Archive for the ‘The Irish Times’ Category
How to finance European defence (and how not to) – and how the Irish left can assist Ukraine by all means necessary
Hanna Perekhoda’s article highlights uncomfortable truths about European Defence. The new Trump-Putin reactionary alliance against Ukraine has brought matters to a head.
Perekhoda states “The real question now, particularly for the left, is whether it has a concrete program to address this crisis.”
Link : How to finance European defence (and how not to)
Ireland will not escape the consequences.
Do the best parts of the left in Ireland pass this Perekhoda test?
We must start by examining a misnamed policy : supporting Irish “Neutrality”. Language matters, as we shall see. This is a key part of the problem.
The best of the Irish left declares itself in favour of “Neutrality” – but in the conflict between Israel and Palestine it supports Palestine.
The best of the left should not support a policy of “Neutrality” in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. It should support Ukraine.
The best of the left correctly opposes Irish state membership of military alliances such as NATO, but that is not a policy of “neutrality”. The policy is more accurately described as “non-alignment”. That, for the sake of clarity, was the policy of Tito’s Yugoslavia after his country’s progressive breakaway from the Warsaw Pact.
Does this matter in practice? The answer is Yes.
When the Irish government militarily assists the state of Ukraine by providing mine-clearing equipment, it is helping to defend the hospitals, schools and housing of people living in Ukraine. It is preventing Ukraine from becoming a new defenceless Gaza.
Read the rest of this entry »As 2024 dust settles : A Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Beggar-Gombeen (FFFGBG) Dublin Government slouches forward
The result of the November 29 General Election in Ireland was a victory for the outgoing government. The two leading conservative parties – Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael (FFFG) won 86 out of 174 seats, only two seats short of an overall majority. Their previous administration needed a mudguard, provided by the Green party (GP), which lost 11 of its 12 seats.
This time the mudguard is likely to come from right-wing gombeens (The Irish mainstream media calls them “gene-pool independents” as most come from FFFG). In the previous Dáil “independent” deputies from this swamp regularly voted confidence in the government, without formally participating in the cabinet. Since the election result was announced, these gombeens have brazenly begged for perks and freebies in exchange for their Dáil votes.
Green or Moderate Left Mudguard Unavailable?
FFFG is in the market for a Green or moderate-left mudguard. Possible partners – (the Labour party [LP] and the Social Democrats [SDs]) – seem unwilling to perform political suicide.
In the words of one source :
I get the feeling the GP example is terrifying them!
FFFG shoppers in the mudguard supermarket may be seeking unavailable bargains :
Labour sources expect that the party will today rule out continuing discussions about entering government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, effectively shutting down that coalition option for the two larger parties.
The party’s TDs will meet at Leinster House at lunchtime where leader Ivana Bacik is expected to propose the move, which is likely to be backed overwhelmingly by those present.
Labour sources were careful not to get ahead of today’s decision, but there is little expectation in the party that its engagement on government will continue. This will draw a distinction with the Social Democrats, who yesterday said they would continue discussions.
But after meetings with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil this week, there is similarly little expectation in the outgoing government that the Social Democrats are serious about entering coalition.
Source : Jack Horgan-Jones, Election 2024: Labour set ‘to exit coalition talks’ with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Irish Times December 13 2024
On Friday December 13 expectation cruised a little bit closer to certainty, but the Titanic option has not been ruled out :
NEW: Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said that it is “unlikely” that her party will go into Government, as they prepare for one final round of meetings with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
https://twitter.com/TadghMcN/status/1867600549979304410
We await the final whistle.
Once the post-election dust settles we may see a government composed of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, and Beggar-Gombeens (BGs) (FFFGBG) on one side, and a parliamentary opposition operating within a left-wing and ecological spectrum.
A FFFGBG coalition would be composed of Team FFFG (86 TDs) plus enough BG deputies to guarantee a workable Dáil majority.
Some BGs will oppose the government from the right.
Read the rest of this entry »Ireland’s November 29 2024 General Election : Racist Warning Signs
Irish General Election to 34th Dáil; Racist Danger
The June 2024 Euro/ Local results in Ireland produced some alarming results – the racist far-right came from the margins and increased its electoral support. This could be a predictor of the coming General Election result.
