Well it was on March 10th this year when I started my protest against the Coalition’s new tax construct, Irish Water. It was then I parked my trusty old Land Cruiser over my stop cock and told GMC/Sierra, the contractor appointed by Irish Water to go from whence they came. Well GMC/Sierra, new to the game of protest, new to anything in fact, took a hissy fit and called in their allies, Irish Water and the Garda Siochana, who made several visits to my home. I told Irish Water the same as I told GMC/Sierra that whence would be better for them. I was more polite to the Garda as you have to be to the boys in blue as although their Oath of Office states that they “will faithfully discharge the duties of a member of the Garda Siochana with fairness, integrity, regard for human rights, diligence and impartiality, upholding the Constitution and the LAWS and according equal respect to all people”. We all know that if you do not jump when they tell you to, they can make it hard for you. Just like the Kerry Garda did for the cleaning lady when naked he asked for the ride. We also know that if your nice to them they might even wipe the points from your driving licence.
I kindly and submissively asked the garda who was telling me that I was committing an offence that when he sends me to prison could he get me a place in Castlerea, as it was a lot nearer than most prisons and it would be easier on my wife to travel to as she is a frail old lady. The garda gave a grin or was it a grimace, took a photograph and was off and I have seen neither GMC/Sierra, Irish Water or Garda since. Obviously they were all to busy sorting out rebellions and mass protests up and down the country to be bothered with little old me.
So there it was yesterday in Dublin, another mass protest in a chain of mass protests with even more mass protests to come, I suppose until the Coalition government open their eyes and realise they will not have a job at the next election unless they back down from this high and mighty stance they have taken. Did you notice that the Garda Siochana, forgetting their Oath of Office and taking on their true mantle of Government bully boys, closed off sections of Merrion Row, Kildare Street and Molesworth Street not allowing the public to stroll down the thoroughfares they own. I thought to close a street you had to apply for a licence to do so from the city council. I bet that procedure did not occur. Thousands of people were stopped going about their business because the Garda were favouring one party and not “according equal respect to all people”
Meanwhile in the Dail yesterday while the shananikins was going on outside, Catherine Murphy, the Independent TD for North Kildare was asking questions of Enda Kenny, our beloved and utterly decent Taoiseach who huffed and puffed as only he can. She wanted to know after the Government had failed to respond to previous repeated questions, how GMC/Sierra, which is owned by a Denis O’Brien company, Millington Ltd, won their metering contracts.
She told the Dail that there were some “known facts” about the tendering process. She said “we know that the bids had to be in by 30th June 2013. We know that one of the companies awarded one of the major contracts did not exist until 15th July 2013, weeks after the closing date for bids. If the closing date for applications to be considered for the contract was 30th June 2013, according to a parliamentary reply last year from the former Minister, Mr Phil Hogan, how did GMC/Sierra, company registration number 530230 and which did not come into existence until 15th July 2013, manage to win a contract? How could a company that did not satisfy the requirement to have a tax clearance certificate be considered for the contract?”
Enda stuttered and farted in that great Mayo style of his and said that he would immediately get answers for the good lady and “I hope that we do not get a watery reply” he said trying to put a little humour into a subject that did not need it. “I will see that the detail the Deputy has asked for is provided. Of course it should be on the public record.”
Catherine Murphy also asked about Millington Ltd acquiring the utility support services company Siteserv owned by IBRC, which she said was off loaded at a significantly reduced cost, a deal which she said “saw the State lose €105 million. Again Kenny huffed and puffed and did not or could not answer. Catherine Murphy said it was essential that concerns be addressed.
Now to make the reader more aware of what all that meant I will try and explain. Millington Ltd was a new company set up in 2012 in the Isle Of Man. It is a company owned entirely by our old friend Denis O’Brien, a very shady, slippery but rich character, who none of us like and who always crawls out from every sod you turn over when looking for light and transparency.
In late 2012 without trading in any shape or form, Millington applied to buy Siteserv, a massive construction conglomerate which had come into the ownership of IBRC, the state run bank that had been appointed to sell off assets of indebted companies. It seems to have been bought quickly and cheaply. One of the companies in the Siteserv empire was Sierra and another was Eventserv and it would not surprise me if the miles of fencing and pedestrian barriers put up by the Garda for yesterday’s parade originated from them.
So Catherine Murphy seems to have stirred up a right can of worms and I do hope Kenny is able to come up with some credible answers. But it does look as if old Irish political jiggery pokery is at work. Nothing seems to change but that day of change is definitely coming and it certainly will not come with the advancement of Sinn Fein who tended to take over yesterday’s demonstration. For the next march scheduled, I think for 31st January 2015, I hope Right2Water retake control and give the water issue back to the people of Ireland and not let that very shady bunch, Sinn Fein, be put in the spotlight. Let the people of Ireland not forgive Sinn Fein because they should not be able to forget.
Do you know what an almighty shambles this country has become in the eyes of the world, caused by the total inadequacy of the FineGael/Labour Coalition. Politician beware we want something far, far better from you in the future.