Archive for the ‘Industrial Development Authority (IDA)’ Category
Rory Hearne: Tackling Housing Crisis & Far-Right in Ireland | European Elections
Link : Rory Hearne – We need Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to be decimated
“We Need Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to be Decimated”
Readers can note a welcome statement here in solidarity with Ukraine against the Russian imperialist far-right invaders :
In terms of the broader issues facing Europe, the EU has largely gone for a containment strategy against Russia in the Ukrainian war. It’s difficult to see too any other viable approach, given that the continent is faced with such a dangerous – not to mention nuclear-armed – adversary in Vladimir Putin. It truly is an absolute nightmare.
“It is,” nods Hearne. “Europe has responded in the best way it could. We rightfully absolutely opposed the horrific invasion of Ukraine. There’s no question the Russian invasion is imperialist, and it was horrific watching it. I would support how the EU has responded, and I’m proud of Ireland taking in Ukrainian refugees. What I’d say is we have to continue to support Ukraine. I think we also need to find ways of peace, and ways of not creating a permanent war there.”
See also : Ukraine and Palestine: building real solidarity is hard work
The left in Ireland needs to commit itself to a policy of no governmental coalition with the political right in any circumstances. See here : Vote left transfer pact June 7 2024 – positive PBP proposal
Read the rest of this entry »Written by tomasoflatharta
May 16, 2024 at 1:17 pm
Posted in 2004 Referendum Amending Citizenship Definition in Irish Constitution, 26 County State (Ireland), Anti War Movements, Apartheid, “A Carnival of Reaction” - James Connolly’s Warning About the Partition of Ireland, Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Campism, Direct Provision - Irish Gombeen State Racism, Dublin 7 for All, Dublin Governments, Elected Left for Ukraine, Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), European Network Solidarity with Ukraine and against war Basic consensus, European Union, FFFGGG Coalition, Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, Foreign Direct Investment, Fortress Europe, History of Ireland, Hot Press Magazine, Housing, Human Rights, International Political Analysis, Ireland, Ireland - Emigration and Immigration, Irish General Election February 8 2020, Irish Left With Ukraine, Israel, Israel Assault on Gaza, October 2023, Left Evasionism, Left Unity, Left Wing Opponents of Neoliberalism, Left Wing Organisations, Media Sources - Reliable Versus Unreliable, Migration in Europe, Neutrality, Non-Alignment, Racism, Racism, Rory Hearne, Russia, Social Democrats (Ireland), Ukraine, Ukraine : Women Raped by Russian Invaders, University Occupations, Israeli Genocide 2025, Westplaining
“Frogs’ legs and lobster Thermidor – or the ABC of republican strategy” – Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh
Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh is one of the most interesting political writers in Ireland. The article below is a detailed analysis of Ireland’s peace process, which begins with a speech delivered by Bernadette McAliskey the year before the Good Friday Agreement was signed in 1998. I remember it well. (*)
John Meehan
About the author : Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh is a Belfast-based historian and the author of a number of important books, including Tyrone: the Irish Revolution, 1912-1923 (Four Courts Press, 2014).
As a young man, I listened to a speech by Bernadette McAliskey the year before the signing of the Good Friday Agreement – the pinnacle of what became known as the ‘peace process’. McAliskey did not object to peace, she had notoriously been subtitled by the BBC in a 1992 interview, when she said: ‘No sane human being supports violence. We are often inevitably cornered into it by powerlessness, by lack of democracy, by lack of willingness of people to listen to our problems. We don’t choose political violence, the powerful force it on us.’ (quoted in Curtis, 1998:297) By the time I heard her speak in 1997, the powerful had arrested her pregnant daughter, Róisín, with the intent to extradite her to Germany. By 2000, the powerful admitted that Róisín, who had never been charged, had no case to answer as there was ‘not a realistic prospect of convicting Miss McAliskey for any offence.’ (Guardian, 20 July 2000). What struck me at the time, was that the powerful had a vendetta against a woman and her family because she had stood up for socialist republican principles for thirty years at that stage. Last month, fifty-five years after the Burntollet march and her subsequent election as the then youngest female Westminster MP ever, McAliskey gave the main oration at the solidarity march in Dublin, where she told the crowd that ‘Palestine is the litmus test of our humanity’ and then urged those present not to vote for any politician who would legitimise the Biden administration, which was ‘enabling genocide’, by attending the St Patrick’s Day events in the White House (Irish News, 14 January 2024).
