Senator Harte 'explains'

I received two emails from Senator Harte in response to my post regarding social media abuse.

Sorry to disappoint you I wasn’t forced to shut it down. I did it voluntarily.

And shortly after:

Dear Mr Sheridan,

I wish to inform you that my Facebook site was closed 6 days before the death of Shane Mc Entee.

I would expect that you clarify this with your Facebook friends today or the matter will be referred to the Press Ombudsman

I’m very happy to clarify Senator Harte’s claim that he closed his Facebook and Twitter accounts six days before Shane Mc Entee’s death on 21 December 2012.

I’m still puzzled though.

It is obvious from media reports and Senator Harte’s interview on Newstalk that he is very angry and upset by the alleged abuse he received on social media.

The obvious question is – why did he wait a full month before telling the rest of the world about his decision?

I’m still going with the bandwagon thesis.

Danny Healy-Rae: Doesn't even know he's been taken for the idiot he is

Councillor Danny Healy-Rae was delighted with all the publicity he generated with his call for special permits to excuse rural dwellers from drink-driving limits.

I’m getting calls all day from international radio and television stations, so it’s a major issue.

Even accepting that he’s a member of the Healy-Rae family of gombeen politicians and therefore not overly endowed with intelligence surely even he realises that the international media want to talk to him because they see him for what he is – an idiot politician whose antics will provide a laugh for viewers.

Fergus Finlay suffering from a severe bout of naivety

According to Irish Examiner columnist Fergus Finlay recent comments by Pat Rabbitte were in response to the personal abuse of politicians on social media rather than media criticism of politics in general

Mr. Finlay is 100% wrong in his assessment as the words of Pat Rabbitte himself clearly demonstrates.

The denigration of politicians has always been there and most politicians accept that it comes with the territory.

It’s the damage to politics that concerns me because if you consign politics to the dustbin of history, what is the alternative? And five unrelenting years of pervasive negativity is having an impact.

Mr. Rabbitte is clearly not referring to the recent personalised comments on social media.

He’s specifically referring to the general media criticism of the political system since the catastrophic collapse of the economy in 2008.

Rabbitte went on to say that it was the media that was fermenting a good deal of the anger felt by the public.

Again, in addition to insulting the intelligence of Irish citizens, Rabbitte is clearly attacking the media for its commentary on the financial crisis rather than a few anonymous, personally abusive, comments on social media.

Clearly Mr. Finlay, despite a long career in politics, is suffering from a severe bout of naivety.

Dan Boyle and responsible government

On a recent Frontline programme Green Party member Dan Boyle made the following comment regarding cynicism and responsible government.

The idea that you could be in government and not take responsibility for being in government adds to the cynicism that exists about politics.

In Ireland such statements are only made by politicians when in opposition. When they gain power their ideas of responsible government change to suit their own agendas.

When Bertie Ahern was lying through his teeth at the tribunal he received full support from Mr. Boyle’s party.

During that scandal the Green Party abdicated all responsibility effectively saying that the issue had nothing to do with them.

Green Party leader John Gormley:

We’re not the moral watchdog of any political party…we look after our probity and our standards.

This abdication of responsibility for good government added greatly to the cynicism of politics.

Militant Catholic Senator Mullen accuses Taoiseach

The obnoxious Catholic militant Senator Ronan Mullen was so shocked by a comment made by the Taoiseach on the abortion controversy that he felt compelled to issue a formal statement on the matter (Newstalk interview here).

Here’s Enda Kenny’s ‘shocking’ comment.

I’m receiving correspondence and messages from all over the country. I’m now being branded as worse than Herod.

According to Mullen this is a clear attempt to demonise the pro-life movement

What it really is, of course, is another attempt by Mullen to get himself media attention to rant on about his extreme religious views.

The safest place in the Cosmos for those suspected of white collar crime is in the welcoming arms of the ODCE

The investigation into the collapse of Anglo Irish Bank has been formally put into cold storage where it will remain until all those involved are dead and/or the whole scandal becomes nothing more than a thesis subject for students of history.

With hardly a murmur from the media and complete silence from the body politic the High Court has extended the investigation by the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) by a full year.

To date the ODCE had been granted only six month extensions which were, at least initially, strongly questioned by judge Peter Kelly.

But Judge Kelly has long since been put into his box and is now in full conformity with the State’s handling of the investigation.

The ODCE had sought a three year extension but, I suspect, this was to allow judge Kelly to look tough by granting just one year.

Next year, the ODCE will probably ask for a five year extension and receive three from the ‘tough’ judge.

In addition to endless extensions to what in other countries would have been a relatively simple legal process, we have also been informed that there will be a long wait before a trial date is even set.

This is because there is a need, apparently, for a ‘mammoth’ disclosure of documents by the DPP to the defendants.

The processing of ‘massive’ amounts of documents has now been added to the long list of State excuses for delaying investigations into white collar crime.

And when (if) a trial finally does commence we are told by the DPP it is likely to go on for some time because of the matters being investigated.

In functional jurisdictions such matters are dealt with regularly, efficiently and as a matter of legal routine.

And just in case somebody slips up and the process is accidently accelerated from a snails pace to that of a tortoise the ODCE seems to have taken out a little insurance policy

Apparently the investigation has disclosed (mysterious) matters that would warrant other decisions from the DPP.

