Category: Government

Remember the CRC scandal?

Remember the CRC scandal. The outrage, the promises to get to the bottom of the matter, the promises to bring people to account.

Here are a few reminders:

Eamon Gilmore:

It’s important that we’re clear on this. This government is determined to wipe out and weed out the practices of the past.

Minister for Health James Reilly:

My position as Minister for Health is that we will use all available options open to us including enforcement and the Gardai and the civil courts to try and get this money back.

Head of HSE:

We have to review all the documentation available but we will be pursuing this to the bitter end and clearly there are many questions to be asked about the legality of some of the decisions made and we will be looking into all these and we’ve already taken legal advice on the matter.

All forgotten now, snowed under by what – about ten subsequent scandals.

Child holocaust: Denial of justice

The most important fact to keep constantly in mind as the latest chapter in the child holocaust horror unfolds is that nothing, absolutely nothing, is actually being done to face reality and provide justice for the victims.

Politicians, state officials, police and church representatives have all responded in a manner that is entirely predictable in a country whose governance is deeply dysfunctional at a moral, political and societal level.

Denial: The activities of the church have been known about for decades but were never acted upon, they were simply ignored.

It was only when the story went international, when outsiders, when non-Irish humans heard what was going on that there was any kind of response at all.

The official response to date has just one single aim – to bury the reality of what happened in a septic tank of denial.

Political: The Government has set up an inter-departmental group to decide how to proceed.

Note: the group has not been set up to act but merely to look into the matter. This group will achieve nothing apart from giving the impression of action, it is not meant to achieve anything.

Police: In a functional state the immediate police reaction would be to cordon off the area and treat it as a potential crime scene.

In dysfunctional Ireland a newspaper is in charge of the site while the police struggle to fit in their response with the wishes of their political masters.

The newspaper, The Irish Daily Mail, hired a private engineering company to carry out a subsurface radar examination of the site. A spokesperson for the newspaper said the results of its investigations would be made available to the police and government.

Question: What kind of country would see nothing unusual about allowing a newspaper to head up an investigation into any crime scene but in particular a crime scene that could involve crimes against humanity?

Meanwhile, a Garda spokesman said they would provide any information and assistance they could to the inter-departmental group set up to investigate the matter, we’re ‘feeding’ into the process the spokesman said.

So let’s recap: A newspaper is leading the investigation while government bureaucrats and the police ‘feed’ off each other’s ruminations on how to proceed.

The Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald stated clearly that any decisions (that may be taken) about criminal investigations are the responsibility of the police.

Translation: This horror has nothing to do with my government or me; it’s a matter for the police.

The police: It’s a matter for the bureaucrats.

The bureaucrats: We’re anonymous, unaccountable and are subject to strict secrecy laws.

Suspicious about Government decision on hospital car park clamping

I see the Government has rejected the recommendation of the Dail Committee on Transport that clampers be banned from operating on hospital grounds.

Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said this was because some people park recklessly in hospital car parks and could impede others and particularly ambulances.

This is a weak excuse. The figures for such reckless parking in hospital grounds are, I suspect, approaching zero.

All reckless parking has the potential to cause major problems, for example, in front of a fire station, or a doctor’s clinic or simply creating a danger for other drivers.

No, this decision makes me suspicious.

I suspect this special exemption has more to do with protecting the massive profits extracted from hospital visitors than anything to do with public safety.

Pat Rabbitte: Desperately ill citizens are just trying it on?

Councillors get pay-offs of up to €64,000 (Disappointment money).

Right wing (formally left wing socialist) politician Pat Rabbitte was on the Marian Finucane Show yesterday morning defending the Government’s ruthless treatment of those who desperately need but are being refused medical cards.

His overall opinion seems to be that people are simply trying it on, trying to put one over on the system and the government. In effect, they’re lying.

His approach is backed up by his strong opinion that such services are no longer possible due to the country’s dire financial circumstances.

(Councillors get pay-offs of up to €64,000 disappointment money)

Rabbitte:

I talked to James Reilly last week and he told me that there was never (heavy emphasis on ‘never’) a case where somebody phoned somebody who was the mother of a Down’s syndrome child to say, had the condition recovered or whatever was alleged (heavy emphasis on ‘alleged’) every day during the election campaign. He said he was satisfied that it never happened.

The clear suggestion here is that these are false claims leaked to the media as part of a political smear campaign against the Government coalition parties.

