Category: Fianna Fail

Mansergh replies

Fianna Fail TD, Martin Mansergh replies to my letter of 27th November.

Madam,

While grateful for Anthony Sheridan’s complimentary remarks about my role in the peace process (Nov 27th), he misrepresents the point I was making about the Taoiseach’s future salary increase.

While the Taoiseach, as elected head of Government, has ultimately more responsibility for the welfare of this country as a whole than anyone else, I did not argue that therefore he ought to be paid better than anyone else, and I made this absolutely clear in several radio interviews.

What I did say was that, when it comes into effect in 2009, his revised pay would, by my rough calculation, with the help of information in reply to a parliamentary question from me to the Minister for Finance, place him around No. 13,000 in the list of high earners. Is this really so out of place?

While my point related to the office not the man, can anyone seriously argue that the successful completion of the Northern Ireland peace process in which he played such a central leading role is not of priceless value to this country, not to mention the most rapid and prolonged period of economic and social progress in our history under his leadership? The Celtic Tiger started when he was minister for finance, continued under the Rainbow, and has been underpinned by social partnership, of which since 1987 he has been one of the principal creators and sustainers, and which gave us the third quarter of this year free of strikes.

Finally, the relatively modest overall cost of the Taoiseach to this country bears absolutely no relationship to the cost of the president of the United States or the president of France to theirs.

Yours, etc,

MARTIN MANSERGH TD,
Dáil Éireann,
Dublin 2.

Mansergh cover up

Fianna Fail TD Martin Mansergh has contradicted the evidence given today at the Mahon Tribunal by Air Corps Brigadier General Ralph James. The evidence concerns an official visit by the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, to the Bahamas in 1994

Mansergh, who was on the trip as a special advisor to Reynolds said the three day visit was a formal trip and not an unscheduled diversion. On The Last Word (Today FM) Mansergh is reported as saying the general’s evidence was based on faulty recollection.

But in his usual sly and underhand way Mansergh is not telling the whole truth.

Brigadier General James did not claim that the trip to the Bahamas was unscheduled. He did, however, claim that there was an unscheduled flight from Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas, to the island of Freeport North of the capital.

This unscheduled flight was specifically requested by Reynolds who spent six hours on the island. There is no record of what he was up to for those six hours.

It is clear that Mansergh has no scruples about calling into question the reliability of James’ evidence in an apparent attempt to cover up for Reynolds.

The relevant transcript from the Tribunal is worth reading. Questions 90 – 127 and specifically questions 96 – 98.

Mysterious stop over

The cigar smoking, greasy mustached general accompanied the dictator out on to the runway where the Government jet was ready for take off. His Excellency was on his way to attend a very important meeting where the price of bananas was top of the agenda.

Before boarding the general reminds his Excellency about ‘the other business’ he must attend to after his very important meeting. The dictator thanks the general and promises to promote him to Field Marshal on his return.

The very important meeting went well, much business was done and the dictator boarded his jet for the return flight. Two hours into the flight the pilot is instructed to divert to the Bahamas. Unfortunately, the pilot is new to the job and unfamiliar with the ways of the world; he protests;

“But your Excellency; I must follow the flight plan and take you safely back to our glorious republic.”

After a couple of clatters around the head and a threat that his family would be forced to join Fine Gael, the pilot does what he’s told.

The dictator is in a hurry, only spending six hours in the Bahamas attending to ‘the other business’, before continuing his journey home.

After all he has been away nearly a week now and his people must surely be suffering from the absence of his great leadership.

ENDS

Brigadier General Ralph James was one of those giving some very interesting evidence to the Mahon Tribunal today.

It seems that the then Taoiseach, Albert Reynolds, made an unscheduled flight to the island of Freeport while on an official visit to the Bahamas in 1994. He was returning from St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the US.

Former developer Tom Gilmartin has alleged that Reynolds collected $1 million in New York, Boston and Chicago that year but that only $70,000 made it to the Fianna Fail party.

The general said there was no reason recorded for the unofficial flight.

Ahern's pay rise

Letter in today’s Irish Times

TAOISEACH’S PAY RISE

Madam,

It is widely recognised that Fianna Fáil TD Martin Mansergh is a man of high intellectual abilities.

