Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
There’s been a good deal of comment lately that the Euro/European crisis is good for Ireland.
This is principally based on the view that the crisis will result in a reduction of Ireland’s interest rate.
This view, I think, is a bit like a steerage passenger on Titanic expressing delight on being upgraded to first class minutes after the iceberg changed everything.
There’s a definite benefit but it won’t last too long.
Last May a very disturbing event occurred in this country which went almost completely unnoticed by the media.
The Director of Public Prosecutions, James Hamilton, publicly rebuked a High Court judge.
Some weeks earlier the judge in question, Mr. Justice Peter Kelly, had strongly criticised the long delay in the Anglo Irish Bank investigation.
The judge was angrily responding to an application from the ODCE for yet another extension of the investigation, this time for six months.
In his judgement, judge Kelly did not mince his words: (This short judgement is worth reading in full).
I am not, however, prepared to grant an extension of six further months as sought. I will grant an extension until Thursday, 28th July, 2011.
On that occasion, I expect much progress to have been achieved.
If a further extension is to be sought, I expect to be furnished with much more detailed information as to the progress of the investigation of these various issues.
In particular, I will require to know what progress has been made in respect of the material sent to the D.P.P. in December 2010.
I will also expect more accurate estimates of time as to the completion of these investigations than have been furnished to date.
Two years investigation without any appreciable result was not at all satisfactory, I am not a rubber stamp, said the judge.
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Mr. James Hamilton, and by extension, the State, was not at all happy with this upbraiding by an upstart judge.
In a clear reference to Judge Kelly’s remarks the DPP said that there were some ‘current misunderstandings’ regarding how the Anglo case was being handled.
In our system, investigators investigate and prosecutors decide whether to prosecute.
The prosecutor does not direct the investigation and, except in minor cases delegated to them, the investigators do not decide whether to prosecute. Only the prosecutor has this function.
Following the completion of an investigation, the prosecutor prosecuted, the defence defended and the judge adjudicated between the parties.
The message to Judge Kelly is crystal clear: Get back in your box and keep your mouth shut. We’ll call you when we next need your rubber stamp.
Mr. Appleby (ODCE) must have been greatly relieved by this ‘timely’ intervention by such a powerful officer of the state.
While agreeing with Judge Kelly’s demand for a report by the end of July Mr. Appleby said that he would be looking for yet another extension of time.
Clearly, Mr. Appleby is confident, after the DPPs intervention, of getting his extension.
If granted, it will be the 8th extension to the Anglo Irish Bank investigation.
So, let’s be clear about what’s going on here.
The state is, apparently, employing one of its most effective strategies in response to allegations of white collar crime – delay, delay, delay until the entire matter becomes historical and irrelevant.
The intervention by judge Kelly cannot be tolerated as it could force the state to actually take effective action, for the first time, against suspected white collar criminals.
The big question is – will judge Kelly fold under state pressure?
We’ll know next week.
Copy to:
DPP
ODCE
The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar made the following comment on radio at the weekend.
Of course there’s going to be cuts and tax increases in the coming budget.
A roughly two to one split between new taxes and charges on the one hand of about 1.5 billion and roughly 2.1 billion in spending cuts.
So, Gilmore and Kenny are liars?
My brother mentioned to me the other day that Mary O’Rourke hosted last week’s Tonight with Vincent Browne while Browne was on holiday.
Yeah, right, said I, pull the other one.
But is was true and not only that but on the first night the nation was ‘treated’ to the ordeal of watching Bertie Ahern and Martin Mansergh waffle on about their involvement in something called the Peace Process connected to some long drawn out dirty war fought out on an obscure island somewhere on the remote edge of Europe.
Events in our pathetic banana republic become more surreal by the day.
Here we have O’Rourke, Ahern and Mansergh, three senior members of the most corrupt political party in the country, the party principally responsible for the destruction of our country, given open and unsupervised access to a television studio to waffle on about their so called great work on behalf of the nation.
But it seems that these obnoxious individuals are not without some support.
It appears that even now, after all that has happened, there are still some extremely stupid people out there who believe that scumbags like Bertie Ahern are men of honour.
One such idiot is some guy called John-Paul McCarthy.
Writing in today’s Sunday Independent this fool who, unbelievably, holds a doctorate in history from Oxford, thinks that Bertie Ahern will most likely be regarded as the most progressive Fianna Fail Taoiseach since Jack Lynch.
Here’s some of what the idiot had to say in defence of Bertie the scumbag.
