Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Dr. Ruairi Hanley rightly describes Ireland as a banana republic in an article outlining the long drawn out shenanigans surrounding the building of a new national children’s hospital.
He concludes his article:
Our nation was faced with a simple task and we made a balls of it.
I see the Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore has suspended all Irish Aid payments channeled through the Ugandan Government after allegations that €4 million has been misappropriated.
The move comes after a draft report by the Auditor General of Uganda found that millions had been transferred to unauthorized accounts in the office of Ugandan Prime Minister.
The Ugandan Auditor General has the power to investigate the Prime Minister?
The Ugandan Auditor General actually used his powers, he enforces law?
The state of Uganda has independent authorities that are willing to act against the most powerful people in the land?
If only Ireland had such dedicated, independent law enforcers.
The equivalent action here would be a fifteen year- long multi-million euro tribunal with not further action.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) Press Office has replied to my questions regarding the missing art items from Leinster House.
Predictably, none of my questions were actually answered. Instead I got a generalized overview of how the OPW handles public works of art.
Dear Mr. Sheridan,
I refer to your below e mail.
The art works located throughout the buildings in the Leinster House complex are from the State Art Collection.
By its nature, the State Art Collection is mobile.
The works circulate from building to building and inventory keeping is an integral part of day-to-day collection management.
The art works are placed on loan to many buildings throughout the country and locations are routinely checked.
There are over 15,000 art works in the State collection located in thousands of rooms in hundreds of public buildings.
Works that are not located during a routine inventory check are not necessarily missing. In most cases, these works have simply been moved to a different location within a building.
The staff from the OPW Art Management Office work closely with building managers in other State properties on a regular basis.
An inventory check is taking place in Leinster House at present in co-operation with staff there.
I hope the above is of assistance to you.
Regards,
The website KildareStreet has effectively been closed down by the Government.
For some years now KildareStreet has provided a very valuable information serivice which allows citzens to keep tabs on what politicians are up to in the Dail and Seanad.
On September 18th last, with no warning or published statement of intent, a significant change was made to the Houses of the Oireachtas website which had the effect of killing KildareStreet for the foreseeable future.
KildareStreet urgently needs donations from the general public in order to get up and running again.
Anybody interested in keeping this valuable service alive can donate here.
It has been reported that thirty-seven pieces of state-owned artwork are missing or “unaccounted for” from within Leinster House.
A spokesman for the Office of Public Works (OPW), who is responsible for the safekeeping of such items, made the following response.
We don’t have the resources to constantly keep a track of where things go.
Often, when staff move offices, they take artwork they like with them and this poses great difficulty to the OPW and management staff in Leinster House to keep a track on them.
Given the size of the collection under the auspices of the OPW, it is impossible to know where everything is all of the time.
This response indicates a complete abdication of responsibility for valuable state/citizen owned property.
In effect, this spokesman is extending an open invitation to any thieving official, politician or member of the public to steal at will.
While serving in the Naval Service I was appointed as a storeman for a number of years. I had absolutely no training for the job and was given just one assistant.
We were charged with keeping track of items ranging from radio equipment on several ships, bedding, lockers and other equipment in three billets, thousands of items in stores and a large volume of arms and ammunition.
When something went missing it was usually noticed quickly and acted upon immediately.
The claim by the OPW official that it is impossible to know where everything is all the time is complete rubbish.
These art items went missing from Leinster House, presumably from offices and public areas like halls and stairs.
The standard method of keeping track of such items is simple and effective.
An inventory of all items in any particular office is typed up, signed by the politician/official responsible for that office and displayed on the wall for all to see and inspect.
When that politician/official is vacating office they simply ask their successor to check that all items on the list are present and take responsibility by signing the inventory.
All inventories are independently checked on a regular basis to make sure all is in order.
The system is simple, effective and easily operated.
I phoned the OPW to ask some questions regarding the missing items and, as usual, was referred to the Press Office who asked me to put my queries in writing.
Dear Ms.
Re our phone conversation today regarding the missing pieces of art from Leinster House.What are the name, position and rank of the person/s responsible for the safe keeping of the missing items?
What action has been taken in response to the missing items?
In particular, what action has been taken in respect of items that went missing prior to the last general election?
What is the overall time period in which the items went missing?
Please supply a list of the estimated value of each missing item
Please supply a list of the exact offices/locations from which items went missing
Please supply a list of the officials/politicians who occupied offices from which items went missing.
Please confirm or otherwise if members of the public are entitled to speak directly to OPW officials regarding this matter.
Yours Sincerely,
Anthony Sheridan
Slowly but surely the Troika is beginning to realise that the Irish political/administrative system operates in a parallel universe when it comes to honesty, efficiency and accountability (Irish Independent).
Brendan Keenan lists the following failures. (Failure, by the way, is one area where Irish politicians/administrators are leaders in the world).
Failed to sell off Permanent TSB.
Failed to take on the professions.
Failed to reduce the bill for public sector pay and pensions.
Failed to introduce a property tax.
Missed the deadline for personal insolvency legislation.
Accepted we won’t reach the deadline for the introduction of water charges.
Ignored repeated Troika warnings about protecting the elderly from cuts and placing an unfair burden on children.
Now the reason for all this failure is simple, the corrupt Irish political system is concentrating all its energies and all the people’s resources in protecting its privileged position.
Keenan goes on:
The Troika itself is getting antsy about the failure to meet almost any deadline that does not have a number attached to it and has repeatedly told the Government in private that more needs to be done to meet those targets to modernise the economy and break the power of the many vested interest groups that brought Ireland to the brink.
The Troika is getting antsy because the corrupt system that destroyed the country is still in power and still looking after the many vested groups at the expense of ordinary citizens.
