Ireland suffers from a justice system
with the following legal components;
- Common law;
- Consequences from a written constitution, which initially at least was partially a sectarian catholic document. Much of what passes for "legal reform" as of 2015 consists of attempts, often hamfisted like the 2013 abortion legislation, to reverse this ethos; ;
- Unconstrained use of resources by the state in civil proceedings, leading to enormous law firms and an elision of individual legal rights that is in violation of the 2005 ECHR Morris and Steee ruling
It also suffers from a smorgasboard of
regulatory agencies, some private, some public. A list is appended.
The civil service increases 15.5% in size from 2001 to 2008. Many of
these staff not dealing with the public have no discernible
function, and will be hard to dismiss even if negligent, with
enormous pensions calculated historically from the moment of their
retirement
Finally, despite all this, the country
collapsed between 2008 and 2010 largely to a LACK of enforcement of
regulations. The Financial_Regulator
Neary famously handed out 7 billion euro to Anglo Irish bank, who
knew that it was merely going to buy some time ahead of their
inevitable collapse. Legal proceedings in the USA indicate that the
CEO used this time to pocket several million for himself. Neary, who
still has a very generous pension, was judged in court in Ireland
to have directed officials of Anglo Irish bank to behave in a
criminal manner.
The Office
of the Director of Corporate Enforcement has taken no successful
proceedings since its formation in 2001, with the High court
rescinding what initially looked like a success. The DPP has failed
to prosecute in the Anglo Irish and music copyright cases, with
American litigation proving necessary, leading to questions about the
necessity for the Irish state itself
It is not controversial to suggest, in
the year following the “penalty points” revelations, that
regulation has historically been abused politically to favour the
friends of those in power.So what can be done? The answer lies in
this writer's opinion in the fact that the game theory notion of
“perfect information” is being approximated as smart phones
colonize the citizenry; few indeed are those without some access to
the internet, if only at the local library.
THE SOLUTION
Many Irish citizens have hard copies of
documents they submitted to the relevant regulatory body, documents
that were treated dismissively. A first step is to scan these and
post them in a central site on the internet. Clearly, if the
correspondence was done electronically, this posting is easier.
The second step is to allow
entrepreneurial lawyers take cases - if necessary against the state
and/or private regulators – based on these documents This will
involve waiving the statute of limitations as has been proposed in
Massachusetts for child sex abuse.
A third step is to dismiss civil
servants who have been proved negligent and/or corrupt with a guilty
verdict at trial seen as tantamount to a verdict in a disciplinary
procedure. Such civil “servants” would lose their pensions if
retired. Funds used for this initiative will be recoupable from this
process.
At the end of a five-year period, it
should become clear which of the agencies below are necessary It
should also be clear whether private regulators like the law society
can be trusted to continue and whether the state should intervene.
One example of how this might work out
in practise may suffice The peculiar phrase “autonomous statutory
responsibilities “ keeps coming up in reply to questions about the
Irish universities both in the Dail (including questions from Joe
Higgins) and as we've seen from civil servants. So they are
responsibilities, but autonomous, so effectively not
responsibilities; moreover this paradoxical state has been enshrined
in statute.
The phrase does not occur at all in the 1997 act, and “independent” itself is NEVER used in this context but usually correctly refers to concerns about academic freedom. The section 25 referred to time and again by the “mandarins” bears no relation to autonomy, Far from being statutory, it is clear that a civil servant (originally Padraic Mellett of the HEA) invented this phrase to allow universities' management do whatever they wanted to staff, students and the taxpayer.
The phrase does not occur at all in the 1997 act, and “independent” itself is NEVER used in this context but usually correctly refers to concerns about academic freedom. The section 25 referred to time and again by the “mandarins” bears no relation to autonomy, Far from being statutory, it is clear that a civil servant (originally Padraic Mellett of the HEA) invented this phrase to allow universities' management do whatever they wanted to staff, students and the taxpayer.
Ironically, the HEA is the body tasked
with preventing precisely the grotesquely expensive legal processes
on the 200's that cost the state 10's of millions. Clearly, either Mr
Mellett should lose his job, pension and pay compensation if he was
wrong. If he was right, he should lose his job as the HEA now has no
role.
Sean O Nuallain PhD
Here is a list of regulatory bodies;
13
Database
of Regulatory Bodies – List of Bodies
1.
Department of Agriculture and Food
1.1
Department of Agriculture and Food
1.2
National
Milk Agency
1.3
Veterinary
Council
2.
