Dear oh dear, Odie, you have named 2 outsiders, think it would be fair to say that is 2 per 100 head of population, the other 98 would be FF'ers but the size of sins/deeds committed bt the 98 would be ginormous in comparison, they have taken a long time to accumulate but the FF controlled Govt of the last 13 years have been cashing in the chips and loading the taxpayers and their grandchildren with debt.

How are things at the airport must check and see how Ferris got on, Donie needs to be run out of that gaff + his kind.

because those low life drug barons were most likely from a working ( wellfare ) class backround , thier actions are in some way excusable in brownes eyes where as the bankers had all the advantages , in the mind of the pc left liberal , you are forgiven for almost anything provided your fit a particular race , religon , gender , social demographic etc

My point was not that those practices are themselves corruption (they're not; they are what they are). Instead I was suggesting that the practices signal corruption.

By corruption, I mean the old-fashioned criminal offence, as opposed to the wider 'Machiavellian' concept of corruption as a form of moral wrongdoing (not necessarily illegal) against the republic.

Maybe my view is jaundiced from having closer experience of the planning process than other, cleaner elements of local and national government, and from watching how the property industry had its every need catered for at national level.

Here's an interesting paper with the title "Corrupt compared to what". Topically, it takes the state of Greece as its subject. (Be warned: it rests on the leftist idea that corporate/state corruption is endemic, and it's unfair to single out private petty corruption. Still, good for sources.)
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/hel.../Bratsis-8.pdf

Elaine Byrne's forthcoming book should also be a source on both facts and perceptions on the question of corruption in Ireland.
This is her writing on defining corruption: Definitions and Types of Corruption : Elaine Byrne
On how certain activities both signal and conceal corruption: How wasting public money has become terrible norm : Elaine Byrne
Our culture of saying nothing against the powerful, even as they abuse children: Cancerous Irish culture of saying nothing : Elaine Byrne

__________________
Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.

Yes, if that job is publically funded. For years the Health Boards were treated as vote buyers by TDs, who were invariably on the board, and who gave jobs out like confetti to completely unsuitable candidates. I would hazard a guess that the incompetence may be somewhat related to the tribal nature of HB "recruiting" in the past.

The running of the Lisbon Treaty referendum II puts us in the Mugabe league. To distribute the ballot boxes 2 weeks before the election (and all that implies) without Garda supervision is both illegal and indicative.

In general i never see corruption out of the public service as the lads/ladies on the ground are pretty decent people in general and I can hav no complaints that way.

Where there is still blatant corruption within the public sector is in hiring - sorry, I know its being dealt with in some areas but in others it is still ripe. The one I know of in particular is primary teaching in Tipp where there's zero oversight and most jobs go to the best connected rather than the best equipped. Its blatant and obvious but for some reason no-one has ever cared.

Other than that our corruption seems to reside solely in the ranks of leinster house and the executive level of major organisations such as Bertie's they were my friends excuse. That's self proclaimed corruption but nothing has ever been done about it and I'd doubt we'll ever see any difference no matter whose in power unless we start decimating parties over the slightest hint of corruption - impossible as long as people continue to vote based on ancient history rather than current performance.

This kind of hysterical post is what I am talking about. Try living ina really corrupt country where if your house goes on fire you have to bribe the fire brigade to turn on the water, bribe them to put out the fire and bribe them to turn off the water. In many countries bribes are given to see a doctor, to get your mail delivered and to get a job any job. This does not happen in Ireland. There are no shortage of Chicken Lickens running around our country but they need to take a deep breath and see the big picture.

I just love to watch Left wingers spontaneously combust with indignation. You haven't a clue.

All the above happens in every country in the world. These are procedural matters that should be done but are not evidence of all pervasive corruption.

Fine post.

Yep nail on head bob.

__________________
Shafarevich, a member of the Soviet Academy of Science, has written a brilliant book under the title Socialism; showing that socialism of any type and shade leads to a total destruction of the human spirit and to a leveling of mankind into death.
-Alexandr Solzhenitsyn,

Wow constantly bringing up DAA when called to PROVE IT by DC you ran with tail between legs.

IF you have anything regarding corruption in DAA then PUT UP but as you have hearsay, poorly written newspaper articles and nothing else then its safe to say you are a Waffler trying to score political points.

DAA is inept that doesn't make it corrupt.

Funny how you willyfully ignore the fact that FG councillors and other have been caught with hands in the cookie jar but then again thats not a shock.

Ballot boxes are always sent out before the election..................wow shock.

Independent Officials sign off they are empty when opened and allow witnesses from Political parties to observe.

Your inept claim shows 1.) you have no idea 2.) you have never been involved in political process.

Indeed, perhaps the salient question should be "How much corruption is [institutionally] covered up in Ireland?"

This country has a lot of dark secrets, going on for decades, and some have only come to light recently. Others have and continue to be frenetically covered up. For example the recent shenanigans exposed at Anglo remind me so much of the shenanigans that went on at Merchant Banking and a certain Patrick Gallagher ("the man with the Midas Touch" they called him - sound familiar?) who, astonishingly, never saw the inside of a prison cell here. Why not? He got his medicine from the authorities in Northern Ireland, but why not here?

I just strikes me that, at a political level, we've shown an appetite to repeat the mistakes of the past and allow unpunished wrongdoing and dodgy practices to flourish. And until there's a profound political willingness to learn from past mistakes, get away from the TACA mentality that's still all too prevalent, and enforce deterrents to and punishment for corruption, in 30-40 years time this country will be bankrupted once again by the spawn of the present incumbents. And they're lining up right now for their turn at the State cookie jar, with Daddy's blessing and encouragement.

__________________
The last thing you need is a State-owned bank, because it will end up with every lame-duck, politically attractive proposition being brought to it for finance - Alan Dukes 2005