Fine Gael/Fianna Fail – No difference

Letter in today’s Irish Examiner.

A legitimate cause for concern for both Enda Kenny and Fine Gael

Fine Gael’s failure to understand why scenes of Enda Kenny being glad handled in Denis O’Brien’s company are a legitimate cause of concern is understandable, at least in the context of the hypocrisy of that party’s attitude to the findings made against one of their own when compared to what its reaction would have been if Mr O’Brien had close links with Fianna Fáil and was pictured with Brian Cowen.

Most of Mr O’Brien’s businesses seem to operate in countries where the rule of law and regulation is at best applied with the lightest of touch.

I wonder if he would have been as successful in Norway as he is in some place like Haiti.

But it’s not just the meeting at the NYE Stock Exchange, it’s also the pally chat Mr O’Brien and Mr Kenny would have had at the breakfast beforehand and the lunch afterwards and in the corridor.

It’s also the fact that because Fine Gael refuses to publish proper audited accounts we don’t know how much money Dennis O’Brien has paid to that party or its elected representatives, or what policy he was able to shape in return since at least 2002.

Interesting too is the failure of anyone in Fine Gael to provide an example after Moriarty or Mahon and tell the people of North Tipperary, and elsewhere, that if they choose to elect people who fail to meet the highest standards expected of members of our Parliament, as is their democratic right, they must also be prepared to accept the consequences.

One of which is that such a representative will not have free access to members of the government.

Fine Gael claims to be the party of reform but its first year in government has been a dismal failure in terms of reform.

So far it has matched the cronyism of the last government step by step.

It could have decided no member of the Government would get a pay rise upon taking office for at least the first term in office, but it didn’t.

It could have had a transparent application process for advisers, but it didn’t, and instead appointed party cronies.

It could have immediately repealed FOI restrictions but it didn’t.

It could have ended the gravy train of expenses, but it didn’t.

But even worse are the bully boy tactics used by the likes of Charles Flanagan and Phil Hogan and the intellectual snobbery of Alan Shatter.

Desmond FitzGerald
Canary Wharf
London

Ireland is a neutral country!

Caught just a snatch of a documentary on the war in Sudan where civilians, mostly women and children, were being bombed by aircraft using intelligence gathered from drones.

Apparently, the bombing is part of a strategy by the Sudanese government to defeat rebels by forcing them to hide out in a remote, mountainous area with little food or water.

The rebels managed to shoot down a drone and when dismantled it was discovered that the electronics of the aircraft had been manufactured in Iran and Ireland.

Cowen delivers State of the Nation speech – a year after being thrown out of office

Some guy called Deaglan De Breadun wrote an article about some guy called Brian Cowen who was leader of some country called Ireland.

Apparently, this Cowen guy had some sort of leadership role in Ireland and has just delivered a state of the nation address on the major crisis evolving in that country – a year after being thrown out of office.

In the 8,400 word speech the Cowen guy blames the international financial crisis and the people of Ireland for everything.

He makes a strong case for a more orderly and better-regulated economic order instead of the anarchic greed and avarice that brought us (the world) to our present sorry state.

An electorate that has learnt to vote according to its pocket-book and local or sectional concerns rather than the broader national interest.

The De Breadun guy obviously has great admiration for this Cowen guy, which, in all sympathy, is a pretty sad way to live.

As for the Cowen guy – well, he’s just sad.

State/Catholic child indoctrination rule recommended for deletion

The Advisory Group on Patronage and Pluralism in national schools has recommended that Rule 68 should be deleted as soon as possible.

Rule 68 is a rule issued by representatives of the Catholic god when they wielded total power in our schools and begins:

Of all parts of a school curriculum Religious Instruction is by far the most important, as its subject matter, God’s honour and service, includes the proper use of all man’s faculties, and affords the most powerful inducements to their proper use.

Thankfully, this state supported religious indoctrination/abuse of innocent children is rapidly coming to an end.

