Archive for the ‘FFFGGG Coalition’ Category
“Eamon Ryan’s sleep-in 💤 wasn’t a mortal sin” – Gene Kerrigan returns us to the Dublin Government’s real world – First on the agenda : gut low-paid workers
Reviewing a week in the so-far short life of the Fianna Fáil/Fine Gael/Green/Gombeen (FFFGGG) government readers may have missed some interesting details. Twenty mini-ministers are behaving worse than piglets at a trough. RTÉ News did not notice a connection between human events at the Dáil (Leinster House and the Convention Centre) – and piglet events at a midlands farm.
The village of Moyne in Co Longford is celebrating the arrival of 20 piglets to a first-time mother. The bumper delivery is believed to be one of the highest ever recorded in the area. https://www.rte.ie/news/leinster/2020/0718/1154128-piglets-longford/
Only 16 of the Longford piglets out of 20 can feed from the mother. Special arrangements are needed for the remaining four.
In Leinster House three piglet mini-ministers out of 20 are demanding improved feeding facilities – even though they slurp from the same source as their colleagues.
One of the Government’s immediate priorities will be to rush through legislation to ensure that each of the super-juniors will be entitled to an extra €16,288 a year on top of the junior rate. This is not a joke.
– Gene Kerrigan
Eamon Ryan’s sleep-in 💤 wasn’t a mortal sin. In another life, I spent many an hour crouched on the Dáil press gallery. It can be difficult to listen to that stuff and stay awake. Ryan was one of at least two TDs seen sleeping during Thursday’s proceedings. – Gene Kerrigan
Gene Kerrigan’s complete article, July 20 2020 :
Read the rest of this entry »Barry Cowen Sacked from FFFGGG Cabinet – Paul Murphy TD says Taoiseach Martin “knew about Garda report” saying Cowen attempted to “evade a Garda checkpoint”
A very unstable start to the FFFGGG coalition – statement by Paul Murphy TD, RISE.
Barry Cowen has been sacked as Minister for Agriculture by Michéal Martin after he refused to answer questions in the Dáil. It was the socialist left who led the calls for accountability for Ministers.
However, this should not be the end of the matter. Michéal Martin knew about the Garda report referring to Cowen attempting to evade a Garda checkpoint. He knew about it before Cowen made a statement which didn’t make reference to it. He clearly agreed with Cowen that he would not include this very important information. It also part of the reason they voted against having any questions.
Martin has emphasised the fact that he only “saw” the report today. But that is a distraction. Whether he had actually seen the report or not, he knew about its contents more than a week ago.
I have no sympathy with Cowen – he should have simply agreed to answer questions in the Dáil.
But the sacking is an attempt by Martin to avoid blame spreading to him. He knew about this very important information, and colluded in not informing the Dáil or his coalition partners, about it.
€14.6 billion tax income, courtesy of Apple mega-corporation, could be used for Green New Deal – Green Party finance spokesperson Neasa Hourigan TD dithers
Exactly Right – from Paul Murphy TD :
“The verdict in the Apple Tax case is due tomorrow. The Irish government has already spent millions trying to NOT get this money from Apple. They shouldn’t waste any more money fighting for the billionaire’s right to dodge taxes. Green TDs shouldn’t just ‘query’ this – they should draw a line in the sand. This is €14.6bn that could be used on a Green New Deal to rebuild the economy with socialist policies.”
It should be noted that Catherine Martin TD, seeking the leadership of the Green Party, is on the record saying that female Green Party Oireachtas members (TD’s and Senators) should have got more slurps from the ministerial piggies’ trough. This works out as a nod and a wink to Ms Hourigan that promotion is possible. Careerist feminism in action. https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/07/08/most-fffggg-ministers-are-male-would-extra-green-party-females-at-the-top-table-improve-things/
Gene Kerrigan Reports : FFFGGG coalition turns into a laughing stock – ministerial piglets swarm around stinking trough
Gene Kerrigan remains a pillar of good journalism in a very low quality newspaper, the Sunday Independent.
