Category: Irish Politics

A view on the Jobstown trial by Keego

~ jlpagano

Editor’s note – Apologies once more for this site remaining idle for so long…demand from other projects has been too strong of late.  We will get back to it soon.  In the meantime we are grateful to Keego for offering this post.  We have our own take on the Jobstown trial here at FPP and we hope to post on it soon.

 

I had planned on taking the summer off from furiously writing down thoughts on various topics. The plan was to be thought free for a few months as thinking about and reading the news was overloading my already fragile brain.

There was a Trump, a Brexit and a commissioner who appeared to enjoy her commisionary position a bit too much and is willing to do anything to keep it. But there was one issue that made me reach for my vintage dell Netbook (not my best investment) to vent and ask you your opinion on the topic and that was the trial of the jobstown 7. These were a group of people who protested against then Tanaiste and all round unlikable person, Joan Burton.

The coverage of this trial annoyed me, the way the protest was organised annoyed me and nearly everyone involved in the protest on both sides annoyed me. So I thought I would vent into your brain in the hope that you could either correct or agree with me.

Firstly, before we get started, a little about myself might help. I am pro protest. It is healthy and when used correctly, massively effective in sending a message to government. And I think that is where we start. From the moment the news hit the stations about an ongoing protest in Jobstown in Tallaght, it appeared to be an unorganised mess.

When a protest is organised it is near unstoppable. When something is unstoppable then things change. No doubt that there is a massive list of things that need to change in Irish politics, and this could have been a massive dent in that list.

Instead, the people surrounded Burtons car and shouted abuse at her, banged on her windows and all round intimidated her. There are pictures of her smiling in the car, but that is irrelevant. There is zero context to that photo, was it at the start of the protest? People sat down in front of her car not allowing it to move off. This is beyond stupid. If I sit down in front of a car of someone I don’t like, I get run over.

The garda siochana arrived and this is where it gets a bit murky. Aside from locking an old lady in a car and shouting abuse at her, the Garda were limited in what they could do. The geography of the area meant that the way out of this situation necessitated moving the Tánaiste into another vehicle. With the crowd at fever pitch, she felt that this would be unsafe.

And that is the first point. Whether you think that Joan Burton could have opened the car door and walked out or not is not the issue. She did not feel she would have been safe enough to do so. This is a logical response to being shouted at and intimidated for the preceding time.

I had a conversation with someone on twitter about the above point. He stated to me that she could have left anytime she wanted to, she just had to ask the Garda for help. Maybe I have been hit in the head too many times, but if I need to ask a Garda for help to get out of my car then there is a safety issue in progress, or is that a bit unfair of me?

The entire protest was leaded by Paul Murphy of the People Before Profit/Solidarity/Will protest for headlines party. Megaphone in hand he chanted slogans that riled up the crown and made any chance of a quick and safe ending to this protest a near impossibility.

Skipping forward a bit to the outcome. There are 2 massive issues arising from this. Firstly the government went full on in chasing the people who organised it. Dawn raids where a semi regular occurrence for a time. Nothing good happens at dawn as we all know! When the Garda go in heavy handed like this it plays into the hands of the protestors. Immediately, anyone who is hearing the news asks ‘what are the Gardaí/government trying to hide/cover up’. Again this is a healthy response. Even with my dislike for Murphy there was never any need to knock on his door at dawn. It was done for headlines, it was done to send a message and it makes the Garda/Govt look exactly the same as the people they are chasing.

That being headline hunters.

It comes to pass that the Garda who were there on the day of the protest couldn’t get their stories straight, or couldn’t remember the same story at the same time. As soon as this happens the case gets so filthy that the Jobstown 7 where always going to walk free. And in walking free became martyrs/celebrities for the left. This was what made me write this piece. I would be a left leaning person, I believe in taking care of everyone, I believe in being fiscally conservative but I also believe in having a plan. Murphy et al do not have a plan that works. They have tremendous sound bites, tremendous slogans but nothing of substance that will help anyone.

This protest shows the bad judgement of Murphy. Instead of planning, even if this was off the cuff he should have planned ahead. He was happy to stand by while people locked an old lady in a car and shouted abuse at her. Imagine if instead of that, they lined the streets and slowly turned their back on the Tánaiste, in silence. That would have been power and would have made for footage that would be shared on social media for years. Instead they acted like the kids in Berkley College when someone they don’t agree with comes to speak.

