A day is a long time in politics

I wrote another piece for GlobalComment and it was really difficult to reconstruct the sequence of events! The draft version was over 3000 words.

__________________

As long as I am running this Government, I will run it as I see fit and as I believe, based on my philosophy.

Brian Cowen, Taoiseach (Irish Prime Minister) thundered in the Irish Parliament in January 2009. Two years later, he is still Taoiseach but just a shadow of his former self. His personal approval rating is 8%. Many find it amazing that there are still 8% of people who approve of the job he is doing.

January 2011 was a very strange month in Ireland. It kicked off with the publication of a secret book – The Fitzpatrick Tapes by Tom Lyons and Brian Carey, proofed and published in complete secrecy. Sean Fitzpatrick had been one of the poster boys for the boom. As chairman of Anglo Irish Bank, he was friend to politician and property developer alike, dishing out the money with an even hand. But he was also a gambler – Anglo was a festering mountain of debt that has been referred to as the worst bank in the world. As the house of cards was toppling, the Irish Government first guaranteed and then nationalised Anglo. This bankrupted the country. Fitzpatrick was declared bankrupt.


The politicians with whom Fitzpatrick had intermingled so easily, sought to distance themselves from this pariah. Cowen, who was Finance Minister at the time sought to minimise the links between himself and the former banker. Maybe Fitzpatrick was annoyed or vengeful when in interviews for The Fitzpatrick Tapes he revealed that he had had more contact with Cowen than Cowen disclosed to the Dáil (Irish parliament). The meeting that sparked political upheaval was a round of golf and dinner at Druids Glen in Wicklow.

There was uproar. What had Cowen known when Anglo was nationalised? What was discussed during the game? How did the Taoiseach come to be playing golf with the devil of Irish banking?
When the Dáil finally returned to work on 12 January. Golfgate was the issue of the day. The opposition had a field day. There were accusations of cozy and improper relationships with bankers, economic treason and even questions on the golf handicap of the Taoiseach. The government benches were silent. There was no heckling or eye contact or aspersions cast on the characters of members of the opposition. Questions were flung at the Taoiseach which he batted back with the ever ready bat of I-did-nothing-wrong with a side order of bluster.

He might have gotten away with it too but as it happens, there was another TD (MP) at present at Druid’s Glen that day. Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin of Sinn Féin had been attending a wedding at Druid’s Glen that day. He pinned the Taoiseach with the simple question of who else had been in the company.
Cowen was forced to reveal that in addition to Fitzpatrick, Alan Gray – a member of the Board of the Central Bank and Gary McGann – former Anglo director, had joined them for dinner. Cowen maintained that there was no discussion of the bank or its financial difficulties. He was not taken at his word.

Government backbenchers were furious. The Green Party, junior coalition partners stated that it was not Sherlock Holmes, and would to continue in Government. The Minister for Tourism was trice asked whether she had confidence in Cowen and trice did she dodge the question.

For a few hours, Cowen looked sure to resign. There was a Fianna Fáil (majority coalition party of which Cowen was the president) parliamentary party meeting the next day and when it was postponed by a few hours, rumours were rife that Ireland would finally be rid of the most unpopular Taoiseach in its history. Reports that TDs were packing stationary into their cars surfaced which is apparently a sign of an imminent election.

But it was another false dawn. Cowen would spend some time consulting with the party, catharsis indefinitely postponed while Fianna Fáil navelgazed. Labour tabled a motion of no confidence in the Government but timing ensured that it could not be taken for another week.

After consulting with the parliamentary party, Cowen came out fighting. To quell doubt, he proposed a motion of confidence in himself as leader of the party, to be taken in the following days. Just three hours after Cowen’s announcement, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheál Martin declared his intention to vote against Cowen because “very survival of the party is at stake”.

And it is always all about the party. The motion of confidence was not about the state of the nation but about the state of one political party. Most of the Fianna Fáil Party did not declare one way or another but Martin’s position had support.

