What the bankster thought of the gangster

From the Attic archives.

When the criminal politician and traitor Haughey died in 2006 various ‘pillars of society’ were asked to assess his record.

The following is the assessment of the bankster Sean Fitzpatrick taken from the Sunday Tribune, 18 June 2006.

He was a big picture man, who certainly had his faults. There were two era’s. The first era he was off beam, when he did huge borrowing and got us into financial deficit.

The second time he had learned a lesson and the true Haughey came through. I can’t think of any modern politician who has done as much.

Haughey was exceptionally different to other politicians of the time.

There was just no hope, things were very bureaucratic and done at a snails pace. There wasn’t the entrepreneurial sense there is now. Ireland was dark and we were losing our best to emigration.

He was there at the time and set the foundation for us to come through.

Michael Noonan: One of our more distinguished gombeens

One of our more distinguished gombeen politicians, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, was in typical arrogant mood during an interview on The Week in Politics yesterday.

When asked about the possibility of Ireland getting money back by way of European retrospection legislation he replied:

I think if we go there naively and put out our hand and say; give us the money, we won’t succeed.

This comment and the accompanying sneering smile tells us a lot about Noonan’s intelligence and complete lack of diplomatic skills .

My translation: That was good wasn’t it? Did you notice how I cleverly linked my reply to the lads on the Anglo tapes? Aren’t I fierce clever, not many people are as clever you know.

When asked for his response to the Anglo tapes Mr. Clever was very much plain old Mr. Gombeen.

It was appalling but of course it was recordings that were made over four years ago so we’re revisiting the past.

My translation: That’s all in the past and the matter is no longer relevant. People need to move on.

There has been a general distaste of bank culture right across Europe and indeed across the world.

My translation: This sort of thing happens all over the world, Ireland is not unique, it’s time to move on.

When asked what the Government intended to do about the economic crimes of David Drumm Noonan again took refuge in his gombeen mindset.

Well, I wouldn’t like to repeat a difficulty Mary Harney got into when she made remarks that were deemed to prejudge a court case.

My translation: We politicians really want to get these people but unfortunately we can’t say anything in case it would affect any future court case, so come back to me in, say, ten maybe fifteen years time and I’ll answer that question.

It’s very complex, very intricate and the prosecuting authorities are fearful if they move too quickly or imprudently that they’ll blow the case and with the separation of powers we must leave them do that.

My translation: These matters are beyond the understanding of ordinary peasants so they are best left to the ‘experts’ to deal with. And of course, due to the separation of powers, there’s absolutely nothing we politicians can do to force the authorities to complete their investigations any time soon.

Noonan was then asked why the Americans were capable of immediate action against whistleblowers like Edward Snowden while Irish authorities never acted.

The American system is different than the Irish system.

Well why don’t we change our system if that’s what it takes?

Because we have a constitutional mechanism which protects all citizens, it’s called the separation of powers and it’s up to the prosecution authorities and the criminal justice authorities to deal with it.

The Guards make inquiries in this country, we don’t politically interfere with the Guards, they give their books of evidence and their files to the DPP and the DPP decides who to prosecute.

My translation: Ireland is a progressive, civilized state that respects and protects the rights of all citizens no matter what charges are made against them.

America, on the other hand, is a primitive state that hunts down suspects without due process and its enforcement authorities are subject to political pressure.

On the warning by former boss of the Office of Corporate Enforcement, Paul Appleby, (that title always makes me laugh) that his office did not have enough resources.

We’ve heard the resources argument year after year, he got all the resources he needed and he got extra time to do his job.

This dismissal of Mr. Appleby as an effective liar was accompanied by another sneer but this one was not smiling.

It was one of pure contempt for an official who dared to ask for more resources to fight white-collar crime.

Copy to:
Minister Noonan

Mary O’Rourke and the Lenihan’s: A family of traitors

Mary O’Rourke’s response to the Anglo tapes.

Absolutely astounded that two high flying bankers would treat the Central Bank of their country in that fashion…It makes the case for an immediate set up for the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to deal with it.