If you don’t believe in your beliefs enough to put them forward in an adult way then you are just a dreamer without a plan.

So, with the Jobstown 7 walking free. This means that protesters can shout/spit/imprison people who do not agree with them. It means you can say anything you want to anyone and have no repercussions.  It means that it is not about the idea, it is about the force and loudness with which you shout yours out.

This is not a good thing. This is not what Ireland should be about in 2017.

In closing I would like to repeat. I think protesting is the most powerful tool we have as citizens, especially with the voting system the way it is. But we need to be smart, we need to be productive in the protesting. It is not about who is the loudest, it is about who has the best idea for this country.

Please share this with Murphy and his party, I would welcome an opportunity to speak to him about it. I’ll even buy the coffee. I am not saying this so I can shout at the lad, I genuinely want to understand his thinking because it is so far away from mine, even though we would both be called loony lefties!

Do tag me in the sharing of this post @nkeegan on twitter

A rhetorical question for Sinn Féin as the UK electorate decides

~ jlpagano

This question is of course completely rhetorical – I am but a humble individual who is relatively new to political blogging so my chances of getting an answer are about the same as Jeremy Corbyn’s of winning an overall majority, but I’d still like to put it “out there” nonetheless….

Dear Sinn Féin,

If your party could choose one of these scenarios for the island of Ireland today, would you go for…

(1) A united Ireland with a government led by an Irish ideological equivalent of Theresa May, or

(2) A continuation of the Good Friday Agreement “status quo” but with a Republic of Ireland government led by an Irish ideological equivalent of Jeremy Corbyn?

Yours sincerely,

Jeff Pagano

#IANWAE

 

 

 

 

Leo Varadkar is first and foremost yet another pro-establishment Taoiseach

~ jlpagano

As far as I’m concerned, one of the principal tenets of “progressive” political thinking is that it does not matter who you are, where you come from nor whom you love; your equal place in society should be protected.

There’s going to be much reporting around the world about Ireland electing its first gay Taoiseach who is also the son of an immigrant.  This will no doubt be added to the marriage referendum result to imply that we are an ever-evolving tolerant country.

On a personal level, of course Deputy Varadkar should be congratulated but if he is to lead the country in a manner that matches his rhetoric and his ministerial performance over the years, then Ireland’s true opposition must continue on it’s path to break the Civil War duopoly’s grip on power.

What Ireland actually needs is its first Progressive Taoiseach.  One who has issues like health, education, housing and social justice as their priorities for government.

I know that sentence would invite howls of derisive laughter from most Irish political experts.  At best, it would be met with patronising talk about naivety with regard to how things work on these shores.  Our Taoiseach can only be the leader of Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael and that’s simply the Irish political reality, they would no doubt say.

Well, the way I see it, if we’re not at least prepared to talk about it, then it definitely won’t happen.  You want to see Ireland’s first Progressive Taoiseach?  Then say it out loud.  “I want to see Ireland’s First Progressive Taoiseach”.  Now, say it out loud to someone else who would probably agree with you.  Then say it to someone who would probably laugh at you and when they do, keep your head held high and be sure to say it again next time you see them.

I believe it’s a conversation that can grow over time if we truly want it.  Issues such as #Right2Water, #RepealThe8th, social housing, the hospital trolley crisis, LGBTQ rights and immigrant rights provide a common thread that runs through communities up and down the country.  It surely can’t be that hard to bring them together and move the country in a new direction that is fair to all.

Who would this first Progressive Taoiseach be?  Who knows.  Now is not the time to name names.  Now is the time to get active and join the conversation.

One thing’s for sure…anyone who points out that we have at least had a Tánaiste or two from a party which called itself the “Progressive Democrats” can go to the back of the class!

Meanwhile, Stephen Fry has won the internet tonight I reckon.

 #IANWAE

If Sean Fitzpatrick did not commit a crime then we need new laws. Now.

~ jlpagano

Oh, how this makes my blood boil.

Here are some viewpoints on the role former Anglo-Irish Bank chairman Sean FItzpatrick played in the Irish banking crisis.

