Category: Irish Politics

Social Democrats call for separation of Church and State after #TuamBabies

~ jlpagano

We’re not sharing this Dáil speech by Catherine Murphy TD from the Social Democrats website because we have a particular preference for the party itself; it’s just we like the fact that something like this is being said in our national parliament.

“if Tuam has shown us anything it is that the State must take responsibility for its citizens and that the Church has no legitimacy in the healthcare, education or politics governing our citizens.”

No doubt there are other TDs who share Murphy’s sentiment, but unfortunately among the total amount of TD they would be very much in the minority.  I wonder if that would be the case if a referendum were held on the matter?

The Father Of All Scandals #tuambabies (repost)

~ jlpagano ~ Leave a comment

[After the findings of the Commission on Mother and Baby Homes, we have reposted this blog from June 8, 2014]

Much has been said about the #TuamBabies during the week, and when it comes to the vagaries of the Catholic Church and what they have gotten up to on this island since the formation of the State, there’s not that much I can add.

But at the risk of appearing to deflect attention from the Church, there is one key element of this outrage that I feel isn’t being mentioned at all.

There were 796 babies reportedly “discarded” in Tuam.  That means there are up to 796 fathers who are just as much involved in this story as the mothers, the babies and those in the institution involved.

Of course the whole reason for the existence of the institution was that the identities of the fathers was kept secret, so it’s not as though I could realistically expect us to ever discover any of their names.

But why aren’t we at least talking about them? 

Too much goes wrong in society at large because of the supposed need to protect people we deem to be important.  And the girls who were unfortunate to find themselves in these mother-and-baby institutions were usually being “blamed” for their situation.

We all know this to be wrong now, but as well as calling foul on the Church for their part in it, we should also be acknowledging exactly who is to blame.

Sure, such places like Bon Secours (which amazingly translates to “good relief”) contributed to a system whereby men, and more often than not men with a so-called “respectable” standing in society, had a ready-made “get out of jail free” card whenever their libidos got the better of them, often within their own family.  But I’m sure I’m not the only one sickened by that last sentence, so surely if lessons are to be learned from all of this we must start there.

Do we honestly think the root of this problem has gone away just because these institutions ceased to exist over 50 years ago on this island?  Hell no. 

Men are still acting on their urges today are they not?  And they have just as much need to have those urges hidden so they can remain in their lofty positions – only now we have things like sex trafficking to provide the supply to their demand. 

Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten I’m a man myself – but that’s my point.  Just because I am one doesn’t mean I should feel the need to defend the actions of these people, not by a long shot.  In fact, it should be people like me towards the front of the queue crying foul because I believe those of us who like to think we treat women with respect are very much in the majority.

And when the women who find themselves caught up in those horrible businesses get pregnant, the “inconvenience” is still “dealt with”, only in a different way, and you can bet your bottom Euro the father is nowhere to be seen.

I hope the true extent of the #TuamBabies scandal around the country is discovered, but I also hope we derive the correct lessons from it. 

Sure, it is another stick with which to beat the Catholic Church, but as much as I’d be happy to wield said stick, I cannot ignore the fact that it is merely a subset of a patriarchal mindset which still thrives throughout the western so-called civilisation and the longer we avoid talking about it, the longer it will endure. JLP

Keego : America from the outside, Ireland from the inside – 1

~ jlpagano

Let the records show this is our first guest post here on FPP!  Many thanks to Keego, we hope to hear much more!  If you’d like to contribute contact us at firperplu@gmail.com

Welcome to episode 1 of ‘America from the outside, Ireland from the inside’. This first post will be an introduction of what the aims are of the series, views from my computer screen and an ability to contact me for further discussion and challenging of opinions.

Situated on Dublin’s Southside, I am looking at the world through various computer screens that frighten me, and this will be where I write down what I usually end up shouting at the screens that are ruining my life.

Firstly why America? Well it is fairly simple. I grew up wanting to go to America and be American. They had the best food, the best sport, the best TV, they got the films 6 months before us and everyone was so happy. Whereas here in Ireland everyone was always milliseconds from getting annoyed, in America they said ‘have a nice day’ just for buying chewing gum in the shop.

But I was also very young in a relatively safe world. During the cold war (I arrived towards the end of it) no one was going to pull the trigger, self-preservation meant that status quo (while angry) remained. There was no Vietnam War like my parents had, or WW2 like my grandparents had. This may have been the America I wanted to live in. Along with that, I had zero interaction with anything political. That is the key.