His significant role in the successful Northern Ireland peace process is also an indication that he is a man of exceptional political and diplomatic intelligence.

It is therefore reasonable to assume he is fully aware that his claim that Bertie Ahern should be the highest-paid individual in the State, on the basis that he has more responsibilities than anyone else, is puerile nonsense (November 22nd).

The fact that a man of Dr Mansergh’s high reputation is reduced to mouthing such a ridiculous defence is itself confirmation that the pay rise was totally unjustified.

If this ludicrous logic was extended to the United States, for example, President Bush would be in receipt of an income greater than Microsoft tycoon Bill Gates, who has a net worth of $53 billion.

Sadly it seems that Dr Mansergh, for all his abilities, is motivated by nothing more than the traditional Fianna Fáil backwoodsman mentality of defending the party and its leader above all other considerations.

He cannot be unaware of the damage such an attitude does to the interests of the Irish people.

Yours, etc,

ANTHONY SHERIDAN

Ahern’s loan application form

Another day for former AIB assistant manager Philip Murphy. Certainly some curious things are coming up. Transcript here.

One thing that stands out is that when Murphy went over the review of the loan with Ahern in 1995, and an application form was finally filled out (in May 1995, 18 months after Ahern had got the money), Ahern made some rather startling claims. This includes the claim that he was the owner of St Luke’s, when it is apparently owned by a trust established by Des Richardson.

First, the conversation either took place in the O’Connell street branch, in St Lukes, or on the phone.

The form gave the following details. We have probably all filled out loan applications so you get the idea.

Name: Bertie Ahern
Address: St Luke’s, 161 Lower Drumcondra Road
Number of years at address: 8 years
Dependent children: 2, aged 14, 16
Residential status: owner blank, tenant blank, parents blank
If owner, value of house: £90,000 (referring to St Luke’s)
Employment: TD, public representative Fianna Fail
Employer’s name and address: Fianna Fail
Years in present employment: 20
Gross income: Party Leaders Allowance £200k plus TD salary
Regular monthly income after tax : expenses 20k plus 18k? (This bit is vague about what they are referring to, outgoings or incomings)
Frequency of payment: monthly
Other accounts held: Irish Permanent, balance £5k (actual balance was £32,424.23)
AIB, current account (overdraft, £21,896DR)
AIB deposit £22,384 credit
AIB current £3,010 credit
Credit cards: Visa, American Express
Other borrowings: Nil
Purpose of loan: Marriage seperation (note written by Murphy that the loan must be cleared over eight months from deposit acc)

After going through this, counsel gets stuck into Murphy. Murphy is wondering why an SSA was approved on the 23rd, but no money was handed over on that day.

He is hinting that a back-to-back loan (read money laundering) was taken out on the 23rd and that Ahern brought £15,000 in cash, a £5,000 bank draft and a £2,500 cheque into the bank on the 23rd, the same day he took out a loan for almost £20,000.

Murphy denies this, saying Ahern called him on the 30th and said he wanted to lodge “a few bob”, and that this was physically done on the 30th. Why then was the declaration for the SSA application done on the 23rd?

Anyway, on the 30th, Ahern comes into the branch. He sits across the table from Murphy. He takes £15,000 cash out of his pocket, and hands it to Murphy. That’s from someone on less than £40,000 a year. Then he handed over the draft and cheque. Murphy says he would have counted the money in front of Ahern, but can’t remember what the denominations were. He then passed the money on to a teller.

The bank draft was made payable to Des Richardson, and is signed on the back by him. Both that and the cheque are dated December 22nd. The cheque is drawn on the account of Willdover Limited, signed by Des Richardson.

Apparenty, Murphy believes he went to school with Richardson, but not in the same class, and knew him well enough to salute him on the street, but “not to for a pint with”.

Judge Keys then makes a suggestion. Since the bank account numbers are ordered, why not just look at the chronology of other accounts opened to see what date the SSA was actually opened, the 23rd or the 30th.

Documentation shows the lodgments of the monies was made on the 30th, but the legal declaration required for SSAs was signed on the 23rd.

