Ireland enters the Mugabesque sphere

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

Madam,

The sweeping powers now held by the Minister for Finance seem to be similar to those held by the Eastern German regime of Eric Honecker.

Since the passing of laws to legally transform private debt into public debt and to have the related court hearings held before only certain legal personnel, excluding any independent media to represent the taxpayers interest, one can only shudder at the totalitarian implications for our future.

These powers contain things unheard of in a western democracy including that any one who leaks any information is subject to a serious jail sentence.

All of this is none other than summary censorship on public matters, (we own these banks), and whistleblower prevention extraordinaire.

This moved by an un-mandated government and endorsed by the now autumnal Green Party.

Hiding behind the fig-leaf of the mooted abolition of the Seanad, TV and radio have been remarkably quiet about all of this and the implications of this legal enshrining of banker interests above those of the public are swept away with the crumbs of the Christmas turkey and pudding.

Yours, etc,

Eileen O’Sullivan,
Vevay Road,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.

A nation rarely goes corrupt overnight; it’s usually a slow process over many years.

Bit by bit freedoms are restricted, state secrecy becomes the norm, the media begins to die as an effective guardian of free speech and citizens begin to accept the abnormal and dysfunctional as normal and acceptable.

The situation has become so serious that only revolutionary steps by a new government will prevent Ireland from moving into what an Irish Examiner editorial described as a Mugabesque sphere.

Given that the entire body politic operates within a corrupt system this is unlikely to happen.