What is the Price of a Woman's Virtue?

Yesterday evening a jury at the High Court in Dublin has made legal history by awarding the by far highest ever amount of damages to a litigant in a libel case in Ireland.

Monica Leech (left), a prominent communications consultant from Waterford, won her long-running libel action against Tony O'Reilly's Independent Newspapers (the country's largest media group) and was awarded a record € 1.87 million in damages.

She successfully claimed that the Evening Herald, which is Dublin's last afternoon newspaper and owned by the Independent group, had published false allegations that she got public contracts as a PR consultant because she was having an extra-marital affair with Waterford Fianna Fáil-TD Martin Cullen (right), who was at the time junior minister in charge of the Office of Public Works (OPW) and then promoted to cabinet rank as the Minister for the Environment, Heritage & Local Government.

Independent Newspapers had denied libel and Judge Eamon de Valera (a namesake and also a relative of the late President and Taoiseach) had said he would accept an unanimous verdict. A jury of seven women and five men began its deliberations just before 2 pm yesterday afternoon and delivered the surprise verdict in the evening.

After the verdict was announced in court, Monica Leech said that justice had been done. She was "delighted" and had been "vindicated".
It is no surprise that Independent Newspapers did not share her view. A rather shocked looking lawyer for the media group said that they would be appealing to the Supreme Court.

Which means that the matter - which has already created legal costs in the area of € 500,000 - will drag on for many more months and cost most likely another € 100,000 before the Supreme Court makes a decision.
Going by legal practice and past experience, it is most likely that the Supreme Court will rule the award as 'too high' and refer the case back to the High Court, where the whole procedure will then have to be repeated.
And since under existing Irish law juries cannot be told how much damages they can award, the result could again be quite a surprise for lawyers and participants in the case.

Leaving the facts, details and merits of this case aside for a moment, it is an excellent example for the sad fact that the legal system in Ireland (like in other countries using the Anglo-Saxon case law) exists predominantly for the benefit and large secure incomes of the legal professionals who run it.
Plaintiffs and defendants are never more than statists, uninitiated extras in an elaborate stage play they do not really understand, but whose production costs they have to pay, no matter what.

Looking at the case itself, there is meanwhile so much of it that it would easily fill a book. Five years ago, when the forceful Mrs. Leech worked for Minister Martin Cullen, many people saw a bit more in that than just a normal working relationship between consultant and client.
And the way things go, people gossiped, someone had a suspicion, and that led to a rumour.
After a while the always news-hungry reporters from the tabloid papers got hold of it, and when they had nothing better to write about, they created and printed the story of 'Monica and the Minister'. Without checking the facts or digging deeper, a few more serious media outlets joined in and re-printed the story.

By the time it reached Waterford and the desk of Monica Leech, it was too late. The damage was done, and for quite some time it was an open whisper that she had an affair with Martin Cullen.
I heard it myself, and it made even me - a man with no interest whatsoever in people's private lives - think.

Now, I do have the benefit of knowing both individuals personally. On the basis of that I think it is very unlikely that Monica Leech would have an affair with Martin Cullen. (In fact, it is hard to imagine Martin Cullen, a short and meagre-looking Fianna Fáil weasel with little personality or leadership qualities, in intimate company of any woman at all... But then again, since even the greyest of all grey politicians - John Major - managed to have an affair, one can never be entirely certain.)

No-one really knows if the media story did damage Monica's career or reputation, but she went for every single paper and medium that helped spreading it like an avenging angel, the flaming sword in hand. In separate cases she sued the Irish Independent, the Evening Herald, the Irish Mail (& Mail on Sunday) and RTÉ.
The latter two settled their cases out of Court and paid her sizeable amounts of compensation, but Tony O'Reilly and his Independent Group decided to fight the case.

Now they have the largest libel judgement in the history of the state against them. And even if - as expected - the Supreme Court should reduce the amount, it will still be a hefty sum.

Which brings me to the question of the compensation. € 1.87 million is a very large amount of money, even for a fairly well-to-do woman like Monica Leech. If she wanted, she could retire on such a sum and live happily and comfortably on the interest from it.

The jury obviously thought her worth of it, but does it really reflect the 'injury' or 'damage' done to her by the media?
If this had been a personal injury case, she would have to be at least paralysed from the neck down and confined to a wheelchair for the rest of her life to receive a compensation award of that magnitude.