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
2.1
Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism
2.2
Fáilte
Ireland
2.3
Horse
Racing Ireland
2.4
Irish
Greyhound Board/Bord na gCon
Private
Bodies
2.5
The
Turf Club - Office of the Governing Bodies
3.
Department of Communications, Marine and Natura
l
Resources
3.1
Department of Communications, Marine and Natura
l
Resources
3.2
Broadcasting Commission of Ireland
3.3
Commission for Communications Regulation
3.4
Commission for Energy Regulation
3.5
Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority
3.6
Fisheries
Boards and Commissioners
3.6.1
Central Fisheries Board
3.6.2
Eastern Regional Fisheries Board
3.6.3
Northern Regional Fisheries Board
3.6.4
North-Western Regional Fisheries Board
3.6.5
River Moy Commissioners
3.6.6
Shannon Regional Fisheries Board
3.6.7
Southern Regional Fisheries Board
3.6.8
South-Western Regional Fisheries Board
3.6.9
Western Regional Fisheries Board
4.
Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Af
fairs
4.1
Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Af
fairs
4.2
An
Coimisinéir Teanga
4.3
The
Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Beque
sts
for Ireland
4.4
Waterways
Ireland
5.
Department of Defence
5.1
Department of Defence
6.
Department of Education and Science
6.1
Department
of Education and Science
6.2
FETAC:
Further Education and Training Awards Counci
l
6.3
HEA
– Higher Education Authority
6.4
HETAC:
Higher Education and Training Awards Council
6.5
National
Educational Welfare Board
6.6
National
Qualifications Authority of Ireland
6.7
State
Examinations Commission
6.8
The
Teaching Council
14
7.
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
7.1
Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment
7.2
Companies
Registration Office
7.3
Competition
Authority
7.4
Health
and Safety Authority
7.5
Irish
Auditing and Accounting Supervisory Authority
7.6
Irish
National Accreditation Board
7.7
Irish
Takeover Panel
7.8
Labour
Court
7.9
National
Consumer Agency
7.10
Office
of the Director of Consumer Affairs
7.11
National
Standards Authority of Ireland
7.12
Office
of the Director of Corporate Enforcement
7.13
Office
of the Registrar of Friendly Societies
7.14
Patents
Office
8.
Department of the Environment, Heritage and Loc
al
Government
8.1
Department
of the Environment, Heritage and Local G
overnment
8.2
An
Bord Pleanála
8.3
EPA
– Environmental Protection Agency
8.4
Private
Residential Tenancies Board
8.5
Radiological
Protection Institute of Ireland
(
Local
Government Authorities are listed separately
)
9.
Department of Finance
9.1
Department of Finance
9.2
Central
Bank and Financial Services Authority of Ir
eland
9.3
Commission
for Public Service Appointments
9.4
Institute
of Incorporated Public Accountants
9.5
Irish
Stock Exchange
9.6
Irish
Taxation Institute
9.7
Office
of the Appeals Commissioners
9.8
Office
of the Revenue Commissioners
9.9
Standards
in Public Office Commission
9.10
The
Financial Regulator
10
Department of Foreign Affairs
10.1
Department of Foreign Affairs
11.
Department of Health and Children
11.1
Department of Health and Children
11.2
Adoption Authority of Ireland
11.3
Food Safety Authority of Ireland
11.4
Health Insurance Authority
11.5
Irish Medicines Board
11.6
Mental Health Commission
11.7
Pre-Hospital Emergency Care Council
rivate
Bodies
11.8
An Bord Altranais/Irish Nursing Board
11.9
Dental Council
11.10
Medical Council
11.11
Opticians Board
11.12
Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland
15
12.
Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
12.1
Department
of Justice, Equality and Law Reform
12.2
Censorship
of Publications Board
12.3
Dublin
Carriage Office
12.4
Film
Censor’s Office
12.5
Office
of the Data Protection Commissioner
12.6
Office
of the Refugee Applications Commissioner
12.7
Private
Security Authority
Private
Bodies
12.8
Bar
Council
12.9
Law
Society of Ireland
13.
Department of Social and Family Affairs
13.1
Department of Social and Family Affairs
13.2
Pensions Board
14.
Department of the Taoiseach
14.1
Department of the Taoiseach / Central Statisti
cs
Office
15.
Department of Transport
15.1
Department
of Transport
15.2
Commission
for Aviation Regulation
15.3
Commission
for Taxi Regulation
15.4
Commissioners
of Irish Lights
15.5
Córas
Iompair Éireann
15.6
Irish
Aviation Authority
15.7
National
Roads Authority
15.8
Railway
Procurement Agency
15.9
Railway
Safety Commission
15.10
Road
Safety Authority
16.
Local Government Authorities
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