Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005
I see the European Ombudsman has begun a formal investigation into the European Central Bank’s refusal to release the letter that resulted in Ireland applying for a bailout.
The decision to carry out an investigation follows a complaint against the ECB of “maladministration” by journalist Gavin Sheridan
Smoke and sparks flew from my keyboard as I typed the following sentence.
I’m in agreement with Catholic militant David Quinn when he claims that the Catholic hierarchy has a right to challenge the Government on the issue of abortion.
Pat Rabbitte and others seem to believe that the Catholic Church does not have the right to campaign against government actions and plans surrounding the whole issue of abortion.
This, of course, is ridiculous.
The Catholic Church has the same rights as any individual or group to express disagreement and campaign against any government policy or action.
It should be allowed to retain those rights despite the fact that it operates a ruthless, medieval type regime of suppression against those within its own ranks who dare question its policies or actions.
In the UK a senior police officer, April Casburn, has been found guilty of corruption and will, most likely, end up in prison.
Such an event is an impossibility in our corrupt state.
Casburn phoned the News of the World newspaper and offered to pass on information about a police investigation into the newspaper.
No money changed hands and the story was never printed.
In our corrupt state such an incident, if noticed at all, would be treated as a minor indiscretion warranting no action whatsoever.
The investigation, trial and conviction of Ms. Casburn were all completed within two years.
In our corrupt state any investigation into police corruption would take ten to fifteen years. There would be endless media discussion, politicians would waffle an about never allowing this sort of thing to happen again and, of course, there would be no convictions.
The crucial difference between functional, accountable democracies and corrupt states like Ireland is that in countries like Ireland there is no law enforcement agency allowed to operate independently of the (corrupt) political system.
I had a long and detailed telephone conversation with an official from the Office of Public Works (OPW) on Tuesday regarding the art works that have gone missing from Leinster House.
While the official was courteous and genuine in her attempts to explain the situation it was obvious that there are glaring contradictions surrounding the whole scandal.
According to this official the number of art works missing is nowhere near the 38 reported by the Irish Independent and several have been located since Christmas.
She did, however, inform me that some items have been missing for decades.
I was informed that the Art Management Office has been carrying out a continuous cataloguing of state art work since its establishment in 2000.
This involves cataloguing works aquired since the foundation of the state and even works that were left behind by the British administration.
In other words, prior to 2000 there was no oversight whatsoever of state art works. It was, apparently, open season for anyone who wished to help themselves.
Since 2000 however, I was informed that a very tight system of control was in place that involved the following procedures.
A data base for all art work. This system allows officials to instantly identify the exact location – building, floor, room – of all items.
All items (or at least the more valuable items) are digitally photographed, measured, described in detail and assigned a unique serial number.
Building managers are directly responsible for all items under their care. The OPW provides a list of all items to each building manager outlining exactly what items they are responsible for.
When an item arrives in a building the building manager signs it in. When an item leaves the building the building manager signs it out.
When an individual (official or politician) requests an item the building manager obtains it from the OPW. The transaction is noted on the OPW data base and the building manager receives a formal letter from the OPW outling the exact details of the items delivered.
All art works within Leinster House are controlled/monitored by this system.
Very impressive but the contradiction is obvious – If the system is so efficient why did dozens of items go missing just two years ago, years after the ‘effective’ control system was put in place?
The official denied that dozens of items had gone missing. The Irish Independent had got its facts wrong and several of the items have since been located.
A number of other excuses were mentioned.
We have a tiny staff and very few resources.
We are responsible for several hundred offices throughout Ireland.
Our inventory system is ongoing so an item may only be discovered as missing after a full inventory rotation (approximately one year).
We respond by writing to the building manger asking him to check it out.
Most disturbingly, the official said that the first response by the OPW when art items go missing is to presume that the items have been misplaced or innocently moved to another location.
The possibility of theft is seldom a serious consideration.
What we see here is a typically Irish two-faced bureaucratic system which on the surface claims to be efficient and accountable while at the same time studiously ignoring the fact that serious damage is being done to state/citizens interersts.
I wrote recently about how the Irish Examiner completely misinterpreted the comments of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney regarding the jailing of bankers.
Notwithstanding this misinterpretation the fact remains that Minister Coveney did, according to news reports, utter the words:
I’d love to see bankers in prison.
This utterance could prove very useful to those bankers facing trial for alleged wrongdoing.
In 2000 former Tanaiste and Progressive Democrats leader Mary Harney expressed the opinion that former Taoiseach Charles Haughey should be convicted for his wrong doing as a politician.
Haughey’s lawyers immediately argued that his trial should be postponed until such time as the unfairness created by such adverse pre-trial publicity abated.
Incredibly, the judge in charge of the case agreed with this argument and the case was postponed indefinitely.
