Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
According to a panelist on the Marian Finucane Show (Sunday), FAS spent €1,633 on flowers for one of their functions at the luxurious Carton House Hotel in Maynooth. We were also informed that the same crowd spent €146,000 on hotels in 2005.
Carton House Hotel describes itself as ‘a wonderful world of contrasts’.
Given the state of our finances the indulgences of FAS could be described as ‘a grotesque world of contrasts’.
Without question, Ireland is the most centrally controlled, secretive and corrupt country in the EU.
It is therefore hilarious to witness politicians, various commentators and a disturbing number of journalists attack those who ran campaigns opposing the Lisbon Treaty referendum on the basis that, somehow, they were acting undemocratically.
The reality is that it is the politicians and much of the media who pose a threat to democracy by their absolute refusal to accept the democratic will of the people.
Declan Ganley, in particular, has been singled out and portrayed as the Devil Incarnate himself if we are to believe what these so called defenders of democracy think.
At the weekend we saw these defenders of democracy ban Irish media from attending a press briefing given by the Czech president Vaclav Klaus and Declan Ganley.
There is no difference whatsoever between this act of media suppression and similar bans imposed by the former Soviet Union. Not a murmur of protest was heard from the National Union of Journalists.
Here’s how RTE reporter, Sean Whelan, presumably himself a member of the NUJ, reported this piece of state media censorship (Link not available).
“President Klaus gave a briefing to Czech journalists but Irish officials wouldn’t let the Irish media in. It’s unusual not to have media access to a visiting head of state but then it’s unusual for a visiting head of state to be opposed to the Lisbon Treaty.”
Whelan’s view (or perhaps the view of somebody higher up in RTEs news department) seems to be that only visiting heads of state that are in full agreement with government policies will be allowed full media exposure.
Dissenters will be strictly monitored and their views censured by government agents, just like they are in China and other communist countries.
Minister of State, Conor Lenihan is also very worried about the threat to democracy by people who take it into their heads to act democratically. Here’s what he had to say on Today FM yesterday.
“There is an issue around Lisbon that does affect our democracy in one very serious way.
What’s happening is that people who were part of the loose alliance of groups that opposed Lisbon are now being accorded the same status as for instance Lucinda (Creighton FG) and Alex (White Lab) here who are actually quite different, they’re elected representatives.
But one of the issues now is that even in media picking and choosing of panels they’re now being given equal status which I think is somewhat suspect.”
“But there’s a really profound issue here because the people and parties that supported Lisbon represent the democratic will of the people of Ireland yet now we have people who have never being elected, who don’t put themselves before the electorate, yet come out at the time of referendums and campaign.”
Ok, Conor Lenihan is not the brightest but even he should realise that it is the main political parties in the country with massive support from mainstream media that are challenging the democratic will of the people, not those who successfully campaigned for a No vote.
The show’s presenter, Sam Smyth, who I presume is also a member of the NUJ, made no challenge whatsoever to Lenihan’s claim that only elected politicians should be allowed to campaign on political matters.
Clearly, Smyth is a Yes man.
Copy to:
RTE News
NUJ
Dept. of Foreign Affairs
Sam Smyth
Conor Lenihan
Here’s how Donegal Fianna Fail TD Dr. Jim McDaid explained why he could not support the Government’s decision to postpone a cervical cancer vaccination programme for young women.
“We will pass a death sentence on a certain percentage of the 12-year-old girls whose parents cannot afford the cost of it.”Is there anyone in this House who would not give the vaccine to their daughters today?”
“Fifty years from now, it will not be important what my bank account was, what type or car I drove or what size of house I lived in.”It does matter to me that during my stay in this House I may have been, just may have been, important in the life of a child.
“Accordingly, I cannot vote for the Government’s motion this evening,”
“I fully realise the implications of this but I trust that my colleagues understand that, while I will abstain, I will not vote per se against them.
I cannot vote against an oath I took 34 years ago.”
