Category: Fianna Fail

Facing the appalling vista

The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe has resigned after less than a year in office following a series of financial scandals involving some of his cabinet ministers.

Speaking on Morning Ireland, RTEs Charlie Bird expressed the following opinion on the latest episode of Bertigate.

“The public in a sense have already made their verdict on Bertie Ahern in the election. They knew all about this, they voted for him. Now what is at stake for Bertie Ahern is his legacy.”

The possibility of Ahern resigning is such a remote possibility that it doesn’t even enter the consciousness of our most experienced and professional broadcasters.

Over the next week or so Ahern’s financial fantasy world will receive wall to wall coverage and analysis but the question of resignation will hardly be mentioned, if at all.

Everybody knows what the reality is but nobody will actually talk about it. Everybody knows that such low standards are not tolerated in any other Western democracy. Deep down, every Irish citizen knows what we are but very few are prepared to face the appalling vista.

Pure Ballymagash

I nearly fell off my seat laughing on reading the attached report in the Irish Times.

Even in a corrupt country like Ireland, where denial of reality is an integral part of our culture, this takes some beating.

Apparently, everyone concerned is going to pretend that Cllr. Fahy was never jailed for fraud but ‘in reality’ his absence from the council was due to illness.

If this story was broadcast as a comedy sketch there would be immediate complaints for portraying the Irish as stupid.

Pure Ballymagash.

Jailed Galway councillor to retain seat

Lorna Siggins Western Correspondent

Wed, Sep 12, 2007

Independent Galway county councillor Michael “Stroke” Fahy has secured unanimous support from colleagues for retention of his local authority seat while serving a jail sentence.
The former Fianna Fáil representative, who is appealing a 12-month conviction and fine for misappropriation of local authority funds, is in Castlerea prison, Co Roscommon.
The county council was loath to disqualify him under the provisions of the 2001 Local Government Act, on the basis that an appeal of his case was pending. However, the same legislation says a councillor is deemed to have resigned if he or she fails to attend local authority meetings for a continuous six-month period.
A meeting of the council yesterday heard a request from Cllr Fahy for colleagues to accept that his absence from meetings was due to “illness and his attendance in Dublin”. He is not due to be released from prison until January 2008, although his appeal may be heard this November.
Cllr Fahy was sentenced on March 22nd last and given a fortnight to make arrangements for his elderly mother, with whom he had been living in south Galway. On the night before he was due to start his jail term – April 3rd – he was admitted to University College Hospital, Galway, and had a cardiac operation.
The councillor had resigned from Fianna Fáil when a Garda investigation was initiated into misappropriation of funds, following a freedom of information request to the local authority. Councillors are allowed up to 18 months leave of absence if colleagues agree on extenuating circumstances.

© 2007 The Irish Times

Liars, cowards and double talkers

Writing about the Shannon controversy in yesterday’s Irish Times (Sub required)Fintan O’Toole noted that Irish voters still haven’t grasped the fundamental point that you get what you vote for. Voters in the broad Midwest region gave Fianna Fail a clear endorsement in the last election in the belief that Shannon would be protected.

He expressed astonishment that Irish voters still actually believe the utterances of Irish politicians like that of Martin Cullen in May 2005.

“In the context of any decision to reduce State ownership in Aer Lingus, all the options available within the regulatory framework will be examined to ensure adequate ongoing access to Heathrow for Irish consumers”.

Cowardice is another trait common to Irish politicians but, amazingly, many Irish voters are shocked that the leader of the country has run away and refuses to deal with the crisis.

Double talk and dishonesty are also features of the Irish political scene. A letter in today’s Irish Times makes the point.

Madam, – So Willie O’Dea thinks that the Aer Lingus decision to axe the Shannon-Heathrow route is “wrong”.
Apparently, he is willing to attempt to persuade the company to change its mind, in direct contradiction to the position of the Taoiseach and the Minister for Transport.
So is this a genuine matter of conviction for Mr. O’Dea, or is it just an opportunity for some cheap publicity?
The last occasion on which Mr. O’Dea stood up against his own government was in 2000 during the introduction of taxi deregulation.
In Limerick, Mr. O’Dea told a meeting of local taxi drivers that the policy was “disastrous and unworkable”, that they should continue protesting against the move, suggesting that the decision could be reversed if enough pressure was exerted.
Two weeks later in Dublin, however, he made a pathetic and grovelling apology to his government colleagues “for any embarrassment caused” and said: “I fully support government policy on deregulation”.
Mr. O’Dea added that if he had known that his speech to Limerick taxi drivers was being recorded, he would not have said what he did.
Madam, one wonders if Mr. O’Dea realised his recent comments on Aer Lingus were being recorded!
The Taoiseach said in the wake of the taxi deregulation saga: “I will not tolerate views that are contrary to the collective responsibility of government.”
So will Mr. O’Dea now be dismissed from the Government by the Taoiseach, since he is now once again in complete public disagreement with Government policy?
And when the Dáil resumes in September, will Mr. O’Dea put his money where his mouth is and vote against the Government in protest at its inaction on the Shannon issue; or will he settle back nicely into his departmental leather chair once the silly season ends, finding himself, once again, in full agreement with Government policy?
No prizes for guessing. – Yours, etc,
BARRY WALSH,
Brooklawn,
Clontarf,
Dublin.

