Irish Water contractors have removed water meters from outside two houses in West Donegal.
It happened near Annagry, where a stand off developed early this morning. The meters were placed outside houses which belong to a private group water scheme which is not under Irish Water’s control.
Cllr Michael Cholm Mac Giolla Easbuig, who lives in the area, told the Shaun Doherty Show that he believes the contractors are moving to Annagry, where efforts will be made to resist them……..
Everything you wanted to know about the government’s priorities. The siteserv transaction
what we need is a drastic reorganization of power in society.
Giving Back To The Few
A lot of attention has been paid to the ongoing Siteserv controversy—but the implications for progressive politics have largely been missed in media commentary.
To begin, let’s recap some basic facts.
Siteserv is a construction services company that borrowed a lot from Anglo Irish Bank between 2006 and 2008 and accumulated a debt of €150 million. When the economic crisis struck, the government took over Anglo Irish and changed its name to IBRC.
The government (i.e., taxpayers) was thus made responsible for Siteserv’s debts and tried to get whatever it could out of those bad loans.
But instead of appointing a receiver to Siteserv to recoup those monies, IBRC let Siteserv handle the process themselves… and in 2012, Siteserv was sold to a company controlled by Denis O’Brien for €45 million.
A number of issues have been reported about the deal (although a full investigation has yet to be conducted).
First, Siteserv shareholders received €5 million from the sale. This is important because normally, shareholders, especially when they invested in a company that couldn’t even pay its debts back, are supposed to be wiped out before the creditors (in this case, IBRC). But here, taxpayers absorbed the losses.
Second, the result from the sale are as follows: shareholders got €5 million; state-owned IBRC got €40 million; and IBRC wrote off €110 million of debt it was owed by Siteserv—so the taxpayer took a hit of €110 million.
Third, it has been reported that there were other, more lucrative offers on the table for Siteserv that were rejected.
Fourth, Davy Stockbrokers and Arthur Cox solicitors acted for both sides of the transaction (Siteserv and Denis O’Brien’s company), which is not a transparent practice as it is difficult to obtain the best deal for the government when those overseeing the process simultaneously work for the buyer and the seller.
Fifth, the Central Bank of Ireland reviewed the deal just after it was finalised, but did nothing. The Irish Stock Exchange was also asked recently about a reported spike in Siteserv shares trading just before IBRC received bids from parties interested in buying Siteserv.
The Stock Exchange refused to comment, saying it was precluded from doing so on such matters.
Sixth, the government now wants to review the 2012 sale of Siteserv by using the audit firm KPMG. That is, even if KPMG was involved in the sale. In fact, so far, KPMG has been paid more than €70 million for its services in the liquidation of IBRC.
So asking KPMG to review itself is not exactly an instance of accountability. Indeed, Transparency International Ireland urged the government to remove KPMG from the review.
But our Minister of Finance, Michael Noonan, appointed a former judge to supervise KPMG in the review process. So, the plan is that a judge-reviewer will review the KPMG reviewer. It seems to be difficult to find an objective and neutral reviewer.
Seventh, in 2013, a year after it was bought by Denis O’Brien, Siteserv won several contracts to install water meters in Ireland (through its subsidiary GMC/Sierra). It was bad enough that taxpayers absorbed losses in the sale as stated above, but now Siteserv is benefiting again from the water charges.
A couple of points may be made about all this.
First, there have been accusations that the whole thing shows once again that the government is incompetent, mismanages everything and doesn’t learn from the mistakes of the past.
For example, Shaun Connoly wrote in the Examiner an article entitled “Incompetent Government will Bury the Controversy” in which he wonders if Enda Kenny “really not understands the laws of this country”? He also complains that we are faced with a “rotten system where nothing gets done properly and no lessons are ever learned”.
But the problem with this view is that it assumes that the government is actually trying to manage things properly for the common good, and that if only it could be more competent at doing so, things would improve.
However, in fact, the nature of the state is not to serve the people and to govern for the population as a whole. This should be clear after a €64 billion bank bailout, a blanket guarantee making ordinary people responsible for €365 billion of bank liabilities, and six years of harsh austerity directed at the general population and the more vulnerable that has pushed the deprivation rate from 11.8% of the population in 2007 to 30.5% in 2013.
So by that standard government performance in the Siteserv deal is not too bad at all.
Siteserv shareholders have benefited. Denis O’Brien has benefited. Firms that have been paid fees to oversee the process have benefited. Taxpayers absorbed losses instead of private interests and bondholders, thanks to the socialisation of Anglo Irish debts.
