Category: The State

Pension levy: Strictly for the peasants

Taken from a ‘letter to the editor’ in today’s Sunday Independent on the matter of the recently imposed levy on private pensions.

A few short weeks back he said in the Dail that he was unable to do anything about a very large pension pot awarded to former AIB boss Colm Doherty because of contractual arrangements and pension legislation.

Yet on Tuesday last, as quoted on the Department of Finance website, he appeared to have no difficulty in changing the self-same contractual arrangements and pension legislation to rob the ordinary person. Could you ask Mr Noonan to explain the difference between Colm Doherty and me?

Garret Fitzgerald: A giant among midgets

Garret Fitzgerald was a genuinely decent man who was much loved.

He was also a courageous and visionary political leader who worked hard to bring Ireland into the 20th century.

He was particularly courageous in taking on the power of the Catholic Church by way of his constitutional crusade.

In a real democracy he would be seen as an exceptional politician.

Measured by the very low standards in Irish political life he was a giant among midgets.

Government to re-float Titanic

Latest…

Finance Minister Michael Noonan has successfully applied a coat of paint to the wheelhouse door on Titanic which lies buried deep in the mud two miles below the cold Atlantic.

A delighted government spokesperson said that Minister Noonan would continue to work on the wreck and was confident that the ship would be fully restored to its former glory in the near future.

Rebellion: Sooner rather later

Madam,

What an absolutely spiffing idea! An inquiry is exactly what we need; another 14 years and millions and millions of euros establishing unmitigated corruption which will go forever unpunished (“Burton seeks inquiry into banking crisis”, Home News, April 26th).

Iceland, a country of fewer than 400,000 souls, also had a banking crisis. Little Iceland arrested the politicians and bankers responsible for the collapse, and put them in prison. And they’re not finished. More arrests both inside and outside Iceland are imminent.

Ireland has a DPP, with a very large staff of civil servants at his disposal. He should now arrest both politicians and bankers and try them in a court of law. If they are found innocent they will be freed. If they are found guilty of the crimes charged, they must be imprisoned.

I appreciate that it is so much easier to arrest individuals who are drunk and disorderly or who protest at Government Buildings, than it is to build a case against former members of the golden circle. However, sometimes we really must do the right thing.

The right thing in this case is to arrest and try those responsible for bringing Ireland to its knees.

No more inquiries. No more tribunals. Trial by jury in a court of law is the only way to obtain justice for this poor benighted island.

Yours, etc,

Patricia R Moynihan
Sea Pines Lane,
Las Vegas,
Nevada, US.

I agree 100% with the sentiments expressed in this letter (Irish Times).

Unfortunately, because the disease of corruption has such a hold on our current ruling elite no action can be expected from that quarter.

I firmly believe, however, that sooner rather than later, the Irish people will rise up and throw the whole rotten system on the scrap heap of history where it rightly belongs.

O'Cuiv complaint: Minister; it's nothing to do with me

I received a response from the private secretary to the Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Mr. Phil Hogan, regarding my complaint in respect of Fianna Fail TD Eamon O’Cuiv.

After quoting the legislation at length the Minister concluded:

Returning Officers are responsible for all matters in connection with the conduct of elections and referendums, including the arrangement of a candidate’s name on a ballot paper at a Dáil election and are independent in the performance of their duties. Consequently, the Minister has no direct responsibility in this matter.

So, according to the Minister, it’s nothing to do with him and, effectively, the Returning Officer is saying the same thing.

Why am I not surprised?

Returning Officer rejects O’Cuiv complaint

The Returning Officer for Galway West, Ms. Marian Chambers Higgins, has responded to my formal complaint regarding the name used by Fianna Fail TD, Eamon O’Cuiv in the recent General Election.

I must advise that pursuant to legislation and in particular as follows ” a Dail election may, and may only, be questioned by a petition to the High Court” under Sec.132 of the Electoral Act 1992.

I am unable to assist you any further and your complaint has been noted.

It’s a curious reply.

Ms Chambers Higgins rejection of my complaint is based on the false assumption that I am questioning the election which, of course, I am not.

My complaint concerns a single suspected infringement of electoral law.

As yet I have had no reply from the Franchise Section of the Department of the Environment, Heritage & Local Government.

Marian Finucane: Stop telling me the truth

Marian Finucane (Saturday) began her interview with Pat Cox last Saturday in a very angry tone.

A lot of Irish people are feeling really, really angry with Europe at this stage, that Irish taxpayers have been forced by Europe not by the IMF to pay for loans that the Irish people didn’t take out, there seems a dreadful injustice at the heart of that.

