Sir, – I’m confused. As a recent blow-in from Boston – where political corruption and the vigorous prosecution of same is a thriving industry – I fail to see the point of the Mahon tribunal. Will our €300 million investment result in remedial legislation and reorganised local government, not to mention a few marquee prosecutions? My 20 years in Ireland tell me not to hold my breath.
The only Mahon dividend, I fear, will be idle pub chatter, backslapping opinion pieces, and retrospective TV documentaries set to a snappy soundtrack.
And so it goes. – Yours, etc,
A chara, – The appointment of a planning regulator, as recommended by the Mahon tribunal, does not go far enough. There are systematic problems in our present planning system. It is inefficient, expensive, and as the report proves, it leads to corruption. We are a relatively small country: do we really need 114 local authorities, including 88 planning authorities? – Is mise,
Sir, – Derek Mac Hugh, (March 27th) considers our senior citizens to be this country’s bedrock, who have “watched in silence as their legacy is ripped asunder”.
May I suggest that he review the age profile of most actors in the Mahon tribunal. He should then look at the age profile of Fianna Fáil’s voters in 1997, 2002, and 2007. No demographic was so shamelessly courted by Fianna Fáil and feared by all parties. It was the same senior citizens who brazenly resisted means-testing of medical cards as special needs teachers were being cut. It was this generation who turned a blind eye to Haughey’s lifestyle as he destroyed standards in public life in this country, paving the way for Flynn, Ahern et al.
It is the much younger generation which is paying the price for the older generation’s morals and ethics. Ireland’s youth have never benefited from the wisdom of our elders. The Irish sow has always seen fit to consume its farrow.
I would suggest that the senior citizens reflect on their voting record and accept that they are every bit as culpable as the patriots they elected. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – While most of Europe engages with competing political philosophies, we in Ireland wrestle with competing political persuasions.
If Mahon teaches us nothing else it should be that populist crumbs should no longer persuade us and that good governance rests on the principle of doing the right thing even when it is not popular. To my mind, the household charge is a case in point. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – The Mahon tribunal took 15 years and cost €250 million. This report could have been released next month but it seems to have been released to coincide with the Government handing over €3.1 billion. This government has been very good at diverting attention from its actions since it began its tenure in office. It seems that absolutely nothing has changed with our political class; just the figures have got bigger. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Does this all mean that the horse actually lost? – Yours, etc,
Sir, – If the obscenely expensive tribunals have proved one thing it is this; McCarthyism is not yet dead! If politicians have been found to have broken the law, try them in a court of law and film the proceedings. A billion euro for tribunals and all for what? For five years in the early 1950s America, Joeseph McCarthy could level any accusation at any individual without proper evidence as would be needed in a court of law and in consequence destroyed many lives. Rumours, not facts were used to condemn.
Witch hunts terrorised the innocent. Dozens were black-listed and lost their livelihoods. Reputations were damaged by smear tactics. Accusations were the currency of proof.
Tribunals by legal definition are a waste of time, a waste of money and have wasted respect for law. They have become the theatre of the absurd, telling us some things we already knew at a cost of almost €100,000 per page and there are almost 3,300 pages in the Mahon report!
Significant evidence should be the only criteria and a court of law the only place where reputations are weighed in the balance. Indiscriminate allegations, especially on the basis of unsubstantiated charges, should have no place in a civilised society, and the facilitator of this type of trial by media has been tribunals. – Yours, etc,
Sir, – Micheál Martin must be a very relieved man. The resignation of Bertie Ahern has solved a huge problem for Fianna Fáil and its national executive council. It now no longer has to discuss Mr Ahern’s possible expulsion for “conduct unbecoming” a member of the party. . . for what on earth could such conduct possibly be? – Yours, etc,