After lunch, the questioning moves on to the lodgment by Ahern of £30,000 into the same branch on the 25th of April 1994 – just four months after lodging the money outlined above.

Murphy got a call from Ahern, who said he wanted to open an account “for the girls”. He said he had money in a safe. Murphy offered to go to St Luke’s. He suggested to Ahern he put it into an account, by topping up his SSA. SSA’s cannot go above £50,000.

Ahern opened the safe behind him, and handed the cash to Murphy. It was probably in an envelope. Murphy counted right there in front of Ahern, but can’t remember the denominations – but it was easy to carry. Ahern said he had saved it, and then said he had more – in a safe in Government buildings. He said to Ahern it was ridiculous to keep the money in a safe. The extra over and above the 50k was to go into the current account. He left the form for opening accounts for “the girls” with Ahern.

On August 8th, in St Luke’s again, Murphy sat outside Ahern’s office. He was there to collect money to lodge to an account for the girls. He was called into the office and was given £20,000. Murphy encouraged him to open a Retail Deposit Account. He is sketchy on whether it came from the safe, and again on the denominations. Murphy again counted out the cash in front of Ahern. He also collected the forms, he thinks.

Murphy then proceeded to put the £20,000 into the worst interest paying account, despite it being for “the girls'” education. The money was withdrawn from this account on October 13th into a retail deposit account, which pays better interest.

That was basically it, next we have Des Richardson.

Operating in the wrong country

When a tearful Bertie Ahern was interviewed by RTEs Bryan Dobson in September 2006, he mentioned that he appointed people to State boards because they were his friends. Bryan Dobson didn’t seem to notice that what the Taoiseach was admitting is considered a crime in real democracies.

I wonder was Dobson thinking of that infamous interview when he was reporting on the travails of former French president Jacques Chirac on last night’s Six One News? (11th item)

Poor old Jacques has been placed under judicial investigation for giving out jobs to 40 political sympathisers while he was mayor of Paris.

Despite denying any wrongdoing Jacques will still have to face some sort of accountability.

How he must envy Irish politicians who live in a country where they face losing power if they don’t’ give jobs to political sympathisers

Still asleep

I think the letter below is the one you are referring to Haymoon.

I strongly agree with the views expressed but I wouldn’t be confident about the sleeping Irish electorate waking up, the bulk of them are, I think, still sound asleep.

ARE TOP POLITICIANS UP TO THE JOB?

Madam,

If large corporations in the private sector adopted the same approach to selecting senior executives as our political system employs they would be bankrupted and out of business in double quick time.

The lunacy of the process becomes obvious in the first instance at local level, when candidates for county council elections are chosen. The most important attributes include being “well in” with the party suits, being related to someone in politics, or being a publican, undertaker, county footballer, token female, etc.

When electing people to make decisions that seriously affect the lives of thousands we don’t look for qualifications, experience, education, competence, references, past achievements or even an accepted level of intelligence.

This ludicrous system is replicated at government level. Take a close look at the most senior executives of our country – the Cabinet.

What qualifies them to run the largest corporation in the country, Ireland Inc? Does their training and expertise qualify them to run our lives?

How many of them would seriously be considered for an executive position in our top multinational companies?
As revealed in your edition of November 8th, the Minister of State for Education and Science, Sean Haughey, has more staff working in his constituency office (six) than he has to cover his ministerial duties (four). It is obvious where his priorities lie and this attitude is endemic across this wasteful Government.

Our chief executive, Bertie Ahern, lives in a parallel world where he is in charge of everything but responsible for nothing. He has distanced himself and his colleagues from all State responsibilities by setting up layer upon layer of insulating committees and authorities which can be conveniently blamed when things go wrong.

Here is a man who forgets about receiving extremely large sums of money while in office (strange accountant), gives contradictory testimony to a tribunal and brazenly expects us to have sympathy for his plight.

The leader of our State finds it difficult to construct even the simplest of sentences and constantly resorts to incoherent, senseless waffling – for example when speaking in the Dáil last week on hospital consultants: “The vast majority of them would form far more excessive than I would as a salary.”

