Confessions of a corrupt politician

Michael Lowry has today demanded more Dáil time to make his case in the debate on the Moriarty Tribunal report. He is demanding 45-50 minutes to make a statement. At present, the Government is only willing to give him 30 minutes, after an initial offer of 20 minutes.

The interesting thing about the above piece is not that the Irish media is treating Michael Lowry, one of the most corrupt politicians to ever serve in our national parliament, as a person with a legitimate right to defend oneself at the expense of the more important debate, but that Lowry is still an elected rep after the startling career which he has led.

In 1993 Michael Lowry became Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. He used this occasion to tell his party leader John Bruton that he planned to avail of a new government tax amnesty. This did not deter Bruton from appointing the tax cheat to cabinet. Lowry went ahead with the amnesty but lied to the Revenue, deciding not to reveal the true extent of his hidden income. The following year, he was made Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in the Rainbow Coalition government. Proof indeed that there is no room for honest people in politics.

In 1996, Lowry misled the Dail by failing to mention a series of large payments which he had received from Dunnes. He stated that if he had been trying to hide money he would have placed it in an offshore account, clearly indicating that he hadn't. In reality, Lowry had four offshore accounts, and Ben Dunne had paid IR£395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary. Lowry was forced to resign. A year later, he was re-elected with an extra 4,000 votes.

In March 2011 the Moriarty Tribunal found that the former Communications Minister Michael Lowry assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's consortium Esat Digiphone in acquiring a mobile phone licence in the mid-90s. For this he was heavily rewarded.

In the last four general elections, Michael Lowry has topped the poll in his native North Tipperary constituency. He has been the most popular candidate there each time despite it been widely accepted that he is a corrupted immoral man.

The interesting thing is that the electorate don't seem to care.

The Arab Spring

The Arab Spring is the name now popularly being given to the 2010-11 Middle East and North African protests and demonstrations that have been taking place since December 18th last.  The protests began in Tunisia where they led to the successful removal of President Zine El Abinde Ben Ali.  From here they spread rapidly, sharing techniques of civil resistance in sustained campaigns involving strikes, demonstrations, marches and rallies, as well as the use of social media such as Facebook and Twitter to organise, communicate, and raise awareness in the face of attempts at state repression and Internet censorship.

In Tunisia, the Jasmine Revolution forced President  Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to flee to Saudi Arabia.  This was followed by the outbreak of mass protests in Egypt, which led to President Hosni Mubarak, who had ruled Egypt for 30 years, resigning on 11 February 2011.  Around the same time the King of Jordan was forced to name a new President, and the the president of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, announced that he would not seek another term in office in 2013, after what would then be 35 years of rule.  Pro democracy protests in Bahrain and Libya followed.

In Algeria, major protests and riots caused the lifting of a nineteen year state of emergency.  In Lebanon, thousands took to the streets to protest the sectarian rule there.  Similar protests in Sudan led to President Bashir announcing he would not seek re-election.  Several ministers were sacked in Oman following major protests.  Economic concessions were also granted by the Sultan.  In Syria, mass protests led to the release of political prisoners and the sacking of a provincial governor.  In Morocco, a referendum on constitutional reform was announced following protests.  Prime Minister Maliki of Iraq was prevented from running for a third term after demonstrations there.  Protests in Iran led to the arrest of opposition leaders.  In Kuwait protesters clashed with riot police.

What has caused this widespread rebellion?

Economic turmoil, human rights violations, government corruption, mass unemployment and extreme poverty have all be named as factors.  Probably the biggest cause of the Arab Spring has been the growth of an educated and increasingly frustrated young generation.  This has been referred to as the YouthQuake in some quarters.  It remains to be seen whether or not this youth quake can bring about real and lasting change, or if the corrupt and bloated governments are simply replaced by more of the same.

Civil Liberties "suspended" in Bahrain

A senior leader in the Bahrain Freedom Movement has said that the small Persian Gulf monarchy is now under the control of a military regime that has suspended civil liberties and introduced new draconian laws to prevent any form of protest.

