Category: The State

An imbecilic people

In response (5th item) to the claim that his latest pay rise would see his salary rise above that of the leaders of France, Britain and America, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern said;

“I’m glad I don’t own Chequers and I don’t have No. 10, I don’t have the Elysee Palace, if you want to build those in then you would know what the figures would be and I certainly don’t want the White House.”

Only an imbecile would suggest that the leaders of France, Britain and America actually own the buildings where they work and that such ownership adds substantially to their wealth.

Only an imbecilic people would accept such a sneering and arrogant excuse from their Prime Minister.

Facing the most appalling reality

In my previous post concerning the conflict between the Mahon Tribunal and the Irish Times I mentioned the tendency in Ireland to fudge difficult situations in order to avoid facing uncomfortable realities.

This is a crucial factor in a dysfunctional democracy like Ireland. Our entire way of doing things is finely balanced on the pretence that we are just like any other accountable Western democracy.

Within hours an expert media lawyer was providing just such fudge on the RTE Six One News (2nd item).

Michael Keeley, after first explaining how European law was way ahead of Irish law in allowing journalists freedom of expression, suggested that perhaps there was some ‘wriggle room’ to resolve what he described as this major constitutional crisis.

He suggested that if the journalists gave an assurance that the leak didn’t originate from the Mahon Tribunal then perhaps a compromise could be reached.

If this or any other fudge is utilised and accepted then the High Court, the tribunal, the journalists, the Government and Irish society in general can all pretend that the law wasn’t really broken and happily return to the fiction that we live in a real democracy.

In a real democracy the High Court would insist on the law being respected in its entirety, the tribunal would insist that the source of the leak be revealed and the journalists would be thrown in jail if they persisted in standing by their principles.

This would force the Government to deal with the reality of the situation by bringing Irish law into line with European law where journalists are given extra protection to protect their sources thus making them more effective in exposing corruption.

But then again, if journalists were allowed to be more effective in exposing corruption, Irish society would be in danger of having to face the most appalling reality of all – that Ireland is a corrupt state.

Brutal reality

This excellent letter in today’s Irish Times cuts right to the core of why Susie Long died.

Madam,

The death of Susie Long has provoked understandable expressions of sympathy and concern from many people. The Taoiseach expressed his own anguish in Dáil Éireann on Tuesday. These sentiments seem to be a genuine mark of his humanity.

He implied that the system had failed her. We disagree. The system actually worked exactly as it is designed to do. She was a public patient and therefore had to go on a waiting list – for seven months. Another patient with the same condition was treated within a few days because he had private health insurance.

This is the two-tier health system, working perfectly as designed.

Yours, etc,

ELIZABETH WATERS, TONY KENNY, Connaught Street, Phibsboro, Dublin 7.

Still waiting for courageous leadership

With few exceptions, hypocrisy, dishonesty and cowardice are the hallmarks of Irish political life.

In today’s Irish Examiner, Fine Gael leader, Enda Kenny accuses Bertie Ahern’s cabinet colleagues of cowardice because they will not stand up and say that what he (Bertie) did was wrong.

Before the election Kenny and Rabbitte scurried for cover when polls indicated that Irish citizens were not bothered by the low ethical standards of their Prime Minister.

Pat Rabbitte made his position crystal clear. (1st question)

“I asked some tough questions on the Bertiegate affair and I was down five points in the polls and Mr. Ahern went up five. In politics, especially coming up to a general election, you tend to learn lessons from that.”

In common with the majority of Irish politicians, Kenny and Rabbitte have not the slightest notion of what it is be a leader. It is not, as they seem to think, to slavishly follow the crowd, to pander to the lowest common denominator.

It is to state clearly where you stand, especially on the question of ethics in government and stand by that position no matter what the polls say.

Courageous leaders will attempt to persuade citizens that honest and visionary leadership will ultimately produce a fair society.