I’m ashamed the government spent so long playing games about the chairman of the PAC.

On how her nephew dealt with the situation.

Her first attempt to answer this question was typical O’Rourke gobbledygook and is worth quoting in full.

Of course it does, I have always held to the full idea which is now becoming more in the open. I mean if those two bankers, it’s like a thriller, isn’t it, a bad thriller. If those two bankers were willing to do that on the Central Bank of their country they were willing to do it on anyone or any government. It paints the bank in a dreadful light and these are the people that people trusted in this country.

She was asked the question again – Was Brian Lenihan aware of the bank’s attitude?

I’m quite sure he wouldn’t have been privy, how could he have been, to those phone calls…Fianna Fail wants an inquiry, why would we not?

Did the government of the day make bad decisions, well I don’t know. that’s why I want an inquiry, why everyone in Fianna Fail wants an inquiry.

I most desperately want it because I know to the day he passed away Brian was for his country, he was for his country, he was not for anything else.

Clearly, O’Rourke is desperate to protect the ‘good’ name of her traitor nephew Brian Lenihan Jnr.

That’s to be expected as she, along with her brother Brian Lenihan Snr., are also guilty of betraying Ireland and its people.

Shane Ross: It was Europe wot done it

Here’s how Shane Ross responded to a question on the Anglo tapes corruption.

What about the Irish narrative of victimhood, this (the Anglo tapes) suggests that we shafted Europe with the bank guarantee and our bankers took advantage of that?

Shane Ross: It takes two to tango, Europe lent us all this money and if there’s a borrower there’s a lender.

The lender and the borrower are both equally responsible and they lent the money to a bank that was in big, big trouble.

And if they had looked at it properly they would have realised they were in big trouble.

Just because a couple of cowboys behaved extremely badly at the top of one small bank Europe cannot exonerate itself and say it has no responsibility.

They have huge responsibility because they lent to certainly four banks which were behaving irresponsibly so I don’t think we can let Europe off, certainly not.

Phew, that was a close one. I thought for a moment he was going to mention corrupt Irish politicians, corrupt Irish bankers and corrupt/incompetent regulators.

Michael Clifford: The immoral electorate is to blame

As sure as night follows day, when scandal and corruption raise their ugly heads there will always be a journalist ready and willing to write a ‘We’re all to blame’ article.

Irish Examiner columnist Michael Clifford, writing about the Anglo tapes, is the journalist in this case.

According to Clifford a lack of public morality caused by the vacuum created after the ‘moral guidance’ of the Catholic Church disappeared is principally responsible for the corruption within Anglo Irish Bank.

Public morality didn’t, and still doesn’t, appear to have much purchase in this State.

With little pressure to observe proper standards coming from the electorate, how can we expect that public morality is going to be observed in institutions such as banks?

So there you have it folks; the blame does not lie with the corrupt politicians, nor with the corrupt bankers, nor with the corrupt regulators but the immoral (and presumably corrupt) electorate.

Anglo vermin will not be made accountable by our corrupt political/administrative system

The first thing to be said about the ongoing Anglo tapes revelations is that David Drumm, Peter Fitzgerald and John Bowe are nothing more than common vermin.

Vermin with big salaries, big cars, and big ego’s are still vermin and always will be vermin.

What Irish citizens need to keep in mind is that these vermin could not survive, never mind prosper, without the absolute protection afforded to them by our corrupt political/administrative system.

There is a growing consensus that the then government and financial regulator were duped into handing over billions to Anglo, that somehow it wasn’t the fault of the political/administrative system.

This is music to the ears of politicians and civil servants who will be delighted to see the blame shifting from them, the real culprits, to the greedy vermin bankers.

Here’s the truth of the matter:

As we here at Public Inquiry have been saying for years – Ireland is an intrinsically corrupt state.

The crucial difference between an intrinsically corrupt state and a properly functioning state is the response of the respective states when corruption is uncovered.