But she is not. She is in fact a very fit and agile 49-year-old, brimming with ideas and energy. So what is the huge amount of money compensating her for? She never struck me as particularly vulnerable or fragile. Quite the opposite. She is a strong and forceful woman, and never anyone's fool. In recent years - after the rumours about her and Martin Cullen appeared - she was chief executive of the Waterford Chamber of Commerce, and thus I saw quite a lot of her.
It never occurred to me that she could be hurt or insulted easily.

Yet this is exactly what she claimed in Court now several times, and so far always successfully. I presume the really crucial point is that the sloppy reporters did not do their homework. They had no proof for their allegations, which is simply bad journalism and deserves to be punished. But is € 1.87 million the right kind of punishment for them? After all, it is not the journalists who wrote the story who pay. Their publisher is sued and has to pay up.

Some people have suggested that the money awarded to Monica Leech is compensation for the damage done to her reputation as a 'woman of virtue'. Since she is married and mother of two children, I can understand this to a certain extend.
But does this mean that the virtue of every woman in Ireland is worth € 1.87 million? If so, we will soon have a rather large number of female millionaires in the country. And if not, what is the cash value of a woman's virtue?

Does it depend on her age, her education, her looks or her achievements? If the virtue of Monica Leech's is worth € 1.87 million, what would be the sum awarded in compensation for the same libellous action to a female cabinet minister, Supreme Court Judge, or - for argument's sake - the President?

I am of course no lawyer, but I think this case is asking more questions than it has answered. In my humble opinion Ireland is in need of a serious and wide-ranging legal reform. And one of the areas for which we need a more clearly defined law is certainly the complex of slander, libel and deformation.
On the European continent, where civil as well as criminal law is codified and applied a lot more fairly, these matters are defined in every detail and the amounts of available compensation are also set out in law. No jury has the leeway to do what they want, and no 'surprises' are sprung on litigants or judges.

Ever since Labour-TD Mervyn Taylor became Minister for Justice in the 'Rainbow Coalition', the Department of Justice carries the annex 'and Law Reform'. However, this has so far not produced any significant changes to the arcane and class-based legal system the English left us with when they moved out of 26 of our counties in 1922.

We are supposed to deal with the problems of the 21st century, but in order to do it, we still use a legal system created in the 17th and 18th century, and slightly amended in the 19th and early 20th century. So when it comes to the Law, we are literally stuck in a time warp.

The sooner we solve this problem, the sooner we will have a more realistic and more functional legal system. In the meantime Monica Leech can enjoy her sudden windfall, while Tony O'Reilly is probably kicking himself and someone in the office of Independent Newspapers is trying to work out how they can recoup nearly two million Euros from the subscribers and readers of their papers.

The Emerald Islander

The Government is really a travelling Circus

Since Monday's strange incident, when a door fell off an Aer Corps helicopter in mid-flight over Co. Kerry (see my entries of March 2nd & 3rd), the eyes of many Irish people have been opened to the strange and scandalous travel habits of our government ministers.

It appears that Martin Cullen's extravagant helicopter trip from Waterford to Dublin via Killarney, which cost the taxpayers at least € 8130 and created additional costs of around € 35,000, was not at all unusual. Most of our ministers are using the Aer Corps' aircraft regularly for all sorts of trips and don't mind what it costs, because for them it is all free.
In fact, our government has become a real travelling circus, with each minister trying to out-do the others in extravagancy and waste of taxpayers' money.

But since Monday the nation is aware of that and has shown remarkable feats of vigilance and observation.

It has been reported - and meanwhile confirmed by a government spokesperson - that the Tánaiste (Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister) Mary Coughlan (photo), who is also Minister for Enterprise, Trade & Employment, took a flight in one of the government's two main jet aircraft from Dublin to Shannon last Friday.
There she was met by her ministerial Mercedes car, which her Garda chauffeur had brought empty from the capital to Shannon earlier.
Coughlan, who is Ireland's answer to Sarah Palin and nicknamed 'The Cow', was driven over a very short distance from the airport to a nearby industrial estate, where she officially announced the creation of a few new jobs.

Not that this will make any difference to our current recession, as unemployment in Ireland has just risen to a record 10.2%. But the government is now so beleaguered and desperate that every single new job is announced with pomp and circumstances (while job losses are treated rather with a deafening silence).

