Be careful for what you wish for… Gaza, Ireland & death of our citizens.

This week we have seen Israel invade Gaza, not for the first time, with the slaughter of  its inhabitants. We’ve also seen the downing of a Malaysian Airlines Jet with the loss of life of those people on board. We’ve witnessed the ongoing dispute with Greyhound Bins who demand massive reductions to workers wages. We’ve also seen the few thugs in the Gardai manhandle citizens, as Vincent Browne likes to refer to us, outside the American Embassy and elsewhere. The sight of ill mannered thugs in police uniforms dragging a man on his head along the road, does nothing to enhance the image of a demoralised police force whose members I’ve found to be, by and large, good people putting their lives on the line to protect us all. We have seen more people dispossessed of their homes by the Banks as well as the horror of suicides devastating our people. Medical cards have been taken away from the sick and elderly and there is the ongoing battle against the privatisation of water and the ensuing water charges being imposed. Property taxes have been introduced by our Government although Enda Kenny, our beloved leader, has been against them in a previous existence.

From atrocities in Gaza to the IMF’s insistence on dumbing down the Health Services in Ireland as too much money was being spent, there is one common denominator. That is that it is people who are the target of all of these measures. Not Giant Corporations or the Banking Community. The Arms Trade is blooming. Maybe pension schemes should invest in this business as it seems to that giant corporations are where your money should be. Definitely not in anything that remotely resembles local business or indeed supporting the citizen and the local economy.

We live in a time when people are being controlled and relabeled not as citizens, but as consumers. The country is not being run to benefit the citizen but to enhance the profits of Big Business in all its guises. When you dehumanize citizens, it is quite acceptable, in their minds, that they can be collateral damage. Sure what if a few thousand are killed or unemployed, or just left to die at the side of the road? Profits are what matters. Businesses that profit the Elites are given tax incentives to come and set up businesses in Ireland today. Our priorities are to enrich these Elites at the expense of the citizen. At the same time services for the citizen are being curtailed while more taxes are being thought up by our Government every other day of the week.

There is more ways than bombing people out of existence, as is happening in Gaza, to control people. The loss of your job, home, medical benefits, social welfare entitlements and the imposition of unjustified taxes on people at the behest of the IMF and their fellow travellers, is indeed akin to actually bombing them out of existence. In Ireland today, people are suffering and dying while others enrich their lifestyles. Our Government have taken directions from the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the International Banking fraternity and imposed their directives on the Irish people. These imposed changes are killing our people. Despite the efforts of our marvellous doctors and nurses, people are dying on trolleys in overcrowded hospitals. It is the most vulnerable in our society who are suffering the most but this does not change anything. As a lawyer, I see the high street solicitor and the junior barristers suffering on a daily basis and struggle to survive. These are the lawyers who represent you, the people. I do not see the lawyers servicing the interests of the Corporate set suffer at all. In fact they thrive as they are paid handsomely by Big Business and Governments and International Bankers. The rights of workers are being eroded on a daily basis and these short-term contracts in lieu of proper terms of employment are giving our people no security to enjoy their lives and raise their families with any degree of certainty for the future.

If  history have thought us anything, it’s that war follows on from a recession. With all the political manoeuvring by the super powers, financed by the Elites and the insistence on control of oil and natural resources to call their own regardless of where located, the future does look bleak for the ordinary man, woman and child.  Not so bleak for the Big Corporations who are hungry in their pursuit of financial gain, both short and long-term. Our Government have played and indeed continue to play their part as the good boys of Europe and have not ever taken a stance for the citizens of this country. The continued imposition of austerity, despite the suffering of the Irish people is akin to the imposition of fascism on the nation. No doubt our Ministers, on the instructions of the Government, will follow the party line, so to speak, and give support to those Elites that demand the continuing demoralising of the Irish people for some time to come, while lending our support to whatever super power we’re to be aligned with, regardless of the cost to the Irish people.

We are told we live in a democracy. On a daily basis we see wars fought to bring democracy to people all over the world. Democracy I was taught, was Government by the people for the people. Well the democracy we’re witnessing throughout the world would appear to be fully under the control of Major Corporations whose interest is far from anything that is pro people. Be careful for what you wish for.

 

LegalEagleStar , Monday , 21st. July , 2014.

A Depleted Police Force Rings Bells of Corruption #GardaSiochana

Over a lifetime of involvement in the law, I’ve had to deal with the Garda Siochana on many levels. I have seen the progress as well as the demotion of individual Gardai and by and large I have been impressed with the level of integrity and humanity that most show when carrying out their duties. Of course, we come upon the odd bad apple, as in all walks of life, but unfortunately there is nothing as rotten as a bad Cop. The misuse of the Garda Siochana is what annoys me the most. When political influence interjects to corrupt the Force it spells disaster.

