A republic rotten to the core

MICHAEL Collins, arguably, won the independence of this State through a network of highly intrusive surveillance.

The British security infrastructure was eventually overwhelmed by a more motivated, silent army of ordinary subversives the length and breath of Ireland. Eventually, the British system of government was so undermined that the mandate to rule became a mirage.

Collins proved that what you lack in one area, such as military might, you can make up for in other areas, such as strategic entrepreneurship. I believe that voluntary subversion is once again required to revive this nation. This time, the occupiers don’t have foreign accents or ten-pound guns, but they are meaner, more entrenched in their arrogance, and have done more harm to the welfare of the decent Irish than the British.

This State is rotten. Anyone who works in the public sector sees it every day. At a certain level, people are only appointed by grace and favour. This kind of corruption is not a major problem when it begins, but when almost everyone above a certain level in the civil and public service is unqualified to be in their job, then the system begins to collapse under the weight of its own corruption. This is the secret shame of Ireland. Far too many don’t give a damn about merit, so long as their son or daughter “gets a start”. The problem is that nepotism/cronyism never stops with “giving people a start”.

The same people end up being over promoted into positions such as regulators or senior managers in vital public services, eventually generating massive levels of paralysis. The same process of undermining of this state has laid behind the nod-and-wink culture that eventually led to our planning/building/banking failures.

The decent people of Ireland have to; once again, undermine the system of misrule that has ruined us. Public sector reform will never come through the people at the top of the system, whose “pedigree” is highly questionable, given the cronyism that has prevailed for too long. Crude instruments like pay cutting and lay offs won’t do anything to get at the rotten core.

Only those on the inside can affect reform, by blowing the whistle on corruption.

Declan Doyle

Lisdowney

Kilkenny