07.18.07
Too many agencies
I agree with the Minister but THEY’RE the ones who set up the bloody authorities in the first place. WHY do FF continually act like they haven’t been in power?
“Lenihan criticises plethora of State agencies and bodies
Mark Hennessy, Political Correspondent
The tendency to set up agencies and bodies at one remove from the government is “an abdication of responsibility”, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan said yesterday.
His outspoken declaration, made to the Patrick MacGill Summer School in Glenties, Co Donegal, came as he strongly rejected calls to set up a Garda authority.
Responsibility for the Garda SÃochána could not be placed in the hands of an independent authority because the Garda also acted as the State’s security intelligence arm, he said.
“A government cannot abdicate responsibility in these matters. I can’t be left as the Minister for Justice in a position where I have to beg the chairman of an authority to urge the Garda to take a particular course of action,” Mr Lenihan said.
However, the Minister, who departed from his script, expanded the scope of his remarks beyond the Garda authority by continuing: “That isn’t a viable way of running a country. That is not a very fashionable point of view, but we have gone down the road a little too far – I am not talking about the Department of Justice, but right across the range of government business – of setting up agencies and bodies at one remove from the government to whom the government can then abdicate responsibility for dealing with certain matters.
“I subscribe to the old-fashioned point of view that we have a general election. The purpose of it is to create a majority in the Dáil who will then unite around a government and who are then accountable for running the country and the people can get rid of you and replace you with someone else if they don’t like how you run the country.”
Colman said,
July 18, 2007 at 10:24 am
“WHY do FF continually act like they haven’t been in power?”
Because the Irish people refuse to hold them responsible for the things they do in power and instead reward them for the things that they have relatively little control over and all the parties agree on anyway.
leon said,
July 18, 2007 at 12:41 pm
The Garda and ancilliary services need to be fully accountable, we have the guards and forsenics people colluding to cover up for polticians and their financiers, and little investigation of deaths in their custody. In what other state would the state pathologist take the guards word for the condition of someone in their custiody and not run forsenic tests. No justice for the Rossiters or the Wheelocks. But then we have a policised Judiciary, not much different to russia.
Tom N said,
July 18, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Setting up separate agencies not linked to the government is the perfect way of blaming someone else for a government mistake. It is one of the great tenets of spin. Every government cock up in recent years has been blamed by the government on someone else. Yet every success is down to the government. House prices dropping, negative equity – blame the ECB. House prices rising – good government policy. MRSA – it’s because of pesky consultants and nurses not washing their hands.Beds crisis – HSE. But when a new hospital is open, or when MRSA figures drop, we see Harney there claiming the credit!
The newest is to declare that “Spin is dead because people are more sophisticated now”. The term “flatter to deceive” springs to mind. The dishonourable and spineless Alaister Campbell was on Q&A on Monday night and he could have come straight from the FF tent in Galway. He gave a master class in his response to the question about the tribunals. He claimed that they always seemed to be going on anytime he came over to Ireland and that we should tidy things up. He stopped short of saying “Why don’t you leave poor Bertie alone?” but it was clear that whatever truth the enquiry would find, wasn’t worth it.
We should not be surprised at such deceit. We should act!