Time to replace the old rotten republic

What Irish citizens have been witnessing for the last two years is the slow but increasingly rapid disintegration of our rotten republic.

Let me be clear, this destruction of the old republic is the most significant and most positive thing to happen since independence.

The process of disintegration was triggered by the global financial crisis which had the affect of exposing Ireland for what it really is – a corrupt state.

The most serious (and welcome) incident in this process happened yesterday at the annual conference of the Garda Representative Association when the president of the GRA, Michael Boyce, circulated a speech strongly criticising the Government, Fianna Fail and the Minister for Justice.

I do not believe I am exaggerating when I say that the speech is on a par with the Proclamation of the Republic in 1916.

Obviously, neither Michael Boyce nor the GRA are declaring a rebellion but they have thrown down a very strong challenge to the ruling power which they clearly believe (just as the 1916 rebels believed about the then ruling power) have no right to govern the Irish people.

Every word of the following extract from the speech is true and it is heartening, at last, to witness somebody stand up and publicly state the truth.

We are angry at the arrogance of a government corrupted by years of power, a government whose only agenda is to protect the economic traitors.

This government has mismanaged the wealth of the country for more than a decade by allowing our assets to be plundered and robbed by bankers and speculators.

You are making generations of Irish workers pay the price for this treachery.

You did this because bankers and speculators bought your party and in return you sacrificed the greater good and prosperity of the Irish nation for the benefit of the few who have taken their ill gotten gains and secured them in tax havens around the world.

You are truly a government of national sabotage.

Apart from a military coup, this is the most serious challenge any government could face. If the police force in the UK, France or the US made such a challenge to the State there would be an immediate and strong response.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern said the remarks were

an unprecedented political intervention by a Garda representative and have no place in a modern democracy

and

No democrat could tolerate such political interventions by any member of a police force.

If Ahern truly believes he lives in a democracy then he has no option but to take immediate action. At a minimum, the Minister should immediately sack Michael Boyce and summarily disband the GRA.

The government cannot ignore this challenge and retain any credibility, they must respond with strong action or admit, by default, that what has been uttered is true and take their leave from office.

I passionately believe that Michael Boyce and the GRA are right in their assessment of the situation and that; sooner rather than later, this corrupt government will be thrown out of power.

It is only when the mechanisms of the old corrupt regime are completely dismantled that the people of Ireland can begin the task of building a new republic.