In my lifetime I have seen 2 bushes, a Clinton and Obama and now a Trump. I don’t remember a thing about Bush sr. Clinton appeared to take care of business in his office, while making some mistakes along the way. Not diminishing these mistakes, but they were none of my business. Private life is private. This was the first time politics entered my life from America. I wondered why older men were interested in the private life of a younger man. Was it criminal jealousy on their part? Was it because no one wanted to travel south of their equator? Or was it to score points?

Through the next line of presidents the country began being strangled. Laws were brought in to tap phones, to screen passengers (mostly of a certain colour let’s be honest) and to invade the private lives of Americans. People reacted with ‘I have nothing to hide so I don’t care if they listen to my calls’. This is like saying I don’t care about free speech because I have nothing to say. Reactions became simply yes or no. Nuance disappeared. The eye for an eye mentality that came from western films was now a legitimate reaction.

The world changed. The economies crashed, the Kardsashians and obesity arrived and we fast forward further to 2017. An America with a reality TV star and business ‘mogul’ as president. The people got so annoyed with the system that the change they chose was someone who made money by licensing his image to buildings, fighting legal action and showing an inability to live in the real world.

In America, you are either left or right even though both main parties are now so similar you would struggle to find a difference. You pick your side and you are there forever. That is not healthy. Sometimes the more conservative approach works and sometimes a more liberal way works it depends on the issue at hand. It is never one or the other.

America is the epicentre of the social justice warrior movement. A group who chase offence with self-importance and who appear to have an inability to stand on their own beliefs and challenge those who disagree, Ireland has this too (there is a video from 3 Trinity College students getting someone they disagree with banned from the college). Instead they depend on violence to stop people expressing themselves, sounds familiar from the history books doesn’t it? Recently an unedited video surfaced from a lecture where an SJW did not believe in biology or scientific proof of gender. This is a problem. It is equal parts frightening and comedic. The police treat kids in bikinis like they are smuggling bombs and celebrities  are treated like leaders in debate. Meryl Streep gets up and talks about understanding and tolerance, while wearing a 20 grand dress in front of other actors who haven’t been stuck on a train at rush hour in a long time. The gap between the ‘them’ and ‘us’ has never been bigger and that leads to their current presidential predicament.

It may appear that I am on my high horse, but there is a saying. ‘People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones’. In Ireland there is an insane political system populated by careerists. But we also have a population that continues to vote the same people in. We have a ‘you scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours’ way of business which leads to the Healy Rae family getting up and talking about the war on flowers in a public park. Never mind the homeless people, they don’t vote! The pensioners who walk in the park will vote for me if I get the park cleared.

This is where we live. This is how our island works. Our police force have been accused on multiple occasions of smearing innocent people with varying crimes, because they reported wrong doings by the force. If I get accused of anything at work that needs an investigation, I would be sent home pending the outcome. In Ireland, in the Garda Siochana, the commissioner is allowed stay in place. It is insane. Either she has something on the people in government or they know we will forget about this if they spring another story. We have horrific stories coming out about abuse against children under state care since the smearing thing came out and it is slowly disappearing from the headlines.

I think that bring the introduction to an end. Basically I am a frustrated man struggling to make sense of people who use important constructs of the world for their own gains while promising to look out for those less well off.  For any American readers, there is no malice intended and  I expect debate and abuse on my observations from thousands of miles away, but I am always open to enlightenment and correction from all.

For my Irish readers, I think we need a beer!

This will be weekly observations on a world filled with beautiful people, run by people who couldn’t run a bath.

@nkeegan on twitter and @kdubdd on instagram

Barry Cowen’s smugness re: #Right2Water campaign does not hold water

~ jlpagano

“Oh look at me!!! I’ve made the #Right2Water campaign look foolish!!!”, to paraphrase Fianna Fáil TD and brother of Bertie’s successor, Barry Cowen during the past week.

At an Oireachteas hearing (aka Joint Committee on Future Funding of Domestic Water Services Debate), Cowen asked representatives of the movement if they were in favour of a charge for excessive use of water, to which he was replied in the positive.

Deputy Barry Cowen: I ask the witnesses to answer the following. If this committee was in a position to agree a process by which people who use excessive amounts, in the opinion of this committee, were charged, is Right2Water happy with that?

Mr. Steve Fitzpatrick: Yes.

