Ivor Calley has been caught out on expenses, and yet he still clings on to the senate seat gifted to him by none other than Bertie Ahearn.
The only apt quote I can think of is from Oliver Cromwell
"You have sat too long for any good you have been doing lately... Depart, I say; and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go! "
Not only has he caused himself grief, he has also given Paul Gogarty a chance to give himself a bit of positive veneer work to save his skin, even though he continues to prop up the Fianna Fail party.
Dan Boyle of the Green Party, another Senate Apointee, called on Ivor Calley to resign from the Seánad.
One unelected Senator calls for another unelected Taoiseach nominee to resign
Another person jumping on the bandwagon is Fianna Fail TD Mary O'Rourke who said the controversial Senator should step down from the Seanad and stop looking for a way out of his problems.
Funny how Boyle, Gogarty and O'Rourke jump on the easy target while totally silent on the by-elections.
This follows his resignation from Fianna Fail following a Seanad Committee investigation into his expenses claims.
The Committee found him guilty of "conduct unbecoming".
There are others who sould be examined as to their expenses, Beverly Flynn in particular. RTE has failed in this regad, but at least TG4 had the guts to start looking into things.
The corruption allegations in the Calley case also draw attention away from the far more serious cuts in public services, NAMA and the fact that the people of Donegal South West do not have proper representation.
Calley is just one example of a corrupted and broken system.
Another quote from Vince Cable MP worth mentioning is that "Sometimes the best thing a government can do is simply get out of the way" i.e. let the Gardai look into fraud and corruption - like falsified reciepts
Well, gombeenism is still alive and well in Galway East. I wrote about Michael 'The Stroke' Fahy - Galway coco councillor before.
After being released from Prison on appeal he was allowed - how I dont know - to stand and win a seat at the council as an independent.
On his return to Galway coco Cllr Fahy did not refer to his own absence - but noted other developments such as the green light for the re-opening of the Athenry-Limerick railway line.
"It lifted my heart last Friday when I arrived back near my own home to see the work started on the railway line. It will be a huge boost for south Galway"
And we should have seen this as a warning shot of his intentions.
So, the Western corridor opened, and the Stroke pulled off another one, using his position to benefit himself from public finances.
He was jailed in 2007 in relation to fraud and attempted theft in connection with a fence constructed on his property during a road expansion in his area.
He was sentenced to a year in jail and fined 75,000, in a retrial in 2008 he was again convicted fraudulently obtaining benefits from the Council, convicted and fined 30,000.
He is appealing this.
But not to lose the big picture, while he is costing the tax payer money in apeal after appeal, he now has had a railway bridge constructed on his property, worth in the region of 2 million Euro.
A spokesperson from Irish rail would not confirm the cost on the grounds that individual prices paid for such strucures were sensitive commercial information that could predudice future transactions - so we cannot find out how.
The Councillor is one of only four farmers to benefit from the use of an overbridge on the railway line, he described its costruction as a coup.
A level crossing was not good enough for him.
This waste of resources, when 100,000 euro has been removed from the Galway west budget is a disgrace.
On the main Clifden Galway road, major roadworks are underway, and yet the people of South Connemara are not to get a traffic filter at the Recess cross road, which with the increase in speed on the road is becoming increasingly dangerous, with high road usage.
However, Cllr Fahy has managed to have an expensive structure built on his farm during the construction of a new railway line!
This has to be taken in context when we see that Representatives of Iarnród Éireann and of its parent body, CIE, appeared before the Oireachtas Transport Committee after media reports claimed that fraud and malpractice at Iarnrod Eireann could have cost the company close on €9 million.
Iarnród Éireann Chief Executive Dick Fearn broke down the €665,000; €271,000 related to collusion with a contractor, €363,000 to the illegal sale of railway equipment such as sleepers, and €30,000 to invoices for work not done.Three employees were dismissed as a result – but not, apparently, tried for fraud or jailed for what might well be described as theft.
Although the Stroke resigned from FF he is still close with senior members of the party, Mary Hanafin TD, daughter of Sen. Des Hanafin in particular - does this nepotism ever end!!
Sen Hanafin senior was a very conservative FF member, oposing divorce, and his son continues in that vein with his opposition to gay marriage.
Mary Hanafins Mother Mona, and Brother - Senator Hanafin - were among a select group who welcomed him home on his release from prison.
Since then Sen. John Hanafin has been appointed to a very plum position on the permanent delegation to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
And there is the issue that despite the fact he could not attend meetings because he was jailed County Councillor Michael Stroke Fahy kept his council seat and pay.
Galway County Council approved a request by Cllr Fahy that ensured he would not lose his sea
A resolution proposed by Cllr Michael Regan (FF) and seconded by Cllr Tomás Mannion (FF) meant that the local government act did not apply to Cllr Fahy for missing meetings in March and April because he was "sick and in Dublin"
These actions allowed Fahy to keep his seat and further benefit himself at the publics expense, at a time of cutbacks, reductions in public spending and increased hardship for the average citizen, the Stroke got his bridge to nowhere.
