Category: Government

Denis O’Brien’s journalists miss the point

Denis O’Brien’s broadcaster Seán Moncrieff conducted a cosy conversation yesterday with Denis O’Brien’s journalist Daniel McConnell (Group political correspondent with ‘Independent’ Newspapers) on the government payment (bribe) to all those who have signed up with Irish Water.

McConnell argued that to dismantle Irish Water at this stage would cost a fortune. Millions would be wasted, redundancies would have to be paid for, the very expensive IT system would have to be scrapped and what would replace the company?

In other words, we are where we are, the damage is done, let’s forget the past and move on.

McConnell’s argument, which was, of course, fully suported by Moncrief, is simplistic and completely misses the point.

The setting up of Irish Water almost certainly involved some very dodgy dealings. The company was set up in almost total secrecy with deals done behind closed doors that involved the handing over of millions in taxpayers money.

In a functional democracy the whole dirty deal would have triggered an immediate police investigation.

McConnell’s attitude can be likened to a police unit coming across the scene of a suspected crime and, instead of doing their job, deciding to ignore the whole thing because an investigation would be too constly.

For decades our corrupt political/administrative system has engaged in massive corruption and criminalty. Nobody is ever made accountable, nobody is ever brought to justice. The evidence for this fact is overwhelming.

Journalists (and politicians) like McConnell, either out of ignorance or in defence of an agenda, repeadedly make the argument that it’s too late to do anything about it now, we should just forget about making anyone accountable and move on.

This attitude guarantees that the corruption and criminalty will occur again and again.

Manufactured ‘crisis’ to discredit Sinn Fein blows up

On the 19 August this year the following political/military situation existed in Northern Ireland.

The Good Friday Agreement had been in existence for 17 years, the war was over. The Independent Monitoring Commission reported, year after year, that the Provisional IRA (PIRA) had indeed decommissioned its weapons and had ceased all military actions. All interested parties accepted this reality. How could they do otherwise, if the war was still on it would have been pretty obvious to everyone.

As with every war in history, particularly dirty little civil wars like that in Northern Ireland, there were some who refused to give up and some who turned to crime but the vast majority of those involved got on with their lives.

On the 21 Aug, the political/military situation was exactly the same as it was on the 19 August.

This was the day after Detective Superintendent Kevin Geddes of the PSNI, who was investigating the murder of former IRA man Kevin Mc Guigan, said that a major line of inquiry was that members of PIRA were involved.

Det. Supt. Geddes was very careful about the words he used.

My assessment is that this is a separate group from the Provisional IRA. A major line of inquiry for this investigation is that members of the Provisional IRA were involved in this murder.

The allegation that former members of PIRA may have been involved in the murder is not news. Former members of all paramilitary groups have been involved in all kinds of criminal activity including murder.

Det. Supt. Geddes’ clear statement that PIRA was not involved has since been confirmed by representatives of practically all interested parties including the PSNI, the Garda Siochana and the British and Irish governments.

Only complete idiots and those who want to collapse the Peace Process are claiming that the PIRA still exists. Nobody else seriously believes that the Provisional IRA is back on a war footing.

So why the crisis, what’s all the fuss about?

Without a shadow of doubt it is Sinn Fein’s growing political power that lies behind this latest crisis.

The political establishments in the North and the South have been trying for years to destroy or at least nullify the growing power of Sinn Fein with little or no success.

Their greatest problem is that, on the one hand they must be seen to support and even praise the major contribution made to the Peace Process by Sinn Fein while on the other paint the party as a serious threat to democracy.

There’s only one way to do this – talk out of both sides of the mouth at the same time.

So the PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton had to speak out of both sides of his mouth when he said:

Some structures of the Provisional IRA still exist but the organisation is not on a war footing.

The allegation that PIRA still exists keeps those opposed to Sinn Fein happy and the claim, from the other side of the mouth, that PIRA is not on a war footing keeps those who put the Peace Process together happy.

Apart from a few mad Unionists everybody connected with the Peace process have been popping up, one after the other, to ape the Chief Constable’s double talk.

The whole affair is nothing more than the usual manufactured ‘crisis’ that has now become a traditional political ritual in the run up to elections.

Here’s what I wrote on 21 August last:

Arrests will be made, Sinn Fein members will be brought in for questioning, outrage at the (non) existence of the IRA will reach epic proportions.

All so depressingly predictable but on this occasion the hypocrites have lost control. The plan of manufacturing a ‘crisis’ with the aim of discrediting Sinn Fein by associating them with criminality has evolved into a real political crisis that threatens the interests of all parties.

Now they’re all scrambling to back peddle in a desperate attempt to preserve their power and privileges. The irony is that if the Assembly collapses it is Sinn Fein that will benefit most.

How the GAA and the State avoids accountability

I have very little interest in and even less knowledge of Gaelic games or how the GAA does its business.

