• McDowell and the statutory rape fiasco: What the bloggers say

    Rather than continue the mish-mash of content seen in the last post, I’ve decided to split the topic into two posts, one which details my own reaction (along with relevant news updates) and this one which catalogues the blogging community’s reaction; I’m sure to have missed a number of posts so feel free to post a comment with relevant links I’ve not yet featured:

    First up, journalist Markham Nolan gives a superb and quite passionate reaction to the whole crisis.

    His brief is to guide the course of justice on behalf of the nation. He has failed, but only as much as any minister since 1990 has failed. Those who sought to make political capital on the back of his failure are as dispicable as he, althought not as culpable. This is a time for unity towards rectifying the situation. Mud-slinging can wait.However, in a selfish act of political spin, Mr McDowell attempted to deflect attention and pass the buck. To do so, he resorted to lying bare-facedly to the entire nation. That, from a Minister for Justice, is unforgiveable.Mr McDowell, trust in you is irrevocably lost.Stand down.

    As I said in a comment on his blog, this is an excellent piece, born out of frustration, disgust and anger that this situation could ever come to pass in “Modern Ireland”. Truely worth a read.

    Next up, An Spailpín Fánach asks “Where does the buck stop?“:

    Remember Ivor Callely? Ivor Callely was the Government Junior Minister who had to resign last December because he got a painter to paint his holiday home as a nixer, at a cost of a grand and a half. The Irish Times editorialised on December 8th last that “The public will not tolerate any whiff of impropriety from their politicians,” and Ivor was summarily dispatched.

    Today, instead of the mild whiff of a fifteen hundred Euro nixer, we are faced with the poisonous and desperate situation of the gates of such meagre prisons as we have yawning open and the most vile and base of criminality and perversity slinking out with a song in their hearts and what An Spailpín Fánach wants to know is: whose damned head is going to roll for this?

    It’s interesting to hear these words from a self-confessed admirer of McDowell, something I could never have been called. While I agree that in a more honourable political system McDowell would have gone instantly I don’t think that would have been beneficial; I would say that the best possible outcome would have been for him to publically announce his plans to step down once he had overseen the needed legal changes. I’m beginning to believe that he won’t leave until all his honour, and that of the entire Governments has been eroded.

    Both GUBU and lowlyjourno give their respective thoughts on the matter and while they take different tacts the message is the same:

    It’s amazing. As Bertie ” no one is going to walk free because of this” Ahern jets off to NY, Michael “there wasn’t a whisper of this even though I wrote an article for the Sunday Independent some years pointing out the problem” McDowell continues to deny that anyone could have done anything. You just wonder will we at last get a resignation?? The man was ATTORNEY GENERAL when the last registered sex offenders bill was brought in. The court decision was expected for the last year. Tom O’Malley’s definitive book on constitutional law predicted the decision. AND STILL, AND STILL they refuse to accept culpability
    – Sarah Carey (GUBU)
    Just a quick question: exactly what do you have to do in order to get sacked from Bertie Ahern’s cabinet? Seriously, I’d really like to know. What depths of incompetence, stupidity and arrogance need to be plumbed before the Taoiseach steps in and says ‘this isn’t good enough’? But he won’t say that because we won’t make him, no matter how grave the error – and do errors get any more grave than the rape law nightmare that’s engulfed the government? The sick, dangerous inferiority complex that seems to be encoded in our culture has us convinced that we don’t deserve better than the shambles that has passed for government in this country over the last number of days.
    – Declan Cashin (lowlyjourno)
    Update 1: Planet Potato swings for Brian Cowen, who has managed to get himself mixed up in this by jumping to defence of McDowell, giving his legal ‘expertise’ on the issue and blaming the Supreme Court for the doing its job:
    What kind of morons does Brian Cowen think we are? If this spin is what his advisors are telling him to say he is seriously misadvised

    The Supreme Court carried out their appropriate duties by ruling on whether the law was valid or not. The government was warned that this decision was pending and did nothing. If the Government had implemented a proper and constitutionally valid law this would never have happened.