Herr Leo (reluctantly) allows free expression

So, not only are we going to have a referendum on the on the fiscal compact treaty but Herr Leo has also given his imprimatur on the issue with strict conditions, of course.

Stating that he disagrees with those who think referendums are the purest form of democracy he goes on(my emphasis):

My experience of referendums is that they often get sidetracked into other issues.

The challenge for us now is to make sure that doesn’t happen, to make sure the referendum is democratic by not allowing Sinn Fein, the Socialists and Independents to lie about the treaty and what it’s about.

Clearly, Leo Varadkar has no understanding whatsoever regarding the concept of democracy.

His attitude seems to be as simple as it is dangerous.

It’s better not to ask citizens for their views in the first place but if we have to then the expression of those views should be strictly controlled by government.

Lol…

Irish Times

Sir,

I used to wonder what exactly Ireland Inc referred to. At least now I know that it’s something Aengus Ó Snodaigh uses a lot of (Breaking News, February 28th).

Yours, etc,
PAUL MURPHY,
Griffith Avenue, Dublin 9.

Sir,

The Armalite and the Cartridge?

Yours, etc,

ROBIN HARTE,
Strawberry Beds, Dublin 20.

Sir,

Given the Sinn Féin deputy’s profligate use of colour ink, it’s no wonder the country’s in the red.

Yours, etc,

Des Doris

Trafalgar Lane,
Monkstown, Co Dublin.

Gardai acting as government political force?

Protesters failed in their attempt to stage a peaceful, democratic protest during the visit of Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping because Irish police effectively abandoned their democratic obligation to allow and protect such protests.

Effectively abandoning their obligation as a civil police force for all citizens the Irish police apparently behaved as a political force acting in the interests of government.

The following is taken from RTEs This Week programme (6.30) covering an attempted protest in the Phoenix Part against the Chinese occupation of Tibet.

Protester: Can we have our property back please?

Guard: I cannot let you protest.

Protester: Why? What grounds are you taking this from us? Why?

Protester: He asked me, what is in your bag? I said there’s a couple of books and my Tibetan flag and I asked him, do you want to search and he said yes.I opened the bag and he saw the flag and said, what is this? I said this is a Tibetan flag and he said this is a public threat.

Woman protester: This is my own property.

Gurad: I’ll tell you what. It’s near 0945 now, right. This gentleman will be gone out of here at 1030.

Protester: We don’t care, we want our property back now.

Guard: We’ll give you your property back if you leave the Park, will you leave the park?

Protester: We will, we promise.

Guard: You follow us out the Castleknock gates and we’ll give you back your flags but you will not be allowed back into the park.

UDC lecturer and barrister specialising on the law of the European Convention of Human Rights said:

It would be dangerous to think that you could exclude demonstraters from those places just because they’re visible to foreign visitors.

A complaint has been submitted to the Garda Ombudsman on the matter but, as always in Ireland, people should not hold their breaths.

Senator Bacik: Principles in deep freeze

The concept of maintaining core principles in the transition from opposition to power is completely foreign to the vast majority of Irish politicians.

Here’s Labour Senator Ivana Bacik commenting on a number of issues on Newstalk yesterday.

On government advisors:

I wouldn’t have been a huge defender of advisors until I see first hand how important it is for ministers to have people who are politically alongside.

On breaching pay caps for government advisors:

I think it’s difficult, I think also that ministers would have people who are advisors who’ve got experience, who’ve got ability but, you know, I’m not defending…interrupted.

On Minister Quinn’s expenses claims:

I heard Minister Ruari Quinn on the radio during the week robustly defending it and saying that other’s are using the car, there’s officials using it.

So I must say having known Ruari Quinn for a long time I think he’s a politician of great integrity. I find it hard to believe there’s anything in this story. No, it’s nothing.

On reform of the expenses system:

It’s all being looked at, there’s a committee in Leinster House looking at that. There’s ongoing reform of the system generally.

At first sight this might sound like pure, unadulterated Fianna Fail speak but in reality it’s the voice of any Irish politician operating within the principles free zone of power.

This principles free zone has just one law:

When in power put all principles that may in any way damage the maintenance of that power into deep freeze.

Principles may be unfrozen and cynically used again only when safely in opposition.

Copy to:

Ivana Bacik

Alan Ahearne: Is he stupid or does he think we're stupid?

Former government advisor Alan Ahearne on media claims that NAMA is a secretive and unaccountable organisation.

I mean if you think about the banks who lent the money, and the banks still hold some loans to developers, they dont release information either about borrowers or loans.

They don’t release that detailed information. It would be breach of confidentiality laws if they did.

So I think trying to hold NAMA to a higher standard than the banks doesn’t seem particularly sensible.

It’s difficult to decide whether Ahearne actually believes his own bullshit or whether he thinks Irish citizens are stupid enough to swallow it.

Minister Quinn: Complaint submitted to SIPO

Following complaint submitted to The Standards in Public Office Commission (SIPO).

To Whom It May Concern:

I wish to formally lodge a complaint under Section 22 of the Ethics in Public Office Acts, 1995 and Section 4 of the Standards in Public Office Act 2001.

The complaint concerns the following allegations against the Minister for Education Mr. Ruairi Quinn.

First allegation: Reported in The Irish Mail on Sunday, February 19th 2012.

That Mr. Quinn claimed €1,400 for traveling 5,100kms during the month of July 2011 when his official diary shows less than 1,000kms was traveled on official trips.

