One Bad Apple? - why Ireland does not
protect the IP of its creative class
In late summer 2016, the world learned
a little about the criminality that passes for state administration
in Ireland. First of all, after its disastrous 1996 Olympics, the
British focused on excellence in sport; a and finished a creditable
2nd in 2016. By contrast, the Irish establishment focused
on refinement of a ticket scam after Ireland's successful 1996
Olympics and finished 62nd in 2016. Indeed, the Irish
delegation “won” more arrest warrants than medals.
Given that Pat Hickey had been targeted
in 2012 by no less a figure than Romario, hero of one of Brazil's
soccer world cup wins and now a politician, it may be puzzling that
Hickey did not emulate his anointed successor Delaney and flee to
Ireland. The reason is almost certainly that Hickey felt he had
protection at the highest level; apart from being swooned over in
Dail committee, there is FOI correspondence between the current
Taoiseach and his constituency running-mate inquiring about the
availability of Olympic tickets for a teenager!
And so it goes; debauching of all that
is good and fine about the Irish people so that a self-appointed
elite can run with their correlates in other countries. Hickey's
arrest and humiliation was no surprise; indeed, a few days before he
was viewed naked on Brazilian TV , he had essentially told the Irish
minister for sport where to go. Our Olympic presence was his business
and nobody else's; the fact we look pathetic in the world's eyes is a
slightly regrettable byproduct.
The Apple scam exemplifies this. Why
run a country at all? Why not just use sovereignty to create a tissue
of “legal” lies and - as Stiglitz puts it – say here's $1
billion if you create a few jobs? Indeed, Google heard the message
loud and clear just over a decade ago and announced they would
prefer not to hire any Irish people, given the higher comp sci
standard in the Baltic states. No, silly, you can't find this on the
web!
Try also to “Google” (and “Bing”)
“Cahill – v – DCU, (2009), IESC 80 (2009)”. Remarkably, no
results for the critical decision in Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence about
academic tenure until 2014 when I put this anomaly on my blog.
Remove a few characters and yes; this was a good if inflexible hack
As for Prondzynski, he disappeared completely from Ireland, and is
trying to privatize a Scottish
university with a “softly, softly”
approach; we kicked him out. Now we come to the point; Ireland is
infested with the kind of spooks who have a swat team visit if you
accidentally leave the new iphone in a bar. Indeed, until Tim Pat
Coogan (not the state)intervened, the US was openly stealing Irish
passports at its Dublin embassy
The sheer brazen criminality of the
Irish establishment is extraordinary. In 2016, a cop whistle blower
found he had “confessed” to being motivated by bitterness at a
disposition. He revealed he had secretly taped it, and the two
deposers were lying. No action was taken. If you go to the cops about
anything the deep state wishes to continue, forget it; moreover,
writing to politicians with the details will occasion nothing other
than a polite reply. It will be used against you, and during the next
horse-trading to form a coalition.
Nor did any of the unspeakable from the
neocon era ever get resolved in Ireland. The universities are still
said to have "autonomous statutory responsibilities" ie no
responsibilities at all to the state. Tenure is still, rant as
Supreme court justice Clarke may in his 2007 judgment, whatever
academic tenure is on the contract (ie none). These contracts, in
turn, are wholly illegal, in 1997 including the signature of a
personnel officer who had left 7 years before. Music copyrights are
still in limbo. Nobody can live as a full human being in this
dystopia passing s a state.
However, even that is not the point. In
MacSwiney and others' writings, Ireland is for the self-realization
of the Irish people, to help them better contribute to humanity. What
the establishment wants instead is for the dressings and rituals of
a sovereign nation be used to continue their criminal pre-eminence
over the rest of us. What matter if the boxing authorities become so
pissed off that our brave fighters are cheated of wins? What matter
if Google says we Irish are stupid? Obviously the smart guys are
getting their photos taken with the Skibereen lads......
It gets worse. We have not produced a
new globally successful popular music group since the Cranberries in
1992. The reason is that there is no IP or company protection in
Ireland for independent Irish creatives; in fact, the state sponsored
a trade stand in 1998 in which effectively ALL the 1990's
independents had all their material sold off (for less than a song!)
and illegally licensed through Walmart. The ancillary rights like
mechanical and broadcast were held by dissolved companies, an
arrangement that Paul Appleby, our then corporation czar, blessed.
Again, that is not how it looked to other jurisdictions, and a case
was taken in US federal court that stopped it. Why have a state if
the legal system cannot handle issues like this?
