The missing link in the Irish regulatory system

The Government has still not implemented the key recommendations of the Mahon Tribunal almost a year after its publication.

This refusal to respond to major corruption is normal in corrupt states.

In Ireland, such matters are dealt with as follows:

Corruption discovered followed by denial and/or blame. If the scandal continues to attract attention the matter is sidelined into a powerless tribunal or government committee.

When a report is published it’s ignored.

The key point is that no action is ever actually taken against anybody.

The whole idea, which is the norm in functional jurisdictions, of taking the evidence/facts and placing them before a court of law is skipped.

The Irish system ignores this vital step of bringing people to account and simply carries on as if nothing of note had been uncovered by the investigation.

We can see this in the response to the Mahon Tribunal.

The tribunal made some very serious findings including the fact that corruption affected every level of political life.

In other words, the tribunal effectively agrees with the core philosophy of this website – that Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state.

This fact has been completely ignored. Instead of actually doing something to cure the disease of political corruption the politicians focus on some other matter.

In this case it’s the problems and difficulties surrounding the establishment of an independent planning regulator.

Planning Minister Jan O’Sullivan:

A number of key issues had to be resolved before such a regulator could be established.

Should the minister’s powers be fully transferred to an independent regulator or should the final forward planning decisions remain political in nature to be taken by the minister/ government/ Oireachtas with a regulator providing an independent advisory/supervisory role?

Decisions, decisions, decisions – but never the real decisions that need to be made.

After diverting attention away from the actual corruption the political system reverts to waffle mode.

Minister O’Sullivan again:

I am determined to see this recommendation is fully and comprehensively considered and appropriately acted on.

It is important not only that we address this crucial issue but that we do it right.

So there you have it. Serious and widespread corruption is uncovered, an investigation ensues, a report is published, the political/administrative system ignores its findings and simply skips over the vital step of bringing the guilty to account.

This missing link in the regulatory/justice system is one of the principal differences between a country like Ireland and functional democracies.

Copy to:
Minister O’Sullivan

Senator Harte 'explains'

I received two emails from Senator Harte in response to my post regarding social media abuse.

Sorry to disappoint you I wasn’t forced to shut it down. I did it voluntarily.

And shortly after:

Dear Mr Sheridan,

I wish to inform you that my Facebook site was closed 6 days before the death of Shane Mc Entee.

I would expect that you clarify this with your Facebook friends today or the matter will be referred to the Press Ombudsman

I’m very happy to clarify Senator Harte’s claim that he closed his Facebook and Twitter accounts six days before Shane Mc Entee’s death on 21 December 2012.

I’m still puzzled though.

It is obvious from media reports and Senator Harte’s interview on Newstalk that he is very angry and upset by the alleged abuse he received on social media.

The obvious question is – why did he wait a full month before telling the rest of the world about his decision?

I’m still going with the bandwagon thesis.

Danny Healy-Rae: Doesn't even know he's been taken for the idiot he is

Councillor Danny Healy-Rae was delighted with all the publicity he generated with his call for special permits to excuse rural dwellers from drink-driving limits.

I’m getting calls all day from international radio and television stations, so it’s a major issue.

Even accepting that he’s a member of the Healy-Rae family of gombeen politicians and therefore not overly endowed with intelligence surely even he realises that the international media want to talk to him because they see him for what he is – an idiot politician whose antics will provide a laugh for viewers.

Dan Boyle and responsible government

On a recent Frontline programme Green Party member Dan Boyle made the following comment regarding cynicism and responsible government.

The idea that you could be in government and not take responsibility for being in government adds to the cynicism that exists about politics.

In Ireland such statements are only made by politicians when in opposition. When they gain power their ideas of responsible government change to suit their own agendas.

When Bertie Ahern was lying through his teeth at the tribunal he received full support from Mr. Boyle’s party.

During that scandal the Green Party abdicated all responsibility effectively saying that the issue had nothing to do with them.

Green Party leader John Gormley:

We’re not the moral watchdog of any political party…we look after our probity and our standards.

This abdication of responsibility for good government added greatly to the cynicism of politics.

Senator Harte: Latest politician to exploit Shane McEntee's suicide

Labour senator Jimmy Harte has become the latest politician to exploit the tragic suicide of Shane McEntee as a potential opportunity to introduce restrictions on freedom of speech.

According to Harte he has been forced to close his Facebook and Twitter accounts because of anonymous threats and bullying.

He provides no details other than the ‘threat’ he felt when his home address was published on Facebook. This is despite the fact that Senator Harte openly publishes his home address on his own website.

When it was pointed out to him during a Newstalk interview that he could easily block abusers on Facebook he weakly replied that the effort (about two to three seconds) wasn’t worthwhile

Fine Gael TD, Ciaran Cannon, in the same interview, gently tore Senator Harte’s victim allegations to shreds by simply telling the truth.

Cannon has been on Facebook and Twitter for years and has rarely being the object of abuse. When faced with abuse he simply blocks the abuser, something he has had to do only twice in the last three years.

When he receives abuse in the post he dumps it, when he receives abuse on the phone he hangs up.

He stated, correctly, that there were already in place plenty of laws to deal with personal abuse, slander and libel.

Cannon said he was concerned by suggestions from some politicians regarding the control of social media.

Tellingly, Senator Harte said that he may ‘review’ his decision to close his accounts at a later stage.

Here’s a prediction:

The ‘bullied’ senator will quietly reactivate his accounts as soon as he believes every advantage has been sucked out of Shane McEntee’s suicide.

