Archive for the ‘Fianna Fáil’ Category
Private hospital deal will cost the Irish State €115 million per month – CoronaVirus: Confidential deal to take over private hospitals “expected to cost State €115m per month” – Irish Times Report
It looks like the Irish Government is paying far more money to private hospitals compared to the British Government.
Many of these hospitals are owned by Denis O’Brien & Larry Goodman who made their fortunes from sweetheart deals. In fact, some of these deals have ended up the subject of costly tribunals. But now we are told to just take them at their word that this is a not-for-profit deal? If it is, why does it seem to be so much more expensive than the deal struck by the NHS with private hospitals in the UK?
The government should publish today the full details of this deal, including a break down of the costs. The private hospitals should open their books, so we can see the real costs, rather than just pay them whatever they say.
Rather than lining the pockets of Denis O’Brien & Larry Goodman, what we really need is to bring these private hospitals permanently into the public system, to build a unified, single-tier National Health Service.
Open the books. – Source LetUsRise.ie
Paul Murphy TD has raised this matter in Dáil Éireann, and has followed up with a letter addressed to Acting Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe.
Read the rest of this entry »I wrote to the Minister of Finance on Monday requesting more information about the deal with the private hospitals. I still haven’t heard back. So far at least €90 million has been handed over. We need a break down of those costs published.
Covid-19 restrictions Necessary – Irish Government’s Hesitation Showed Priority it Places in Profits over Lives
No Border News (NBN) No Borders News is publishing a series of interviews about Covid 19 in many different parts of the world.
Jessy Ní Cheallaigh answers NBN’s questions about the Coronavirus Epidemic in Ireland.
Please provide a brief biography for yourself and any links to resources or websites you would like included in your interview.
My name is Jessy Ní Cheallaigh. I’m a 22 year old woman living in Ireland. I’m a socialist activist and a final year student studying Communications through the language of Irish in NUIG, Galway City. I’m a member of RISE (Radical, Internationalist, Socialist, Environmentalist) a democratic socialist political group. https://www.letusrise.ie/
1. Briefly describe the state of the pandemic in your country or city. How many people are infected? How many have died? What do experts expect in the coming weeks in terms of how fast the contagion will spread.
At the current date (14/04/2020) the total number of confirmed cases in the Republic of Ireland is 10,647. Death toll has reached 365 as 31 more deaths were confirmed in the last 24 hours. In Northern Ireland, 76 new cases have been registered and 6 more people have died from the coronavirus. The tally in the North now stands at 118 deaths and 1,882 confirmed cases. 12,529 confirmed cases on the island with a death toll of 483. Overall Ireland has made a decent effort to flatten the curve as the spread is not as rapid as it is in other countries. The government announced that there has been a “very high level of compliance” with restrictions on non-essential travel over the bank holiday weekend. However there is still concern amongst experts over the “clusters” of the virus present in nursing homes around the country with very little healthy/qualified staff to help prevent spread. As of Saturday 11 April, there have been 6.5 deaths per 100,000 people in Ireland. These figures however are definitely not 100% accurate as there have been problems with testing in the lack of testing kits available/bought as well as the huge backlog in test results that have yet to be processed. When testing was first opened up it was under the understanding that anyone who suspected they had the virus could be tested, when large numbers of test were coming back negative they changed it so that the only people who were referred for testing were those who had two or more of the most common symptoms of the virus or those who were high at risk (immuno-compromised/underlying conditions etc.) This resulted in over 40,000 people being taken off the waiting list who then had to reapply. Lots of reports state that some of these people still haven’t received results and that was just under a month ago.
2. What practical measures has your national government taken to respond to the crisis? Have they acted responsibly or were they unprepared? Briefly describe measures your government is taking now to contain the virus and treat people infected with Covid-19. Is there a state of emergency, are schools closed, etc.?
Read the rest of this entry »“Labour should enter unity government to deal with coronavirus” says Cork East TD Seán Sherlock
The clock is ticking, a new Irish Government has to be put together. For the first time Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael –
Irish Civil War Parties of 1921, must govern together.
But numbers are against them – there are 72 FFFG Teachtaí Dála (TD’s), and 160 seats – 80 at least are needed for a majority.
A group of 8 (perhaps 9) Right Wing Independent Deputies is closing in on an agreement with FFFG, which would create a very slim majority with 80 or 81 seats. https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/nine-independent-tds-form-new-technical-group-for-government-formation-talks-983049.html
Taoiseach Varadkar and FF leader Micheál Martin want a bigger majority, Ministerial Appointments are a juicy carrot. The temptation is too great for one of the six Labour Party Teachtaí Dála Seán Sherlock : Read the rest of this entry »
RISE Leaflet – We need a socialist government
RISE distributed a leaflet (link below) at a 1000 strong March 7 Dublin Demonstration. The last paragraphs advocates the creation of a new left party which is “open for different groups to organise within it”. This is extremely positive.
Fianna Fáil’s O’Callaghan supports national govt idea – Family Squabbles on the Right Wing of the Irish Political Establishment Nearing a Conclusion.
For nearly 100 years, since the foundation of the partitioned Irish State in 1921, Governmental Power has alternated between the dominant Fianna Fáil Party and its junior sibling Fine Gael – Tweedledum Versus Tweedledee. The February 8 2020 General Election Result ended this sham – FFFG between them secured 72 seats, well short of the required 80 seat majority. Until now a FFFG plus GG (Gombeens and Greens) Coalition Government looked likely as the third Irish Civil War party, Sinn Féin, was rejected by FFFG – considered to be too left-wing, especially by FF.
