TheStory.ie

Most insightful press release of the day goes to… drumroll please… Shell to Sea.

Today marks the 4^th year anniversary of the baton charge and violence by Gardaí against protestors opposed to the Corrib Gas Project.

The 10^th of November 2006 was chosen by the Shell to Sea campaign, as a suitable day of action as it marked the anniversary of the hanging of Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni activists who opposed Shell. Over 200 Gardaí were drafted in under the direction of Superintendent Joe Gannon (then Superintendent in Belmullet).

Ironically Superintendent Joe Gannon is now Superintendent at Pearse Street Garda Station, which today will be the focus of a protest march in opposition to Garda brutality against protestors. This protest was called in light of the violence that was dealt out to students in Dublin last week. Supt. Joe Gannon was present and personally involved in the scene at the Dept of Finance when students were violently removed from the building.

Shell to Sea spokesperson Terence Conway stated “In a investigation into Supt. Joe Gannon’s handling of a protest at Pollathomais Pier in which 20 people were injured, the Garda Ombudsman recommended to Garda Headquarters that disciplinary action be taken against him. However nothing happened and instead Supt Joe Gannon was promoted and has continued to police protests in the same manner that characterised his time down here in Mayo”.

Irish Times report on the Garda Siochana’s decision to reject the recommendation by the Garda Ombudsman is here.

Shady’s back. Back again.

The gathering mortgage crisis puts Ireland on the cusp of a social conflict on the scale of the Land War, but with one crucial difference. Whereas the Land War faced tenant farmers against a relative handful of mostly foreign landlords, the looming Mortgage War will pit recent house buyers against the majority of families who feel they worked hard and made sacrifices to pay off their mortgages, or else decided not to buy during the bubble, and who think those with mortgages should be made to pay them off. Any relief to struggling mortgage-holders will come not out of bank profits – there is no longer any such thing – but from the pockets of other taxpayers.

The other crumbling dam against mass mortgage default is house prices. House prices are driven by the size of mortgages that banks give out. That is why, even though Irish banks face long-run funding costs of at least 8 per cent (if they could find anyone to lend to them), they are still giving out mortgages at 5 per cent, to maintain an artificial floor on house prices. Without this trickle of new mortgages, prices would collapse and mass defaults ensue.

However, once Irish banks pass under direct ECB control next year, they will be forced to stop lending in order to shrink their balance sheets back to a level that can be funded from customer deposits. With no new mortgage lending, the housing market will be driven by cash transactions, and prices will collapse accordingly.

Kate Shanahan, a TV and radio producer and lecturer in the DIT School of Media, has a piece in the ‘Think Tank’ slot on the [paywalled] Sunday Times opinion pages today. The headline is ‘Media can’t chase after squirrels’. The piece chastises the media for following the shiny stories from hour to hour instead of staying focused and providing depth on the important stories over long periods.

I largely agree with her until she begins her conclusion…

“In the Irish context, we may prioritise news values as they apply to the current crisis.

A story about Ivor Callely’s expense claims should not overshadow one about a semi-state that has squandered millions, such as Fas.”

Let’s not forget that the Ivor Callely story is not your average expenses story. It’s not about him being kicked out of the Seanad and going to the courts. It’s not about him claiming travel expenses from a house in Cork which wasn’t his principle residence.

It’s about him allegedly using forged documents to claim money from the taxpayer-funded parliament. That would be fraud.

That’s serious.

Dismiss your politicians’ apparent financial discrepancies as small-fry because it’s only a few quid here and there and watch it happen again and again. Then watch that attitude permeate through society and into – amongst other places – semi-state bodies. “Fair play to him, sure wouldn’t we all do it?”. Well, no.

When it comes to public representatives – those charged with giving direction and providing moral and political leadership – we shouldn’t care how many figures follow the currency symbol.

Ivor Callely isn’t a squirrel… he’s a… let’s not forget that.

Slow posting around here of late because we’ve just been gunged with data from two or three sources. We’re processing it at the minute and will post as soon as we can. Sit tight. We’re a duck. All the effort going on where you can’t see it. A journalistic duck.

In the meantime, I’m outsourcing comment to Ireland After Nama.

Firstly, Delphine Ancien…

The comment came as a reply to Richard Crowley asking about future government’s borrowing and the high level of (over 7% at the moment, compared to average levels of 2 to 4% across Europe). Brian Lenihan attempted to dismiss the question as he said something like “we have enough in the government’s coffers to keep the country going until the middle of next year, so no need to borrow”. Until the middle of next year? Wow, phew, I feel much better now, I thought we were about to run out of money, but we have until the middle of next year.

The presenter insisted with his question though, and mentioned that sure the government was going to need to borrow again around February-March, because we will need money (you know, to keep the country running after the middle of next year), and asked something along the lines of “what will you do if the interest rates remained as high?”, insisting on the fact that they may be as high as 8% (and, as admitted by Taoiseach Brian Cowen, they are not foreseen to be lower than 6.4% in 2011).

That’s when Brian Lenihan replied: “I’m not going to be tied down with numbers”. (I know, I’ve written down that quote several times already, but I just can’t get over it…. A Minister for Finance in charge of the budget who says that he is not going to be tied down with numbers?!? Americans would add something like ‘WTF?!?’ here – not meaning to be rude, but I feel that expletive sounds about right here, I reckon that’s how many people would feel hearing that).

Secondly, Mary Gilmartin on the cost of education.

And lastly, Cian O’Callaghan on budgetary madness.

FOOTNOTE: Cathal Furey, a friend of mine, shot the excellent footage below of the student march during the week. Gardai clearly over-reacted, possibly in an illegal manner. They behaved as if their job was to exact revenge for protesters’ behaviour and damage instead remaining above and upholding the law while regaining order. They acted like the biggest bullies in the playground when they should’ve been the school principal.

Anyway, it’s strange how none of the media coverage mentioned the presence of the 32 County Sovereignty Movement. They’re clearly some of the ring leaders. Watch for the black nylon hooded jackets with the small green emblems on the chest and shoulders (see image). Continue reading “Still live and kicking”