Copy to:
Senator Harte (with my name and contact details)

Too late for reform: the rotten political system is already dead

In an article entitled ‘Let’s answer Ireland’s call: reform or die.’ Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin calls for major reform of the political system.

His suggestions, unfortunately, are about forty years too late.

The corrupt political/administrative system that brought Ireland to ruin is not capable of being reformed.

It must be totally eradicated and replaced with a proper democratic system similar to that of all other functional democracies.

Even though we regularly hear from the likes of Kenny, Gilmore and Martin that the system is ‘broken’ and must be radically reformed there is not the slightest hint that real reform is actually going to happen.

And why would it, to do so would mean an end to the corrupt/gombeen/clientelist system that has served the exclusive interest of Irish politicians and their respective parties and friends since independence.

That corrupt system effectively destroyed the country and lost us our independence. It is far, far too late to talk of reforming such an irretrievably corrupt system.

In his article Mr. Griffin points out:

Only when we fully accept this reality, (that the system is ‘broken’) can we begin to properly rebuild our nation.

It’s good that some politicians like Mr. Griffin are, at last, beginning to accept the enormity of their betrayal of Ireland and its people.

However, he and his fellow politicians must go, or be forced to go, one step further and accept the reality that their rotten political system is history and can have no part whatsoever in building a new Ireland.

Reform or die?

Too late Mr. Griffin, what you represent is already dead.

Copy to:
Brendan Griffin
All political parties

Cheating at elections is now the accepted norm

Letter in Today’s Irish Times

Sir,

In the opinion of the Supreme Court, the Government wrongfully placed the rights of those in favour of the campaign over those against it (Front page, December 12th).

However, it seems that there are no sanctions in place for this breach of a constitutional principle.

If this continues to be the case, what is to stop the Government from committing the same act in knowledge that the electorate’s only recourse is to apply to the courts after the ballots are counted?

Yours, etc,
Simon Treanor

This is a good question that has a very simple answer.

Irish governments have become so undemocratic over the years that cheating at elections, ignoring the Constitution and breaking the law when it suits are all now accepted parts of doing (corrupt) politics

In Ireland, secrecy is always the knee-jerk response to scandal

Consultant obstedrician Peter Boylan does not believe there should be a public inquiry in the Savita Halapanavar case. He give two reasons:

Mr. Halapanavar is grieving for his wife and expected child, so he’s in a state of grief at the moment and that needs to be taken into account when assessing his response.

I dont think Mr. Halapanavar would agree with this patronising view.

If it’s a public inquiry it will descend into a bit of a circus because there will be misinterpretations of the evidence given which will be bandied about in the media.

Secrecy is always the knee-jerk response to scandal in Ireland.

In functional democracies like the United Kingdom public inquiries are the norm.

This is becasue functional democracies have checks and balances built into their systems. They have in place authorities that have the power to act independently of political power.

The Leveson Inquiry has just produced an excellent report within a few months and cost a mere £7 million.

British citizens from practically every level of society from ordinary joe soaps, to journalists, to movie stars right up to the Prime Minister himself were questioned in public, under oath.

The sky did not fall in and British citizens are likely to see some swift and real reform as a result.

In Ireland, there is no law enforcement authority with the power to act independently of the corrupt political system.

This fact lies at the core of every scandal in Ireland.

It’s the principal reason why people of power and influence are never held to account.

Stephen Donnelly: Nearly gets it right

Speaking on radio over the weekend independent TD Stephen Donnelly delivered an almost perfect analysis of Ireland 2012.

I say ‘almost’ because, with his final sentence, Donnelly demonstrated that he doesn’t really understand the reality of Ireland 2012.

The Oireachtas does not work, it’s a joke, it’s a farce. It’s a pretence of parliamentary democracy, this country is run by the Cabinet.

Fianna Fail became institutionally corrupt and that corruption spread right through the country. At the same time the civil service shut themselves off from internal oversight and from parliamentary oversight.

And so when the Tsunami came the country had become so unstable, so badly governed that we fell off a cliff. At the heart of it is institutional self-interest, weak politics because we kept voting along tribal grounds

Now that’s all gone.

It’s all gone…all the corruption is gone, all is reformed, democracy has returned…we don’t vote along tribal grounds anymore…Where…When…Who?

Feck, I must have blinked at some point.

Lowry won't be investigated?

I wrote yesterday about being heartened by the unprecedented number of complaints (83) made to the Clerk of the Dail in response to the latest Lowry scandal.

Since then I’ve come across an excellent article by Elaine Byrne (Sunday Independent) which could explain the large number of complaints.

In her article Ms. Byrne calls on readers to make an official complaint to the Clerk of the Dail.

I am asking you, dear reader, to do something about that. If you believe that Michael Lowry — asserted to be “profoundly corrupt” by the Moriarty tribunal and a tax cheat by the Revenue Commissioners — is telling the God honest truth, then ignore the following.

This is how you complain. It must be in writing.

“Subject to section five of the Ethics Act, I wish to make a complaint about Michael Lowry’s registerable interests with respect to undisclosed lands near Wigan.”

Sign it and post it to Mr. Kieran Coughlan, Clerk of the Dail, Houses of the Oireachtas, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

I spoke to an official in the Clerk of the Dail’s office yesterday, before I came across Ms. Byrne’s article, to ask if an investigation had been initiated as a result of the complaints.

No, because the complaints would have referred to the fact that he hadn’t declared land and yesterday he amended his register of interests and declared the land.

So your office is taking no action for the many years in which Mr. Lowry failed to register this land?

No.

This sort of twisted; arrogant logic by our so-called enforcement authorities is one of the principal reasons why Ireland has descended to the status of banana republic.