Sooner rather than later I believe the Troika will realise just how rotten the system really is and begin to do some serious screw turning.
Ireland is not a democratic state.
It is a state governed under the rules and very low standards of gombeenism and stroke politics.
Every politician/political party must decide, on coming to power, whether to cooperate with the rotten system to further their own interests or challenge the system in the interests of the Irish people.
Here’s some examples from recent times of decisions made that support the rotten system.
Former Progressive Democrats TD, Fiona O’Malley.
It’s something that has always annoyed me, that the PDs are watchdogs. We have our own standards. Every other political party is responsible for their own standards within their own party. We are not watchdogs for any other party.
Green Party leader and then Minister for the Environment John Gormley.
We never assigned ourselves that role because it’s a role which you cannot fulfull properly and do your work as well. We’re not the moral watchdog of any political party…we look after our probity and our standards…we cannot be responsible for events that took place before our entry into government.
Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton effectively rejecting the ethical standards of Roisin Shortall in favour of Minister Reilly’s stroke politics.
The fortunes of individual politicians and political parties comes after the issue of restoring the fortunes and the businesses and the employment that’s been lost in this country, and that’s our objective.
It has always been the view of Public Inquiry that Ireland is the Wild West when it comes to financial regulation.
And despite the fact that an almost complete lack of financial regulation played a major role in the destruction of our country there is still little or no regulation when it comes to financial activities.
This view is confirmed by a report on One News (8th report) today.
Researchers at Griffith University in Australia found Ireland among the easiest countries in the world in which to set up an untraceable shell company.
Shell companies, which have anonymous and untraceable owners, are often used by criminals and terrorist organisations to launder money.
It is illegal under Irish and international law to set up such a company.
The researchers contacted 3,700 corporate service providers in 62 countries enquiring about setting up shell companies.
Ireland was ranked 56th out of the 62 countries for the apparent ease with which researchers were able to find a provider willing to set up an untraceable shell company.
In a better performing country it took 25 or more different attempts by researchers to find a corporate service provider that would set up an untraceable shell company, in Ireland the figure was less than five.
In other words: Don’t mind about all that regulation/law stuff, we’ll deal with anybody, even terrorists, it seems.
Kevin O’Doherty Managing Director of Compliance Ireland, which specialises in advising firms on their legal responsibilities in this area, was not happy.
It’s a matter of concern.
That has to be the understatement of the year; he goes on:
We’re down there with the Philippines, Ghana and Kenya, which is not the sort of company we want to be with.
People will often throw insults at so-called tax havens but Jersey and the Cayman Islands were right up at the top with 100% compliance.
And that’s where we need to get Ireland Inc. playing. We don’t want people saying that our standards are actually quite shoddy.
Look at developing nations like Saint Kitts and Nevis and Albania scored way higher than Ireland.
And you would like to think we would have stronger controls and procedures in place.
The reference to Jersey and the Cayman Islands suggests that unlike these two islands, Ireland is not just an offshore tax haven but is also quite prepared to risk facilitating criminals and terrorists.
As for shoddy (financial regulation) standards, Ireland fully deserves to be ‘down there’ with the Philippines, Ghana, Kenya and Albania.
Like these countries, corruption in Ireland is not just an occasional event but is a normal and officially accepted part of how business is done.
Oddly enough, it’s the Department of Justice rather than the Central Bank that deals with this matter.
I phoned today to ask some questions but was told that those who deal with such matters don’t talk to the public.
All queries must be submitted in writing.
Copy to:
Department of Justice
Central Bank
An article on Minister Shortall’s resignation by journalist Fionnan Sheahan in today’s Irish Independent could have been written by James Reilly himself.
The title of the article gives the first hint that Sheahan is not impressed with Ms. Shortall’s decision to resign on principle.
What did she hope to achieve by this?
Some more quotes from the article:
She’s now out in the cold.
She had ambitions to be a cabinet minister.
Her disappointment at being overlooked…was evident.
She felt frustrated at not being able to wield influence inside of Government.
Still, she was appointed to a reasonable junior ministry.
Her colleagues in Government were none too impressed by her petulant speech.
(The speech where she was critical of the Minister for Health).
Teeing it up as a point of principle on an issue her colleagues had moved on from.
There were few tears being shed within the coalition.
Ms Shortall merely joins the ranks of the disaffected Labour TDs.
Clearly, Mr. Sheahan is one of those journalists who have gone over to the dark side.
He, like most of the politicians he mixes with, has lost his understanding of the concept of principle.
Holding power at any cost is all that matters.
Well done to Roisin Shortall. An Irish government minister resigning on a point of principle is a very rare event indeed.
Betrayed Irish citizens can only hope it’s the first glimmer of a change in the corrupt, gombeen culture of Irish politics.
And make no mistake about it; Health Minister James O’Reilly is a gombeen, stroke politician of the lowest order.
As is his fellow gombeen colleague Leo Varadkar who provided us with some hilarity in his attempts to sound ethical while defending gombeenism.
Asked by Sean O’Rourke if O’Reilly had engaged in stroke politics Varadkar replied:
It looks like it but I don’t know if it is or not.
Varadkar likes to see himself as one of the brave new wave of politicians who are going to change the way politics is done in Ireland.
Unfortunately, as he tries to sound honest and ethical he just can’t quite manage to pull away from the gombeen influence that he was weaned on.
And so he ends up being ridiculous by effectively claiming:
Yes, it is stroke politics (The brave new Varadkar).
But no, it’s not stroke politics (The gombeen Varadkar).
In the end politicians like Varadkar will have to make a choice, regress back fully into the mindset of gombeenism or follow the example of politicians like Ms. Shortall and stand on principle, whatever the cost.