Author: gavin

Dodgy round up

The following is a round – up of the latest dodgy dealings, corruption and incompetence in 21st century Ireland.

Dodgy Dogs The greyhound scandal is at the report stage. It means that nobody can talk about it and hopefully the public will have forgotten the details before the report is published, if it is published. It has already cost the taxpayer millions. No one will be held accountable. Deals will be done, “arrangement’ will be made, the taxpayer will pay.

Dodgy Fish Recently the Government was forced to admit that there was widespread criminality going on in the fisheries business. This kind of behaviour does massive damage to the environment and will destroy the prospects for future generations. The EU has finally lost patience with the cowardice and incompetence of Irish politicians and has penalized all those involved in the fishing industry.

Dodgy Farmers Fourteen years ago the Government was told by the EU to bring in controls on the spreading of nitrates by farmers. Most of this nitrate spreading is unnecessary and does massive damage to water supplies. Because of political cowardice in the face of farmer power and greed, the EU is on the brink of imposing very heavy fines on Irish taxpayers. Incompetent and cowardly politicians are frantically trying to find a compromise which will allow farmers to continue their pollution of the water.

Thieving Solicitors. March should see some developments into the theft of tens of thousands by solicitors from their most vulnerable clients. The solicitors have the full backing of the Government and the law to deal with these people (their victims) as they see fit. The Law Society is conducting their investigations in secret, no independent or Government observers. The victims are not represented or allowed to be present to defend their case. Prediction – No solicitor will be struck off, no solicitor will face charges. Minimum “punishment’ will apply. The Law Society will be allowed to continue to operate as a virtual secret society.

Dublin Riot. For months, everybody knew there would be trouble – except the Gardai. A Garda spokesman admitted that they didn’t have the right equipment but reassured Pat Kenny that, if needed, they could borrow two water canons from the PSNI. Countless billions rolling around the Celtic Tiger and our police force have to beg for equipment from another country. The Garda helicopter was also unavailable due to “technical’ problems. The elastic band was probably broken.

Dodgy deal in Limerick. Dick Roche is still investigating the deal struck by Limerick City Council to sell off part of a public park that it didn’t own to a private developer. ‘Must make sure this never happen again…’ ‘Must look to the future…’ ‘Lessons will have to be learned…’ Developer will win. Someone in Limerick City Council will probably win. The taxpayer and the citizens of Limerick will lose.

Then there’s the carnage on the roads, the Neary case, the Cosgrave case, Frank Dunlop and Fianna Fail corruption and I’m just reading of the latest scandal – A Galway based home heating oil company has admitted to being involved in a price fixing ring which a number of oil distribution companies were operating in the West of Ireland in 2001 and 2002.

Remember, these are just a few examples of the most recent corruption, incompetence and dodgy dealings in this great little banana republic. I could go on…but I’m tired….very tired

Cosgrave gets community service

What he is guilty of:

Liam Cosgrave pleaded guilty to knowingly furnishing a falsified donation statement where he failed to declare that he had received any donation exceeding IR£500 between May 15th and December 31st, 1997.

What happened:

The judge heard that the subject matter of the offence before her was a £2,500 cheque received by Cosgrave from a Mr Dunlop. Cosgrave spoke to gardaa­ by appointment in relation to the matter on June 8th, 2004, following an investigation by the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

What was done in return for this ‘donation’?

'Paltry' fund for planning enforcement criticised

Need to build something? Just do it and seek retention, it could be a decade before it’s investigated.

Currently, 85 per cent of retention applications are granted by the council, providing little incentive to developers to follow the law and wait for planning permission to be granted before they start work.

The backlog of cases means that it could be several years before a developer has to worry about unauthorised structures, Ms Creighton said.

She is calling on the council to increase its enforcement budget to 40 per cent. “Enforcement is a critical aspect of proper planning,” she said.

The council said that its enforcement budget for this year represented an increase of almost 5 per cent on last year.

“The budget is adequate to meet the needs of enforcement in the planning department’s opinion,” a spokesman said.

