Category: Fianna Fail

Gombeens jump on the RTE/Fr. Reynolds scandal bandwagon

I finally found my way through the labyrinth that is RTE’s archive system to Drivetime of May 16th last.

I wanted to confirm some of the comments made by politicians at the Oireachtas Communications Committee hearing into the RTE/Fr. Reynolds scandal.

Eamon O’Cuiv:

How much is it in the groupthink and culture of RTE to decide the story first and then try assemble the evidence afterwards.

This is hilarious coming from a man who, for his entire political career, has loyally served the most corrupt political party in the country.

Such unquestioning loyalty can only arise from the unique groupthink that evolved in Fianna Fail over the decades as each member learned to defend himself, his party and his party leader no matter what the crime, no matter what the scandal, no matter what the damage to Ireland and its people.

I do not believe that this matter should be allowed to rest because I believe that there is evidence of a deep cultural problem within RTE.

O’Cuiv has yet to acknowledge the deep corrupt cultural problems of Fianna Fail.

He went on to demand an independent review of all news and current affairs programmes broadcast in recent years.

The man is a complete idiot.

Michael Healy-Rae:

RTE had lost the run of themselves. Are we going to have in the future more stringent controls because otherwise it will be RTE and our journalists who will be running the country and that’s not fair and it’s not right.

Well, what can be said about this man? When they invented the gombeen they didn’t throw away the moulds.

They’re still up and walking around in the form of the Healy-Rae’s.

Éamon Ó Cuív: Standing by long established Fianna Fail hypocrisy

Éamon Ó Cuív has decided to remain inside Fianna Fail saying he could make a bigger contribution to politics as a member of the party.

Or, in other words:

Abandon my principles, act in my own interests, do what I’m told and shut my mouth.

Or, in other words:

Remain loyal to the long established Fianna Fail tradition of double speak and hypocrisy.

Big bad Sinn Fein

According to Bertie Ahern admirer, Jody Corcoran, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour need to act quickly to ensure ‘extreme’ parties like Sinn Fein are kept out of power.

Micheal Martin really needs to act firmly if Fianna Fail is not to be be usurped from without and within; Fine Gael and Labour need to assist in this regard.

This is despite the fact that Fianna Fail, enthusiastically supported by Michael Martin, is principally responsible for the destruction of our country.

Ned O'Keeffe arrested

Former Fianna Fáil TD Ned O’Keeffe has been arrested on suspicion of using a false invoice to claim for mobile phone expenses while he was a member of the Dáil.

The arrest of a politician in Ireland is an extremely rare event despite the fact that corruption is endemic throughout the body politic.

This arrest will be nothing less than revolutionary if it marks the beginning of a new phase of real law enforcement targeting those who wield power and influence.

I am not, however, holding my breath.

If the Gardai decide there’s some substance to the allegations a file will be sent to the DPP.

Judging from past experience that file will remain on a shelf for years unspecified.

Comedy: Nobody does it better than Fianna Fail

Just came across this hilarious article in The Journal in which Ógra Fianna Fáil calls for the expulsion of Albert Reynolds from the party.

Ógra president Eamon Quinlan said:

We feel it necessary to maintain the integrity of Fianna Fáil that actions which bring the party into disrepute have consequences.

In fairness, it would be difficult to surpass such high quality comedy.

The article reminds us that Reynolds was unable to give evidence to the tribunal because he suffers from memory loss.

This is also hilarious as everybody knows that memory loss is the default mental condition of all Irish politicians.

Fine Gael/Fianna Fail – No difference

Letter in today’s Irish Examiner.

A legitimate cause for concern for both Enda Kenny and Fine Gael

Fine Gael’s failure to understand why scenes of Enda Kenny being glad handled in Denis O’Brien’s company are a legitimate cause of concern is understandable, at least in the context of the hypocrisy of that party’s attitude to the findings made against one of their own when compared to what its reaction would have been if Mr O’Brien had close links with Fianna Fáil and was pictured with Brian Cowen.

Most of Mr O’Brien’s businesses seem to operate in countries where the rule of law and regulation is at best applied with the lightest of touch.

I wonder if he would have been as successful in Norway as he is in some place like Haiti.

But it’s not just the meeting at the NYE Stock Exchange, it’s also the pally chat Mr O’Brien and Mr Kenny would have had at the breakfast beforehand and the lunch afterwards and in the corridor.

It’s also the fact that because Fine Gael refuses to publish proper audited accounts we don’t know how much money Dennis O’Brien has paid to that party or its elected representatives, or what policy he was able to shape in return since at least 2002.

Interesting too is the failure of anyone in Fine Gael to provide an example after Moriarty or Mahon and tell the people of North Tipperary, and elsewhere, that if they choose to elect people who fail to meet the highest standards expected of members of our Parliament, as is their democratic right, they must also be prepared to accept the consequences.

One of which is that such a representative will not have free access to members of the government.

Fine Gael claims to be the party of reform but its first year in government has been a dismal failure in terms of reform.

So far it has matched the cronyism of the last government step by step.