The day of the vote of confidence dragged for what seemed like forever. Even the staid media outlets were repeating speculation and rumours. Finally the doors to Leinster House opened to declare that the party was now united behind Mr Cowen and that the issue of his leadership and been “clearly and definitively” dealt with. It was like a body blow. How could even the Fianna Fáil TDs support this man? Martin resigned as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

It seemed we were stuck with Cowen for another while at least but the next two days brought a few developments. A total of seven senior ministers resigned and the situation came to a head on “Unholy Thursday” when the Tánaiste (Deputy Leader) could not say who lead the Ministery for Justice. The Dáil had to be suspended following rowdy protests from the opposition leaders, until Cowen could be found to explain what was going on. Article 28 of Bunreacht na hEireann (the Irish Constitution) states that the Government must not be smaller than 7 members or larger than 15 members and Ministers were rapidly disappearing.

Finish reading here

Cowengate

Behold our glorious leader




After reading this from the Indo

But Leno's comments were condemned by the head of the Oireachtas Communications Committee, Fianna Fail TD MJ Nolan. He said Leno had a responsibility to have "fair comment" on his show." Politicians these days are the butt of a lot of entertainers' comments. I would prefer if the comment wasn't made," he said.

I wrote this to Nolan

Asking for Jay Leno to withdraw his remarks re drunken moron, was an exercise in idiocy. It was an invitation for Leno to continue, in fact. Leno is a racist, sexist moron and you provided more ammunition.

Have you actually got any communications training or did you just haul your response from the affronted rack?

Contemptuously,
Mór Rígan

While I hold Cowen and Leno both in contempt, I am amused that Cowen can be outrageously affronted when asked if he was drunk. Of course, he was drunk. He had consumed enough alcohol to still be drunk a mere five hours later. This is not conjecture or defamation. It is the simple fact of the effect of alcohol on the human body. Maybe he felt fine but that does not change the number of pints he consumed. If even one drink can impair judgment (as the RSA are forever reminding us), steady drinking for hours impairs judgment too. If he were sober, he would not have done the Morning Ireland interview.

But what can we expect? In Ireland, it seems that facts are negotiable. Otherwise Cowen would have been laughed off the podium. It seems like being a politician is all about keeping a straight face when swearing blue is yellow.

It remains me of a particular Frontline episode where the beards were arguing with the private sector about whether public service pensions are contributory or not. I don't know the answer but there is a single answer. It is not a topic for debate and especially not when the same argument was played across the boards for a couple of months.

Or the Lisbon Treaty. We can argue about the interpretation of the clauses but they are set down, in stone as it were.

Facts are not debatable, anymore than one can be slightly pregnant or slightly dead.

I demand clarity and definitions. I wish broadcasters would go to interview school and learn to spot the techniques of evasive. At least it would require public sphere commentators to up their game a little.

Sometimes I wish that the Vikings had conquered all of Ireland because the national character might not possess its two fatal flaws.

What will it take?

Seriously? What kind of government have we? How after listening to this how can a Taoiseach continue to screw over Irish citizens




and then go on as if nothing had happened. We know that the bishops covered up child rape but we still go to their masses. We know that the survivors of the industrial schools need justice and we do nothing. I am disgusted at our Taoiseach, and our government. Economic traitors they certainly are but they betray the citizens of Ireland. Every survivor of child rape, abuse, violence, terror and slavery is an Irish citizen. And our government betrays them through false promises; indemnifying the viciousness of the religious; and not expelling the representatives of the organisation that injured Irish citizens.

Michael O Brien and other survivors walked out of a meeting with the Taoiseach yesterday and said

Mr Michael O'Brien, a former Fianna Fail mayor of Clonmel, also pledged to go on hunger strike outside Government Buildings in three weeks time after he had undergone a scheduled medical operation. Angrily accusing Mr Cowen of "not doing his job" of properly compensating survivors, Mr O'Brien, claimed that for the past year the Taoiseach "has been leading us the garden path."

Describing the cash offer of €110m as "a joke," Mr OBrien, 77, said that not one extra penny had been paid by the religious orders, because "he (Mr Cowen) is not doing his job."

