Government – Page 57 – Public Inquiry

In a corrupt state reality must be avoided at all costs.

Last weekend the Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern and the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey lied to the nation regarding negotiations on the IMF bailout.

In a functional democracy these liars would be swiftly dealt with and the nation would move on.

In Ireland this cannot happen because we are an intrinsically corrupt state. In such a country the truth must never even be acknowledged because to do so would mean having to actually act and to act would mean accepting that we are an intrinsically corrupt state.

To avoid facing reality we regularly engage in bizarre analysis of events.

The following discussion is taken from the Sunday Supplement in which presenter Sam Smyth, Fianna Fail’s Mary O’Rourke, and other panelists engage in an Alice in Wonderland analysis of what exactly a lie is as opposed to the truth.

As a member of the most corrupt political party in the country and therefore the party with the greatest number of liars Mary O’Rourke’s responses are particularly interesting and bizarre.

Panelist: We had this comical situation with Dempsey and Ahern standing at a platform and saying it was completely ludicrous the notion that we were dealing with the IMF.

Smyth: Do you think they were deliberately lying or did they not know…a lie is worse than being mislead. There’s no question about that, it’s a deliberate untruth.

Panelist: It’s morally worse but is it worse in the sense that the insight into how this government works or rather doesn’t work.

Smyth: I take that point but somebody maliciously lying or telling an untruth is a serious…

Panelist: well if you take it that they were lying then that will stand on its own. If they weren’t lying and they didn’t know what was going on that’s even worse if they’re two members of the Cabinet.

Smyth: Mary (O’Rourke) do you think those Ministers were lying or do you think they didn’t know what was going on?

O’Rourke: I believe that they didn’t realise the extent of what they knew if you follow me.

That if they sat at the Cabinet table they had to know what was happening therefore if they inquired and didn’t seem to realise of what was going to happen well then that’s what led them…

I do think that genuinely they didn’t realise the extent of the vastness of what was about to happen.

Smyth: Would that (their ignorance) not frighten you Mary?

O’Rourke: I would feel they knew but did not realise the awfulness of the extent of what they knew, that’s what I feel.

Now, nobody has told me, I just figured that.

Dermot Ahern wouldn’t be known for his nuancing, shall we say. He said it was a book of fiction.

Panelist: If he used the expression ‘a book of fiction’ then either he’s outside the loop or he absolutely and utterly lied.

Dermot Ahern is very emphatic in the language he uses and to say something was a work of fiction…

Smyth: Yes, when you’re going to be found out so quickly it’s hard to believe that someone would deliberately say that.

Panelist: It makes a mockery of the whole thing. It was laughable for ordinary decent citizens who were listening to the shenanigans that were going on.

Incredibly, the whole matter came up again later in the programme and again the panel engaged in a bizarre discussion on when is a lie not a lie while completely ignoring the fact that we live in a country where the Minister for Justice can casually lie to the nation regarding a very serious matter that will impact on every citizen for generations to come.

The disturbing aspect of such off the wall analysis is that these are well educated, intelligent people who wield a good degree of influence on ordinary citizens.

George Hook is not happy with public protest

George Hook of Newstalk was not happy with Sinn Fein’s protest outside Government Buildings.

I don’t think protests, peaceful or otherwise, are going to work at this point. We have a different set of problems now.

George didn’t offer any alternatives to public protest against those who have destroyed our country.

Decks need to be cleared immediately

The rats are abandoning the sinking ship. The decision by the Green Party to cut and run has panicked the gombeen men Jackie Healy-Rae and Michael Lowry.

This will probably mean an election before Christmas and that, in my opinion, is what should happen.

For this government to carry on pretending that there actually is a government just to pass the budget is not tenable.

The decks need to be cleared immediately.

White collar crime in Ireland? We wait in hope

Here’s a curious thing.

I was searching through the RTE website for a programme when I came across a link entitled ‘White collar crime’.

Feck, says I to myself, has this particular category of crime finally been recognised in Ireland?

Sadly, I was disappointed, the link related to the US, a jurisdiction where white collar crime is recognized and acted upon.

Ah well, we wait in hope.

Standby for the bucket of cold, hard reality

Less than two weeks ago a major talking point in Ireland was whether civil servants should give up their long established right to a half hour break to cash their pay cheques.

This is despite the fact that the actual issuing of such pay cheques ended years ago with the introduction of the automatic funds transfer system.

The unions said that this particular (bizarre) perk would have to be the subject of some tough negotiation before any concessions could be considered.

This farce is a good indication of how far from reality most Irish people operate.

Just this weekend, as the country plunges into economic oblivion, there are still people so far removed from reality that they’re talking about the Croke Park Agreement as if it was still a realistic prospect.