IT took months for Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Greens to cobble together a Government. It took days for them to turn it into a laughing stock.
When they haven’t been mugging one another, the politicians have been adding little extras to the goodies that these days go along with the job.
Hardly had the current Taoiseach appointed his Cabinet when the in-fighting began, and the backstabbing.
This went beyond the usual laments about which county, townland, village or street didn’t get its own minister.
It’s hard to believe that adults are involved — with some of them whinging openly about how the position they were given was not the one they wanted.
I’m almost convinced that these creeps see the jobs not as positions of public service but opportunities for career advancement.
Fianna Fáil seems to have entered one of its vicious periods, in which factions queue up to knife one another.
Since they have to share the goodies with Fine Gael and the Greens, there are fewer goodies for each party.
Saoirse McHugh is leaving the Irish Green Party
The Irish Times reports (July 11 2020) :
Meanwhile unsuccessful Green Party European Parliament candidate Saoirse McHugh has said she will vote in this month’s leadership election but she will quit afterwards, regardless of the outcome.Many of the 76 per cent who voted in favour of the “waffle fest” for government deal were pressurized into accepting by the fear of an unclear alternative.
Predicting the Greens’ membership will fall, McHugh said she does not believe people who share her views are now particularly welcome in the party.
https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/open-letter-to-left-greens-what-next/
Dáil committee to investigate Bríd Smith comments about judge – “Attack on Democracy Itself” Says admirer of the RIC/Black and Tans Charlie Flanagan TD
A People Before Profit TD attacked ‘democracy itself’, former minister for justice claims.
The deputy who made the complaint against Bríd Smith TD (Dublin South-Central) is Charlie Flanagan, who dumped his Fine Gael Party in very hot water in January 2020. The ex Minister for Justice, attempted to sponsor a government ceremony celebrating the Royal Irish Constabulary/Black and Tans. These were ruthless gangsters in a notorious uniform of the RIC during the War of Independence 100 years ago. Splendid language was spoken by deputies in the first Dáil, elected in 1919, about the Black and Tans and other props of British rule in Ireland such as judges, who were very effectively shunned and boycotted.
Ex Irish Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan with British Premier Boris Johnson
RIC/Black and Tan Recruitment Public Letter
Bríd Smith TD campaigning for Repeal of the Anti-Abortion 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution
Hats off to Manus O’Riordan, a tireless researcher – retirement from SIPTU has not dimmed his energy – O’Riordan’s lengthy demolition of Charlie Flanagan’s political and historical hypocrisy about the Black and Tans should assist Bríd Smith TD :
A CUMANN NA NGAEDHEAL REBUKE TO FINE GAEL!
EOIN MACNEILL ON THE RIC WAR AGAINST IRISH DEMOCRACY
In the Irish Republic’s democratic assembly of Dáil Éireann on April 10, 1919, the following address on RIC atrocities was delivered by the Minister for Industries, Eoin MacNeill:
“It is impossible for us to escape having our blood stirred at the recital of the details laid before us here to-day. While all that we have heard stirs the indignation, there is not a single one of us who is surprised. There is nothing in it that surprises us. We know that only for fear of the consequences such infamous things as have been detailed here to-day would be thrown into the shade. We cannot allow our feelings of indignation to be uppermost in dealing with these matters when we come together in common council. In our homes we give full voice to what we think. The responsibility for these things rests on the heads of the rulers of England (and not on such vague abstracts as the English Government or the English State) from Lloyd George down to Macpherson and those others who are employed by them who are personally engaged in committing atrocities. They are the men we have to defeat. I hope that any potentate who has been guilty of atrocities will be punished. It will be a wholesome precedent.”
