Dealing With Occupation

By AM Sunday, October 16, 2011

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Tonight The Pensive Quill features guest writer David McSweeney writing about the the occupation of Ireland.

Ernst and Young, the accountancy firm which audited the Anglo Irish bank accounts in the lead up to its implosion, announced 300 new jobs for Ireland last week. Half of them, the announcement statement told us will be for “experienced operatives” moving within the organisation. So some of those responsible for enabling the biggest disaster in world banking history, will be looking at higher salaries and new grandiose titles.

Media reports of the last week have also informed us that seventeen Anglo Irish bank executives from the Fitzpatrick era are still employed by that organisation, each on salaries of at least one hundred and sixty five thousand euros per annum.

NAMA rescued developers can receive “wages” of up to two hundred thousand euro a year we are told.

David Drumm CEO of Anglo Irish bank at the peak of its criminal activity lives in suburban bliss in the United States while sending his children to private schools. Sean Dunne last year moved with his family to live in one of the most exclusive housing areas in the eastern United States, Belle Haven in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Harry Crosbie, another of the developer rogues gallery, could be seen to really enjoy rubbing salt into the collective wounds on a RTE Saturday night show earlier this month. Crosbie responded to the programme hosts question “Has this whole economic situation affected your life in any way”? by a simple “No I have always lived a simple enough life”.  A follow on question as to whether he would pay back the tens of millions he owes, elicited the answer that he would only pay back whatever NAMA had paid. In other words when it suits him he will consider paying back half his obligations.

Contrast the Crosbie situation with the 6683 people jailed for non-payment of fines last year in the 26 counties. Non payment of TV licence was among the actions which saw people incarcerated. So bad was it that in May 2011 Stephen Delaney, the President of the Prisoners Officers Association called on the Dublin government to stop the jailing of people for fines, a policy he described as  “stack em and rack em” which is leading to chronic and dangerous overcrowding.

The above represents a small snapshot of the structural and systemic violence which has been unleashed on the people of Ireland. An example of its hateful and vicious face is the fact that Cancer services for children have been suspended in my local hospital.

The Energy regulator in the 26 county state released figures for August of this year which showed 2901 residential and commercial customers of energy firms have been cut off. This figure relates to a thirty one day period.

The following month Gerry Gannon, a property developer who owes NAMA nine hundred million euro, hosted his daughter’s wedding at Dromoland castle, the premier luxury hotel in the state. No expense was spared by all accounts

The Provisional movement arose from what at the time was called “hatred strong enough to turn the world upside down”. I sense a level of rage and anger at present which at least rivals that birth period of the Provisionals.

In the context of the IMF/EU/ Dublin elite onslaught, Martin McGuinness is an irrelevance. The amount of energy and time Republicans are wasting on the aras arse is distorting our collective response to the disaster that is being visited on our people daily. Let the Shiners off to enjoy whatever scraps their latest stunt will gain them. These destroyers of human hope in the troika should take the advice of the other chuckle brother and “wear sackcloth and ashes until the sackcloth and ashes wear out”.

Anthony you have made some surprising, to me anyway, references to Unionist “consent” in recent posts. In that context it should be remembered that the IMF have not one vote in the 32 counties of Ireland, yet they dictate core life and death decisions around health, education and other central areas of society.

Michael Lewis in his latest book “Boomerang” describes his perception of Dublin on a recent visit as that “of a city under occupation”. Irish republicans should now call on our collective experience of dealing with Occupation.