Now only the most backward, most stupid, most uneducated moron would even contemplate believing such drivel never mind actually admit it on live television.

But, incredibly, self-confessed friend of the criminal Haughey and the liar Ahern, Des Peelo, agreed with the Fianna Fail head.

Now in case anyone thinks I’m biased against Peelo I’d like to say that anytime I see him, never mind actually hear him speak, my skin begins to crawl and I develop an overwhelming need to take a shower.

On the same show Peelo actually confirmed that he is indeed a moron when he delivered his very own thesis on the source of corruption.

Corruption happens for one of two reasons, sometimes both.

Corruption happens through greed which is a human dimension.

It also arises in a political sense and only in a political sense when people develop a sense of entitlement.

My good friend Haughey fell into that category.

I do not believe that Bertie is corrupt because he’s not greedy nor does he have a sense of entitlement.

Cormac Lucey: Still not in the big picture

I received the following comments from Cormac Lucey in response to my recent article on the fallout from the Mahon Tribunal Report.

My response to Mr. Lucy follows below.

I’m sorry that you were disappointed by my piece. Nowhere do I suggest that Bertie is “innocent of everything that happened”.

There is no doubt that those in government at the time must accept political responsibility for what happened to the economy on their watch.

But they got precious little help from “the experts” as this piece, which I wrote a year, attempts to demonstrate.

I would argue that Bertie didn’t deserve the adulation he enjoyed at the height of his powers. But nor does he deserve the opprobrium he “enjoys” today.

The same bodies which assured Bertie’s government that everything was OK in 2007 are today reassuring Enda’s government that our debts are sustainable.

We should look behind the pantomime villains which politics throws up and examine carefully the vested interests which endure long after “the villains” have left the stage to be replaced by new pantomime figures.

Unfortunately, Mr. Lucy, the pantomime villains you speak of hold positions of power where they can do pretty much as they like.

In almost all cases they put themselves, their party, the continuation of power for as long as possible and, of course, the behind the scenes vested interests before the country or its people.

They can do pretty much as they like because our administrative system- legal, public/civil service, law enforcement, regulatory agencies etc. do not operate like those in functional democracies.

In almost all cases these so called authorities go to great lengths to protect those guilty of corrupt practices and in many cases are themselves complicit in corruption.

At any time in the last thirty or so years politicians could have prevented the banks from routinely robbing their customers, could have allowed so called regulatory agencies to actually regulate rather than protecting the thieves, could have thrown their corrupt fellow politicians in jail.

They chose not to do any of this. As we can see from the (non) response to the Mahon Tribunal Report, they are still choosing not to do this.

Furthermore, many in the media seem to be completely blind to the big picture which is right in front of them.

Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state. It is different from all other Western democracies in that it refuses to act against corrupt politicians or white- collar crime in general.

Anyone who doubts what I say need only ask themselves the following simple questions.

If a Mahon Tribunal type report were published in a functional democracy would there have been arrests by now?

The answer is, of course, a resounding yes.

Why, then, have there been no arrests in Ireland?

Because state authorities, including the body politic, put the preservation of their corrupt system before the good of the country or its people.

The evidence for this is overwhelming and obvious to anyone looking at the situation with a completely objective mind.

The article you wrote in 2011 deals with some reasons for the economic collapse in 2008. While the collapse of the economy is a catastrophic event it is only a (an inevitable) symptom of a corrupt political/administrative system.

Political/administrative/business corruption is the big picture. This is where the power lies and ordinary citizens are completely powerless to do anything about it – to date.

Bertie Ahern does deserve the opprobrium he’s getting. It’s an absolute minimum ‘punishment’ for what he has done to Ireland and its people.

I have absolutely no doubt whatsoever that if this low-grade politician did what he did in a functional democracy he would now be in jail.

As a victim citizen of a corrupt state I can say with absolute certainty that neither Ahern nor any of those named in the report will be brought to justice.

That fact alone confirms that Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state.

Copy to;
Cormac Lucey

Ryan and Martin: Running for cover

Now that it has been established that Bertie Ahern lied under oath at the Mahon Tribunal all those who loyally served under him have to make a choice.

They have to admit they were complete fools to believe such drivel, make up some excuse for their gullibility or, for the first time in Irish political histroy, admit they knew he was lying but kept quiet to protect their own particular interests.

The third option, telling the truth, has never happened in Irish political life but here are examples of option one and two.

