Upcoming Events

National | Crime and Justice

no events match your query!

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

Anti-Empire

offsite link North Korea Increases Aid to Russia, Mos... Tue Nov 19, 2024 12:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Trump Assembles a War Cabinet Sat Nov 16, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link Slavgrinder Ramps Up Into Overdrive Tue Nov 12, 2024 10:29 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link ?Existential? Culling to Continue on Com... Mon Nov 11, 2024 10:28 | Marko Marjanovi?

offsite link US to Deploy Military Contractors to Ukr... Sun Nov 10, 2024 02:37 | Field Empty

Anti-Empire >>

The Saker
A bird's eye view of the vineyard

offsite link Alternative Copy of thesaker.is site is available Thu May 25, 2023 14:38 | Ice-Saker-V6bKu3nz
Alternative site: https://thesaker.si/saker-a... Site was created using the downloads provided Regards Herb

offsite link The Saker blog is now frozen Tue Feb 28, 2023 23:55 | The Saker
Dear friends As I have previously announced, we are now “freezing” the blog.? We are also making archives of the blog available for free download in various formats (see below).?

offsite link What do you make of the Russia and China Partnership? Tue Feb 28, 2023 16:26 | The Saker
by Mr. Allen for the Saker blog Over the last few years, we hear leaders from both Russia and China pronouncing that they have formed a relationship where there are

offsite link Moveable Feast Cafe 2023/02/27 ? Open Thread Mon Feb 27, 2023 19:00 | cafe-uploader
2023/02/27 19:00:02Welcome to the ‘Moveable Feast Cafe’. The ‘Moveable Feast’ is an open thread where readers can post wide ranging observations, articles, rants, off topic and have animate discussions of

offsite link The stage is set for Hybrid World War III Mon Feb 27, 2023 15:50 | The Saker
Pepe Escobar for the Saker blog A powerful feeling rhythms your skin and drums up your soul as you?re immersed in a long walk under persistent snow flurries, pinpointed by

The Saker >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link How These NHS Apparatchiks Must Hate the Media for Shining a Light on Their Mistreatment of Christia... Tue May 20, 2025 19:00 | Julian Mann
How the NHS apparatchiks must hate the media for shining a light on their mistreatment of Christian nurse Jennifer Melle, who bravely stood up to their trans dogma, says Julian Mann.
The post How These NHS Apparatchiks Must Hate the Media for Shining a Light on Their Mistreatment of Christian Nurse Jennifer Melle Who Stood Up to Their Trans Dogma appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link US Ends Recommendation of Covid Vaccine Boosters for Most Americans Tue May 20, 2025 17:24 | Will Jones
The US has ended its recommendation of Covid vaccine boosters for most Americans. FDA Commissioner Martin Makary and FDA vaccine chief Vinay Prasad announced the change for healthy under-65s today in the NEJM.
The post US Ends Recommendation of Covid Vaccine Boosters for Most Americans appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Tories Sink to Lowest Ever Poll Rating Tue May 20, 2025 15:22 | Will Jones
The Conservative Party has sunk to its?lowest ever poll rating, after a YouGov poll carried out on Sunday and Monday found the Tories are now in fourth place on just 16%. Reform is flying on 29% ahead of Labour on 22%.
The post Tories Sink to Lowest Ever Poll Rating appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Lucy Connolly Loses Appeal for Early Release From 31-Month Sentence for Southport Tweet Tue May 20, 2025 12:00 | Will Jones
Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months for a tweet posted in the wake of the?Southport murders,?has failed in her attempt to be released early after the Court of Appeal refused to reduce her sentence.
The post Lucy Connolly Loses Appeal for Early Release From 31-Month Sentence for Southport Tweet appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Tommy Robinson to be Released From Prison After High Court Reduces 18-Month Sentence for Contempt of... Tue May 20, 2025 11:04 | Will Jones
Tommy Robinson?is due to be released from prison within days after his 18-month sentence for the civil offence of contempt of court was reduced by four months at the High Court after he showed a "change in attitude".
The post Tommy Robinson to be Released From Prison After High Court Reduces 18-Month Sentence for Contempt of Court appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Will intergovernmental institutions withstand the end of the "American Empire"?,... Sat Apr 05, 2025 07:15 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?127 Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:38 | en

offsite link Disintegration of Western democracy begins in France Sat Apr 05, 2025 06:00 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N?126 Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:39 | en

offsite link The International Conference on Combating Anti-Semitism by Amichai Chikli and Na... Fri Mar 28, 2025 11:31 | en

Voltaire Network >>

Meet the new boss: same as the old boss

category national | crime and justice | opinion/analysis author Saturday June 21, 2014 00:39author by V Marplot - Just-US Report this post to the editors

Minister Shatter's replacement hits the ground with true colours flying

Fine Gael relentlessly circles the wagons, to put a pretty new face on an ugly scandal, and baffle us with bull.

Hope springs eternal, and for just a moment, some of us may have just wondered if the present Dublin government might learn a lesson from the fall of Mr Shatter. But no fear of that. Everything's back to normal: total corruption, under a paper-thin veneer of window-dressing.

With breathtakingly contempt for the public's intelligence, Minister Fitzgerald lost no time in announcing everything's under control, and the Gardí had nothing to do with that bugging of the Garda Ombudsman's office (GSOC). And the “people in charge of the GSOC” had nothing to do with it either. Well. Don't we all feel better now?

It's marvelous, how some denials are so feverish as to be practically a confession. Of course no one but Gardí could possibly be behind bugging the office that investigates the GardÍ. Who else would want to know? Who else has bugging equipment was “not commercially available or sold to non-government agencies.” **

But “the people in charge of the GSOC”...? Well thank you, Ms Fitzgerald. We hadn't thought of that one. Now we know whom you were hired to protect, from what. (And it's not us, from official crimes.)

This tells us everything we need to know about the new Minister. Mr Shatter had to step down because no one would believe him anymore. What they needed was to put a new face on the same brazen lies.

Clearly, covering up the Shatter – Garda scandal is the prime directive here. The new MInister's glossy PR events, press conferences and announcements about “Garda reform” and creating an “independent Garda” authority, are the merest camouflage. Just weapons of mass distraction, to deflect attention, and make it look like something's being done.

This is Fine Gael: as a famous Irish comic said, “Fianna Fail, with a croissant.”

(** Security company that uncovered the bugging at GSOC, quoted in The Sunday Times.)

© 2001-2025 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy