Have you ever experienced true corruption?

Crock Rock · 15-02-2019 09:53PM #1

I've heard rhetoric spewed about that we are apparently one of the most corrupt countries in the world. I've never heard of or experience corruption at a small level here in Ireland, apart from hearing about political corruption.

Corruption is widespread and riddled through society in other countries.

When travelling through in Lagos, I was asked several times for a "mineral" (small monetary bribe) to expedite bag searches etc. In Egypt I was asked several times for "Baksheesh" for similar things and to "skip" official queues.

We don't see petty corruption like that here.

15-02-2019 09:56PM

By an older woman.

Crock Rock · 15-02-2019 09:56PM

Deleted User wrote: »

By an older woman.

Corruption.... apt username

arctictree · 15-02-2019 09:59PM

Crock Rock wrote: »

I've heard rhetoric spewed about that we are apparently one of the most corrupt countries in the world. I've never heard of or experience corruption at a small level here in Ireland, apart from hearing about political corruption.

Corruption is widespread and riddled through society in other countries.

When travelling through in Lagos, I was asked several times for a "mineral" (small monetary bribe) to expedite bag searches etc. In Egypt I was asked several times for "Baksheesh" for similar things and to "skip" official queues.

We don't see petty corruption like that here.

Agreed. Have just been through a lengthy planning process here and not once was any payment suggested to any official.

On the other hand I have done business in various African countries and the scale of corruption is really something to behold. It goes from the top all the way down.

Eire Go Brach · 15-02-2019 10:02PM

Bertie Ahern. The man that destroyed my country.

gozunda · 15-02-2019 10:06PM

Plenty ...

corner of hells · 15-02-2019 10:16PM

Yes , yes I have.

I was having a pint years ago with a mate who worked in a petrol station .

An infamous politician walked into the pub and my pal handed him a brown envelope on behalf of his employer.

After some more alcohol my pal spilled the beans saying his employer owned the land around the petrol station and wanted to sell it with planning permission.

The politician received lots of brown envelopes and the land was eventually sold with planning permission .

I kid you not about the brown envelopes.

Buford T Justice · 15-02-2019 10:18PM

corner of hells wrote: »

Yes , yes I have.

I was having a pint years ago with a mate who worked in a petrol station .

An infamous politician walked into the pub and my pal handed him a brown envelope on behalf of his employer.

After some more alcohol my pal spilled the beans saying his employer owned the land around the petrol station and wanted to sell it with planning permission.

The politician received lots of brown envelopes and the land was eventually sold with planning permission .

I kid you not about the brown envelopes.

This is just symptomatic of the climate at the time. You'll find that more than likely the land owner didn't think he did anything wrong. It was simply how business was done back then. If you wanted something, it took a brown envelope.

Capt'n Midnight · 15-02-2019 10:21PM

I've lost lots of document stored on floppy disks

Victor · 15-02-2019 10:23PM

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

I've lost lots of document stored on floppy disks

I lost an entire 32GB SD Drive.

foxy farmer · 15-02-2019 10:28PM

In this country it's called political donations. Builders give a councillor or TD a few K and lo and behold rhat builder gets planning permission with v little hassle. Or wins a tender for some big state contract. All's grand as its declared and fully transparent.

grindle · 15-02-2019 10:28PM

Buford T Justice wrote: »

This is just symptomatic of the climate at the time. You'll find that more than likely the land owner didn't think he did anything wrong. It was simply how business was done back then. If you wanted something, it took a brown envelope.

Makes sense for most times. From king's tithes to priest's favours, politicians became the priests of business favours and legal loopholing and they wanted their cut.

byronbay2 · 15-02-2019 10:37PM

Buford T Justice wrote: »

This is just symptomatic of the climate at the time. You'll find that more than likely the land owner didn't think he did anything wrong. It was simply how business was done back then. If you wanted something, it took a brown envelope.

Correct. Likewise, the bogus non-resident bank accounts that were so popular in the 80's. You might think (looking back now) that those thousands of people were corrupt but at the time it was seen as a handy loophole to avoid paying the absolutely penal (~70%) tax rates. Lots and lots of ordinary, "pillar of the community"-type people had bogus non-resident accounts.

Flyingsnowball · 15-02-2019 10:41PM

I remember a fella from coolock was caught taking money to let foreign people skip the que at immigration or some public body office.

arybvtcw0eolkf · 15-02-2019 10:56PM

Not really at a high official level.

I've seen some in Martial Arts circles, usually centered around easy grading's for favors done.

I've also done nightclub doorwork for 25 years where it would be a regular enough occurance for a Garda to flash their badges to look for free entry or late (after hours) drink.

Giveaway · 15-02-2019 11:05PM

The real corruption in this country is the many people in state employment doing Sweet FA and the many claiming social welfare when they have employment or no disability

normanoffside · 15-02-2019 11:06PM

At the train station in Palermo I was reporting as lost camera to the station master when a shady looking guy came over demanding his attention. The station master apologised profusely to me for the interruption and went over immediately to the fella.
The Guy asked if his 'thing' had arrived and the station master went into the back, produced a package handed it over and received an envelope in return. Without breaking sweat he came back to me immediately to ask about my camera...

Later that day in a Chinese restaurant we openly heard a group of Sicilians and Japanese openly discussing a drug deal in 'broken English'.

Palermo was the most openly corrupt place I have ever been to, at the same stage one of the nicest and safest places for a tourist.

Capt'n Midnight · 15-02-2019 11:09PM

Victor wrote: »

I lost an entire 32GB SD Drive.