Eighty five years of independence and we’re still waiting for that courageous and visionary leadership.

Progress?

With a population of just four million, less than the city of Bristol, and after 15 years of unprecedented economic growth generating fabulous wealth there are still 400,000 Irish citizens who cannot read or write. (4th item)

SIPO: Powerless and ineffective

Today, I finally received a decision from the Standards in Public Office Commission regarding my complaint about Bertie Ahern.

Dear Mr. Sheridan,

I refer to your email of 10th of October 2006 to the Standards in Public Office Commission (Standards Commission) concerning a complaint about An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

Having considered your complaint, along with observations on the matter which it received from Mr. Ahern, the Standards Commission has decided that there is no basis on which to initiate an investigation under the Ethics in Public Office Acts 1995 and 2001.

The Standards Commission may examine the matter again if additional evidence emerges from the Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments.

Yours sincerely

Not for a moment did I think the decision would be otherwise. Neither does it surprise me that it took a year (short of three weeks) to process what should be a simple matter

As I wrote before concerning a complaint about another dodgy politician, Pat the Cope Gallagher;

Part of the reason for making these complaints is to challenge government agencies, to expose the fact that they are practically powerless (no accident) and the little power they do have is almost never used – Deliberate policy?

Touche

I’ve been away for a few days and a lot has happened since.

On Saturday View, Justice Minister, Brian Lenihan was doing what he (and his father before him) does best – defending the indefensible. We had the usual pathetic excuses regarding Ahern’s unbelievable financial shenanigans.

It’s the media’s fault; it’s the tribunal’s fault; it was a vulnerable and traumatic time for poor Bertie, blah, blah, blah.

When a caller described the whole thing as media frenzy, Lenihan got a little carried away.

Lenihan:

“There’s an awful lot of people turning off their radio sets this week, I met an incredible number and they weren’t all Fianna Fail supporters.”

Dave O’Connell (Presenter, in surprise):

“Turning off their radios?”

Lenihan:

“They’re not interested.”

O’Connell:

“Isn’t that a terrible indictment when you have the leader of a country being questioned and the public are not interested as to whether he did or didn’t get money?”

Touché

Facing the appalling vista

The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe has resigned after less than a year in office following a series of financial scandals involving some of his cabinet ministers.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, RTEs Charlie Bird expressed the following opinion on the latest episode of Bertigate.

“The public in a sense have already made their verdict on Bertie Ahern in the election. They knew all about this, they voted for him. Now what is at stake for Bertie Ahern is his legacy.”

The possibility of Ahern resigning is such a remote possibility that it doesn’t even enter the consciousness of our most experienced and professional broadcasters.

Over the next week or so Ahern’s financial fantasy world will receive wall to wall coverage and analysis but the question of resignation will hardly be mentioned, if at all.

Everybody knows what the reality is but nobody will actually talk about it. Everybody knows that such low standards are not tolerated in any other Western democracy. Deep down, every Irish citizen knows what we are but very few are prepared to face the appalling vista.

Dunphy, seeing the light

“Ireland is a very, very corrupt country in all its institutions and professions.”

This was the view expressed by Eamonn Dunphy on last Sunday’s Marian Fincuane Show. When asked to elaborate, Dunphy went on; (Edited version)

“If you reflect on our professions, accountants, Bankers, Gardai, some of our major business figures and no less a person than the Taoiseach himself who is going to be in Dublin Castle this week.

I think that any forensic view of all of that tells us that we live in a deeply corrupt society.

We need honest people in public life and we need serious regulators running regulatory authorities. If you’re an accountant or banker and you are caught you need to be punished. I’m sick of seeing the consequences of corruption in this country, in every aspect of our national life.

If there is no probity, if there is no sense of justice abroad in our community then why should anyone behave? How can we point the finger at a delinquent, a gangster when people in suits are very often not much better?”

Welcome to the long held views of Public Inquiry, Eamonn.