Amnesty International has condemned that recent government crack down against pro democracy protesters which has left at least twenty one people dead.  A "Day of Rage" has been called for today, Friday, by the February 14 Youth Movement.  The Bahrain government have arrested many known protesters in the past few days ahead of this planned protest.  Amnesty International believe that these people are 'prisoners of conscience' as they're only crime was to criticise the ruling regime.

 Earlier this week, the United Nations Human Rights Office criticized Bahrain for violating international law by targeting activists and medical staff.  All of this comes since the March 14th intervention of troops from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, who entered Bahrain to 'restore order'.

When the Wind Blows.

Had the pleasure of watching When the Wind Blows for the first time the other night. Well I say pleasure, but this animated movie warning of the terrible impact that a nuclear war would have upon an ordinary family was about as bleak as you can get.

When the Wind Blows follows the lives of Jim and Hilda Bloggs, a retired couple living in rural Sussex. They are living during a period of heightened tension in the cold war conflict, and Jim becomes obsessed with gathering information from the various civil defense pamphlets on what to do in the event of a nuclear war. The fact that both he and his wife grew up during the second world war leaves them completely mystified at the notion of a nuclear bomb, believing that life would continue as normal afterwards, just as it had after the blitz.

Jim spends much of the movie haplessly carrying out various precautions included in the defense pamphlets, often becoming confused at the different suggestions posted in different leaflets. His wife goes along with it, and his grown up son, who is never seen, finds it a bit of a joke. Then one sunny day, while listening to Radio Four, the dreaded three minute warning is given. Jim and Hilda take refuge under a shelter he has recently build using the doors of his house as the bombs drop.

The Blogs survive and incorrectly reason that the worst is over. In fact its only just beginning. The bombs have resulted in fallout, and soon both Jim and Hilda are suffering from radiation sickness. The film ends on a bleak note.

Many believe that it was bleak, realistic anti nuke movies like When the Wind Blows, Threads and The Day After that prevented a nuclear war. Ronald Reagan famously said that he had watched The Day After when he was President and it made such an impact on him that he felt he had to mediate with the Soviet Union and end the Cold War.

Fine Gael corruption! Shock horror!

The Moriarty tribunal has found that former minister for communications Michael Lowry secured the 1995 mobile phone licence competition for Denis O’Brien’s Esat Digifone. Mr Justice Michael Moriarty also found that Lowry  interfered in a rent arbitration process in an attempt to secure a benefit for the businessman Ben Dunne. Both Mr O Brien and Mr Dunne gave the former Fine Gael Minister "political donations" at the time.

Lets put this into context.

While holding the Ministry portfolio of Transport, Energy and Communications, Michael Lowry appears to carried some pretty big political favours for some pretty powerful and wealthy friends. The Moriarty tribunal certainly paints a picture that would indicate that the former Fine Gael Minister was bribed. Michael Lowry was sitting at the cabinet table of the last Fine Gael/Labour party coalition government. Sitting very close to him were Richard Bruton, Brendan Howlin, Ruairi Quinn, Michael Noonan and our new Taoiseach, Enda Kenny.

Enda Kenny.

The man who promised us a new type of politics during the last election campaign.

A man who led Fine Gael to an impressive victory on the promise of political reform and an end to all political corruption.

Today Mr Kenny's minions sneered at representatives of Sinn Féin, Fianna Fail and the United Left Alliance when they asked the simple questions; questions that had been poised only weeks ago by the Fine Gael party at our last government.

Was Deputy Lowry acting alone?

Did his cabinet colleagues have no idea of what was taking place?

And if they didn't, arnt they still guilty of the crime of total incompetence and being completely unfit to serve in a government cabinet?

Six members of our new government sat at that cabinet table with Michael Lowry.

I don't see any reason for Fine Gael to sneer now.