Here’s the rule in full:

Rule 68

Of all parts of a school curriculum Religious Instruction is by far the most important, as its subject matter, God’s honour and service, includes the proper use of all man’s faculties, and affords the most powerful inducements to their proper use.

Religious Instruction is, therefore, a fundamental part of the school course, and a religious spirit should inform and vivify the whole work of the school.

The teacher should constantly inculcate the practice of charity, justice, truth, purity, patience, temperance, obedience to lawful authority, and all the other moral virtues.

In this way he will fulfil the primary duty of an educator, the moulding to perfect form of his pupils’ character, habituating them to observe, in their relations with God and with their neighbours, the laws which God, both directly through the dictates of natural reason and through Revelation, and indirectly through the ordinance of lawful authority, imposes on mankind.

Fr Ted Republic

Letter in today’s Irish Independent and Irish Examiner.

Our Fr Ted Republic

It is certain that if a Mahon Tribunal-like report were published in any self-respecting, functional democracy there would have been immediate arrests and police investigations. In Ireland the response was predictable.

A copy of the report was sent to the DPP, the Revenue Commissioners, the Garda Commissioner and to the Standards in Public Office Commission.

There was the usual fake anger from politicians mouthing meaningless Fr Ted-like utterances such as ‘down with this sort of thing’ before heading off on their two-week Easter holiday.

Some commentators called for heavy fines to be imposed on those named in the report, some called for the Criminal Assets Bureau to investigate while others called for pensions to be withdrawn.

None of these suggestions will be acted upon, that’s not how things are done in our dysfunctional democracy.

We can see this from the response of the above-mentioned state authorities to the publication of the Moriarty Report last year.

At the time we were told that these authorities would, as a matter of urgency, examine the report for potential criminal charges.

Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan said an examination of the report by a team of detectives would be finished sooner rather than later.

Unfortunately, he did not provide us with his definition of the term ‘sooner rather than later’.

The failure to properly respond to the Mahon Report and countless other reports and scandals in the past tells us, and the rest of the world, exactly what we are as a country; a two-bit, backward, banana republic.

This will not change until arrests are made, charges are brought and justice is seen to be done.

Anthony Sheridan
Cobh, Co Cork

Gombeen clones set to perpetuate rotten system well into the future

Fine Gael Minister of State Alan Kelly, responding to the Mahon Tribunal Report on a recent Frontline programme (26th March), put down a marker on how Ireland is to be governed in the future.

Well Pat we can never ever, allow this to happen again. The simple fact is that Fianna Fail and others polluted this country with corruption for over 20 years.

The Minister didn’t specify if he was including Fine Gael in the ‘others’.

There’s a whole new generation of politicians including myself and michael (McGrath, Fianna Fail TD) who need to advance politics in this country in a progressive way. We cannot put up with what Fianna Fail has done in the last 20 to 30 years.

Immediately Kelly contradicted all his fine words when he defended the termination of planning inquiries by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.

Minister Kelly is a fool if he thinks Irish politics can rid itself of corruption while continuing to engage in Tammany Hall type strokes.

Fianna Fail TD, Michael McGrath also claimed that young politicians like himself were the future for Ireland and then, like Minister Kelly, immediately contradicted his fine words by telling us that people like Brian Lenihan, Seamus Brennan, David Andrews, Mary O’Rourke and Rory O’Hanlon were people of the highest personal integrity.

These are people who served themselves, their party, their party leaders (which included unquestioning loyalty to the criminal Haughey and the liar Ahern) before considering the good of Ireland and its people.

It is crystal clear from the attitude and mindset of Kelly and McGrath that they are nothing more than gombeen clones of those responsible for the destruction of the state.

Far from injecting new, honest, radical, reforming blood into the Irish body politic they are sure to perpetuate the same old rotten system well into the future.

Copy to:

Alan Kelly
Michael McGrath

Catholic militant; Senator Mullen, lectures RTE on ethical standards

The obnoxious militant Catholic Senator Ronan Mullen was on Today with Pat Kenny (4th April) lecturing RTE for its treatment of Fr. Reynolds.

