Author: Anthony

Something rotten in the woods

As I wrote in a previous post, the stench emanating from the State forestry company, Coillte Teoranta, is overwhelming.

In yesterday’s Sunday Independent we learn the following;

Despite making profits of over €200 million since it was set up in 1989 the company has steadfastly refused to hand over a single penny to the State.

State officials have been asking the company nicely for the past eight years to pay at least some of its profits back to the taxpayer. On each occasion the officials have been told to take a hike – and they have.

The company is 100% owned by the taxpayer but is run as a private company on behalf of the State.

The company has a dismal business strategy record and has been heavily criticised for its poor environmental policies. The company illegally obtained EU grants over a five year period. Nobody was made accountable for this fraud and the taxpayer was forced to repay the grants.

Despite this, senior management have awarded themselves performance bonuses of between €200,000 and €400,000 each year since the company was set up.

The company owns seven per cent of the country. This has to be said again – seven per cent of the country but is apparently permitted to do as it pleases.

No further comment required.

Referendum Commission: We're neutral but will be intervening

According to the Referendum Act, 2001 the Referendum Commission has three principal functions.

To explain the subject matter of the proposed referendum.

To use all means at its disposal to publish the explanations to as many people as possible.

To promote public awareness and encourage people to vote.

At the launch (2nd report) of the Commission’s campaign of information on the Lisbon Treaty last Tuesday, its chairman, Mr. Justice Iarfhlaith O’Neill, reiterated these functions and was crystal clear on the strict requirement for neutrality by his office.

“We do not intend to engage in the debate, we see our role as explaining to the people what is in the proposal. We are not going to supervise, control or try to influence that debate beyond discharging our statuary function to explain what’s in the treaty.”

In the same interview, and in complete contradiction to the above statement, Judge O’Neill also said.

“We will be monitoring the debate to see what happens and if we feel that there is serious confusion or that people are being confused or misled in a serious way on issues arising directly out of the treaty we may then issue clarifying statements.”

The judge is, in effect, bestowing upon himself and the Commission extra powers not contained in the Act. He is not going to ‘supervise, control or try to influence the debate’ but he is going to monitor the campaign and intervene when the commission thinks it necessary to help the ‘confused and misled’.

The Commission has already given its ‘considered position’ on the question of tax and neutrality, two of the main planks of the No campaign. According to the judge these elements will not be altered by the treaty.

The Commission, to date, has not issued any ‘considered position’ on claims made by the Yes campaign. For example, Bertie Ahern’s assertion that those who vote against the treaty are lunatics.

It is reasonable to assume therefore that the Commission is in full agreement with this claim.

Copy to:

Referendum Commission

Homer's logic and the HSE

Minister for Health Mary Harney has refused to say whether or not she was aware of the alleged fraudulent activity by Quest Diagnostics, the company which was awarded the multi-million euro smear testing contract despite serious concerns over their track record in the US.

In defence of the contract Ms. Harney said Quest Diagnosis was able to provide a quality assured service at a third of the cost of any Irish company that tendered.

This reminded me of a recent episode of the Simpson’s where Marge berates Homer for hiring a dodgy but cheap plumber. Homer explained that he made his decision based on the company’s attractive logo. Sounds like HSE logic to me.

Referendum notes

I note that the panel of Questions and Answers last Monday featured two pro Lisbon Treaty organisations – Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. There was no representation from the anti treaty side.

I note that the panel on The Late Debate last night featured two pro Lisbon Treaty organisations – Fine Gael and Fianna Fail. The pro treaty representatives on the show, Mary O’Rourke (FF) and Alex White (Lab.) made a strong attack on the strategies employed by the anti treaty side. There was no representation from the anti treaty side.

I note that RTE (9th report) gave wide coverage to the launch of a booklet by the Referendum Commission outlining the main points of the treaty.

An advertising campaign by the Referendum Commission warns voters that unless they know everything about the issue they will be voting in the dark. The problem with this is that voters are not being asked to vote on the Treaty as such but on an outline of the main points as interpreted by the Commission.

The Commission, an allegedly neutral authority, is not supposed to give a view one way or the other. That, unfortunately, didn’t stop the chairman of the Commission from telling the nation that important issues like taxation and neutrality will not be altered by the treaty.

“That’s our considered position and we have no option but to so state it.”

These two issues, neutrality and taxation, are two of the main planks of the anti treaty campaign. No anti treaty representatives were asked what they thought of the pro treaty views of the Commission.

I vaguely remember, back in the mist of time some sort of a law requiring the national broadcaster to ensure a strict balance of reporting for each side in a referendum – perhaps I was just dreaming.

