
A
CCORDING to the latest opinion polls,
over % of the population believe
there should be a new political party.
Poll ratings for Independents have
been consistently around %.
The political system of two right-wing parties
representing the same interests, taking turns at
government, propped up by Labour or another
diligent stooge, is coming under attack. The low
turnout, at %, in the Meath East by-election is
the latest indication of this, suggesting an appe-
tite for fresh, radical thinking. For ‘Fianna Gael’
Meath East will prove just a blip. For the wealthy
owners of the media, this is an appalling vista.
Rupert Murdoch is a media mogul only. Denis
O’Brien is a media mogul, with substantial other
commercial interests, which benefit from a
friendly government in power. They have inter-
ests, in media, and beyond.
Low corporation tax, kid-glove treatment of
tax exiles and outsourcing of government con-
tracts are all baubles expected by our voracious
big-business interests – it would be a shame to
break up that party. So the system allows the
hired hands of the media to sit in the Dáil press
gallery, with free offices and car-parking, a sub-
sidised restaurant, and access to the government,
as long as they play the
game. And play the
game they do!
The uniformity of
journalistic opinion
and approach would
make a Stalinist dicta-
tor blush.
And so when Róisin
Shorthall deployed the
uninspired terms “rag-
bag” and “motley crew”
to undermine the raft
of United Left Alliance
and independent lefts
that were elected in , exposing Labour’s
betrayal, the media happily obliged and adopted
this slant.
When the Campaign against the Household
Tax gathered momentum, the media contrived
a travel-expenses controversy, feigning outrage
that TDs were spending their allowances travel-
ling the country to build the campaign. Where was
the examination of those (non-Independent) TDs
who claimed the same amounts and yet said they
only operated in their constituency? Where was
the praise for not being a parish pump politician,
for taking our national mandate seriously and
sticking to our election promises?
This is not just lazy journalism. Newspapers
have always played a propaganda role reflecting
the ideology of their owners. They make little
effort to, even occasionally, assess actions that
are fully intended to cross this ideology, on TDs’
own ideological terms. Or even to research ide-
ologies with which they are not fully comfortable,
or acquainted.
If you are different and challenge the system,
then you are a legitimate target. Nowhere was this
more apparent than the leaking of information
of my arrest on suspicion of drink driving ear-
lier in the year. That this information appeared
publicly at a time when I had raised questions
about the quashing of penalty points by high-
ranking Gardai was not a coincidence. It was an
attempt at intimidation using the press to send
out a message to anyone who dares to question
the status quo.
As Ireland’s Digital Champion, Lord, (formerly
film director David) Puttnam said in response
to the Leveson inquiry, which unearthed what
he called a “toxic triangle of media, politicians
and the police”, “once those relationships are cor-