Different states – Different standards

I see an Israeli court has sentenced Ariel Sharon’s son Omri to nine months in jail for illegally funding his father’s 1999 campaign.

“This is a swamp of political corruption and it must be dried up,” Judge Edna Beckenstein wrote in the ruling.

So what did Omri do? Seems he broke party funding laws and committed perjury. Is that all? That kind of thing is a national pastime here.

Out in his mansion in Kinsealy, Haughey, our most accomplished perjurer, lives in luxurious retirement. No worries about jail for him as he basks in praise from our current leader who recently described Charlie as a “wonderful man’.

Here’s some of what the Jersusalem Post had to say.

‘Like the public, and perhaps under the influence of public opinion, the courts are becoming increasingly intolerant of corruption by public figures. The 2003 election for the 16th Knesset was a milestone in public revulsion against this kind of corruption, when every day seemed to yield a new scandal.’

How long will it be before Irish public opinion wields such power?

Economic foundations tested

Last November, I reported on how the US Government was becoming increasingly alarmed at how the Irish economy was used as a virtual giant laundering operation by American companies intent on evading paying US taxes. Although the IDA have said they are not worried about the situation, it seems the Americans are about to take action. Could be dodgy times ahead.

IN A stark warning to the IDA and others who promote US investment in Ireland, senior American cabinet minister John Snow pledged last week that his administration was developing rules to halt “tax abuse” involving US companies transferring intellectual property and patents to overseas tax havens.

The IDA denies that Ireland is a tax haven, and a spokeswoman yesterday said the authority did not feel threatened by the remarks of the treasury secretary.

However, his remarks indicated that the American concerns over what Microsoft and other multinationals have been doing in relocating assets, was raising concerns at a high level in Washington last week.

“We feel the existing rules have not been effective at getting at this problem,” Snow told the senate finance committee meeting. He was questioned about media reports that said US companies have slashed their tax bills by transferring intellectual property to low-tax countries.

He was particularly quizzed about details of how Microsoft had shaved at least $500m from its annual tax bill by vesting $16bn in an Irish company, Round Island One Ltd. The Irish firm, the reports said, received licensing fees from copyrighted software that originates in the US but pays low Irish taxes on this revenue.

While Mr Snow didn’t mention Microsoft, he said the pending rules aim to remove “some of the incentives to engage in the sorts of behaviours that deny revenues to the United States treasury . . . this is a serious issue and we need to deal with it,” the treasury secretary insisted.

His officials are believed to be working on changes in the rules on the migration of intellectual and intangible property offshore and are expected to have new rules in place later this year.

Irish – Politically stupid?

Consider the following email from Brendan Gleeson, read out on the Marian Finucane Show last Saturday.

I have witnessed my parents, both in their 80s, spend days and nights on trolleys in an overcrowded unit totally ill equipped to take care of them. The place is overrun and at times, filthy. This is not anecdotal, this is fact.

The staff are unable to cope, despite incredible commitment because the set up is stacked against them. Sick people are reduced to grabbing chairs, never mind beds from others who have gone to the toilet. My father spent six hours on a chair, afraid to vacate it, he’s 88. He paid VHI all his life along with the heavy taxation of the day which he viewed as a duty.

He spent four days and nights on a trolley having suffered a stroke and subsequent blindness. His dinner lay at the end of the trolley, untouched because they had forgotten he was blind and that he couldn’t see it.

My mother spent over two days and nights unable to use the solitary toilet in the unit when she needed to because she couldn’t get off the trolley unaided and by the time she reluctantly called a nurse, the toilet was occupied again. This was an unspeakable indignity to a woman of her generation and standards of personal hygiene. When she finally got to the toilet, it was covered in blood which incidentally she attempted to clean.

When my dad took ill again, he refused a doctors advice to go in – He couldn’t face it

Now consider the following: (Taken from a quick look at some files)

€9 billion: Over runs on road building – Gross incompetence by civil servants

€1.35 billion: Cost to taxpayer resulting from the deal done between Church and State over child abuse – Criminality, cruelty and incompetence by church and state

€1 billion: Illegal charging of the elderly in nursing homes – Criminality, cruelty and gross incompetence by civil servants.

