Irish corruption tribunal: we were wronged and will have to pay

Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 12:25 PM

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The Moriarty Tribunal report into corruption in Irish political life was published today. The Tribunal has spent 14 years to get today's publication day, 14 years and somewhere between €100-150m (that's $140-210m). And for all that money the Irish taxpayer got ...

Nothing. There will be no prosecutions because the report "has no legal standing." We got nothing, but a lot of lawyers made a ton of money from the Tribunal. At least it went to a good cause, right?

The Moriarty Tribunal was established to investigate the financial affairs of two elected officials - former Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey and TD (MP) Michael Lowry - and the links these men had to prominent businessmen and the influence these links had on government decisions.

The report is damning, but it wasn't worth it.

Today Haughey {photo} is dead. He got a big state funeral when he died. His family still lives well. Lowry is still a TD. He has been re-elected a few times since the first inkling of scandal touched him. A few businessmen may come out smelling a little less than rosy, but then again what tough-nosed businessman doesn't smell a little less than rosy?

One of those businessmen is Denis O'Brien, who the report found had help from Michael Lowry winning a mobile phone license for his company ESAT. O'Brien, through ESAT, made a fortune out of that decision and Lowry, in turn, was handsomely rewarded.

Ben Dunne of Dunnes Stores also features in the report. You might remember Dunne as the guy who was talked down off a Miami hotel ledge back in 1992, when he was high on cocaine and "in the company of a woman not his wife."

For that incident he was forced out of Dunnes Stores by his sister. He went into the property business and, the report claims, sought out the help of Lowry in an arbitration hearing on rent paid by a tenant of one of Dunne's buildings. In his defense, Dunne says he was "unbalanced and unwell" in the 1990s and using "mind altering substances" which affected his memory and behavior.

So a few smudges on reputations, but that's all.

However, there will be serious repercussions because there is at least one business that was shafted during the mobile phone licensing process and five will get you ten that they are are going to be suing the state for hundreds of millions of euros.

The Irish taxpayer is going to have to foot those bills. The voters were wronged and the taxpayers must pay. What a system!

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Cranleigh | Mar 30, 2011, 07:16 PM EDT

That should be 68,000 Euro per page - a little more expensive.

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Cranleigh | Mar 30, 2011, 07:13 PM EDT

BrendanWalsh when I multiply 2348 by 680,000 I get 1,502,720,000. Maybe a mere 68,000 dollars per page would be closer to the mark? Yank, at least the people get some rather pricey education into how offshore accounts work. And what of the central figures - do they really get off scot-free? Given that they spent megabucks trying to avoid these 'few smudges' you describe, they seem to be taking the whole thing fairly seriously.

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Travellingman | Mar 24, 2011, 11:53 AM EDT

Unfortunately all of this, and its the same here in the UK, encouraged everyone to corrupt and destroy each other...Its the saddest thing I have ever seen, where entire countries from the USA, UK and so on have financially destroyed, raped, torn apart and pillaged each other...Which would and leave nothing for future generations.

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expatrick | Mar 23, 2011, 01:35 PM EDT

@Brendan Dont kid yourself. politicians are the same where ever they are. U.S. wages war against Iraq based on lies and haliburton makes a killing.well don Dick.loads a money. They all feather their own nests.

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JohnKinMD | Mar 23, 2011, 10:44 AM EDT

Sounds like government at it best :).

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BARNEYKX | Mar 23, 2011, 10:37 AM EDT

I believe there are no brown envelopes left in Ireland lol

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BrendanWalsh | Mar 23, 2011, 09:51 AM EDT

€680,000 for each page Mr Moriarty has delivered and the men who made fortunes from this will not be punished !, Us Irish are a spineless bunch ,if this happened in the USA ( Enron would be an example ) there would be criminal trials and convictions but here nothing will happen and by next week this will just be old news, we should be ashamed of ourselves as a nation and a race

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SeamusMor | Mar 23, 2011, 09:48 AM EDT

Denis O'Brien is a crook who belongs in jail. Send him the bill for the tribunal!

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Collette2 | Mar 23, 2011, 03:00 AM EDT

Sounds a little like the abuse of the vulnerable by the church doesn't it.

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LoyalCitizen | Mar 22, 2011, 01:31 PM EDT

We got nothing, but a lot of lawyers made a ton of money from the Tribunal....That modern education for you.

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skyrider | Mar 22, 2011, 12:02 PM EDT

Talk about Bog-Irish. Wow