Mr O'Brien said that all he wanted was for the Taoiseach to look after former residents of institutions for once and for all. "I want nothing for myself," he added. "I will not beg for myself but I will beg for the like of them.

and from BreakingNews

Michael O'Brien from Clonmel said the offer from the Church totalled €384m- but that included the original €128m from the indemnity deal.

Mr O'Brien stated that he will go on hunger strike next week.

He told reporters he has no faith in the Taoiseach any longer:

“That man at the present moment doesn’t care; there’s not a bit of compassion in that man.

“What’s going to happen with me is this: I have to go for an operation next week and as soon as I recuperate from that I’ll be going on hunger strike and the devil himself won’t take me off it until this is sorted out. 

And Cowen is still the Taoiseach of this country?

Even if the DPP won't prosecute, the government could seize the assets of the religious orders and expel them from the country. But they don't. In the twelve years or so of Fianna Fáil, almost all government functions have been outsourced to quangos, so ministers evade responsibility. It is disgusting and treacherous. The buck has to stop somewhere.

State of the nation

It is a sad and sobering event when a senior Minister in charge of Education comes out and proceeds to spout his confidence in a dying leader. Cowen is a ghost. He looks like he has given up and Batt O'Keeffe's words are so at odds with the mood of the country that it would be laughable if these people were not in charge of running the country.

"This fellow has bottle and has a fabulous vision. He has a virtuous vision of Ireland. It’s unsullied by selfishness or any other machination. His approach is for the common good which he’ll put before anything personal.

There’s no leader who is closer to Fianna Fáil as a party and has the interest of the party at heart more than he has. It would hurt him very much if the party suffered under his leadership. And come the next elections, I believe we can come good."

Oh yes, St Biffo. The incapable leader. The man who was minister for Finance and did nothing to check government spending. The man who has fumbling every through, has vested interests in Anglo Irish, property developments, the catholic church and maintaining a stranglehold on the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. Brian Cowen missed two press conferences on his latest trip to China (around the time of Lisbon 2) because he was hungover. The man was asked on national television whether he had a drinking problem.

O Keeffe

believes no one has examined how a government and a taoiseach with historically low popularity ratings has managed to survive one of the biggest political crises to have occurred since the foundation of the State.

He is wrong. People have asked that question every day. The fact is that the whip system ensures party support on pain of explusion. When threats don't work then Healy Rae gets a new hospital of Kenmare and other bribes are dispensed.

The role of the Whip is primarily that of the disciplinarian for all Government Parties i.e. to ensure that all deputies, including Ministers, attend for Dáil Business and follow the Government line on all issues.

This is why the opposition cannot win a vote of no confidence. No appeals to sense, reason or rationality works because deputies vote whatever way they are told to. Why lose the support of the party on an issue that only affects the "plain people of Ireland"?

The only way to get rid of the government is social unrest or violent action. Historically neither has been particularly effective. Of course, it would help if people did not vote for the boy from around the corner. Parochialism is one of the most corrupting influences in Ireland today. Add cronyism into the bargain and the result is a failed state. On the surface it may look ok but underneath it is rotten to the core.

I applied for disability allowance. I have a condition that is debilitating and covered in the documentation on disability. I had the testimony and reports from five doctors. I did not go to my local TD. It took twelve months and three rejections before I received the allowance. I know that I could have probably got it in three if I had asked my TD to put pressure on the Department of Social and Family Affairs. But I don't want to live in that kind of country.

The institutions of the state are corrupt and confused. The Minister for Education flaunts his feigned ignorance of the ability of the electorate to with their consent to be governed by this shower of gombeen men and women.

Blogging under pen name

The last country I started a blog in was a military dictatorship in the developing world. I blogged using my real name and all was peachy keen for a while. Gradually my posts became more political than social and I knew that I was being monitored by the government - I worked in human rights so we knew we were targets anyway.

