The latest GUBU fiasco precipitated by Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald's inept/sinister handling of her responsibilities in the Maurice McCabe whistleblower case has been a huge "TA-DAA" moment in Irish politics.
Fitzgerald and her successor Charlie Flanagan have been shown to be no more than the public faces of the State's Department of Justice. The position of Minister for Justice is nothing more than a PR persona, the front man, of an administrative machine of more than two thousand civil servants. The face changes every few years and the PR machine regurgitates mantras of reform and modernisation, but the machinery - the cogs and wheels, gears and levers - remain the same.
The Minister is the face of the faceless - permanent, job-for-life bureaucrats who not only carry out the work of public administration but are the ones who really understand how the machine works, how to steer it and how to protect it. The machine is not driven by the Minister - it carries on under its own momentum - a behemoth that stays its course like a supertanker on the ocean. For it to change course would take years of persistent constant pressure on the wheel
It is understood that the role of President of Ireland is a public office with minimal and limited power within the political system. The truth revealed by EmailGate is that the same can be said for Government Ministers. Frances Fitzgerald didn't run the Department of Justice - the Department of Justice ran Frances Fitzgerald...
When Gerald Fleming stood in front of a map of Ireland after the news every night he would give a summary of the days weather, comments on patterns over the recent days or weeks and give a forecast for the next day and following days, but he couldn't actually do anything about the weather.
His forecasting was nothing more than "best guess".
When Leo Varadkar, or any Taoiseach, addresses the country to give historical statistics on employment, growth, inflation, and an overview of economic developments and then gives a forecast for what the government plan to do over the short to medium term he can't actually do anything about any of it.
His forecasting is nothing more than "best guess" or "best intention".
Politicians can't do what they want.
Their options are limited, constrained by "best legal advice" of the private Law Society, the private Central Banks and the vested interests of those individuals and organisations that fund their political parties.
In the grand scheme of things, "PUBLIC INTEREST" comes pretty far down the list.
Budgets are drafted by civil servants who are lobbied behind closed doors by big money. The single most important element in any budget is the public sector pay element ... what the civil servants (and the politicians) get out of it.
Next comes the tax legislation influenced by multinational corporations who actually have greater asset wealth an annual revenue than the State! This lobbying is done by individual companies with enough clout to call meetings with Ministers at five minutes notice and in the case of American MNCs it is not hard to imagine the type of influence that an organisation like the American Chamber of Commerce in Ireland has, representing as it does some of the biggest companies on the planet. What is hard to imagine is that there is any "negotiation" done by our public representatives - there is no give and take - Ireland gives gives and gives again.
Then comes the old reliable sources of taxation such as cigarettes, alcohol, fuel etc. which have their own industry bodies lobbying the Department of Finance. I don't imagine the players in those businesses come away empty handed when their products have been hiked in price at the pleasure of the Minister and the displeasure of the consumer.
By this stage, when the civil servants have had their pay secured, the mega corps have had their tax liability erased and the fags have gone up another 10c, we finally know how much money is left over for public spending. ...pretty far down the list.
And top of public spending is health...
Successive governments in successive budgets have blasted triumphant fanfares about how they are spending "more money on health than ever before". We spend more and more money on a health service that gets worse and worse. The problem with the health service is not the amount of money being spent but the amount of money being wasted. And that is true of every other public service: education, housing, transport etc.
Finally we get to Social Welfare and how much is left for the most vulnerable - the exact group of people that any government should have as its priority! not its after-thought.
And then everybody else gets a €5 - an extra bag of chips a week. Wonderful.
So who is lobbying for you - the public?
Nobody.
You give your vote to your local TD because you think they will do your lobbying for you. But how much influence do you think Seamus McParishPump has in influencing the Budget compared to say ... Denis O'Brien. One man one vote?! I don't think so.
Leo Varadkar is a weatherman, a front-man, pitching a narrative of statesman-like altruism and benevolence promising a future of prosperity, equality and happiness.
Leo tells you "it's raining today but tomorrow there will be blue skies with only a slight chance of light showers".
What this fantasy narrative hides is a hierarchy of Global Corporate Dominance, Elite Private Wealth and Sociopathic Political Power.
Public is not in their vocabulary.
Until election time ... then they need you. And for one day (and one day only) every five years, you have the power. And what do you do with it? You hand it right back to them...!
Elections don't change anything because it's not the players that's the problem - it's the game.
The system does not work for you - it works for them. So why would they change it? And even if they wanted to ... the wouldn't be let - THEY HAVE NO POWER! No real power.
Change cannot come from within the system - it must come from without.
For the Nation to rise ... the State must fall.
©TheDissonantDrum
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