Micheál Martin has opted for the ‘Im a fool’ excuse. Asked by the Irish Daily Mail if he was a knave or a fool to believe Ahern’s evidence Martin replied;

I believed what Bertie Ahern said at the time of the tribunal and I was wrong and I was disappointed.

Now only a fool would believe that this fool is telling the truth when he says he believed the fool Ahern but at least he’s not blaming anybody else for his stupidity.

Former Green Party minister and loyal Bertie Ahern supporter Eamon Ryan took the second option – an excuse.

Questioned on Tonight with Vincent Browne (March 22) he placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Irish people.

Vincent Browne: You were implicated in the whole thing.

Ryan: No, we raised the whole issue of corruption… blah blah blah blah…

VB: But you were in government with Ahern.

Ryan: We went into government with Bertie Ahern and no matter what we did he was still going to be Taoiseach. The Irish people returned Bertie Ahern as Taoiseach in 2007, not us.

VB: You defended Ahern when everybody knew he was a liar

Ryan: The Irish people made a democratic decision that they were going to return Bertie Ahern and Fianna Fail. That was not our call, it was the Irish people that did it.

VB: It was your call to go into govenment with someone you knew was telling lies to the tribunal.

Ryan: It was the Irish people who returned Bertie Ahern.

VB: You went into governent wth someone who you knew was lying.

Ryan: It was up to the tribunal to discern that (that Ahern was lying).

VB: Rubbish; you remained happily in government. Did you think it credible? (Ahern’s evidence)

Ryan: No, I didn’t. (Rejecting the ‘I’m a fool option’).

VB: You’ve never said that before in public. So you remained in government disbelieving the evidence the leader of government gave to the tribunal on the issue of corruption.

Ryan: One of the reasons you stay in government is to get things done…blah blah blah blah…

It is obvious from this exchange that, at the very least, the integrity and honesty of Eamon Ryan and the Green Party was seriously compromised by their association with the corrupt Fianna Fail party.

Copy to:
Eamon Ryan
Micheál Martin

Cormac Lucey: Blind to the true nature of a liar like Bertie Ahern

Whenever a major scandal breaks there is always at least one commentator who will write what I call a ‘We’re all to blame’ article.

Economist Cormac Lucey fits the bill on this occasion.

Writing in the Daily Mail (Saturday, March, 24) Lucey’s article is entitled.

A guilty victim, yes, but also an easy scapegoat for all our woes.

Here are the opening paragraphs.

They weren’t able to catch Al Capone for his gangland crimes, so they convicted him for tax evasion.

They weren’t able to defeat Bill Clinton politically, so his Republican opponents unleashed Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr against him.

And the Irish Establishment wasn’t able to defeat Bertie Ahern politically when he was at the peak of his power; so it has had to make do with the Mahon Tribunal after he has retired.

Now I agree with the mentioning of the gangster Al Capone and the liar Bertie Ahern in the same article but what the hell is all that about the ‘Irish Establishment’ out to get poor Bertie?

Lucey goes on to blame everybody – except poor Bertie.

Whether we are talking about the economy, building standards or ethical standards we can always blame Bertie.

It suits those being crushed under mountains of debt to blame Bertie rather than accept personal responsibility for their own errors.

As leader of the most corrupt political party in the state the liar Ahern is the man principally responsible for the collapse of the economy, low or non- existent building standards and the total removal of ethical standards from the body politic.

Lucey seems to be suggesting that the liar is actually innocent of everything that has happened in the last few decades.

Until I read this article I had always seen Cormac Lucey as a well informed, independent minded and balanced commentator on political/economic affairs.

My puzzlement was cleared later on in the article when he mentioned that he once acted as special advisor to former Tanaiste Michael McDowell.

Now I know exactly where Mr. Lucey is coming from and why he’s blind to the true nature of a liar like Ahern.

Copy to:
Cormac Lucey

Ignorance and gullibility

Letter in yesterday’s Irish Times.

The people of Ireland can only hope that the the ignorance and gullibility evident in this letter is confined to the author.

Sir,

I have never been a supporter of Fianna Fáil, but I must say that I have been impressed very much with Micheál Martin’s handling of the whole affair thus far.

The pressure to hold ranks and kick for touch on this one must be enormous but the Corkman’s statesmanship has been paramount.

I hope he keeps his nerve and is rewarded for showing another view of Fianna Fáil.

He is at the opposite end of the spectrum to where Haughey, Burke, Flynn and Ahern gather.

Yours, etc,

Pat Burke Walsh
Rosslare Strand
Co Wexford.