I was arguing with a US radical feminist on HIV prevention within the sex worker population and she decided that I was a misogynistic man who was raping kids because I pointed out that her imaginings of the situation was far from the truth. Being a rape survivor myself who worked with vulnerable populations it was not particularly easy to shake off these accusations. She used my real name for her j'accuse and that scared me because there are not any other people in that country with my name. Child abuse by foreigners is taken far more seriously there than in Ireland. I was on the alert for the secret service, after a tip off, but then someone shot a journalist and my accuser withdrew her accusation and apologised, so the matter was dropped after a stern lecture from a security consultant.

Now I blog under a pen name not because I fear the Irish government but I have a residual fear of officialdom and sections within the Irish government who have different agendas.

Now, a year and a half later my heart pounds and I feel the fear I felt then when I saw my statcounter this morning.



It's weird cos I expected to see it. I wrote letters to Batt O Keeffe and Brian Cowen and they were not particularly complimentary. Logic doesn't win against PTSD. I hope that the ministers will t least answer but I'm not overly optimistic.

I write letters

Dear Taoiseach,

That you are a coward and a liar does not surprise me. That you are unable to do what is necessary to fix the economy does not surprise me. That you were too drunk on your latest visit to China to attend two press conferences does not surprise me.

On the other hand, that you kowtow to pedophiles, rapists, criminal facilitators and accessories after the fact does surprise me. You say it is not a state issue. You are wrong. If you cannot conceive that the state is supposed to protect children from a rapacious and foul pedophiliac organisation, you are not fit to lead this country or a political party. That you do not immediately expel the papal nuncio is disgusting. That you have no respect for the citizens of your country is revolting. That you do less than the bare minimum is abhorrent.

I met you in the UN in September 2003. You were there with Bertie to give one of the worst speeches at the GA that year. Not for a second did I believe Bertie's greasy faux sincerity but you impressed me. You seemed sincere. How wrong was I.

You messed up the economy, stood by while the country drowned, appointed incompetent ministers and have generally been one of the worst leaders to date but this is the final death knell for any human kindness or respect you ever had. The Ryan report. The Murphy report. Just how many details of atrocities do you need to read before you act (assuming you have read the reports. I'm sure a civil servant condensed them for you)? How many children must die or suffer horrific sexual abuse before you take action?

Here are some actions to take just in case you do not know what to do:

- expel the Nuncio (yes you have that power and yes you should be using it)
- expel all religious orders named in the Ryan report (that you have not done this already is frankly baffling)
- have the DPP charge the bishops with being accessories after the fact, criminal negligence and co conspirators.
- If the Vatican is considered a state, insist that the ICJ investigates charges of crimes against humanity and crimes against children. If it is not considered a state then initiate criminal proceedings against it for criminal conspiracy and cover up
- apologise
- formally declare which members of the government are involved in secret societies. It is not credible that they are that incompetent. You might remind them of Matthew 25:40 "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Regards,

Mór Rígan
Voter and citizen

The real reason the army is not helping with Ireland's floods

NaNo time

I will not be posting regularly this month as I am taking part in NaNoWriMo. No doubt Ireland will continue failing to behave as a modern European state and there'll be plenty to discuss in December, especially with 



and



steering this ship of fools.

Justice for the Magdalene survivors

I've a new post up at GlobalComment

It’s 1967. You are fourteen and you sneak out to the cinema which has just opened. You are so excited to see the moving picture that your leg bounces up and down as you wait in line. It is a wonderful experience, and you sneak back into your house, prepared to reflect on it for days to come.

Then, you are caught and physically examined to ensure your enduring virginal state. No matter what the doctor finds, it is too late. You have disgraced your family you are sent to a Catholic laundry to work from dawn to dusk. You wash filthy clothes, make lace handkerchiefs and linen tablecloths for export for profit but you see none of the money. You cannot leave or escape. You are paid nothing. This is the story of thousands of Irish women and girls in the Magdalene laundries run by the Catholic Church until 1994.

