Category: The State

Failing to make connections

Last night’s ‘Prime Time Investigates’ revealed evidence of massive corruption in the Irish housing market. Estate agents, developers and estate management company’s are ripping off house buyers in scams that would make the mafia blush. The few laws governing this area are broken with impunity.

In recent times this excellent programme has exposed similar corruption in the legal, health, banking and motor industry. Here are a few questions.

Why is it that a television crew can go out any day, pick any industry, and uncover serious criminal activity? There are dozens of so called regulators in Ireland, yet they never uncover this type of corruption.

Why is it that no action has been taken against these criminals? The evidence is there on file and film, just waiting for a police investigation. Nothing ever happens.

Why is it that the Irish people never get angry when they see that the State protects the criminals at the expense of the consumers?

A hint of an answer can be derived from the recent polls carried out after our Prime Minister was found to have accepted ‘loans’ and ‘gifts’ from friends. A majority of people felt that his actions were wrong but that he should not be held accountable.

In other words, Irish people are unable to make a connection between a rampantly corrupt society and the dodgy behavior of politicians. They fail to see that the corrupt take their cue from the actions of the body politic.

For so long as they fail to make this connection, they will continue to be robbed.

Blind corruption

The ability to deny reality is a vital necessity when living in a corrupt state. Countless thousands of citizens who regularly rob, cheat, humiliate and otherwise abuse their fellow citizens must have a psychological ability to see their actions as normal. They must be able to compartmentalise their crimes so that they do not conflict with their social and family activities.

Irish bank officials, for example, who robbed millions from their customers over the years, taught their children that stealing was wrong and yet went to work every day and stole from their customers without ever accepting that they were committing the same crime.

We have seen over the years that Irish politicians, solicitors, businessmen, civil servants, policemen and many other sections of Irish society have developed this Jekyll and Hyde ability of acting corruptly while pretending to live normal lives.

This pretence, however, can be upset when questions are asked by somebody from outside the jurisdiction, somebody who has lived, trained and worked in a jurisdiction not infected by the disease of corruption. This was the case in the Neary scandal. Dr. Michael Neary destroyed the lives of scores of healthy women by unnecessarily removing their wombs.

His activities were obviously wrong but nobody asked questions until the arrival of a nurse from the UK, a non corrupt jurisdiction. Despite coming under severe pressure to keep quiet this woman persisted and an investigation was carried out by a group of Dr. Neary’s fellow doctors.

It should come as no surprise that these doctors, who, after all, live and operate within a corrupt state, found that Dr. Neary had no case to answer. In fact, one of them commented that Neary’s patients should consider themselves lucky to have the services of such an accomplished doctor.

When the case was reviewed by another doctor outside our corrupt jurisdiction he immediately concluded that there were grounds for grave concern, finally forcing the Irish Government to conduct an independent inquiry. (This report is well written and worth reading)

As a result of the scandal, a number of the victims made an official complaint to the Irish Medical Council against the doctors who carried out the initial review of Neary’s activities.

Like Irish solicitors and bankers, Irish doctors are allowed to investigate themselves in secret. When a few of the victims made the modest request (13th item) for permission to attend the fitness to practice hearing, they were, of course, denied.

The legal protection enjoyed by The Irish Medical Council is so strong that they could not even confirm that the meeting they held to deny the victims their request actually took place.

Money? – Yes Law? – No

The recent suggestion by Fine Gael Cllr. Michael Fitzgerald that his rural constituents should be exempt from the law on drinking and driving serves as a good example of the irresponsible attitude of the Irish when it comes to law enforcement.

There was another good example on last Wednesday’s Drivetime (Farm News). Irish farmers have been whingeing for years about a proposed EU directive designed to reduce the environmental damage caused by nitrates.

When it comes to EU money, the Irish always plead special case status for more. When it comes to EU law we always plead for less. And so it was with the Nitrate Directive. The farmers finally wore the EU bureaucrats down and got special status. In other words, they are free to continue their environmentally damaging ways.

But the farmers weren’t finished yet. The Irish Farmers Association is insisting that farmers should be given a copy of the check list used by inspectors and also a minimum of 14 notice of any inspection, which, of course completely negates the whole exercise.

Criminal prosecution? Depends on who you are

There was a major raid in Cork last Monday by the Gardai, Criminal Assets Bureau, National Bureau of Investigation and Immigration Bureau. The raid was part of an investigation into human trafficking, money laundering, tax evasion and other serious crimes.

Money laundering and tax evasion are serious crimes in Ireland? That’s certainly news to me.

Anyone observing the activities of financial institutions, politicians, property developers and many other so called pillars of society over the decades could be forgiven for thinking that money laundering and tax evasion were legitimate business activities in this country.

It depends, of course, on who you are. The raid in Cork, which involved over 80 gardai, targeted the sleazy underbelly of the city’s sex industry. No doubt, many of these people will be charged, brought to court and if found guilty, sent to jail. Other citizens, however, can rob millions and get away scot free.

