Category: The State

A true reflection

Letter in today’s Irish Times

Robbery, bribery and delays

Madam, – In your travel supplement of August 2nd, Manchan Magan exhorts us all to travel to the Congo with him. “We will probably be robbed,” he writes, “and it’s inevitable that we will be asked for bribes and will have to face significant delays.

Sure we can stay in Dublin and experience the very same without the added expense of a flight to Africa.

Yours etc,

BRIAN FOLEY,
Poddle Park, Kimmage, Dublin 12.

Hot air and cynical strategies

On 13th May last I discussed the DCC/Fyffes case with Fine Gael TD David Stanton.

I wanted the matter raised in the Dail; specifically I wanted to know why the State was failing to take effective action against a man who the Supreme Court found had engaged in insider trading.

In addition, knowing that I would be wasting my time, I requested that deputy Stanton ring the Director of Public Prosecutions to enquire if his office had received a report from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation who, it was reported, was investigating the case.

The DPP told deputy Stanton that they could not give out such information over the phone and that I should put my request in writing. I phoned the DPPs office myself and was given to understand, just as deputy Stanton was, that my question would receive a favourable answer if I put it in writing.

With a great deal of skepticism I wrote to the DPP.

To Whom It May Concern,

It was reported in the Irish Times on the 22nd December 2005 that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation had started an inquiry into the share trading activities of DCC.

I would be grateful if you could confirm or otherwise whether the Garda Fraud Squad submitted a report or file on this case to your office.

I would also be grateful if you could say whether your office has ever considered the DCC/Fyffes insider trading case in any other form or under any other heading.

I am aware that your office cannot comment on the details of any individual case and want to emphasise that I am not looking for details but merely to ask if the DCC/Fyffes case has ever come under consideration by your office.

Yours sincerely
Anthony Sheridan

Over a month later and after a number of phone calls to remind the DPP that I was still around I received the following letter.

Dear Mr. Sheridan,

I refer to your letter of the 29th May 2008 in relation to the case of DCC/Fyffes.

“By way of general comment I would say that it is not the practice of this Office to confirm whether or not a file has been sent here by the Garda Siochana or other investigative agency, other than to people directly involved in the matter.”

Yours Sincerely
Barry Donoghue
Deputy Director

What happened here was the age old and cynical ‘make them put it in writing’ strategy. The DPPs office could have given this information to me or deputy Stanton over the phone in about 15 seconds. Furthermore, I simply do not accept that the information I was seeking is in any way sensitive.

So where does this leave the DCC/Fyffes case?

Well the DPPs office is a dead end as is the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation because both agencies are protected by state secrecy laws.

In my opinion neither of these agencies have any intention of acting against DCC. Neither has any other state agency, apart from the ODCE, shown the slightest interest in acting in response to what is the most serious financial fraud in the history of the state.

Paul Appleby of OCDE, to his credit, is attempting to have the High Court appoint an inspector to investigator the case. He is, of course, wasting his time and taxpayers money.

He has already been to the High Court twice where a lot of hot (legal) air has been expended but as yet no inspector has been appointed.

I spoke with a staff member from the ODCE and asked him when we could expect a decision from the judge. Sometime in the immediate to medium future he replied vaguely.

Ahhh Mr. Schulz…

Martin Schulz MEP is not happy with Charlie McCreevy (RTE, 1st report 3rd item).

Schulz, who is chairman of the Party of European Socialists in the European Parliament, wants McCreevy fired from the Commission because of his remarks during the Lisbon Treaty referendum campaign.

“He has one of the highest responsibilities in the European Commission and then to tell people – ‘I don’t care about this treaty, I have not even read it’ is not only a mistake it is a catastrophe because the message is clear – I don’t care about the legal framework in which I have to act.’ That’s inadmissible for such a high responsibility.”

“I don’t care about the legal framework in which I have to act.” ?

Ahhh Mr. Schulz you are so innocent. Do you not know that working outside the legal framework is the default position for most Irish politicians and officials.

“And the responsible minister is McCreevy who prefers to go to a horse race than come to the European Parliament; that is the behaviour of a lord of the 19th century.”

Ahhh Mr. Schulz, are you not aware that McCreevy is merely aping the low standards of another Charlie who acted like a lord over the people for decades?

Schulz was asked should Charlie McCreevy be in the Commission at all

“I’m not an employment institute, we could find certainly another dossier. Multilingualism is another dossier, perhaps it would be good for him because if you listen to him when he’s speaking English I have always the need to speak to the Commissioner of multilingualism to help me to understand Charlie.”

Ahhh Mr. Schulz, now you’ve hurt our Charlie’s feelings but also given us all a good laugh.

Notes and quotes

Mary O’Rourke’s howls of pain could be heard for miles as that dog bit deeply into her ankle.

