Category: Body Politic

Minister Varadkar: Too much democracy is bad?

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, does not approve of referendums.

Some quotes:

I don’t think referendums are very democratic.

I think an unnecessary referendum would be a huge distraction from what should be the real work of government.

We’re a parliamentary democracy, we elect a parliament and that parliament has the power to ratify treaties.

My difficulty with referenda is that they are often hijacked by political parties, either looking to promote themselves or by interest groups looking to make a protest or looking for certain concessions.

Here’s my interpretation of the above quotes:

Government knows best.

Too much democracy is messy and inconvenient.

All political power should be placed entirely in the hands of the very small number of people who actually make decisions within the Cabinet.

In functional democracies Minister Varadkar’s extreme views would be rejected out of hand.

In our corrupt political system, where politicians do pretty much as they like, his views are positively dangerous.

Enda Kenny clarifies his comments

Just heard the following comments from Enda Kenny made in response to his earlier comments concerning what happened to our country.

What happened to our country was recklessness by banks, incompetence by government and the essence of greed where people borrowed away over and above for development schemes that became a disaster.

Our people have been the victims of this situation. We’re left with the circumstance of cleaning this up.

In fairness, it seems his earlier comments were misinterpreted.

Enda Kenny: Two-faced and hypocritical

Here’s what Enda Kenny said to the Irish people last December.

Let me say this to you all: You are not responsible for the crisis.

Here’s what he said to the world today.

People went mad borrowing in a system that spawned greed, went out of control and led to the crash.

This two-faced, hypocritical attitude is the norm for Irish politicians especially when they’re trying to cover up their own guilt and responsibility.

So let me state very clearly who is responsible for the destruction of our country.

A corrupt political system that created a culture where politicians, bankers, developers, solicitors, estate agents and a whole raft of other ruthless and greedy individuals and organisations thrived in a completely lawless environment.

That culture of corruption and ruling elite lawlessness remains as strong and as untouchable today as it ever was.

The people of Ireland will continue to suffer from and be blamed for the catastrophic consequences of this rotten regime until such time as it is rooted out and destroyed.

Copy to:

Enda Kenny

Senator Turnhout: Already contaminated by our corrupt political system

I came across the following definition of corruption on the web:

The impairment of integrity, virtue, or moral principle

I don’t believe there’s a corrupt bone in the body of newly appointed Senator Jillian Van Turnhout.

She does, however, work within the corrupt Irish political system and judging from a recent interview on Newstalk it seems that her allegiance is to the corrupt system and not to Ireland or its people.

Her misplaced allegiance is, I believe, based on ignorance rather than the more common motives of greed and abuse of political power.

The interview concerned the revelation that Independent senators are paid a Party Leader’s allowance of €23,000.

Here’s an edited version of Senator Turnhout’s interview where she attempts to justify this disgusting payment.

There’s never been any secret about this allowance.

Every TD and senator gets it.

Main parties get more than we do so I’m surprised that this has been singled out as an exception.

I agree with full accountability.

I’m only seven months in the job.

I’m put the vast amount of this money to one side and earmarked it for communications, developing a website and research so that I can be properly informed.

I have been given a secretarial assistant but this money will ensure that my policies are robust.

I’m very conscious that it’s public money and that I will have to account for it whether the rules are in place or not.

I now have to be an authority on many issues.

I do research but there are times when you need to pay money to get solid advice on legislation that you’re bringing forward.

I will, and have always intended, to put on public record where the money goes.

All politicians should account for all their expenses; there should be full accountability and transparency.

I’m happy to be transparent and accountable.

This is the only job I’m doing; the only income I’m taking and I will ensure it is used for the purpose for which it is intended.

I have no difficulty if the allowance is withdrawn once it’s withdrawn from all senators.

Let’s have openness and transparency.

Irish citizens have been listening to the same meaningless waffle from politicians for decades as the system became more and more unaccountable, more and more cynical, more and more corrupt.

They have witnessed the diseased political system destroy their country, destroy their lives, destroy the future hopes of their children.

It appears that Senator Turnhout has already become very comfortable within that corrupt political system as her response to angry listeners reveals.

I appreciate the public’s anger, it wasn’t such a long time ago that I was on the other side of the fence so I do understand and I do think those of us who are public representatives do need to up our game and be accountable for what we’re doing.

Clearly, Senator Turnhout sees herself as being on the other side of the fence that divides the (corrupt) political system from the mass of angry citizens.

Has she reflected, I wonder, on why the people are angry and the politicians are not, why the politicians are perfectly happy to pocket this disgusting payment which originated from a cynical political stroke designed to keep the scumbag Bertie Ahern and his cohorts in power?

I doubt if she has engaged in such reflections, perhaps it’s not too late for her to do so.

Here’s my take on how an uncontaminated, idealistic, newly appointed politician should have reacted on discovering this totally unjustified payment.

It has come to my notice that I, and all my fellow Independent senators, are entitled to a Party Leader’s allowance of €23,000 .

This payment is in addition to the already very generous allowances, expenses and resources available to all senators.

Let me state immediately and without equivocation that I will not be accepting this payment.

Furthermore, I have put on hold all my plans and intentions as a politician to focus solely on a campaign to have this totally unjustified payment withdrawn from all senators and TDs.

In good times the acceptance of this payment would be an immoral act.

In these catastrophic times, brought about by our corrupt political system, it is both immoral and an act of treason against the best interests of the Irish people

As a guide to my campaign I am adopting the definition of corruption as defined by Transparency International:

Corruption is the abuse of entrusted power for private gain.

Copy to:
All Independent Senators in receipt of this payment as listed to me by the Department of Finance.