Click here to continue reading

Another non-apology apology from the Irish Government

Batt O Keeffe has given a non apology apology in classic politician's doublespeak

In a letter to Dublin South TD Tom Kitt he expressed deep regret for “any offence caused by my use of the term ‘employees’ when referring to these women”. He added: “I fully acknowledge that the word ‘workers’ would have been more appropriate.”

As if it is not extremely offensive to refer to a group of women who were treated by slaves as employees. It is a gutless non-apology from a Minister who should resign immediately. However, I am sure that it will take a general election to remove his ass from the ministerial seat.

I am offended by his "apology" and by his use of "those women" to refer to the survivors of the Magdalene laundries. It is othering and when seen in context shows his contempt.

If Cowen had any ethics, he would fire this despicable Minister for Education.


Other posts on abuse in the Irish Catholic church and the Irish state


Church of evil
I write letters
The savage reality of our darkest days
Indemnity and the Catholic Church
The Irish Catholic church and child abuse: it's not about bad apples
Pride - the Catholic church's deadly sin
In his own words
Ratzi distressed over Ryan report
Survivors of Institutional Abuse Ireland Petition
The Magdalene Laundries
How to evade responsibility for your actions by giving a non-apology apology

Batt O'Keeffe proves his cruelty

Fianna Fáil and resignations

From the Irish Times

Mr Cowen yesterday deflected criticism of Ms Coughlan’s decision to approve a “golden handshake” for Mr Molloy last November, which enhanced the long-term value of his pension by an estimated €1 million.

Course he did. Holy Saint Dermot "Back to the good old days" Ahern defended Sweary Mary on Radio 1 this afternoon. Angling to be Tánaiste that one is.

Fianna Fáil have brass necks. They are unshameable. A quick non-apology and back to business as usual. How many of them have committed firing offenses?

• Batt O'Keeffe for the Magdalanes as employees remark
  
• Brian Lenihan for getting the budget wrong and not reading the necessary documents; for nationalising Anglo Irish Bank to bail out FF grassroots members
  
• John O'Donaghue for his expenses
• Martin Cullen for his expenses, e-voting, abuse of government jet
  
• Mary O' Rourke for racism
• Mary Coughlan for the FÁS and Rody Molly debacle
• Michael Woods for negotiating immunity for child rapists and torturers who were in the church
• Mary Harney for the health system
• Bertie Ahern for, amongst other things, the gas and oil deal with Shell
• Brian Cowen for continuing lack of leadership and allowing corrupt public servants to resign instead of firing them
• Dermot Ahern for amendments to the criminal justice lawand the blasphemy law
  

Right, who have I forgotten?

It's not inspiring to think so many government ministers have said and done things that they should be fired for. Where is the political will, accountability and justice there? The government is supposed to serve the people.

There is a cancer in the body politic when we keep returning these corrupt fuckers. New people need to stand for election but the best and brightest are leaving Ireland because who wants to spend their life paying for these fools' mistakes and not a single person is fired or takes responsibility?

Does it take their blood flowing in the streets to get resignations? I abhor violence but I wonder whether anything short of that will get them out of government.

NAMA, good banks and Biffo reappears

Yesterday Fine Gael came out with a new financial alternative to NAMA and while I am no financial wizard, on the surface it seems better.

It seems to me that NAMA is a get out of jail free card for the banks and developers that financed and developed such risky projects. I do not see why the taxpayer should be penalised for others pursuit of profit. They rolled the dice and now they must pay the piper for their tune is over. There was no intention of contributing to the state coffers if their gamble had had an alternative ending. That would have been their profit.

The next thing is the pricing of the assets. They are not worth anything like their stated prices. The market needs to readjust and the government cannot prevent this by artificially inflating prices to pay off developer buddies.

This government thought the boom would last forever, which just goes to show that a qualification in history and applied basic common sense should be a required course to govern in a modern society.

Even within the past 20 years, in the personal experience of several cabinet members, there have been boom and bust cycles coupled with risky bank ventures and highly indebted financial institutions. While it is true that the public suffered in the 80s the property moguls were killing city centres and tearing down historical building. All of this has happened before and will happen again unless those in power change the system. Reform or you will be reformed.