“I take responsibility having led the Yes campaign that goes with that position. I don’t walk away from that in any way.” (An Taoiseach Brian Cowen, 1st report, 11th item)

In most countries taking responsibility means resignation – In Ireland it means nothing.

I suspect that plans and plots are afoot for the toppling of Enda Kenny.

“Obviously you’re not being allowed to interview me. As you know we were opposed by elements on the extreme left and extreme right. We’ve seen this in European history before and one of the first things to go is free speech.”

A very angry Brian Lenihan as he experiences a rare contact with ordinary people (1st report, 8th item).

I agree with several commentators who said that the result was principally a reflection of the disconnection between ordinary citizens and the body politic.

Would everybody please now standby for chaos in the universe followed by the sky falling in – Thank you.

Not once during the campaign did I hear the word ‘conscription’ mentioned never mind hotly discussed as a serious possibility. Yet Michael Martin claimed on a number of occasions today that fear of conscription, put out by the No side, was a factor in the result.

The funniest comment today was written on the tricolour displayed at Dublin Castle – “Who is the loola now Bertie? (1st report, last item).

Raymond Crotty – a hero of democracy

Article in today’s Irish Independent.

We owe vote to this man

By Mary Cody
Thursday June 12 2008

The actions of a Kilkenny man secured the right for three million Irish citizens to vote on behalf of 500 million Europeans in today’s Lisbon Treaty referendum.

Ireland is the only country in the EU where citizens are being allowed to vote on the adoption, or not, of the Lisbon Treaty European Constitution.

Raymond Crotty’s daughter Mary, and her sister Ann, who has returned from South Africa where she works as a journalist to campaign for a ‘No’ Vote, explained the pivotal action which their father took and which could now impact on the shape and direction Europe takes in the future.

“The French and Dutch, who were given an opportunity to vote on the European Constitution, voted against it. They are not being given an opportunity to vote on the Lisbon Treaty,” she said.

“We are being afforded this right, not because our government has secured it for us, but because our father, Raymond Crotty, took the Irish government to court back in 1986.

“The Supreme Court ruled in that case that in the event of any major change within the EU that impacted upon Ireland’s constitution, the government would be obliged to get approval for that change from the Irish people.

“The implications of the current treaty are so wide-ranging that lawyers who worked on our dad’s case believe that, if it is implemented, it will be our last EU-related referendum.”

The most patronising argument

Fergus Finlay wins the prize for the most patronising, most dishonest and most insulting argument to come from the Yes side.

Writing in yesterday’s Irish Examiner, Finlay, who in a previous life was advisor to the Labour Party and always gave the impression that he was a democrat, glibly skips over the fact that only 1% of the EU population is being given the opportunity of deciding how the EU will operate in the future.

“I know it has been said there’s something undemocratic about that, and maybe there is.”

It gets worse, Finlay goes on to tell us that if we vote No we will damage the newer member states.

“We can, of course, say ‘I’m alright Jack’ and decide to leave things as they are by voting no…But it will damage the people who need Europe’s help to get their economies growing a bit like ours.”

This is just patronising nonsense, to Irish citizens and to the newer states. A No vote will not damage these countries and it is dishonest to state otherwise. In fact many of these countries have progressed more in the last two decades since throwing off the yoke of Soviet oppression than Ireland has since our independence in 1922.

For example, Polish citizens can vote in general elections no matter where they are in the world and I suspect the same applies for referendums. Irish citizens have no such freedom, if you’re not in the county – tough, no vote.

The infrastructure of many of these countries is decades ahead of ours especially in the areas of health, education and transport while we struggle to keep up with Third World standards. And many of the improvements in these countries are down to the efforts of their own politicians who are for the most part competent, hard working and honest.

To my knowledge, every one of these new countries has taken action against corruption, especially the white collar variety. Most of them have established well funded anti corruption agencies with real power to put people in jail. In Ireland, we don’t have a single agency with the power or competence to take on the corrupt. Instead, corrupt politicians and businessmen are bestowed with honours and given state funerals.

Finlay, like practically every Yes politician, reminds us how Ireland has benefited from the EU. Equal pay, anti discrimination laws, environmental laws consumer’s rights and so on – Irish people would never have these advantages if it wasn’t for the EU, they tell us. It apparently never enters their narrow minds how these claims reflect on their own intelligence and abilities.

I’m voting No in this referendum because I believe those with power are side lining what they see as the inconvenience of democracy. Instead they trying to create a United States of Europe controlled by bureaucrats.

I think it is inevitable that Europe will evolve into a United States of Europe and I have no problem with that whatsoever so long as it’s done by the democratic will of the people of Europe.

In such a United States of Europe Irish citizens would enjoy the great benefit of being ruled by a competent and efficient administration and hopefully would be rid of the moronic self serving and for the most part corrupt rabble that have blighted our country since independence.