Paddy Cosgrave, one of the Web Summit founders, openly discussed Irish corruption during a speech in June 2015.
The video containing the speech, which Cosgrave shared on his Facebook page today, is, apparently considered "libellious" because of his questioning of a continuous problem within Ireland - corruption. The corruption, in Cosgrave's words, is down to Ireland's "golden circle". Here's the speech in its entirety:
Today, on a Facebook post, the Web Summit founder mentioned that "powerful groups in Ireland are scared..." of this discussion. Cosgrave believes it is just a "good old honest opinion" and continued by adding that he is happy to fight "powerful vested interests in Ireland's courts" in order to express his honest opinion.
Cosgrave went on to mention that dealing with corruption in Ireland is extremely difficult both financially and personally because of Irish libel law. Journalism is impacted by Irelands “most restricted” rights to free speech in Europe.
In the past, The Irish Times has discussed how the defamation law in Ireland has evolved into a regime that is more oppressive and unpredictable than in any other state in Europe. With that in mind, libel law effects the citizens of Ireland's ability to speak freely about corruption.
Cosgrave believes that a small number of the "wealthy elite" have operated for decades largely above the law in Ireland. The "golden circle" are responsible for most of the significant corruption in Ireland and "there is almost no way to hold this group to account".
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According to Cosgrave, the case of the Tuam mother and baby scandal and the lack of belief in local historian Catherine Corless is a notable example. These breaking stories, Cosgrave believes, are happening almost weekly and daily because of the positive change in Ireland. Previous generations had to wait until the last ten years to find out scandals that were happening over 30 years ago.
In a summary on Facebook, he offered his outline for how to tackle the problem of corruption in Ireland and bring to the light the "brave people's stories of corruption" that have, in the past, fallen on deaf ears. Here are some of Cosgrave's main points to combat Ireland's "unique" corruption problem:
- I want to do this by providing some modest tools, training, funding and secure platforms to allow even a few more people in Ireland to not just speak out about corruption, but hopefully, have their voices heard in a more meaningful way
- Time and again it took foreign media, not hamstrung by Irish libel law, to break stories about beef scandals, child abuse and much more. This has largely remained the case right up until today and much of that change is driven by the fact we all now have a simple device in our pockets, a smart phone, that can help expose corruption
- For the first time, we can all take pictures of files, copy emails, record meetings, and phone calls, and then later leak this information into the public domain
- We can do it anonymously if we wish, using a few simple services online
- The rate at which new information is coming into the public domain about corruption in Ireland is an incredibly positive thing
- There’s also lots of anti-corruption legislation waiting to be implemented by Ireland’s parliament. While this has been delayed for a number of years, it’s now likely to happen under our new Prime Minister
Cosgrave is hoping to get this initiative off the ground over the next 12 months. On June 22nd he'll be happy to answer questions at the Web Summit Press Conference from 8 am to 9.15 am in the Shelbourne Hotel, in the same room he made the "libellious" speech.