As a nation, for the first time in our entire blighted history, we are about to have our collective heads shoved into a bucket of cold, hard reality.

We will be held there for about 30 seconds before being pulled out and, gasping for air and shocked with horror at the sight of reality, we will see ‘kind’ strangers shouting in our faces.

Hello, Hello, do you understand? You must stop talking and act. Do you understand? You must educate yourself on how to run a country; you must learn to take responsibility for your corruption and stupidity, do you understand?

Weakly, our gombeen leaders will mumble – Lehman Brothers…British oppression…before the heads are pushed back in the bucket.

And so it will continue until, finally, reality is forced into our tiny collective heads and we can begin the long process of creating, for the first time, a decent, accountable democracy without the contamination of corrupt, greedy and arrogant gombeen men.

Lenihan: A fucking liar

I quoted the liar Lenihan only last week after he was interviewed on the BBC about his great plan for Ireland’s economy.

We intend to return to the markets next year, and we intend to fund ourselves. That’s our plan.

Some plan Lenihan, you fucking liar.

Realists v Idiots

Once again we have Morgan Kelly telling the brutal truth followed by a whole raft of so called experts telling us that everything is just rosy in the garden.

Donal O’Mahony, a strategist with Davy Stockbrokers, leads the charge for those living in La La Land.

He makes the following points in his article.

There is no mortgage crisis.

To be sure, delinquency rates are rising in the Irish mortgage book, but levels remain relatively low (4.6 per cent of the total at last count) and the banks now have Matthew Elderfield’s blessing for “taking a responsible, reasonable approach of forbearance by allowing customers to reschedule”.

So, no mortgage crisis then and the banks are going to be ‘responsible’, ‘reasonable’, ‘forbearing’ and give their customers a break.

People displaying this level of ignorance and naivety should not be allowed out on their own never mind express a public opinion.

Perhaps when the mortgage time bomb explodes in O’Mahony’s face it will shake his brain into some activity.

The Financial Regulator is independent and competent.

Most breathtaking of all, however, is the hubris displayed in second-guessing the “stress-test” findings of the independent financial regulator regarding Irish bank balance sheets.

To be fair, O’Mahony is not the only one to swallow the line that since the arrival of the Messiah, Mathew Elderfield, Ireland now has an independent and competent financial regulator.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Apart from playing hardball with Quinn, a matter in which he had no choice; Elderfield has behaved exactly like all his predecessors.

No bankers in jail, none have even been charged. The financial institutions continue to rob customers with absolute impunity while the Financial Regulator continues to enforce secrecy laws which have the direct consequence of protecting the criminals.

Ireland has the capability of resolving her problems without outside help.

The corollary is that Ireland is moving increasingly towards “self-help” status, whereby the ongoing borrowing requirements of the public sector can, in principle, be absorbed by the accumulated surpluses of the private sector.

Ok, just one word of analysis on this opinion – IDIOT.

Burma: More democratic than Ireland

It may seem bizarre to say, but Burma is a more democratic country than Ireland.

We don’t have a ruthless military junta denying democracy and good government to the people but we do have a ruthless ruling elite who, effectively, do the same thing.

Burma, like Ireland, may be a blighted country but it has two treasures that will, I believe, ensure the eventual return of real democracy – a politically educated population and courageous visionary leadership.

You only have to look at the passion and focused determination of the Burmese people, their hunger for real and fair government to see that they understand exactly what real democracy is all about.

These people have the same fears and worries that Irish citizens have, and more, but at rock bottom they know that national pride, prosperity and freedom is impossible without a foundation of courageous, visionary and accountable democracy.

The people of South West Donegal are about to exchange the possibility of quality democracy in return for petty favours from local gombeen representatives.

They neither know, nor apparently care, about the damage such political ignorance will bring down on their heads and the heads of the population in general.

Before very long the rest of the Irish population will be indulging in the same disastrous trading of democratic principles in return for empty promises from a corrupt, incompetent and arrogant body politic.

You only have to observe the actions, words and almost magical charisma of Aung San Suu Kyi to realise that the quality of Irish political leadership emanates from the foulest sewer.

I don’t need to labour this point; I only have to envision the amazing political and personal bond between Aung San Suu Kyi and her people and then, painfully, recall the recent drunken interview given by our incompetent prime minister.

If Ireland had a political leader with even one percent of the vision and courage of Aung San Suu Kyi our country would be well on the way to recovery and a brighter future for its people.

If permanent schools are built…

Every year, over €50 million in taxpayer’s money is paid to private contractors in rent for the provision of prefabs to schools throughout the country.

Over 50,000 primary school children are being taught in prefabs.

This year the Department of Education has yet to spend almost half, some €331 million, of its 2010 capital budget for school buildings. The Dept. also failed to spend its full allocation last year.