The judgement meant, effectively, that Charles Haughey was immune from prosecution until such time as all memory of his career was collectively forgotten by the nation.
As a result of Simon Coveney’s comments about jailing bankers we are likely to see the legal representatives of these people dusting down the Haughey case file in the hope of obtaining a similar judgement.
As the bizarre Haughey judgement was never overturned or even challenged there is every likelihood that they will be successful.
I recently came across an article about some radio broadcaster called Ryan Tubridy.
Apparently he’s worried about the amount of public interest surrounding his relationship with his girlfriend Aoibhinn something or other.
I asked a friend if he had ever heard of this guy Tubridy.
Don’t think so says he but I once knew a Runi Turbidy from the small village of Ólafsvík in Western Iceland (pop. 1,010).
Runi worked as a security man on the radio mast in Ólafsvík, which I’m told, is the tallest structure in Western Europe.
He did have a girlfriend called Alfhildur something or other and was worried about the amount of attention she was receiving from a nearby flock of sheep.
Ah, I thought, that must be the fella. Obviously, the author of the article mistakenly entered Ireland instead of Iceland.
Sure such a thing could happen to anyone.
An editorial in the Irish Examiner takes Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney to task for talking the talk on rogue bankers and politicians but not walking the walk when it comes to action.
Curiously, the editor has completely misread the meaning of Minister Coveney’s comments.
Coveney is not actually calling for bankers to be jailed.
Rather he’s dismissing all those who are calling for bankers to be made accountable.
Some quotes from the minister makes the point
Ireland needed to find solutions to get “out of the painful mess” rather than focusing on who was at fault.
All of that stuff would be satisfying, I’d love to see bankers in prison. I’d love to see senior politicians from previous governments losing pensions, I’d love to see people in the dock.
That will take its course through police investigations, through Oireachtas Committees on banking and so on.
But people wanted higher incomes or solutions, he said, rather than him “bitching politically” about previous governments.
Translation:
Yes, I’d love to see bankers in jail but – it’s not going to happen.
Yes, I think politicians from previous governments should lose their pensions but – it’s not going to happen.
Trying to find out who is to blame for the catastrophe is just a waste of time.
We must never look back, it could be embarrassing.
Better to park all investigations with the police and Oireachtas committees where they will never see the light of day.
Letter in today’s Irish Times.
Paying the property tax
Sir,
It was extraordinary reading the comments attributed to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan during the cropped property tax debate.
He claimed the tax was “fair and progressive”, yet a home owner in a €350,000 house earning €1,200 a week will pay the same as a State pensioner living on €230 a week or a person on €188 job seeker’s allowance living in a similar house. This is not “fair or progressive”.When confronted on this, the Minster’s opinion was “everyone should make a small contribution”.
To those living on basic fixed incomes and those in negative equity, €5/6/7 a week would mean one less hot meal each week.
There is absolutely no regard for “ability to pay” other than to offer a “deferral” which carries a 4 per cent charge – which is nothing other than the poor being penalised for being poor. The last time we saw that in Ireland was under the Poor Laws.
This tax, with its absence of any “ability-to-pay” protection, is clearly a case of the well-off protecting the well-off at the expense of the money poor.
Only a Fine Gael/Labour government could arrive at the conclusion that this is a “fair and progressive” tax.
This Government is not only inept, it is also extremely dangerous.
Yours etc,
Jim O’Sullivan
Sligo.
Very best wishes to everyone for Christmas and the New Year 🙂
In an article entitled ‘Let’s answer Ireland’s call: reform or die.’ Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin calls for major reform of the political system.
His suggestions, unfortunately, are about forty years too late.
The corrupt political/administrative system that brought Ireland to ruin is not capable of being reformed.
It must be totally eradicated and replaced with a proper democratic system similar to that of all other functional democracies.
Even though we regularly hear from the likes of Kenny, Gilmore and Martin that the system is ‘broken’ and must be radically reformed there is not the slightest hint that real reform is actually going to happen.
And why would it, to do so would mean an end to the corrupt/gombeen/clientelist system that has served the exclusive interest of Irish politicians and their respective parties and friends since independence.
That corrupt system effectively destroyed the country and lost us our independence. It is far, far too late to talk of reforming such an irretrievably corrupt system.
In his article Mr. Griffin points out:
Only when we fully accept this reality, (that the system is ‘broken’) can we begin to properly rebuild our nation.
It’s good that some politicians like Mr. Griffin are, at last, beginning to accept the enormity of their betrayal of Ireland and its people.
However, he and his fellow politicians must go, or be forced to go, one step further and accept the reality that their rotten political system is history and can have no part whatsoever in building a new Ireland.
Reform or die?
Too late Mr. Griffin, what you represent is already dead.
Copy to:
Brendan Griffin
All political parties