"Bertrand" Ahern, the great make-up wearing grand-dame of Ireland's nest of badly dressed political vipers, has today claimed that he was not in any way involved financially (though maybe fatally) with UK developer Norman Turner after dealings with him in 1994. According to today's Irish Times:
'It emerged last night that a passport issued to Norman Turner, a businessman involved in the Sonas consortium that planned to develop the Phoenix Park racecourse as a casino, was returned via Mr Ahern's office in August 1994. Mr Turner also donated $10,000 to Fianna Fáil via its chief fundraiser Des Richardson in that year.'
It seems that this is perfectly normal and, sure, his ma was from Cork. This in itself would be enough of a reason for him to have dieu et mon droit tattooed to
his forehead, let alone his bloody passport. Unsurprisingly, the opposition parties are howling for his head, whilst also arguing with the junior coalition partners, the Greens, in Dail Eireann, like so many drunken hen parties outside a low-rent nightclub. Shame they hadn't discovered the stomach for confrontation ten years ago, when they could have retained government, and perhaps had a better class of clientelism insinuate its way through Leinster House.What is striking, is less the abovementioned parliamentary row, than the plan that first aroused Bertie's sense of helpfulness to his Manchester based developer friend. (The new one, not the old one. No, the other one. Left a bit, closer.... theeeere, you go...) The reason this so intriguing, is that it highlights a cultural foible we have - In Ireland, we tend to demolish great houses, fine estates, beloved landmarks and areas of natural beauty. In their place appear much needed five star hotels and "championship" golf courses, car parks, shopping centers and when the state gets involved the odd interpretative centre in areas of natural beauty, so we may organize nature. And sell a few postcards. Putting it more bluntly, we "develop" sites for reasons which are hard to fathom, other than the naked pursuit of wealth by builders.
This requires a certain kind of contempt, for one's heritage, the environment, for your countrymen, for your agreed political system, for social values. In Ireland, this is caused by an intrinsic lack of value being placed in the unquantifiable, in things which may be beautiful, but are not valuable in a one dimensional, mercenary way. Stately home are dismissed as belonging solely to the Anglo-Irish world, to host fuddy-duddy classical concerts: They bear no resemblance to "real" people's aspirations, tastes or needs. These are symbols of our colonial repression, and must be taken down a peg, to suit our needs. In adopting this view, members of the media, political class and the construction industry in Ireland vilify what many Irish feel they have no access to, thus denying them treasures they never knew they had.
It would be mischievous of me to suggest that there is an ulterior motive for adopting this stance, but here goes. Many such houses are bought up by our new, bourgeois elite, who have replaced the Anglo-Irish in the last ninety years, as the chinless classes. So Lissadell House, part of the very soul of our independence, could be bought up by lawyers, who maybe have less right to it as a private home, than the entire people, whose freedom was dreamt of there. It's not their fault. But maybe Bertie and the Office of Public Works should start looking sheepish about now.
This story arose in the wake of a news item in some German news outlets. The city of Kaliningrad, the city on
ce known as Koenigsberg, is to rebuild substantial sections of the old city, where the grave of Immanuel Kant is located. The plan includes the intended reconstruction of the old city fortress, demolished in 1968 by the new occupants of the city, as a "symbol of fascism". I can't figure out why, other than the curious and thosew with family histories in the region will travel there to witness a wonderful, curious, macabre, thoroughly unique human event: one-time enemies reconstituting a city, that, like Siamese twins, is a heart linking two countries for as long as they will exist. No perceived insecurity, no post-colonial funk. It may not be 100% magnanimous - it would be a huge boost for the local economy - but things are heading in an interesting direction.