After a brief stay at the industrial estate, and having performed her PR job as bland as usual, the Tánaiste was driven back to Shannon airport, where she boarded the government jet again and returned to Dublin Airport. There presumably a second state Mercedes was waiting for her, and the one used at Shannon was driven back to the capital, once again empty.

What this bizarre escapade has cost the taxpayers could not be specified at this time, but using the government jet alone for a single flight creates expenses in the range of € 25,000 to 30,000.
At least that was the information received when the same jet was used last year to transport the Taoiseach and three of his ministers - Willie O'Dea (Defence), Batt O'Keeffe (Education) and the ever-present Martin Cullen (Arts, Sport & Tourism) - from Dublin to Shannon. They were then driven in two state cars to Limerick, to watch a Rugby match.

If the government, which keeps telling us now on a daily basis that "we have no money" and that "we all will have to make sacrifices", would be serious, these extravagant journeys would cease. As Ireland is a small country, most places can be reached by car in acceptable times. And when a flight is really necessary, local transport at the airport of arrival could and should be used.

But there is an even better - and much cheaper - way to handle ministerial addresses, speeches and announcements. After all, we live in the 21st century and modern communication technology is available to every government department.
Instead of having ministers rushing around the country like a travelling circus in order to give a string of usually boring speeches to equally boring gatherings of all kinds, these addresses could be given by video link from the minister's office.
This would cost a small fraction of the amount clocked up each year by ministerial journeys. The same message would get across, and the government would also be seen as being serious when it comes to saving money. On top of that it would also show the government as a modern entity that can and does use the latest available technology.

There is no need to provide a separate state car - each with a Garda as full-time chauffeur - for every minister and junior minister. In most of the other EU countries - many much larger than Ireland - there is a government motor pool with a limited amount of cars, which are shared by all ministers. Ireland should follow those examples.

But so far there seems to be no will to reduce the lavish travelling circus. While ordinary people are going to face ever higher taxes and levies, the government continues to behave like a bunch of medieval princes.

Meanwhile another - and even more bizarre - case has been reported. According to information received by Ireland's national broadcaster RTÉ a ministerial car and its driver were used for the purpose of transporting a minister's private dog over a distance of 250 miles. This apparently occured "during the Christmas holidays" and it has not yet been established which minister was responsible. (But given the current political climate and public mood, it might well be revealed soon. If so, I will of course tell you.)

However, the attitude alone speaks for itself. And so does an official statement, issued today by the Department of Justice. It says plainly that "any minister is free to do with the official state car whatever he - or she - likes".
On that basis one has to presume that the government's official fox is in charge of the nation's hen houses...

The Emerald Islander

The Aer Corps - Fianna Fáil's Air Taxi Service

Yesterday we learned that a large side door had fallen off a new Aer Corps helicopter (above) in mid-flight over Co. Kerry. (see yesterday's entry below)
On its own this would be a rather minor news item, of real interest only to military experts and aircraft enthusiasts. But there is a lot more to this incident than the eye meets at first glance.

Although the official investigation by Aer Corps experts is still under way and I would not want to jump to conclusions from a distance, an incident like this can have in principal three possible reasons:

1. It could be a construction fault;
2. It could be caused by wear and tear or metal fatigue;
3. It could be the result of shoddy maintenance.

The first option could be blamed on the helicopter's Italian manufacturer, Augusta-Westland. It would be the least embarrassing for Ireland, and faults can happen anywhere, even though they should not.
Option two is the least likely. The AW 139 is a new helicopter and regarded as reliable and solid .
The third possibility looks like the most plausible to me. During my own long service in the Navy I had plenty of experience with helicopters, including as a crew member of one for some time. It is very easy to overlook a small maintenance detail, especially during the routine conditions any military organisation developes in peace time.

But the real scandal is not the falling off of a helicopter door, as inconvenient and embarrassing it might be for the Aer Corps. No, the outrage is the use of this helicopter - and others operated by the Irish Aer Corps - for unnecessary ministerial journeys.

It has emerged that the AW 139, a modern medium-sized aircraft that can transport 15 people at one time, was used yesterday as the private air taxi for Martin Cullen (right), Ireland's Minister for the Arts, Sport & Tourism. It collected the Fianna Fáil TD in the morning in Waterford, his home city and constituency, and flew him and one assistant to Killarney, Co. Kerry. There the minister gave a short speech to the about 250 members of the Irish Hotels' Federation, which were holding their annual conference in the Malton Hotel.

