Cardiff accepts responsibility – sort of

Kevin Cardiff before the European Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee.

On the double counting issue, (€3.6 billion) well that’s slightly different. On that I am at the head of the administrative pyramid responsible.

Not entirely, the National Statistics Office also is involved but I have to, as the responsible official say that yes, that was my organisation’s responsibility and therefore mine.

Cardiff just doesn’t have the ability to say – yes, I’m responsible without roping in those below him, the system, politicians or, in this case, the NSO.

But there is no doubt that he is accepting responsibility, without accepting that he should suffer any consequences, of course.

A Christmas fairy tale by Proinsias De Rossa

Welcome Mr. Cardiff and welcome to the hearing here today.

I have to say by way of preamble I’m very pleased that the Irish Government is offering a person of such in Ireland, of such integrity and qualifications for the job of auditor.

I have been arguing for a long time with my colleagues in government that we must that we must make a very serious contribution to Europe and we must do so by having people here who are of the highest quality and the highest qualifications.

I am therefore very pleased that they have, on this occasion at least, listened to me and that they have put forward Mr. Cardiff for this job.

I’m impressed by the openness in which you’re answering the questions here today. I would urge members not to pay attention to emails which are driven by party political considerations rather than considerations of fact and qualifications and the Treaty obligations that are on us as MEPs to ensure that the person we appoint here has integrity, independence and qualifications.

That’s the criteria we have to apply here today.

De Rossa: Nothing but an obnoxious bully

We know from De Rossa’s aggressive behavior towards fellow MEP Nessa Childers that he’s nothing but an obnoxious bully.

He was at it again on The Last Word (Thursday) in a discussion with Independent TD Shane Ross.

After De Rossa came to the end of a long rant in defence of Cardiff, the presenter, Matt Cooper asked Ross – Well, Shane what do you make of that?

Deputy Ross got to speak just nine words before the obnoxious De Rossa made an ignorant interruption.

Sorry Shane, you had a long run at this on this programme. I just want to take up a few points with you.

Cooper, with some difficulty, put the bully in his place before Ross could proceed.

Here are some other idiotic things De Rossa had to say.

It’s completely unfair to say that somebody at the top is incompetent because somebody else underneath him is incompetent.

The function of the head of an organisation is to try to ensure that it works effectively and efficiently.

When errors are discovered they have to investigate and ensure they don’t’ happen again. It doesn’t make sense that when a piece of important information gets stuck at a certain level and the person who has ultimate responsibility is not informed until late in the day that that person then takes the hit for an incompetent presumably at another level of the organisation.

It’s their responsibility to ensure that that incompetence is rooted out and that the mistake doesn’t happen again.

That’s what they’re ir paid for.

Following this logic the person at middle management who, according to Cardiff, was responsible for the accounting error, could claim:

Nothing to do with me Gov, my job is to root out incompetence by those beneath me.

So we can assume the janitor at the Dept. of Finance is down in the basement tearing his hair out trying to figure out how the hell he missed out on €3.6 billion.

Cardiff's sinister attack on freedom of speech

During a discussion on the Cardiff scandal (Today with Pat Kenny; Friday) economist Jim Power made an interesting revelation.

Apparently, about four years ago, Cardiff made a formal complaint to Power’s employer because he felt that the opinions expressed by Power were injurious to the state of the nation.

Power had expressed the opinion that if the Irish didn’t get their finances in order very quickly the country would ultimately default on its dept.

Clearly, Cardiff wanted Power’s employers to shut him up or even sack him.

This kind of sinister attack on freedom of expression is typical of all corrupt states.

'Accountability' without consequences is not accountability

Here’s a snippet from an interview with the Director General of RTE after being asked should those involved in the Fr. Reynolds scandal remain on while investigations are ongoing (Six One News).

I wasn’t directly involved in the decisions that led up to the broadcast of the programme.

But you’re editor in chief of RTE?

Absolutely, and I absolutely take absolute responsibility in that regard.

Here’s a snippet from Kevin Cardiff when he appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee of European Affairs.

My role as accounting officer is to take responsibility for these things, to deal with them when they arise, to rectify them as best I can, to account for them to this committee, to account for them to the Minister.

Brian Cowen and other politicians gave similar replies when asked about their responsibility for the financial catastrophe visited upon the nation.

This saying of the words, I accept full responsibility, without accepting the consequences of that accountability is a typical and uniquely Irish attitude among Western nations.

These people are more than happy to accept the power, privilege and enormous salaries that come as part of their jobs but absolutely refuse to accept any consequences when they make mistakes.

This inability or refusal to accept actual responsibility rather than just saying the words is a common feature of all failed states.

RTE has lost the power of its former integrity

The Kevin Cardiff scandal was analysed in detail on the RTE radio current affairs programme, Late Debate, last night.

This is not unusual; the story is a dramatic, rapidly developing news event with potentially serious consequences for those involved.

In its pre Fr. Reynolds scandal days RTEs Prime Time would also have given the story top billing but last night’s programme made no mention of the scandal.

I believe there is one of two reasons for this.

RTE management is doing the Government a favour by not focusing too much on what is a very embarrassing episode for politicians.

In return politicians will go easy on RTE management as the consequences of the Fr. Reynolds scandal begin to play out.

Or

Having gone over to the dark side RTE feels it is no longer in a position to ask the hard questions and is quickly making itself comfortable in the dank cave of darkness where bankers, politicians, higher civil servants and the Catholic Church thrive on a diet of secrecy, obfuscation, denial and arrogance.

Whatever the reason, there is one thing for certain.

RTE, and in particular Prime Time, has entered a new phase of its history whereby it will no longer possess the power of its former integrity as a means of bringing the corrupt and incompetent to account.

Copy to:
Prime Time

We need more Lou McDonalds

Brian from Dublin sent a text to Today with Pat Kenny accusing Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald of being rude and personally offensive to Mr. Cardiff.

After rejecting the charge that she was rude and offensive Ms McDonald went on:

My entire interest in this has been driven by an absolute commitment and determination that we will have accountability at very senior level.

That we will see change and that we will see an end to the kind of cosy club and cronyism that has been a real, real problem in Irish politics for generations.

If other TDs were as committed to reforming our corrupt political system the Brian’s from Dublin and the Kevin Cardiff’s of this world could be safely consigned to the dustbin of history.

Cardiff rejection: The fallout

UK Independence Party MEP Marta Andreasen is one of the strongest objectors to the appointment of Kevin Cardiff.

Here’s her response to Cardiff’s rejection with my own comments.

The evidence was self-explanatory.

Correct, but only to politicians/countries where accountability is taken seriously. That is, countries where the common good is put above cronyism.

Kevin Cardiff’s reward for his blunder would have been a six-figure salary in an EU institution.

Such rewards/strokes lie at the heart of how things are done in Ireland.

It would have been a farcical appointment.

Correct but farce and embarrassment for Ireland doesn’t bother our gombeen politicians so long as their friends are looked after.

An auditor’s credentials must be beyond doubt.

This is not, and has never been, a requirement in Ireland.

Had he been given the job any integrity the Court of Auditors had would have laid in tatters.

The presence of the word ‘integrity’ in this sentence puts it beyond understanding for most Irish politicians.