FF/FG/Green Government - Part 3

Zero response from the FG stalwarts here on the RTE Investigates program. I find that absolutely fascinating. Do the blinkers get replaced by blindfolds when these revelations come out? Priorities on the silly stuff only? Fascinating mindset. It seems that the Mahon tribunal, recommendations and promises of reform were a smokescreen by the power swap. Corrupt government is alive and well!

Council Chamber Secrets (rte.ie)

I thought from the clips shown that Pascal was doing his best to push it through but it was delayed by Calleary's intervention about liaising with the representative groups and subsequent blocking by the committee for local govt - "we've planned all our meetings for this year and it's not on the agenda" or something to that effect

I have been the biggest critic of our councils on here so I am not surprised.

I don't know. I just thought Pascal came out of it okay from the programme

You'd hope that it will gain some traction again now and finally get over the line but with all that's going on in the world, there's a reasonable chance it will just fall by the wayside again

That you don't know about degrees of offence is no surprise. Some reflection ala MHR would be warranted.

There is a world of difference between a single one-off offensive remark and say a punishment beating as examples of homophobia. Calling one lighter than the other is not unreasonable.

Did you watch it? It wasn't about low paid council workers dossing. This was high level fraud, corruption, waste of public money, false accounting, forgery, mismanagement, and lack of oversight and accountability. Who is to blame for the lack of reform? Mahon was 10 years ago.

Wrong ill-considered language. Would you say 'light racism'?

I never said light homophobia. I described it as being on the lighter side of homophobia. There is a difference between the two uses of the language. All homophobia is wrong, just some examples are worse than others.

Joe Dufy had to explain to MHR yesterday the difference between adjectives and nouns, do I have to explain the different use of language to you? Not the first time you have taken my words and twisted them into a different meaning. Away with that sort of behaviour.

blanch, there is simply NO 'light side' to homophobia.

Fair enough and will you be pushing your local FG and FF TD to resurrect the 2015 Public Sector Standards Bill that got shelved even though it had broad support?

This part was the most frustrating. The fake accountability.

Council chamber secrets: Misconduct, falsehoods & waste (rte.ie)

Our investigation details failures in the local government sector, including allegations of employee fraud, false accounting, the misleading of other public bodies in grant applications, and the shocking waste of taxpayers' money.

In our analysis, two predominant themes persist in the local government sector.

One is the lack of accountability. Another is the persistent absence of real transparency.

Each year, every local authority is subject to an audit from the Local Government Audit Service, a division of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, which publishes its reports.

And while the Local Government Auditor highlights examples of poor practices or waste of public money, its impact can be limited.

It can make "recommendations" to local authorities to get their act together – but that's about it.

"The implementation of recommendations made is a matter for the management of the local authority," the department told RTÉ Investigates.

"However, the lack of action on recommendations made at previous audits may be referred to in subsequent audit reports."

But our analysis of audits from the Local Government Auditor indicates that there are no repercussions for councils that habitually ignore audit recommendations.

The absence of accountability and transparency is evident at several councils in recent years.

In examining various council-related controversies, a distinct pattern emerges.

A controversy erupts, painting the council, or a council employee, in a less-than-favourable light.

The council – or in some cases, a government department – responds and says it is investigating the controversy.

Sometimes, it appoints an external investigator to do this – for example, a retired senior official from another local authority. And sometimes it does this in-house.

It is seen to be doing something.

While the investigation is taking place, the council can easily swat off any Freedom of Information requests, media queries or queries from its councillors by saying that it cannot comment on the matter or provide any further information until its "investigation" is completed.

Time marches on. Media and political interest in the controversy wanes.

Eventually, with the investigation completed, the council often refuses to release the investigation report, perhaps because of privacy grounds or because the report contains "personal information".

On other occasions, a Garda investigation provides the council with a rationale for not disclosing information about a particular issue – a situation that can sometimes last over several years.

And there, the matter is put to bed – but with no answers given to the public.

This Septic Isle.