Dear Mr Murphy,
I have received your letter dated June 12th 2002,
and I find myself extremely surprised by it.
According to my records, a person from Galway
County Council - who to the best of my recollection told me his name was Enda
Coey (or something similar), suddenly appeared at my brother's petrol station on Wednesday
May 1st last to inform us there was a "problem" with a sign I had
put up some weeks earlier on an existing wall (erected around 1935) which forms part
of our family business premises here in the village of New Inn.
When asked what our options were regarding this
"problem" with the sign, Mr Coey (assuming I have his name right) informed
me - in the presence of my brother - that one of
three options available to us was to apply for planning permission for it.
On hearing this I immediately, and without any hesitation, informed him that this is what
I would like to do. As I recall it, I then proceeded to ask him how I
could get the necessary forms to fill in, and he told me he did not have them with
him at the time: but, that he would send them to me through the post the following day.
I would now ask you to note very carefully that, to
date, I have not received the forms Mr Coey told me he would send to me (on May 1st 2002)
for the purpose of applying for planning permission for the "problem" sign: and
neither has my brother (according to what he has told me this morning).
Instead,
and without any warning of any kind, I suddenly received your letter
yesterday demanding that the sign be removed immediately.
Although I am not a lawyer, I do know that in some
countries at least, capricious behaviour of the kind I have attempted to outline above can
in certain circumstances be deemed unlawful: particularly if it is found that the main
purpose of such behaviour might be to bully, and/or to intimidate and provoke.
When (on May 1st last), the matter of the
"problem" sign was fully settled (for the time being on that particular day), I
then asked Mr Coey - while he was in the area - if he could have a look at one of the
illegal sewerage discharges going into the river which I have written to Galway County
Council about on several occasions during the past few years. To my utter surprise
and amazement, he very clearly indicated that he would be completely unwilling to
do so under any circumstances.
According to the records I have in front of me just now, my
last attempt at trying to get help from Galway County Council regarding the ongoing set of illegal sewage problems in New Inn was
on April 10th 2001 - in a letter sent through the registered post
addressed to: Mr Liam Gavin, Senior Executive Engineer, (Environment Section),
Galway County Council, County Hall, Prospect Hill, Galway City. The Post
Office reference number for the registered letter in question is:
RR 2248 8476 5 IE.
On the day following Mr Coey's visit (that is May 2nd
2002), and for reasons that are still something of a huge mystery to me, I happened by
chance to notice that two policemen were interviewing my brother inside his business
premises. A short while later, the policemen involved then invited me to give
them a statement regarding Mr Coey's visit of the previous day; and, when one of
them explained to me that I did not have to give them such a statement, I declined to
say anything to them about the matter - which they both seemed to readily accept
without any difficulty. Shortly after the police had left, my brother told me
that he had signed a statement which one of the policemen wrote out during his interview
with them. Although I did not see this statement, and knowing my brother as I do, I
have no reason to believe that my brother's account to the police of what happened the day
before during Mr Coey's visit would be anything other than accurate (to the very best of
his ability).
With further reference to the police interview with my
brother referred to in the paragraph above, I feel I should point out to you now that my
brother, Mr Gerald Finnerty, and my half-sister Ms Marjorie Dolan (who often looks after
our family business premises on her own), are both under the care of Western
Health Board psychiatrist Dr. Anne Jeffers. Through no fault of their own,
they have been subjected in the past to bouts of extreme psychological pressure
(which occurred over a period of some 15 years or more possibly): which were directly
connected with parental alcoholism. To
make matters far worse (in my view), and despite my very best efforts to have the
situation corrected (which includes written communications with the Minister for
Health Mr Michael Martin T.D.), neither my brother nor my half-sister have EVER
received any psychiatric treatment (that I know of) which is specifically
designed to help the victims of parental alcoholism. Instead, they continue to be
treated (as far as I know) for "endogenous" depression - a term which I
understand refers to forms of depression that originate within the brain for no know
cause: which, in the case of my brother and half-sister constitutes a medical diagnosis
that is totally false (as far as I am concerned). I make this last statement as
a person who has been receiving treatment on a continuous basis since 1975 for the
psychological damage caused by parental alcoholism - treatment of the correct kind
(as I see it), which does not involve the use of prescribed brain drugs of any
kind - except for short periods in the early stages of treatment perhaps; when, as I know
from my own direct experience, medical doctors may have to deal with extreme
difficulties: such as their patient's suicidal thoughts and inclinations for
instance. One very difficult family consequence of our present situation is that
my brother and half-sister have now been on anti-depressant brain drugs for a continuous
period of many years (40 years non-stop in the case of my half-sister).