This led Cowen to go on twitter as though he had somehow convinced a vegetarian to enter a Big Mac eating competition.

After Paul Murphy TD of AAA-PBP accused Cowen of “selective quoting”, The Journal decided to do one of its “fact-check” articles, which in essence served to back up the very picture Cowan was trying to paint, ie one that only pro-Establishment readers would appreciate.

Let’s back up this particular truck, shall we.

First we need to make a clear distinction between what regulating water is meant to do, and what instead our government actually did.

Of COURSE we should be regulating water usage.  It is an important resources and should not be wasted.  But before we do so, we need to identify who is wasting it the most and target the regulation at them.  This clearly brings the private sector in the firing line way before domestic users, but this State has never been led by a Government that would acknowledge this.

Instead, the Fine Gael-led government (yes, I know, with Labour also in tow) sought to establish a revenue stream (pun fully intended) for a new corporate cash-cow known as Irish Water, and began charging the general public long before there was any opportunity to gauge which houses were using excessive amounts of water.

And on top of the specifics of the #Right2Water movement, the main reason it earned itself such incredible public support wasn’t just because of the water issue itself, but also because it was the straw that broke the Irish camel’s back after successive years of austerity following the banking crisis which happened under Bertie Ahern’s, and ultimately Brian Cowen’s, watch.

Even without the most recent poll numbers, when Fianna Fáil party leader and former Minster under Bertie, Micheal Martin eventually has the balls to bring down this current Government and call an election, seeing how the wider voting Irish public sees only two possible parties for leadership, he will be Taoiseach.

Would it be crazy to assume that his government would quickly seek to establish water charges exactly as Fine Gael had done, using the above selective testimony as some kind of justification?  With Cowan as the Minster responsible, no less?  JLP

#IANWAE

The Anatomy of a #Liveline Segment : #TescoStrike

~ jlpagano

Usually it is against my better judgement to listen to Joe Duffy’s Liveline, especially when it covers issues I really care about.  For a show that no doubt would insist that it is “fair and balanced”, it is generally anything but.

Yet as I pointed out in an earlier article, just because we consider sections of the media to be “corporate-controlled”, this does not mean we should always refrain from listening to them, as they are every bit as much “players in the game” as any politician or other major public figure whose behaviour we wish to examine.

To this end I’d like to introduce what will be an occasionally-recurring series here on FPP : “The Anatomy of a Liveline Segment” where we will critique his coverage of a particular item in the news.  For this first instalment, we finally get to mention the ongoing strike at Tesco.

First, some background.  Joan Collins TD explained things from the workers’ perspective in the Dáil :

“Tesco is one of the few employers in the retail sector that still has thousands of decent jobs, where workers can earn enough to live. And now this is under attack.

It has those jobs because workers organised – research shows in the retail sector that those in unions earn around 30% more than those who are not.

That is why Tesco is looking to break the union, so that it can make big profits off the back of cheaper labour and join the race to the bottom in retail.”

Of course the giant retail chain were to have their own say, pouring doubt over the union’s claims and deferring to an old chestnut which the Government uses as a cop out to avoid direct involvement in industrial disputes :

“It is surprising that Mandate are balloting for industrial action in a small number of stores. Most unusually the union is rejecting a Labour Court Recommendation which it had sought and sets out a clear and generous resolution.”

When it comes to the Labour Court, while it’s proclamation is known as a “recommendation”, when it comes to how it is used in the “court of public opinion”, more often than not it is portrayed as an ultimatum akin to “like it or lump it”.

So let’s see how Joe handled Tuesday’s segment.  He was off that day and in his stead was Damian O’Reilly, but this doesn’t absolve Duffy of responsibility for the content…his name is regularly repeated throughout the show whether he is there or not.

Here is how the segment progressed (click here to listen in full) :

