Category: Government

Wild West banking hasn't gone away you know

The corrupt political/administrative system that brought Ireland to its knees in 2008 is still in place.

For a short period of time after the rotten and incompetent Cowen government fell there was panic among the elite that have ruled and ruined Ireland for the last several decades that their time was at an end.

That panic has now receded with the knowledge that the enormous cost to be paid for the decades of corruption has been safely transferred onto the shoulders of the current and future generations of ordinary Irish citizens.

Nowhere is the relief more evident that the old rotten regime is still in place more evident than in the financial sector.

Recent calls from a number of bankers for a relaxation of financial regulation are a clear indication that the system is almost back to its abnormal and destructive worst.

Just last week deputy chairman of AIB Dr. Michael Somers revealed that international banks have told him that they were pulling out of Ireland because of over-regulation.

Now let’s be clear about what’s happening here.

Prior to the economic collapse in 2008 there was absolutely no financial regulation whatsoever.

Banks and other financial institutions regularly engaged in blatant criminal activity without any response from so-called regulatory agencies.

And let’s not fool ourselves (again).

Some international banks may be complaining about regulation but I suspect that the real pressure is coming from within the Irish financial sector.

After all, the gangsters who infest the sector have never experienced any kind of regulation never mind actual law enforcement.

The problem for the Irish political system is, of course, the presence of the Troika.

In the good old days Irish politicians made sure that banks had a clear field to rob and plunder at will without having to worry about inconveniences such as law enforcement.

That Wild West financial environment is not so easy to maintain these days since the arrival of professional regulators in the form of the Troika.

But be absolutely sure about one thing. As soon as ‘regulation’ is back within the hands of our corrupt political/administrative system it will be the Wild West all over again.

Penalty points scandal report to be published

The hilariously entitled ‘independent’ internal Garda investigation into allegations that up to 100,000 penalty points may have been quashed is complete and the report is with the Minister for Justice.

I contacted the Minister’s office to ask if and when the report would be published.

Dear Mr Sheridan,

I am directed by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Mr Alan
Shatter, T.D. to refer further to your recent email concerning allegations 
relating to the processing of fixed charge notices by An Garda Síochána. 



The Garda Commissioner’s report of the examination into allegations 
concerning the enforcement of road traffic legislation was received in the
 Department.

The Minister intends to bring the report to Government at the
 earliest opportunity and to publish the findings thereafter. 


Yours sincerely

Here’s a mad guess – the report will be published on the last day of this Dail term, just before they all head off for a long, long summer holiday.

Abortion and idiotic politicians

Once again cowardly Irish politicians are trying to resolve the abortion dilemma without actually facing the reality of the situation.

The latest mad idea would see a suicidal pregnant woman being forced to make a case for an abortion before a panel of six consultants.

Perinatal psychiatrist Dr. Anthony McCarthy said the idea amounts to abuse of the woman.

He goes on:

If a woman is seriously distressed and depressed in pregnancy, and potentially suicidal or having suicidal ideas, the idea that you would bring her through a forum such as this – almost an inquisition – where she would have to tell her story in front of six different people, is frankly abusive. It’s truly idiotic.

Idiotic indeed and that’s the problem. Our parliament is full of idiots.

Ireland: Becoming a visible banana republic

A temporary hoarding will remain around the famous Browne Doorway on Galway’s Eyre Square because the city council can’t afford a measly €40,000 to repair the early 17th century relic (Irish Times).

Meanwhile the judiciary and government are at each other’s throats over pay cuts and other disagreements.

Just two examples of how Ireland is rapidly becoming a visible banana republic.

Ireland: An intrinsically corrupt state

Many years ago, long before the economic catastrophe of 2008, I came to the conclusion that Ireland was an intrinsically corrupt state.

By ‘intrinsically corrupt’ I mean that there is no independent state authority capable or willing to bring those found, or suspected to be corrupt, to account.

As a result we witness, time after time, corrupt individuals, groups and organisations commit serious crimes with no fear whatsoever that they will be brought to justice.

State authorities simply do not act when certain categories of individuals or groups are suspected of corrupt practices.

For example, Irish Examiner journalist Michael Clifford, writing about the Lowry tapes scandal, is scathing of State authorities for their abject failure to act on the matter.

It’s worth reproducing the first few paragraphs of his article:

The controversy that has come to be known as The Lowry Tapes tells us much about what passes for democracy in this State.

The issue involves prima facie evidence that at least one crime may have been committed by serving TD and former government minister, Michael Lowry.

In a proper democracy, such as in Britain, this would be a matter for the police. The matter would be investigated and a file prepared for the state prosecuting body.

Thereafter, charges would either be preferred, or the matter dropped completely on the basis that there was no case to answer.

We don’t do things that way. Instead of a criminal justice process without-fear-or-favour, we have waffle; point scoring; a political culture that is concerned only with what interests the public, rather than the public interest; and a criminal justice system that freezes whenever a politician appears on its radar.

And it’s not just politicians who appear on the corruption radar that are, apparently, immune from any kind of accountability.

It’s also bankers, property developers, civil servants, auditors, members of the legal community, and any other group or individual operating within the protective embrace of our corrupt political system.

Clifford finishes his article by telling us that democratic accountability demands that state authorities properly deal with the Lowry Tapes allegations.

Unfortunately for Ireland and its people such demands will have no impact whatsoever. The system is too rotten, too dysfunctional and too corrupt to take any effective action.

Nothing short of a radical cleansing of the entire corrupt political and administrative system will suffice to put the country on the road to a properly functioning democracy.

Why should citizens remain loyal to a corrupt state?

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

This is a letter from a man who has been betrayed by our corrupt political system.