According to the judicial system…

But Judge John Aylmer ruled this morning on day 126 of the trial that the investigation carried out by the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement fell short of the impartial, unbiased investigation that an accused is entitled to.

According to Solidarity TD Richard Boyd Barrett…

Mr Boyd Barrett claimed Mr FitzPatrick walked free because of a set-up and not a blunder. “This stinks to high heaven,’’ he added.

Leas Cheann Comhairle Pat “The Cope’’ Gallagher intervened to say he was referring to a trial and should “refrain lest there might be consequences’’.

Mr Boyd Barrett said: “There is a direct link between Seánie FitzPatrick’s rotten, corrupt activities and Anglo Irish Bank and the families this week being sent to Garda stations or are sleeping in parks because there are no homes.’’

…and then we have the viewpoint of the Irish Times Legal Affairs correspondent Colm Keena

“Sean Fitzpatrick did not commit a crime.” (paraphrase)

It won’t surprise you to learn that my own views would tend to lean towards those of Deputy Barrett.  And while the Irish mainstream media takes such great pains to point out that he was speaking under “privilege” as if it is some kind of cowardly act, I would put forward the proposal that the opposite is the case.

Maybe it’s true that technically Fitzpatrick did not break any laws.  And I would go further in pointing out that watching him “sent down” will not make me feel any better about what the Irish banking sector did to this country.

But if the way he comported himself in both managing Anglo Irish loans and his own personal ones was “legal”, then surely it must be a priority of our parliament to bring proper laws into existence.  And if we can’t bring down a sentence on him in a court of law, how about one from the court of public opinion, making sure the new laws get known as (at least commonly assuming the Dáil would never approve it) The Sean Fitzpatrick Laws.

On the subject of what actually has been done to improve legislation since the crash, here is but one recommendation of the Joint Committee of Inquiry into the Banking Crisis published in 2016…

A personal remuneration clawback provision linked to medium term performance should be part of the employment contract for senior executive management and board members.

Just to break that down…basically it seems to suggest that if a bank is losing money, the “bigwigs” at the bank should not make money in terms of bonuses.

BUT ISN’T THAT BLOODY WELL OBVIOUS???????  Did it really have to take a group of elected representatives the guts of three years to come up with stuff like that???

Like I said, blood boiling.  At least we have people like Deputy Barrett who are free to speculate as to what is really going on amongst the ranks of the establishment without fear of prosecution under libel laws by our nation’s real cowards.

#IANWAE

Help convince FF to stop vulture funds in Ireland by signing this petition from Uplift.ie

~ jlpagano

Needless to say we’re big believers in social media activism for progressive causes here at FPP so we’d like you to help them spread the word on this petition…

from Uplift.ie

‘We have more homeless people in Ireland than any time since the famine’

Fr. Peter Mc Verry

If we don’t act now, homelessness in Ireland could get much worse. A terrifying new breed of property buyers known as ‘Vulture Funds’ are swooping in to make a quick profit on the housing market in Ireland. [1] This could lead to evictions and home repossessions on a scale we’ve never seen before.

But, there’s a really good chance we could stop this if we act now. As we speak, Fianna Fáil are thinking about adopting a Bill that would take power away from Vulture Funds. If they get behind this Bill – it would most likely pass in the Dáil. This would mean that people in mortgage arrears could stay in their homes. [2]

We need to act quickly though. As we speak, Fianna Fáil are considering whether this Bill is a good move for them politically – and they’ll have panicked Vulture Funds ringing them up already. But, if we build a massive petition that goes viral – they’ll realise this is an issue voters care really deeply about – and they’ll be forced to listen to us instead.

We’re going to need a signature from every single Uplift member if we’re going to get noticed. So, how about it Jeff, can you add your name?

Yes, I’ll add my name 

Vulture Funds own almost 90,000 properties and almost €10.3 billion worth of assets in Ireland. And what’s worse is that they’ve paid less than €20,000 euro worth of tax. [3]

The Bill being considered by Fianna Fáil right now could seriously help curb the rise of Vulture Funds. It would set up a Government Agency that would look after people in mortgage arrears. Putting it simply – it would mean that people couldn’t be made homeless, just because they can’t pay their mortgage.  [4]

This could be a huge moment in our history. One where ordinary Irish people like you and me stand up and say no to the power of profit over people. We could show the world that we won’t stand by while people are pulled from their homes so vultures can get rich.

