Fine Gael senator Fidelma Healy Eames asked the leader of the Senate, Donnie Cassidy, a very simple question (Today with Pat Kenny, Thursday).
Has Ireland cancelled the bilateral agreement (on adoption) with Vietnam?
Cassidy refused to answer.
Senator Eames was forced to submit an FOI on the matter. She was informed by a civil servant that an answer to her (yes or no) question would cost her €1,247.
Such (legal) corruption is just one more reason for bringing the entire rotten system down.
This thought has been forming in my mind recently. Fianna Fáil – if recent polls are any guide – will probably lose so heavily in the next general election as to be out of government for at least twenty years. What if they are saying to themselves “Well if we are going to go down, we are going to bring the rest of you with us” Maybe that’s a good thing and the system needs not merely reform but reconstruction, but a lot of people could get hurt in the rubble and its usually the poor and defenceless
The Ombudsperson and presidential hopeful Emily O Reilly is responsible for the fiasco which is the FOI.