So what did the establishment want?
Now it gets really sinister – or would if it were less pathetic.
Gearoid O Colmain claims that the German establishment wants the
population replaced; thus the influx from 2015. That had been tried
in Ireland; disincentives on young Irish staying during the recession
produced emigration levels not seen since the famine. The problem;
the eastern EU people they were replaced by in general integrated
well, and went back home regularly. Ireland did a better job with a
much higher percentage of immigrants than Britain. But what of
culture?
The Irish establishment decided that
they themselves-talentless politicians and functionaries and their
families – would produce and control it. This was exemplified by
the seizure with artistic genius of Bertie Ahern's two daughters in
199; one, however, made the mistake of singing in public as Bertie
did what Mrs Worthington was advised not to do. The other, more
wisely, became a writer for Murdoch; several “books”. A TV series
and a film costing the Irish taxpayer perhaps $50 million + later,
she got writer's block after the demission of her Dad.
The precedent had been set. In 2016,
the Irish consul in SF hired a hitherto unknown “composer” and
“maestro” called Kluge (I could not make this up) to produce a -
well, a Kluge to celebrate 1916, a revolution about self-government.
Moreover, he not only chose to hold it in a church other than St
Mary's, beloved of the Irish; he decided that he and his buddies
would have speaking parts. He then proceeded to initiate legal action
through UB Berkeley against an event there with actual descendants
of 1916 fighters.
It goes on. Irish music abroad is
ill-represented by Sharon “the robot” Shannon, who gets all the
gigs and is apparently is a front for property development done by
her manager Dunford – or so the high court in Ireland effectively
ruled in 2015. 500K was produced to fund an opera; it is unlikely to
play La Scala soon. This 500k could fund the activities of 50 bands
for a year. The minister for the arts and the Gaeltacht does not know
Irish – or the arts.
Elsewhere, you will find research I did
proving that Ireland was better-placed in science rankings BEFORE the
$ billions were put into SFI. We were happy doing what we did for
Ireland, and enjoying the company of our fellow-Irish rather than
pecuniary award. The solution? - in 2014 take out a full page ad in
Nature and science announcing Ireland was in the top 4 in many areas
(it was between 30 and 50 in all). This is the Hickey scenario;
believe your own propaganda.
Now to Apple. A system of
linguistically better functionality than the 2011 debut of SIRI was
produced in TCD as far back as 1987. Its creator, as a condition of
employment, was forced to bring his PhD work, including this, to DCU.
There it disappeared in 1997 along with the IBM AT (yes, that was
our gear!)it was on; DCU's task surely involves retaining work
like this?. TCD kept a copy of the original system, on a now
unusable 5” floppy. That is why the Collison brothers are in SF,
not Dublin, with their $5 billion company; Enterprise Ireland did not
respond positively to their Irish native genius. That is why DCU
continued to fire good academics, and lock them out from their lab,
There are solutions I will publish a
discussion document about IP in my new book on ireland. However, even
that does not come close to the sovereignty issue. In 1998, Ireland
accepted the GFA; in 2010 it accepted an invidious deal from the
troika. Sovereignty over all our 32 counties was ceded in 1998; it
looks as though sovereignty is now limited to using the law as an
instrument to give American corporations like vulture funds free rein
over us, including pursuing Irish people for a mortgage AFTER they
have been evicted.
So let us cut to the chase. Brexit
could yet be our salvation; for once, our Daddy is bigger than the
Daddy of the loyalist vermin RUC men (yes, cops!) who attacked
peaceful Catholic homes and pubs with submachine guns and bombs in
the 1970's, in general being let off scotfree (pun intended) by such
as “Judge Lord”Lowry. We should simply resolve to agree with the
EC ruling, and develop native industry. We then can use the EU to
create a United Ireland, continuing perhaps to a Gaelic confederation
with Scotland, and a Celtic one with West wales which also voted
remain.
As things stand, the existence of an
Irish state adds nothing but disgrace to all Irish, and the creative
class are particularly targeted. Yet our Daddy (the EU) is bigger
than theirs (the detritus of corporate America). Expect nothing from
these scum; survive, continue to create, and try and find a market.
Work toward a new Ireland really in the EU, with the odious debt of
2010 being balanced against proper corporate taxation.
PS (Aibrean 2017) And our saviour is - Trump! By fixing corporation tax at 15% he will ensure google, Apple et al with their crappy tech will suddenly get a fit of patriotism, declare themselves as American, and our superior Irish tech will breathe again