Irish electors voted, with their eyes wide open, for this incompetent, arrogant, out-of-touch Government and so permitted it to continue to mismanage our affairs. The electorate must share the blame for the position we now find ourselves in. – Yours, etc,

AIDAN MULLINS, Foxcroft Street, Portarlington, Co Laois.

The political world and the real world

Letter in today’s Irish Independent.

Tuesday November 13 2007

It was reported on the RTE current affairs programme ‘Drivetime‘ (3rd item, 2nd report) last Wednesday that Mary O’Rourke TD, finding herself bored during ministerial question time, decided to take a walk down to Brown Thomas. We were told how she met 11 women all with horror stories about friends and relations affected by cancer.

Nothing better illustrates the yawning gap between the comfortable world of our politicians and the brutal reality of many ordinary citizens.

Here’s a politician who has held several senior positions in government, who is a member of a party that has held power for more years than any other party, but who has become so removed from the lives of ordinary people that she only encounters reality when she wanders out of the rarefied world of our useless and “boring” parliament.

Her contribution during the special Dail debate on the latest cancer treatment scandal only served to confirm her ignorance of what is happening in the real world.

She started by congratulating Minister for Health, Mary Harney, for apologising to the women who were misdiagnosed, as if this empty gesture had any meaning.

This was followed by high praise for all politicians who put themselves out by agreeing actually to meet and discuss the scandal.

She then viciously attacked Prof Drumm as if it was he and not incompetent politicians who landed us with a Third World health service.

After telling the nation that she didn’t think we would ever have a proper health service, Mrs O’Rourke apologised in advance for her absence from the next day’s briefing of politicians by Prof Drumm.

Apparently she had a more pressing engagement — another trip to Brown Thomas, perhaps?

ANTHONY SHERIDAN

COBH, CO CORK

Sunshine for the politicians; shade for the peasants

Prof. Drumm must be sick, sick that he accepted the job as chief executive of the Health Service Executive (HSE). Sick that he allowed himself to be duped into taking the job of reforming a heath system that has become an uncontrollable monster. Sick to witness the very people responsible for creating that monster; turn on him like a pack of vicious wolves.

For decades, Irish politicians were in charge of the health service and for decades they did what Irish politicians do best, used it as a means of buying votes. It was ‘jobs for the boys’ and to hell with the consequences.

There was a time when there were only two or three health boards but because every politician wanted a board in his area this number mushroomed into eleven. Imagine, eleven health boards to organise health facilities for about three million people.

This meant that there was eleven separate, grotesquely overstaffed, administrations choking the system to death and literally putting lives in danger. When the situation began to get out of control it was decided to abolish all eleven boards and replace them with a single authority that would bring reform, efficiency and, most importantly, a good health service to the Irish people.

To achieve this laudable aim job cuts would have to be made, work practices would have to change; civil servants would have to move, efficiencies would have to be made, some jobs would even have to be lost. In a nutshell, politicians would have to show courageous leadership and civil servants would have to cooperate.

This, of course, never happened. Instead, the cowardly politicians pretended to abolish the boards, it was all done – on paper. Not a single civil servant lost his job, nobody moved, there were no rationalisations or efficiencies. Everybody was still entitled to guaranteed promotions, guaranteed wage rises, guaranteed benchmarking – for life.

In effect, all that happened was the creation of a new twelfth health board. This was the mother of all health boards, it was going to supervise the inefficiencies and incompetence of all the other boards and for that it required and got a super bloated layer of administration staff.

From that moment, the grotesque monster was rampaging out of control and Irish citizens began to suffer even more, and at times, die. But the cowardly politicians had covered themselves well. In a by now common strategy, the HSE and in particular its chief executive was used as a buffer to distance cowardly politicians from the mess they had created. Mary Harney, the alleged Minister for Health, frequently suggests that the latest scandal is a matter for the HSE, nothing to do with her.

It must have been sickening for Prof. Drumm to listen to the wolf pack as they set about their work of abdicating responsibility in our national parliament yesterday; it was certainly vomit inducing for me. Here’s a flavour of what the cowardly incompetents had to say: (Full report on Drivetime, 3rd item)

Labour TD, Joan Burton spoke about the lack of trust that the public and politicians had in the HSE, about how impossible it was for politicians to get answers. No mention of political culpability.