Did you try down the back of the sofa ?

or whip out the soldering iron take off the memory chip and do magic

blackbox · 15-02-2019 11:14PM

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.irishtimes.com/news/crime-and-law/courts/circuit-court/ex-clerk-of-wicklow-town-council-guilty-of-corruption-1.2453684%3fmode=amp

Still waters · 15-02-2019 11:22PM

Aryanna Tangy Nostril wrote: »

Not really at a high official level.

I've seen some in Martial Arts circles, usually centered around easy grading's for favors done.

I've also done nightclub doorwork for 25 years where it would be a regular enough occurance for a Garda to flash their badges to look for free entry or late (after hours) drink.

Does it work for them or did you tell them jog on

Snow Garden · 15-02-2019 11:25PM

I have seen people get decent jobs in the public sector because of who they know not because they were the best candidate (by a long shot!). I guess that is corruption.

Buford T Justice · 15-02-2019 11:28PM

Snow Garden wrote: »

I have seen people get decent jobs in the public sector because of who they know not because they were the best candidate (by a long shot!). I guess that is corruption.

Thats nepotism

bizidea · 15-02-2019 11:31PM

I will next week when I go for a job interview even though I know who will get the jobs before the interviews are even done corruption is alive and well

15-02-2019 11:35PM

Michael lowry as FG minister for communications had many a brown envelope & the 2nd mobile phone licence went to the wrong company.

Denis Naughten another FG minister for communications was ousted from the roll in the nick of Time after he was wined & dined by the only remaining bidder in the national broadband plan.

Still plenty of corruption in Irish politics no matter what party seems to be in power

Hedgelayer · 15-02-2019 11:36PM

Engineer's just out of college working on building site's during the boom.

Some couldn't even figure out how to open a measuring tape, signing of half built houses.

Not even knowing how long cement takes to harden, the list goes on....

mzungu · 15-02-2019 11:37PM

arctictree wrote: »

Agreed. Have just been through a lengthy planning process here and not once was any payment suggested to any official.

On the other hand I have done business in various African countries and the scale of corruption is really something to behold. It goes from the top all the way down.

Even the commercial cargo ships have to pay bribes before they will be allowed dock at ports (in west Africa). Companies accounted for it in their budget, it was/still is seen as a normal part of business. TIA, though!

L1011 · 15-02-2019 11:39PM

Sleeper12 wrote: »

Michael lowry as FG minister for communications had many a brown envelope & the 2nd mobile phone licence went to the wrong company.

Denis Naughten another FG minister for communications was ousted from the roll in the nick of Time after he was wined & dined by the only remaining bidder in the national broadband plan.

Still plenty of corruption in Irish politics no matter what party seems to be in power

Naughten was not an FG minister.

Nepotism used to be rife in both public sector and unionised private sector roles. It's now more seen in private sector professions - getting a GP training place or an airline cadetship etc. Public Appointments Commission or whatever it's called has made it almost unheard of there

Hotblack Desiato · 15-02-2019 11:52PM

Giveaway wrote: »

The real corruption in this country is the many people in state employment doing Sweet FA

It's always great to have a self-appointed expert on tap on Boards whenever you need one.

Snow Garden wrote: »

I have seen people get decent jobs in the public sector because of who they know not because they were the best candidate (by a long shot!). I guess that is corruption.

Have you ever actually tried to get a job in the public sector?

Your claim is, to be frank, utter bollocks.

Nepotism is rife in Ireland all right, but in the private sector, and family owned businesses in particular. The owner's son always gets a responsible job, no matter how thick or useless he is, and anyone who crosses him may as well just resign.

Irish SMEs are miserable cûnts to work for, in general, and I think their incompetence and tight-fistedness is a major factor in holding our domestic economy back - we can't all depend on the multinationals or the public sector to find decent paying jobs.

I think Naughten is a case of severe and utter stupidity rather than corruption. It bumped up the average IQ of the government so no loss.

realitykeeper · 15-02-2019 11:54PM

There were the millions of fake breathalizer tests for which the Gardaí were paid by the taxpayer. When an outside Commissioner was brought in because of this and other Garda related scandals, the Gardaí thought they should be paid extra for loss of opportunity - in other words they wanted to get paid for being corrupt.

The greatest corruption in this country is the political system in which national politicians want to spend all their time doing favours for locals in their constituency clinics and if they are asked to do something for the country like being part of one of these plethora of enquiries they get paid extra for that.

I blame the treaty of 1920. Swearing an oath to a foreign monarch ensured the people who went on the establish the institutions of the state were either liars or traitors or both.

Snow Garden · 15-02-2019 11:58PM

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Have you ever actually tried to get a job in the public sector?

Your claim is, to be frank, utter bollocks.

Yes, several years ago and I am still in it. And believe it or not, I used contacts to get in.

bizidea · 15-02-2019 11:58PM

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

It's always great to have a self-appointed expert on tap on Boards whenever you need one.

Have you ever actually tried to get a job in the public sector?

Your claim is, to be frank, utter bollocks.

Nepotism is rife in Ireland all right, but in the private sector, and family owned businesses in particular. The owner's son always gets a responsible job, no matter how thick or useless he is, and anyone who crosses him may as well just resign.

Irish SMEs are miserable cûnts to work for, in general, and I think their incompetence and tight-fistedness is a major factor in holding our domestic economy back - we can't all depend on the multinationals or the public sector to find decent paying jobs.

I think Naughten is a case of severe and utter stupidity rather than corruption. It bumped up the average IQ of the government so no loss.

Hate to tell you but snowgarden hit the nail on the head

Have you ever experienced true corruption?

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