Behind Closed Doors
with Cross Bencher

THE ANSBACHER LODGE

Over thirty years ago the existence of a Masonic Lodge called P2 was revealed in Italy. It was run by a man called Ligio Gelli and its effect was to corrupt the Italian Government’s security apparatus as well as Italian and Vatican financial institutions. Its membership consisted of top politicians, police, army and cardinals attached to the Vatican.

They were bonded together by a conservative anti-socialism and an anti-Vatican II liberalism. They inspired various acts of right wing terrorism in Italy and were up to their necks in bank and financial frauds internationally. They were rumoured to be linked to the death of Pope John Paul I. There were even suggestions of a Mountcharles link to the P2 lodge.

Our Ansbacher lodge was really very small beer in comparison, without even one Donegal name mentioned except possibly a tenuous connection to a previous owner of Lough Eske Castle and Ardnamona. We had our own ‘off-shore’ along the border which operated with much more convenience than Ansbacher.

This is not to deny the corruption of the tax evasion involved with the connivance of the banks, but when the greed of the great and the good of the Irish business world are exposed, then it is a wakeup call to all of us. Our own J.R. may well be right when he fulminates against this corruption.

In the first half of the twentieth century there was a belief that the protestant elite in Dublin maintained a stranglehold on the Irish business world through the masonic lodges. This belief was widely held despite the fact that Martin Murphy who owned the Irish Independent and was a leading catholic had a major say in many top Dublin companies.

On achieving independence there was a gradual catholic response to the influence of the masonic lodges. The Knights of Columbanus were formed and branches became established throughout the country, to secretly promote catholic business interests. Of course, the big question was - if the secret influence of the lodges was corrupting, did the same not apply to the Knights?

De Valera, the leader of the Fianna Fail party, certainly thought so - his party’s public representatives were precluded from membership of the Knights. We can now see that his principled distaste for golden circles was based on his knowledge of the corrupting influence of secrecy allied to the lust for money and power.

The Ansbacher report tells some of the story of how we got from there to here. The other tribunal reports are chapters of the same story. The Democrat seems not to want to hear the story on the basis that it is all costing too much or would it be to keep a lid on things?

It is of course no coincidence that Mayor Alex Reid cites De Valera as his most admired politican and it tells us something about our first citizen of which we can be proud.

WESTERN CAPITALISM in its aggressive form began in America towards the end of the 19th century, John D. Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan being its two main exponents, but there were many others who ruthlessly exploited resources, industries and people. This capitalist greed has again manifested itself by massive manipulation and fraud and its exposure has led to serious loss of confidence in financial markets across the world.

Again there has always been the conspiracy theory in America that the masons control the power and the wealth. Indeed it is there that Catholics first responded through the formation of the Knights of Columbus.

In England there is the current on-going situation of the influence of the Masons in the police forces.

So corruption does not all begin and end in this little corner of the world; but there is one interesting point that arises amidst the current financial scandals.

A spokesman for the Bush administration portrayed the America scandals as a serious decline in values, meaning moral values (the irony being lost on him) and then proceeded to instance the Catholic church sex abuse as an example. This is, of course, disingenuous, as they are very separate issues. One is a corrupting lust for money, the other is the exercise of unaccountable power; what is common to both is that they are being exposed.

It is of course a handy linkage to be exploited by an anti-catholic masonic element.

THE EURO AND NICE

The inflationary effects of Euro conversion are of no real consequence. There is no law at the moment preventing retailers and others raising their prices. If you feel aggrieved - shop around.

Of course recent studies have exposed this country as high priced. Business property values are very high, so profiteering is rife as a consequence. It is a vicious circle that has nothing to do with the euro.

However, it gives the whingers an added string to their bow, and this is where I now realise that Bertie was right to a large extent in his whingers remark on the ‘No to Nice’ brigade. All the petty whingers will be inclined to vote No and there are quite a number of them about.

The large professional whingers, whose whinging has won millions of euros for themselves, are unlikely to forget who butters their bread. The danger is that they will infect a large body of the ordinary public.

Make no mistake about it, the establishment has a battle on its hands - indeed the Government would be well advised to fight the battle on their own as their likely allies are wishy-washy and are lacking in credibility.

THE SENATE ELECTION

The public are barely aware that we have just completed elections to the Seanad. Donegal has had no winners because we did well in the Ministerial stakes, or so they say.

In the 1960s Donegal had two full cabinet ministers a Leas-ceann-comhairle and two senators.

Truth to tell it hardly matters as it is merely an establishment of rest and recompense for political place seekers and cronies. It is away past time for reform. It has become as useless an institution as the house of Lords but it should be noted that Senators are better paid and don’t have the expense of ermine robes, which is a pity as the ermine would expose them to fully deserving ridicule.