Fianna Fail TD, Mary O’Rourke who has been in politics for decades, who has held several senior positions in government, who is a member of the party that has held power for more years than any other party, who, by dint of her cowardice, is one of the principal architects of the present mess, was ruthless in her condemnation of the HSE and in particular Prof. Drumm.

She related how she had recently left a boring session in the Dail to take a walk down to Brown Thomas. On the way she met eleven women all with horror stories about friends and relations affected by cancer.

Think about that, an Irish politician leaves our national parliament suffering from boredom, meets several distressed citizens and is incapable of making a connection between the two events. She then demonstrates a complete lack of intelligence by using the event to bolster her attack on Prof. Drumm as if it was he, rather than her that was responsible for their distress.

Fine Gael TD, John O’Mahony from Mayo spoke with the typical narrow minded parochialism, the hypocritical ‘but’ factor that Olivia O’Leary (Drivetime) spoke about. “I’m all in favour of centres of excellence” ‘but’ my constituency should keep its facilities.

Labour TD, Liz McManus spoke of the need for the establishment of a patient’s safety authority. Yet another layer of bureaucracy staffed by self serving unaccountable civil servants.

Fianna Fail TD, Margaret Conlon, amazingly, spoke the truth with clarity. “We cannot talk out of both sides of our mouths; we need to ensure that our resources are not spread too widely and too thinly because if this is the case, everyone loses.” Cleary, Ms. Conlon is a new TD and has yet to learn the mafia traditions of her chosen party.

Fianna Fail TD, Beverly Flynn would make an excellent tutor of those mafia traditions. A politician with no reputation to lose, daughter of a disgraced politician who had no scruples about cheating on his taxes and operating illegal offshore accounts, took the same narrow minded and hypocritical view as Fine Gael TD John O’Mahony.

Progressive Democrats TD and Minister for Health (without responsibility), Mary Harney, mouthed the standard and by now insulting apology to the victims.

Mary O’Rourke spoke about a dawn that is always promised but never actually dawns, that she was in despair over the health services.

Why would she be in despair? She exists in the unaccountable, grotesquely overpaid and arrogant world of Irish politics. She, like most of her colleagues, do not have the courage to actually do anything about the situation.

She only encounters reality when she wanders out of the rarefied world of our useless and boring parliament, she will never find herself in the situation of the eleven distressed women she met, she will never have to worry about a lack of medical facilities for herself or her family.

Her dawn and that of her colleagues arrived years ago when they created a system that provides constant sunshine for themselves, family and friends but leaves a large percentage of the people they claim to represent in the shade and some of them – condemned to the ultimate darkness.

Copy of this post to:

Prof. Drumm
HSE
Mary Harney, TD
Joan Burton, TD
Mary O’Rourke, TD
John O’Mahony, TD
Liz McManus, TD
Margaret Conlon, TD
Beverly Flynn, TD
Fianna Fail Party
Fine Gael Party
Labour Party
Progressive Democrats Party
Green Party

No simply answers in a corrupt system

On 23rd Oct last I received an email from the Ombudsman informing me that she had received a copy of a letter sent to me by Dublin City Council finally answering a simple question I had asked of them the previous April. The Ombudsman ends her letter as follows.

“As the Council has replied to your correspondence, there appears to be no further role for this Office in this matter and we will now close your
file.”

This brings to an end a tough campaign to extract an answer to a simple question from Dublin City Council. The following is a chronological account of events with my comments.

April 16th 2007: Irish Times reports that Fianna Fail TD for Donegal South West and Minister of State, Pat the Cope Gallagher had illegally erected a number of posters around Croke Park in Dublin. His actions were in contravention of the 1997 Litter Pollution Act.

April 18th: I phoned Dublin City Council and asked the simple question: “Was Minister of State, Pat the Cope Gallagher, fined for illegally erecting posters in Dublin city”?

Bernie Lillis, of Dublin City Council Litter Office told me that it was her personal office policy not to reveal such information about fines. The incident and its consequences were confidential, a personal matter between her office and the minister.

