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You are > Home > When bad things can happen to good people
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Wednesday, June 23, 2010
When bad things can happen to good people
THE 11 minute and 17 second statement from the new British Prime Minister David Cameron, which was transmitted from the House of Commons to a packed Guildhall Square in Derry on a sunny Tuesday, was a vindication of the 38 years of peaceful and democratic pressure to have the innocence of the 14 people killed by British paratroopers in Derry and the wounding of many more on that Bloody Sunday of infamy finally established in the 5,000 pages of the Saville inquiry and in the forthright apology from Prime Minister David Cameron (“On behalf of our country I am deeply sorry”).
No wonder the Saville finding was greeted by applause, cheering and tears from relatives of the victims who watched the ripping up of the disgraced Widgery report of 1972 which had been concocted to claim some of the victims were armed and had fired first on the soldiers.
It had been a long and painful pilgrimage for the relatives, their pent-up emotions underscoring each resounding recitation of "innocent" after the names of the dead during a ceremony that was largely designed to meet almost all of the demands of the families.
It was a day of quiet satisfaction in what is now the Derry of reconciliation endorsed by the presence of one of the iconic figures of that tragic day – former Bishop Edward Daly whose bloodstained handkerchief waving ahead of a casualty being carried to safety by civilians was to become powerfully symbolic of the massacre.
It was hugely emotional to witness the triumph of truth from the twisted propaganda used by the British government and judiciary to smear the innocent and claim subsequent shielding of the army as a patriotic duty of the establishment.
There will be much more in the final burying of Bloody Sunday injustices and the recruiting impetus for IRA membership Widgery provoked but at present the healing effect of the meeting of three Presbyterian churchmen with relatives of the Bogside victims of Bloody Sunday must be recognised as what will be ongoing and new consolidating community positives emerging from the Cameron initiatives.
The Derry day of vindication provided Taoiseach Brian Cowen with the opportunity to praise the good faith of Premier Cameron in ensuring the Saville report was published so early in his office, made necessary by the “whitewash that was the Widgery report” – a shameful attempt to distort history at the expense of the innocent!
Mr. Cowen is no slouch with the whitewash brush himself. He has the tribal record of distorting the findings of two independent reports into our banking and regulatory scandals which make mush of Cowen's attempts to blame the Irish crash on such as the Lehman and other international excesses.
He has wriggled and dived, blamed all and sundry for demanding even greater excess spending in budgets and dominated a cowed Dáil majority into winning a vote of confidence on his record which is as spurious as any Widgery report exonerating the guilty from the actual.
Cowen has done his damnedest to 'Widgery-ise' his version of events prior to publication of the two independent reports which akin to Lord Saville’s £200 million, 12-year inquiry, nailed down responsibility.
And if focused terms of reference can still emerge from a typical Fianna Fáil attempt to shun responsibility behind party polemic, we may yet get official revelation of the Cowen ‘smoking gun’ in all of this.
From despair and ruin
An Oireachtas committee has been told that closing Anglo Irish Bank over a year would cost 42 billion on top of the funding lost to closure (up from the 30 billion original estimate because of European Commission pressure) and Anglo's chief executive has told them that the lion's share of the 22 billion taxpayer bailout of the bank will vanish down a "black hole" never to be seen again.
Mike Aynsley argued that the cheapest option would be to split Anglo into a good bank and a bad bank after selling loans to Nama. Both sides of the Border are voicing complaints on how much public money has been wasted on political spinning of Widgery and Cowen propaganda when vital public amenities such as health and education were being short-changed by cutbacks.
The enormous public frustration here with the stagnation of tribal politics probably gave Labour its first opinion poll lead over all its rival parties. This led to the leadership crisis in Fine Gael with all the consequent damage to that party and solace to the Fianna Fáil cuckoo embedded in its much soiled nest and claiming a mandate that was never granted any more than the democratic election of Bertie Ahern accepted by rite of party coronation from a Brian Cowen even further in denial now as Taoiseach over the nation both men have led to ruin and despair.
To hope and glory?
Before the outcome of the Fine Gael party verdict on the vote of confidence in the leadership of Enda Kenny two trends had developed in the public perception of politics providing credible leadership when it was most needed.
One was the lethargic public reaction to the stalemate that had emerged in the checkmating of reform by the stonewalling Cowen administration’s determination to hang on to power by unmandated slash and burn tactics as solutions to the economic crisis.
The second was the emergence of a rural-urban divide in the declarations of pro and anti support for Enda Kenny as a potential Taoiseach coupled with an absence of any comment from a Labour Party still on a high from its top dog opinion poll rating.
The leadership issue for Enda Kenny last week was of another tilt at the General Election the coalition was intent on avoiding to buy time for any signs of economic recovery to emerge and allow Fianna Fáil to claim justification for showing the necessary will to drive tough remedial measures through to recovering fiscal stability, thereby diluting any memory of why such measures became necessary in the first place.
But it was the display of Kenny courage in firing front benchers who did not declare support, notably in the dismissal of his deputy Richard Bruton who was his high profile economic spokesman until he presumed too much, that brought out the hidden Kenny.
The peremptory disposal of dissent a la Albert was a revelation of the toughness underlying the mild Kenny interior. Fianna Fáil lost the smiles when Kenny got down to play hardball.
It's true this column has been as critical of Brian Cowen's 'It wasn't me' mantra as Fianna Fáil leader as it has been of Bertie Ahern's brazen purchase of popularity through use of public funds and lavish wooing of union docility through social partnership roles and quangos stuffed with party supporters supplanting elected representatives.
This column praised the sacrificial courage of Brian Lenihan in supplying the credibility Cowen has failed to provide – until the Anglo\Nationwide bailouts proved a provocation too far. Corruption will remain endemic in public life until the years of systemic Fianna Fail abuse of power are extirpated with reform of the party itself.
Party members have been impressed in private by a fired-up Enda not witnessed in the more familiar diffident and stilted Enda and they would have personal knowledge of the backbreaking grinding years he gave to rebuilding the party away from the public gaze.
This columnist reminded readers of what Michael Noonan’s personal family tragedy entailed with his wife's Alzheimers being masked behind the public figure who still remains one of the most formidable talents available to Kenny in any revamped front bench dedicated to fulfilling the Mayoman's vow to tuft a disgraced and profligate Fianna Fáil out of power and give the country back its soul.
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