Functional democracies like the United Kingdom, United States, Germany and so on have lots of corruption but when corruption is uncovered there is a response.

There are independent authorities empowered to act against the corrupt.

There is a level of awareness among the political classes that there are certain lines that they simply cannot cross.

There is a high level of political intelligence/awareness among the electorate that manifests itself in anger if the political/administrative system is suspected of trying to cover up corruption.

There is a clear blue sea of separation between regulatory/law enforcement agencies and the political system.

In Ireland there is no authority independent of the corrupt political system with the power to act against the vermin in the financial sector or any other area where white-collar crime is rampant.

In Ireland politicians have a choice, go along with the corrupt political system or find yourself ejected from it.

Roisin Shortall and Nessa Childers are two recent examples of politicians who stood up to the rotten political system and as a result found themselves out in the cold.

Ms. Childers was right on the button in her comment after resigning:

I felt I was being corrupted by the system.

In Ireland most of the electorate are politically ignorant. That is, they don’t realise that power rests in their hands and not with the politicians.

In other words, most Irish citizens do not understand what real democracy is.

Over the decades Irish citizens have come to believe that they must sell their vote (power) to the local gangster/gombeen in return for petty favours.

If the local gangster/gombeen succeeds in buying enough votes (power) he travels to Dublin where he plunders state funds in order to pay off his constituents thus ensuring his re-election.

In functional democracies like America or France citizens are aware that power flows from them, that it is temporarily given to politicians and when a politician is found to have acted corruptly or otherwise acted against the interests of the state they are made to pay the price.

The opposite is the case in Ireland.

Citizens see power as flowing down to them from politicians. It is the politician who is seen as the power source and it is to that power source that the citizens go, cap in hand, to ask for favours.

It would never occur to most Irish citizens to actually challenge the local gangster/gombeen on a national issue unless the matter had some bearing on that citizen’s personal interests.

Let me finish by coming back to the Anglo tapes and who is effectively responsible for the protection and prosperity of the vermin within the financial sector.

The corrupt political/administrative system has been, effectively, protecting and facilitating major criminal activity within the Irish financial sector for decades.

This is not just my opinion.

For absolute proof we have only to look back at the hundreds of examples of barefaced fraud and criminality that have occurred in that sector without any effective response whatsoever from the so-called regulatory agencies.

It should therefore come as no surprise that when the Anglo vermin walked into the Central Bank and demanded billions of taxpayers’ money they were slavishly accommodated.

After decades of effectively facilitating/ignoring widespread criminality the so-called regulatory agencies had lost all credibility and respect.

After decades of effectively facilitating/ignoring widespread criminality the so-called regulatory agencies could hardly stand up to the vermin and demand that they act ethically/legally.

The bankers knew that, they knew they were dealing with a morally bankrupt political/administrative system and accordingly treated them with the contempt they richly deserved.

That contempt for the politicians and so-called regulators can be clearly heard vomiting from the mouths of the vermin bankers

And let me be clear, the situation has not changed.

The political/administrative system is still corrupt, still effectively protecting the criminals within the financial sector, still betraying Ireland and its people.

That’s why I can state the following with absolute confidence:

No banker will go to jail; there will be no proper inquiry.

There will be no accountability demanded from the corrupt political/administrative system that created and protects the cesspool where the vermin prosper.

There will be no justice/accountability until Irish citizens destroy the corrupt political/administrative system that has destroyed their country and their futures.

Copy to:

Central Bank
All political parities

Clare Daly/Michael Ring: Hypocrite and gombeen

Gombeenism and hypocrisy were very evident last week as Independent TD Clare Daly and Minister of State for Tourism and Sport Michael Ring discussed the recent visit to Ireland by the Obama family (Today with Pat Kenny, Thursday).

The issue under discussion was Daly’s strong reaction to the Obama’s visit.

Daly accused the Taoiseach of showcasing Ireland as a nation of pimps, prostituting ourselves in return for a pat on the head.

