Author: Anthony

Welcome to our world, Professor

Quotes from an article penned by Professor John Crown in yesterday’s Sunday Independent. (My emphasis)

“I know I will be accused of wandering outside my sphere of competence when I say this, but my 15 years in Ireland as a returned emigrant, as a doctor working in the health service, and as a concerned observer of our system of government, has forced me to conclude that we are a failed political entity.”

“At the core of our public governance is a dysfunctional interface between inexpert ministers and senior civil servants who have generally risen to the top of their departments on the strength of their adroitness at navigating its bureaucracy. The ministers are unfortunately drawn exclusively from a cohort of generally mediocre, frequently nepotistic TDs, whose entree to national politics was based not on a grasp of the big issues of state, but on their ability to manipulate a local constituency party machine. These observations explain the now-exposed incompetence of our Government, an incompetence which was obscured from our view by the Celtic Bubble.”

Welcome to the world of Public Inquiry Professor.

The naked emperor

Brian Cowen’s problem is that he believed all that guff about how super intelligent he was, about how he was going to make mincemeat of the opposition and in particular how he was going to destroy Enda Kenny during Dail debate. It’s clear now that he’s no more than a bumbling, naked emperor.

His recent love in with 94 TDs and Senators seems, however, to have given him a boost. ‘Go out there and tell them who’s boss Brian’, they probably urged him. And so he did:

“As long as I am running this Government I will run the Government as I see fit..”

Labour Party leader, Eamon Gilmore had to remind the ‘naked emperor’ that he was answerable to the Dail.

Absent leadership

Irish Independent report

“Since the Dail finished its last session on December 18, an estimated 13,000 workers have lost their jobs and the problems in the banking sector, the property market and the exchequer finances have continued to worsen.”

“The Dail broke for Christmas on December 18, at a time when an average of 945 workers a day were losing their jobs.”

Cowardly strategies continue to endanger children

For decades the Catholic Church has hidden behind the ‘legal advice’ strategy in order to avoid taking responsibility for widespread child abuse within its ranks.

Other strategies include failing to report abusers to the authorities and protecting abusers by moving them around with subsequent horrendous consequences for thousands of children. At a softer level we have the usual excuses of being on a ‘learning curve’ and the issuing of endless but useless apologies to victims.

Recently, the antics of the clergy have become even more bizarre. Despite almost universal calls for him to resign the Bishop of Cloyne has steadfastly remained in position preferring to defend himself with the usual inane excuses.

Just when it seemed his position was becoming untenable in steps Cardinal Brady with a strong defence, declaring, that in his opinion the bishop should stay. After all, said the Cardinal, didn’t the man apologise.

Within days, the befuddled cardinal was so overwhelmed by the negative reaction to his views that he issued an apology for defending the bishop’s apology.

But by far the most bizarre and outrageous defence of the indefensible came from the editor of the Irish Catholic. Utilising yet another cynical strategy, that of blaming someone else, in this case the Government, the editor makes the ludicrous suggestion that by not resigning Bishop Magee is actually protecting children.

“If Bishop Magee had resigned before Christmas, the Cloyne affair would have disappeared off the news agenda and life would have returned to normal. Except for the fact that little would have been resolved in the real terms of putting children first and sorting out this national issue of protecting children absolutely, once and for all.”

What next – pedophile priests be allowed free reign in order to keep the problem in the public consciousness?

Copy to:
Irish Catholic (Editor)

Are you ready boots – Start walking

I wish President Obama every success in his attempts to bring peace to the Middle East but why, oh why did he have to appoint George Mitchell as peace envoy? Does he not realise the great suffering his decision will bring on the Irish people?

From now on every report on Mitchell’s progress in the Middle East will be previewed with a detailed account of the part he played in ‘Our Peace Process.’

Indeed, it is evolutionary impossible for any RTE newsperson to mention the name George Mitchell without recounting in great detail the part he played in ‘Our Peace Process.’

‘Our Peace Process’, which, it could be argued, has been going on for about 800 years, is lauded as a model for the rest of the world to follow. For feck sake, it went on for decades, the Good Friday Agreement alone took about twelve years to implement and that was after years of endless talks about talks about talks.

As George himself says:

“This was almost 800 years after Britain began its domination of Ireland, 86 years after the partition of Ireland, 38 years after the British army began its most recent mission in Ireland, 11 years after the peace talks began and nine years after a peace agreement was signed. In the negotiations which led to that agreement, we had 700 days of failure and one day of success. For most of the time progress was non-existent or very slow.”

You can almost feel the manic frustration in his words.

During negotiations it was obvious that Mitchell was on the brink of insanity, that at any moment he was going to start walking until he reached the Atlantic and then – keep on walking.

It’s likely that Mitchell had only one condition when Obama asked him to deal with the ‘easy’ Middle East conflict – No landings in Ireland, not even over flights, I’ll travel via the North Pole if necessary.

But Irish citizens will have no such escape. Already, deep in the bowels of Montrose, the old news reports and documentaries, anything featuring Mitchell, are being dusted down in readiness for broadcast.

Time, methinks, to put on the boots and start walking for the Atlantic.

Who will be the next Financial Regulator?

The Government hasn’t yet announced who will replace Patrick Neary, the incompetent Financial Regulator, who will retire with a lottery sized golden handshake and a massive pension later this week.

While it’s very difficult to predict who the replacement will be I would put money on the present Consumer Director and (I think) acting regulator Mary O’Dea.

The Government might see the appointment of a woman as a ‘radical’ move in addition to the fact that O’Dea is the only senior director that doesn’t have a Central Bank background.

Consumers, however, shouldn’t get too excited if indeed O’Dea is appointed. She’s just as ruthlessly committed to protecting the vermin that infest the financial sector as all previous regulators.