€180 million: Amount spent on a computer system that was supposed to cost €9 million and doesn’t work – Gross incompetence

€20 million: Cost of tribunal into the taking of childrens organs without permission. – Gross incompetence and arrogance.

Hundreds of millions: Ansbacher, Dirt, Organised financial crime, etc. – Standard (and apparently acceptable) level of criminality in Irish financial community.

Only one question arises from the above – Why are the Irish people so docile and politically ignorant?

Dodgy dogs and predictable patterns

Let me put it this way, there are a lot of shenanigans going on at the moment that if the public were aware of, I think they would be horrified… there are things happening, I think, which are very strange indeed, to put it mildly.

The above quote is how RTEs Charlie Bird described the latest developments in the dodgy dogs saga at Bord na gCon. The response to this latest scandal is following a well established pattern when lids are lifted in this corrupt state.

Denial is the first reaction. We have already had that from sources within Bord nag Con.

Playing for time is the next stage. The most common strategy here is – a report or investigation. This has great advantages. While enquiries are being made, politicians and those directly involved have only to repeatedly mouth the mantra.

I would love to answer your questions but there’s an investigation in process and it’s only fair to wait until that is complete.

This strategy also means that the public will have forgotten most of the details by the time the report is published and any outrage wll have long evaporated.

In this particular case, there was a blip. Paschall Taggart insisted on holding a press conference to defend his side of the story, despite being asked not to by the minister, John O’Donoghue. This kind of maverick action could result in further embarrassing revelations. Luckily, for those involved, the press conference left the public as much in the dark as ever.

The final stage in the farce that passes for accountability in Ireland is when the report is published. If anyone is required to step aside or move sideways into another job, (Sacked? No, no – That never happens) they will be well compensated by the taxpayer. (Who, by the way, has already paid over €70 million to the greyhound industry)

The same taxpayer will then be told that the person moving sideways is a man/woman of impeccable character who has served his/her country like a true patriot.

Finally, the public will be informed by a somber politician that steps are being taken to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again.

After that – it’s on to the next scandal and the process starts all over again.

'Wild West' Planning

On January 26th, I wrote about the “cowboy culture’ that passes for good planning in modern Ireland. A report on RTEs News at One (Regional news) last Wednesday serves as a perfect example of how this sort of thing is done in ‘Wild West’ Ireland.

This little gem was actually reported on this blog way back in November. Apparently, a section of a public park in the middle of Limerick city, which was given to the people of Limerick in perpetuity by the Pery family, Earls of Limerick in 1877 was sold to a developer by Limerick City Council.

The People’s Park, which the Pery family intended to be used exclusively as a public amenity for the people of Limerick, now has 59 apartments, shops and a car park. According to the report, the development has ruined the people’s enjoyment and privacy in the park.

The obvious question is, of course, how could Limerick City Council, one of the trustees of the land, get away with this outrage? It’s not as if it could have been done in the dead of night when no one was watching. Have a look here at the requirements for a valid planning application.

So who benefited from this little bit of roguery? Well, the developers, of course but who else? How was it possible for the developer to get all this building done on publicly owned property without any questions being asked?

The Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche has been asked to look into the matter to see if any Dept of Finance or EU rules were broken.

To save readers the bother of tracking this particular piece of dodgy dealing, here’s what’s going to happen. If the minister actually bothers investigating the matter and concludes that the development was illegal, it is likely the developer will be asked if he wouldn’t mind applying for retrospective planning – and that will be the end of the matter.

Dodgy dogs saga continues

The dodgy dog saga continues

The Minister for Sport, John O’Donoghue, has ordered an independent report into the sacking of Aiden Tynan, chief executive of Bord na gCon.

Meanwhile, the board of Bord na gCon have said that Mr. Tynan served with integrity, commitment and diligence. He discharged his responsibilities in a dedicated and conscientious manner – This is the man they sacked last week??