Unacceptable law is bad law 

In the late 1970s Dean of Kerry Fr Bobby Murphy organised a seminar in St John’s Presbytery Tralee. It was not announced as being about anything in particular. The media were invited and he started things going by pouring a glass of whiskey for himself  and pouring various drinks for the 30 or so who were seated at tables of five or six. 

His opening statement was that he was not against drink. Fr Bobbie asked each table to produce a consensus on some statement that would lessen deaths and accidents from drink. 

There were a few non-drinkers present. I was seated at a table at a table with a very high ranking garda who was nominated chairman of our group. Some others at the table suggested that if the Government wanted to reduce the abuse of alcohol it should enact draconian legislation with penalties in keeping with the damage being done by excesses of alcohol.  

Each person at my table put forward views.  The majority were in favour of tougher legislation. The garda officer shook his head and stated that legislation that was unacceptable to the people could not be enforced. 

No alternative was put forward that night, but ever since then the sentence ‘Legislation that is unacceptable to the people could not be enforced’ has been constantly recalled from my memory box.  

There were a few close calls - for example the ban on smoking in public places for health reasons, and the introduction of blood and urine tests to determine the alcohol level in the body. And the later reduction on permitted alcohol levels. 

Now we have law by distributing a circular to local authorities. It gives instructions to owners of commercial vehicles - which includes many 4x4s and small vans - to sign a declaration undertaking that such vehicles will not be used at any time for social, domestic or pleasure purposes. The circular states that all applicants should be asked to complete this form. An article in the Irish Independent suggests that the wording should be changed to read that the “vehicle will  be used mainly for business use” would be acceptable to the majority of such owners. 

The new guidelines for commercial vehicle taxation - pushed by the Greens - are not there to improve road safety. They are there strictly to increase taxation. As they stand, they are actually anti-environment in that they will enforce many families to become two-car homes. They are anti-business in that they will threaten to criminalise a small business owner who pops to the shop for a bottle of milk in his van. You could argue they are anti-rural too. And they will divert garda resources from fighting crime to enforcing new taxation.

The Greens and Fianna Fail have created something that nobody has asked for, nobody wants, and nobody needs. It falls into the category of legislation that is not generally enforceable. Drop it now.  

Good money after bad

The Cabinet was back yesterday for its first official meeting since the Dáil’s summer break. The Dáil itself reconvenes on September 29th - that’s four more weeks from yesterday. Presumably our elected representatives are still so worn out after the last sitting that they need the extra time before heading back to Dublin to run the country.

In any case, the Government can’t be overly excited about the prospects of heading back to the Dáil. There hasn’t been much in the way of political activity over the summer, and the dripfeed of bad news continued with little comment and even less action from those in charge. Indeed, just about the only public sighting of Brian Cowen was when he nipped out for a quick ciggie at Croke Park. And even then he couldn’t do that right. 

At yesterday’s cabinet meeting, Finance Minster Brian Lenihan let his colleagues in on the latest on Anglo Irish Bank which this week announced a loss of €8.2 billion for the first six months of the year. Just to be clear that’s eight point two million million - €8,2,000,000,000,000. 

How much have we already pumped into that bank? €24 billion? More? It’s impossible to keep count as the estimates keep changing every day. Even Alan Dukes, the bank chairman and public interest director whose credibility is rapidly fading, said this week that anyone who tins they know the final cost is really just ‘taking a punt’.

Anger is growing that Anglo Irish Bank has not yet been wound down. The Green Party - not known so far for their willingness to take a stand whilst in Government - have been grumbling that they’re not happy with the situation, and that the bank should be wound down entirely, rather than being split into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ banks’.

Anglo Irish isn’t the only problem we face. As the cabinet meets for the coming year, the B-word is raising its head again. Last year, the Government promised the IMF it would cut its spending by €3 billion for the coming year. That’s after the massive whack enforced on public services in the last budget. 

So on the one hand we have a Government-supported bank announcing an €8.2 billion loss and looking for another massive handout, and on the other we have the Government meeting to see how they can shave €3 billion off their upcoming spending allocation. Surely the answer is clear: cut off Anglo Irish immediately. We’ve left this particular black hole open for way too long, and for what? We’ve poured enough into it. Time to being the wind down now, before anymore time and money is wasted.