Who Makes Himself a Sheep Will Be Eaten by the Wolves

Epiphanies can come at the most unlikely junctures. Some have them on the throne, others while working out, yet others while sitting under an apple tree pondering the possibility of a universal law of gravitation. My recent epiphany was on a less grand scale than Newtons, but important to me nonetheless and arrived while on the way home from a Bruce Springsteen concert on a Sunday night in July.

As I flew up the Bus Lane on the way home, first in Ballsbridge, then Donnybrook I had cause to ask myself "why am I the only car using the Bus Lane while the traffic is as bad as it was during any Celtic Tiger rush hour?" Despite this gridlock, every other driver seemed intent on ignoring the sign that clearly read "Bus Lane 07:00 - 19:00 Mon-Sat."

At that moment it occurred to me that as a people, the Irish are a nation of sheep.

Some of the cars were registered in Sligo, some in Roscommon, some in Wexford, but the vast majority had no excuse whatsoever and were registered in Dublin. They live in Dublin, pass these signs every day and should be familiar with the rules of the road. Try as the Gardai might to get them to use the bus lane to speed up the evacuation of Ballsbridge (and oh, how they tried!) each and every car in our path got out of our way and avoided the bus lane like the plague or a bad bank loan.

The Irish drivers were having none of it. It was almost as if they thought that the Gardaí were coaxing them into the Bus Lane in order to give them penalty points (sort of like our irrational suspicion of the Lisbon Treaty; I don't want to read it, but there must be a catch.)

As I arrived home in record time from a badly congested Ballsbridge, it would be easy to wonder what the big deal was. After all, all the oblivious motorists eschewing Bus Lane were only hurting themselves, right?

I suppose so. But unfortunately these drivers vote and while it's a very minute and unscientific observation, I believe that it's emblematic of how we approach politics in this country. Why are our political parties so 'samey'? What are the major differences between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael? Why do we continue to elect clearly incompetent and probably corrupt public representatives?

The politicians love it. If the electorate are willing to be patronised, to be lied to, to be content with bread and circuses while the barbarians (or in this case, the debt collectors) are at the gate and it makes life simple for politicians then 'all the better' as far as they are concerned.

This is clearly the logic behind Dermot Ahern's hastily cobbled together 'Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill' and the reason why it is being accepted with little fuss or furore. Anyone who voices is dissent it either painted as a pinko liberal or a money-grabbing barrister.

Part of this amended legislation allows for a Garda or retired Garda to give evidence that a criminal gang exists; there is no need for corroborative evidence of this opinion, and there are provisions that allow for secret hearings to extend detentions without the presence of the suspect or their lawyer.

The legislation is allegedly a response to the 'recent' increase in gangland activity that has been running roughshod over law and order in certain areas around the country.

I say 'allegedly' as I'm of a rather old-fashioned persuasion and so far it seems that the case in defence of this legislation is on pretty shaky ground, even by the third-world legal system we seem to be adopting.

Ponder this: If the situation is so grave, then what has Ahern been doing for the last year and why has this ill-conceived legislation been rushed through the Daíl without consultation with the legal profession, proper debate, or the scrutiny it deserves? Why introduce it the week that the Daíl breaks up for yet another undeserved holiday?

The case for the prosecution? Well to start with, what ever happened to 'Zero-Tolerance' O'Donoghue and his ground-breaking justice legislation that would make the good citizens of Ireland all the more safe? How's that working out for us?

Now that I think of it, whatever happened to his successor "ASBO" McDowell? What happened to that ground-breaking justice legislation? Do you feel any safer because of it or has the system been an abject failure? Hmmm, I'm beginning to see a pattern here...

If you believed this government (I know, it seems unlikely) it's the namby-pamby civil liberty hippies that have this country in the sorry state of affairs that it's in at present, where law and order is in tatters and drug-crazed abortionists and sodomites make life intolerable for the honest, hard-working citizens of the country.

But the facts show that we have been governed by two parties of the right for the last 12 years who have been far more interested in de-regulating banks, awarding themselves pay-rise upon pay rise and bringing in ill-conceived, headline grabbing legislation that is more about gaining votes than solving problems. It's like the blind leading the partially sighted on a trip across a busy motorway.

The simple truth is that if this legislation had been in place for the last decade and we had continued to under-resource our Gardaí, decimate the prison service and fail to deal with the causes of anti-social behaviour, the only change from our current situation would be a plethora of miscarriages of justice.

Remember Frank McBrearty? How much worse could that have been under the proposed legislation? That wasn't a case of one or two bad eggs, or of lower-level Gardaí taking the law into their own hands. Superintendents were involved. Under Ahern's legislation the whole McBrearty family could be considered, solely on the evidence of a Superintendent, to be a criminal gang. Lock them all up.

It would seem that we have learned very little from the Ryan report, which demonstrated quite distressingly what happens when one group in society is held up beyond reproach, beyond question or suspicion. In the McBrearty case many people suffered for far too long based solely on the word of a small number of two dishonest Gardaí and coerced witnesses. Had this legislation been in place it could have been far worse.

While there are many fine Gardaí, as there are Priests and other religious, and the vast majority of An Garda Siochana are a credit to the society which has put it's faith in them to uphold law and order there are others, a small minority, who undermine this faith. Too small a proportion to matter? In 2007 alone the cost of compensation to the state for "Garda Wrong-Doing" amounted to €14.7 million.

True, I don't live in one of the communities that have been blighted by organised crime, so it's easy for me to be objective and to wring my hands over 'civil liberties' and all that champagne and cigar socialist claptrap. But this rushed legislation is not going to help the people who are currently living under siege in their own homes, nor will it act as a sticking plaster for an under-funded Gardaí or a prison service that is creaking at the seams.

All that it will do is ensure that Dermot Ahern gets elected at the next election against the anti-FF tide and ensure a new round of enquiries into miscarriages of justice in 20 years time that will shame the country internationally once again.

You don't have to be soft on crime to realise that this legislation is just as crocked as it's predecessors. Ireland is crying out for leadership but until we all stop acting like sheep and start demanding more of our politicians, refusing to be placated with sticking plaster legislation, a good shepherd for the flock is a long way off.