There was nothing urgent in the minister's address, and nothing new either. What he said to the hoteliers was just what they expected to hear: Tourist numbers are down significantly (they fell by 3% last year, and the predictions for 2009 are much worse), prices for hotel accomodation - and everything else in Ireland - are way too high, and we all will have to suffer, pull together and do our bit to get out of recession.

What was so important in this speech, and in the minister's visit to the conference in Killarney, that it justified the use of an AW 139 helicopter, at a cost - for Ireland's taxpayers - of € 8130?
Like every Irish minister Martin Cullen has a large Mercedes government car, with a Garda as permanent chauffeur. As his address to the hoteliers began at 2.15 pm, there was plenty of time to drive from Waterford to Killarney. Cullen had no appointments in Waterford on Monday, so if he had left in the morning, he would have arrived in Killarney well in time for lunch. This would have cost a fraction of the helicopter ride.
And while the minister was in the air, his chauffeur drove the empty black Mercedes to Dublin, with orders to meet his boss in the afternoon after the helicopter had brought him to the capital.

After giving his speech, Martin Cullen - apparently in a hurry - left the Malton Hotel in Killarney and boarded the AW 139 waiting for him outside. (During the minister's address the helicopter was spotted by local people flying circles over the nearby National Park. Was that waste of fuel necessary as well?) Once again there were only two passengers - Cullen and his assistant - in the 15-seater aircraft.
Shortly after take-off the left side door suddenly detached itself and crashed into the National Park from a height of 150 metres. (It has meanwhile been located and removed by Aer Corps personnel.) As reported yesterday already, the helicopter then made an emergency landing at the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.

Martin Cullen emerged "visibly shaken", but determined to be flown to Dublin. He was brought by car to Co. Kerry's regional airport at nearby Farranfore, where another Aer Corps AW 139 picked him up later and flew him and his assistant to the capital.
This second helicopter had been over Co. Cork, as part of a combined exercise involving the Aer Corps and the Naval Service. It was ordered to abandon its operation and became the second air taxi for Martin Cullen in one day, which raised the costs for the minister's travel from Waterford to Dublin via Killarney to a staggering € 16,260!!!

The fact that a third AW 139 was used to fly the Aer Corps' investigation team from Baldonnel to Killarney added a further € 8130 to the expenses, though the minister can of course not be held responsible for that, or the incident itself.
However, his inflated ego and sense of self-importance, which made him travel in an Aer Corps helicopter rather than in his ministerial car, has cost the Irish taxpayers dearly. Three of the Aer Corps' six AW 139 had to be used, which is one third of Ireland's entire military helicopter fleet. The cost of the whole affair, including the aftermath, investigation and recovery of the fallen-off door, will be in the area of € 35,000, not counting the costs for repairing the damaged AW 139. How such a sum could ever be justified for a minor domestic appearance and short speech by one of the lesser cabinet ministers is beyond my capacity of understanding.

But it is not even the worst misuse of Aer Corps aircraft by an Irish government minister. A few years ago (the then Tánaiste) Mary Harney (left) - now the widely hated Minister for Health - used the main government jet to fly from Dublin to Sligo, for the sole purpose of being present at the opening of a personal friend's new off-licence (shop for alcoholic drinks).
Such was the political culture in our 'Celtic Tiger' banana republic...

This afternoon a caller to the Live Line programme (with Joe Duffy) on RTÉ Radio 1 pointed out that Martin Cullen could have easily taken a regular Ryan Air flight from Kerry to Dublin.
But Ireland's most popular tourist airline seemed to be not good enough for the cabinet minister with responsibility for the country's Tourism.

Slice by slice and day by day the true dimensions of our scandalous banana republic become ever more visible, even though - to quote a song popular in the 1930s - "No, we grow no bananas". In a state of unprecedented arrogance and ignorance our incompetent government ministers - and in particular those belonging to Fianna Fáil - behave almost like French aristocrats before 1789 or medieval princes with feudal powers. They have forgotten that they were elected by the Irish people, in order to represent them. Instead they live in a world of their own, on a little golden planet that only exists in their imagination. Unfortunately they make the rest of us, all those who live in the real world, pay for their extravagant lifestyle of luxury and pretence.

In two weeks' time - on St. Patrick's Day - it will even be worse, as almost every Irish minister will use the occasion to fly off - always first class - to faraway places at taxpayers' expense. The Taoiseach will fly to Washington, to present a bowl of shamrock to President Barack Obama, if he likes it or not.
This 'tradition', only invented in the late 20th century, reminds me of medieval vassals, who had once a year to pay tribute to their overlord and humour him with presents.
We must be the only nation in the world where the whole government leaves the country on the National Day!