For decades, Irish citizens have been voting for liars, cowards and double talkers. The surprising thing is that they continue to be surprised when those they elect then betray them.

Sham Seanad elections

There was no surprise recently when it was revealed that political parties having been breaking the law for years by manipulating Seanad elections.

The same lack of surprise can be expected at a report in today’s Irish Examiner that hotelier Luke Moriarty has written to several councillors and TDs, on Fianna Fail headed paper, offering to buy their votes.

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, a Roscommon councillor, said he was shocked at this brazen attempt to buy his vote.

“All it has done is copper-fasten my opinion that this whole election campaign is a sham and costing a fortune and I don’t see how we are going to get better policy out of it.”

The price of a couple of heads and chairs

It really is fascinating to observe the Green Party wrestle with its conscience over the Seanad election scandal.

We now know that political parties have been breaking the law for years by manipulating how councillors vote in Seanad elections. It was Green Party councillors themselves, to their credit, who brought this illegal activity to light.

That, however, has caused a major ethical problem for the Greens. The core of that problem is very simple. Do they abandon their principles and become partners in crime with Fianna Fail or do they stand by democracy and risk losing power?

All the signs are that they are frantically searching around for something heavy that will sink their integrity to the darkest depts.

They are already trying to impose a media blackout until the matter can be ‘resolved’ internally. In other words, the deal must be kept secret; breaking the law in public can be very damaging for a party’s credibility.

And breaking the law is exactly what the Greens are intent upon as they make clear in their latest email to councillors (sub required).

“Comments from councillors that they will vote for Fianna Fail councillors of their own choice will completely undermine the deal.”

(My emphasis)

Clearly, if the deal is to work, Green councillors must agree to vote as instructed by their masters and not by free democratic choice. In addition, Fianna Fail must, in some way, be assured that the deal was fully adhered to.

The law is crystal clear on such matters. (My emphasis)

Seanad Electoral (Panel Members) Act, 1947 82.—(1) The Seanad returning officer and every officer and clerk concerned in the issue or the receipt of ballot papers or the counting of votes under this Act and every candidate or other person present at such issue, receipt, or counting shall maintain and aid in maintaining the secrecy of the voting at the election and shall not, before the completion of the election, communicate, except for some purpose authorised by law, any information as to whether any elector has or has not voted at the election or as to the official mark, and shall not at any time communicate to any person any information obtained at or in connection with such issue, receipt, or counting as to the candidate for whom any elector has voted or as to whether any elector has or has not voted or as to the number on the back of any ballot paper.

(2) A person shall not interfere with or attempt to interfere with the receipt, marking, or return of the ballot paper of any elector at an election under this Act.

(3) A person shall not directly or indirectly induce any elector at an election under this Act to display his ballot paper after he has marked it so as to make known to such person or to any other person the name of any candidate for whom he has marked his vote on such ballot paper.

(4) A person who acts in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to imprisonment for any term not exceeding six months.

The Greens cannot avoid the stark reality they are facing – break electoral law or risk the wrath of Fianna Fail, they cannot have it both ways.

And what glittering prize is Fianna Fail offering for cooperation in this act of political skullduggery? – Extra staff and office space.

Hardly a wet day in power and the Greens are about to sell their souls for a couple of heads and chairs.

The death of innocence

The Green Party has had its first blooding in how to manage scandal in public life. Secrecy is the crucial element in Irish public life if a politician or party wants to avoid having to provide embarrassing and far fetched explanations to the public.

And Trevor Sergeant’s explanation (8th item) regarding the illegal supervision of Seanad election voting was far fetched.

Green Party councillors had received an email instructing them to submit their ballot cards for inspection. Because they’re new to power and because they still have political integrity they naively made their outrage public. Tut, tut, first rule in Irish political life – All law breaking must be kept secret.

Sargent explained that the email was sent because of

“a mistaken understanding based on an old rule that unfortunately was presented as the current situation.”

Brilliant, pure Fianna Fail. Just mouth words, it doesn’t matter what they are, doesn’t matter if they make sense or not, nobody is going to delve any deeper. Well, almost nobody.

The situation is simple. For years Irish political parties have been breaking electoral law by forcing councillors to submit their ballot papers for inspection to ensure that deals done are being adhered to.