And everything was kept quiet for about three years until one TD, Catherine Murphy, asked sustained questions—that’s not too bad, although in an ideal world, the deal would have been kept quiet forever.
Second, and related, how can we make sure this won’t happen again? UCD Professor of Politics David Farrell writes in the Irish Times that the controversy highlights “two major weaknesses in our political system”: first is “a Government that is not held adequately into account by parliament” and second is “a mindset that privileges secrecy over openness”.
Farrell’s solution is thus that “there needs to be a culture shift”, meaning that Ministers and civil servants “need to appreciate the principles that underline Freedom of Information—namely, to provide citizens with the information they deserve to know”.
Therefore, “instead of waiting behind closed doors” for information requests, the government should “simply put the information out there as a matter of course”.
The problem with this approach is that again, it assumes that if we could only convince those politicians to be more aware of the need for openness and transparency, things would get better.
It’s not incorrect per se, but the problem is that those politicians know very well that secrecy benefits them and those in power—that’s why they’re keeping things secret! Therefore, hoping they will change on their own won’t work.
So what are we left with? The way to change things is by redistributing economic and political power in society—that’s how you keep the powerful accountable, and in fact, that’s how you make sure nobody is too powerful relative to others.
If ordinary people had the same economic and political power as elites, there simply wouldn’t be too many elites around, by definition. A minority would not make decisions that affect everybody else’s lives.
Power would be decentralized, not concentrated in the hands of a few. In short, what we need is a drastic reorganization of power in society.
All Bankers Are Bastards
I've often been rightly accused of crass stupidity when I've publicly made the above statement, overly broad, not accurate, many good, ethical and honest people work in the banking sector.
It's also an completely non-productive statement, it's lets us off the hook to. If they are bastards it's because we've allowed them to be so. We can't really point an wagging finger from the position of our overstretched credit cards and over extended mortgages and say, 'look at them bankers, they're all rich bastards.'
I also need to define the difference between 'a banker' and 'people who work in banks.
There is a big difference.
People who work in banks are not in any way bastards, they are people with jobs and recently very insecure jobs. However under current economic structures their jobs are vital to our way of life, we need them to be honest, of high moral standing, ethical and endlessly patient with a confused and battered public.
However, when I say 'bankers,' I mean the top (as always) 1%, the people who run the banks, the hedge funds, the 'investment arms' and the global financial houses.
They actually do steal, embezzle, and fiddle around with our trillions, the bankers who bribe politicians, threaten governments, manipulate world markets and receive eye watering bonuses just as the bank they theoretically run goes to the wall, they might be justifiably called bastards.
Even if you have spent too much, run up an overdraft, have a mortgage that you'll never live long enough to pay off. If your flexible friend has gone limp with over use, I firmly suggest you can still point a well aimed and accusatory finger at the likes of the gentlemen pictured below and shout, 'oi, mush, you, yeah, you, running for cover this morning, you lying, cheating, conniving unethical, immoral, two faced bastard, gimme my money back.'
COMMENTS FROM A DUTCH PERSON LIVING IN IRELAND. Is Ireland Fucked?
Original article 'Is Ireland Fucked' by Rick Wilbrink in As I See It edited by Buncrana Together
click on links in some photos and green writing
Dumb, self indulgent, uneducated bunch of sheep
Even the government say it and they show it too, they're giving you the fingers. Can't you see it? They're repeatedly saying 'Fuck you Irish'.
You are a dumb, self-indulgent, uneducated bunch of sheep, unable to think for yourselves, let alone care yourselves. You hide behind old pains, unrelated pride, stupid religion and really irritating “ah sure” attitude. You are more interested in football, Voice of Ireland, gossip and facebook. You are preoccupied with the UK (which you hate for sure), the so called land of the free, America and on the other side of the world, Australia, (where emigrant families of past disputes went). How can you focus on that shit. Where do you find the time to worry about other countries. What about your own country?
Pat Rabbitte has introduced legislation to outlaw offensive and sinister content on social media
How can you, in your right mind, say you are proud to be Irish? You give up after the first set back. You can only argue among yourselves. You haven't even got a language and now you have allowed your government assholes to sell your country down the drain. I bet some of you have stopped reading this by now. Ah, well, good riddance. You are lost to the world anyway.
