You are excused if you are not outraged, frustrated, disgusted, baffled, speechless, surprised, shocked and appalled at the behaviour of some of the leading authorities of this country but only if you have been living in a cave on Valentia Island or somewhere of equal isolation.
The afflictions which trouble my mind and this small island of ours in particular are those that relate to politics and the faith of its people in every sense of the word. These may not be your typical page turning topics but they merit the space on a white blank page because they are so important.
It troubles me to see our small land of tradition, poets, storytellers, heroes, political revolutionaries, brave war heroes, a country that prides itself on the generosity of its people, the vivaciousness of its people losing its way and falling apart at the seams.
We are currently in political turmoil. This correlates and trickles all the way into the national psyche and drains confidence in the people of this nation, sapping hope from the many people that are lost in the mire of financial obscurity, health problems and so on in these troubled times.
Over a sustained period we have seen the downfall of several leading political figures that were cornerstones of this so called "government". I suppose the ball started to really pick up the collective proverbial shit that these idiots have left strewn on our nation when it became apparent that tax payers were being taken complete advantage of when the tale of "The Expenses" came to light. Leading figureheads using taxpayers money to enjoy the finer things in life and make life as easy as possible on themselves while other people worked and suffered to grant those privileges. These politicians are meant to represent and serve the people not drain them of their earnings for their own benefit and take advantage of them. It seemed to me that John O Donoghue, the Ceann Comhairle who had to retire because of this matter, was made a scapegoat for this particular debacle. He was not the only guilty party with many other TD's weighing in but not taking responsibility for their actions which in my eyes painted them as cowards but that's their prerogative.
We then saw the resignation of poor old George Lee from the leading opposition party Fine Gael. Mr. Lee was seen as the great white hope of Fine Gael when he was voted in in the last general election with the second most first preference votes in the country. The people saw something in him that they believed could make a difference to the ailing fortunes of this country. An economist with RTE that saw into the future,he was considered a saving grace. However it became apparent to George a couple of months into his tenure he had become nothing more than a face for the party and felt he was not getting his fair crack at the whip. I personally don't know what he was thinking being such a public figure in the first place and secondly why did he not expect to have to bide his time to have a lasting impact on the party. He resigned in abject failure and in a whimsical fashion expecting the people to sympathise in his plight of not getting his way.
Then came the farce that was the Willie O Dea affair. The then Minister for Defence had the audacity to swear a false affidavit in court. He accused a candidate in the 2009 general elections of operating a brothel and was subsequently taken to court. He was taken to court on the basis of these allegations but swore in court he had made no such allegations. However it emerged an out of court settlement was made and the matter was put to the side until early in 2010 a vote of no confidence in Mr. O Dea was motioned. The Green Party conceded they had lost all confidence in Mr. O Dea and he subsequently resigned citing that he felt the furore surrounding these matters was taking away from the vital job the government was doing. The irony in this matter is Willie O Dea happens to be a qualified barrister who seemed unaware it was a crime to lie in court. Farcical. I rest my case.
Then came the resignation of Deirdre De Burca from the Green Party. A woman who felt she could not operate in the confines of a political party she felt no longer was true to itself which was quite refreshing it has to be said. Good enough reason and noble enough reason to resign, staying true to your values.
And last but not least we had dear old Trevor Sargent, the Green Party TD who embodied their values and probably should not have been lambasted over his actions which led to his honourable resignation. Formerly leader of the Greens, he contacted Gardai about an ongoing investigation regarding one of his constituents. It may not have been right but you could see where his loyalties lay,in those of his constituents which seems to be rare these days.
Cervical cancer vaccine, child deaths in the HSE not being investigated and 58,000 X-rays being left unchecked resulting in a death and numerous undiagnosed patients. These are just a few of the many revelations that have come to light in recent times about our health service. The woman responsible for overseeing these matters and safeguarding their implementation is none other than our very own Mary Harney. The most recent case to come to the nations attention was the Tallaght hospital X-ray scandal. The utter neglect of this matter is inexcusable yet Ms. Harney is not shouldering the blame. When news broke of the national scandal she was away on a "fact finding" mission in New Zealand and did not feel the urge to come home and manage the crisis. Her head should be on a platter.
The ongoing seemingly never ending church scandals are continuing to unearth fresh wounds with the news that Cardinal Brady one of the most senior bishops in this country was involved in a cover up back in the 1970's involving a priest and his penchant for children. It came to light some of these children were forced to keep quiet upon threat of ex-communication which was a very serious matter in those days. Cardinal Brady then quite blatantly explained he did not feel it was his responsibility to report this matter to the Gardai. He believes resignation on his behalf is not a matter warranting contemplation or discussion.
There is something rotten at the core of this country and its authoritative figures.
Bien sur Swanster, I'm impressed.
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