So what is Sargent talking about? Was there an old Seanad rule that allowed parties to break the law? Does the ‘current situation’ mean that that rule is now outlawed?

How are other parties, used to illegally tampering with electoral law, going to make the difficult transition to genuine democratic practices?

Or, has the Green Party learned the lesson and arrived at a ‘suitable alternative (secret) arrangement’ whereby Fianna Fail can be sure of their pound of flesh?

Ah, the death of innocence.

Manipulating democracy

Every self respecting democracy in the world operates under the rule of law. Electoral law is particularly important because it is based on the authority of the people. Any interference, any sly manipulation of such law seriously dilutes the quality of that democratic authority.

Stephen Collins, political editor of the Irish Times, explained on RTEs News at One (4th item) yesterday how Irish politicians have been breaking the law for years by supervising how councillors are voting in Seanad elections.

This illegal activity is to make sure that the councillors are voting according to deals worked out between the political parties.

The United Nations frequently sends teams of inspectors to emerging democracies around the world to ensure that such vote tampering does not occur; Irish politicians are often invited to join these inspection teams.

They must feel odd to find themselves strictly enforcing electoral laws that they have been openly flouting themselves for years.

Low standards at SIPO

My complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission regarding the illegal activities of Minister of State, Pat the Cope Gallagher, has been rejected.

Last April, in a cheap publicity stunt, Gallagher illegally erected posters around Croke Park. (Previous posts: one, two, three, four)

The correspondence from SIPO is mostly impenatratable bureaucracy speak but when translated amounts to the following.

SIPO decided to consider my complaint under section 4 of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001. Section 4 states that a complaint may be made if the matter is one of significant public importance.

Significant public importance is defined as a person receiving an alleged benefit of not less than €12,697.

On that basis, the Commission decided that Gallagher’s illegal activities were not of sufficient gravity to warrant an investigation.

We can make the following assumptions arising from this disgraceful decision.

The Litter Pollution Act, 1997 does not apply to government ministers.

Government ministers can, under certain situations/conditions, break the law with impunity.

The State/SIPO does not consider certain law breaking by government ministers as a matter of significant public importance.

Glad to be out of the Progressive Democrats

The post concerning the PDs and integrity was also published in Letters to the Editor in the Irish Independent on June 21st last. It drew an interesting response from a founding member of that party.

Like Mr. Peers, I’m sure there are many serving and former party members who are disillusioned by the total abandonment of the party’s founding principles in order to accommodate the low standards of Fianna Fail. Here’s Mr. Peer’s letter.

I am glad I left the PDs

Saturday June 23 2007

Anthony Sheridan excellently sums up the Progressive Democrats as a Party (Letters, June 21).
Paul MacKay, honorary treasurer, must be a slow learner after ten years of the PDs having been in Government with Fianna Fail as he finally realises his party is too close to Fianna Fail.
Like Paul I was a founder member and candidate for Dail and Council elections. I resigned ten years ago because of the issues that Paul is now raising, and in particular when Mary Harney stated she trusted and respected Bertie Ahern, a man who supported the crooked Haughey, Burke and Lawlor. Also at that time I was angry that members of the party were not given the opportunity to vote on going into Government with Fianna Fail or not. At least the Green Party gave their members a vote to decide or not on this occasion. The PDs were virtually wiped out in the election because instead of being watchdogs they became lapdogs of Fianna Fail.
Equally and unfortunately the Green Party will be decimated in the next election if they last in government.
I understand the Progressive Democrats are having a meeting on Sunday. A proposal should be put forward by the membership to resign from Government and Mary Harney should rejoin Fianna Fail. I am glad that I had the intelligence and savvy to resign from the PDs 10 years ago and not have it on my conscience that I assisted what has now become a dictatorship of Fianna Fail.

NOEL PEERS,

CARIHUELA, SPAIN

Myers gets it right

I rarely agree with Kevin Myers but his views on the Flynn scandal in last Wednesday’s Irish Independent hits the nail right on the head. (Emphasis mine)

On Irishness;

“So, perhaps rightly, Fianna Fail sees itself as the true voice of Irishness. The party is at bottom a political assertion of that – and those who guard that identity are not to be judged by lesser, imported concepts, such as the “law“.”

On Fianna Fail he says;

“Even today, Fianna Fail’s morality is that of a conquered people, for whom law is a conqueror’s instrument, and secret conspiracies the cultural norm. Loyalty, not law, is the abiding characteristic of the Fianna Fail family.”

On Flynn he says;

“And the extreme, female embodiment of that culture is the unspeakable Flynn-woman, a proven liar, a fraudster, a creature of no integrity, and a traitor who, in any state with a clearly defined public morality, would be in jail.”