Now, a leading FF TD, Jim O’Callaghan, has changed the tune – we might see a SFFFFG Coalition.
Fianna Fáil TD Jim O’Callaghan has said that Fianna Fáil may have been too definitive in ruling out a government with Sinn Féin and said he would “go along” with the idea of a national government to deal with the coronavirus.
Fine Gael TD Martin Heydon insisted a functioning government was in place and that there were daily meetings of the emergency committee dealing with coronavirus.
He said the Taoiseach would have no issue in talking to other leaders and there was already full dialogue between the Minister for Health and other health spokespeople.
— Read on www.rte.ie/news/politics/2020/0308/1120949-government-formation/
FFFGGG Government Emerges in Ireland
A Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/Green/Gombeen (FFFGGG) Government Emerges – a Treble F Treble G GeeGee is galloping towards the winning post – lots of dosh waiting in the trough for the greedy nags.
Sinn Féin Talking to Fine Gael – and the Social Democrats Offering Coalition With Either Leo Varadkar or Mícheál Matrtin
A useful post from the Cedar Lounge Revolution Blog :
Okay, intriguing that FG are willing to talk to SF. Perhaps the penny has dropped with some that not talking is a bad look for political parties in a democracy. Can FF hold their line in light of this?
But more interesting again is the following from the SDs:
Ms Shortall and Ms Murphy reiterated the party’s position that they would not enter government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, but would consider serving in government with one of the two parties and Sinn Féin.
https://cedarlounge.wordpress.com/2020/03/04/an-interesting-distinction/
The ballroom dances are not over! Coalition with FFFG is a one-way ticket into Dante’s Inferno.
Words on Des Bonass (died 26th September 2019), commemorative evening, Teachers Club, 29th February 2020.
Words on Des Bonass (died 26th September 2019), commemorative evening, Teachers Club, 29th February 2020.
Delivered by Des Derwin, on behalf of the Dublin Council of Trade Unions.
Des Bonass, a constant campaigner in a long life of activity in the most stirring and also the most unproductive political times, is missing, just missing, the extraordinary outcome of this month’s general election. The upending of a century of duopoly by Tweedle Fail and Tweedle Gael, a surge for change at the ballot box, the development of a left-right configuration, however confused, and a crisis in mainstream, establishment politics. ‘Who would have thunk it’? An overflow crowd outside a political meeting in Liberty Hall [25th February 2020] addressed in the biting wind by one the speakers who has come out to speak to them too. In the 21st century.
Well, such is the lot of many a life-long political activist. Things happen just after you are gone. But that is not the way we think and its not the way Des would have thought. Because he worked and acted in the here and now; he did what could be done at the time. And because he helped set the present in motion, and a lot of other big steps too in the past. And because we are this evening giving Des his rightful place in whatever is happening now, because of his contribution, and because he would have been no less a part of the big things, and the small less-noticed things, than he ever was. And finally, what is happening this month is – if indeed it keeps up and develops – only a small proportion of the eventual historical events that will be needed, and that will follow, and will probably be missed by most of us here too, to bring about the really momentous social change that Des Bonass stood for, and worked for and carried a clear vision of in his head, throughout his long trade union, republican and socialist life. Read the rest of this entry »
How should Marxists react to Bernie Sanders becoming the front-runner?
How should Marxists react to Bernie Sanders becoming the front-runner?
How should Marxists react to Bernie Sanders becoming the front-runner?
— Read on louisproyect.org/2020/02/24/how-should-marxists-react-to-bernie-sanders-becoming-the-front-runner/
Louis Proyect looks at the Bernie Sanders phenomenon in the USA, and offers large doses of reality countering a lot of socialist hype. Putting it in local terms, the USA Democratic Party is no better than Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael – it is certainly worse.
I get email from Bernie Sanders every so often. Naturally it is soliciting a donation, which I naturally ignore. What if instead the Sanders apparatus used their database to invite people living in my neighborhood to attend a meeting to discuss how to protect undocumented workers on the Upper East Side from ICE?
Better yet, what if Sanders gets screwed by the DP bosses in a brokered convention and Joe Biden or some other piece of shit gets nominated? Wouldn’t it be about time for him to run as an independent and begin to use his money to create a staff in every major city in the USA that is committed to his democratic socialist principles? I would jump in with both feet even if I, like other leftists, have problems with his willingness to base F-35s in Vermont. As it happens, I also had big problems with Ralph Nader in 2000 but was glad to vote for him as a Green Party candidate since I believe that CLEAN BREAK with the Democratic Party is the key task facing the left.
Instead, it is likely that Sanders will endorse another Democrat if he is cheated out of the nomination. To some extent, this is just a function of an old man not having the psychological and physical reserves to face up to the brutal opposition from the liberal wing of the ruling class that Nader faced in 2004. Probably, the one thing that is not factored into the Jacobin/DSA thinking is the degree to which Sanders is an outlier. Shaped by the same political sea change that turned me into a revolutionary socialist, he decided instead to become an evolutionary socialist in the Eduard Bernstein mold.
I would even be happy to back a party based on Bernstein’s evolutionary socialism in 2020 as long as it had the same kind of class independence that the German social democracy had. Within that party, I would fight for a revolutionary perspective like Luxemburg and even Kautsky did. But within the Democratic Party, I would say “Abandon all hope ye who enter here”, the words Dante written on the walls of Hell before entering it.
Tomás Ó Flatharta 