A chara, – Barely two weeks in Government and Fine Gael is already enmeshed in allegations of corruption by an eminent tribunal judge. In addition to suggestions of unprecedented inappropriate ministerial interference, serious questions have been asked about the flow of large undisclosed donations through Fine Gael headquarters at a time when John Bruton, its putative presidential nominee, was in charge.
Labour, always superior at being superior, has been quick out of the traps with a denial of any knowledge of what was going on at the time. However, its post-election antics would suggest that party is still more focused on personalities than policies. Following the recent Cabinet kerfuffle in which more than one female colleague was put in their place by the Labour old boys, how long now before Ruairí Quinn comes looking for another head? – Is mise,
Madam, – In the Dáil, Gerry Adams of Sinn Féin asked the Taoiseach to explain a donation of $50,000 made to Fine Gael by Denis O’Brien at a New York fundraising dinner. Words such as kettle, pot and black come instantly to mind. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – An impact assessment of a policy proposal looks forward and provides decision-makers with estimates of its implications for government revenues, costs to consumers, the economy, environment, enterprise development etc. It would also address the risks associated with the proposals, and provide the same information for at least one plausible alternative.
In the case of the Irish mobile phone licence, the plausible alternative was auctioning of the licence. This would have raised a very substantial sum for the tax payer – the auction of the British third-generation mobile phone licence in 2000 raised £22.5 billion (€25.875 billion). If we assume conservatively that an Irish auction would have raised 5 per cent of the UK figure, this would mean a revenue of well over €1 billion. In terms of economic development and social impact, this revenue could have been used in many ways, not least to ensure that everyone in Ireland had state of the art broadband access, a pre-requisite for sustainable development in the regions and rural areas. And it would have eliminated the risk – which is encouraged when a hugely valuable asset is being allocated not on the basis of sealed bids but on other considerations – of attempts to influence the outcome. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Micheál Martin has stated that the publication of the Moriarty report has damaged the State. Surely it was the appalling behaviour of some of those involved in the tender process that did the damage? Mr Justice Moriarty has demonstrated that such impropriety can be investigated and revealed.
Ireland’s business reputation would best be served by the implementation of a streamlined investigatory process coupled with legislative changes to enable the authorities to deal with allegations of inappropriate and improper business behaviour in a speedy and effective manner. If the allegations pass the “looks like a duck . . .” test this should be sufficient to ensure consequences. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Denis O’Brien is Ireland’s most successful businessmen and humanitarian. His tremendous work at home and abroad for the sick , the disabled, those in poverty and those in disaster has benefited millions of lives. We have allowed one person 13 years at a cost of up to €150 million to attack a great Irishman and the best he can come up with is opinions without any basis of evidence. How can such an injustice occur? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Fine Gael has been out of government for the past 14 years. The Moriarty tribunal has been running for the past 14 years. Fine Gael is back in Government less than two weeks and the long- awaited Moriarty report is published! – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Cute hoorism, cronyism and all that is reprehensible about the Irish political system is contained within the Moriarty report – surely this will be the litmus test of the capacity and will of the new Government to address corruption and to instigate genuine reform.
Let us all hope it doesn’t fall at this, the first real hurdle. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Mr Justice Moriarty described the actions of Deputy Michael Lowry as a “cynical and venal abuse of office”.
All the major parties in the Oireachtas voted for the establishment of the tribunal and now that it has reported, it behoves the Government to take swift action and censure Deputy Lowry in the strongest terms possible. Failure to do so would be political cowardice of the worst kind. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I am attempting to follow the various claims and comments in the media about the Moriarty report Volume 1 and Volume 2.
While I can accept without question that Mr Justice Michael Moriarty did not state that the evaluation process was corrupt, I still felt that the process, based on the facts in his report, was a charade with the outcome decided in advance. If this conclusion is correct, then reforms of the political and administrative systems are absolutely essential. Withdrawal of two privilege days costing €4.6 million per year from over 30,000 civil servants suddenly appears irrelevant.
We need the right type of change to be implemented from the top down. And corruption must not be rewarded or ignored. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Now that Moriarty has done the legal work, who might we get to do the detective work? His nemesis, Sherlock Holmes? – Yours, etc,
Madam, – I – and probably many other faithful readers of The Irish Times – find it more than distasteful that someone such as Sarah Carey who has been shown to have such a low level of professional ethics be allowed to continue as a regular columnist for your newspaper.
Ms Carey, as shown in the Moriarty tribunal report and as she herself admitted this week on RTÉ’s Prime Time, initially lied to the tribunal regarding her leaking of information (regarding political donations from Denis O’Brien, with whom she worked, to the Progressive Democrats).
Her only excuse given on Prime Time was, “There was a lot of leaking going on and naively and stupidly I got involved in that”. Regarding keeping political donations secret, she stated, “Denis O’Brien was making donations to all political parties”. No apologies, no “It was wrong, I admit my guilt. What I did does not benefit the people of Ireland”.
At a time when Irish people desperately need transparency in public life, when major political donations by corporations have been shown to adversely influence public affairs and when the nation’s worldwide reputation has once again been sullied by how the issuing of a lucrative mobile phone license was dealt with, leading media must now play a leading role in the public service clean-up that needs to be undertaken.
Surely this means such a national print media outlet as venerated as The Irish Times must halt its contract with Ms Carey immediately as a regular columnist? Continuing it only belies your newspaper’s own professional reputation as one that seeks the truth in public affairs. – Yours, etc,
Madam, – Sarah Carey’s flippant attitude to deliberately misleading the Moriarty tribunal (an action she attributes to naivety) as demonstrated on Prime Time, on Tuesday, combined with her continued support for her former boss Denis O’Brien, despite the evidence of his questionable activities uncovered by that same tribunal, surely calls into question her journalistic impartiality and the propriety of her continuing to be given a platform for her opinions in a national newspaper. – Yours, etc,