Democracy in Kerry is not working

6th Oct 2009

Democracy in Kerry Not Working

Kerry elected a money graber who is guaranteed to retain his seat at the next election

Now that the Lisbon Treaty has been passed some of the more extreme No campaigners will be hiding in bunkers waiting for the arrival of baby kidnapping Eurocrats and euthanasia brigades who will force Cork young fellas into lorries carrying them to the frontlines in Afghanistan.

Some No campaigners will be understandably dismayed not only at the massive swing to the Yes side but how the government can hold a second referendum in the first place.

Discussions on democracy and governance have to be welcomed of course - since it took hold as a form of governance it has had many tweaks. Some good. Some bad.

Recently some PROC forum members have been debating the value of giving democracy to some people who may not deserve it.

Real democracy is to be treasured of course - every time we see images like those in Burma, Tibet or the Cork County Board it reassures us that maybe we're not doing so bad after all. But not absolutely everyone should be entrusted with the power of democracy.

Like handing a brand new toy to a brazen child there appears little point in giving a present to somebody who throws it back in your face. Some regions of the Republic of Ireland operate a unique form of democracy that needs to be looked at very carefully with respect to events over the last few weeks and months.

In particular the Kerry region needs to be studied to see whether democracy really suits it. To emphasise the point let's look at some of the prize characters Kerry people have elected to office in recent times.

John O'Donoghue, the current Ceann Comhairle, is under fire for the second time in several weeks after it was revealed that the Kerry South TD has been consuming tax payers money faster than a drunk gambler at pub gambling machine.

Kerry's Martin Ferris greets Gerry McCabe's killers McCauley (left) and Walsh (right) outside Loughree prison before transporting them home.

Now aptly nicknamed 'five star' by the media for his preference for €900 a night accommodation, the demoted Fianna Fáil minister was just recovering from near-miss scandals involving his lavish expenses as Minister for Arts when the current juggernaut thundered towards him.

His Dáil chair predecessor Rory O'Hanlon had three employees while he was Ceann Comhairle. The Kerryman has ten despite the apolitical nature of his position. One political advisor is paid €9,000 per month.

Martin Ferris, another favourite of the constituents of Kerry North was the first to welcome the killers of Garda Gerry McCabe as they left prison.

Despite their horrendous crime in shooting dead a member of the police as they attempted to thwart a robbery, the Kerryman saw it fit to escort the murderers from prison in a show of solidarity. An outrageous two-fingers to the Garda Síochána who have risked life and limb to prevent the terrorist organisation to which Ferris once belonged to, from harming innocent people.

On Sinn Féin's website it says Ferris was jailed in the eighties for "his political beliefs". Anyone would think he was a martyr like Gandi or Mandela. Kerry's most popular TD was in fact nabbed trying to bring seven tonnes of arms into the country in 1984 to maim and kill.

Jackie Healy-Rae needs no introduction to Corkonians as the cutest hoor of them all. Although technically an independent, the former Fianna Fáil TD continues to support his former colleagues in government and continues to claim to represent "the ordinary people of Ireland" (defined as the people who eat their dinner in the middle of the day).

That of course is Kerry speak for looking after the locals in south Kerry. With a long list of secret demands for his constituency, the Healy-Rae's have used their leverage as 'king-makers' to ensure massive favours for their fellow Kerry men.

Kerry elected this man to the Dáil

Just imagine it. Want us to support NAMA? Well the road from Kenmare to Kilgarvan could do with re-surfacing! On such little things the solvency of an entire nation may hinge.

Unlike Cork, Kerry has never produced a Taoiseach and the Kingdom's inhabitants shafted the only decent man who made it close: Dick Spring, the country's Táinaiste in the mid-nineties - by exchanging the former Labour leader for a Sinn Féin ex-con.

The Kingdom has since failed to produce any ministers of note unlike the Rebel County which has sent a plethora of its natives to successfully aid the Dublin administration in running the country.

There have been calls among PROC forum members this week to remove "the vote" from Kerry until such time as they decide elect decent politicians who aren't always running their own agenda.

Honourable men like (the real) Taoiseach Jack Lynch should be the benchmark for any aspiring Kerry politician. Putting the interests of the country and not their own pockets first is a good place to start.

This column has for years been calling for not just the end of democracy in Limerick but also for its total and complete cessation.

Such has been the danger to Cork with the Treaty city's spiralling crime rates that we are considering bringing a case to the Supreme Court to suggest it imposes a "winding up" order on the morally bankrupt county altogether.

Kerry could find itself going the same way. And if the Supreme Court turns us down (just ask Cork City FC about the court's anti-Cork bias!) it may have to be done by force. Or at least taking Sam Maguire from them next September.

Kerry is letting itself down by electing people like this to public office and Corkonians, to use Jack Lynch's famous words, can "no longer stand by" while their elected representatives run amok in five star hotels with our hard earned taxes.