Take for example the Bailey brothers, building developers and major tax criminals. For decades these criminals robbed millions from the State. Recently, they ‘made an arrangement’ with Revenue in which they paid back €22 million, the largest personal tax settlement in the history of the State (Yes, that figure is correct – €22 million).

There is not the slightest doubt that if these two criminals lived in any other country in the world, they would now be serving a very long jail sentence.

Frank Daly, our esteemed Revenue chairman tells us that a criminal prosecution was not tenable because of the passage of time, difficulty of collecting evidence and the likelihood of getting people to cooperate.

This laughable explanation was immediately followed by the even more farcical claim.

“It is the policy of Revenue to prosecute and then collect money in large tax offence cases.”

No doubt it would also be claimed that the large ‘donations’ made by these criminals over the years to various political parties had no bearing whatsoever on their special treatment.

Cowboy politics

I see Dessie Stewart of the DUP has been sentenced to four months in jail for electoral fraud. The former lord mayor of Coleraine took 15 postal votes belonging to residents of an elderly care home and cast them for the DUP in last year’s local elections.

How he must envy politicians in our banana republic who regularly involve themselves in electoral fraud but very rarely face a police investigation, never mind actually going to jail.

Take Lorcan Allen of Fianna Fail for example. During the local elections in 2004 he circulated thousands of letters, at taxpayer’s expense, with a forged signature of the Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern.

So, did Mr. Allen go to jail? No. Was he even investigated by the police? No. After an ‘investigation’ by his own party’s rules and procedure committee, he was suspended from the party for one year.

He was still allowed to take his seat on the local council that his corruption had helped him secure.

Please, no law enforcement – we're Irish

Last week, our Prime Minister was reported as saying that the EU should not pursue countries as diligently as they do to enforce EU legislation. This attitude is entirely in keeping with the Irish culture of corruption. You can have all the laws you want but please, don’t actually enforce them.

We had a perfect example of this irresponsible attitude to law enforcement when FG Cllr Michael Fitzgerald said he thought it was ok to drink and drive. He was supported by FF Cllr Joe Donovan who said that people who engaged in drink driving after ‘having a few’ would never have an accident.

This backwoodsman mindset is common in a corrupt state like Ireland. It was only after thousands of deaths, hundreds of thousands of horrific injuries and billions wasted on health care in recent years that the State finally began to enforce traffic laws.

People living in rural areas, used to getting away with breaking the law were outraged by this law enforcement and complained to their local politicians.

The suggested Irish answer to this Irish problem is to allow rural people in their 40s, 50s and 60s to drink and drive because as Cllr Donovan said – “They never had an accident and never would.”

Meanwhile, the carnage continues.

Exiled journalist tells his story

There was a fascinating interview on Tonight with Vincent Browne last Wednesday night. Joe McAnthony, an investigative journalist who was forced to leave Ireland in the 70s because he was too good at his job, was telling his story.

In the early 70s McAnthony exposed the Irish Hospital Sweepstakes for the corrupt scam it was. Organised by some dodgy characters with the full backing of the Irish State the Sweepstakes took in vast amounts over the decades. The money was supposed to fund Irish hospitals but in fact less than ten percent was actually used for this purpose.

It was in 1974, however, that McAnthony came under real pressure when he exposed the corrupt FF politician, Ray Burke. He was told that ‘perhaps it would be better’ if he left his job at Independent Newspapers.

He had a contract with the state broadcaster (RTE) who continued to pay him (taxpayer’s money) but bizarrely refused him further work. He eventually had to leave Ireland to get work.

Burke was allowed to continue his corrupt rampage for another 30 years, doing enormous damage to the people of Ireland, before he finally saw the inside of a jail.

McAnthony wondered why Ireland was unlike any other country, why the corrupt were seldom brought to justice, why the Irish police never raided the offices and homes of politicians who were suspected of corruption, why the facilitators of corruption like lawyers, auditors and accountants were never investigated.

The answer is of course, simple – the State itself is a corrupt entity and therefore has a vested interest in protecting the corrupt system is operates.

Ireland – Refuge for world's white collar criminals?

I see Jeff Skilling of Enron has been sentenced to 24 years in jail for his part in the fraud that bankrupted the company. It’s always interesting to see how real democracies enforce their laws.

Skilling was refused bail, was fitted with an electronic tag and will go to jail in about 90 days – for what is, effectively, a life sentence. Former employees were allowed to address the court (and Skilling) about the impact of his crimes. Here’s how one such employee expressed herself.

“Mr. Skilling has proven to be a liar, a thief and a drunk, flaunting an attitude above the law. He has betrayed everyone who has trusted him. Shame on me for believing the management of Enron,”

Ken Lay was also due for sentencing with Skilling but he died in the meantime and his case was dropped. It can be seen from the Enron trials that the Americans know what white collar crime is and how to deal with the disease.

In Ireland, it is likely that Skilling would have been awarded entrepreneur of the year and poor old ‘Kenny boy’ would probably have been granted a state funeral with a tearful oration by our Prime Minister.

