Fraud Inquiriy - Bankers and Fianna Fail politicians have questions to answer

Great post from Rathangan Republican News blog on Eoin o'Broin's recent call for a fraud inquiry.  Steps like this allied with the wide ranging campaigns on housing, hospitals etc are bringing the fight to those who thought they were above the law or have no responsibility. The culture of inpunity is going to have to end in this country.

Dublin Sinn Féin representative, Eoin O' Broin is demanding that Gardaí launch a fraud inquiry to investigate the Taoiseach Brian Cowen, Finance Minister Brian Lenihan and top officials at Bank of Ireland and AIB. Mr O' Broin has contacted Gardaí at Pearse Street in Dublin, saying the men should face questions on whether they deliberately withheld information from the Dáil regarding the insolvency of Anglo Irish Bank. He also wants the chiefs of the banks to answer questions on whether they withheld information from Mr Cowen and Mr Lenihan in meetings before the enactment of the bank guarantee scheme which led to huge financial loss for the Irish taxpayer.

Criminals should be prosecuted.

O' Broins move comes in the wake of the decision by Iceland authorities to bring charges against former government ministers over their alleged failings connected to the economic crisis. The ministers, including former PM Geir H. Haarde will now be sent to court where they will have to prove their innocence. In such a climate, it comes as no surprise that someone should bring similar charges against our own incompetent government. Every man, woman and child in this country has been effected by their failures to deal with the economic decimation of our nation, and if you walk into any public gathering in Ireland, you will hear our citizens criticising this government for their inaction.



The only surprise is that it was left to a Sinn Féin representative to do this, while the supposed main opposition of Fine Gael/ Labour sat on their thumbs, sniggering about Brian Cowens alcohol problems. It was left to a Sinn Féin representative to take action while the many banner waving "socialist" parties did nothing, except perhaps critising Sinn féins status as a peoples party because they don't waste time holding meetings to discuss the finer points of dogma created by men who have been dead for a century. It was left to a Sinn Féin representative to take the peoples fight to the heart of the corrupt regime in Leinster house while the rest did nothing.



Eoin O' Broin deserves a medal for bringing this action against these people, who have been protected by the inadequacies of the opposition, and their amiable relationship with the O' Reilly media for so long. Now is not the time to sit back and allow Joe Duffy to tell us that this is Ireland, and not Iceland or Greece. Don't listen to Kevin Myers tell you that Eoin O' Broin  is a supporter of terrorism who wants to eat your children and turn the country into a homosexual, vegetarian, communist utopia. Don't mind George Hook when he tells you that the Government are to blame but bringing them to court is a step to far, and will turn Ireland into a joke.

"Breaking stones in the mid day sun..."

They have already succeeded in turning Ireland into a joke.

The protesters in Greece carried banners declaring proudly, "WE ARE NOT THE IRISH".

This is not the view of Ireland I want the rest of the world to have. This is not the way I would like future generations of Irish men and Irish women to remember us.

We are Irish and we are proud. We don't lie down for anyone, and we certainly don't allow rulers to get away with hell and leave us lying in the gutter. Just ask the english.

Ninety four years ago, brave Irish men and Irish women rose up against a corrupt regime that seemed untouchable at the time. Though few in number, and though eventually forced to surrender, the news of their actions spread around the globe, and the memory of their rising has inspired Irish people the world over since.

Our own Irish Republican Super Hero, O' Broinman?

Eoin O' Broin has taken the fight to the government, but he cant do so alone. It is time for all of us to rise up and stand behind O' Broin. Its time to get rid of these criminals and the equally guilty main opposition that have allowed them to stay in their Ivory tower for so long.

Time for mutiny on this ship of fools

Over on the Sluggerotoole site they have highlighted a review on the Guardian newspaper of Fintan o'Toole's new book Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger.

It looks like its going to be an interesting read and above all its fantastic to see this type of contribution to the general debate. After the fall of the Soviet Union Finland nearly fell as bad as we now have fallen. But they rebounded rebuilding a fairer society and becoming an inspiration to other countries. So while things may seem incredibly bleak now this is an opportunity to start building something new.

Of course the Finns didnt have to deal with a Fianna Fail party but the debate has to start somewhere and if we are going to build a Republic on this island then getting rid of the corrupt Fianna Fail kleptocracy is a necessary step.

The book review highlights clearly our predicament:

Irish GDP is now shrinking faster than in any other advanced economy, and the country's gross indebtedness is larger than Japan's. House prices have fallen more rapidly than any others in Europe, and the average Irish family has lost half its financial assets. Unemployment has risen faster than anywhere else in Europe.

It lays out clearly how Kleptocracy relaced democracy in the south:

All this has been accompanied by a culture of corruption so shameless and spectacular that it makes Dublin look like Kabul. The former prime minister Charles Haughey stole €250,000 from a fund set up to pay for a liver transplant for one of his closest friends. Last year, the chairman of Anglo Irish Bank resigned when it emerged that he had €84m in loans from his own bank, a sum concealed by an annual (apparently legal) cooking of the books. As O'Toole points out, bribery, tax evasion and false evidence under oath have not simply gone unpunished; the very idea of penalising the culprits is viewed by the governing elite as unsporting or even unpatriotic.

And thats to leave out the most cunning of them all. The review continues apace laying bare whats rotten in the southern state:

The state is widely seen as "a private network of mutual obligations" rather than an impersonal body. Palms are greased, backs scratched and old pals promoted, often without much sense that this is anything other than the natural thing to do.

And boy did the last 10 years take that to a new height. The worst type of gobdaw was appointed not because they were barely qualified but because they were the orignal greasy hands in the till.

And then it gets to a point of discussion that is all too common in Ireland today:

The discrepancy between formal and informal codes in the country, between official behaviour and nods and winks, bulks large. Stretching a point or turning a blind eye is rife, in ways that would scandalise many a German or American

How do we make our country more like Germany and less like a maffia ridden fiefdom? Now those countries are not perfect but for all the American pork barelling at least they have some corrupt people do the perp walk.

Why are basic minimum standards of governance ignored in this state.

Why are key positions farmed out to buffons whose only qualifications was buying rounds with one pint of Bass included.

The review ends by saying for the south

Perhaps its best hope now is to revert as soon as possible to third world status and qualify for a loan from the IMF.

Is that what we are reduced to?

Once upon a time people in the south believed that the Greens would be the party that would drag the south into the modern world. We have two failed states on this island and need to build one - a modern state, where merit is the key to advancement and nomal democratic standards are upheld.