Marian Finucane responded by saying she heard a spokesperson for Down’s syndrome say that it had happened.

So, who do we believe, politicians whose default position is to lie or the Down’s syndrome spokesperson?

Rabbitte:

All kinds of things were alleged and urban myths grew up over the course of the campaign. No doubt some of them are true but no doubt some of them are not true.

A Dr. Ciara Kelly was on the panel and she challenged Rabbitte’s views. She related a case where a 7 year-old child with leukemia was contacted by officials to check about her condition.

Rabbitte:

Is it unreasonable given the straits we’re in that the situation ought to be examined. As the figures show, there are quite obviously a number of people who didn’t even bother engaging to reply.

(Councillors get pay-offs of up to €64,000 (Disappointment money).

This is a change of tack by Rabbitte. He’s now attacking the small number of people who failed to follow up with their claim for a medical card, possibly out of sheer frustration and stress.

Dr. Kelly responded:

I had patients who didn’t bother to reply as you put it. They were too sick, terminally ill or had learning disabilities. It’s unfair to describe them as not bothering to apply.

Rabbitte:

The fact of the matter is that we’re in the most difficult economic circumstances that we have ever been in and that every area of government expenditure has to be probed in order to try and keep the country viable.

(Councillors get pay-offs of up to €64,000 (Disappointment money).

Mrs. Drumm, her husband's heart and money

I see Mrs. Drumm feared her husband David might drop dead from a heart attack because of all the pressure he was under.

He was working long hours at the bank, she pleaded. Ahhh…the poor man.

The marriage was going through a really tough time she said. Ahhh…the poor woman.

The world was going through a really tough time, she pleaded. Ahhh…the poor…what…the fecking world???

Anyway, the poor woman claims that the €1 million transferred to her account from her husband’s had absolutely nothing, I repeat, absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with hiding money from his creditors.

I mean, the very thought is, I’m sure, repugnant to every fibre of her principled and innocent being.

Still, while I believe her without question, I’m sure there are many, many people out there whose marriages, finances, futures and even lives have been destroyed by the likes of individuals like Drumm who would dearly have wished that he had dropped dead long before he became involved in destroying their lives.

Why the peasants are not being heard

I walked into the great hall of government to be met with a wall of absolute silence.

This despite the fact that the hall was full to brim with Labour and Fine Gael politicians, ministers, advisors, special advisors, civil servants and a host of general hangers on.

Timidly, I approached a small group of FG/Lab TDs sitting at a table where they were studying with great intensity the recent election results.

What’s going on, I whispered?

Ssssshhhhhh…..they replied in barely audible tones….We’re listening.

Listening to what?

To the people, we think they’re trying to tell us something…..but we’re not sure what.

Surely it’s that they’re not happy with your performance in power?

No, no, no, they replied in chorus through gritted teeth.

We’ve done everything right. It’s just that the benefits of our enlightened rule haven’t trickled down to the peasant level yet.

You mean their ignorance is preventing them from appreciating all the hard work you’ve done on their behalf?

Yes, we’re completely stumped by the electorate’s ungratefulness.

We know we’re doing right because the bankers, the regulators, the EU, our fellow politicians and people of power and influence in general have been constantly telling us what a great job we’re doing.

But maybe the peasants resent that approach; maybe they want you to pay more attention to their needs?

Yes, of course, that’s why we’re here……listening, listening with great intensity.

Have you heard anything yet?

Not a thing….sure how could we with all that mad racket going on outside our ivory tower.

Sinn Fein: Will they cooperate with the corrupt political/administrative system?

It is now almost certain that Sinn Fein will be part of the next government and that means – decision time.

Will they accept power and cooperate with our corrupt political/administrative system?

Labour in 1992, the Progressive Democrats, the Green Party and Labour again in 2011 all decided to cooperate with the corrupt system in order to reap the benefits of power rather than challenge the rotten system for the good of Ireland and its people.

I hope Sinn Fein resist the temptation but I fear they will not.

Alan Shatter: A pompous, self-regarding, egotistic arsehole

I felt physically sick as I listened and watched that little prick Alan Shatter preen himself in front of my parliament and announce ‘his decisions’, on how he was going to disperse my money.

The €70,000 so called disappointment money for ministers who retire or, like Shatter, find themselves forced out of office for incompetence or worse, is nothing short of shame money granted to the incompetents by a corrupt body politic.

Any human with even a smidgen of decency, with even a hint of morality would make a discreet phone call to quickly disassociate themselves from the taint of such a disgusting payment.