  • First we are introduced to Des, who is described as a “well-known, well-respected businessman”.  He owns a butcher’s shop located beside Tesco Greystones and claims his business is adversely affected by the picketing union workers.  He says that on Friday and Saturday over the weekend his taking were down between “70 and 80 percent”.  Damien then mentions another business owner from the same complex who was “too upset to come on air”.
  • Eventually over 4 minutes into the segment we get to hear from a representative of the workers, namely Keith Pollard, an Industrial Officer with Mandate Trade Union.  His first point is that their fight is not with shop owners like Des, and that the strikers’ intention is to picket the front of the Tesco itself, not the wider shopping complex, yet the company management will not allow it so they must go outside.
  • Despite the fact that Pollard has offered an explanation, O’Reilly repeatedly asks him why the workers aren’t doing more to avoid affecting the small businesses.  For me, given that they can’t picket indoors, this effectively means Damien is asking him to call off the dispute altogether?  Also, throughout the segment, O’Reilly’s number to describe the effect on Des’ business jumps from 70 to 80 to even 90 percent.
  • This exchange goes back and forth through the first half of the overall segment.  Des is worried for his business, Keith say the workers would move if they could, Damien makes it looks as though the workers are somehow being unreasonable. Nobody seems able to move forward from this position and they waste a lot of time repeating themselves.
  • What about Tesco?  Damien tries to absolve himself in the early stages –  “We’ve invited them on, they’re more than welcome to come on.”  Sixteen minutes into the segment, he reads out a statement from them (“in fairness”, as he puts it) – basically they claim that the workers were asked to move outside in the interest of the “safety and comfort of customers”.
  • We are joined suddenly by “Graham Nolan” (I can only assume he is a “random member of the public”), who also makes it out as though it is only up to the strikers to resolve the issue.  “Why don’t they have it clearly written on their placards that they are just picketing Tesco?” he asks (paraphrase)
  • Then they take a break.  When they come back, Des, Keith and Graham are gone.  Now we have three new callers.
  • First up is Barry, another random caller.  He is sympathetic to the picketers and claims they are friendly and that the onus is on Tesco not the workers.  Damien replies “You have a good point but the problem is in this instance….” before repeating the point about the (probably well over 100% by now) drop in takings for the small businesses.
  • Next we have Theresa, who is actually a picketer.  She makes an excellent point that perhaps it’s not them stopping anyone from entering the shops, maybe instead it’s the shoppers’ own conscience.
  • Finally we have Paula Hannon, an elderly lady (apparently) who claims she was somehow prevented from entering the centre.  “A terrible experience”, “they were walking, blocking me”, and she was subject to “intimidation”.  Personally, I believe she felt intimidated, though I’m not altogether sure that was anywhere near the intention of the picketers as she suggests.
  • Then O’Reilly reads another statement from Tesco, which miraculously supports Paula’s claims of intimidation.

This post has gone way longer than it probably should, but I will finish with a few thoughts.

If the show’s intention really was to be “fair and balanced”, it wouldn’t have focused solely on the collateral effect on local business.  No decent person wants to see anybody lose out in situations like this, but what about the workers?  Are they not also collateral victims?

There are two sides in every industrial dispute.  Tesco initiated this situation by proposing to exchange an existing agreement.  The workers did not agree, yet Tesco still claim they will press ahead, now using a “Labour Court Recommendation” as some kind of endorsement.  It is still up to the workers to accept, which they clearly haven’t.  Now they should be talking to each other, and any effect on the wider community, be it business owners or shoppers, is a direct consequence of this failure to meet.

As far as I am concerned, if they refuse to send a representative onto the programme, Tesco shouldn’t be allowed to have statements read out.  Remember – the segment was divided in two, so their rep wouldn’t have to go up directly against the union one.  By providing statements to be read unchallenged they are showing themselves to be cowards in my view.

While this segment of the programme did allow representatives on both sides of the issue to have their say, it has to be said that the general tone of the presentation was extremely weighted in favour of Tesco.   Not that this was much of a surprise, but we feel it’s important to call them out on it whenever possible.

You can expect more “Anatomy of a Liveline Segment” posts in the future.  Probably need at least a week to recover from this one though! JLP

Interesting “alternative fact” in NY Times article on #MauriceMcCabe crisis

~ jlpagano

Last night we were treated to a classic example of the fantasy world in which our Irish national parliament exists.

There was a debate in the Dáil over a Sinn Fein motion of no confidence in the government, of which the highlight was a remarkable bit of attempted political chicanery by former minister under Bertie Ahern and current Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin.

Somehow he managed to (1) berate Sinn Féin for having brought the motion in the first place and (2) attack the government for their (admittedly shocking) handling of the Maurice McCabe situation, before his party proceeded to abstain from the vote altogether, effectively helping Kenny’s government survive.

Just in case you are a little bit behind the curve on what has happened with McCabe, the New York Times offers a brief refresher course with this article posted yesterday.  And as part of it, there is a glaring error that demands immediate correction.  Or IS IT an error?

