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| John O'Donoghue, Kerry politician, former minister and currently Ceann Comhairle (speaker) of Dáil Éireann.
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Beggars on horseback are not a rare specie in Ireland and like a broken gramophone record, we return again to a related phenomenon, the system where the buck stops nowhere.
As ministers try to recharge dead batteries until the end of August, they should wonder at the tolerance of Irish people, given the tens of thousands of broken lives they have left in their wake. In a fairer world, it would not be too much of a stretch, to understand why the echo of the rumble of the tumbrils on the cobblestones of Paris' Place de Grève, gave heart to the knitting women, embellished or not, in the writing of Charles Dickens.
What is striking about the Irish political system of limited accountability where the buck stops nowhere, is that despite the crash of the Celtic Tiger, the political class as a group, have no serious commitment to reform of a governance system that is clearly unfit for purpose.
Taoiseach Brain Cowen has no interest in reform; the Leader of the Opposition Enda Kenny recently spoke about reducing the number of TDs as did Eamonn Gilmore, the leader of the Labour Party, some months ago, but all that seems to be in prospect from a change of government, is some cosmetic change. The Peter Principle will continue to dominate and the 1828 US term "to the victor belong the spoils," will likely be the guide. The only hope of something different depends on new Fine Gael TD George Lee, who is likely to be more aware than his more seasoned but tone deaf colleagues in Dáil Éireann, of the deep contempt among the public, for politicians.
Beggars on horseback in politics are not a new phenomenon and it's no secret that the Irish Exchequer is for plundering by a legion of vested interests and the political class
There is no mileage in supporting parsimony in using public funds.
If we Irish want to blame the British for this "culture," we might as well, as it's as good a self-serving excuse as any, but that puts our elite in the same class as the stereotypical African dictator.
In 2004, I wrote: "It is an irony that the primary beneficiaries of the tribunals - - the lawyers, some of whom are becoming millionaires on €2,500 per day - - are profiting from a similar corrupt system, which gave rise to the abuses that they are investigating."
It has been a great gravy train and the lawyers likely do not even have the overhead of their own offices.
In 2009, not only have the lawyers amassed additional fortunes, but after 12 years of investigating planning corruption, there has been ZERO change in the system of land rezoning, which spawned the corruption and for years ahead, the State through its bad bank NAMA, will have a vested interest in maintaining high development land values.
At a time when the public is being asked to make sacrifices, the stories of lavish ministerial expenses and millionaire tribunal lawyers claiming for bars of chocolate from the State, are just a small glimpse into the lives of the taxpayer-funded elite.
The State paid at least €11,000 for lawyer lunches at a restaurant near Dublin Castle - - why does the typical worker have to buy his/her own lunch? - - and one lawyer earned €760,000 for 304 working days, in a year the tribunal publicly sat for 3 days. The claim for 301 eight-hour working days @ €2,500 per day, on a five-day working week basis, and allowing for holidays and weekends, would only add to 252 working days a year.
Kerry politician John O'Donoghue, his wife Kate Ann, and two civil servants rack up a €27,000 travel bill in New York over the course of just four days; €900-a-night hotels, €7,591 on "airport pick-ups" during a two-day trip to London, €120 for hat rental, €250 for water taxis and €80 to "Indians for moving the luggage."
Overtones of the colonials being tended to with gin and quinine, during the Raj!
A far cry from the bogs of Cahirciveen but would O'Donoghue and all the other scroungers, ever pay €900 for a hotel night, if it was from their own pockets?
A few decades ago, a housing conference in Brighton drew attendance of about 150 people and that number included 120 Irish council members.
In December 2004, 3 Irish ministers and a retinue of 21 civil servants travelled to Hong Kong for the Doha Round trade talks.
The European Commission's trade commissioner was negotiating on behalf of the EU.
In 2008, it cost just a mere €220,000 to renovate an office for former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.
Also in 2008, John O'Donoghue's plush office in Leinster House cost taxpayers more than €100,000 in refurbishments.
Figures released by the Office of Public Works (OPW) showed that the cost of redecorating toilets came to €58,712.
The office was also fitted out with new carpets, curtains and a brand new €1,000 chair. The carpets, supplied by Rugs by Design, were ordered in two batches -- the first costing €15,367 and the second coming to €14,367.
And so the stories could go on and on...
Is it any wonder that the average citizen gives the two fingers to pleas for sacrifice from these chancers?
Anyway, shur what's the big deal being made by small minded losers when it's a drop in the ocean in a €60 billion spending budget!
Add up all the feather bedding and reckless use of public funds and it would come to more than a molehill.
Ask UCD economist Colm McCarthy.
Is it any wonder that they want to keep public spending information in the Victorian age?
On June 9, 1954, lawyer Joseph Welch, delivered the withering line: "Have you no sense of decency?" at the Army-McCarthy Hearings in Washington DC, which marked the begining of the end of the four years of terrorism waged by the Irish-American Senator Joseph McCarthy.
The same question could be put to Irish politicians today.
New approach needed to fix broken Irish political system
The Waste Land - - Bord Snip, Irish Public Spending Transparency and the motto"Never do anything for the first time"