Judge Mahon found easy prey when confronted by the chaotic private life of a man recovering from a traumatic separation. (And while his findings conjured up a media tsunami large enough to force a popular Taoiseach into retirement, Ahern’s eccentric personal book-keeping seems almost comically serene when compared to the endemic dishonesty in the banking world.)
After that, the Lehman Brothers collapse and the implosion of his handpicked successor finished off what was left of Ahern’s reputation.
The fact that McCarthy actually believes Ahern’s lies immediately confirms him as a first class moron.
Even the most ignorant, bog trotting, backwoodsmen members of the Fianna Fail party now take everything Ahern says with a large grain of salt.
McCarthy’s defence of Ahern can be summed up as follows.
Judge Mahon and his tribunal were out to get Ahern.
The media were out to get Ahern.
Ahern was confused (for years) because his marriage broke up.
The dishonesty of the banks was worse therefore Ahern is innocent.
Lehman Brothers were to blame. Fecking hell, is there no limit to this moron’s stupidity?
Brian Cowen’s failures were to blame.
There’s some truth in this in so far as the drunken buffoon who succeeded Ahern was so chronically incompetent, even by the extremely low standards of Fianna Fail.
McCarthy tells us that the programme was worth watching because of the genial, even playful, interaction between Bertie Ahern and David Trimble.
I could only manage the first ten minutes or so before beginning to retch.
Copy to:
McCarthy
The Gardai and the Dept of Social Protection are involved in a major investigation into social welfare fraud.
Five people were arrested as part of the investigation and are being held in various Dublin Garda stations under Section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. A large quantity of documents were also seized in the raids.
Minister for Social Protection, Joan Burton said;
I’ve met with the Revenue Commissioners I’m taking new powers in the Social Welfare Act to have joint working groups.
Every Euro saved on fraud is money that can go to pay our pensioners and child benefit.
As a country we have to change the culture of social welfare and black economy fraud.
An RTE reporter excitedly reported that Garda were operating a new type of investigation whereby social welfare fraudsters can be brought before the courts on indictment thus bringing them before the higher courts almost immediately.
Gardai in the Fraud Bureau are also training Dept. of Social Protection inspectors on how to gather evidence that’s presentable before the courts.
If evidence is gathered in a particular way it will allow Gardai to get a warrant almost immediately, arrest these social welfare fraudsters and prosecute them at a higher level.
So, let’s take a break from all this exciting law enforcement to summarise the situation.
The police are taking immediate and strong action on receipt of allegations of wrong doing.
The police are arresting people suspected of financial fraud under the Criminal Justice Act.
The seizure of large quantities of documents, we presume, will in no way hinder quick prosecutions and jail sentences where appropriate.
A Government minister is actively involved in the operation and has no hesitation whatsoever in using all legislative powers at her disposal.
Politicians, police, Dept of Social Protection and the Revenue Commissioners are all working together in a concerted effort to prevent financial fraud and bring those who break the law to immediate justice.
This, of course, is the way things should be done in a real democracy. These fraudsters deserve everything they get.
Unfortunately, in a dysfunctional democracy like Ireland, law enforcement of this intensity, coordination and cooperation is strictly reserved for the peasant class.
The white collar criminals that infest the financial, political and business sectors, the vermin who destroyed our country, continue to enjoy full protection within a hopelessly corrupt state.
Irish Times letter.
Sir,
It is clear that Dáil office practices deviate from generally accepted business conventions.
No employee in the private sector would risk making premium rate phone calls, because it would likely be flagged and disciplinary action taken for the theft as soon as the invoice was reviewed by the payables department (Breaking News, June 28th).
Indeed, such phone calls would be blocked. Are people calling psychics hotlines as well?
Few companies would distribute money without receipts, expense reports and other supporting documentation.
This total lack of accountability and absence of political will to introduce accountability to Leinster House would give any official in the ECB or IMF pause.
Would politicians consider the theft of €3,000 in cash by a drug user any differently?
Yours, etc,
SE Lydon,
Eagle Valley,
Wilton,
Cork.
During a discussion on nepotism and cronyism Irish Independent economics editor, Brendan Keenan made the following comment:
We have certainly seen in Britain an appalling decline of standards in Parliament and I think we’ve seen some signs of that spreading over here.
It’s difficult to know where to start analysing such a disturbingly ignorant statement.
It seems that Keenan labours under the illusion that, apart from some contamination from the UK, Ireland is a fully functional, democratically accountable state where politicians seldom, if ever, engage in corrupt practices.