But first, we need to make sure our politicians are on our side – not the side of big global corporations.

So can you join the fight and sign the petition today?

#IANWAE

80% of Irish people vote for FF or FG according to FF TD?

~ jlpagano

“Historically, over recent decades or even the last election, the vast majority of Irish people vote for Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, the figure might vary 60, 70, maybe 80 percent.”

The above statement, made by Fianna Fáil TD Seán Fleming on the latest Irish Times “inside Politics” podcast, illustrates one of the core reasons we have this very website First Person Plural.  It’s a myth that needs to be destroyed in the public domain once and for all.

In fairness to the podcast host Hugh Linehan, he did offer something of a rebuttal to Fleming’s claim when he pointed out that the figures were down in the most recent election in 2016, but it was nowhere near the kind of response that was truly warranted.

The so-called “Civil War” parties received a combined total of 49.8% of the popular vote in the 2016 general election.  In 2011, the combined total was 53.5%.  So the reality is that the figure has been nowhere near the 60% mark since the 2007 election, the third Bertie victory just before “the crash”, where they combined for over two-thirds of the vote, ie 68.7%.

But even those numbers aren’t enough to crunch in order to get a true picture of the Irish political taste.

Recently in France they had their presidential elections, and among the headlines from those results are how “low” their turnout figures were.  For the first round 77% of the electorate voted, for the second round it was just under 75%.  In other words, it was considered a bad thing that a quarter of the people failed to register their vote.

Not since 1997, Bertie’s first election victory, has an Irish general election cracked the 70% barrier.

And in last year’s ballot, despite all the anger surrounding the way the country was failed by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour both before and since the crash, as many as 1,147,534 registered voters failed to turn up on election day.

For me, those votes are up for grabs, and I would argue a significant proportion of those voters would be perfectly willing to vote for anyone but FG or FF (or even Lab) if a decent unified platform was put before them.

If not, the perception that there are only two “serious” options will endure.  Fleming was almost gleeful in the podcast painting FF as some kind of left wing option simply because they are slightly to the left of Fine Gael.

#IANWAE

Stat sources – Wikipedia & Irish Independent

 

 

Can you dispute any of these ten points as basic human rights?

~ jlpagano

1. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE FREE.
2. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE HEALTHY.
3. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE BRILLIANT.
4. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE SAFE.
5. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE LOVED.
6. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE COURAGEOUS.
7. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE ALIVE.
8. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE TRUSTED.
9. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE EDUCATED.
10. YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW YOUR RIGHTS.

What is your reaction to those ten points?

  1. Is it something like  – “Yes, they all make sense.”
  2. Or is it something like – “No, that’s bullshit.”
  3. Or is it something like – “Hmmm….tell me what the source is first?”

If it is the second one, fine.  Off you go.  You’re welcome to this site, but you probably won’t find anything you want here.

If it’s the third one, fine – here’s the source.

Now you know the source, is your answer 1 or 2?

Just a thought for the day.  Hat-tip to The Edge of Sports podcast.

Sorry we haven’t been posting much lately.  We hope to get back to it soon.  JLP

#IANWAE

“A lot won, a lot more to do”, claims #Right2Water movement

~ jlpagano

A statement from the Irish #Right2Water campaign that is definitely worth reading…

After a day of FF being FF again and working with FG to re-open the door to water charges down the line the Oireachtas Committee have finalised and voted on a report which will now go before the Dail.

You the water movement have achieved the following:

– charges as they were are gone

– bills as they were are gone

– domestic charges will be paid through general taxation (with the exception set out below)

– a consensus on a referendum will be stated (but no date will be announced don’t believe FG or FF will do this)

– further relief has been given to those in private schemes

– money will be paid back to those who paid their bills

Thanks to FF doing an about face however there will now be

– meters in new builds and refurbishments

– a charge (as opposed to penalties in last weeks report) to anyone consistently using 170% of the average use per adult (currently 133 litres a day)

This means we continue to live in a country where privileged elites who have always abused their position continue to spin and lie and twist in order to keep alive their ideological efforts to privatise and commodify our human Right2Water.

In this case they kept going until they finally got a legal opinion (their 9th) that they could buy to say what they wanted it to say.