Ms. Lillis further informed me that she had spoken with the Minister and had accepted his plea that he wasn’t aware his actions were against the law. Ms. Lillis and the minister are, apparently, unaware of the public policy; “Ignorantia legis neminem excusat” (Ignorance of the law excuses no one).

Ms. Lillis is also obviously gullible enough to believe that a Government minister and politician of long standing would be unaware of a major piece of legislation like the 1997 Litter Pollution Act.

April 20th: I spoke with Pat Cronin head of waste management at Dublin City Council. Initially, Mr. Cronin refused point blank to answer my question. He seemed genuinely astonished that a man in his position was actually being challenged by a mere citizen.

When I persisted he eventually said that if I wanted an answer I would have to put it in writing. When I asked by what law/regulation he was basing his demand that I put my question in writing on, he just kept repeating; put it in writing, put it in writing…

This is, in my experience, a standard bureaucratic strategy based on the (correct) assumption that most people will drop their queries rather than go to the bother of putting them in writing.

April 23rd: Posted registered letter personally addressed to Mr. Cronin (Copy One below).

April 25th – 22nd May: Made numerous attempts to confirm that Mr. Cronin had received my registered letter. I met with a brick wall on every attempt.

April 23rd: Irish Independent reports that Minister Gallagher had again illegally erected a number of posters in his Donegal South West constituency.

Despite his conversation with Bernie Lillis the week before, Gallagher admitted that he hadn’t checked whether he was breaching any regulations in Donegal. Again, Gallagher is claiming ignorance of the law and, more unbelievably, ignorance of the 1997 Litter Pollution Act.

April 23 – May 23rd: Made numerous attempts to find out from Donegal County Council what action they proposed to take against Gallagher. I met with a brick wall at every attempt.

I was eventually advised that I should put my complaint in writing (All bureaucrats are, apparently, aware of the ‘make them put it in writing’ strategy).

May 23rd: Posted official complaint about Gallagher’s illegal activities to Donegal County Council (Copy Two below).

May 24th: Submitted formal complaint by email to the Standards in Public Office Commission regarding Gallagher’s illegal activities (Copy Three below)

May 30th: Posted official complaint on Gallagher to Dublin City Council.

June 27th: Posted official complaint to the Ombudsman on the refusal of Dublin City Council staff to answer my question.

July 3rd: Received email from the Standards in Public Office Commission rejecting my complaint on the basis that Gallagher’s illegal activities were not of sufficient gravity to warrant an investigation.

A Government minister openly breaks the law on two occasions and a Government agency charged with upholding standards in public office concludes that such illegal activities are not of sufficient gravity.

In a perverse way, they have a point. Irish politicians regularly commit much more serious crimes without ever being brought to account.

July 19th: Received reply to my official complaint from Donegal County Council stating that because they had received no complaint about Gallagher they had no cause to investigate the matter.

This deserves repeating – Donegal County Council rejected my complaint about Gallagher on the grounds that they had received no complaint.

July 31st: Received letter from Dublin City Council finally answering the simple question I asked on April 18th – Gallagher was not fined for his illegal activities. (Copy Four below)

I believe the only reason Dublin City Council bothered to finally answer my question was because of my complaint to the Ombudsman.

October 23rd: Received email from the Ombudsman informing me that they had received a copy of the letter sent to me by Dublin City Council in which my question was answered and were therefore closing my file.

The question can reasonably be asked: Why bother? Why go to all that trouble to force a civil/public servant to answer a simple question?

The core principle of this blog is that Ireland, unique among all other Western democracies, is a corrupt state. While all other Western countries suffer to some degree from the disease of corruption, Ireland is, as a country, a totally corrupt entity.

One of the strategies of this blog is to prove this point by asking questions of politicians and Government agencies and judge by their responses whether they have the best interests of the Irish people at heart or whether they are perhaps serving another agenda.

I want to make absolutely clear that I am not accusing any of those involved in this episode of being corrupt, what I am claiming is that they have to live, work and continuously deal with an intrinsically corrupt system.

Every other resident of this state must do the same, everybody is forced to adapt to the rotten system whether they like it or not.

Everybody has to adapt to a culture where tax evasion is endemic, where financial institutions are allowed to regularly rob their customers, where politicians are permitted to live out lucrative careers of corruption without being made accountable.