The Greens, also in government lest we forget, are having a special party conference on the issue of NAMA. No exactly a united government but it is easier to get a consensus without taking the electorate into account. The Greens don't have that option unlike their governing partners.

On the other side of the house, Fine Gael propose a good bank instead of the state paying off the bad debts of developers. Richard Bruton outlined the plan on the Last Word yesterday and while their are kinks to be worked out, it seems a fairer plan.

Naturally this is controversial because there is no solidarity. The government knows they are out in the next election so they are on some kind of Bushian destructo mission to leave the opposition to clean up their mess. As a PR strategy, it is completely unethical and totally in line with Fianna Fáil's history.

Commenting on Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny’s declaration earlier yesterday that his party would vote against Nama, which he described as a “double or quits” gamble by Fianna Fáil, the Taoiseach said: “Glib one-liners aren’t the way to deal with what are very difficult and complex questions.

This is the first time since the summer recess that the Taoiseach has spoken out in public. He's been missing, presumably resting have a difficult year of denials, dithering and procrastinating.

Way to go Biffo.

Corruption most blatant

In yesterday's Irish Times The Ceann Comhairle defends his lavish approach to public money

Commenting on the expenses incurred by John O’Donoghue, former minister for tourism and now Ceann Comhairle of the Dáil, the department said “every effort is made to secure the best possible rates” for Ministers and their delegations. The statement was in response to a Sunday newspaper report that documents released under the Freedom of Information Act showed Mr O’Donoghue, his wife Kate Ann and his private secretary, ran up a travel bill of more than €100,000 over a period of two years.

In addition to the expenses detailed in the article, it is common knowledge that O'Donoghue takes a helicopter to Kerry if he's going home of an evening and has his state car drive down from Dublin to pick him up. Likewise he sends the state car down to Kerry to pick up his wife if she fancies a day in Dublin. All this at the taxpayers expense.

I thought we got rid of a ruling class in this country when Ireland became a republic. The truth is simple. Members's of the Fianna Fáil parliamentary party have become the ruling class and try the country as their personal treasure chest. The taxpayers are the peasants, to be disregarded and mocked as the government places taxes and levies that could be likened to pre-revolutionary France. Well France had their revolution and I think the anger of the Irish people won't be contained for long. The streets may not run red with blood but there may be a few grazes.

The success of Fianna Fáil can be explained in part by the Irish Press. Owned by Dev and his family, it was never critical of the FFers or their policies. A perfect little propaganda machine.

Dev killed our economy and impoverished our parents and grandparents. Dev and all the Taoisigh since him permitted the industrial schools to continue despite extensive reports of abuse. In fact, Ministers for Education disappeared complaints and the entire text of the Cussen report from public records. Lenihan Senior was involved in dismissing complaints too.

Think of Haughey. He had a private island, an estate and racehorses all on a TD, Minister or Taoseach's salary. How is such a thing possible. It is not of course but the journalists of the day did not dare to cross the Short Fella.

How many Fianna Fáil TDs have made Irish politics into a hereditary dynasty? Let's list them

• Cowen
• Lenihan
• Coughlan
• O Cuiv
• Kitt
• Andrews
• O Flynn
• Ahern
• Connolly
• Brennan
  

They have been brought up with the arrogance of petty privilege and the perceived entitlement to rule. We the people have bought their line of bullshit but people have become so disillusioned with the state of Irish government that it is easier to emigrate and be a success elsewhere that try and provoke change in this country. Good people will not stand for election because the ruling elites have the money, power and backing of their party.

I was supporting a candidate for the European elections. A bright guy with policies of change. The truth is that it was extremely difficult to get any publicity or to get on or be given any time on The Last Word, The Right Hook, Drive Time, Prime Time, Pat Kenny Show, Morning Ireland or any of the national newspapers or television current affairs programmes. I know because I phoned every day to try and make it happen. Instead the media focused on Ganley, the candidate with the money and the standing MEP's opinions about Ganley. It's easier to serve on the International Criminal Court than to get heard in Ireland without a political party.