Second allegation: Reported in The Irish Mail on Sunday, February 26th 2012.

That Mr. Quinn claimed almost €800 for traveling 2,800kms during the month of August 2011 when his official diary shows he worked for just nine days.

I also request investigation into the alleged claim by Minister Quinn that some of the expenses he received were not incurred by him but were incurred by officials using his car to shuttle to and from Leinster House.

Yours Sincerely

Anthony Sheridan

John Waters: God says the Pope will visit Ireland

Speaking recently on the Marian Finucane Show Archbishop Diarmuid Martin expressed the view that the time is not right for a visit to Ireland by the Pope.

Some days later, Cardinal Sean Brady expressed the opposite view.

My hope is that the moment would be right.

Most ordinary people would see this disagreement as simply two different interpretations of the current relationship between the Vatican and Ireland.

Irish Catholic columnist John Waters, however, is no ordinary man.

Mr. Waters has detected a mysterious force in the sentence voiced by Cardinal Brady (Irish Catholic).

The following quotes provide a good idea of Waters’ thinking.

Should we be thinking about such a matter (a visit by the Pope) on the basis of normal intuitive or rational criteria?

There is something deeply intriguing about that sentence: My hope is that the moment would be right.

Beneath the lightness of the tone, I detected a gentle emphasis in the cardinal’s intervention that seemed to draw attention to a wholly different way of looking at things.

Shouldn’t the criteria by which we consider such a vital question include some possibility for the intervention of the mysterious source of our existence, which is the very basis of Christian faith?

And, finally, the clincher conclusion.

I am probably reading too much into it, but this is what I see in that rather glancing difference of opinion between Archbishop Martin and Cardinal Brady.

One was speaking to a political context; the other was addressing the total spectrum of possibility implied by the Incarnation.

So there you have it.

It would seem the Pope will be visiting after all and that’s straight from the mouth of god almighty himself with just a slight detour through John Waters’ brain.

Paying back the billions

Letter in today’s Irish Times.

Paying back banks’ billions

Sir,

Ireland’s debt repayments for the now dead Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide Building Society (INBS) will reach over €47.9 billion if the repayments are not suspended. The bill could even rise to €85 billion when borrowing and interest charges are added in.

The debts run up by these two institutions are not primarily the responsibility of ordinary people living in Ireland – they are principally the responsibility of those who supported Anglo’s and INBS’ reckless lending.
Yet we have been saddled with repaying the debts through a system of “promissory notes”. The next payment, amounting to €3.1 billion, falls due on March 31st. Such payments are scheduled to continue until 2031.

This money could and should be used to maintain and expand public services and provide a desperately needed stimulus to the depressed economy. For example, €3.1 billion would cover the cost of running Ireland’s entire primary school system for a year.

It is clear that the Irish Government is viewed as a compliant debtor by the international lenders, especially by the European Central Bank (ECB). The Government must take action to fundamentally re-orient this unbalanced relationship.

We, 57 teachers and researchers from a wide range of Ireland’s third-level institutions, therefore call on the Government to immediately suspend these repayments so that Ireland is viewed as a challenging negotiator by the relevant parties, including the ECB, and to ensure that this unjust debt is written down.

Yours, etc,

IAIN ATACK (TCD); JOHN BAKER (UCD); TOM BOLAND (WIT); HARRY BROWNE (DIT); AUDREY BRYAN (St Patrick’s College); TOM CAMPBELL (DSC Kimmage); NICOLA CARR (QUB); MAURICE COAKLEY (Griffith College); BRÍD CONNOLLY (NUIM); COLIN COULTER (NUIM); LAURENCE COX (NUIM); TONY CUNNINGHAM (NUIM); LAURENCE DAVIS (UCC); DAVID DELANEY (WIT); DYMPNA DEVINE (UCD); Eilish Dillon (DSC Kimmage); VINCENT DURAC (UCD); ROLAND ERNE (UCD); MICHAEL FOLEY (DIT); MARK GARAVAN (GMIT); PAUL MICHAEL GARRET (NUIG); MARY GILMARTIN (NUIM); PAT HANNON (DIT); ANTHONY HAUGHEY (DIT); KIERAN KEOHANE (UCC); IAN KILROY (DIT); CARMEN KUHLING (UL); DAVID LANDY (TCD); CATHY LEENEY (UCD); SEÁN L’ESTRANGE (UCD); GERARD MCCANN (QUB) RORY MC DAID (Marino Institute); HUGH MCBRIDE (GMIT); TERENCE MCDONOUGH (NUIG); CHANDANA MATHUR (NUIM); ROSEMARY MEADE (UCC); GERARDINE MEANEY (UCD); FIONA MEEHAN (DSC Kimmage); MARIE MORAN (UCD); EITHNE MURPHY (NUIG); ENDA MURPHY (UCD); MARY P MURPHY (NUIM); TRÍONA Ní SHÍOCHÁIN (UL); CIAN O’CALLAGHAN (NUIM); TOM O’CONNOR (CIT); TOM O’CONNOR (DIT); KATHERINE O’DONNELL (UCD); AILEEN O’GORMAN (UCD); THERESA O’KEEFE (NUIM); HELENA SHEEHAN (DCU); PAUL STOKES (UCD); ANDY STOREY (UCD); FIONNGHUALA SWEENEY (UCD); GAVIN TITLEY (NUIM); BRIAN TRENCH (DCU); THERESA URBAINCZYK (UCD) JUDY WALSH (UCD),
C/o Arklow Street,
Dublin 7.