Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
Q. What’s the difference between the possible participation of Dustin the Turkey in this year’s Eurovision and last year’s entry penned by John Waters?
A. John Waters was serious, expected to win but came last. Dustin is not a real turkey, accepts his entry is a joke but just might win.
Reply to passport letter in Irish Times.
Madam,
Anthony Sheridan (February 7th) laments that our parliamentarians operate a fast-track system for passport applications to do favours for constituents. But the sad reality is that last year they processed only 6,200 applications in total – an average of 27 passports each or 2.5 per month.
Meanwhile, according to radio advertisements, TV licence inspectors carry out 18,000 raids every month and the Automobile Association rescues 16,000 stranded motorists.
Our parliamentarians are paid huge salaries but in terms of productivity and competitiveness, they fall well behind the standards set in the current National Agreement. The passport rescue service should be handed over to an efficient, rapid-response unit like the AA, or a “you-can’t-fool-us” outfit like the TV inspectors.
Our TDs could then focus on really important tasks such as going to funerals, sending out free Christmas cards and flying off on fact-finding missions to far-flung exotic locations. Parliamentary democracy, Irish-style, deserves no less.
Yours, etc,
JERRY CROWLEY
The Cashel planning scam was further analysed on Today with Pat Kenny last Wednesday (Previous posts here and here).
Philip Boucher Hayes, head of RTEs Investigative Unit, spoke to Cashel Town Clerk, Seamus Maher about the Council’s threat of using a Compulsory Purchase Order to force the nuns to sell their property cheaply.
Maher: Looking at it from the point of view of the need to acquire land for our various purposes it’s a method that could be used; it wasn’t used in this case
Hayes: But the threat of it was used
Maher: Well, it was mentioned, I suppose in that sense I wouldn’t call it a threat
Hayes: But the letter does say ‘If necessary the council will consider the acquisition of this portion of the property by way of Compulsory Purchase Order’, that’s a threat.
Maher: I suppose, if necessary, it’s a mild one, I mean nobody was putting their backs to the wall
Hayes: Is it a bit of a sharp practice, raising the prospect of CPO and acquiring land, holding on to it for a while, watch it inflate in price and then sell it off at a profit
Maher: I suppose when you’re in negotiation for something you will do your best for the town or the local authority or business or whatever you’re involved in and I wouldn’t have seen it as malpractice or underhand dealing or whatever I mean there’s more things going on really which are much more serious than that
In another development the Council has removed preservation orders on 16 very old trees on the property so that the developer can knock them down.
Belated congratulations to Philip Boucher Hayes, head of RTEs impressive Investigative Unit. Philip won the Best News Broadcaster of the Year last November.
I phoned the Passports Office today to enquire about an email I had sent some days ago in relation to the special passport scheme operated by TDs.
A very professional lady accepted my point that perhaps details of the service should be published on the Passports Office website so that all citizens can avail of the service. She also assured me that a reply to my email was forthcoming.
I’m still waiting for word from David Stanton on those Dail questions.
The mafia like operations of management companies continues to cause grief for residents of estates and apartments (See here for analysis).
On last Tuesday’s Liveline (58th min) three residents of an apartment complex told their stories. Here’s a summary.
Received a bill for €2,037, last years bill was €1,400.
Reason for increase – Unoccupied apartments owned by the developer and Dublin City Council were not bringing in funds so the residents had to make up the shortfall. The developers are holding onto the apartments until the property market improves.
The board of directors of the management company is made up of the developers.
When the resident questioned the bill it was admitted an error had been made and the bill was reduced to €1,800.
When the resident contacted Liveline the bill was further reduced to €1,550, a figure that had originally been agreed between the company and the resident.
The residents own the properties and are paying massive mortgages but have little or no control or rights in how the management companies operate.
The management companies are totally unregulated.
The Government has been promising for years that they will enact legislation to regulate these people.
This government is a developer friendly administration.
The following letter published here and here.
The controversy surrounding the help given by Bertie Ahern to businessman Norman Turner in obtaining an Irish passport has revealed the existence of a separate passport service operated by TDs from Dail Eireann for the benefit of their constituents.
I understand the system operates as follows. TDs collect passport documents from constituents and deposit them in a drop box at the Enquiries Desk of the Dail. They are then collected by courier and taken to the Passport Office where they are processed at a specially designated desk. A number of civil servants are on call to deal with any problems or questions that may arise in relation to these ‘special’ passport applications. When processed, the passports are collected by the TDs and personally delivered to the favoured constituents. 6,200 such applications were processed last year.
There is no justification whatsoever for this ‘unofficial’ service. The official Passport Office already provides a very efficient service capable of dealing with all eventualities.
In addition to normal service the office operates an express service that guarantees a passport within ten working days. There is also an emergency service whereby passports can be provided in two or three days.
The only possible reason for the existence of this expensive and unnecessary service is to provide TDs with a means of granting special favours for their constituents.
This Tammany Hall operation should be discontinued immediately or alternatively all citizens should be given access to the service with full details published on the Passports Office website.
Yours etc.