“If they fix the precedent of bringing the ex-Kaiser to trial, we may yet have an opportunity of having other persons brought to the bar of international justice. I have been watching the development of the English Government’s policy. That policy aims at making the police our masters in Ireland, and we often do not realise that with the single exception of Russia under the Government of the Czar there never was a country so police-governed as this country is.” Read the rest of this entry »
The old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born – call the midwife – Ireland needs a new left party
This is an excellent post from the Cedar Lounge Revolution Blog.
The author is a former member of the Socialist Party, who highlights the need for an organisation which is internally democratic and is not ultimately controlled by privileged components which make all the decisive decisions – in other words a significant departure from the SWN controlled PBP and the SP controlled Solidarity.
Here is the introduction :
Thanks to Shane Faherty for allowing this to be reposted. Much appreciated. Originally posted on
Modern Distortions Culture, society and history, at the beginning of the month.
In keeping with the spirit of our times, on Tuesday I watched an online ‘meeting’ with Paul Murphy TD of RISE (formerly of the Socialist Party/ Solidarity) and Brid Smith TD of People Before Profit. It was a virtual version of the public meeting that most of us on the left know, but may not necessarily love.
I wanted to know whether the new party being mooted was a runner and what form it would take. Paul’s organisation RISE have been making overtures to members of the Green Party who may be disillusioned with their party entering government with Fianna Fail and Fine Gael. He argues that they should leave the party and, along with other groups on the left, launch a new party. Similarly, People Before Profit released a statement proposing the formation of a new left party. Another small group called Independent Left, many of whom are former PBP members, released a statement welcoming the move. The elephant in the room in all of this is that Rise and People Before Profit are part of a parliamentary grouping called Solidarity – People Before Profit. Solidarity have said nothing on all of this. Solidarity and People Before Profit operate a marriage of convenience for electoral and parliamentary purposes. Until last year, they were evenly matched electorally, with 3 TDS and just under 30 councillors each, based on significant gains made at the previous local and general elections. The local elections of 2019 reduced the numbers of councillors for each party. There were gains for Sinn Fein and the Greens, and this was an indication of things to come.
This analysis hits the nail on the head Read the rest of this entry »
Most FFFGGG Ministers are Male – Would Extra Green Party Females at the top table Improve Things?
Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin wants the job of current numero uno Eamon Ryan.
Her pitch looks blatant : do her quoted comments mean that, if elected Green Party leader, she will replace male Green Party Ministers and mini-Ministers with females? If so, Martin has a limited choice – the only available female Green TD who can be promoted is Dublin Central deputy Neasa Hourigan, who voted against coalition with FFFG. Martin could also give ministerial promotions to two female Green Party Senators.
This takes bribery and careerism in Irish politics to previously uncharted waters. The FFFGGG coalition is tainted because so many overpaid ministerial piggies are slurping at its trough, most of them male. The Green Party in coalition is careering downhill to the gutter inhabited by the likes of Willie O’Dea.
Green Party opponents of the anti-woman FFFGGG coalition should prepare an exit strategy.
https://tomasoflatharta.wordpress.com/2020/06/26/open-letter-to-left-greens-what-next/
Will a real problem of government misogyny be remedied if there are extra Green Party females at the top table? The answer is No.
“We should always seek to promote because young girls cannot aim to be what they cannot see. We should always be seeking to do that, to promote women.”
The Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht said she congratulated all the male Ministers.
“They’re all able for the job, but I think there was a missed opportunity to promote women and from our side there was also a missed opportunity to unite the party as well, that nobody who voted no or advocated no to the programme for Government was promoted to ministerial position and I think that was a missed opportunity to unite.
“We are a party that respects and cherishes debate and challenge and having those voices inside and within government at the ministerial table would have been welcome.”
When asked about an accusation of misogyny within the party by Cork Green Party councillor Lorna Bogue, Ms Martin said: “I think we have to be seen to do more — as a party we talk the talk in relation to promoting diversity and inclusivity, but if we’re not acting on it I think that’s regrettable and that’s something I would like to see changed.”
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/eamon-ryan-missed-chance-to-promote-women-says-catherine-martin-1.4299071
Tomás Ó Flatharta 