Dear Sir... Readers' Views (31/01/17)
Torture back on agenda in US and UK
US President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that he agrees with torture, even though interrogation experts in the CIA and FBI have confirmed that torturing prisoners to extract information does not work. (‘Trump Endorses Torture’, Irish Examiner, January 27).
The views expressed by a former British senior army officer Colonel Bob Steward, now a senior Conservative MP, in a BBC interview that he “was a kind of torturer” when he served in Northern Ireland are unacceptable and offensive to all those who value human rights.
Colonel Steward said: “sometimes [torture] might work, and sometimes it might be justified”.
He used the very flawed argument of the ticking bomb to justify torture, in spite of its total prohibition by the UN Convention Against Torture.
He outlined some of the methods he had used against prisoners in the North.
Based on his own admissions, Colonel Steward should be charged with a variety of offences against persons in custody. He also stated that: “Of course, it was acceptable then — it’s now unacceptable and now it’s defined as torture.”
Torture and human rights abuses were never acceptable, whether they were committed by Roman emperors, Genghis Khan, the Spanish Inquisition, the Gestapo, the British army in Northern Ireland, or the US in Guantanamo.
Suspected CIA and US special forces aircraft are still being refueled at Shannon airport, making the Irish Government complicit in any crimes that may be committed in the torture “black-sites” that President Trump threatens to reopen.
Clamping act fails to protect citizens
The 2015 Vehicle Clamping Act has not yet commenced. Before it is, it would be worth a judicial review so as to have the following issues clarified. The impetus behind this legislation was to insure that an independent appeals mechanism should be put in place to protect motorists against rogue clamping companies.
The Irish Constitution protects one’s right to private property. Clamping allows clamping companies to take possession of a person’s private property, without any Independent Appeals Board in place, before monies are handed over. In every other case, the law of the land allows for an appeal to the courts first, before such a measure can take place, even in cases of house mortgage arrears.
In many cases of vehicle clamping motorists are prevented from earning a living by the clamping of a vehicle. Here again the Constitution and law protects a person’s right to earn a living. So, except in a case of traffic obstruction, clamping would be unjust if you need possession of your car to earn a living.
Take the case of the livery of charges for horses or berthing of fishing or pleasure boats. Unpaid fees do not allow possession in order to extort fees, without a court order. Surly the same should apply to the taking possession of a person’s car or vehicle through clamping without the right to appeal to the courts.
The charges amount to extortion for the offence committed in most cases, unless when the flow of traffic is not involved or obstruction of traffic where clamping would exasperate the situation. Being charged €100 for 10 minutes over time surely is extortion.
The 2015 Vehicle Clamping Act says that the NTA (National Transport Agency) will appoint two Appeals Officers but does not say that these officers must be independent and have no history of working for clamping companies. Two Appeals Officers for the whole country is totally inadequate.
Clampers will tell you that when you park in a parking area where clamping is in place that is tantamount to a contract. But there can be no legal contract if the motorist is under 18 or where a person has literacy problems or language problems which diminishes their capacity to understand that they are actually part of a contract. The legislation should say that clamping signs must be clearly visible and state on whose authority clamping is taking place.
It should be mandatory that the person who puts up clamping or parking signs should have full title or lease to the property where clamping is in place.
Clampers should be Garda vetted and clamping companies should not be able to divert monies paid by credit card from clamping directly out of the country. The companies should have to have a tax clearance, similar to those applying for other licences.
These are just a few of problems which the Vehicle Clamping Act 2015 does not deal with. One would just have to ask if this piece of legislation was read thoroughly and challenged on the above issues when at Dáil Committee stage. This act was to protect the citizen from extortion by rogue clampers but fails to do this.
Show us benefits President Higgins
President Michael D Higgins has announced that he is to shortly visit Cuba, Colombia and Peru, bringing to nine the number of Central and South American countries that he will have visited since his inauguration as president.
He stated in Cork last week that ‘Latin America has been an innovative force in the worldwide struggle against neoliberalism’ and ‘an emerging area of scholarship in academia’. Are these observations a reflection of Government policy, or merely the personal and political opinion of the president, distilled from his saturated curiosity in the region? On what grounds did the Cabinet approve the latest proposed presidential foray into South America?
The Strategy Statement published by the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade in 2015 declares that the focus of the Government’s global engagement is to ‘safeguard a secure and prosperous future for the Irish people’.
According to the latest data from the CSO, exports from Ireland to Columbia and Peru combined were of the order of €10 million in November 2016 — minuscule, while exports to Cuba were zero.
There is are Irish embassies in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico but the prestige and the impact of the visits to these countries by President Higgins over the past five years has yet to lead to a reciprocal visit to Ireland from the president of any of them, or any high-level initiative of enduring significance and consequence.
An estimated 27.5% of the population of Colombia in 2015 lived below the poverty line. The corresponding figure for Peru is 25.8%. Do these countries really have the potential to fulfil stated Irish foreign policy objectives?
Wasting State resources on foreign travel and on the phantasmagoria of vacuous cheerleading will not enhance Ireland’s capacity to influence world affairs or enhance our global prestige, wealth and power.
Perhaps President Higgins and the Government might reconsider the desirability of this proposed trip and recalibrate their priorities, beyond the delivery of a bowl of shamrock on St Patrick’s Day, on imaginative initiatives that show leadership and produce demonstrable results.
The DPP is not unaccountable
Your editorial of Saturday Jan 28 quite rightly raises concern about the 18 month sentence handed down in the Donegal driving case, but surely the real question to be answered here is how on earth did the DPP/state accept a plea of careless driving? If this is not dangerous driving what is?
The family, and indeed the rest of us, must now insist that our TDs raise this in the Dáil. The DPP is, rightly, independent but not unaccountable.
Do we really want high priests back?
It is interesting that many of the high priests of Celtic Tiger Ireland are still around complaining about the consequences of the decisions made by a small number of the powerful, themselves included, during the pre-2009 Celtic Tiger period.
Notwithstanding that, looking at newspapers and viewing/listening to TV and radio, not to mention internet forums, I get the impression that many in the Irish media want a return to power of the people who ran the pre-2009 Celtic Tiger governments. I am not sure why this is. I am not sure it is in the interest of the country.
Strapped for cash: Scrap the census
Given the shameful amount of homelessness, lack of proper housing, absurd overcrowding in hospitals and the near collapse of our bus system, would it be reasonable to assume the tax money spent on the census every few years should be stopped?
Cheers, Applegreen
Congratulations to the management and staff of Apple green service station M1 Lusk for toasting its success in selling the recent winning EuroMillion Jackpot ticket with non alcoholic bubbly for all its customers.... Celebrating, drinking and driving responsibly. Cheers!
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