Copy to:
Questions and Answers
The Late Debate

Martin Mansergh: A Victorian man

Fianna Fail TD Martin Mansergh has been appointed Minister of State at the Department of Finance. Despite this elevation, however, we are unlikely to hear much from Mr. Mansergh in the way of robust political debate.

This is because Mr. Mansergh cherishes quaint Victorian views on respect for seniority; he believes that junior public representatives should not speak until spoken to.

On 22nd February last (Morning Ireland, 1st report 3rd item), Mr. Mansergh lost the run of himself in a discussion with Fine Gael senator Eugene Regan regarding Bertie Ahern’s amazing stories at the Mahon Tribunal.

“I wouldn’t dream, even after six years being a member of the Oireachtas, I wouldn’t dream of making personal attacks on the leaders of FG and Labour in the manner that Senator Reagan has been doing for months.”

Later in the discussion while senator Regan was trying to make a point, Mansergh screamed:

“You should have respect for your betters; it’s totally improper.”

Neither was this just an emotional outburst in defence of his leader. Over a week later on the Marian Finucane Show (Sunday, 2nd March) when Mansergh was questioned on the matter he was quite clear.

If, for example, the Fine Gael party want to criticise the Taoiseach then that criticism should be done by the leader or a front bench person.

As others see us

Letter: Irish Times.

Madam,

As a Dutch national, I am somewhat bemused by the ecstatic crowds and county flags being waved at homecoming receptions for the new Taoiseach and Tánaiste, as if they had just won the All-Ireland.

Expectations of what the two will bring to Offaly and Donegal in terms of new jobs and investment are clearly high. But surely they have been appointed to look after the country as a whole?

Yours, etc,

MARIA HINFELAAR,
Director, Limerick Institute of Technology, Limerick.

Low grade public representatives; misplaced loyalties

Tanaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Mary Coughlan proudly
displays the following quote on her website.

‘Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centres of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.’

Unfortunately for the citizens of Ireland Ms. Coughlan doesn’t actually live by the sentiments expressed in the quote. She does not stand up for ideals, she does not act to improve the lot of others and she most certainly does not strike out against injustice.

About ten years ago the shocking scandal of Garda corruption in Donegal first became public. Over that period the Morris Tribunal has published six reports on the matter revealing the following outrages.

The framing of innocent citizens for murder, planting of explosives in order to gain promotion, unlawful arrests, mistreatment of citizens in custody, procurement of false confessions, perverting the course of justice and perjury. Not a single police officer has been charged in connection with any of these serious crimes and it is a certainty that none ever will.

In all those years, while all this slime was seeping from the national police force in a county where Ms. Coughlan is a public representative, a public representative who claims to strike out against injustice, had absolutely nothing to say on the matter until last Friday.

During an interview on RTE (1st report) in which the presenter, Sean O’Rourke, described the scandal as a tragedy for the Gardai in Donegal, Ms. Coughlan was asked if she was satisfied that the Gardai were now operating to the very highest standards.

The following is her reply with my comments in brackets.

“Well, I have to be very careful with this being married to a member of the force and therefore have not until today made any public comment on the matter.”

(This low grade politician is asking us to believe that she has remained silent on this national scandal for ten years because she’s married to a member of the police force. Her mealy mouthed and cowardly words are an insult to the intelligence of all right thinking citizens.)

“There are many issues that are being addressed by the Garda authorities and by the relevant ministers over the last number of years.”

(When the Deputy Commissioner of the force was asked what action was being taken against the rogue policemen he said he was powerless to act against them. It’s five years since the first report was published and we are still waiting for the matter to be seriously debated by our irresponsible and incompetent politicians in our national parliament.)

“This has been very fundamentally difficult time for many members of the force who have found that perhaps they have been let down or that there was public vilification of them even though they may not have been involved.”

(Look again at the above list of outrages perpetuated by Donegal Gardai, outrages that have destroyed the lives of dozens of innocent citizens, outrages that will never be accounted for and decide if the Gardai are deserving of the Minister’s sympathy.)

“But I think there has been a lot of lessons learned, good management structures are there and people are moving on and taking the lessons of what has happened. But of course one has to await the final outcome and the public discourse that will take place and my view on all of these issues is that very serious issues arose, very serious lessons have been learned and arising from those lessons the fundamentals are being rejuvenated into members of the force in my county.”

(This is a typical example of the unintelligible drivel Irish citizens are constantly assaulted with by our low grade public representatives. The insulting waffle is laced with the usual inane excuses for incompetence and inaction – lessons have been learned; new management structures have been put in place;; have to await the final outcome of the tribunal; we must move on blah, blah, blah.)