Minister Ring’s response provided a one hundred percent confirmation that we are indeed a nation of pimps when it comes to ‘slobbering all over the Americans’.

The American tourism market is very important for us.

There are many thousands of people working in American multinationals here.

Ring steadfastly refused to squawk even the smallest criticism of Obama’s government policy even when challenged about the hundreds of innocent people killed by American drones.

I’m not going to interfere in the American government’s policy in relation to what they do.

And then immediately back to the slobbering.

We had a great opportunity to showcase the country…blah, blah, blah…

Clearly, Minister Ring’s morality/compassion does not extend beyond the interests of himself and his government.

Those hundreds of innocent men, women and children can go to hell for all he cares. Tourism, jobs and money are easily more important than the unlawful killing of a bunch of foreigners.

While Minister Ring demonstrated that he was a gombeen par excellence Ms. Daly easily won on the hypocrisy stakes.

Asked to explain why she was so critical of Bono’s perfectly legitimate tax avoidance strategies while offering unwavering support for her colleague and tax fraudster Mick Wallace she said:

DALY: Well, it’s an entirely different matter. As far as I know deputy Wallace hasn’t organised to avoid tax by locating his business’s offshore.

Well he didn’t pay his VAT bill?

Daly: Well that’s a matter for him but I think it was to do with the fact that his business and his company’s business failed; it’s a different matter.

Indeed it is a different matter. Wallace committed a crime by knowingly submitting a fraudulent VAT return for the purpose of stealing €1.4 million from Irish citizens.

Bono committed no crime whatsoever.

And in case any of the legions of Irish citizens who have had their lives destroyed by rogue developers like Wallace were in any doubt about Daly’s contempt for their hardships she was even more specific in defence of her tax cheating colleague and friend.

Bono parades himself as being someone who assists people in the Third World, allegedly, but the activity that he has engaged in is exactly the same as what the multinationals have done depriving this country of taxation which he could pay.

He has the money to pay, it’s not that his business has failed, he has the money to pay that tax and he chooses to locate his business, as you say, legitimately, offshore in order to avoid it.

Note the inclusion of the words ‘allegedly’ and ‘legitimately’ to suggest that Daly doesn’t really believe that Bono’s tax affairs are legal.

With no evidence whatsoever she is prepared to condemn an innocent man while on the other hand stand steadfastly by a self-confessed tax-fraudster.

In Wallace’s case she is, in effect, saying that it’s ok to commit tax fraud if your business fails.

Wallace’s attempted theft of €1.4 million from hard-working Irish citizens is nobody’s business but his own, apparently, but the legitimate tax avoidance strategy of Bono must be condemned at every opportunity.

But the truth of it is that, in the murky, narrow-minded world of Irish politics, if your colleague and friend are of the same political outlook there is no such thing as tax fraud

What hope for Ireland and its people when such hypocrites and gombeens occupy positions of power and influence?

Copy to:
Minister Ring
Clare Daly

Oliver Cromwell: Right on the button regarding the Senate

The best letter to date on the question of abolishing the most exclusive club in the country.

Sir,

I find it farcical when members of the Seanad, elected through a “rotten borough” electoral system or appointed, unelected, by An Taoiseach, present themselves as an essential political bulwark protecting us from the excesses of our democratically elected Dáil.

The most appropriate message for members of the “best club in Dublin” is Oliver Cromwell’s 1653 injunction to the Rump Parliament: “You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately. . . Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go!”

Yours, etc,
Peter Molloy
Dublin

Emmet Stagg: Political coward

The next few months will be interesting as ‘pillars of society’ fight to retain their exclusive club, Seanad Eireann.

We’re going to see a great deal of self-interested cant, plain stupidity and downright hypocrisy.

Take Labour chief whip, Emmet Stagg, for example.

The idea of getting rid of the Senate is ‘very dangerous’ according to Mr. Stagg.

So will Mr. Stagg be campaigning to retain this exclusive club?

Er…no…because that would see him fall from government favour and the loss of his many privileges.

We likely to see lots of this political cowardice during the campaign.