But when I read about the recent dispute involving some guy called Diarmuid Connolly I instantly recognised the connections between the dysfunctional GAA disciplinary regime and our hopelessly corrupt political system.

For years the GAA has been struggling to establish an effective disciplinary system. The organisation has failed utterly in its aims principally because of its abject inability to face the reality of what needs to be done to clean up the sport.

Instead of creating a simple, easy to implement system of control and discipline similar to soccer and rugby the GAA has, for years, been trying out ever more complex systems of rules and regulations.

The creation of convoluted, labyrinthine systems of ‘accountability’ has just one consequence – the impression that there is accountability where none actually exists.

So, for example, if a player commits a red card offence in soccer or rugby, he’s immediately sent off, no question.

In Gaelic football a player who commits a red card offence may be handed a black card which means he’s off but, hilariously, he can be replaced by a substitute. The black card is, in effect, a mechanism that allows accountability to be bypassed.

Our corrupt political system operates along similar lines of denial and pretence. For example, if a Taoiseach illegally sacks a Garda commissioner an investigation can conclude that he’s guilty but also innocent thus creating a reality vacuum where accountability can be discarded.

Another similarity between the GAA and our corrupt political system is the existence of a whole series of committees and procedures to deal with alleged wrongdoing.

So we have the GAA Central Hearings Committee (CHC), the Central Appeals Committee (CAC) and the committee of committees, the Disputes Resolution Authority (DRA). (For some reason all these committees remind me of the old Soviet Union)

This over abundance of cumbersome regulatory bodies is ideal for avoiding reality/justice. Wrongdoing can be put on the long finger until the initial crime becomes irrelevant/historical or the system can act as a mechanism to filter out accountability.

For example, a player like Diarmuid Connolly can commit a very serious foul but by the time his wrongdoing reaches the end of all the committee investigations (filtering) – he’s effectively found innocent.

Similarly, in our corrupt political system we have tribunals, committees, commissions of inquiry, reports, investigations of every colour and form, all established to one purpose – the avoidance of accountability.

So a politician can break the law but after a long drawn out investigation the crime is filtered/delayed to such an extent that he can be, miraculously, declared innocent.

This inability to deal honestly and efficiently with wrongdoing in the GAA can result in a loss of credibility and respect.

In the political sphere the consequences are far more serious for citizens, ranging in degree from serious financial loss to death.

Politicians feeding off the victims of corruption

Defending a five star junket to Australia by a number of politicians a spokesperson for the Oireachtas said:

The trip had been useful in seeing first hand the issues facing the increasing number of Irish people travelling to Australia to take up job opportunities.

Is it not grotesquely ironic to witness politicians feeding off the misery inflicted on countless thousands of citizens who were forced to flee the country as a result of political corruption?

Malaysia/Ireland: Different responses to corruption

An ongoing anti-corruption protest in Malaysia tells us a great deal about how far Ireland has to travel before we even begin to tackle the disease of corruption.

The protesters are demanding that Prime Minister Najib Razak step down over allegations that he accepted a large payment from unnamed foreign donors.

One protester said:

There are too many government scandals. I hope the Prime Minister steps down because he has shamed the country.

Another said:

The current government is robbing the nation of everything it’s got. The people need to put themselves forward to save the country.

In Ireland, while there is a great deal of awareness and anger at corruption, there is no concerted action in response to the disease.

There is no public outcry when our Prime Minister shames our country, which he frequently does. There is no public outcry when government officials/politicians rob the nation, which they frequently do.

The massive and ongoing protests against the water tax are the only indication that Irish citizens have had enough of corruption. And it is heartening to see that these protests are rapidly evolving into open rebellion against the rot in our political/administrative system.

One of the reasons for the corruption in Malaysia is the fact that the current political party has been in power for nearly six decades. The situation is similar in Ireland. We have a political class, (a ruling elite) principally composed of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour who have been ruling and robbing the nation since independence.

The emergence of several new parties and a host of independents coupled with growing anger among ordinary citizens is a clear indication that this old corrupt regime is heading for the bin of history.

The starkest difference between Ireland and Malaysia is that, in Malaysia, there is an anti-corruption agency. The agency is strongly backing the allegations of corruption made by the protesters.

Not only is there no such agency in Ireland but corruption as an issue is not even officially recognised. To my knowledge corruption doesn’t even appear as a statistic in Garda crime returns.

In fact, in Ireland, there is no independent authority whatsoever that has the power to challenge corruption within state organisations. All so-called regulatory/law enforcement agencies, including the Gardai, operate under the control and influence of our corrupt political system.

Shock news: Sinn Fein/IRA admits Twin Towers attack

This is all supposition.

This is the only fact surrounding the latest claim that the Provisional IRA is still in existence, is still killing people.

PSNI detective superintendent Kevin Geddes said the Provisional IRA was not involved in a recent killing but also said the organisation could have been involved.

And that’s all Unionist politicians and establishment politicians down here need to jump on the anti-Sinn Fein bandwagon which, by this stage, must be in serious need of an NCT test, it has been used so often since the IRA didn’t disband.

