Author: Anthony

Bertiegate – Depressing reality

Let me be absolutely clear about this – In my opinion, Bertie Ahern, Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland is a corrupt politician. He signed books of blank cheques for the corrupt politician, Charlie Haughey. Haughey then spent this money, which belonged to the people of Ireland, for his own benefit.

As Minister for Finance in 1993/94 Ahern accepted €124,000 from friends and businessmen for his own benefit. He kept this fact secret until he was found out. He did not pay back the so called loans until yesterday. He has only repaid the monies because the scandal threatens to destroy his political career.

Everything else about this latest scandal in Irish public life is irrelevant. Everything else surrounding this scandal is a perfect example of how the Irish as a nation are simply unable to face the reality that they live in a corrupt state.

Today’s Liveline was a deeply, deeply depressing example of that denial. Labour party member and comedian Brendan O’Carroll made a very strong defence of the corrupt Ahern. His central (and depressing) point was that the acceptance of the money by Ahern was strictly a private matter. That Ahern, just like any other citizen, was entitled to financial help from his friends when he was in marital difficulties.

In other words, O’Carroll is ok with the idea of a senior politician secretly accepting huge amounts of money from friends and businessmen. We also have to assume (depressingly) that O’Carroll accepts that the corrupt politician Haughey was entitled to accept the millions he got from AIB, Ben Dunne and many others to help him sort out his personal financial problems – the fact that Haughey/Ahern was a TD, Minister or Prime Minister, is, apparently, irrelevant.

The always (in my opinion) depressing Nell Mccafferty droned on endlessly about feminism – also completely irrelevant to Ahern’s corruption. Most other callers, with the exception of one woman and an Englishman, demonstrated clearly that they have no understanding whatsoever of either what a corrupt act is or the fact that they actually live in a corrupt state.

Tomorrow, it is likely we will witness the final act in this latest scandal/farce when the Progressive Democrats extinguish their final scrap of political integrity in exchange for a few more months of power. It’s all so, so depressing.

Bertiegate – Wildwest Willie comes out shooting

The Fianna Fail big guns came out in recent days to defend poor Bertie. Minister for Finance Brian (Biffo) Cowen, Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot (Velvet tongue) Ahern and most effectively Minister for Defence Willie (Groucho) O’Dea.

Willie, you will remember frightened the bejayus out of half the country recently when he went a bit mad brandishing a pistol at the media. Well, Willie was in no mood for taking prisoners either when he rode into town on RTE’s Drivetime last Friday.

Firing off, left right and centre, the bould Willie blamed the Opposition, a frenzied media and sinister ‘leakers’ for Bertie’s woes but he kept his final salvo for any varmints out there foolish enough to think they have enough true grit to knock Bertie off his horse.

“I worked for many, many years in the taxation field for one of the biggest accountancy firms in Dublin…In my opinion, and I speak as somebody with some expertise in the tax area, there is no question whatsoever of tax liability in this case and if anybody alleges that there was tax liability, I’m in a position to make them look pretty foolish.”

As I ran for cover, the immortal words of Clint Eastwood were ringing in my ears – “Go ahead, Punk, make my day.”

Bertiegate and the magic Leprechaun wand

I hear there is some confusion internationally about Bertie’s ‘spot of bother’. People who are not familiar with how things are done in this banana republic are puzzled about certain aspects of the latest shenanigans in Ireland.

For example, Bertie justified his taking of money from one group because he knew them very well and from another group because he hardly knew them at all. On the question of taking money while holding the position of Minister for Finance, Bertie claims that on those specific occasions he was not a minister but merely a private citizen.

The explanation for these apparently puzzling and contradictory claims is simple. All Irish politicians, on election to office, are issued with a magic (Leprechaun) wand. The power of this wand is so great that it can physically change how the (Irish) human mind works.

So, when Bertie got on the plane to Manchester he was Minister for Finance. But half way across the Irish Sea, he waved his wand and in a flash, that knowledge was instantly wiped from the minds of all on board. This magic also works on those Irish living in Manchester but not on pagan foreigners. This is why foreigners tend to express astonishment at the shenanigans of the Irish but the Irish themselves usually reply –

“Shure, he’s only a poor lad over to meet friends” or “What money? shure, we saw no money.”

It also explains why Bertie can then return to Ireland and deliver lectures on accountability and honesty in Irish public life. Neither he nor his friends have any memory whatsoever of a Minister for Finance visiting Manchester.

They remember being in Manchester, they remember Bertie taking the money, but when he stuffed the loot into his back pocket, he was a private citizen. It was only after he waved the magic wand on the plane back to Ireland that he again became Minister for Finance.

Incidentally, Irish citizens are very familiar with the magic (Leprechaun) wand phenomenon at tribunals of inquiry.

Sadly, in recent years, the power of the wand has waned, so to speak. Some of this loss of power can be attributed to the contamination of good Irish blood by interbreeding with ‘dem godless foreign wimin.’ Education also has a fierce damaging affect on Leprechaun power. In fact, the power of the wand seems, nowadays, to be confined mostly to Fianna Fail politicians and their wand minded followers.

