Anglo Irish Bank; why Ireland's new normal may not take after all

Last week, the world gained an insight into the " new normal" in Ireland. It is essentially a refusal to prosecute any major criminal behaviour if any such behaviour has demonstrable links with people still in the Irish establishment. What is fed to the Irish people is a set of school morality plays and patronizing moral speeches from on high;



http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/president-higgins-says-anglo-tapes-highlight-greedy-attitudes-29384062.html



So it went for the recent abortion case, where a tribunal of inquiry was rigged and nobody mentioned that sepsis is so poorly understood that tens of thousands (few of them pregnant)  die each year from it in the USA. Moreover, the theft in the music business, wherein a state agency had sold bootlegs of Irish artists and in so doing destroyed a whole generation of musicians; has gone unpunished even after a US Federal court case revealed the scam and resulted in victory for the musicians; ;

Millions of bootleg tracks by Irish musicians sold through Walmart


In short, as the preceding post demonstrates for the universities, there is no protection for anyone in Ireland against fraud. The new normal is impunity for the establishment. My own solution has been to set up an educational institution in which students can do world-class courses in freedom. however, there are individuals much better placed than me to put pressure on the Irish establishment, and one such is Angela Merkel, the source of the largesse that keeps the current Irish colonial administration in power. she has declared what happened a threat to democracy


Indeed, it clearly is;

http://www.independent.ie/blog/listen-to-the-full-anglo-recordings-29367462.html



What we know for sure is that



1. Anglo's John Bowe deliberately  misled the Irish Central Bank into giving E7 billion of taxpayers' money. Had he told the truth, Ireland might still be an economically sovereign state;



2. The Irish cops, who probably are the source of these tapes, knew about this 4 years ago;



3. No prosecution has been done and none proposed, beyond a token and much -delayed attempt to prosecute minor players for cooking the books, a slap on the wrist affair, a school play,  that infuriated the judge assigned to it as the director of corporate enforcement repeatedly held things up

So what will happen? Well,  it is clear that we were never meant to hear those tapes. Indeed, the delay in and obstruction of prosecution may primarily have been about preventing us from hearing them. However, Ireland's MO is now in the court of world opinion. That court is being less understanding and I ask you to consider that to be perhaps not such a bad thing.

The state as weapon against its citizens; autonomous statutory responsibilities

The glory neocon years witnessed many sinister emanations from think-tanks. I feature the political science of these in my recent book as on my UC Berkeley conference proceedings of “Ireland in crisis” (in press, CSP);

http://www.amazon.com/Ireland-A-Colony-Once-Again/dp/1443840858

http://events.berkeley.edu/index.php/calendar/sn/ihouse.html?event_ID=55681

While the Iraq war – recently described in Harper's magazine as a failed pour encourager les autres move by Wofowitz – was the worst, others were infinitely more subtle. The elision of civil society and the total corporate takeover of the state were to be simultaneous. So in Ireland music was to be controlled through a “rights” organization called IMRO that relentlessly tightened its grip over venues - some of which closed partially because IMRO charged too much after its being given a state monopoly in a corrupt fashion – and musicians, who without any meeting of minds handed all their IP over.

What happened in the Irish universities was the flip side; allowing a state body behave outside the law. You can find my original commentary here;

http://seanonuallain.blogspot.com/2012/06/tenure-iuil-2011.html

What is of interest is how the ASR doctrine works out in terms of abuse of students of staff, and the budget - a list of Dail proceedings is given below. We can also take it straight from the horse;s mouth;

http://www.education.ie/en/Publications/Education-Reports/A-Brief-Description-of-the-Irish-Education-System.pdf

“The Universities Act, 1997 is the first comprehensive legislation that affects all seven

universities in the State. The Act sets out the relationship between the State and the

universities. It confers autonomous statutory responsibilities on universities in relation

to the day-to-day management of their affairs, designates modes of accountability and

strategic planning procedures for quality assurance, while respecting the academic

autonomy of the universities. The Regional Technical Colleges Act, 1992 and the

Dublin Institute of Technology Act, 1992 provide autonomy to the Institutes of

Technology within an overall policy, budgetary and quality assurance framework

designed to ensure full accountability”

This is just balderdash. It has also turned out to be too cute by half, a demonstration of why the Irish state cannot be trusted to run universities. My response was to register universityofireland.com as a joke; when the situation went beyond parody, it became clear that a rival institution that protest scholars (and the taxpayers' money) will be a very healthy addition.