Dutch And Proud
I am glad I am not Irish. I am Dutch, blunt and straight forward. I am proud of it, I am just Dutch, and that is good enough. I wouldn’t want to limit myself in the way you lot do. I bet you all suffer from the 'Stockholm Syndrome'. Excusing those, who abuse you, do you down, basically decide whether you live or die and all this while virtually living in other countries.
Do you know you are not an important part of Ireland. Its resources are and you, you can all fuck off and die when your usability is spent, well past “abuse by” date.
I can see what is going wrong in this county. I am amazed that you haven't said anything about it up to now. Your have been fucked over and over and over. So many times it's hard to believe. I am amazed there are no protests here every day. I am amazed that you have different names for parties who are basically the same, giving you the same choices to destroy yourself and you, dumb fucks, believe it every time. You believe it is all going to be better with this or that party in power. Can't you see their promises are false and they have shafted you every time. Frankly I am dumbfounded that Ireland still exists at all. Well let me tell you that it's not going to be for much longer. The corporations are clambering to get in and they are going to own it, lock stock and barrel. Your government is practically throwing it at them. Eventually they will kick out most of the surplus people and keep only the dumb asses who are screwed, up to their eyeballs in debt and those who are lackeys.
You are the monkeys?
I can see how you are lulled into a sense of Irish happiness for maybe a while at elections. You continually get taken in with meaningless promises like less taxes, more health care, houses, jobs and so on, You are blind to see your constitutional rights are being eroded year in, year out. You can not see that your freedom is put in a box and locked away. You will only be allowed to speak your mind as long as it suits the government and the national media.
Really! you are too stupid to discuss anything with. All you do is take the hump act like Neanderthals. No, wait, maybe that's not fair to Neanderthals. You haven’t discussed anything for almost a hundred years, since your 1916 revolution. You can’t discuss freedom with monkeys, you tell them when to jump and how high. Monkeys in captivity have no access to independent thought, they are conditioned when to think and what to think. The government does not give in when monkeys revolt, it just sends in the other monkey brigades and let them hit and batter and hurt the complaining monkeys into compliance. The media will write bad things about minor incidents, blow it up out of all proportions, create panic among the monkeys of every class. This gives the leader monkeys the excuse to exert more pressure, more harsh laws to keep the revolting monkey in place under the disguise of security. The leader monkeys then get their positive reinforcement from their masters, icing on the cake.
Have you heard of surprise protests?
When it all becomes too much, you panic and as a last resort you revolt, you plan a day of protest. You plan it well in advance and with months in between each protest. This gives the powers that be all the time in the world to prepare and take away the sting before any action has even been started. Have you heard of surprise mass actions? Organised outside of the government monitored facebook?
Why has this country not been brought to a standstill? Why has the economy not been stopped, why has Leinster House not been laid siege to, with daily protests inside the chamber? Why is there not massive “disobedience” on a daily basis. Take the country down, crumble the fascist power, kick out the traitors who are actually hurting you, put their heads on the block and cut them off. Ok ok … not for real of course, but my indignation gets the better of me. At the very least jail them. Forget the prosecuting part, you all know already what they have done, how many lives they have ruined. Send them straight to jail. Get rid of the old corrupt imperial laws and start anew. Where you should be living in an egalitarian society you live in despair, for yourselves and your children. You are a dysfunctional society.
Ah go on, go on, go on, you'll not forget what I did for you. Give me your no 1 and I'll look after you. Nod nod wink wink.
The Grand People
Spare me the dumb-fucks who go on about the fucking English who did this and that to you. Yeah right. Get over it. You are out of touch with the world as it is today. For starters if they are so fucking bad, why do you still speak their language? Too stupid to speak your own? As I said: I am Dutch. The fucking Germans overran our country in the second world war, and we are still speaking Dutch. The Spaniards had their go centuries ago, and we did not succumb to that. Hell even the ignorant French had a go.
It does not matter now if it has been an occupation of years or centuries. It is in the past. If you are a resilient lot you will get the fuck over it. If not you deserve what you got. If you are the 'Grand People' you think you are, you will forgive, you do not have to forget, but forgive. Seriously, why live in the past while there is so much going wrong in this lifetime, now. All countries have old and past enemies. Currently Germans are taking over Europe and it's only 70 years after their asses were kicked. Do we not drive German cars? Is Germany not the biggest economy in Europe.
