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MINISTER FOR HEALTH Simon Harris has admitted that neither he nor the government can express confidence in the State’s corporate watchdog.
A new anti-corruption agency could be considered by the Dáil, he said, and the government should have backed an anti-corruption bill by the Social Democrats.
Speaking on RTÉ’s The Week In Politics, the minister was asked about the government’s role in the collapse of the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chair Sean FitzPatrick.
The court case collapsed last week after it emerged that the State’s corporate watchdog, the Office for the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE), contaminated evidence by coaching key witnesses and shredding evidence.
Harris acknowledged the role of the state in the collapsed trial, but said that as far as he knew, the ODCE had told the government that they had adequate resources.
The question is how does the ODCE interact with the courts, and with the Director of Public Prosecutions. I cannot, and the government cannot, express confidence in this office.
He admitted that his government should have backed the Social Democrats’ anti-corruption bill, but that that alone would not have stopped the collapsing of the Sean FitzPatrick trial.
Sinn Féin finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said in the Dáil that the handling of the investigation into Sean FitzPatrick was like ‘a Monty Python sketch’.
Róisín Shortall, joint-leader of the Social Democrats called for the establishment of a new wide-ranging law enforcement agency to tackle white collar crime.
Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Mary Mitchell-O’Connor has ordered the ODCE to issue a report into their failings, and said that ‘nothing is off the table’ in relation to the repercussions they could face.
RTÉ’s This Week programme reports today that the ODCE had notified the garda commissioner that they needed three gardaí to aid their investigation, but that none were available.
“There are 13,000 gardaí – the notion that you couldn’t find three gardaí to give to the ODCE is incredible,” Labour leader Brendan Howlin told the programme.
He said that there are serious doubts now about whether the ODCE is fit for purpose.
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Rightly or wrongly, a stutter is seen as a sign of nervousness, and nervousness is seen as a sign of weakness. Overt signs of weakness are not accepted in most areas of the working world, and those who display them don’t get very far. I imagine to be a ‘success’ with a stutter, you would need to take an unorthodox route to get to it.
Perfect reasoning !!
Nice article Simon. I very much feel the same way. I found myself at an interview the other day talking openly about being a person who stutters and it was such a relief not to be hiding that part of me.
he wants to accomplish great t-t-t-things one might say
That’s not nice. How would you like it if somebody made fun of your inability to construct a simple sentence using correct punctuation?
You are an absolute s@ck…no other words needed
@ryan you are a gobsh(te.
Went for a job in a factory once packing plastic into boxes upon inspection. 3,000 per box and 1 box per hour, 11 boxes per shift. Nice fella with a stutter was training me in. I asked him how long he had worked there. “Tweh tweh tweh twen twent TWENnTY fffff four ya ya ya ya yeh yeh years” he said. You must love it says I. “Fuh Fuh fuh fuh fuh fuh ffffff king hay hay hate it” says he. They gave us a lunch break and I never went back. True story
John, What’s the point of your story ?
Suzie my point is a man saved me from a career packing 33,000 pieces of plastic into boxes every day for a living with his honesty. He happened to have a stutter. He empowered me to pursue my dreams and i wont disempower him by saying ‘poor man’ or by misquoting him. The end.
Here’s a true story…your a prat!!!
Here’s a true story…your a prat!!!
Verry interesting . I want to keep my stutter, good for you, turns everything on its head. Brilliant.
Is it being contrary for the point of being contrary though?
Is there objectively an advantage with having a stutter or a gain with not having a stutter.
Should being a success even with a stutter be the basis for greater pride or a sense of breaking a conception or misconception?
Is it misplaced egotism, or is it a sign of internal strength and determination.
If it is possible to rid yourself of a stutter and a conscious decision is made to keep it……..then the reasoning has to correct, and have some benefit for the person involved or a greater good of solidarity with a monitory group.
Is it really a good message…..lots of questions arise?
I’ve had a stammer as long as I can remember. It has never really impacted on my life. That’s all. Just get on with it.
You are who.you are…
Speech Therapy can usually help overcome a stutter, I personally think it would be quite foolish to grow attached to it when its an irritating barrier to conversation.
Try this,put on headfones to deafen your own voice, bet you wont stutter. cool experiment. works.
You might enjoy reading Regeneration by Pat Barker
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