There is nothing wrong with presenting foreign leaders with a special gift of Irish shamrock on the 17th of March. But such friendly gestures fall into the portfolio of ambassadors. And we have plenty of them abroad. What is the point in having them, if they are not even entrusted with the handing over of a bunch of shamrock...?

I am begining to wonder if yesterday's falling-off of the helicopter's door was a kind of omen, a special sign for the situation we are in. It is somehow telling that by now even Irish aircraft are losing parts in mid-air, after the wheels fell off our banks first, and then off our entire economy.

The fighters of 1916, whose blood was the final price for our eventual independence, must be rotating in their graves when they see Fianna Fáil turning our Aer Corps into the party's private air transport service. On Liveline today one of the many angry callers suggested that we need a real revolution in Ireland, and that some heads need to roll...
It would not surprise me if views like his are gaining more momentum, thanks to self-serving arrogant wasters like Martin Cullen. His ilk has sparked revolutions before...

The Emerald Islander

Minister "shaken" as Door falls off Helicopter

An Irish Aer Corps helicopter, carrying a cabinet minister, was forced to make an emergency landing in Killarney, Co. Kerry, this afternoon after one of the aircraft's huge doors fell off in mid-air.

Martin Cullen (FF), the Minister for the Arts, Sport & Tourism (left), was in Killarney today to address the annual conference of the Irish Hotels' Federation.
Afterwards an AW 139 helicopter, one of the most modern in the Aer Corps, was ordered to fly him back to Dublin.
It took off from the grounds of the Malton Hotel with a three-man crew and two passengers: Minister Martin Cullen and one of his assistants. They both had boarded through the large door on the right side, which was then closed before the take-off.

But a few minutes later the helicopter's left door, which had not been used, fell suddenly off at a height of 150 metres and crashed into the Killarney National Park near Castlerosse.

The same helicopter had brought Martin Cullen this morning from his home in Waterford to Killarney without any problems.
After the incident it made an emergency landing at the nearest possible spot, the Killarney Golf & Fishing Club, where it still is now (photo above right).

Fortunately no one was injured in the incident, but witnesses say that Minister Cullen was "visibly shaken".

Eventually the minister, a man of slim built and rather small stature, continued his journey by road to Kerry Airport, from where a second AW 139, which was diverted from an Aer Corps training exercise in Cork, picked him up and flew him to Dublin.

In a statement the Irish Defence Forces declared the aircraft as grounded "until a Military Airworthiness Inspection Team and technicians from the Aer Corps HQ examine it". This team will fly to Kerry tomorrow to assess the helicopter and its condition. It will then be moved back to Casement Aerodrome, the Aer Corps' main base at Baldonnel near Dublin.

The Augusta-Westland AW 139, a modern multi-purpose helicopter with 15 seats, can fly with its doors open.
However, the Irish Aer Corps does it "only at certain speeds and when the aircraft works in military and winching roles".
Ireland is one of so far 18 countries that use this helicopter type in various service roles with their armed forces and other government departments. (The other countries are Australia, China, Estonia, India, Italy, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, Namibia, the Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, Qatar, South Korea, Spain, the United Arab Emirates and the USA.) There are no reports that anything like today's incident has ever happened with an AW 139 anywhere else.

The Emerald Islander

Dempsey does more Damage to CIÉ

Is there anyone in our incompetent government who understands at least the basic rules of Economics, and how markets and societies work? Obviously not.

The latest example of a goat made gardener is Noel Dempsey (right), a pigheaded Fianna Fáil apparatchik from Co. Meath and the Cabinet's bouncer, who has been in charge of too many government departments to keep track of them all.
However, people working in those departments do remember him well, as he left each of them in a real mess when he was moved on to run down and wreck the next one. (They loathe him especially in Education, and among the civil servants in the Customs House - home of the Dept. of the Environment - he has a status only one step removed from the Anti-Christ...)

Currently Dempsey is in charge of Transport, since Martin Cullen (left), our very own little clown from Waterford city who had it before him, did not manage to destroy the public transport system quickly enough.
Not for want of trying, mind you, but Martin is just not very effective, regardless what he does.
Dempsey will do better, and today he moved another step closer to dismantle the already poor structure of public transport in Ireland.