Michael McDowell, however, is showing signs of having been hit over the head with the Leprechaun wand as he contemplates the possibility that he might go down in history as the shortest serving Tanaiste ever.

Principles? What Principles?

The Progressive Democrats are coming under increasing pressure to
apply their much lauded principles of integrity to Bertie’s ‘spot of
bother’. This is unfair to the PDs as they have long ago abandoned
such principles.

When asked, on RTE’s Tonight with Vincent Browne on the 24th January
2005, why the PDs did not act when Ray Burke lied to the Dail in 1997,
Progressive Democrat, Senator Tom Morrissey replied.

“We’re not in the business of asking for heads on plates anymore.
When we did, what thanks did the electorate ever give us? We’re not
there as a watchdog anymore.”

Enough said?

Bertigate – Deeper questions

The central point made by Bertie and his friends regarding ‘loans’ was that he was a man (and Minister for Finance) who was down on his luck. Marriage break up, huge expenses, no home – I mean, who wouldn’t have sympathy?

But, as with all things involving Irish politics, something smells. Vincent Browne had a poke at an interesting and possibly very smelly issue on his radio show last night. Here’s how he put it….

“When the Mahon Tribunal went to examine the claim by Tom Gilmartin that Owen O’Callahan had paid Bertie money in 1992, 1993, 1994 for refusing tax designation to Blanchestown which would have been a threat to the Quarryvale/Liffey Valley project.

When the tribunal went to investigate that allegation, they asked Bertie for his financial accounts and Bertie told them a number of things. Firstly, that he didn’t have any bank account in the period from 1987 to 1993. (An amazing fact, if we are to believe it)

Secondly, that he did open a bank account in late 93 or early 94 and when they looked at that, they saw three interesting payments in the account. One of them was for £50,000 (€64,000) the other for £38,000 (€48,000) and the other for £8,000 (Sterling) (€11,800).

We know about the £8,000, that was the Manchester money, we know about the £38,000, that is the money he supposedly got from his twelve friends, but the £50,000 he now says was savings from 1987 to 1993. (Was this £50,000 stuffed into his mattress?)

Now I think this is very curious and may be the most interesting issue at the heart of all this. We are asked to believe that he was able to save £50,000 at a time when tax rates were quite high, at a time when he was paid a good deal less than he is now. At a time when he had left home, presumably had to pay the mortgage, maintenance to the wife, maintenance to the children and finance himself. And he was able to save £50,000 during that time when he had no bank account according to himself.

Where did he put the money? What was going on?” — What indeed?

Talking to the media

I had the following letter published in the Irish Times and Irish Examiner yesterday. As a result I was contacted by the radio station, 103FM and was only too delighted to voice my opinion on Bertiegate and other dodgy dealings.

Madam, – When asked during his RTÉ interview about making appointments to State boards for alleged favours, the Taoiseach defended himself by saying: “I might have appointed somebody but I appointed them because they were friends, not because of anything they had given me”.
The fact that such a blatant admission of cronyism went completely unchallenged by Brian Dobson is a measure of how much we have come to accept low standards in public life. – Yours, etc,
ANTHONY SHERIDAN, Carraig Eoin, Cobh, Co Cork.

A corrupt state

Everything that is written on this website is based on the thesis that Ireland is a corrupt state. That is to say, Ireland, unlike most other countries, does not just suffer from a particular degree of corruption, but is, as a state, a corrupt entity in itself.
Events in Ireland become much clearer, much less puzzling when the corrupt state thesis is accepted. Here are just a few examples.

Charlie Haughey lived a life of corruption for decades. He robbed directly from the State with the help of the present Prime Minister who signed books of blank cheques for Haughey, he took millions from rich businessmen, he cheated on his taxes, and he lied under oath. Despite the dogs in the street knowing that he was a dodgy politician he was never brought to justice and was given a State funeral when he died.

Irish banks have robbed hundreds of millions from the State and customers, including some very well planned criminal scams that robbed millions directly from customer’s accounts. Not a single bank official has ever faced a police investigation.

Just yesterday, the largest bank in the country, AIB, announced that it had completed an investigation into itself and had decided not to punish any of its staff for ‘overcharging’ customers over a number of years. (What other country allows financial institutions to investigate and pass judgement on themselves?)

Irish Revenue, unique in the world, operates a policy of amnesties for certain groups of citizens who cheat on their taxes, deals are done, arrangements are made, very, very few are ever brought to justice. Over the years, Revenue has been aware of, but ignored, major criminality involving tax evasion like the DIRT and Ansbacher scams.

The Irish Financial Regulator, set up to protect the interests of consumers, in reality protects the powerful financial sector. Financial institutions guilty of robbing or ‘overcharging’ their customers are never punished and are merely required to return such monies. Furthermore, the names of all such errant institutions are kept a State secret by the Regulator, to their obvious advantage. Because of this secrecy, consumers must take their chances when dealing with the financial sector.