The oath Dr. McDaid speaks of is, of course, the Hippocratic Oath. The following are two promises made in the oath.
“To practice and prescribe to the best of my ability for the good of my patients, and to try to avoid harming them.” and “Never to do deliberate harm to anyone for anyone else’s interest.”
Dr. McDaid seems to be taking a distinctly Fianna Fail attitude to the oath.
He knew that no matter how he voted the Government would prevail. So if he was genuinely determined ‘never to do deliberate harm to anyone for anyone else’s interest’ he should have voted against the motion instead of hedging his bets by abstaining.
As it is he has put himself in the worst of positions. His colleagues will not be impressed by his plea that he is ‘not voting per se against the motion and others will judge that as doctor who took the Hippocratic Oath he felt it was enough to merely abstain on a matter that was important to the life of a child.
He won’t, however, have to worry about the judgement of a ‘certain percentage of 12 year old girls’.
Last week the Minister for Health Mary Harney told the Seanad that there were 10,000 fewer over 70s in the population than the number of those which had the medical card. This means that doctors are being paid millions for patients who are dead.
The HSE says it carries out monthly checks of all deaths registered to ensure patients who have died are deleted from its database of medical card holders.
A doctor speaking on Liveline during the week blamed bureaucratic incompetence and an inefficient HSE IT system for the shambles.
Whatever the reason, we can be sure of one thing – a massive fraud is being perpetrated on the taxpayer by somebody. This scandal has been going on since 2001 and apparently nobody possesses the intelligence or will to resolve the matter.
Last year it was conservatively estimated that doctors owed the State €1.8 million in overpayments but for some inexplicible reason the HSE seem unable to force doctors to hand back the money.
Expressing dissatisfaction with the situationat the time, the Comptroller and Auditor General advised that breaths should not be held by those waiting for repayment from doctors.
Keeping in mind what the above doctor said about inefficient IT systems here’s what Dr. Ronan Boland, Vice Chair of the Irish Medical Organisation’s GPs Committee had to say on Morning Ireland in March 2007.
“New IT systems have been put in place, so for the first time in the last 12 months, doctors like myself or my staff can go online and see in real time whether somebody is eligible for a service but that’s only in the last 12 months approximately.”
So, if new IT systems were put in place over two years ago why are doctors still been paid for 10,000 dead patients and more importantly, why are doctors who, according to Dr. Boland can see in real time who is eligible, accepting such payments?
Bertie fans are really coming out of the woodwork in response to the television documentary.
Corcoran, a fanatical fan, thinks that Ahern will come to regret his participation in what he describes as a ‘crude little series’. In this instance I agree with Corcoran. So far, the documentary paints Ahern in a very bad but truthful light so it’s not surprising that one of his most devoted fans is upset.
O’Dea approves of the documentary. He tells us that the series demonstrates that wealth and personal glory were not the motivating factors for Ahern’s career in politics. Mmm…perhaps all that money Bertie ‘won on the horses’ was donated to charity?
Amazingly, O’Dea actually makes a mild criticism of Haughey – “Haughey polarised, Bertie united.” He tells us. Such ‘courage’ from one of the fearful faithful? Methinks Willie will be receiving a visit some dark night from the great corrupter.
John Cooney: (Author of ‘Battleship Bertie’; Politics in Ahern’s Ireland)
Cooney is another fan although he does refer to Ahern as ‘the disgraced ex-Taoiseach’. He goes on to describe Ahern as a major figure in history, tells us that the nation nostalgically yearns for the vanished Golden Age of the Bertie Era. Well, that’s partially correct – there was a lot of vanished gold.
Cooney aligns himself with all those stupid people who ignore the facts and choose to believe the fairytale that the cunning Bertie got out of power because he knew what was coming down the line.
I say stupid people because if, as his admirers claim, Bertie was a world class leader, a man of the people, a patriot to his fingertips, surely he would have stayed on to lead the nation through the great crisis and out into the glory of yet another Golden Age? Instead, the fecker legged it.