I feel I should also inform you now that detailed research I have carried out
privately during the past few years has left me in little doubt that it is in breach
of Tort law in this country for psychiatrists to be knowingly giving
wrong treatment of the kind which would make no sense to the general mass of the
"non-medical" population of the Republic of Ireland: regardless of how
successfully such psychiatrists might rationalise their own irresponsible
behaviour (as I see it) amongst themselves. I wish to also point out
that when I eventually decided to try and have this ongoing family problem
challenged in court here in the Republic of Ireland, I failed (completely) to find a
lawyer willing to help me with the necessary work that doing so would
involve. My efforts at finding a lawyer for this purpose included the sending of
two registered letters addressed to: Mr Kenneth Murphy, Director
General, The Law Society of Ireland, Blackhall Place, Dublin 7. According
to my records, the second of these two letters was posted on June 27th 2000.
To date, I have received no reply of any kind from Mr Kenneth Murphy (or from anybody
connected with the Law Society of Ireland) to either of the two letters in question that I
sent directly to him.
Before (and in case) Galway County
Council suddenly decide to send any more people out to our family business premises here
in New Inn, I would be very grateful if all of those involved could keep the
contents of the paragraph immediately above in mind please.
The "problem" sign you refer to in your letter to
me of June 12th 2002 contains the address of an Internet location (www.finnachta.com), and nothing else. I reserved
this name about a year ago with the intention of using it TO EARN A LIVING at
some later date. Given the opportunity, I would have reserved the name www.finnerty.com for our family
business; but, when I tried to reserve that particular name I found that it had already
been taken by somebody unknown to me who (as far as I can recall) lives somewhere in the
United States. In the circumstances, I then tried for the Celtic version of my
family name (which is "Finnachta"), and found that was
available.
While I fully accept that I might (unknown to myself)
have accidentally done something wrong by putting up the www.finnachta.com sign outside our family
business premises, it is not at all clear to me at the present time why that
would be? Please note that when Mr Coey called here on May 1st last he did not
give any reason at all as to why the www.finnachta.com sign was a "problem"
(as he referred to it) for Galway County Council. Far more importantly (from my
present viewpoint today), is the fact that your letter to me dated June 12th 2002 also
gives no indication whatsoever as to why this commercial sign (located as it is
outside a business premises which was established some 67 years ago) is such a
"problem" for Galway County Council that it gets total and
complete priority over the illegal sewage discharges that are entering the river
(upstream from the local community water supply pumping system) just a mere 100 yards or
so away from the sign itself ???
Further details (including photographs) of the above
mentioned sewage problems in the middle of New Inn village can be seen at the following
www page address:
http://homepage.eircom.net/~williamfinnerty/environment.htm
Also, a photograph of the www.finnachta.com "problem" sign
appears at the following www page address:
http://www.finnachta.com/Election/May_2002_General_Election.htm
The "General Election" www page address
immediately above also contains the following paragraph (for the purpose of
attempting to explain why the "problem" sign was put up at the particular time
that I put it in place): "In an effort to try and get
around what we see as corrupt media censorship of our efforts in the run-up to the
election, a roadside sign has very recently been placed in the middle of New Inn
village which enables members of the public to find the information on this page:
regardless of traditional media outlets, and their ongoing efforts to keep this
information hidden from voters."
Later today, I intend to send a printed (and signed) copy of this e-mail to you
through the registered post addressed as follows:
Mr Tony Murphy (County Secretary)
Box No. 27
Galway County Council
Planning & Development Section
Arus an Chontae
Prospect Hill
Galway.
Finally, I would like to STRESS that I remain entirely happy to
apply for planning permission for the "problem" sign; and, assuming you feel it
is still appropriate, I would be very grateful if you could arrange for the necessary
application forms to be sent to me through the post please.
Yours sincerely,
Mr William Finnerty
"St Albans"
New Inn
Ballinasloe
County Galway.