People like O'Donaghue are taking advantage of public money because they can. Because they consider themselves elite. Because the people of Ireland are given little choice in the elections. Just consider this:

John O'Donoghue, his wife Kate Ann, and his private secretary Therese O'Connor ran up a travel bill of over €126,000 in the space of just two years.

Among the expenditure were a series of €900-a-night hotels, €7,591 on "airport pick-ups" during a two-day trip to London, €120 for hat rental, €250 for water taxis and €80 to "Indians for moving the luggage".

On one luxurious trip to Venice, the former arts minister, his wife and the civil servant ran up hotel bills of €5,834 at the Albergo San Marco, the Hotel Cipriani and the San Clemente Palace. The ministerial entourage travelled to Italy by government jet, where they were collected by a private airport boat and taken to their luxury accommodation.

He is not even trying to hide the bill padding. And that's what corruption has come to in Ireland. Why bother hiding it when there are no consequences to such spending, never mind the othering of the luggage handlers - "Indians for moving the luggage" indeed.

One of the main contributing factors to our current economic shitstorm is that Lenihan nationalised Anglo Irish Bank. Now he said he did so because the bank was of systemic importance. Of course, he said that he didn't read that part of the report

Brian Lenihan came under intense political pressure last night, following his admission that he only learned about the transfer of €7 billion to Anglo Irish Bank last month, even though his department informed the Financial Regulator about the issue last October.

... Stressing that he only learnt about the issue last month, he said the money transfer was not identified as a risk factor in the 720-page report. “I did not read the report in its entirety but focused on the risk factors outlined therein.”

He added the Taoiseach had not been given a copy of the report. “It was not circulated to the Taoiseach or to other Ministers. I returned any copies I received because I was conscious of the confidential character of the information involved.”

The conclusion is that either Lenihan is criminally incompetent or criminally ignorant. But what if there was another possibility? The real reason why Anglo was nationalised, aside from bailing out Fianna Fáil' developer buddies and getting kickbacks?

Someone I know was serving at a Fianna Fáil banquet two years ago. What is interesting is that all the bills were paid by cheque. What was more interesting is that all but one cheque were drawn on Anglo Irish Bank. And that is the real reason that Anglo was nationalised. The party's money was tied up in the bank. Lenihan, Cowen and Coughlan would be out in a flash if their grassroots supporters lost their money. FF's motto would seem to be party first, developers second and the country in a distant third.

So Anglo was nationalised. And the country is fucked. We bail out the banks, cut social welfare, put levies on the public service, increase taxes, invent new taxes, levies and charges, cut the already mismanaged and incompetent health service, cut education funding among other austerty measures. Now the taxpayer suffers the consequences of the property bubble, the bailout of the Fianna Fáil developer buddies and the choice to put party before country.

The result is that those of us who have children or plan on procreating have to measure whether it is fair to bring them up in Ireland, knowing that they will be paying for Fianna Fáil's failings in their taxes or emigrating because of a stagnant economy. Is it fair on the children to stay in Ireland? Maybe it's just best to leave once the world economy picks up. Or if you stay, will you stand for election? Let's wrest our country back from the special interest groups and loosen the death grip of the FFers.

Hopeless

No future for us. Ireland's government is robbing the taxpayers. The national debt will take decades to pay off. Our grandchildren will be paying for FF's fuckups. As soon as the world economy improves, so many people will get the fuck out of this country.

All that is left in Ireland is heavy taxation for shitty services, income levies, corrupt government, incompetent news media and unemployment. Why would anyone want to stay?

NAMA is the final poison that will bury this country.

I am utterly without hope.

__

This piece was brought to you by an evil fucking government and a shitty finance minister.

Holidays

In the Post

Taoiseach Brian Cowen has said he does not expect the report to be debated in the Dail before the summer recess starts on Friday.

