What qualifications will Mr. Gormley’s independent inspector need?
Well, familiarity with Through the Looking-Glass would be helpful.
There, Humpty Dumpty explains himself to Alice:
I don’t know what you mean by ‘glory,’” Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. “Of course you don’t — till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for you!’”
“But `glory’ doesn’t mean `a nice knock-down argument,’” Alice objected.
“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in a rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.”
“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean different things.”
“The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master — that’s all.”
Alice was too much puzzled to say anything, so after a minute Humpty Dumpty began again.
“They’ve a temper, some of them — particularly verbs, they’re the proudest — adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs — however, I can manage the whole lot! Impenetrability! That’s what I say!”
The first word to be examined by the Inspector is the word “independent�, as in “independent inspector�.
Independent of what or whom? Not Mr. Gormley; he is doing the choosing and appointing.
The next word for examination is “literate�, as in “read the contract, Inspector�.
The contract is, of course the contract under which the AB consortium installed Dublin’s sewage treatment plant in Ringsend. The first word the Inspector should look for in the contract is “confidential�. Is Dublin City Council bound to keep the terms and issues of the contract secret?
The next word is “re-negotiate� or cognate words.
In short, what provisions, if any, were there to prevent the consortium from seeking more money.
That’s the question.
