Political Corruption

If People Can’t Trust Politicians Then Our Democracy Is Dead




Since the foundation of the Irish state citizens have always been able to talk to or provide information to Politicians knowing that what ever happened that information and its sourse would be protected. The seal between Politician and Citizen has been accorded the same sanctity as the seal between Priest and Citizen in the confessional. Many of our noble Politicians have like many of our noble Journalists been prepared to face imprisonment before they would reveal their sourse. If a citizen provides information about criminality to a Politician, that Politician using his experience, knowledge and judgement will deal with that information in a professional and transparent fashion. For example, if a person writes to or talks to a politician about a drug dealer operating in a certain estate, that politician will have a quiet word with the local Supt of An Garda Siochana, the politician will not disclose his sourse but simply provide the information.



However, it would appear that not all of our politicians are noble, I have today been contacted by a citizen who informs me that when he provided a certain politician with factual information about a certain person who had engaged in serious criminality, the Politician did not have a quiet word with the local Supt of An Garda Siochana, but passed the said information and the informants e-mail address onto a member of the said criminals family. This Politician has broken the golden rule, he has broken the trust of those who elected him and he has damaged the bond that in good times and bad has existed between citizen and elected representative. This Politician had the opportunity to speak with the local Supt to ensure that the information with which he had been supplied was factual and if it was factual to quietly insure that all necessary steps were taken with local agencies to ensure that the said person, who is a threat to children, had no opportunity to reoffend.



It is a sad day for Irish Politics and more importantly for Irish democracy when a Politician would put his own personal ambitions above that of Bunreacht Na hEireann. This Politician appears to think that by tipping off the said criminal, he (the Politician) will benefit when it comes to election time, however, no Politician will benefit from corruption of this nature in the long term. Unfortunately, I cannot provide names at this time as legal proceedings will issue in the near future, for breach of confidentiality, breach of the Data Protection Act and so forth, however, I can say with certainty that such betrayal has no place in Irish Politics.



By theirishobserver.blogspot.com