Still the campaign has ensured they have been set back years from where they were three, two and even one year ago by the water campaign. Without you, the water campaigners, they’d probably be about to sell it now while your bills for a full household would be in four figures.

You won, for now, on general taxation, but like the bin charges, they are going to spend years trying to roll back on this.

We at R2W are not happy with this outcome as there is more to do. But remember what has been achieved. Remember where we were, and how hopeless it was, three short years ago. And remember also that this is very far away from what FG, FF, Irish Water and most of all the Labour Party who did most to try to commodify our human Right2Water wanted to do to us.

We have only just begun.

Be proud and keep going.

We will.

#IANWAE

Latest @BestOfTheLeft podcast is called “Living In An Empire Of Lies” – should we trust it?

~ jlpagano

Twice a week, the Best of the Left podcast from Jay! Tomlinson (yes he has an exclamation point in his name…deal with it) takes the best clips on a common theme from a range of mostly-Progressive sources and puts them together with apt choices of musical interludes separating them along the way.

The latesr midweek edition is titled “Living In An Empire Of Lies” and deals with propaganda and the use of distorted truth to control the masses.

Sure, you can presume it’s all about Trump.  But before we in Ireland throw stones, what do we think our own house is made of in this area?  Just yesterday we featured RTÉ’s “coverage” of the Mary Boyle case, and mainstream media’s coverage (or often lack thereof) is one of the principal functions of this site.

Anyway…here are a few quotes from the podcast…

Having trouble tracking down the name for this first quote but it was in an interview on the This Is Hell podcast…

“…unless we’re going to hold states to some sort of universal code of morality and try to transcend our particular locality or arbitrary nationality, we end up with just bias and ignorance which facilitates the worst war crimes that can be imagined.”

Next we have an interview with former US Supreme Count judge David Souter, and I can have absolutely no argument with this sentiment – the same applies to Ireland…too many people know too little about the Oireachtas and how it works.

“I don’t believe there is any problem of American politics in American public life which is more significant today than the pervasive civic ignorance of the Consitution of the United States’ structure of government.”

Last but certainly not least we have the Reverend Roger Ray.  O that all religious sermons could be like his.

“Martin Luther King, Jr. insisted that education was failing on two fronts: we were failing to teach students to think critically, and we were failing to teach character. A shocking number of people fall for fake news and it is changing our government and our society. King’s complaint is very relevant to our present crisis, as we now appear to live in an Empire of Lies in which speaking the truth appears to be treason.”

#IANWAE

How can a Prime Time report on #MaryBoyle fail to even recognize work done by Gemma O’Doherty?

~ jlpagano

Last night there was a report on the national broadcaster RTÉ on the disappearance 40 years ago of Mary Boyle in Donegal.

At the end, David McCullagh provides phone numbers for members of the public should  there be any further information about the case they would like to share.  Perhaps we should ring the numbers and suggest they watch the entensive documentary compiled by freelance journalst Gemma O’Doherty?

Look – this is a tragic situation.  We cannot even begin to imagine what it must have been like for the girl’s family since she disappeared.  But one thing is clear – there are two camps within the Boyle family, one led by Mary’s twin sister Ann Doherty who believes there should be a full public inquest into the matter, and one led by the girls’ mother Ann Boyle who does not.

The piece put together by Barry Cummins is clearly biased towards the mother’s wishes.  It makes passing reference to the sister’s wishes and there is even a claim made that she “declined an offer to participate” (paraphrase)…personally I think she was wise not to do so.

For me, Cummins offered absolutely nothing new to the case, rehashing the events surrounding her disappearance with an incredible amount of time devoted to the search, and very little time spent covering the quest for answers (basically it amounted to “The gardaí are on it”).

Instead of asking Gemma O’Doherty on to explain her own investigations, the show instead skims over the topics she covers before mischievously linking some horrendous threatening letters received by Ann Boyle to “social media”, which is where O’Doherty’s work can be found; also it is where she offered many rebuttal’s to the Prime Time segment…

I cannot say who is right and who is wrong, but I will say this…my impression before watching Prime Time was that there were forces at work more concerned in protecting public figures than they were in finding out what happened to Mary Boyle.  That impression had not changed by the time McCullagh was reading out the phone numbers. JLP

#IANWAE