Political World
Don’t hold your breath for banking inquiry to uncover any shocking insight into crisis
Political World with Harry McGee – harrymcgee@gmail.com
Someone who is 28 now would have been twelve when the Moriarty and Mahon Tribunals of Inquiry began their work in 1997. And unless they were complete political junkies from the age of dot, they would have been unaware of the circumstances that gave rise to the inquiries, and would have had little interest in the proceedings through their teenage years.
By the time both Tribunals finally reported after many years, that person would have been past the mid-point of their twenties and reading (if they bothered) about events that were historical, that involved people who were prominent before they were born, some of whom were dead.
Tribunals by their very nature with their snail-like procedures (and frightful costs) make a mockery of the notion that they are inquiring into an urgent matter of public interest (which is what they are supposed to do).
This week, the Government gave the go-ahead for legislation that will allow a parliamentary inquiry into the banking crisis of 2008, the circumstances that led up to it, and the response of the authorities to the events that unfolded over the following two years.
All things being equal, and with a fair wind, the legislation may be enacted by the end of the year. The Oireachtas itself (through the Ceann Comhairle and the Committee on Procedure and Privileges) will have the power to set up the inquiry. But there are a lot of procedural hoops that will have to be overcome all of which will delay the start.
My guesstimate is that the earliest it can kick off with public hearings is late next year. And my tuppence worth is if it starts in late 2014, it’s going to have two major flaws – the first is that it has all taken too long and it will be falling into the same ‘historical’ trap as the tribunals; the second is that it will be so close to the next general election that the investigation will invariably become political.
So what are the hoops and possible delays? Well it’s taken an awful long time and that’s partly the Government’s fault and partly because of the botched referendum in October 2011, which was also the Government’s fault in a way.
Ireland was not the only country which witnessed spectacular collapses of banks and financial institutions.
We looked with envy at the US and at Britain where within months full-blown parliamentary inquiries had been held and the chief executives of failed banks were put through the ringer, particularly by the extraordinary scalpel-like Henry Waxman, who chaired the US Senate hearings into the collapse of Lehman Brothers and others.
Another example that was held up to show how shamateurish we were was the very quick prosecution and conviction of Bernie Madoff in New York.
But that’s not a direct comparison because Madoff was an out-and-out con artist who ran a Ponzi scheme which collapsed when his bank ran dry of gullible investors because of the financial collapse. It was a straightforward case.
Culpability, if there was any, in Irish banks was a horse of a different colour – much more complicated, much less apparent. The nearest comparitors were the heads of the collapsed banks in the US and in the UK. All were disgraced but how many were convicted? Zero, unless I’m mistaken.
Parliamentary inquiries haven’t been a reality in Ireland for almost two decades. They came to an unceremonious stop when the High Court ruled that a parliamentary inquiry into the shooting by Gardaí of John Carty in Longford had exceeded its powers.
Carty had mental problems and had holed himself in his family home with a shotgun. He was shot after emerging from the house with the shotgun in his hand and after being challenged by Gardaí.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
Academically, politics is described as a science. But in the real world, it’s more of an art – and one of the big decisions a Government has to make is to decide when to call an election.
Will they see out the full term, or will they go early – either to mitigate the damage they will ship, or to secure a victory before things go awry, or the economy takes a dip, or some kind of controversy erupts?
Timing is everything.
And there’s a bit of art to that – not to mention a lot of luck. If you call it early and win big, you’re a genius. If you call it early and lose, you are the political version of the village fool.
Charlie Haughey was a poor judge of the public mood. Twice he called snap elections and on both occasions they backfired. Haughey succeeded Jack Lynch as Taoiseach in late 1979 and did not – technically – have his own mandate. He tried to remedy that by calling an election in 1981. But it recoiled. Ray MacSharry warned him not to hold it during the H Block hunger strikes when republican prisoners were dying each day. He did not listen to the advice and found himself out of office.
After his return to power in 1987, Haughey tired of presiding over a minority government that kept on losing votes in the Oireachtas (the opposition won nine private members motions).
So he called a snap general election and it backfired. Fianna Fáil lost seats and had to broker a coalition deal with the Progressive Democrats and his long-standing political adversary Dessie O’Malley.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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World of Politics with Harry McGee
I was cycling down Mount Street in Dublin on Tuesday. It’s a wide esplanade that links the Grand Canal with Merrion Square. The street is a mixture of fine Georgian buildings and modern office blocks.
About half-way down is the office of the International Protection Office, which deals with asylum seekers who have arrived in the country.
Needless to say, the office has been overwhelmed in the past year. Besides an estimated 80,000 refugees who have arrived from Ukraine, there have been about 20,000 people from other parts of the world who have arrived into Dublin (mostly) claiming asylum.
The numbers peaked around Christmas, but they have been falling a little. In January, more than 1,300 people arrived seeking asylum but the numbers fell back to 831 and 858, in February and March respectively.
They are still huge numbers in a historical context.
So back to my cycle on Tuesday. I knew that some asylum seekers were camping outside the International Protection Office, but I was taken aback by how many. There were six tents lined up on the pavement directly outside. Then on the ramp that led down to the basement carpark on the side of the building, there were about another 20 tents.
It looked like what it was, a refugee camp in the middle of Dublin’s business district. If you pan out from Mount Street, you will find tents here and there in nearby streets and alleys. There were a good few tents in an alleyway off Sandwith Street about 500 metres away.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
World of Politics with Harry McGee
God that was a dramatic and historic weekend in England, wasn’t it? So much excitement, so much change, so much hype, so much out with the old and in with the new, and what looks like the coronation of a new leader. Yes, the local elections in Britain were something else weren’t they!
Apologies for not going on about King Charles III but the contract I signed when I became a lifelong republican forbids me to discuss the topic!
I know the British local elections sound a bit boring by comparison, but the results were stunning.
The Conservatives lost nearly 1,000 seats, the British Labour Party gained almost 500 and both the Lib Dems (with 350 gains) and the Greens (gaining over 200) also had amazing days at the polls.
It was Labour’s best day since 2002 but its victory was only partial. The Greens and the Lib Dems actually made gains at the expense of Labour in more affluent areas, and in parts of Britain where there were high numbers of graduates.
It was in the Red Wall constituencies in the North of England where the Labour recovery was strongest. These are working class constituencies with pockets of deprivation where people voted for the Labour Party forever. But all of those constituencies voted for Brexit and then voted for the Tories in the next general election. Labour is now winning back some of those votes.
Local elections are classified as second-tier elections which essentially means – from a national perspective – they are not life-or-death affairs, and not everything turns on them. Of course, it’s really important to have good local representation. But they are not an amazing weather vane for who rules the country.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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