Category: Irish Politics

Mary Harney has come out and said that the present government is not to blame. Huh? Is it just me or has the current government not been in power since 1997? Can you really blame it on either your colleagues (Cowen and Martin) or blame it on the previous administration? Horseshit m’lady. Noted Harney:

“The real problem is the fact that in the health service, we have a jumble of incoherence as far as work practices are concerned, we’ve thousands of pay variations, thousands of rosters, many different grade structures and individual working arrangements,” she said.

“We had 11 different health boards: if there was any argument for getting rid of them, and many opposed their abolition, it is that this kind of chaos wouldn’t have happened.”

What a ridiculous load of shite. And going by the state of the PPARS website (one of the most backward and ugly websites I have seen in years), it seems that nobody knows what they are doing.

The question is, if the government is not to blame, who do we blame?

[Posted at Irish Corruption]

Dick has been posting on the Examiner’s story by Dan Buckley. I don’t see him linking to the absolutely fascinating interview done on the News at One. So here it is folks!. (Click ok when the error comes up, then press play)

McDowell really loses it.

I think you should all go and listen to Boucher-Hayes interview Anthony O’Sullivan. Makes you think to say the least.

Caoimhe recently pointed to an article by Tom Friedman in the New York Times about the Irish economy:

Ireland’s advice is very simple: Make high school and college education free; make your corporate taxes low, simple and transparent; actively seek out global companies; open your economy to competition; speak English; keep your fiscal house in order; and build a consensus around the whole package with labor and management – then hang in there, because there will be bumps in the road – and you, too, can become one of the richest countries in Europe.

And not only that the front page of the Irish Times today had more news about the Irish economy:

Current expenditure is modestly below target for the first six months of the year. The surplus on day-to- day expenditure corresponds to a planned surplus of €4,092 million for the year as a whole. Net current expenditure is 8 per cent up on the same period of 2004, compared with a projected increase of 11 per cent for the full year.

The shortfall in capital expenditure is more stark. The Government predicted on Budget day that capital expenditure would exceed corresponding revenues by €7,080 million. But capital expenditure was 13 per cent below target for the first half of the year, contributing to a relatively lower mid-year deficit.

Reform of capital spending rules now permit some money left unspent in 2004 to be carried forward and when this is accounted for capital expenditure increased by 2 per cent. But this is still considerably below the increase of over 12 per cent targeted for the full year as a whole. This contributes significantly to the better than expected headline Exchequer result.

Tax revenue, at €17,239 million, is €320 million ahead of target as strong performance under the VAT, excise duty and stamp duties offset disappointing out-turns for income taxes and corporation tax.

According to department officials, growth in demand for cars as well as stronger revenue from tobacco sales were the reasons VAT and excise duty revenues came in ahead of target.

Income tax receipts were as expected but were lower than for the same period of 2004. Corporation tax receipts were lower on both a year-on-year comparison and when compared with budgetary projections.

Vincent Browne has taken this story to heart. It is an extremely serious incident, and one that I believe people do not know enough about. In fact it’s not extremely serious, it’s blatantly and completely unbelievable that this could happen in any country that claims to be a democracy.

The long and short of it is, that in 2002 in Clonmel, a 14 year old boy went into a Garda cell and came out of it dead.

There are very serious inconsistencies in this story, that would lead a reasonable person to call for a fully independent investigation into the circumstances of the death of Brian Rossiter.

But the arms of the State do not see it that way. There are extremely serious questions to be asked of the behaviour of the Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell. Various things about this story could shock a reasonable person, but to me, what is most shocking is the behaviour of An Garda Siochana and the Minister.

Here is the Irish Times reports on it:

Brian Rossiter was involved in a row with an older man in the town around September 8th, 2002, during which he received a black eye. He was also complaining of headaches.

Two days later he was arrested and taken into custody on suspicion of having committed public order offences following the breaking of windows in the town.

His father Pat Rossiter said he consented to his son being held overnight in custody at the time because he felt that a “short, sharp shock” would teach him a lesson.