He told the Dáil that Coras Iompair Éireann (CIÉ) - the state-owned holding company that controls Iarnród Éireann (the Irish railways), Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus - "will make a deficit of € 39 million this year", compared with a deficit of just under € 1.5 million in 2007.

Anyone who knows CIÉ with its arrogant and self-serving attitudes, sluggish and inefficient management, under-qualified but over-paid staff and total lack of regard for its passengers will not be surprised. Only those who have no other choice ever travel with the three CIÉ companies.

To give you an example: Both Iarnród Éireann and Bus Éireann provide regular services from Waterford to Dublin (and back, if you are lucky). So anyone here who has business in Dublin can get there by either train or bus. The problem is that there are only a few services per day, and none at all in the evening or through the night.
If I want to use a train, I can leave Waterford at about 7.30 a.m. and will be in Dublin by 10 a.m., unless there is "a problem on the line", which happens rather often. By bus it will take me three hours, but the costs are almost the same.
I have to be very quick in Dublin, as the last bus back to Waterford leaves the capital at 6 p.m. and the last train only a few minutes later. This means that anything that extends beyond 5 p.m. cannot be done in Dublin when using CIÉ services. Not even to mention the idea of going to a concert or seeing a play in a Dublin theatre. Impossible for an Irish provincial person depending on public transport.

So if one has a longer day in Dublin, a car is the only way to get there - and back - in a reasonable way. However, there is - at least from Waterford (and several other towns along the route) - an alternative to the CIÉ services. A private bus company runs a regular service to Dublin (city and airport) seven days a week. And guess what? Their fare is half of what CIÉ charges, and they go a lot more often, including at night. It is no surprise that their buses are usually well filled, while CIÉ services drive around the country with their buses often more than half empty.

Irish People are not stupid. But unfortunately our current government (a coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Green Party) is, and the management of CIÉ follows the government closely.

CIÉ's mismanagement has now run up an amazing deficit of over € 39 million. This is a lot for you and me, but only a small sum for a government these days.
Especially one that has just declared it will hand over € 10 billion to save our failing (privately owned) banks.
In many other EU countries public transport operations like CIÉ receive hundreds of millions of state subsidies every year, in order to provide a proper, functional and affordable system of public transport. And there people use their trains, buses and trams all the time, in large numbers and quite happily.

But what is Ireland doing? Our idiot of a Transport Minister has nothing better to offer than an increase of (the already way too expensive) fares by a further 10%, a reduction of the frequency of services, and a withdrawl of some routes altogether.

Is there a doctor in Leinster House? (There are actually a few...)
Because someone qualified needs to certify Noel Dempsey as insane and remove him from his job to a lunatic asylum, where he belongs!

What Noel Dempsey proposed today will make CIÉ even less attractive for potential passengers, and thus create an increase in losses, and nothing else.
But then again, who knows, perhaps this is exactly his intention and brief. If FF's chief wrecker makes CIÉ even more uncompetitive as it is already, the government could justify to break it up and privatise its pieces. I am sure some greedy financial vultures with deep pockets and friendly relations to Fianna Fáil are already waiting in the wings.

In order to flourish - or at least function properly - CIÉ needs to lower its fares (in some cases significantly), increase its frequency of services, improve the technical quality and comfort of its rolling stock, get rid of its incompetent management and its arrogant attitude, and then - under new leaders - train and motivate its staff for the 21st century. It is not difficult to do that, as long as there is a will and competent people. All over Europe it works very well.

Only here in Ireland the government is incapable of creating and maintaining a decent public transport system, available to the majority of the people and affordable for all. Besides Health, Education and the financial sector, public transport and infrastructure is the most seriously underfunded part of our nation and one of the worst managed as well. But it is a vital factor for the economy, and essential in the attempt to get out of recession.
Without proper transport systems, neither goods and materials will flow, nor will people have enough regular mobility.

This is not rocket science. Everyone with common sense and at least some understanding of the economy will grasp this nettle quite easily.
However, when it comes to brains, new ideas, imagination and the ability to solve problems, our current government is an infertile wasteland. And among the intellectually challenged in Leinster House Noel Dempsey is one of the most serious cases. If he ever had a brain, it must have gone AWOL at some stage without anyone noticing.

The sooner he is removed from his current position, the better for CIÉ and public transport in Ireland. In fact, the sooner the whole government goes, the better for everyone and everything on this island.

The Emerald Islander