Sunday 19 May 2013

Garda investigation into themselves finds no evidence of penalty points corruption



What a surprise.  A Garda (Irish police) investigation into their scrubbing of penalty points for politicians, judges, gardai  and cronies has found "no evidence of corruption".

Presumably this conclusion was reached because no money changed hands.  So how do you define corruption?

The gardai are the very arseholes who sit for hours in their vans, pointing their cameras at people breaking implausibly low speed limits on roads like dual carriageways and motorways - the safest roads in the country.

In the video above, you will see a stretch of dual carriageway on the N3, where roadworks are being carried out on the opposite carriageway.  There are no road works on this side.  The unnecessary cones you see above (where the words "you are now passing scumbag central" involuntarily emit) are where our friends hide in the vans with the blacked-out windows to boost their quotas.  I challenge you to do sixty clicks on this stretch with a line of traffic up your arse.  Dangerous.

I often wondered how they could do it, if the laws they enforced so vigorously applied to themselves and their colleagues.   The fact is that they don't.

If a copper is caught going over the speed limit, he/she just gets onto the superintendent and has his/her penalty points quashed.  Likewise for judges, for whom they perform regularly in court and expect a few favours in return.   Likewise for their families and cronies.  So what is corruption, then?

One law for us, it seems...


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19 comments:

dirtybertie said...

ummm..... what would you expect in a country where politicians make all the key appointments for judges, garda superintendants etc...live horse eat grass!

Ella said...

we also have judge's wives, crime journalists and a garda commissioner - he was rushing to a meeting - the rest of us leave with time to spare to ensure don't need to break the law... not so if you run the show, it really ia a rotten little country... all of this allegedly of course..

Nenad said...

I'm going to share this GM! Great work man :)

Jim Spriggs said...

Different rules for the privileged groups of Gombeens, as ever. Shake hands, brother, you're a rogue and I'm another.

The Gombeen Man said...

Thanks for the comments, folks (and the share, Ned).

It's a depressing little country we live in though, isn't it?

Nenad said...

This is the joke of the day my friend:

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/health/abortion-legislation-could-place-young-men-at-risk-1.1400353

Only in Oireland ...

The Gombeen Man said...

Yes, Ned, only in Ireland. They pretended suicide didn't exist here for decades too, of course. One of the many Irish taboos, along with abortion, for which desperate Irish women must travel to other countries for. Then Official Irleand can pretend that it does not exist.

I have often said that the official symbol of Ireland should not be the shamrock or the Guinness Harp... it should be an ostrich with its head buried firmly in the sand... or even up its arse.

Nenad said...

One of many things I still don't understand:
On one side there's the celtic tradition of which the irish are very proud of and which they cherish in their music and art.
On the other side there's the catholic church who did everything to destroy the celtic tradition but is still number one in this country regarding many followers and believers.
Both coexist. How is this possible? Did I miss something?

dirtybertie said...

re: new national, symbol, same, with a priest eyeing it (the poor ostrich) speculatively......

HQ said...

Lads,lads,lads.....could you ever give over with the bolllix acting. It's gone beyond a joke now and it's a bit embarrassing for the diaspora.

Any more of this and I'm not going to correct Yanks that think my accent is Scottish.

The Gombeen Man said...

Not even the ostriches are safe. Just as well for them they are based on the far side of the world...

Anonymous said...

"On one side there's the celtic tradition of which the irish are very proud of and which they cherish in their music and art. On the other side there's the catholic church who did everything to destroy the celtic tradition but is still number one in this country regarding many followers and believers. Both coexist. How is this possible? Did I miss something?"

I think perhaps you did miss something, Nenad. The Church largely invented this fictional "proud heritage" of simplistic diddle-eye music and clunky art, stoic warrior fables and similar nonsense. They controlled the schools. They censored newspapers, books, magazines, TV, movies, radio, etc. They controlled information, history, and perception itself.

The celtic revival is mostly a 19th century project, alongside catholic emancipation. That's not a coincidence. "Celtic identity" nonsense and church domination do more than coexist: they are fully interdependent.

The Church fed us the celtic pride lullabye to make us easier to control, with a lot of patronising flattery to balance its whip hand.

thomas

Nenad said...

Thanks for the info Thomas. I thought the catholic church was always an institution suppressing irish traditions. That's what I've been told from irish-fans in Germany and UK. I was always wondering. And btw. sorry for being OT.

Anonymous said...

Well Nenad, it's fair to say that gaelic revivalism existed both within and outside the church for a time in parallel. Certainly there were secular-minded figures like Parnell, Connolly, Larkin, etc. But it was the fanatically Catholic ones who prevailed: Pearse, Collins, MacNeill, de Valera, etc. So we got the church's version of who we are and what we're about.

And I do suspect (personally) that much of the old source material, the foundation myths and fables, came from bored, isolated monks struggling to counteract the overwhelming urge to die.

Now we're really OT. I hope GM doesn't mind.

thomas

The Gombeen Man said...

I don't!

Ella said...

Hi GM, was driving along that stretch this morning to work and guess what the goddam cones are up again, it looks like they might actually be thinking of doing some road works this time round. anyway..

The Gombeen Man said...

If there are workers actually working there, Ella, fair enough. Maybe you will monitor the situation for us?

anna said...

THanks GM man- one thing I can say for garda - not subject to FOI - and That ( surprise) is unique in Europe- seems a few months ago a few more bodies came under FOI- not sure if Garda now included- but STill- they should never have been excluded

anna said...

The Government has confirmed it will extend Freedom of Information legislation to all public bodies including the gardaí and the Central Bank.
It will also be extended to cover bodies in receipt of substantial Government funding.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin has told the Dáil that the Government was looking to broaden the legislation beyond what was proposed in a Fianna Fáil private members bill.
Fianna Fáil was criticised for seeking to expand the Freedom of Information laws.
Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald claims Fianna Fáil had "butchered" the original 1997 Act in 2003.
Fianna Fáil's Sean Fleming proposed a maximum search and retrieval charge for records of €500.
Sean Fleming also said that he wanted NAMA and the NTMA to come under the FOI's remit.
Responding, Mr Howlin said expanded Freedom of Information legislation would include all statutory bodies.
He said it would break new ground to include all bodies that receive substantial state funding.
The administrative functions of An Garda Siochana would be included, subject to security exemptions. There would be restrictions on disclosures required of the Central Bank.
Also new state agencies, such as Irish Water, will also be included in the legislation which can be expected next year.-RTE- June 2012-
GREAT- i LOVE SEEING this country reaching EU norms- and no matter waht I think of SF Mary Lou does sometimes say the right thing- as for the ostrich symbol- Yes!!! why not make up and Irish flag and put it in th emiddle and put it on blog masthead??