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NOTE: Many details that is wrote in this post, can be verified by independent checking.
It is my opinion that Leo Varadkar has been deliberately allowed to get away with a crime that many others would have been charged with – and much quicker charged with. That’s opinion. What follows is much of the facts surrounding Leo Varadkar!
Bullet Points.
- Many sections of the Statutory Declarations Act, 1938, was supposed to keep elected TD’s on an honest path. We now know that it’s pretty much useless in many modern cases. Leo Varadkar has alone proved this. Even the later the Ethics in Public Office Act, 1995. And the Electoral Act, 1997 have proved ineffectual in stopping the antics of Leo and many of the Fine Gael/Fianna Fail political Mafia.
. - Things had grown so rotten under the two parties, a lot of it because of the FF/FG backhander culture, that the creation of the Standards in Public Office Commission (Sipo) in 2001, came into existence. Sadly, as you will discover, even this has not proved to be enough to stop corrupt and devious TD’s. They have made sure of this by ways you will discover later in this post.
. - Mr Varadkar has previously announced that Sipo had cleared him of “any breach of ethics or standards” when he leaked a confidential document while Taoiseach, 2019. This is utter crap. It’s a blatant lie. It’s PR spinning that only the stupid and brainwashed of his political Mafia will try to shove into media and onto public. There was absolutely NO Sipo investigation – so how could one then clear him – as Leo absurdly claims! It’s utter rubbish. There was a gathering of information, but no formal investigation was then carried out. None. Zilch!
. - Sipo heads conveniently allowed a legal loophole to be taken advantage of. One created for Leo that threatens to leave any future Taoiseach completely unaccountable to any oversight. This is staggering step – and FF/FG loving, biased media are deliberately not exposing this potential scandal. Leo Varadkar has sought to take advantage of this – and to his credit, he has done so spectacularly. It also has to be said that Fianna Fail, especially Michael Martin, has crazily let him and his party openly get away with this! This stupidity will haunt Fianna Fail for a long time in history books of the future.
. - The Sipo allowed loophole for Leo? Sipo has (suspiciously?) declined to do what’s it’s formed to do – hold all and any individual TD’s to proper account. Certain Sipo heads claim its powers were restricted to TD’s. If this is true – and I do NOT argue this point – whatever else Leo Varadkar is, from day one of his entering the Irish Dial, he has sat and stood in the building as a TD – no matter what later position titles he further has gained. Sipo claims that while it has jurisdiction over TDs, it has no jurisdiction to inquire into the behaviour of a Taoiseach. We have got to therefore ask “How is it possible that a Taoiseach is legally Sipo unaccountable?” and “Why hasn’t this loophole been exposed or addressed previously?” Is it because certain corrupt people wanted to keep this ‘get out of jail’ loophole available for use at a possible later stage? Leo has certainly taken advantage of this – as he also did when he gave state confidential matters to a friend (Dr Maitiú Ó Tuathail).
. - Here’s where it really gets stupid. Certain Sipo heads came up with the following excuse: The TD half of Mr Varadkar didn’t perform the leak – the Taoiseach part did. Therefore, Sipo claims it cannot investigate the wrongdoing. This was the technicality on which Mr Varadkar has been allowed to get away with an act he openly admitted to doing. An act that by the way, would see anyone else possibly immediately arrested? Mr Varadkar at EVERY ELECTION has been elected AS A TD – not as a Taoiseach. A TD gave away a state confidential document, illegally in my opinion, to a mate.
. - With Sipo refusing to further address the actions of Mr Varadkar, Sipo in fact, has made it clear that not only can Leo Varadkar get away completely with his past actions, but he – and future others – can further get away with other things they get up to! By Sipo’s edict, we will nationally have an unaccountable state head. They can do as they please. Later the public might kick them out of office – but as regarding being charged care pf Sipo? Never going to happen until the Sipo regulations and protocols are changed – and Fianna Fail along with Fine Gael, Labour, the Green Party and others, have given NO INDICATION they are willing to address this Sipo created loophole as soon as possible. Why? Obvious answer?