Both Mr. Kenny’s party, Fine Gael, and its coalition partner, Fianna Fail, had little appetite for fresh elections that could unsettle their fragile government.

Earlier in the article, a sentence which would make Gerry Adams very happy…

There were heated exchanges between Mr. Kenny and Gerry Adams, the leader of the opposition Sinn Fein party.

Naturally the Civil War duopoly would object to this depiction, as last year they somehow managed to cobble together a government with sticky plaster in an attempt to keep Fianna Fail on the opposition benches at the expense of Adams & his posse.

I’m no fan of Sinn Féin, but I’m not so sure this article has gotten anything wrong.  It’s more like that kid in the story who points out the Emperor has no clothes.

First and foremost, the McCabe family, and anyone else brave enough to come forward and call out corruption among their superiors for that matter, deserves to have their shocking treatment dealt with fairly and publicly, not just for their sake, but also for anyone who might wish to do similar in the future.

Next there is the matter of Martin, Simon Coveney and Leo Varadkar – the three men best poised to bring down Enda Kenny.  If this government must stay in place going forward, it needs some semblence of stability, and statements from each of them are the only way to bring that.

By saying nothing, they are demonstrating that they don’t want to deal with what the Taoiseach has on his plate right now (this whistleblower crisis, #RepealThe8th and #Right2Water to name just three), thus showing themselves to be cowards.  JLP

 

 

Indivisible: A Practical Guide for Resisting the Trump Agenda (could be useful in Ireland too)

~ jlpagano

indivisible

Naturally there are a lot of things about the Trump presidency I find worrying, but here’s one you won’t hear much about.

I’m worried that when he eventually stops being President (that IS definitely going to happen, right?) many people who have been drawn to following politics will presume order has been restored and think all is right with the world again.  Sure if someone’s not as bad as Trump, their policies have to be ok, right?  As the man himself would say…WRONG!

Some former congressional staffers have put together a handy guide for organizing community political campaigns and putting pressure on your local public representative to resist the Trump agenda, using the Tea Party movement as an example of how it can succeed when done right.  It is very detailed and The Best of the Left podcast this week featured it in audiobook form 

Here’s how it starts…

Donald Trump is the biggest popular-vote loser in history to ever call himself President-Elect. In spite of the fact that he has no mandate, he will attempt to use his congressional majority to reshape America in his own racist, authoritarian, and corrupt image. If progressives are going to stop this, we must stand indivisibly opposed to Trump and the Members of Congress (MoCs) who would do his bidding. Together, we have the power to resist — and we have the power to win.

The thing is…I believe this guide can be used for more issues than just the Trump agenda.

Here in Ireland we have been seen a duopoly of pro-business parties running the country since the formation of the State.  Sure, the regimes led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael aren’t exactly in Trump territory, but acknowledging that can be a dangerous thing.  There is a great deal of fixable income equality in this country, and neither party has done much about it over the years.

So I reckon that if you take this guide and make a few substitutions, like “Member of Oireachtas” for “Member of Congress” and “Civil War Parties” for “Trump”, it can help communities up and down the country who have similar views on issues like income equality, housing, water charges & repealing the 8th amendment co-ordinate their action towards pressuring TDs and councillors.

More people should be more interested in their government no matter who is in the White House.  Personally I wouldn’t mind if “Indivisible” was made into a school textbook. JLP

#IANWAE

Website “Human Rights In Ireland” produces form letter for contacting your local TD objecting to US Muslim ban

~ jlpagano

The below is directly copy/pasted from the website Human Rights In Ireland…

We suggest below a draft letter that people concerned with the application of the Executive Order in US pre clearance in Irish airports might find useful should they wish to write to TDs in relation to it. Of course, people should adjust it to reflect their preferred language and approach to the issue, but we hope it might be useful.

Dear

I am writing to you [as a constituent [and] citizen] to express my deep concern about the continued operation of the Aviation (Preclearance) Act 2009 and associated agreements in Irish airports during the administration of President Donald J. Trump.

In the first week and a half of his presidency we have already seen Trump attempt to subvert the Immigration and Nationality Act 1965 in order to apply discrimination in immigration and undermine international refugee law through Executive Order. As a result of the preclearance agreement between Ireland and the USA, this Order is being applied on Irish soil and in Irish airports. As you will be aware, Article II(1) of that agreement makes it clear that Irish law continues to apply in those preclearance areas. The application of this Order may result in, for example, EU Citizens with dual citizenship with a listed country experiencing nationality based discrimination, facilitated by Irish law, in clear contravention of the TFEU. I remind you also that it is not  possible effectively to renounce citizenship in Iran, Syria, Libya and Yemen.