McAliskey’s speech from all those years ago stuck in my mind because in the questions afterwards she was asked about the peace process and used a powerful analogy that I hadn’t heard before at that stage, but I have heard and used myself on numerous occasions since. She welcomed an end to violence but warned that the provisional movement appeared to be going down a well-worn reformist path that would eventually denude it of any revolutionary potential. She compared the republican movement to a frog, which if placed in a pot of boiling water, will immediately sense the danger, and jump out to save itself, but, if immersed in tepid water brought slowly to the boil so that the change in temperature remains gradual, the frog does not realise it’s boiling to death. In line with their – soon to be – new mates in New Labour, Sinn Féin had swallowed TINA – there is no alternative. Plan A – armed struggle has failed, now we try Plan B. In Sinn Fein’s case, this meant the long march through the institutions, acceptance of the principle of consent and parliamentary reformism on the classical constitutional nationalist model. McAliskey had the temerity to ask for a Plan C, which might mean retaining socialist republican principles and challenging the powerful rather than getting into bed with them.
Read the rest of this entry »Written by tomasoflatharta
Feb 23, 2024 at 12:34 am
Posted in 26 County State (Ireland), Anti War Movements, Apartheid, “A Carnival of Reaction” - James Connolly’s Warning About the Partition of Ireland, Bernadette McAliskey, Bloody Sunday, Derry, January 30 1972, Boycott Divestment Sanctions (BDS), Britain, British Empire, British State (aka UK), British Tory Party, Charles J Haughey, Conservative Party (Tories), Britain, Democratic Unionist Party, Dublin Governments, Emma Little-Pengelly, Eoin Ó Broin TD Dublin Mid-West, Sinn Féin, FFFGGG Coalition, Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, Foreign Direct Investment, Fresh Start Austerity Deal, Good Friday Agreement 1998, History of Ireland, Human Rights, Industrial Development Authority (IDA), International Political Analysis, Ireland, Irish General Election February 8 2020, Irish Republican Army (IRA), Israel, Israel Assault on Gaza, October 2023, Left Wing Organisations, Leon Trotsky, Liam Mellowes, Mary Lou McDonald TD, Michelle O’Neill MLA, National Health Service (Britain), People Before Profit, Revolutionary History, Rishi Sunak - 3rd 2022 British Prime Minister, Saint Patrick's Day, March 17, SDLP (Social Democratic and Labour Party), Seán Lemass, Sinn Féin, Six County State, South Africa, Stormont, Lord Carson’s Tomb, Unionism, Zombie Banks
Tagged with Ireland, irish-politics, Northern Ireland, politics, Sinn Féin
Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty on ‘outreach programme’ to reassure big business, but executives fear wealth tax – IDA boss reveals Sinn Féin plans to woo US firms on corporate tax
Industrial Development Authority (IDA) boss reveals Sinn Féin plans to woo US firms on corporate tax
A daft idea promoted by many political commentators is that if a political party with a left-wing voting base moves to the “centre” (which in this context is a weasel word for “right”) it can win control of a government more easily, and “reassure” the owners of capitalist states at home and abroad. Once the leadership of a political party absorbs this idea, all sorts of radical policies are thrown into the litter bin.
Unfortunately the leadership of the Sinn Féin party is falling into this trap – the left message is : you are in a hole, stop digging.
This Sunday Business Post story shows that significant sectors of the capitalist class understand this dynamic.
Sources :
https://www.europe-solidaire.org/spip.php?article69361
Mary Lou McDonald and Pearse Doherty on ‘outreach programme’ to reassure big business, but executives fear wealth tax
Sinn Féin has made it clear to top multinationals that it has no issue with Ireland’s corporate tax rate and will not raise it if elected, the new chairman of IDA Ireland has said.
However, Feargal O’Rourke has revealed that the party is determined to hike personal taxes on top earners, in a move that has prompted serious concerns among business leaders.
O’Rourke, the former head of PwC Ireland, said Sinn Féin has “been very much on an outreach programme” with big businesses since the last election to reassure them it will “not rock any boats” should it gain power.
Read the rest of this entry »Written by tomasoflatharta
Jan 17, 2024 at 3:13 pm
Posted in 26 County State (Ireland), “A Carnival of Reaction” - James Connolly’s Warning About the Partition of Ireland, Dublin Governments, Europe Solidaire Sans Frontières (ESSF), European Union, FFFGGG Coalition, Fianna Fáil, Financial Crisis (September 2008 onwards), Fine Gael, Fumbling in the Greasy Till, Garda Síochána (Irish State Police Force - "The Guards"), History of Ireland, Industrial Development Authority (IDA), International Political Analysis, Ireland, Ireland - Emigration and Immigration, Irish General Election February 8 2020, Left Wing Opponents of Neoliberalism, Mary Lou McDonald TD, Migration in Europe, Pearse Doherty TD (Donegal), Sinn Féin, Special Criminal Court, Ireland, Sunday Business Post