But Shatter is not a decent human by any measure. He’s nothing but a pompous, self-regarding egotistic arsehole.

Like many, I thought the prick was going to make a significant announcement in front of Leinster House, that perhaps he was going to help clean up Irish politics by resigning.

But no, this excuse for a public representative cynically stretched out his ego circus for two days before telling the nation of his ‘decision’.

Have a look at the prick’s face as he informed the nation that he had decided to keep the severance payment before announcing that he was going to donate our money to his favourite charity.

This was supposed to be his big dramatic moment, when the media and nation would gasp in shock at his decision to keep the money quickly followed by deep gratitude and admiration for his unstinting generosity.

It seems, however, that his tiny, principles free brain wasn’t given a copy of the script and so, instead of looking like a great national hero, we witnessed a moronic sneer spread across the prick’s face.

All hail the generous idiot

Wolf of Wall Street: Getting it wrong about Ireland

The real Wolf of Wall Street, Jordan Belfort, is advising Irish citizens to quit the blame game.

Here’s some of his advice:

One of the messages I want to say to the Irish people is that you can’t blame yourselves.

You’ve got to say it’s okay, we made a mistake and we are going to learn from that and grow stronger from that.

Yeah, people screwed up but they screwed up all over the world so you owe it to your children and your grandchildren to not dwell on that.

And remember it wasn’t Ireland where people overspent. You are no different from the United States and Spain and England.

The problem with Mr. Belfort’s advice is that it’s based on ignorance about what’s really going on in Ireland.

Here’s the minimum Mr. Belfort needs to learn.

All our problems were caused by our corrupt political/administrative system.

Yes, the global financial crisis had a massive impact but it could have been contained and managed if we had a functional democracy.

Mr. Belfort is completely unaware that our corrupt system is not into learning lessons from the disastrous consequences of its actions. To do so would not be in its interests.

The corrupt system did wobble a bit when the global financial crisis hit but it is now firmly back in the saddle of power and ruthlessly doing what it does best – screwing Irish citizens into the ground.

Unwittingly, while describing his own descent into a life of debauchery and fraud, Mr. Belfort pinpoints exactly how our political/administrative system evolved into a corrupt monster.

You don’t lose your moral compass overnight. You take tiny steps where you become desensitised.

This has been happening in Ireland since the corrupt/criminal politician Haughey came to power in 1979. Tiny step after tiny step until eventually the country fell over the cliff in 2008.

The first time you step over the line you feel bad and try to make things right again but then the next time you take that step further and further and before you know it you are doing things you never thought you would do.

This accurately describes the reaction/attitude of our politicians/administrators. Politicians and officials are now at a stage where they don’t even bother to make up excuses anymore.

They are supremely confident that accountability/transparency is a joke. They know they can do pretty much as they please, even break the law, which they do now on a regular basis.

I know myself now if you create wealth without ethics or integrity its not going to last.

The disaster for Irish citizens is that while the political sector is an ethics and integrity free zone it is, apparently, going to last well into the foreseeable future.

Leo Varadkar storms into the mid 1980s

Congratulations to Leo Varadkar.

Riding on his trusty steed the young buck has stormed into the mid 1980s, looked around and immediately summed up the dire situation – I quote.

The Department of Justice is not fit for purpose, it is clear that big changes are required.

We need cultural change. You know, too much in Ireland, and it’s not just a Garda issue, we still have the culture of doing favours, the nod and the wink, the use of discretion and those types of things.

Oh Jesus, save me. I’m going weak at the knees to witness such incisive analysis, such vision, and such cutting edge assessment of what’s happening in our country.

Why, I ask, why did we have to wait so long for the chosen one, for our saviour?

And of course, it brings me back to the mid 1980s too.

The time I realised that the banking sector was robbing customers and the State with total impunity, they still are, bless them.

It was the time I realised that the criminal Haughey was corrupt and the principal carrier of the disease that would eventually infect every level of Irish society but in particular the political, administrative and financial sectors.

I wonder how long it will be before Leo arrives in the 21st century?

Who know, but when he does he’ll see, I’m sure, with equal clarity, that every government department is unfit for purpose, that civil servants and particularly senior civil servants no longer serve Ireland and its people but are loyal to the anti principles of arrogance, incompetence and corruption.

But most of all he will see that the disease of corruption that has infected our law enforcement and other regulatory agencies is carried deep within the system in which he lives – the body politic.