Enda Kenny’s legacy obscured by cans kicked down the road
The problem with perennially kicking cans down the road is that, eventually, you come to the end of the road and a mountain of cans. With his time as Taoiseach slowly coming to a close, Enda Kenny’s self-advertised legacy of saving Ireland from the recession is instead being obscured by this growing mountain of cans kicked to commissions, inquiries, and tribunals on issues he failed to tackle when they first emerged.
From Grace to Mother and Baby Homes, garda smears to phone-tapping, Siteserv to Project Eagle, Mr Kenny’s time is set to end not with a look back on his economic record, but with the spotlight finally being turned on the scandals that are still being hidden in dark corners of Irish society.
It is not so much death by a thousand cuts, as death by a thousand commissions — or 10, to be precise.
First promised 13 months ago, the commission, to be chaired by senior counsel Marjorie Farrelly, will last for a year and will, after botched terms were scrapped yesterday, examine Grace’s care and that of other potential victims. The commission will investigate cover-ups by senior HSE and Tusla officials, alleged political involvement, threats against whistleblowers, and who, if any, should face criminal action.
Every conclusion will come with the realisation that the issue was not addressed by authorities, despite being known throughout the Taoiseach’s and his predecessors’ tenures.
Established in January 2015, the commission of investigation into the mother and baby homes — led by Judge Yvonne Murphy — last week confirmed up to 800 bodies of young children were found in a former septic tank at a facility in Tuam, Co Galway.
While the investigation is limited to examining 14 mother and baby homes and four “county homes”, Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone has confirmed a “scoping exercise” will begin after St Patrick’s Day to see if other homes must be examined.
The inquiry is expected to end by February 2018, but a potential extension to 180 other facilities — including Bessborough in Cork, where almost 500 children are said to have died in 19 years — and the linked scandal of children being illegally sold after their deaths were faked will likely push out this timeframe significantly.
Earlier this month, after narrowly avoiding his Government’s collapse, the Taoiseach set up a full-scale tribunal into accusations Garda Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan and others orchestrated a smear campaign against whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe.
The tribunal, to be chaired by Mr Justice Peter Charleton, Supreme Court, will produce a progress report within three months. A key part of this will be a re-examination of how Sgt McCabe was treated during the O’Higgins Commission, which examined claims of garda malpractice in Cavan-Monaghan.
The commission — which in August 2015 reported on the ‘retirement’ of former garda commissioner Martin Callinan — is to provide a report on alleged garda phone-tapping of suspects and their legal teams over decades.
It is due by the end of the month, having been planned for publication in December 2014. It could pose a fresh crisis in the force and the Government.
This commission of investigation is due to report by the end of the year and will attract significant attention, because of its links to multi-million-euro deals, Denis O’Brien, and Government.
The commission, led by retired judge Brian Cregan, was set up in June 2015 to examine deals by State bank IBRC and, specifically, the sale of Siteserv for €500m to Mr O’Brien’s firm Millington.
It was alleged in the Dáil that Mr O’Brien was given preferential treatment by the State bank, which both sides deny.
Mr Kenny promised an investigation last autumn after the Comptroller and Auditor General found the multi-billion-euro sale of Nama’s Northern Ireland loan book cost the State €220m.
The cross-party PAC last night voted in favour of publishing the report into the scandal, which saw Finance Minister Michael Noonan meet bid winner Cerberus days before the deal.
However, while this should lead to an inquiry, Fine Gael PAC members are opposed to the finding, Mr Noonan last month suggested none was needed, and Mr Kenny three weeks ago could not tell the finance committee why funding for the inquiry was not noted in the Department of Taoiseach accounts.
Last September, Sports Minister Shane Ross announced a non-statutory inquiry into the Olympics ticketing scandal which saw former Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president Pat Hickey arrested in connection with an international black-market ticket scam.
The inquiry, led by retired judge Carroll Moran, has been tasked with examining the sales and corporate governance processes of the OCI since the 2008 Beijing Olympics and whether any criminality was involved.
Its publication is due next month.
It is rarely publicised, but outside of the McCabe controversy, gardaí have, since 2014, been the subject of a number of other potentially damning inquiries.
They include the commission of investigation into the shooting of Ronan MacLochainn by a garda in 1998 during an attempted bank raid, which was set up in August 2014 at the request of the European Court of Human Rights and is now on its fourth extension due to related court proceedings.
A separate independent review of garda misconduct was set up in 2014 to examine 320 complaints, five of which are believed to have merit.
Confirmation of this was made at this week’s cabinet meeting, as it emerged retired judge and former politician Pat McCartan has been appointed to examine fresh evidence from the tragic 1981 Stardust fire.
Mr McCartan will have 90 days to examine new information about the case, before making a ruling over whether an inquiry is needed.
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