It could have decided no member of the Government would get a pay rise upon taking office for at least the first term in office, but it didn’t.

It could have had a transparent application process for advisers, but it didn’t, and instead appointed party cronies.

It could have immediately repealed FOI restrictions but it didn’t.

It could have ended the gravy train of expenses, but it didn’t.

But even worse are the bully boy tactics used by the likes of Charles Flanagan and Phil Hogan and the intellectual snobbery of Alan Shatter.

Desmond FitzGerald
Canary Wharf
London

Cowen delivers State of the Nation speech – a year after being thrown out of office

Some guy called Deaglan De Breadun wrote an article about some guy called Brian Cowen who was leader of some country called Ireland.

Apparently, this Cowen guy had some sort of leadership role in Ireland and has just delivered a state of the nation address on the major crisis evolving in that country – a year after being thrown out of office.

In the 8,400 word speech the Cowen guy blames the international financial crisis and the people of Ireland for everything.

He makes a strong case for a more orderly and better-regulated economic order instead of the anarchic greed and avarice that brought us (the world) to our present sorry state.

An electorate that has learnt to vote according to its pocket-book and local or sectional concerns rather than the broader national interest.

The De Breadun guy obviously has great admiration for this Cowen guy, which, in all sympathy, is a pretty sad way to live.

As for the Cowen guy – well, he’s just sad.

Gombeen clones set to perpetuate rotten system well into the future

Fine Gael Minister of State Alan Kelly, responding to the Mahon Tribunal Report on a recent Frontline programme (26th March), put down a marker on how Ireland is to be governed in the future.

Well Pat we can never ever, allow this to happen again. The simple fact is that Fianna Fail and others polluted this country with corruption for over 20 years.

The Minister didn’t specify if he was including Fine Gael in the ‘others’.

There’s a whole new generation of politicians including myself and michael (McGrath, Fianna Fail TD) who need to advance politics in this country in a progressive way. We cannot put up with what Fianna Fail has done in the last 20 to 30 years.

Immediately Kelly contradicted all his fine words when he defended the termination of planning inquiries by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.

Minister Kelly is a fool if he thinks Irish politics can rid itself of corruption while continuing to engage in Tammany Hall type strokes.

Fianna Fail TD, Michael McGrath also claimed that young politicians like himself were the future for Ireland and then, like Minister Kelly, immediately contradicted his fine words by telling us that people like Brian Lenihan, Seamus Brennan, David Andrews, Mary O’Rourke and Rory O’Hanlon were people of the highest personal integrity.

These are people who served themselves, their party, their party leaders (which included unquestioning loyalty to the criminal Haughey and the liar Ahern) before considering the good of Ireland and its people.

It is crystal clear from the attitude and mindset of Kelly and McGrath that they are nothing more than gombeen clones of those responsible for the destruction of the state.

Far from injecting new, honest, radical, reforming blood into the Irish body politic they are sure to perpetuate the same old rotten system well into the future.

Copy to:

Alan Kelly
Michael McGrath

Celia Larkin: Sitting ducks and muck balls comedy

Up until last Sunday I had always believed that Bertie Ahern’s former partner, Celia Larkin, was an undiluted Fianna Fail head with certain business acumen but not much else, I was wrong.

In an article in the Sunday Independent she has revealed to the world that she is a comedian of gigantic status.

An indication of her genius is the fact that she gives no hint that she’s writing comedy.

This is a courageous and very subtle approach to comedy writing by someone deeply involved with the Fianna Fail party.

Courageous because many readers could easily misinterpret her intent and think her comedy was serious political comment.

Subtle because she leaves it to the reader to figure out that she’s adopting the character of an adoring Fräulein praising her beloved Führer, Micheál Martin.

Well, she does provide just a little clue. In the photograph accompanying the article Martin appears to be delivering a Nazi salute.

I recommend reading the entire article to enjoy its full comic genius but I can’t resist reproducing some of the really hilarious highlights:

His style is very different from his predecessors. Not for him the indulgence of the sound bites nor the practice of cute politics.

He is quiet, polite, subtle but devastatingly strong when he needs to deliver the crucial blow, as he so clearly displayed this week.

Now that Martin has finally found his voice, we may see true debate in the Dail and a government held accountable by a strong vocal opposition.

A breath of fresh air in a political system suffocated by the oppression of snide personal attacks, deflection of responsibility and epic ineptitude in performing even the most basic of administrative tasks, as has been evident by the household charge debacle.

Fianna Fail may be small in numbers. It may have been down. But it is not out.

Get ready for this one; it’s pure comic genius. Had me, literally, on the floor screaming in painful laughter.

The restraints are off. He’s in the ring and he’s not boxing wildly. He’s landing lethal blows.

Fine Gael had better watch out. The sitting ducks have finally found their wings and it will take a bit more than muck balls to shoot them down.

Sitting ducks and muck balls – Jesus, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Ok, ok, I know the article was published on April 1 and it was probably written for the day that was in it, but still, it’s pure comic genius.

Copy to:

New comedy star – Fräulein Larkin