Naturally, the great unwashed are not told what these ‘matters’ are but we can be sure they’re good for a least another couple of years delay.

Ok, let’s return to the real world.

As I have written on many previous occasions nobody will be held accountable for what happened at Anglo Irish Bank or any of the other banks.

The safest place in the Cosmos for those facing allegations of white collar crime is in the warm, welcoming arms of the ODCE.

Copy to:
ODCE

Smokers unite!

From the Attic Archives.

Irish Examiner: Letters to the Editor: 14th June 2003.

Which publican will refuse to serve a smoker?

Sir,

Thank God for the call for debate by the Vintners Federation of Ireland on Health Minister Michael Martin’s tomfollery as to whether informed adults can or cannot have a smoke with their pint or glass of wine.

Does the minister seriously expect any publican to refuse an adult a pint if he or she lights up?

Is he going to inspect every pub for ventilation?

I have 28 air changes per hour in my pub and dining room. Any more would seriuously interfere with ladies’ hairstyles or gents’ toupees.

Neither I nor any other adult smoker would dream of going on holiday to a country where an after-dinner citarette, cigar or pipe was declared illegal.

Even the Taliban allowed this liberty.

Vincent Keaney
Cobh

Fianna Fail: Defending democracy and fighting corruption

From the attic archives.

Letter to the Editor, Irish Times dated May 10th 2000.

Sir,

Some years ago, when the television soap opera Dallas was at the height of its popularity, it was decided to kill off one of the main characters, Bobby Ewing.

It was subsequently felt that this was a mistake and Bobby should return from the dead.

This was achieved by asking the viewing public to believe that Bobby did not die but had merely dreamt all the events of the previous several episodes.

While this required some stretching of the imagination, it is nothing compared with what Dr. Rory O’Hanlon (May 8th) is asking the Irish public to believe about the recent history of Fianna Fail.

In Dr. O’Hanlon’s soap opera world, Fianna Fail are knights in shining armour, rushing to defend the proud tradition of democracy and the good of the Irish people against an evil tide of corruption.

I would suggest that the only difference between the two scripts is that Dallas had an awful lot more credibility.

Yours etc.,

Anthony Sheridan

Senator Harte: Latest politician to exploit Shane McEntee's suicide

Labour senator Jimmy Harte has become the latest politician to exploit the tragic suicide of Shane McEntee as a potential opportunity to introduce restrictions on freedom of speech.

According to Harte he has been forced to close his Facebook and Twitter accounts because of anonymous threats and bullying.

He provides no details other than the ‘threat’ he felt when his home address was published on Facebook. This is despite the fact that Senator Harte openly publishes his home address on his own website.

When it was pointed out to him during a Newstalk interview that he could easily block abusers on Facebook he weakly replied that the effort (about two to three seconds) wasn’t worthwhile

Fine Gael TD, Ciaran Cannon, in the same interview, gently tore Senator Harte’s victim allegations to shreds by simply telling the truth.

Cannon has been on Facebook and Twitter for years and has rarely being the object of abuse. When faced with abuse he simply blocks the abuser, something he has had to do only twice in the last three years.

When he receives abuse in the post he dumps it, when he receives abuse on the phone he hangs up.

He stated, correctly, that there were already in place plenty of laws to deal with personal abuse, slander and libel.

Cannon said he was concerned by suggestions from some politicians regarding the control of social media.

Tellingly, Senator Harte said that he may ‘review’ his decision to close his accounts at a later stage.

Here’s a prediction:

The ‘bullied’ senator will quietly reactivate his accounts as soon as he believes every advantage has been sucked out of Shane McEntee’s suicide.

Copy to:
Senator Harte (with my name and contact details)

David Andrews: Greedy, arrogant and stupid

There has been very little reaction to the attempt by former foreign affairs minister David Andrews to auction off his copy of the Good Friday Agreement.

The media just reported the facts surrounding the grubby affair and left it at that.

Apparently, nobody wants to delve too deeply into why Mr. Andrews would want to sell this item.

There are, I believe, two possible reasons. Andrews may have been impoverished by the collapse of the economy and is desperately trying to make a couple of bob or his innate Fianna Fail gombeen greed got the better of him.

Whatever the reason his dishonest reaction to the revelation needs to be challenged.

In a typically arrogant response Andrews claimed that the whole affair was a misjudgement and, again in a typically arrogant manner told everybody to feck off, that he was making no further comment.

Well, I don’t believe Andrews’ claim that it was a misjudgement.

Unless he’s a complete idiot, and that is, of course, a possibility, he must have known that the public sale of such a document would attract critical comment.

That’s why the auctioneers charged with selling the document were sworn to secrecy in relation to the identity of the document’s owner.

So not only was this a typical case of arrogance and greed but we can add stupidity as well.

It apparently never occurred to Andrews that any half competent journalist, by the simple process of elimination, could identify him as the seller by simply checking with each member of the very small group of individuals in possession of this unique copy of the Good Friday Agreement

Or perhaps this did occur to Andrews but he was hoping that the public auction of a major historical document would go unnoticed.

Now that’s stupid.