The media and in particular RTE and Denis O’Brien’s media empire are more than willing to provide widespread coverage of the non-existence of the Provisional IRA. This coverage will continue and increase in intensity as the general election approaches.

Arrests will be made, Sinn Fein members will be brought in for questioning, outrage at the non-existence of the IRA will reach epic proportions.

The intelligence of ordinary citizens will be insulted again and again as bought, unprincipled, unprofessional ‘journalists’ analyse how the non-existence of the IRA threatens world order.

RTE will drag in Sinn Fein members and demand answers to such pertinent questions as:

Are you, or have you ever been, a member of the Nazi party?

Where were you on Tuesday September 11 2001 when the Twin Towers were attacked? We have evidence, based on very reliable fantasy, that Sinn Fein/IRA organised the attacks.

Where was Gerry Adams in December 2013 when the first person died (murdered by the IRA) from the Ebola virus? We’re not, of course, saying that Sinn Fein is responsible for the disease; we just want to hear you denying any involvement.

Yes, the election propaganda machine is up and running.

Dr. Weeks: Living in the zone of denial

Here’s an absolute law that applies to all commentators writing about Irish politics.

If you write an article analysing any aspect of Irish politics without referring to political corruption or even mentioning the word ‘corruption’, you are wasting your own and your readers time because you are not addressing the raging elephant in the room.

The latest in a long line of commentators to break this law is Dr. Liam Weeks, lecturer in the Department of Government at UCC.

In an Irish Times article, Dr. Weeks repeats the well-known fact that the traditional political parties, Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour, are suffering a serious loss of support from the electorate.

He gives two reasons for this development – a declining level of attachment to parties and the collapse in support for Fianna Fail.

However, he makes no attempt whatsoever to explain to his readers why citizens are rejecting mainstream politics in their droves. He could do worse than have a look at this blog where he will find any number of articles outlining the reasons for this development.

Here, for example, is what I wrote on 15 June last. Again, I was writing about the chronic inability/unwillingness of political commentators to recognise the elephant of political corruption.

The emergence of a new politics is directly related to the fact that the old regime (Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Labour) has, over many decades, loyally served the corrupt political culture of clientelism, gombeenism and stroke politics rather than building a functional, properly accountable democracy.

I suspect Dr. Weeks is not actually aware of this truth. I suspect he operates in the same bubble in which most other political commentators operate. In this bubble he sees the Irish political system as democratic and, for the most part, functional – it is neither.

In order to keep the bubble from bursting Dr. Weeks must, consciously or unconsciously, enter what I call ‘the zone of denial’.

So, in his article Dr. Weeks states the problem – that the electorate is rejecting mainstream politics. He then enters the zone of denial where he can safely ignore the reasons for this development and instead skip to how events will affect the outcome of the approaching general election.

In other words, he describes the past and predicts the future while steadfastly ignoring the reality that connects them – political corruption.

Of course, Dr. Weeks is by no means alone in this. Read the opinion pieces in any newspaper; listen to the many discussion panels on radio/television and you will witness endless analysis surrounding corrupt events but you will never, ever witness any discussion of corruption as a subject in and of itself.

The reason for this is as simple as it is stark. If the disease of political corruption is acknowledged it will have to be acted upon and if that happens it will destroy the corrupt political system so carefully created over the decades by the mainstream political parties of Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour.

These parties and their many supporters in the media will not easily surrender their privileged and powerful position.

Fortunately, while commentators like Dr. Weeks operate comfortably in the zone of denial, an increasing number of ordinary citizens are taking matters into their own hands.

The days of the old regime are numbered.

Copy to:
Dr. Weeks

Corruption: Feeding off the carcass of Irish democracy

The following words, spoken by Barack Obama in Kenya, have never been heard in Ireland.

People were being consistently sapped by corruption at a high level and at a low level and there was a need for visible prosecutions to show Kenyans that action was being taken.

They (Kenyan people) don’t have to be forensic accountants to know what is going on.

Until these words are spoken and acted upon in Ireland we will continue to have endless inquiries and tribunals that are specifically designed to allow the disease of corruption to endlessly feed off the carcass of Irish democracy.

Government making Irish Water too big to fail?

Colette Browne has an excellent piece in yesterday’s Irish Independent in which she outlines and analyses the grotesque amounts of money being pumped (no apology for pun) into Irish Water.

I suspect that part of the reason so much money is being poured into the bottomless pit that is Irish Water is to make its loans and liabilities so big that the Government can claim that its too big to fail and therefore must be saved at any cost (to the taxpayer) – just like the banks.

Here’s a quote referring to Alan Kelly’s ecstatic response to the fact that just 46pc of people are actually paying water charges.

Monty Python’s Black Knight – who insisted his injuries were only a flesh wound even as his opponent hacked off his arms and his legs – Mr Kelly was adamant it was the Government’s plan all along that most people would ignore their water bills.