Of course not. Be sure to take your holidays when the country is in crisis. That's smart and well thought out.

Dear Leader

Please explain the astronomical petrol prices. When oil was $140 a barrel, the price at the pump was around €1.35. Now oil prices have dropped to around $70 a barrel but now the average price of petrol per litre is €1.16.

Now I know there are various costs but seriously?

The people at Pumps.ie break that price down

Current average petrol price: 116.9
Current Vat: 20.69c/litre
Fixed Duty: 50.79c/litre
Government take: 71.48c/litre
Cost before tax & duty: 45.42c/litre
Retailer & distributor margin (est): 11c/litre
Base petrol price (est): 34.42

Seriously? €0.45 tax on each and every litre going into the government coffers and Lenihan still can't balance the budget?

We're doomed.

Fianna Fail(ed) obituary

Received through text message. Author unknown.

The Soldiers of Disaster (nee Soldiers of Destiny) 1926-2009

Savaged to death at local and European elections.

Deeply regretted by builders, developers, bankers and cowboys everywhere.

Remains reposing in large tent on Galway racecourse.

Funeral mass tomorrow, at the Church of Bertie The Chancer.

Burial afterwards in the Golden Circle Cemetary.

No flowers please, brown envelopes only.

I write letters

Dear Taoiseach,

The only reasonable response to the Commission's Report is to

• Name and prosecute the individuals for crimes against humanity and crimes against children
• Confiscate the land and holdings of all the congregations named in the report
• Advocate an immediate referendum to remove all references to the Catholic Church from our Constitution and public life 
• Sell the assets of the Church and pay compensation to the survivors
• Refurbish Artane or Letterfrack to was it was in 1950 and have it as a permanent reminder of what was done by the Church and what was ignored by the State.

The catholic church should have no special place in this state.

Regards,

Mór Rígan
Citizen and voter

Bludget day

I'm sure the Marian Finucane meant budget but bludget is appropriate. Lemonade Lenihan will probably bludgeon the people of Ireland with taxation, cuts in social welfare, VAT hikes and plenty of belt-tightening a la Haughey in the 80s

I wish to talk to you this evening about the state of the nation's affairs and the picture I have to paint is not, unfortunately, a very cheerful one. The figures which are just now becoming available to us show one thing very clearly. As a community we are living away beyond our means. I don't mean that everyone in the community is living too well, clearly many are not and have barely enough to get by, but taking us all together we have been living at a rate which is simply not justified by the amount of goods and services we are producing. To make up the difference we have been borrowing enormous amounts of money, borrowing at a rate which just cannot continue. A few simple figures will make this very clear...we will just have to reorganise government spending so that we can only undertake those things we can afford.

Let's hope third time is the charm for Lemonade Lenihan and that he actually makes an effort to make his banking, property developer and assorted other buddies pay for a situation they created.

Follow the fun on twitter #bludget

John Waters misses the point - again

In the Irish Times, John Waters pontificates on the recent #picturegate scandal and misses the point with molelike precision.

...infantile obsession with toilet humour... deep animus towards politicians"... The only amusing thing here is Casby’s deluded belief that he has something to say. His response is typical of a public discourse almost fatally degraded by internet auto-eroticism and an obsession with what is called “comedy”. His works are crude, unfunny, vindictive, without intrinsic content and wholly lacking in artistic merit.

They would never have been heard of had the national broadcaster not misplaced its editorial instincts and, faced with an alternative between soberly reporting a minor crime and engaging in a snide attack on the Taoiseach, chose the latter.

etc etc ranting on artistic merit and violations of national security.

The actual point is government interference in public broadcasting, censorship, freedom of the press and freedom of expression.

Waters may not like Conor Casby's pictures but Casby has the right to caricature public figures.

Just as the Irish Times does each day.

RTE's craven apologies stink of government interference. They are not even willing to stand by their own reports.

Gardaí raided a radio station.

Gardaí said the orders came from the powers that be.

Gardaí confiscated privately owned material.

That's the point and Waters missed it by a mile. Moron.