. - Let’s be more accurate here. How did Sipo come up with the Leo loophole? In fact, Mr Varadkar himself provided Sipo with it. Mr Varadkar, care of his legal people, wrote to Sipo stating he leaked (yes, an admission of wrongdoing) a confidential document “in his capacity and role as Taoiseach and head of government”. Therefore, the part of him that was and still is a TD, has nothing also to answer for. Sipo can’t investigate Mr Varadkar as he’s an unaccountable Taoiseach – but they can investigate him as he’s still legally a public hired TD – but they won’t!
. - The national Code of Conduct for TD’s says that office holders must “respect confidences entrusted to them in the course of their official duties”. The Code of Conduct is published by Sipo – the Standards in Public Office Commission. Mr Varadkar is without a shadow of a doubt, whatever else, undeniably a TD office holder.
. - Sipo has six members and is chaired by a former High Court judge, Garrett Sheehan. Then there is another four top heads. Two of these head up the most powerful independent watchdogs in society whose roles are to probe policies, processes and people in the service of the public: the Comptroller and Auditor General, Seamus McCarthy, and the Ombudsman, Ger Deering. Then there are the two civil servants in charge of running parliament: Clerk of the Dáil Peter Finnegan and Clerk of the Seanad Martin Groves. A sixth member of Sipo, a former Fianna Fáil senator (Geraldine Feeney) was a lobbyist for the doctors’ union at the very center of the affair. The woman “recused herself from consideration of the complaints on the grounds of a potential perception of a conflict of interest”. This was/is an appropriate step – but it also allowed the rest to do what they did – or in fact, decided not to do!
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. - “The Ethics Acts do not include a requirement to publish a decision not to proceed with a complaint.” So says Sipo. Why is this more important than ever? Two of the Sipo members disagreed with the eventual Sipo announced decision not to do a damn thing – but they were voted down by three others in favour of not investigating. Sipo refuses to name the two dissenters or their reasons. The one person that (understandably) opted out of the whole matter, could have made a big difference – but their opting out, it could be also debated, has had the unfortunate effect that Leo Varadkar has now being allowed to get away with what he has done.
. - Sipo stated that it’s a setup which “promotes transparency and accountability in Irish public life”. Draw your own conclusions.
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Here we all are many months on after an act that (a) Leo Varadkar later admitted to doing, (b) that threatened The Village magazine for them exposing truth and facts (press oppression while Leo double-standard raged later that others were doing the same, the irony!) and (c) that now sees through a Leo Varadkar created loophole, that he supposedly cannot be held to account for his actions by them. Going to the Garda could also be claimed, to be pointless? After all? Who’s going to investigate him there? The very people he helped to get hired in the first place? How’s that played out so far? Draw your own conclusions.
So, we have what amounts to (till the next general election) a totally unaccountable Taoiseach after December 15th/17th – and the loophole allowing all this, will stand and be allowed to stand by other too silent, unactionable rotten parties. Even after a general election, the likelihood of any Taoiseach being held to legal account, remains very highly unlikely. they can do whatever the hell they want and as long as they have put the right people in the right places, can get away with it all.
Why has Fianna Fail allowed all this crap to exist and continue – even reward the national leaker – by handing over their power throne? To see that they stay in soon diminished power, for the next two and a half years. For power, mega pay, mega perks and mega pensions. They have shown how rotten they continue to be, and foolishly have allowed a massive opportunity to diminish the antics and power of Fine Gael – their once foe – to slip from their grasp for decades to come. It will turn out to be a massive mega mistake that will revibrate throughout the coming years. They are going to take a serious hit for it at the next general election, especially in Dublin. Michael Martin has allowed this all to come about.
That’s Ireland in 2022/2023 for you. You can thank the usual parties at the next local elections, 2024, and the next general election in 2025.
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