In the Ireland of the 1970’s there was no shortage of Gardai to man the ‘political police’ who spent many hours working against those who threatened the State. Politicians left no stone unturned to capture their ‘enemies’ and legislation was enacted to allow for the detention of ‘suspected terrorists’ when the need arose. People were targeted for the most menial of reasons and I personally believe that many became involved in the ‘troubles’ as a direct result of police action who would otherwise not have done so. My point is, that once the State felt threatened, it threw all it’s resources to protect itself regardless of the consequences to the civil rights of those who, for one reason or another became politically active against it. There was never any issue of not having enough ‘Special Branch’ on the ground and manpower was never an issue. The State in this instance was in fact not you and me but the interests of those in power. The old ‘civil war’ politics which have divided this country for many years were alive and well. The Free State was to be protected at all costs.

Times, they are a changing. Today politics have moved on. The Good Friday Agreement has unleashed those who ‘threatened the State’ into mainstream politics. This can be nothing but a good thing, although unfortunately it has left behind some of those who feel that the politicians are now pursuing another agenda. I  suppose, following the Civil War in the 1920’s there were those who felt betrayed and disfranchised. That is where the politicians fail. Not to be inclusive is to distract from the reality. I truly hope that progress can be made to bring about an inclusive society where the rights and aspirations of the Citizen can be nourished, not quashed.

Today in Ireland, we have many problems. Most have been due to the ineptitude, self-interest and downright corruption of the political classes. As a State we have lost our sovereignty. Joan Burton, Labour Party, has stated that we have pooled our sovereignty with our friends in Europe. This loss, or pooling, is in the interests of those who want a United States of Europe, a matter that has never been openly put to the Irish Citizen. Nonetheless, we are now being dictated to by Foreign Powers regardless of our wishes.

The interference with the independence of the Garda Siochana and the cut-backs being imposed by our Government, clearly at the behest of others, including the International Monetary Fund, the IMF, have left the Citizen exposed to forces whose objective is the dismantling of society as we know it. Only last night on National Television we saw the open drug dealing on the streets of our capital city, Dublin. Some have asked why RTE cameras could expose the transactions taking place while the Gardai on film seemed to be acting under crude restrictions. From talking with members of the Force over the last while, I have received an education. Their resources have been cut to such an extent that it has become nigh impossible for them to carry out their duties. The Force has become depressed as a result and the Citizen is the one suffering the brunt of the actions of the politicians. This begs the question… ‘In whose interest are the Garda Siochana acting?’ Well, they are there to protect the State. They take their orders from the political classes, those same people who have sold out our sovereignty to others whose interests are not in line with those of the Irish Citizens.

Who is benefiting from the cutbacks? Well as shown, clearly not the Citizen or indeed the Garda Siochana themselves. Who then benefits? Well I suggest the Drug Lords, Corrupt Bankers, White Collar Crime etc.  One could suggest they are one and the same people ! The Gardai, despite their misuse on picket lines are our protectors. We should listen to them when they tell us they are suffering. When the old and vulnerable in our society are being brutalised by thugs and gangsters who operate now freely in our society.  Is it not time to call an immediate halt to the disastrous policies on policing currently being imposed by our current Government ?  Or is it now fact that they really control nothing and that policy is being dictated solely by a Higher Force which is blind to the needs of the ordinary citizen. If the same mentality existed today as in the 1970’s as regards the protection of the interests of the State, things would be very different. Or would they? In those dark days as today, maybe the interests of the political classes are still being served. Maybe the Gardai have been used all along to protect the Elites among us, not the ordinary citizen. Today the Gardai rank and file are not happy being used and abused in this way. But, will anything change ?

LegalEagleStar , Friday , 22 nd. June , 2012 .

I’m so Depressed

Q   I  AM  feeling very depressed at the moment as I am writing this note from my hospital bed.

Last Saturday week I was knocked from my bicycle. I was taken by ambulance here to hospital. I can remember being hit by this car which didn’t stop. There were no witnesses.  Is there anything I can do ?

 

A   FORTUNATELY , Yes. A personal injury solicitor can take instructions from you even as you sit in your hospital bed.

He/she will have your accident fully investigated in order to ascertain the facts before proceeding. Presumably the Gardai would also be involved. If the motorist can be found he/she would be the defendant. If would appear unlikely that the hit and run driver will be found, but don’t distress yourself as the Motor Insurance Bureau of Ireland must now deal with such cases.

 

THE STAR , Friday March 23, 1990

Serving under-age drinkers

Q   I AM very annoyed with my local off-licence and am wondering if I can do something legally about the fact that they served my fifteen year old daughter alcohol. Over the Christmas period she returned one night very drunk. I was disgusted and shocked that someone would serve alcohol to a fifteen year old.

A   YOU should advise the Gardai that the off-licence served alcohol to a minor and let them investigate the matter. Annually the off-licence must apply to the District Court for a renewal of the licence. You can attend and voice your objections. Go to the off-licence yourself and voice your disapproval of their serving your daughter.

THE STAR ,  Friday January 12, 1990