Voting Assholes in Time After Time
Every pub here in Ireland is filled with televisions where Sky bombards us with football. English football. I hear them all shouting go on Liverpool, get in there United. Why is this by the way? Ireland can’t even play football properly and you and all the managers are sitting in the pubs, shouting your drunken heads off. Then you start singing rebel songs and you feel fucking proud to be Irish.
But I don’t get this hypocritical stance of some Irish giving modern English people the evil eye or word. These are the ones up their own asses, voting other assholes in, time after time, because they think they are hurting England, and it helps the individuality of “The Irish”. Dumb fucks. Quit blaming others for your own disappointing behaviour. There are Irish dickheads evicting people from their homes. Irish assholes wrecking lives, sucking money out of all of us' imposing illegal taxes, militarising the gardai.
Why do you not feel proud of your county. You seem to be ashamed. Maybe you as a nation were downtrodden by the invaders, morally numbed by religion and fooled the capitalists. Maybe it's because you were the ignorant poor who were forced to flee this country to colonise and downtrod other countries like a dysfunctional child who grows up only to perpetrate the same abuse on others. Maybe you never got time to heal. Has pride been knocked out of you? You are racist begrudgers, only good with a shovel, envious of other people, the begorrahs, neither one thing or the other.
Are You Mad At Me Yet?
Are you fucking mad at me yet for blatantly discarding you as a fighting people? For calling you names? For making fun of your misplaced pride and your immense stupidity by being taken in decade after decade? Have you decided already to call me a fucking foreigner with no right to speak like that. I should be ashamed of myself and go back to the country I came from, if I don’t like it here? Are you getting ready to find out where I live, so you can bash my head in? Well I live in Blarney and you’re welcome to come and find me. You think, as of now I am a waste of space? Well… same to you.
Have I hurt you in the core of your soul with my insults, and are you raging with anger? Good. Because you know, what I just wrote about you is what the government is thinking about you. So if you are raring to have a go at me, why are you not out on the streets having a go at them? Every day. Why should an unimportant foreigner get all the stick for basically voicing his thoughts. Why are you not up in arms? Are you afraid of derailing the economy of this country. Well let me tell you they have been doing that all along, only to profit from it themselves by selling your natural resources to private foreigners, lining their own pockets and satisfying the insatiable greed of foreign companies? If you have any real pride in yourselves, get up of your asses and go on the streets to protest, today and every day till the bastards and their sorts are out of power. Stop fighting and squabbling among yourselves. Get away from divisive party politics, clinging to some unattainable goal, wrapping flags and ideologies around you. Get away from the herd instinct and start thinking anew, for yourselves. Then and only then will you be able to sort yourselves out.
Corrib Gas Pipeline. In the most dramatic clash of cultures in modern Ireland, the rights of farmers over their fields, and of fishermen to their fishing grounds, has come in direct conflict with one of the worlds most powerful oil companies. When the citizens look to their state for protection, they find that the state has put Shell's right to lay a pipeline ahead of their own rights. Click on photo.
I am waiting for that one decent Garda
There is no point in demanding the arrest of a garda to his colleague, it will fall on deaf ears. If you haven’t understood it by now, then you are too stupid to understand anything. The Gardai are paid to do as they are told, and although you are the ones paying them, really, it is the government that controls them, or put that another way the Denis O'Briens of this world – aka the big corporations.
The Gardai are dogs on a leash, and who ever really owns the government, will own the gardai. They are not taught to think constitutionally, or independently. In fact they are taught not to think at all. They are human machines without empathy, corporeally programmed. They are a dangerous force, deployed to hit, scare and threaten people into submission. They fine, evict, protect the corps, threaten protesters, portrayed as the sinister fringe with criminal intentions.
I am waiting for that one decent Garda, who will indeed protect the people. This should be his duty. That one free thinker who will defend our right to freedom and democracy. Who will exercise wisdom and understanding when things are happening. A garda who will think, not just about now but about his future and that of his daughters or sons, his neighbours, his friends, and his country. A garda with a conscience. They used to be around in abundance.
So are you still pissed off with me? Well as I said this is how the government is really thinking about you, if they are thinking of you in the first place. Going by their actions to date they really don't think of you at all. Personally I think you’re a great bunch to live amongst, but that doesn’t help you get your asses in gear, does it? You cannot be OK with that. So direct your anger towards those bastards in Government. We need a conscience in power. Our conscience.
For now.
Buncrana Together will print letters and articles from readers. Statements and opinions expressed in these letters or articles are solely those of the author or authors and may or may not be shared by us.