Tribal loyalties and ties to FF still hold strong, despite corruption and gombeenism.
FORMER FIANNA Fáil MEP and minister of state Eoin Ryan got a great runner up prize from Brian Linehan - a gift from one 3rd generation politico to another.
He has been appointed as an alternate director on the board of the London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)
Eoin lost the European Parliament seat he first won in 2004 lost in last year’s election to Joe Higgins, of the Socialist Party.
This despite being the top spender in the elections in the Republic, with expenses of almost €215,000.
He will now serve a three-year term at an annual salary of €125,614.
He replaces the very impressive Anne Counihan, UCD graduate, a solicitor both in Ireland and England, a graduate of the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School, a former member of the Irish Aviation Authority Board and the board of Bord na Móna for five years.
She is also president of the Corporate and Public Lawyers Association, the main Irish association of in-house lawyers.
Eoins main qualification is that he comes from a family steeped in Fianna Fáil.
His father was a Senator, and FF's director of elections in the 1977 general election.
His grandfather was a cabinet minister in various Fianna Fáil governments.
Eoin was educated at St. Mary's College, Rathmines, College of Commerce, Rathmines and Kildalton Horticulture College, County Kilkenny.
He was elected to Dublin City Council in 1985.
In 1989 he was elected to Seanad Éireann.
In 1992 he was elected to Dáil Éireann and again in 1997.
In 1999 he was made Minister of State with responsibility for National Drug Strategy.
In 2004 he was elected to the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency.
The bank in was established in 1991 to help develop a new private sector in the countries of the former Soviet bloc - i.e. outsourcing to cheaper wage zones.
We have economists, and unemployed trained bankers in this country - people far more qualified for the position.
Why can we not have Oireachtas approval hearings?
We should at least to ensure that important appointments will be for the benefit of the state as opposed to party hacks.
Justice must be done, and must be seen to be done. We the People are expected to accept - in good faith - the word of the Government, accept paycuts, levees, cutbacks and increased direct and indirect taxes to bail out bankers and developers who paid a lower rates than mid level earners at the height of the boom.
Thats all well and good - until the media (finally) start to ask questions.
Then answers are refused under the so-called freedom of information act.
A private enquiry is of no use, a tribunal is too expensive, what we need, and what we deserve is a DIRT style enquiry now. And dont think for a minute that it will be any different under FG
There are too many of them involved in speculation and land deals to be any less wary.
How much more of this do we have to put up with - seriously FF/FG are two cheeks of the one arse, and we need a change.
Voting for FG to replace FF is like turkeys voting for Christmas - it is not in our best interests.
One poster at boards found many Fine Gael politicians engaged in significant property development and the usual dynastic traits.
Sean Barrett FG - investigated by the Mahon Tribunal - with a portfolio of interests is registered in Jersey
Frank Feighan FG has properties in France, Bulgaria and dotted around Ireland.
Deirdre Clune FG - succeeded her father Peter Barry and Grandfather Anthony Barry as TD
Simon Coveney FG - succeeded his father Hugh Coveney as TD
Michael Creed FG - succeeded his father Donal Creed as TD
Now we learn that Herr Klaus Regling, a former IMF economist, has been appointed to investigate the crisis.
Mr Regling will publish a report on the crisis in tandem with Central Bank Governor Patrick Honohan.
Lets not forget that Mr. Honohan's central bank, with lack of oversight and regulation allowed us to sleepwalk into the current crisis, and people involved in the investigation may not want all details to come out.
The two preliminary inquiries are due to be completed by the end of May,
Neither report will be subject to a public hearing.
Already Herr Regling has said this timeframe is not likley without a 2nd assistant.
Only after the initial investigation will a Commission be established and asked to report by the end of the year.
Its terms of reference will be set by the Oireachtas but its proceedings will be conducted in private - which regardless of what Mr. Gormley says, is secret.
Yes, if we are to have an enquiry there must be terms of reference, but will this be a drawn out investigation to see FF - and other partys - through to the other side of a General Election?
A cause for concern is that people from inside a bureaucracy often do not ask the right questions, as the UK Iraq War inquiry is showing. Focus on procedure can stop questions on how decisions were actually made, and who made them.
This might also repeat the mantra that there is no alternative to NAMA, and a drawn out investigation into the past avoids debate into NAMA alternatives and how to deal with the future
I do not doubt Herr Regling's integrity but we need someone, outside the system, with a focus on dealing with corruption, not mechanism.
I would also like to see full and frank disclosure of Herr Reglings financial interest in Ireland in relation to his work managing funds.
And we need someone with no vested interests in the Irish financial or political systems - like Herr Regling and Mr Honohan
It is no wonder Ireland is rapidly going down the tubes. We have a situation where the Law is not enforced in relation to standards in public service.
In the recent local elections, East County Galway Loughrea electoral area, Michael 'Stroke' Fahy of Ardrahan was re-elected.