I end with three exemplification of our homegrown Wolfowitz doctrine;

I Students(Gogarty's Parliamentary questions -Pqs)

http://debates.oireachtas.ie/dail/2003/05/21/00081.asp

193.  Mr. Gogarty      asked the Minister for Education and Science      if the autonomous responsibilities delegated to universities under the Universities Act 1997 means they can effectively obey the laws of the land when it suits them. [14004/03]

  194.  Mr. Gogarty      asked the Minister for Education and Science      if his attention has been drawn to the fact that SIPTU has called a vote of no confidence in the human resources department at DCU; and if his Department intends to monitor the ongoing breakdown in staff relations and disputes over non-compliance with the Universities Act 1997. [14005/03]

  195.  Mr. Gogarty      asked the Minister for Education and Science      the reason he refuses to intervene in documented cases of intimidation and bribery of students, financial irregularities and an unfair dismissal as upheld by a rights commissioner, when it is obvious that DCU management's undertakings to engage with these serious issues have not been carried out. [14006/03]

  196.  Mr. Gogarty      asked the Minister for Education and Science      if his attention has been drawn to a case (details supplied); if there is action he can take in such cases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14007/03]

Minister for Education and Science (Mr. N. Dempsey):    I propose to take Questions Nos. 193 to 196, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy is aware, the Universities Act, 1997 confers autonomous statutory responsibilities on universities in the day to day management of their affairs. The conduct of staff relations is a matter for each university, in accordance with section 25 of the Act. In this context it would not be appropriate for me to comment on or intervene in operational management or individual disciplinary issues within a particular university such as the issue raised by the Deputy. However, I have been informed by the Higher Education Authority that the university in question is satisfied that it is properly discharging its responsibilities under the Universities Act 1997 and is conducting its affairs at all times in conformity with the laws of the land.

PS Gogarty then changed sides.............and his notorious outburst was the day after the Cahill vs DCU verdict was announced, showing he'd aimed low and missed

II Bullying of Staff

http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0578/D.0578.200401270284.html

Mr. N. Dempsey (Minister for Education): The Universities Act 1997 confers autonomous statutory responsibilities on universities in the day-to-day management of their affairs. My Department does not collect information on the issues raised by the Deputy. I have no proposals to carry out a study on bullying in Irish universities.

Dáil Éireann 578 Written Answers Bullying in the Workplace.

(Higgins Pqs)

505. Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science his plans to carry out a study of the extent of the problem of bullying in Irish universities. [1847/04]

  506. Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the total cost in legal fees for each university arising from Irish universities contesting cases of bullying through the courts between 1998-2003. [1848/04]

  507. Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the total number of cases relating to bullying involving staff or ex-staff of Irish universities brought through the courts between 1998-2003. [1849/04]

  508. Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the amount of money expended in out of court settlements between 1998-2003 arising from Irish universities contesting cases of bullying through the courts. [1850/04]

  509. Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Education and Science the number of out of court settlements between 1998-2003 arising from Irish universities contesting cases of bullying through the courts. [1851/04]

Ans

[525]   Mr. N. Dempsey:I propose to take Questions Nos. 505 to 509, inclusive, together.

The Universities Act 1997 confers autonomous statutory responsibilities on universities in the day-to-day management of their affairs. My Department does not collect information on the issues raised by the Deputy. I have no proposals to carry out a study on bullying in Irish universities.

III De Money!!

http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2008-12-02.1692.0

Seán Barrett (Ceann Comhairle; Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)

Question 427: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if it is proposed to cut funding to a college (details supplied) in Dublin 2; his views on the consequences for the deaf community of such a reduction, in terms of teacher, university lecturer and sign language interpreter education, and educational delivery to deaf and hard of hearing students; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43360/08]

Batt O'Keeffe (Minister, Department of Education and Science; Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

The Universities Act, 1997, confers autonomous statutory responsibilities on universities in relation to the day to day management of their affairs and it is a matter for each university to manage their financial resources. The Universities receive a recurrent block grant from the Higher Education Authority (HEA), which is the statutory planning and development body for higher education and research in Ireland and is the funding authority for the universities.

I understand from the HEA that in recent years the University referred to by the Deputy requested and received specific funding for the Centre referred to, as part of their overall recurrent grant. The University again made a request to the HEA for specific funding for the Centre for 2009. This request was recently agreed by the HEA and I understand that the Authority has notified the University of the position.

With regards to general recurrent funding allocated by the HEA, it is a matter for each institution to determine how it is allocated internally and each institution may determine the internal disbursement of such funding and may allocate additional funding over and above that earmarked by the HEA if they so wish.