Prime Time carried out a sting operation last May in which they exposed serious mis-selling to the elderly by a number of financial institutions.

According to Ms. O’Dea there was no evidence to suggest there was a widespread problem across the industry but according to the Financial Ombudsman, Joe Meade, the practice is a serious problem.

When O’Dea was asked if the regulator’s conclusion that there wasn’t a serious problem was based on self reporting by the financial companies she said.

“It was based on asking companies at a senior level to examine their files and to look at the details of what they had on a control basis.”

So, the Prime Time undercover sting operation reveals very serious mis-selling and the experiences of the Financial Ombudsman also points to a very serious problem, but the regulator, who politely asks the financial institutions if they’re doing anything wrong, concludes that there’s no serious problem.

That’s the level of ‘regulation’ we can expect if O’Dea is appointed and, to be fair, it will be the same no matter who is appointed to the lucrative position.

Copy to:
Financial Regulator

Ahhh…Poor Seanie

Report in Sunday Independent.

On the nationalization of Irish Anglo Bank. ”

It’s a very sad day, but there’s really nothing else I have to say on that.”

(Well, what else is there to say?)

On his loans.

“Of course. If I borrowed money, I do intend to pay it back.”

(Note the word ‘intend’).

According to friends ‘Seanie’ is:

“Doing his best to bring a degree of normalcy to his family life. It’s been incredibly difficult for them all. Sean is under severe strain, but he is doing his best to put a brave face on it all.

“He hasn’t done anything illegal and a lot of the stuff that has been written and said has really been hurtful for the family,”

(It’s amazing how many people, including Government ministers, overpaid civil servants at the Financial Regulator and friends are absolutely certain that ‘Seanie’ has done nothing illegal).

“But you wouldn’t know how upset he is from looking at him. Only the other day, I was talking to him as he was pottering around in his garden shed, having a cup of tea from a pot he brought out on a tray.”

The hundreds of shareholders who have lost everything because of this man’s dodgy activities would, I’m sure, have a different view as do the 100% of respondents in a recent poll who said Fitzpatrick should face a full investigation by the Garda Fraud Squad.

The Devil, of course, will be skating on ice before that happens.

"Shut up, stop it" – 'We don’t want to hear the truth’

Marian Finucane (Sunday) was still very upset about the Ireland/Iceland joke on a recent Newsnight programme (See previous posting).

I suspect that Marian and her panel are more upset because the joke, which most people have already heard, was made by the ‘old enemy’ and proves the point that most Irish people are still struggling towards national maturity.

“We’ll it’s something that gets up my nose I have to say while I do think we have made mistakes, the subprime which has caused disaster right across the world originated in the US and I don’t want to be hurling insults at anybody but I mean that is where it started. So as it is the Financial Times, the New York Times and the Herald Tribune quoted that (Essentially, Ireland is corrupt) which is probably not doing us any good.”

Businessman and property developer Noel Smyth agreed with Marian

“That’s exactly the type of comment that you don’t need…we’ve had all the jokes…now we’ve had enough, shut up and let’s get on with it…we’re the wild west according to somebody in Germany (sic), somebody else said in the New York Times you wouldn’t invest in Ireland because you’d lose your money. Stop it; we’ve got to stop that.”

As Smyth spoke he was supported by a chorus from the panelists – Yes, that’s right, that’s right.

There was no discussion or acceptance that what these newspapers are saying about Ireland is actually true. Even as the financial tsunami that’s engulfing the world begins to expose the truth of our corruption we’re still shouting – ‘Shut up, stop it, we don’t want to hear the truth’.

Copy to:
Marian Finucane

Please, don't tell us the truth – We're Irish

Marian Finucane (Saturday) is not happy with the BBCs current affairs Newsnight programme .

According to Marian they were very sneery towards our Minister for Finance and our economy. During an interview on Newsnight it was put to Brian Lenihan that the only difference between Ireland and Iceland is one letter and six months.

“Completely untrue, replied the Minister, we have a thriving economy…we have a very strong vibrant economy.”

Lenihan didn’t specify which planet he’s currently living on.

Finucane responded.

“And I suppose you can’t help the Minister defending our own ground. I mean people are quoting the Financial Times (Ireland is a banana republic) and the New York Times (Ireland is the Wild West of EU finance) and various newspapers around the world (Astonished to learn that Fitzpatrick’s dodgy activities are actually legal in Ireland) talking about our crazy banking system.

Now let’s face it, there are a few things within our banking system that we have discovered that are not very far from crazy. But the fact of the matter is that the subprime messing started in the US and it seems to me that banking and bankers all over the world lost the plot. Anyway, there you go, I won’t go long winded on it.”

(Too late Marian).

Finucane’s reaction is typical of most Irish people when faced with the truth -Somebody else is to blame, in this case the subprime scandal in the US.

She can test the veracity of her view that Ireland is no different from any other country by answering a very simple question – What other country accepts serious criminal activity within its financial sector as the norm?

Copy to:
Marian Finucane

Whelan's rant

Noel Whelan, political analyst and former Fianna Fail candidate, is very upset at the way his hero Brian Cowen is being treated by the media.

“Brian Cowen has been subjected to an avalanche of criticism…some of it well grounded…however there’s also a large element of the criticism which is overly personalised, snide, cynical and juvenile.”

Whelan raged on Today with Pat Kenny (Monday).

Whelan accused the media of taking short cuts in order to fill print and air time and said they should reflect on their own failures.

Political lampooning is common in all self confident democracies but particularly in the UK and US. Politicians in these countries are mercilessly satirised but seldom complain because they don’t suffer from an inferiority complex.

Irish politicians and their friends get upset, I suspect, because they know that the humorous criticism is very close to the truth.