Is this really our country?

Is there no end to the crimes committed by the Church and State? The horror of the institutionalised rape, slavery and crimes against children carried out in Ireland is almost too much. Few read the reports of the investigations finally carried out on what actually happened to survivors of child abuse and the children interned in industrial schools. Since the foundation of the Republic of Ireland in 1921, Church and State have treated certain children as disposable, as less than human.

Since the publication of the Ryan report on industrial schools and the Murphy report on child sexual abuse within the diocese of Dublin, revelations on the treatment of Irish citizens in the twentieth century by the Church and State have undermined everything we believed about ourselves. And the revelations keep coming.

The Primate of All Ireland Sean Brady covered up the rape of children by paedophile Brendan Smyth allowing him to continue raping children for a further nineteen years. The publication of this information has not led to his resignation but rather to his adopting the persona of a “wounded healer”. This persona allows him to continue in his position and treat survivors of the Catholic Church’s brutality with utter contempt. His "wounding" is the discovery of his coverup.

Then there is the systematic mutilation of women by doctors both through symphysiotomy and corrupt individuals wielding a scalpel. There was no oversight because doctors were “self-regulating”. And the medical scandals have not ceased - unread x rays, trolleys, cancer misdiagnosis, surgeons removing the wrong kidney.

Now, we find out that children were used in medical experiments. These children were not those living at home with parents. These were children in mother and baby homes and industrial schools. Members of religious orders gave "consent", violating numerous ethical codes including that of Nuremberg, which was drawn up in the aftermath of the Nazi behaviour in concentration camps.

All of this was done by Irish people, ordinary Joe and Jane Soap. Our uncles, aunts, friends, parents participated or knew what was going on. We are all complicit. What sort of a fucked up country is this? The human rights violations continue on - children in care left on the street, rat infested schools, children in adult psychiatric wards and the children in care disappearing by the hundreds.

Something has to be done. The Murphy inquiry needs to be expanded to cover all dioeses. Victims who did not survive the industrial schools need to be identified and cause of death established. Serious reform or possible abolition of the HSE. The state needs to acknowledge ALL the human rights violations. Offering resignations is not enough. Firing, followed by criminal charges is a beginning.

Ireland has been a republic for less than 100 years and already we have violated human rights on an unprecedented scale. What sort of people are we?

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.