Boris had sabotaged the rear selt belt though. Wasn't his fault.Frankly I'm in a state of shock. First we have Troy and English not declaring their properties. Next we have Saint Paschal not declaring a grand spent on election posters. But to learn that a British Prime Minister no less has been caught red handed, in broad daylight, on video, not wearing a rear seat belt is almost too much to take.
Outstanding payment to the Royal Irish Academy.I now seems that SF were also guilty of this corruption - that is hard to believe.
ah now - theirs's was simply an "oversight" even though their totals comes to almost €10,000 including the polling payment "oversight"I now seems that SF were also guilty of this corruption - that is hard to believe.
Frankly I'm in a state of shock. First we have Troy and English not declaring their properties. Next we have Saint Paschal not declaring a grand spent on election posters. But to learn that a British Prime Minister no less has been caught red handed, in broad daylight, on video, not wearing a rear seat belt is almost too much to take.
I’d agree that not even low-level breaches of the rules should be tolerated. Once the boundaries of what should be allowed become open to judgement, the door is open to corrupt practices.I for one am glad that this is the level of "corruption" uncovered from the governing party!
That said there is a danger of the Irish attitude to the rules creeping in here. "Sure look it, its only a grand". It's not too long ago that you could get your penalty points cancelled if you played GAA with the Super, before that you could get a state board/UN position if you were a mate of pol and before that, you could get your land rezoned with a brown envelope. So the more Paschal gets hammered, the better they all will abide by rules. It's only with high standards that the scourge of pols glorifying the murderers of Guards, soldiers and innocents are removed as representatives of the people.
Need to be seen to be above board.I’d agree that not even low-level breaches of the rules should be tolerated. Once the boundaries of what should be allowed become open to judgement, the door is open to corrupt practices.
That said, any official response should be proportional. O’Donahoe deserves his knuckles rapped to an extent that persuades him and others to conduct matters properly. But he’s no Liam Lawlor and he shouldn’t be treated like one either.
Pascal was wrong but nobody died, which is more than can be said about the stuff the Shinners are accused of.But but but ... SF immediately correct their "mistakes" when they were pointed out .... repeatedly!
My problem with the media is that they are competing with Twitter in catastrophising every problem we have. The breathless reporting of the latest “crisis” is cringeworthy at best. There was a time when the objective of an editor and editorial board was to report factual information in a manner that was as balanced as possible. Not they are driven by now many times their content will be viewed, liked and retweeted as they fight a rearguard action against social media.The rank hyprocisy and the amount of Dail time spent on this just highlights what a dirty business politics is. Meanwhile crisis after crisis rumbles on outside the chambers. Of course the media have a lot to answer for too, spending equally ridiculous amounts of time covering this non story (they are also still posting photographers at the gates of Wilson Hospital school for another story that they just can't move away from!).
Wilfully? That’s a bit harsh.According to Transparency International we are the 10th least corrupt country in the world.
Having travelled and done business in a number of European countries and in a good few US States I think that's about right. If you think Ireland is corrupt you haven't travelled. If you think we have a high level of political corruption relative to other countries then you are wilfully ignorant.
I don't. In comparison to America we have far far less of that. I do think we have a high level of structural incompetence within much of the State Sector in that the we are bad at running things but we don't have the layers of bureaucracy that America has. I don't know if the same if true in the UK or other Northern European countries.I think we have a bigger problem with clientism \ insiderism than outright corruption, not necessarily money changing hands but person X being able to shortcut the bureaucracy every else has to wade through through influence \ contacts \ relationships.
In 30 years in business the only time I was ever asked for a bribe was from a Semi state company.Seems relevant as ESB networks are effectively a state body
Builders accuse ESB staff of demanding cash for connections
Semi-State company seeking details of people allegedly involved and nature of payments from firmswww.irishtimes.com
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