Mary Coughlan is one of those politicians who steadfastly stood by Bertie Ahern even as his fantasy tales changed by the week and became ever more bizarre. Her blind loyalty to Ahern was a betrayal of the Irish people and her unquestioned loyalty to Brian Cowen, a man who rates loyalty to party above loyalty to country bodes ill for the people of Ireland.

Copy to:
Ms Coughlan

Tribunals: Mechanisms of denial

The Prime Minister is under pressure to resign over allegations that he took bribes from a wealthy businessman. He has strongly denied the allegations claiming that the payments were given to him by a friend to cover election expenses.

Everything was legal, I never took a penny for myself, I’ve done nothing wrong, he said.

Commentators and opposition politicians have claimed that the controversy is hampering the proper running of the state and is having a detrimental affect on the peace process.

Broadly speaking, this could be a brief description of the recent scandal involving former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern. When we hear some more details, however, we know for certain that the story bears no relation whatsoever to how things are done in Ireland.

The police are investigating the Prime Minister; the Attorney General is involved and will shortly make a decision on whether he should indict the PM. If the Prime Minister is indicted there will be a court case, a judge/jury will decide the PMs Fate; if he’s found guilty he will be disgraced and will suffer appropriate punishment.

Unlike Ireland, Israel is a functional democracy where state agencies like the police, Attorney General and the courts take immediate action against allegations of political corruption. Functional democracies like Israel do not hand over such serious matters to ineffective and never ending tribunals.

Just weeks ago Bertie Ahern was due to make himself accountable to the Irish people regarding serious contradictions in his evidence to the Mahon Tribunal. Instead of making himself accountable he announced his resignation and was immediately hailed as the greatest Irishman since Daniel O’Connell.

Nobody has asked Ahern any questions since then, he will eventually appear before the tribunal again but it will mean nothing. Even if the final tribunal report finds that he took bribes, that he committed perjury; that he cheated on his taxes; it will still mean nothing. The police will never question him; he will never be charged with any crime, he will never be made accountable.

The tribunals are, in effect, a system for side tracking allegations of very serious business and political corruption away from investigation by the police. They also serve as a mechanism of denial for the majority of Irish people whereby they can fool themselves that Ireland is a normal country.

It was like 9/11 with hordes of dressed firemen

There was a bit of a dispute on the Marian Finucane Show (Sunday) as to whether there really was a fire at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel where Bertie Ahern and his cronies, er I mean entourage, were staying last week.

Apparently David Corcoran who is director of the Libertas campaign against the Lisbon Treaty had information that the whole thing was just a hoax.

The whole matter was cleared up when Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern took time off to ring the show and inform the nation of the facts.

I was there, said Dermot, there were hundreds of people in the street; the fire brigade came and put up a big ladder; there was a strong smell of smoke.

“It was a scene reminiscent of that unfortunate incident in 9/11; these hordes of firemen coming down the stairs, all dressed.”

So, there you have it; straight from the minister’s mouth – It was like 9/11 with hordes of ‘dressed’ firemen. The mind boggles.

The importance of knowing you're not important

I’ve always been amused at the number of Irish people who live under the illusion that Ireland is an important country on the world stage.

Clearly, Ahern’s supporters were expecting the world to stop and listen in awe as Bertie made his ‘historic speech’.

Journalist Sam Smyth, a dedicated Bertie man, was very disappointed when he spoke to Today FMs American commentator Ed Hayes on the Sunday Supplement. Sam wanted to know how the great speech by the great Bertie went down with the Americans.

Sam:

“That speech Ed; did it make any sort of splash in the United States?”

Ed: (In a typical no nonsense New York response).

“Nothing, I didn’t even know he spoke here. I didn’t see it on the internet; I didn’t notice it in any newspapers. I read the speech when you told me you wanted to talk about it today. I went and found it and it was a lovely, lovely speech but I didn’t see it anywhere.”

Sam: (Obviously puzzled that the great Bertie speech went unnoticed)

“Well, what does that mean Ed? Does it mean that Americans don’t particularly care about us, does it mean they were more concerned when Ireland was at war rather than peace – what does it mean?”

Ed:

“America is at war, we’re in the middle of a presidential election and we’re in a recession so we’ve got a lot of other things on our minds. Ireland is just not a big force in American lives.”

Here’s what it means Sam – A large percentage of the American population (300 million) never heard of Ireland. The tiny minority that have heard of us know little and care less about our problems. As Ed Hayes says, they have enough problems of their own.

And what’s this ‘war’ thing Sam? 3,000 people died in our nasty little spat over a thirty year period. The amount of people killed on our roads in the same period was many multiples of that.

Over 4,000 Americans and more than a million Iraqi citizens have died in just five years of war – That’s war.