Indeed, I think Ireland is missing out on a golden opportunity here. The country is obviously a justice free zone for thieving bankers, solicitors, politicians and all kinds of other dodgy ‘white collar’ characters (The law is, of course, fully enforced on wayward peasants).

The Government should officially declare the country a refuge for the world’s white collar criminals. They would, of course, have to comply with the old Irish tradition of ‘donating’ a percentage of their ill gotten gains to ‘certain parties’.

In return, they would be guanteed immunity and in the unlikely event of actually getting caught doing something dodgy, they would simply be referred to one of the never ending tribunals.

There they could happily live out the rest of their lives relating fantasy tales to entertain all those wayward peasants who actually do time for their crimes.

Incompetence and carnage

For many years there has been carnage on Irish roads, the worst record in Europe. Politicians have failed miserably to solve the problem.

Why, one can reasonably ask is Ireland almost unique in the world in its inability to tackle this problem.

The following stripped down interview by Pat Kenny of the Minister for Transport will provide some hint

Minister – On the latest deaths. “The Road Safety Authority is going to present proposals for tough new restrictions on young drivers. Clearly, the licencing regime, the training needs to be substantially changed…”

Pat – We still have provisional drivers driving alone – shouldn’t we be enforcing the law like other countries?

Minister – Well, you are absolutely right; we need to change the regime entirely. Minister then gives examples of how other countries dealt with such problems.

Pat – In Northern Ireland they have a policy of restricting young drivers after their test.

Minister – And we will have to do the same…

Pat – What about the back log of people waiting for testing… problems with driver information…

Minister – …I mean the system we have in Ireland is simply not adequate

Pat – But the system needs to be reformed..

Minister – Well, that’s what Noel (Brett, CSO of the National Roads Authority ) is coming back to me with.. ending of backlog will allow the introduction of an entirely new licencing regime.

Pat – …size of engine, limit car speeds…

Minister – well Noel and I were talking about this and it’s one of the issues we’re working at…

Pat – Garda resources deployed more intelligently…instead of shooting fish in a barrel..

Minister – Well, I think they’re going to do that… that situation is going to change quite dramatically.

Pat – Local authorities granting planning along motorways turning them into suburbs, especially the M50

Minister – Well, it (M50) did become a commuter road but it was never designed for that… who could have foreseen that would happen? We’re doing a feasibility study on a huge orbital from Drogheda to Kildare (Feck – from Drogheda to Kildare???)

Pat – …would have to insist that local authorities would not build on it…

Minister – …That’s why we have given the National Roads Authority the role in planning…they are taking a very strong line on a lot of the new roads around the country.

This kind of ribbon development is not going to happen any more. Unfortunate about the M50…but that development is also needed (ribbon development along motorways), jobs, companies want to be close to their markets…conflicts to be resolved…

Minister Cullen has been in the job for two years, the Government has been in power for nearly ten years.

Lithuania, a country that gained its independence only a few years ago also suffered from a serious road safety problem. They trained and resourced a proper traffic police force and sent them out to deal with the idiots and killers.

In one year the death rate was reduce by half. Irish citizens are still waiting (After decades) for this simple but effective action. All we get is waffle – meanwhile the carnage continues.

Deadly ignorance

Hardly a day passes in Ireland without some new report of corruption or gross incompetence usually in the Government/public administration sectors.

Whether it’s Government ministers prostituting State offices for monetary gain, public servants robbing and abusing the elderly, so called State regulatory bodies pathetically failing to even make an effort at doing their jobs or just ordinary everyday criminal negligence, the response is always the same – Denial, excuses, blaming somebody else. Never, ever, will you witness these so called State servants actually taking responsibility.

The latest example of this never ending stream of incompetence and corruption broke yesterday. Up to a hundred children were put at risk of contacting Hepatitis C between 1991 and 1994 because of inadequate screening.

To date nobody has accepted responsibility, this is normal in our banana republic. The hospital has claimed it did not have funding for proper screening, the Dept of Health have said they never received requests for funding. Making excuses, blaming somebody else is normal in our banana republic.

The hospital knew nine months ago but kept the whole thing hushed up because they claim they wanted to first make a list of all those put at risk. I personally do not believe this. Secrecy is the greatest weapon of the corrupt and incompetent, especially when that secrecy is encouraged by the State itself. If the media had not uncovered this latest scandal it is likely the hospital would have kept the whole thing secret.

As always, it was not a so called State regulatory body that uncovered the scandal. In almost all cases Irish State authorities will cover up corruption and incompetence. It was the media (RTE News) that informed the public. In this banana republic the media, along with a few courageous whistleblowers, is the only source of corruption exposure.

A bill going through our irrelevant and incompetent parliament is set to clamp down on such media exposes. In addition to this latest muzzle on media investigation the State is also planning to give itself the power to close down tribunals of investigation.

In the recent polls, a majority of citizens said they did not think that our Prime Minister should resign because he took money from businessmen while he held a senior ministry.

These people are politically ignorant. They cannot (or will not) see the connection between corrupt politicians/State officials and the enormous damage this corruption eventually does to every level of society.

They cannot see that their ignorance can kill their fellow citizens.