Professor Richard Aldous (Head of History and Archives at UCD).
Never heard of this guy before but he’s certainly a Bertie fan. The professor tells us that the Mahon Tribunal will warrant a mere two paragraphs when history makes its judgement on Ahern.
“The first will be to recount the part the inquiry played in the downfall of a Taoiseach. The second paragraph will be to wonder at the democratic deficit involved in that process.”
Clearly, the professor believes that Ahern is an innocent man brought down by an evil tribunal. I wonder what influence this man has on young students.
Later, Aldous bizarrely and grotesquely equates Ahern’s leadership qualities with those of Barack Obama – Where’s that bucket?
Brendan O’Connor: (Sunday Independent columnist).
O’Connor is Ahern’s number one fan; there are times when I suspect that the columnist is actually in love with his hero. He agrees with Ahern’s ex wife that Bertie has ‘lovely eyes’.
O’Connor attacks all the usual suspects, that is, everybody who hasn’t sworn undying loyalty to the ward boss.
He regrets that the documentary felt the need to trot out all that boring nitty-gritty stuff about Ahern’s bank accounts; it destroyed what could have been a great epic, he tells us. Bertie, according to O’Connor, is a ‘flawed masterpiece.’
Like all the other Bertie fans O’Connor talks about the deep and mysterious Bertie, the man that nobody really knows, the man who doesn’t even know himself, the man who looks in the mirror every morning and asks himself – “Can I trust you?”
Given the culture of corruption and ruthless ambition in Fianna Fail I’d say that’s a question every TD in the party asks every moring as they look in the mirror.
“Fine Gael’s foreign affairs spokesman Billy Timmins said the Minister for Foreign Affairs should lodge a formal complaint with his Czech counterpart over Mr Klaus’s “inappropriate behaviour in creating a very definite perception that he is strongly sympathising with groupings and individuals who are opposed to Irish Government policy.”
(Irish Times).
What would be the basis of such a complaint? That Mr. Klaus was democratically engaging in free speech?
Copy to:
Fine Gael
On yesterday’s Drivetime Journalist and author Olivia O’Leary told a story of how Bertie Ahern ruthlessly damaged her reputation and good name in order to protect his corrupt friend Haughey.
A vote of no confidence was due to be taken by the Fianna Fail Parliamentary Party on Haughey’s leadership. In a cynical tactic to frighten anti Haughey TDs Ahern lied to the meeting by saying that O’Leary had informed him which anti Haughey TD had been her source of information.
One TD later angrily challenged her:
“So much for journalists protecting their sources.”
According to O’Leary, it took a very long time for her to clear her good name.
She finished the story with this amazing remark.
“I don’t hold it against him; his achievements as Taoiseach wipe these things out.”
It is this attitude, especially when held by those of influence in the media; that make it possible for corrupt politicians like Haughey, Burke etc. and self proclaimed mafia bosses like Ahern to safely live out their careers of enrichment for themselves and friends.
As the ‘Bertie’ documentary continues we see more and more parallels between the corrupt Haughey and the chancer Ahern.
When Ahern came to power he immediately put his personal fundraiser, Des Richardson in charge of Fianna Fail finances. The corrupt Des Traynor did the same job for Haughey. Some very dodgy activities occurred during both regimes.
When Haughey was in financial trouble Traynor approached five or six businessmen for a dig out. On last night’s documentary we heard from one Ahern supporter how Des Richardson approached six or seven businessmen to give Bertie a dig out.
When Haughey became Taoiseach he called in the corrupt banker and property speculator Patrick Gallagher to beg for money. Disgracefully, this actually happened in the Taoiseach’s office. Gallagher was only 26 at the time.