First, let me give a broad outline of what happened in the UK when the expenses scandal broke.
There was genuine and widespread anger throughout the land including among the body politic. Politicians were ruthlessly challenged on the matter by a professional and well informed media. Some MPs were even physically attacked by their constituents such was the anger at this theft of public funds.
The police were involved from the very beginning and ultimately succeeded in sending a number of politicians to jail. At least a third of MPs were either sacked or forced to resign and the Government introduced tough new legislation as a result of the scandal.
The theft of taxpayer’s money by Irish politicians is rampant and has been for decades, the practice is an integral and long accepted aspect of the corrupt political system.
The majority of Irish citizens have no problem with such practices so long as their local gombeen representative continues to dispense petty favours.
The police never, ever act against such corruption. The Ivor Callely scandal is a case in point. When a formal complaint was made against Callely the Garda Commissioner, the highest ranking policeman in the state, effectively put the investigation on hold because he was waiting for ‘more clarification’ from a lowly civil servant.
To my knowledge he’s still waiting.
The media, for the most part, are ineffective in challenging the corrupt politicians through a combination of grovelling subservience and/or low journalistic standards.
To be precise here, the Irish media are good at uncovering corruption and even at asking the right questions but almost never stay the course in demanding answers.
Irish politicians have long ago copped on to this and so respond by just throwing out the first excuse/lie that comes to mind and it’s off to the next scandal.
New legislation in response to political corruption never seems to be actually fit for purpose. This, of course, is no accident.
The recent ‘reform’ of TDs expenses, for example, allows them to steal a good portion of their allotment if they so wish, with no questions asked.
This type of legal corruption is rampant within the political system and throughout the ruling class.
One of the crucial weaknesses of how Ireland is governed is the total absence of any law enforcement authority capable of operating independently of the corrupt political system.
The media, for all its faults and weaknesses, is the only force in the land capable of challenging that corrupt system; it’s the only force that provides any protection for ordinary Irish citizens.
That’s why it’s so disturbing to witness such an ignorant display from such a prominent journalist.
Copy to:
Brendan Keenan
Yet another ‘expert’, Dan O’Brien, tells us how bad things are in corrupt and dysfunctional Greece.
The background suggestion is that Ireland, while not in the best of shape, is a normal, functional state.
A reader responded to the article.
Let’s repeat that sentence. “IRELAND is a borderline failed state. its society lacks cohesiveness and is deeply divided its economy is in shock.
If the country’s history is any guide to its future, there is serious trouble ahead”…… by the end of this year, 300,000 people will have emigrated and 450,000 people are currently unemployed with youth unemployment hovering around 40%.
There is not a single government worker capable of being paid without the bailout money borrowed at 5.83%. People in glass houses should not throw stones.
It is less than a week since our Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dail that he could do nothing about nepotism at the heart of his government.
Jobs paid for with state funding or borrowing, for which no citizen is allowed to apply? Can that be legal. If it is have we legalised nepotism?
Health Minister Dr. James Reilly said that the HSE document proposing possible cuts in waiting lists for pregnant women and a cap on vaccination programmes were nothing more than the internal reflections of someone within the HSE.
Asked about the possible closure of smaller hospitals he said:
The reality is that small hospitals have an enormous part to play in the delivery of care for our citizens and they will be supported by this government.
Here’s some of what happened in Latvia as a result of the IMF rescue in 2008/2009.
Half of all hospitals were closed.
There was a 30% cut in public service wages and thousands of public servants were sacked.
Over half of all state agencies were closed over a very short period of time.
This, and worse, is going to happen in Ireland and yet those in power continue to behave as if there’s an alternative, as if they still have the power to make choices.
Latvia, like Iceland, is on the road to recovery. Ireland is still wallowing in the doldrums of delusion.
The Health Information and Quality Authority did a report on Rostrevor Nursing Home last year and found it was fit for purpose.
Last week, after whistleblowers in the home came forward with horror stories of abuse, HIQA made an Interim Order cancelling the registration of the home.
These events are the norm in dysfunctional states.
In dysfunctional states, regulatory authorities are not established to actually regulate, they are established to give the impression of regulation so that those who run the state can pretend to citizens and the wider world that the state is normal and functional.
When this system of pretence and hypocrisy is upset by pesky whistleblowers the state reacts with ‘committees’, ‘tribunals’, ‘reviews’ and promises of ‘reform’ all of which provide the magic ingredient that guarantees non accountability – time.