Where white collar crime is barely recognised as a crime, where nobody is ever, ever held accountable, even when people die because of gross incompetence or negligence.

Where everybody knows that arrogance, incompetence and corruption have become as much a part of our culture as St. Patrick’s Day and Guinness.

That’s why, I believe, the public/civil servants involved in this case have acted as they have. They have acted in a manner that is largely consistent with how the bureaucracy of any third rate banana republic would act when faced with the choice of enforcing the law against a law breaking Government minister or cowering in fear behind a wall of bureaucratic arrogance and officialdom.

If a politician deliberately set out to break the law in any other Western democracy there would have been widespread public anger, there would have been immediate and effective action by the authorities and that politician’s career would have been terminated on the insistence of his colleagues in the body politic.

As for Gallagher himself, he’s practically an irrelevance. A member of the most corrupt political party in Ireland, a typical backwoodsman politician who will do anything to get and hold power, including breaking the law.

A low pedigree politician following in the footsteps of a long line of low pedigree politicians who’s only distinguishing legacy will be the enormous damage they have done to the quality of Irish democracy.

Copy of this post to:

Dublin City Council
Standards in Office Commission
Donegal County Council
Ombudsman
Mr. Gallagher, Minister of State with special responsibility for Health Promotions and Food Safety at the Department of Health and Children.

(Previous posts on this matter – Here, here, here here, here, here, here

—————————————————————————————————————————-

(Copy One)

Letter to Mr. Cronin head of waste management at Dublin City Council.

23rd April 2007

Dear Mr. Cronin,

On Monday 16th April it was reported in the Irish Times that Minister for State, Pat the Cope Gallagher, had illegally erected a number of posters around Dublin.

On Wednesday 18th April I rang Dublin City Council to find out what action had been taken in response to this incident. I was informed by Bernie Lillis of the Litter Office that it was the policy of her office to keep such matters confidential.

When I asked Ms Lillis what legislation/regulation she was basing her decision on she referred me to your office.

On Friday 20th April I spoke with you on the phone and asked the same question. You refused to answer any questions on the phone and insisted I write to you on the matter. Here are my questions:

What action did Dublin City Council take in response to the illegal erection of posters around Dublin by Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher as reported in the Irish Times on the 16th April 2007?

If fines were imposed, what was the sum total of those fines?

Regarding the authority of public/civil servants to make personal decisions on what information will or will not be allowed into the public arena.

Does Ms. Lillis of the Litter Office have the authority to form a personal office confidentiality policy which results in information being denied to the public? If she has this authority, on what regulatory basis does her power rest?

Do you, Mr. Cronin, have the authority to refuse to answer my specific questions regarding the specific events surrounding the illegal erection of posters by Minister of State, Pat Gallagher? If you do have that authority, by what regulatory basis are you acting?

Do you have the authority to refuse to answer my questions on the phone and insist that the matter can only be dealt with in writing? If you do have that authority, by what regulatory basis are you acting?

In today’s Irish Independent (23rd April) it is reported that Minister Gallagher has again erected illegal posters in Donegal. From the report it seems that they are the same posters that were illegally erected in Dublin and which, according to Ms. Lillis, were returned to Minister Gallagher.

Does Dublin City Council have a policy of rendering posters unusable before returning them to lawbreakers? (A quick daub of paint is all that would be required to protect other jurisdictions from rogue politicians like Minister Gallagher).

My motive for requesting this information is simple. I am an anti-corruption campaigner. I do not belong to any political party but act out of anger at the enormous damage being done to Ireland by the disease of rampant corruption.

As part of my campaigning I write a blog at https://www.publicinquiry.eu/ where Irish corruption is reported and analysed.

Obviously, the irresponsible and illegal activities of a Government Minister and the apparent inability/unwillingness of any state authority to bring him to justice are reported on the blog.

Yours in anger

Anthony Sheridan

(Copy Two)

Official complaint to Donegal County Council.

23rd May 2007

To Whom It May Concern,

Subsequent to several phone calls and on the advice of Donegal County Council staff I hereby submit this official complaint regarding a breach of the Litter Pollution Act, 1997.