In Ireland the nickname “stroke” is for someone good at “pulling strokes” - that is getting things done in a sly way for family, friends and supporters.
Now Mr Fahy has pulled a big Stroke for himself - In 2004 he resigned from FF when it emerged that he was at the centre of a Garda investigation. He continued to serve as an independent councillor.
After due process and a Jury trial in 2007 the Stroke was finally jailed in respect of the erection of more than a mile of fencing on his land. He was sentenced to 12 months in prison and fined €75,000.
A Jury at Galway Circuit Criminal Court found him unanimously guilty on seven charges brought under the Larceny and Theft and Fraud Offences Acts arising from the erection of boundary fencing on his land under a local authority improvement scheme
At his conviction, the Judge - Mr Groarke - told him that the most aggravating factor was the serious breach of trust by an elected public representative, who had defrauded the very body to which he had been elected to a position of trust.
Passing sentence, Judge Groarke said that while the offences were serious enough in themselves, Fahy had attempted to implicate an innocent man and had shown little concern or remorse.
He had displayed "bombast, bluster and bluff" in the witness box while he gambled with the reputations of honest men.
Support
In an attempt to remove him a motion was entered.
A councillor may be deemed to have resigned his seat if absent from meetings of the authority for a continuous period of six months, and he had spent 7 months in prison - but there is provision within the Local Government Act for the local authority to take into account a councillor's illness or failure to attend "in good faith for another reason".
Jail is hardly a measure of good faith
On September 11 2007 he got another unanimous verdict.
This time the backing of his council colleagues for his bid to hold onto his seat - the defeat of a motion apparently aimed at heading to have him removed from his seat for failing to attend council meetings - a bit tricky when in prison
Around 19 of the councillors of the 30 who were in power of the time have been re-elected
What is wrong with them?
Why are they willing to support a convicted thief who tried to damage honest council staff ?
On Pay???
It actually gets worse.
What makes this whole case galling is that after finally being incarcerated - due to the support of the other elected councillors - the council had to continue to pay Stroke even though he was in jail for defrauding the council
- and could not attend meetings - i.e - do the job for which he was being paid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was apparently because of the appeal process.
Stroke confirmed he received the payments when contacted by the Irish Independent.
Thats our money - being paid to a convict who is in jail when he was meant to be working for us!
Stroke said he would have lost his council seat if the payments had stopped.
Fahy refused to say whether he was able to provide a service to his constituents while he was in prison. "I've no comment on that," he said.
He received a total of €21,083 in wages, expenses and allowances from the council in 2006.
He received a total of €20,298 in wages and conference expenses in 2007.
Stroke said the conference expenses, which totaled almost €3,700, were claimed for conferences he attended prior to his incarceration.
He said absolutely no expenses were claimed by him during his time in jail - one would hope so.
Of course, on his release – and at liberty on appeal he has fought and won another election, and one assumes he was paid by the council through 2008 and 2009.
Re-election
Now, we actually have laws against criminals running for office.
Certain people are disqualified from becoming members of a local authority:
People who have been imprisoned for a term longer than 6 months. People who have been convicted of fraud or dishonest dealings, corrupt practice or acting while disqualified.
(This is for 5 year after end of sentence, not 5 bloody weeks)
People who have failed pay local authority charges. People who have failed to comply with an order of a court to pay money due to a local authority.
Also excluded are members of the European Commission, Parliament or Courts, A Minister of the Government, the Chairman of the Dáil and the Chairman of the Seanad.
Judges, The Comptroller and Auditor General, Members of an Garda Siochana (Irish police force) or a full-time member of the Irish defence forces.
Civil servants such as teachers, health board officials etc. are also excluded!!!
It seems to me if I dont pay a parking fine - I cant run, but even after defrauding tens of thousands, and being convicted he can ?
The reason he could run again it appears is even though he had served eight months when the Court of Criminal Appeal struck down the conviction and ordered a retrial.
So he ran - and won.
Two months after his release he has had his case listed for retrial in Galway Circuit Criminal Court. Although the case has been referred to the Galway courts by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), there is speculation that it will be sent to the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on the grounds that it would be difficult to convene a jury in Galway that would be unaware of the original trial.
Friends say that news of the retrial has come as an enormous shock to him. I find that hard to believe.
How much more will this man cost?
Regardless of court costs incurred by the tax payer so far, don’t forget that the Stroke is perhaps the longest serving member of Galway CoCo, he has been in the Council since 1979.
That’s 30 years.Each outgoing councilor is entitled to something in the region of EUR 3500 per year served, so to be conservative – lets say 3000 per annum severance, that’s 90K if not more.
What a Country? Feck that, What a County!
To those 18,292 (58.9% of the district) of you who went out and voted - I applaud you - even if you voted for this guy - and a lot of you did.
But the other 12679 of you who did not, and could have stopped a convicted corrupt politician being re-elected, I have one thing to say -