David Norris
Fergal Quinn
Ronan Mullen
John Crown
Sean Barrett
Martin McAleese
Fiach Mac Conghaill
Eamon Coghlan
Dr. Katherine Zappone
Mary Ann O Brien
Marie Louise O Donnell
Jillian Van Turnhout

De Rossa's claim on eliminating poverty has some credibility

In fairness to Proinsias De Rossa his claim regarding the elimination of poverty has some credibility.

It is estimated that when his TD, ministerial and MEP pensions are added up he will have an annual income of €91,000.

This should provide De Rossa with some small measure of protection against poverty.

Should his pension pot prove inadequate he can always earn a bit extra by joining the ranks of ex politicians who regularly feature in the media lecturing impoverished citizens on the need to make sacrifices for the greater good of the country.

What return for E-voting machines debacle? – Just a sarcastic joke

Michael Noonan made a joke about the e-voting machines debacle and some Irish eejits over in America are upset.

Ciaran Staunton, for example, who owns two Irish pubs in New York, said he’s disappointed the machines are not going to be installed in embassies around the world in order to allow emigrants to vote.

In charity, I’m going to assume Mr. Staunton is trying to outbid Mr. Noonan in the sarcasm stakes.

Noonan’s joke did provoke great hilarity and that’s only appropriate for a gombeen minister in a gombeen state.

Over 50 million recklessly wasted on a very questionable enterprise with no accountability whatsoever and what is the return for Irish citizens?

A sarcastic joke from a leading figure operating within our corrupt political system.

A nation sold into slavery

One of the books I’m reading at the moment is Chronicles of the Tudor Kings.

Henry VIII died leaving England virtually bankrupt.

In 1547 Edward Seymour, Lord Protector after the death of Henry, introduced the notorious Vagrancy Act which proposed to deal with the problem of long-term unemployment by capital punishment.

I’m not sure if this measure was actually enacted but the following measures were:

Any able-bodied person who was out of work for more than three days should be branded with a V and sold into slavery for two years.

Other offences by the same individual would lead to a life of slavery.

While present day Irish rulers (lords) haven’t (yet) introduced the death penalty for being unemployed they have certainly, by their corruption, incompetence and arrogance, sold the country and its people into decades of (debt) slavery.

Michael Wallace TD is a thief

When Independent TD, Michael Wallace, was asked what the public will think of his failure to pass on his workers’ pension scheme contributions he responded:

People will make their own calls on that.

Here’s my call:

Michael Wallace is a thief and a hypocrite.

He’s a thief because he took money from his workers that was supposed to go to their pension scheme and kept it for himself.

He’s a hypocrite because instead of just accepting that’s he’s a common thief and taking his punishment he sermonises about how the courts were right to take the matter seriously.

He talks out of both sides of his mouth; accepting that he’s guilty but, at the same time, not as guilty as some would believe.

He tries to off load some of his guilt on the Pensions Board claiming he had serious communications problems with the board.

Taoiseach's speech: The usual waffle and denial

Because Enda Kenny’s address to the nation was little more than the usual collection of meaningless platitudes it is easy to analyse.

Point One: As a nation we are living beyond our means (Borrowed from the criminal politician Haughey).

Point Two: You, ordinary citizens, are not to blame. (But you will pay the price for the political and financial corruption that has destroyed the country).

Point Three: We must ensure this never happens again. (This is standard waffle which is usually followed up with – we must move on, the past is another country; anger is not a policy etc., etc.).

The key point in the Taoiseach’s speech was, however – who he blamed for the catastrophe?

If, as he had already stated, the Irish people weren’t to blame – then who?

Let me be clear – Ireland supports stronger economic governance throughout Europe, and particularly in the Eurozone.

In fact, the Irish people are paying the price now for the absence of such rules in the past.

So there you have it. It is now almost universally believed within Ireland that Europe is the cause of our complete failure as a state.

No mention of political corruption, no mention of financial corruption and no mention of bureaucratic corruption.

And why would there be any mention of the real causes of our failure as a state?

After all, to do so would mean having to leave the bubble of denial and enter the brutal realty of what we really are as a nation.

Standards in public life

Letter in today’s Irish Examiner.

Need for debate about standards in public life

Saturday, December 03, 2011

AN abiding theme of recent letters to The Irish Examiner is the helplessness experienced by the Irish people to take effective action to redress the Government’s brazen funnelling of the nation’s wealth into the pockets of those who already have too much.

The moral corruption that permeates political life seems incurable. We are witnessing the logical consequence of the separation of morality from politics, with the consequent failure to bring politicians to account. The Dáil has become an inward looking, self-authenticating club that lives for itself and not for the country it purports to serve. The Seanad, intended as a provider of checks and balances to the deliberations of the Dáil, is a toothless observer of the TDs’ concern with their own cheques and bank balances.

The 16th century writer, Machiavelli, has been a very powerful role model for those who do not allow moral scruples to get in the way of the quest for political power. I have yet to meet a politician who believes that good ends can be brought about without resort to dubious means. The end is assumed to justify the means. The difficulty here is that the politician is corrupted by the dubious means but not healed again by the achievement of what was seen as a good end.

In Ireland, a more subtle factor is involved in the raw political expediency and moral blindness of so many politicians. Religious belief seems to provide the wayward politician with a comforting assurance that a loving God is waiting round the corner with the offer of forgiveness. I knew one politician who seemed to boast of his capacity for dodgy dealing. His constituents overlooked his chicanery as he was a daily communicant.

Clearly there is an urgent need for a widespread debate about standards in public life. I had thought that the end of Fianna Fáil would usher in a new dawn. Sadly, we seem to have changed the cast but not the play.

Philip O’Neill
Edith Road
Oxford
England