I remind you that under the 2009 Act, those turned away at preclearance are at the frontiers of the state and must be treated in accordance with the Immigration Act 2004. The Irish state also has obligations of non-refoulement which may arise. Furthermore, any Irish officials including Gardaí who may be involved in any way in policing the preclearance area are obliged as always to act in full compliance with the Constitution and with the ECHR.

Even if Congress supports President Trump’s policies through legislation, thus amending the 1965 Act inasmuch as that is constitutionally permissible, Ireland must ensure that rights under the Irish Constitution continue to be protected in these preclearance areas, and that violations of international law are not facilitated through the application of the agreement.

Bearing all of the above in mind, I would be grateful if you could please seek from the Taoiseach and appropriate minister, and provide me with, details of the following:

A. Measures that are being taken to ensure that unlawful discrimination is not being undertaken or facilitated at Irish airports through the application of Trump policy in preclearance areas.
B. Measures that the Irish government is taking to ensure that international refugee law is not subverted through the application of Trump policy in preclearance areas.
C. Mechanisms in place to ensure Ireland’s obligations under the TFEU, the ECHR and other applicable international law are fully complied with in preclearance areas.
D. Procedures for withdrawal from the preclearance agreement and bases upon which withdrawal would be contemplated by the Irish government

All over the United States this weekend lawyers and others have protested against this unlawful, cruel, Islamophobic and xenophobic attempt to undermine the rule of law. I ask the Oireachtas and the Irish government, in my name, to stand with them. I also ask you to ensure that Ireland provides protection to people seeking asylum from Syria, in particular, who President Trump seeks to preclude from receiving refugee status in the United States.

Given the evident urgency of the matter, I look forward to your swift response.

Yours sincerely,

#IANWAE
© First Person Plural 2017

A reason why Sinn Féin hoovers up so many votes on the Irish “Left” – they communicate more?

~ jlpagano

Irish Left parties press release.png

One of the principal functions of this site is to examine the fractured wasteland that is the “Irish Left”.

There are many different parties, most of which explore the same issues and some ironically have the word “alliance” in their very title.  You could say they are collectively similar to the “People’s Front of Judea” gag as portrayed by Monty Python in “The Life of Brian”.

Of course that’s not to say their TDs and activists don’t do great work in their communities.  It is just that while they are focusing on this important work, in the bigger picture of the parliamentary set-up in this country, their representation continues to be minimal.

Here at FPP we do not consider SInn Féin to be a “left-wing” party by any means.  They are a single-issue Nationalist organisation that uses this vacuum in the landscape of the Irish Left to win themselves seats, and they do this very well.  We can only speculate just how progressive their actions would be once actually in power, and we don’t really want to find out any time soon.

Still, we have to accept the reality that a lot of their ballot box support does come from the left.  So as part of setting up FPP, we added the main websites from all of the main political organisations to a heading in the news aggregator “Feedly”.  Represented there are The Labour Party, The Green Party, The Social Democrats, the People Before Profit Alliance, the Anti Austerity Alliance, and as we said, Sinn Féin.

Just in case you’re not sure what an “aggregator” is…it is similar to the old “news-wire” in that it gathers the latest released by various news sources and lists them in chronological order, so the most recent releases will be at the top.

What you see in our lead graphic is a screengrab of how our feed looked this morning.  As you can see, of the 19 most recent releases, 17 are by Sinn Féin.

Perhaps, you might wonder, they do a “news-dump” every Sunday morning, ie posting a ton of stories all at once and doing nothing for the rest of the week?  Yeah, we wondered that too, so we scrolled down.  They post articles at that rate throughout the week, at least ten articles per day.

Communication via social media, particularly in times when an election is NOT imminent, is a key way of keeping in touch with the wider public.  If Sinn Fein are flooding cyberspace with policies and information during that time, is it any wonder that they have so much success when the elections do come around?

Obviously Twitter, Facebook & websites aren’t the be-all and end-all, but surely it has to be seen as fertile ground for organisations which focus on issues left of centre.  Here at FPP we will be looking to highlight not just the issues themselves, but how they are covered by the various parties AND the mainstream media.

#IANWAE