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Convulsions in Irish Justice Dept and Policing

RESIGNED: Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

RESIGNED: Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

The creators of the mould-breaking TV comedy Seinfeld adopted two rules: no hugging, no learning. We need to apply those rules to our current episode of the dark farce of Irish “reform”. Of course, the details should be properly investigated but on the larger scale, there is nothing new to be learned here. The new inquiries will find what the old ones found: a culture in the Garda, Department of Justice and in the State as a whole of burying unwanted truths. 

By John Donovan

The convulsions in Ireland arising from the resignations of the Police Commissioner and the Justice Minister continue, with the Irish Cabinet discussing terms of reference for an inquiry into Garda cases.

Extracts

The Minister said the external review of the Department will be completed before the Dáil and Seanad rise for the summer recess. “I have committed to root and branch reform of the administration of justice in this country and this includes the Government Department responsible for this area.” In addition, the Cabinet resolved to urgently bring forward new legislation to strengthen the operation of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Ms Fitzgerald further said that the new Independent Garda Authority will be up and running by the end of the year.

The following is an extract from an article by Fintan O’Toole published today by the Irish Times:

Damning indictment

Its ethic is summed up in a single line of the Guerin report, referring to Alan Shatter’s handling of Maurice McCabe’s complaints against Martin Callinan: “In effect, the process of determining Sergeant McCabe’s complaints went no further than the minister receiving and acting upon the advice of the person who was the subject of the complaint.” Perfect.

The creators of the mould-breaking TV comedy Seinfeld adopted two rules: no hugging, no learning. We need to apply those rules to our current episode of the dark farce of Irish “reform”. Of course, the details should be properly investigated but on the larger scale, there is nothing new to be learned here. The new inquiries will find what the old ones found: a culture in the Garda, Department of Justice and in the State as a whole of burying unwanted truths. We know too that there’s only one remedy for this illness: a strong and repeated dose of real democracy.

The fallout is expected to reach The Hague next week when whistleblower directors of OSSL confront Ben van Beurden and his board colleagues at the Royal Dutch Shell Plc AGM about the role Shell has played in corrupting the Irish establishment, including the news media and the police.

With the kind assistance of Shell to Sea I have supplied OSSL with admittance passes as I did last year.

OSSL is unlikely to be conned again, as it was last May, by the false pledge of Peter Voser.

UPDATE 14 MAY 2014:

Senior GSOC director says agency is not fit for purpose

A SENIOR Garda Ombudsman director has condemned the agency as not fit for purpose in a damning personal submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee. Director of investigations Ray Leonard claimed the garda oversight body lacks “effective independence” and does not represent “value for money” for the taxpayer.

This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.

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