Throughout the entire interview Finucane refused to accept that, as a nation, we were in any way to blame.

It’s the fault of the Europeans; they allowed the nasty European banks to take advantage of our gentle and innocent banks.

Cox tried his best to tell her the truth.

In fact, right throughout the interview he kept on saying – It’s our fault, we did it to ourselves but Finucane was having none of it.

We’re Irish she seemed to suggest, we can’t be expected to face reality, we don’t do reality.

Why, asked Cox, are other European countries both inside and outside the Euro much better off than Ireland, why did Ireland fail?

Yes, said Finucane we know all about bad regulation and the politics of it all but those nasty banks were taking a punt on our financial institutions and they’re getting away with it.

It’s our fault said Cox, we had no contingency plan, we made a mess of it.

But Finucane insisted the European banks were investing here because they figured that the Irish mug would have to pay for it through tax.

Cox was patient.

The unilateral decision made in 2008 to guarantee all the Irish banks was the single most reckless decision in the history of the Irish state.

The decision was made without telling our EU partners, it posed a serious danger to their interests. We put on the Green Jersey, the Germans didn’t make us do it, the French didn’t make us do it, we did it ourselves.

But Finucane was determined, at all costs, to avoid facing reality.

But we’ve made so many sacrifices, tax increases, pay cuts, there’s a lot of pain and the nasty investors who lent recklessly to our gentle innocent banks are getting away without any pain.

Cox is a saint.

We did it to ourselves he said. The EU and even the IMF stopped believing us; they don’t trust the Irish, that’s why they insisted on an external examiner to supervise the latest bank stress tests.

But, said the by now crazed Finucane, the people who put money into Anglo, for example, knew it was a basket case, it’s so unfair that we should have to take the pain.

I switched off, went for a walk.

General Election: Formal complaint against Éamon Ó Cuív

This morning I have submitted a formal complaint to the Franchise Section of the Department of the Environment and the Election Returning Officer for Galway East/West, Ms. Marian Chambers Higgins, regarding the name used by Fianna Fail TD, Éamon Ó Cuív in the recent General Election.

Shortly after the election I heard media reports that Éamon Ó Cuív had used the name Cuív, Éamon Ó on his ballot paper, which, I understand, provides a valuable advantage as the name appears near the top of the ballot paper.

After several phone calls over several days I eventually got to speak to the Returning Officer for Galway West, Marian Chambers Higgins.

Ms. Chambers Higgins refused to discuss the matter with me except to say the following:

He (Éamon Ó Cuív) went to the High Court years ago, long before my time to be able to put himself down as Cuív, Éamon Ó and my understanding is that his name is Cuív, Éamon Ó.

It’s important that Ms. Chambers Higgins has certainty that the name submitted to her for inclusion on a ballot paper is the correct name because The Electoral Act, 1992, section 52 (3) (a), is crystal clear on the matter (my emphasis).

(3) The returning officer shall object to the name of a candidate in a nomination paper if such name:

(a) Is not a name by which the candidate is commonly known.

With the exception of the recent election I have never heard Éamon Ó Cuív, or anybody else, use the name Cuív, Éamon Ó.

Indeed, during my inquiries regarding this matter Éamon Ó Cuív addressed himself to me, in both the spoken and written word, as Éamon Ó Cuív.

It is therefore puzzling, to say the least, that an election Returning Officer, who must make the final decision on the veracity of candidates for election, is of the understanding that Éamon Ó Cuív’s name is actually Cuív, Éamon Ó.

Initially, I had difficulty contacting Mr. Ó Cuív regarding the matter but when I informed an official at his constituency office that I was considering making a formal complaint Mr. Ó Cuív replied by telephone (leaving a message as I was on another call at the time) and email within an hour.

In addition to a great deal of technical detail regarding the use of Irish names on ballot papers Mr. Ó Cuív also informed me that a case taken in the Circuit Court against Galway County Council found that the only logical index of Irish language names was by the surname proper thus allowing him to use the name Cuív, Éamon Ó on election ballot papers.

I contacted Galway County Council with the intention of obtaining a copy of the Circuit Court judgement mentioned by Éamon Ó Cuív and/or the High Court judgement mentioned by Ms. Chambers Higgins.

This judgement, I felt, would be very important as it appears to be in opposition to the above mentioned section of the Electoral Act, 1992.

An official at Galway County Council, after researching the matter, informed me that no such case was ever taken.