Barry Clifford: Shattered

If anyone out there is in any doubt still that this country that we call Ireland is reeked in anything but corruption, and more importantly institutionally so, please read on:

Alan Shatter is the minister of justice, and yet hides behind that very title in order to obstruct it in defending at every possible turn the Irish Police led by their very weak mouth piece, Martin Callinan. The latter is so embattled and downright embarrassing to listen to in the first place that I wince by the very sight of him. He is the stereotype that is hired in order to defend the indefensible.

Shatter told the government that a group he commissioned had established that a wi-fi device in the GSOC’s office was connected to an external wi-fi system in a nearby coffee shop. But then declared it to be harmless and unintentional, and amazingly was not even a security breach. Of course up to this time of writing they had also found the presence of a UK 3G mobile network in the same offices despite such networks not operating in Ireland. More importantly they also found that the chairman of the GSOC, Simon O’ Brien, landline's office phone was bugged but old Alan failed to mention that, ever.

The conclusion still of Shatter: that there was no evidence of bugging at all at the GSOC’s offices, or more to the point he was quoting another and slightly earlier firm that told him that.

Sinn Fein described the debacle of the latest proposed enquiry as hiring a fox to design the chicken coop. I could not agree more.

The fox, or at least one of them, our erstwhile Police Commissioner Callinan again, said with a straight face that he welcomed the new investigation (as well as the old) and that the force would fully co-operate with it even though they have never fully cooperated before with anyone that very much includes the GSOC. 

The irony of it all is that the GSOC was set up to watch over what had become an internal mercenary Police force, but the tables have turned for it is now the other way around: the watched have become the watchers. 

This is all done with the blessing, apparently so far, with the minister for justice who in turn answers to the Irish government that was originally elected by the people of this country.

 Oh, I am sorry, you might have thought this was a democracy too.

Barry Clifford