Clickin’ around on the internet, a news report on RTE 1 came over the terrestrial radio. It went along these lines…
The Government aims to shut Tribunal down
The government says this new law will only refer to future tribunals, and whether or not that’s true, it certainly does propose to limit the scope of inquiries into corrupt payments, some to ministers (charlie haughey, PF, and a HOST of others). and that’s the big problem, if they can’t continue they can’t uncover the truth. At the moment we can see only the miscellaneous patchwork of remembrances of one Tom Gilmartin, an embittered land developer.
The Tribunal under the guidance of Judges Alan Mahon, Mary Faherty and Gerard Keyes is slowly and methodically joining the dots. And the picture that is beginning to emerge is one of a culture of corruption past and present, connecting the town councils, the rich property developers, government ministers and perhaps the planning department. Implications of testimony by the current Irish leader, Bertie Ahern, indicate that paper envelopes are directed to the very top. Already, another tribunal uncovered the “reprehensible” financial activities of our former president Charlie Haughey.
Shutting down the tribunals is an enactment of an old law by that great Irish reactionary, Michael McDowell. It was first put into the process of enactment back in 2005 when those culprits involved in corrupt payments first perceived the danger to their position represented by the investigations of the Mahon Tribunal. The Tribunal is an investigation of corruption in the planning process but its investigations have found significant links between the government and these corrupt payments; Betwixt the Ministers of our Democracy and payments which undermined the democratic process.Bertie