The key question he asks is:

Why should I go on being an honest taxpayer…to pay for the mistakes of corrupt politicians, greedy bankers and golden circles who scammed us since so-called independence?

How this question is answered will decide whether Irish citizens get a new republic free from corrupt gombeen politicians or sink ever deeper into poverty and despair.

Sir,

I filled in the online return for the local property tax on the same day that I received the Revenue’s letter telling me about my liability.

In good faith, I also gave it my bank account details so that it could deduct the amount due “no earlier than 21 July 2013” as stated on the website.

I have just been to my bank account and found that it deducted the property tax immediately.

Why should I go on being an honest taxpayer, coughing up hard-earned money for more than 40 years of my working life, paying every cent (and pingin before the euro) in income tax and PRSI and VAT and Dirt and youth levies and health levies and all the other taxes and levies and deductions, and now this house tax and the water tax next, in order to pay for the mistakes of corrupt politicians, greedy bankers and golden circle who have scammed us since so-called “independence”? Not to mention them putting their grubby fingers into my pension fund and levying that too.

Why? Why? Why?

If ageing, middle-class, quiescent, blameless citizens like me, who have never scammed a penny nor hidden a single nixer from the taxman, can get as deeply angry as I am right now at this final straw, then what hope is there that we can sort out the financial mess?

The very roots of participatory democracy are threatened when people like me finally make up our minds to give up on voting and paying tax and all the other duties that come with citizenship.

We are in perilous times indeed.

Yours, etc,
Tim O’Neill
Dublin 7.

Another attack by the State on freedom of expression

It is not at all surprising that the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) is introducing draconian rules to further control the media by banning broadcasters from expressing a personal opinion.

The (free) media is, after all, the only power within the state that has the power and will to investigate and expose political and business corruption.

All so-called State law enforcement authorities, including the police, are entirely under the control of the body politic. We only have to look around to see how damaging that is for Ireland and its people.

RTE welcomed the new restrictions, which again, is not surprising as the station is already a fully compliant government broadcaster.

The response by TV3, which is probably seen by politicians as the most dangerous (free) media outlet, best sums up this latest government attack on freedom of expression.

The State now seeks through its regulator to control content on channels it does not own, limiting news and current affairs programming to arid lists of facts.

It prevents non-State broadcasters from having a different view from the State and thereby restricts essential roles of media as watchdog, as court of public opinion and as provider of informed analysis.

At best this is unnecessary ‘regulatory creep’, more harshly it could be called state censorship.

If such a code was introduced in countries like Russia or China it would be regarded as an attack on free media.

Corrupt system still supporting the vermin

In an article about the greed and hypocrisy of developer Sean Dunne Sunday Times journalist Justine McCarthy accurately outlines the complete failure of the state to reform the corrupt system that allows low life like Dunne to breed like rats.

The same support system that rendered them untouchable during the boom still prevails.

There has been no public banking inquiry, no debate about the probity of a legal system churning out gagging writs to suppress information; no investigation of the media’s sycophantic coverage of the property market and its players; no criticism of estate agents who acted hand in glove with developers; no sanctions for auditors who signed off on Walter Mitty-esque financial accounts; nobody from the ‘golden circle’ sent to jail.

Just a country full of worn-out citizens who have been punished, beyond endurance in some cases, for believing what they were told by Establishment Ireland.

The support system Ms. McCarthy speaks of is, to make it clear, the corrupt political/administrative system that has destroyed our country.

I would dispute just one detail with Ms. McCarthy.

The (corrupt) system that supports the vermin who rule our country is not a product of the boom years.

The rotten system has been sucking the life-blood out of Ireland and its people since, at least, 1979 when the criminal politician Haughey gained power.

Housing Minister Jan O'Sullivan is a liar?

I agree with Emmet Stagg’s assessement of the ghost estate situation.

There’s no way the 43,000 estates that were previously deemed to be in such a state that they shouldn’t have to pay a €100 last year have now miraclously been transformed into a state where they’re ok.

Last year 43,000 houses were exempt from the household charge but, ‘miraclously’, that figure has dropped to a mere 5,100 this year.

Even if Ireland was a functional democracy with a world class administrative system that pulled out all the stops in order to rectify the ghost estate debacle it would still be impossible for such progress to be achieved in such a short period of time.

It is reasonable therefore to conclude that Housing Minister Jan O’Sullivan is lying when she claims that the dramatic drop is a result of government action.

Irish citizens know, much to their cost, that a lying politician is a much more likely explanation for such claims rather than an efficient/competent administrative system.

Insolvency legislation and the publication of personal details

I heard somebody say over the weekend that people who enter into an arrangement under the insolvency service will have certain details published by the Insolvency Serivice of Ireland (ISI) on a public register.

I googled the ISI for a contact number in order to clarify the situation and found, curiously, that all queries relating to the ISI must be made through the Citizens Information Board (CIB).

The official I spoke with at the CIB knew absolutely nothing about the ISI and, after trying but failing to transfer me to several different extensions, put me on holding music.

I hung up after eight minutes and rang the Data Protection Commissioner’s office to see if they knew anythng about the publication of such information.

Predictably, they didn’t. This has nothing to do with us an official told me. On further questioning he made the Commissioner’s position clear.

If a government decides to bring in legislation allowing for the publication of any information under any heading then that legislation overrides all our legislation and there’s nothing we can do about it.

Finally, I rang the Department of Justice, the department under which the legislation is being introduced.

Yes, an official confirmed, information will be published on a public register concerning all those who enter into an arrangement under the insolvency service.

He guessed it was something to do with bankruptcy laws but candidly admitted that he didn’t really know why the Government is insisting on publishing such personal information.