Gardaí told him Brian had overdosed on alcohol and ecstasy, but two toxicology tests showed no alcohol or drugs in his system.

So prima facia the Gardai lied to the family. It is also illegal for a 14 year old to be held in a Garda cell overnight. Brian was taken from the cell in a coma, and died after having his life support machine switched off.

There are reasonable grounds for an independent, non-Garda investigation into the circumstances of someone becoming comatose in Garda custody and subsequently dying. More importantly when that person was a minor.

I will be coming back to this story following the outrageous comments of Mae Sexton (PD) on the VB show last night. This has also been posted on my corruption in Ireland weblog.

I have mentioned this before, but after listening to the VB show tonight I am convinced. I feel it my duty as a citizen to act as a filter for what is coming from the Morris Tribunal, at least, perhaps taking in other Tribunals – and future Garda corruption. I feel a weblog should be dedicated to these issues. The power of weblogs is demonstrated by the fact that after my post linked to above, I was ranked third on Google, above Ireland.com for ‘Morris Tribunal’.

It would take quite a bit of time, but I feel if I can digest enough information I can turn around brief but concise posts on exactly what is happening.

Other blogs have been covering stuff, like TJ over in UCD, but wouldn’t it be better to pool resources with categorised posts?

The trouble with Ireland is that because of the sheer scale of the corruption, it is hard for any one person to keep up. Would anybody be interested in joining me in this task, a group weblog devoted to exposing corruption, and making what went on, and is going on, more accessible and understandable to the general public?

Fascinating stuff on the Vincent Browne show now…

Apologies to readers. Believe it or not I have been busy. What doing you may ask. Well for one, pouring over the detail in the second report of the Morris Tribunal.

The 688 page document makes for interesting reading. It’s almost the 8th of June, and already the explosive report has been all but forgotten. Even today on The Last Word, Minister McDowell applauded the Garda Commissioner, praising his hard work and defending his statements to the Tribunal.

Speaking as a citizen, I have a problem with ASBO’s being introduced or giving An Garda Siochana any more powers. The State should only be given more power over citizens when those powers are balanced with a system of recourse and accountability which is, at present, sorely lacking. If Gardai are to have more powers, it should only be in circumstances where scrutiny, culpability and transparency are to the fore, and where Garda corruption, incompetence, or indeed Garda criminality are properly and independently investigated. If McDowell wants to strengthen the Gardai, it should only be done while a Garda Ombudsman, similar if not identical to the model in Northern Ireland is established.

You could not get a more clear cut document than the Morris Tribunal report, indeed the whole thing is a work of absolute horror. For example section 6.36, (my emphasis):

There was evidence to suggest that a member of An Garda Síochána had been involved in a criminal offence while handling a police informer and in the course of his duties. This was not investigated. The responsibility for this lies with Chief Superintendent Denis Fitzpatrick and Superintendent Kevin Lennon. When, eventually, questions came to be asked, an inexcusable delay had occurred. The Commissioner of An Garda Síochána was entitled to know what his officers were doing in the course of their duties. It is utterly astonishing that in a modern European democracy a member of the police force, such as Garda John O’Dowd, is entitled, apparently, by virtue of the chaotic state of the discipline regulations and the failure of the Department of Justice to impose order and discipline on the force, to answer his superiors about a matter of vital interest to the Commissionerin an evasive, cunning and treacherous way.

The document itself, though long, is easy reading and has little legal language. But it only deals with very specific terms of reference, not taking into account the actions of the Department of Justice, the AG or the Minister for Justice. One has to ask the question, what do these people have to fear?

This issue will resurface again in the future in a different form. Perhaps an undercover operation, akin to the Nursing Home Prime Time program on RTE. An undercover journo recruited into the Gardai will unveil behaviour that may shock the nation into action. For now the State seems quite happy to say “We accept the report”, but feck all will be done in relation to its recommendations.

As a PS, a dedicated weblog would serve as a very good base from which to work, an anti-corruption blog if you will. It would help keep stories alive that the mainstream media have let slide, and serve as a forum for concerns about corruption. Anonymous weblog detailing stories of corruption anyone?