WHEN I retired from An Garda Siochana after 25 years, I did so with an unblemished record.
I know this to be a fact because they gave me a piece of paper that said so. That certificate serves no purpose, other than giving me the personal satisfaction of knowing that I did OK. A little pat on the back for myself.
There was one occasion during my service though when I was mildly reprimanded. I was driving a patrol car one night and, during a pursuit of a stolen car, I was involved in an accident. Just some damage to a few cars, nothing serious.
The following morning my superintendent called me to his office, asked me if I was OK and told me not to fret about the damage to the cars. That can all be repaired, he said, and I shouldn’t worry about it. I was not going to be hung, drawn and quartered, happy days.
Some time after that, there was a claim for compensation submitted by a third party, and I was summoned to the super’s office once again. He told me about the claim and informed me that the investigation file in relation to the accident had been returned to him from headquarters with a new recommendation attached.
The powers-that-be had reviewed the file and had now considered that I was partially responsible for the accident, and as such I should be cautioned about my future driving.
My super told me not to worry about the caution and he seemed a little embarrassed to be even giving it to me. He was a decent man and a good boss, so I accepted the ruling and left his office suitably chastened.
That was more than 30 years ago but if it happened today, I would behave differently. I would not admit there was an accident in the first place. I wouldn’t even admit being in the patrol car. And then I would tell my boss to relax because systems had been put in place to make sure nothing like that could ever happen again.
That would be the end of it, because as far as I can see, that’s how things work these days.
Nobody is accountable. There is no need to take responsibility when things go pear-shaped and no need to apologise for anything either, and I’ll explain why.
I wrote recently about my wife’s all-night vigil in the Mercy University Hospital and the lack of empathy shown to her in some quarters. The response I got to that tale of woe left me in no doubt that her case was not an isolated one.
A few weeks later, my brother-in-law was sent to the CUH for a 6.30pm appointment and ended up sitting in a chair until the following morning.
The nurses were very caring. They checked on him regularly and apologised for the delay but said there were only two doctors working the night shift in that busy department and they were run off their feet.
This is common, but who is accountable or responsible?
The HSE overspent by €1.1 billion this year. It’s difficult to visualise such a vast sum of money, so let’s put it another way. A billion is a thousand million, or written numerically, it’s 1,000,000,000 so €1.1 billion is €1,100,000,000. That’s just the deficit.
The HSE budget for 2024 is €22.5 billion, or in simple language, €22,500,000,000, and the HSE boss is already predicting it won’t be enough.
Don’t worry though, because Minister Donnelly is working “very closely” with HSE officials to implement measures to drive the budget overspend down.
Minister Donnelly said the main driver of the budget shortfall is “price and volume levels that were not provisioned for”.
In plain English, too many patients.
“The number of patients presenting is higher than was anticipated. We’re seeing it in Ireland, we’re seeing it right across Europe. We’re seeing a very significant post-Covid surge, and we’re seeing healthcare inflation higher than was provisioned for as well.”
He added: “Part of this is within the control of the HSE, and that’s the bit they’re working very hard on, and part of it is not in control of the HSE. It’s demographics, it’s post-Covid, it’s patient volumes, and it’s prices of medicines and wage increases and so forth.”
So, there you have it. It’s nobody’s fault really, certainly not the fault of those being paid enormous salaries to manage the system.
The problem would sort itself out if people just stopped getting sick and attending hospital.
RTÉ is another organisation in crisis and could be insolvent by next spring without proper funding, according to its director general Kevin Bakhurst. He made the claim at a hearing of the Oireachtas Public Affairs Committee.
Mr Bakhurst said that the broadcaster was in a challenging financial situation, but trying to figure out who is responsible for this mess has proven to be a very difficult task, though we do know that a lot of people were being paid huge salaries with little accountability.
An Garda Siochana too is in turmoil. They lack resources, their recruitment campaign is a shambles, they’re struggling with retention issues, nobody wants the job of deputy commissioner, and rank and file members voted no confidence in the garda commissioner. So, who’s responsible for this mess?
Well, nobody is, apparently, because there is no problem.
The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee keeps reminding us everything is just tickety boo. She has regular meetings with the commissioner, and he seems to be assuring her that all is well in the world, so that’s that.
So, I reckon the best way to survive a calamity, is to deny there is a problem in the first place, insist that everything is fine and then just carry on as normal. Pity I didn’t know that years ago.
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