On last night’s documentary we heard how a 25 year old builder, with no connection to Ahern whatsoever, contributed £5,000 to one of the dig outs. When the builder was asked about his motives he said:
“It doesn’t do any harm to be publicly known as a friend of Bertie Ahern. This guy has helped the country, helped us become the nation we are.”
And Ahern has indeed made a major contribution to the kind of country Ireland has become. Unfortunately, millions of Irish citizens have and will continue to suffer well into the future as a consequence of his contribution.
The PDs came into existence in the mid 80s in reaction to the ruthless and corrupt leadership of Haughey.
They were a party of courage and integrity while Des O’Malley was leader but as soon as Mary Harney took over the party reverted to its Fianna Fail roots of ignoring corruption in Irish public life in exchange for power.
In part two of ‘Bertie’ Harney effectively confirmed that she has always been a closet Fianna Failer. Asked about the controversy that saw Haughey sack Brian Lenihan as demanded by the PDs she said:
“It’s an issue many in our party would feel bad about, about the stand we took and the way we did.”
Genuine PDs should be proud that they got Lenihan’s head on a plate. Unfortunately it was the last occasion in which the party stood by the Republic.
I can’t let the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross affair go without comment.
There was a great deal of tut tutting in Ireland in response to the affair but, curiously, hardly a word of criticism of Tommy Tiernan’s obnoxious performance on the Late Late Show in which he exploited the suffering of disabled people for a few cheap laughs.
When it’s one of our own we tend to analyse the incident to death and then make excuses but we seldom actually admit that anything wrong occurred.
In stark contrast our sense of outrage is immediately triggered when such behaviour occurs in other countries. Truly, our hypocrisy is world class and none better than Irish Independent columnist Kevin Myers.
In his column Myers tells us that civilisation as we know it is in danger if the likes of Ross and Brand are not permanently banned from the airwaves. He tells us that the BBC is a corrupt organisation, that in addition to Ross and Brand, Simon Cowell and Jeremy Clarkson are also abusive bullies.
Phew, heavy stuff and to cap it all Myers tells us that 9pm is far too early a watershed for the broadcasting of sexually explicit remarks. Are we seeing the emergence of an Irish Mary Whitehouse here?
Myers’ hypocrisy is of a particularly obnoxious kind because if he was to adopt the standards he demands of the BBC he himself should be permanently excluded from writing in newspapers.
The Ross/Brand affair was in the halfpenny place in comparison to his infamous ‘Bastard’ article in the Irish Times in February 2005 in which he accused unmarried women of
“Consciously embark upon a career of mothering bastards because it seems a good way of getting money and accommodation from the State.”
There was massive and sustained outrage over the article eventually forcing Myers to issue what he called an unconditional apology. It was, of course, nothing of the sort. We can see this clearly by simply comparing two contradictory quotes, one from his article and one from his apology.
“And how many girls – and we’re largely talking about teenagers here – consciously embark upon a career of mothering bastards because it seems a good way of getting money and accommodation from the State? Ah. You didn’t like the term bastard? No, I didn’t think you would.”
Obviously, Myers was fully aware that his use of the word bastard would cause outrage but he tries to cover that up in his apology.
“In tackling this subject, I deliberately used the word “bastard” because I genuinely feel that the word has no stigma attached to it; and because I feel this with such a passion, I did not allow for other people’s sensitivities over it.”
Russell Brand was fired from his job and Jonathan Ross was suspended for twelve weeks which will cost him £1.7 million in lost wages but that’s not enough for Mr. Myers, he demands that:
“The only punishment for a such a studied and deliberate assault both on their lives and on the standards by which the rest of us live must be a condign and permanent exclusion from the airwaves.”
The ‘Bastard’ article by Myers was a much more serious incident than that of Ross and Brand and yet he demands nothing less that the total destruction of their careers as punishment.
Obviously, Myers is of the opinion that his offensive article required nothing more than a shallow and dishonest apology.
As I said; Irish hypocrisy is world class.
Copy to:
Kevin Myers