Convulsions in Irish Justice Dept and Policing
RESIGNED: Justice Minister Alan Shatter and Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.
The creators of the mould-breaking TV comedy Seinfeldadopted two rules: no hugging, no learning. We need to apply those rules to our current episode of the dark farce of Irish “reform”. Of course, the details should be properly investigated but on the larger scale, there is nothing new to be learned here. The new inquiries will find what the old ones found: a culture in the Garda, Department of Justice and in the State as a whole of burying unwanted truths.
By John Donovan
The convulsions in Ireland arising from the resignations of the Police Commissioner and the Justice Minister continue, with the Irish Cabinet discussing terms of reference for an inquiry into Garda cases.
Extracts
The Minister said the external review of the Department will be completed before the Dáil and Seanad rise for the summer recess. “I have committed to root and branch reform of the administration of justice in this country and this includes the Government Department responsible for this area.” In addition, the Cabinet resolved to urgently bring forward new legislation to strengthen the operation of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission. Ms Fitzgerald further said that the new Independent Garda Authority will be up and running by the end of the year.
The following is an extract from an article by Fintan O’Toolepublished today by the Irish Times:
Damning indictment
Its ethic is summed up in a single line of the Guerin report, referring to Alan Shatter’s handling of Maurice McCabe’s complaints against Martin Callinan: “In effect, the process of determining Sergeant McCabe’s complaints went no further than the minister receiving and acting upon the advice of the person who was the subject of the complaint.” Perfect.
The creators of the mould-breaking TV comedy Seinfeld adopted two rules: no hugging, no learning. We need to apply those rules to our current episode of the dark farce of Irish “reform”. Of course, the details should be properly investigated but on the larger scale, there is nothing new to be learned here. The new inquiries will find what the old ones found: a culture in the Garda, Department of Justice and in the State as a whole of burying unwanted truths. We know too that there’s only one remedy for this illness: a strong and repeated dose of real democracy.
The fallout is expected to reach The Hague next week when whistleblower directors of OSSL confront Ben van Beurden and his board colleagues at the Royal Dutch Shell Plc AGM about the role Shell has played in corrupting the Irish establishment, including the news media and the police.
With the kind assistance of Shell to Sea I have supplied OSSL with admittance passes as I did last year.
OSSL is unlikely to be conned again, as it was last May, by the false pledge of Peter Voser.
UPDATE 14 MAY 2014:
Senior GSOC director says agency is not fit for purpose
A SENIOR Garda Ombudsman director has condemned the agency as not fit for purpose in a damning personal submission to the Oireachtas Justice Committee. Director of investigations Ray Leonard claimed the garda oversight body lacks “effective independence” and does not represent “value for money” for the taxpayer.
Big oil firms pay big bucks to settle US charges of royalty fraud
Extracts from a Reuters article by Big oil firms accused of cheating on royalties lead fight to limit US disclosure rules
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Oil companies have paid $3 billion over the past 15 years to resolve a range of charges including that they regularly cheated the U.S. government and Native American communities out of royalties on oil and gas leases, raising concerns they use similar techniques to rob citizens in poor countries of resource wealth.
Royal Dutch Shell plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. are among the energy companies that have paid penalties and back payments on their U.S. energy leases and settled lawsuits accusing them of fraudulently underestimating the value of oil and gas to lower their royalty payments, research by Thomson Reuters Foundation shows.
These are the same companies leading the fight in the United States against strong transparency regulations that human rights advocates say are needed to help address massive corruption and extreme poverty in many resource-rich countries.
A different type of corruption involving Shell came to light in 2012 when a high court judge in London ruled that when Shell subsidiaries and the Italian oil giant Eni paid Nigeria $1.3 billion for an oil block in 2011, the majority of the money went to its former oil minister instead of public coffers.
Shell Oil sues developer of Carousel tract in Carson for contamination cleanup
Extracts from an article bySandy Mazza, published by the Daily Breeze on 12 May 2014
Everyone agrees that Shell Oil Co. left masses of waste petroleum just beneath the surface of a residential Carson neighborhood for decades, but the company now says it shouldn’t be held responsible for cleaning the mess. In a lawsuit filed last week in Los Angeles Superior Court, Shell points the finger of blame at the developers of the 50-acre tract of single-family houses that was built in the mid-1960s. Shell officials believe the developers assumed responsibility for the property’s waste oil and tank debris when they bought the land. The developers have argued they never touched the tarnished soil and have nothing to do with it. …residents are seeking payment for decades of poor health and declining home values due to the contamination. They claim they and their pets have been made sick with ailments such as headaches, cancer, blood disorders and many other conditions.
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