The shameful truth behind the Mahon Tribunal - report a whitewash and a waste of time and money
Posted on Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 07:23 AM
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| Bertie Ahern |
How can any democracy justify squandering millions of euro on the biggest investigation into corruption the state has ever witnessed to tell us all what the dogs the in street have known for years?
Not that it comes as a huge surprise, but the minimum most people were expecting was for former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to be officially tarred and feathered.
However, simply stating Bertie “failed to truthfully account for” a wedge of cash that passed though bank accounts connected with him is hardly the knockout blow to his reputation many were hoping for.
It would be any spin doctor’s daydream to have such unspecific language used against their client. You would think after all the filthy lucre shoveled into the tribunal over the years it could have at least bought a set of teeth. But rather than dishing out a true mauling the best this toothless tiger could muster was a slap on the wrist that more or less accused the former Taoiseach of not playing ball and being a bit of a scallywag.
Indeed, the only thing the Mahon Tribunal has achieved is to confirm for those that may have forgotten that the Banana Republic is alive and well.
While Enda Kenny was doing us all proud earlier this week in the US as he charmed President Barack Obama and told all who would listen that modern, sleek Ireland is bouncing back and very much open for business, the evidence would appear to undermine him.
Yes, Ireland will recover from the recession and most likely, in economic terms at least, bounce back leaner and meaner than ever before, but the undeniable truth is that our country will remain broken.
How can we justify spending so much effort and cash on what has amounted to be a total waste of time? Why is someone that has “failed to truthfully account” for something not been branded a liar? Why has no one been prosecuted? The sad reason is that in Ireland we prefer sugarcoated double-speak rather than the uncomfortable truth.
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Read more:
Former Prime Minister Bertie Ahern gave false evidence says Mahon Tribunal investigation
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The onus is now on the current Government to ensure such a travesty of time wasting never happens again. If someone is guilty, then drag them through the courts and throw them in jail. We can no longer afford expensive white elephants such as the Mahon tribunal and the Irish public should no longer stomach them.
In a time of austerity it is simply sinful the even contemplate ever again squandering cash on such costly circuses. Just like the only meaningful thing the Seaned produces on a yearly bases is enough hot air to float the egos of overpaid part time politicians who love the sound of their own voice, tribunals have also proved they are well past their sell-by date.
The findings of the Mahon Tribunal should be used as a wake up call for a nation that loves pointing the finger and looking for scapegoats. We need to demand a system where the privileged and wealthy actually have something to fear from fiddling the system.
The sad truth today however is that it is not Bertie Ahern that should be ashamed of himself, but all of us for hoping this charade would change anything.
Paul Allen is Managing Director of Paul Allen and Associates PR, www.prireland.com.
4 comments
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jacersagain | Mar 22, 2012, 04:50 PM EDT
(...more) So let’s see what this Mahon Tribunal delivered: >>> 1) It delivered a series of judgements rightly blackening several Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Labour Party politicians, a few Property Developers and their companies over backhanders and corruption (Oh yes! All main Irish political party people got their hands on dirty money). >>> 2) It found sums of money roughly totalling some €2,500,000 ‘corruptly’ changed hands back then between politicians and property developers. >>>>> Ok – so let me get this straight – it cost Irish Taxpayers €300,000,000 (€300m) to find out those two things in a nutshell, especially that just €2.5m changed hands? And since the Tribunal is ‘devoid’ of legal consequences’, nobody goes to jail. Can we Irish taxpayers have the €297,500,000 change please?
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jacersagain | Mar 22, 2012, 04:47 PM EDT
(...more) Last year, none less than an Irish Supreme Court Judge (Hardiman) said that the Tribunals transpired to be ‘truly awesome’ in power, ‘grotesque’ in cost and ‘appalling’ in duration. Furthermore, he said the law reports of the Tribunals were ‘legally sterile’, ‘devoid of legal consequences’ and ‘could not be used in legal proceedings’. In other words, the only people to gain from the Tribunals were Harney’s PD funders, those in the legal profession. One blatantly abused tribunal dealt with claims for deafness suffered by Irish Army members during their careers. In many cases, solicitors double-charged their clients but were never prosecuted for this outrage. None of the Army’s top brass was charged with dereliction of duty in not providing or insisting that the soldiers wear ear-protectors, as was their duty to. One shudders to think what the Mahon Tribunal’s solicitors charged - and for what? Will Mary Harney stand up and explain (more...)
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jacersagain | Mar 22, 2012, 04:45 PM EDT
There’s not much to fault in the above article but what Paul Allen fails to mention is the origin of the idea of these hugely costly Tribunals (we’ve had a few, some running concurrently with the Mahon one – Beef Tribunal, Flood Tribunal, Moriarty Tribunal and others). At the time certain “irregularities” to put a kind word on it were becoming known, Mary Harney, a former Fianna Fail TD who left for the then newly founded (and now all but dead) Progressive Democrats party (or PDs), was the one who shouted that all the calls for legal action through the Courts of Ireland to address these “irregularities” was the one who called for the setting up of Tribunals. I’ll never forget the smirk on her face as she did that on Irish Television. Why? Because the PDs’ Party was largely funded by those in the legal profession which Harney’s fellow PD member, Michael McDowell was involved in. He even got to be Attorney-General, ferandbegawdsake! So all the legal profession members fell over themselves to get a piece of the State-funded Tribunals which just seemed to go on and on forever, producing reams and reams of paper which all led to nothing of significance apart from finger-pointing and multimillions in earnings for the legal people. As Paul Allen says, money squandered (More...)
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