Anthony Sheridan
I see planning permission has been granted for a hotel on land formerly owned by the Presentation Sisters in Cashel. The decision is not unexpected as the property is very valuable and there’s lots of money to be made. Here’s what I wrote about the matter in February last year.
The latest planning scam was discussed on the Pat Kenny Show yesterday morning. A prime piece of property owned by nuns in the centre of Cashel was to be bought by the local council who claimed they wanted to develop the property as a park for the people of the town.
The Council, however, was dragging its heels so the nuns found another buyer. The Council responded by threatening them with a Compulsory Purchase Order and forced them to sell at a deflated price.
Once the deal was done the Council lost no time in rezoning the property and selling it on to a developer who plans to build a hotel on the land. In the process, the Council made a tidy little profit of €1.2 million from the deal.
The people of Cashel are very angry but what can they do? Well, nothing really, except complain and protest. Oh, they can also object to the planning permission that has already been submitted by the developer.
But who makes the decision on this planning application? Why, it’s the very same Council who lied to the nuns, pressurised them into selling at a greatly reduced rate and rezoned the property to substantially increase its value. I wonder what their decision will be.
The report also includes the best example of official gobbledygook that I’ve heard in a long time. When a spokesman for the Council was questioned on the change of use for the property he responded:
“Well, the Council at the time wanted to buy the land for, you know, specific purposes which weren’t clearly identified.”
I spoke at length today with Fine Gael TD, David Stanton regarding the ‘special’ passport service operated by TDs from Dail Eireann (See here). He has agreed to table a number of Dail questions on the issue such as;
Why does the scheme exist?
How many passports have been issued by TDs in the last 12 months/2 years?
How many civil servants are working in the Passport Office on the service?
Is there a cost associated with the service?
Has the Minister any intention of discontinuing the service?
There has been much discussion over the past number of days about the help given by Bertie Ahern to businessman Norman Turner in obtaining an Irish passport.
What astonishes me about the matter is the revelation that there exists an independent passport service set up for the exclusive benefit of friends and favoured constituents of politicians – This is Tammany Hall at its most bizarre.
What further astonishes me is that nobody seems to think it’s the least bit odd. Moore McDowell, brother of the recently ousted and infamous Minister for Justice, is one of the privileged who has benefited from this exclusive service. Speaking on the Marian Finucane Show (Sun.3rd Feb) he said;
“I had a contact in politics…I lost my passport and had another provided within days…It’s actually a recognised procedure within Foreign Affairs that an emergency passport will be given out, effectively, if a TD goes in to bat for you.”
A spokesperson in the Dept. of Foreign Affairs told me that it’s a choice that people can make; that TDs are approached on a lot of issues. On her advice I have made a formal submission to the Minister requesting answers to a series of questions on the matter.
Curiously, there is no mention of this special service on the Passports Office website so I have also written to that office requesting information on how ‘ordinary’ citizens can access the service.
Irish Times columnist, Noel Whelan, explained how the system works (Today FM, Sunday Supplement, 3rd February).
Apparently, there’s a drop box at the Enquiries Desk in the Dail where TDs deposit passport documents which are then taken by courier across the road to the Passports Office where they are processed at a specially designated desk staffed by three civil servants.
These civil servants are on call to deal with any questions or problems that may arise in relation to the processing of these special passports.
When the passport is ready it is returned by courier to our national parliament where it is collected by the TD and delivered personally to the favoured citizen.
The system was introduced about 15 years ago because the Foreign Affairs office was being swamped by TDs trying to obtain passports for the favoured.
So, there are at least five highly paid civil servants employed in providing this service and the obvious question is – Why?
It’s certainly not because the Passports Office is inefficient. The office provides an extremely well run and efficient service. In addition to normal service there is a special express 10 working day return service for those who need a passport in a hurry. And in addition to that there is also an emergency service whereby citizens can obtain a passport in a couple of days. Only last month a friend of mine obtained a passport in two days.
Politicians themselves provide some of the answers. According to Fianna Fail TD, Eamon O’Cuiv all TDs are effectively postmen, personally delivering passports to constituents all over the country (The Late Debate, 31st Jan).
Insulting the intelligence of listeners O’Cuiv asserted that TDs have no influence whatsoever over the specially designated civil servants who process the special passports for special citizens.
I spoke with Fine Gael TD, David Stanton about the matter. He candidly admitted that there’s no major advantage for those availing of the service but if TDs refused people were going to get ‘pissed off’.
The bottom line is that this service is a resource provided by the State to politicians which they then use to effectively buy votes. In return for selling their vote the favoured receive privileges not available to most other citizens.
Pat Rabbitte supplied a small but very important snippet of information that further confirms the low quality of Irish democracy. (Saturday View)
Apparently, he has been corresponding with Ceann Comhairles for years about the fact that Bertie Ahern’s English is not just polished up by civil servants who write up the Dail record but the actual meaning of his contributions is altered on occasions.
Rabbitte pointed out that he wasn’t making a political point; he just felt that such altering of the record was a pity for historians and archivists
Amazing, the record of our National Parliament is being substantially altered by those who should be recording what is actually said with what, in their opinion, the speaker meant to say and a senior opposition politician is only concerned that historians may be led astray.