Like the banks, the Irish Law Society is allowed to operate its own justice system behind closed doors. At the moment, the society is investigating and passing judgement on its own members who were involved in the theft of tens of thousands of Euros from clients. Irish police have no involvement whatsoever in this ‘justice’ system.

The great bulk of corruption in Ireland is sidetracked into never ending tribunals; some have now been in session for nearly a decade. While these investigations are useful for exposing corruption, they are powerless to take any action against the corrupt. The State enacted a law that specifically prevents any evidence of criminality or corruption revealed at the tribunals being used in a subsequent police investigation. Irish police must start from scratch in the unlikely event that they might actually decide to investigate such corruption.

The above provides just a brief hint of how deeply the disease of corruption has infected every level of Irish society and culture. There are thousands of cases of serious corruption, criminality and incompetence that have been brushed under the carpet over the years.

For all this to be possible, a system, a nation, a people must adopt/evolve a particular view of themselves in order to avoid facing the brutal truth that they live in a corrupt State. Like an alcoholic or drug addict they must adopt a series of strategies in order to avoid facing the truth. Denial, excuses, (that sometimes border on the bizarre) blaming others, even the actual corruption of language itself (it was not a gift, it was a loan).

The latest scandal involving Bertie Ahern is a classic example of how the disease of corruption has warped legal and ethical norms in Ireland that are taken for granted in accountable democracies.

Desperate times for Bertie

The very fact that Bertie Ahern has chosen to appeal to public sympathy in an attempt to get himself off the hook is an indication of his desperation. In his interview with RTE’s Brian Dobson, Ahern resorted to the usual excuses.

No favours were sought or given – It was a debt of honour that I will repay (sometime) – In hindsight, if I knew my daughters and I were going to be successful I would have acted differently – I broke no law – It was a relatively small amount compared to being offered millions.

The debt of honour excuse is the same tactic used by Ahern’s mentor and hero, the corrupt Charlie Haughey when he was asked to explain why he never repaid a loan to Allied Irish Banks – AIB is still waiting for payment.

In her enthusiasm to defend Bertie on Primetime, the Minister for Education, Mary Hanifin may have got herself into a spot of bother. She claimed (wrongly) that Michael Lowry had received very large amounts of money from businessmen who he didn’t know. Pat Rabbitte remarked that Lowry’s solicitors will probably have something to say about such claims.

Mary O’Rourke, adopted her most severe school teacher persona when Vincent Browne interrupted her gallant defence of Bertie with one of his famous sighs. The exchange between the two provides a good laugh.

Freedom of speech and personal destiny

I never thought I would find myself sympathising with the Pope or agreeing with a journalist with such extreme views as Mary Ellen Synon.

The recent comments by the Pope that has so upset the Muslim world should be seen in the West in simple terms – Should religious belief be allowed to take precedence over freedom of speech?

Mary Ellen Synon was debating on Today FM the case of a Jehovah’s Witness who was forcibly given blood against her express wishes. The presenter Sam Smyth and the panel which included Pat Rabbitte strongly disagreed with Synon’s view that the woman’s rights were violated.

I suspect the judge was taking a typically Irish approach to a very difficult problem. His decision saved him and the medical personnel from facing the consequences of allowing a person to make a free decision about her own destiny.

The case could, however, open up a Pandora’s Box. For example, what happens now if a person decides not to avail of treatment for cancer? Can a family member or indeed the State go to court and force treatment because they know what’s best?

In the case of the Pope and Islam, the West should defend its cherished right to free speech. In the case of the Jehovah Witness, the right of a sane adult to decide their own destiny should be sacrosanct.

Angry Hungarians – Sheepish Irish

The political crisis in Hungary was discussed on last Wednesday’s Pat Kenny Show. (1.32 Mins) During the discussion with Irish Times journalist, Dan McLoughlin, an astonished Pat made the following comment.

“It’s just if you translate this into Bertie Ahern addressing Fianna Fail…we lied morning noon and night…we screwed up a lot…no European government has done something as boneheaded as we have, if Bertie said that he’d be gone tomorrow morning.”

Dan McLaughlin agreed and added,

“He’s actually continuing a tradition by which Hungarian politicians don’t really take responsibility for their actions…they just don’t step down…there isn’t a tradition of taking that responsibility”.

Meanwhile, back in Ireland our Prime Minister, Bertie Ahern has been telling journalists to ‘mind their own business’ when asked what he did with money he admits he got from a number of businessmen when he was Minister for Finance in 1993.

“If I got something as a present, I can use it…”

he stated, in response to allegations that the money was used to cover his legal expenses in a marriage separation case.

Bertie, known by some as ‘blank cheque bertie’ because of his willingness to sign whole books of (taxpayers) blank cheques for his corrupt idol, Charlie Haughey.

Bertie, a member of a political system that refuses to take responsibility for political corruption but instead establishes never ending tribunals which have no power to find anyone guilty.

Bertie, a politician who presides over a country where corruption and incompetence are endemic but nobody is ever held to account, where State agencies operate in almost total secrecy and break the law on a regular basis.

Bertie, a politician who holds power in a country where, sadly, the citizens never get angry – no matter how often they are kicked in the teeth.