On Monday April 23rd 2007 it was reported in the Irish Independent that Minister of State, Pat the Cope Gallagher, had mounted posters on poles on routes out of his Donegal South West constituency. It is further reported in the same newspaper that the said minister admitted that he had not checked whether he was in any breach of regulations.

I can confirm that when the minister erected illegal posters in Dublin city a number of days before his actions in Donegal he was informed by Dublin City Council that the erection of such posters was an illegal act.

In other word, when the minister erected the posters in Donegal he was aware that he was committing an illegal act. This information can be independently confirmed by contacting Ms. Bernie Lillis at Dublin City Council litter office (01/2224243).

I request an acknowledgment of this official complaint and I would be grateful to be informed of the outcome of any investigation.

Yours sincerely

Anthony Sheridan

(Copy Three)

Formal complaint to Standards in Office Commission

24th May 2007

To Whom It May Concern,

I wish to formally lodge a complaint under the Ethics in Public Office, Acts 1995 and/or the Standards in Public Office Act, 2001.
The complaint concerns the illegal erection of posters by Minister of State Pat the Cope Gallagher in Dublin and Donegal.

The first incident, as reported in the Irish Times on April 16th, involved the illegal erection of posters around Croke Park in Dublin. According to the report, Minister Gallagher openly admits that he organised and participated in this illegal act.

The second incident, as reported in the Irish Independent on April 23rd, involved the illegal erection of posters on poles on routes out of the ministers Donegal South West constituency.

In respect of the first incident in Dublin, I have been informed by Ms. Bernie Lillis of Dublin City Council Litter Office (01/2224243), that she informed the minister that his actions were illegal. According to Ms. Lillis, the minister apologised for his actions but claimed he did not realise he was breaking the law.

By claiming ignorance of the law the minister is asserting that, as a citizen, an elected representative and a government minister, he was unaware of the Litter Pollution Act, 1997, a piece of legislation that attracted widespread comment and analysis by the general public, the body politic and the media.

He is also asking the nation to accept that claimed ignorance of the law is a justified and reasonable defence.

It is reasonable to assume that minister Gallagher knew or should have known that he was in breach of the Litter Pollution Act, 1997 when he erected the posters in Dublin and was therefore acting in an irresponsible and unethical manner.

Because of the information he received from Bernie Lillis, it is an absolute certainty that minister Gallagher knew he was breaking the law when he illegally erected posters in Donegal some days after the Dublin incident.

By deliberately setting out to break the law of the land, it is clear that the minister is in serious breach of the Code of Conduct for Office Holders as outlined by the Standards in Office Commission (Office Holders), sections 1.3 Requirement to observe the Code of Conduct, 1.4 Principles of Ethical Conduct and 1.5 Highest ethical standards to be applied at all times.

Yours sincerely
Anthony Sheridan

(Copy Four)

From Dublin City Council

Dear Mr. Sheridan

I refer to your letter of 23/04/2007 and apologise for the delay in replying, which was due to oversight.

On 15/04/2007 Dublin City Council staff removed posters carrying the name, “Pat the Cope Gallagher” which had been erected on it’s (sic) property, (public lighting poles).

Subject to stringent conditions, Dublin City Council occasionally gives permission for the erection of posters on it’s (sic) property, but no application was received in respect of these posters. They were removed for disposal but Mr. Gallagher claimed not to have known of Dublin City Council’s policy and the posters were returned on the understanding that there would be no further breach of that policy. In the circumstances no further action was taken.

Where fines are issued under the Litter Pollution Act 1997, Dublin City Council will disclose general details, but not personal information, pending possible prosecution and court hearing. This is in line with the principle of presumed innocence until proven guilty. In this instance no fine was issued and details of discussions held with Mr. Gallagher were regarded as confidential and not disclosed. This policy applies equally across the board.

Mr. Cronin requested that you put your various questions in writing. This was to enable a reasoned and accurate reply to issue, which he felt he wasn’t in a position to do in a phone conversation. In the circumstances the request was reasonable.

Again I would like to apologise for the delay in replaying to your queries, but if there are any issues you would like to discuss further please contact me as above.

Signed
Niall O’Keeffe
A/Senior Executive Officer