When I listen to this individual pontificating on morality, ethics and accountability I keep in mind that he’s a dedicated defender of the Catholic Church, an organisation responsible for the child abuse holocaust and the almost equal horror of actively working to help its criminal priests from being brought to justice.

Apparently, Mullen is pleased with RTEs new journalism guidelines.

I’m very impressed with what I’ve seen. If this is allowed to permeate the culture of the entire organisation and isn’t just a manual that is reached for when something goes wrong then I think we’re heading for better standards.

Better standards in RTE, he means, not the Catholic Church.

On RTE journalists:

I’d be more concerned about the lack of taking personal responsibility. I didn’t like the ruling out of sackings by RTE when this broke first.

What I would like to see is the people who are directly involved indicate that personally they regret what had happened; there’s still a little bit of hiding behind the institution.

He means RTE journalists hiding behind the institution, not Catholic priests, bishops, cardinals and popes.

Irish Times religious correspondent Patsy McGarry quickly got the measure of this individual.

Part of the tragedy of the Mission to Prey programme is that it has lent so much ammunition to people like Senator Mullen coming from his very, very narrow perspective.

I would also agree with McGarry’s summing up of RTEs major contribution to exposing child abuse by the Catholic Church.

In the context of what happened to Fr. Reynolds it has a very, very proud history particularly in the area of child abuse. RTEs contribution has been colossal.

Mary Raftery’s documentary, States of Fear, probably one of the most influential documentaries ever broadcast on Irish television which led to the setting up of the Ryan Commission, the Redress Board and the findings of Ryan published in 2009.

Mary Raftery’s Cardinal Secrets programme in 2002 which exposed what Ronan and others had been managing in the Dublin archdiocese.

Copy to:

Senator Mullen
Patsy McGarry

Celia Larkin: Sitting ducks and muck balls comedy

Up until last Sunday I had always believed that Bertie Ahern’s former partner, Celia Larkin, was an undiluted Fianna Fail head with certain business acumen but not much else, I was wrong.

In an article in the Sunday Independent she has revealed to the world that she is a comedian of gigantic status.

An indication of her genius is the fact that she gives no hint that she’s writing comedy.

This is a courageous and very subtle approach to comedy writing by someone deeply involved with the Fianna Fail party.

Courageous because many readers could easily misinterpret her intent and think her comedy was serious political comment.

Subtle because she leaves it to the reader to figure out that she’s adopting the character of an adoring Fräulein praising her beloved Führer, Micheál Martin.

Well, she does provide just a little clue. In the photograph accompanying the article Martin appears to be delivering a Nazi salute.

I recommend reading the entire article to enjoy its full comic genius but I can’t resist reproducing some of the really hilarious highlights:

His style is very different from his predecessors. Not for him the indulgence of the sound bites nor the practice of cute politics.

He is quiet, polite, subtle but devastatingly strong when he needs to deliver the crucial blow, as he so clearly displayed this week.

Now that Martin has finally found his voice, we may see true debate in the Dail and a government held accountable by a strong vocal opposition.

A breath of fresh air in a political system suffocated by the oppression of snide personal attacks, deflection of responsibility and epic ineptitude in performing even the most basic of administrative tasks, as has been evident by the household charge debacle.

Fianna Fail may be small in numbers. It may have been down. But it is not out.

Get ready for this one; it’s pure comic genius. Had me, literally, on the floor screaming in painful laughter.

The restraints are off. He’s in the ring and he’s not boxing wildly. He’s landing lethal blows.

Fine Gael had better watch out. The sitting ducks have finally found their wings and it will take a bit more than muck balls to shoot them down.

Sitting ducks and muck balls – Jesus, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Ok, ok, I know the article was published on April 1 and it was probably written for the day that was in it, but still, it’s pure comic genius.

Copy to:

New comedy star – Fräulein Larkin