Warning signs to anti-racists exist in various opinion surveys. See, for example, these numbers from a recent RedC General Election Opinion Survey) :
Aontú, a right-wing split from Sinn Féin set up by an anti-choice TD from Meath, Peadar Tóibín, is beginning to hoover up right-wing racist votes which were scattered among various mini-Hitlers in the June 2024 European and Local Elections. We can say the same for the Irish Independence party (II). When we note that a majority of independent candidates are part of the racist far-right, a disturbing picture emerges. The numbers are worse in other parts of the Irish state.
Here is the data from an Irish Times Opinion Poll :
| Irish General Election November 29 2024 Irish Times Survey Results 15/11/24 | ||||
| First preference voting intentions | ||||
| Dublin | Rest of Leinster | Munster | Connacht/Ulster | |
| Fianna Fáil | 16.00% | 19.00% | 27.00% | 13.00% |
| Fine Gael | 22.00% | 29.00% | 22.00% | 29.00% |
| Labour | 9.00% | 3.00% | 2.00% | 3.00% |
| Green Party | 6.00% | 2.00% | 1.00% | 2.00% |
| Sinn Fein | 21.00% | 16.00% | 19.00% | 21.00% |
| People Before Profit/Solidarity | 4.00% | 1.00% | 2.00% | 1.00% |
| Social Democrats | 5.00% | 5.00% | 2.00% | 2.00% |
| Aontú | 2.00% | 4.00% | 3.00% | 2.00% |
| Independent candidate | 15.00% | 21.00% | 21.00% | 25.00% |
Temptation exists : bending to “understandable” fears. For example an election canvasser from a party with one foot in the left put it to me that some voters are “uncomfortable” because their neighbours come from outside Ireland.
Let’s be clear, harsh, and unambiguous : messages like this pander to the racist view that immigrants are criminals and rapists. There is no evidence backing up claims that people born outside Ireland are any worse than Irish natives. It gives oxygen to the far right shite being whispered around communities.
Read the rest of this entry »Goodnight Sister – Remembering Nell, October 4 2024, 7pm, The Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1
Goodnight Sister is a tribute to the late Nell McCafferty, March 28 1944 – August 21 2024.
Details Here :
Photo : Derek Speirs
Majority of Irish people welcome migrants who move here to ‘make a better life for themselves’
Survey responses often depend on how the question is framed.
Like me, I am sure many readers are sick and tired of tactics used by many mainstream media organisations to bolster a sinister racist agenda. This is a drum regularly beaten by friends who post at two excellent blogs : Irish Election Projections and the Cedar Lounge Revolution
Sources :
The Journal.ie story :
Majority of Irish people welcome migrants who move here to ‘make a better life for themselves’
Read the rest of this entry »Nell McCafferty’s Funeral from Derry was broadcast late on RIP.IE – Minus an Eamonn McCann Eulogy, Gay Rainbow Flags, or any personal memories of a woman who “changed Ireland for the better”
Many people who knew Nell McCafferty could not get to her funeral in St. Columb’s Cathedral, Derry. An alternative was offered on RIP.IE – a live broadcast starting at 12.30pm. When interested viewers tuned in, they were mystified, seeing only a blank screen. The livestream did not start until after 1.00pm, as a priest shared the altar with three men conducting a religious ceremony containing no stories about one of Derry’s most talented writers, Nell McCafferty. At one screening venue a small group of Nell’s fans – including Máirín Johnson who travelled on the legendary Dublin-Belfast contraceptive train with Nell in 1971 – were not impressed. We learned later that Eamonn McCann delivered a eulogy in front of the altar – A report is below. Source :
Nell McCafferty “Changed Ireland for the Better”
Eamonn McCann delivers a eulogy for Nell McCafferty, St Columb’s Cathedral Derry, August 23 2024
Nell McCafferty ‘changed Ireland for the better’, mourners at her funeral in Derry’s Bogside told
Campaigning journalist and author, who focused on women’s rights, poverty and social injustice, died on Wednesday aged 80
Nell McCafferty “changed Ireland for the better”, mourners at her funeral have been told.
Delivering an elegy in advance of her funeral Mass in Derry’s Bogside on Friday, the veteran civil rights campaigner and journalist Eamonn McCann said it was “given to very few of us to actually change the world”.
Read the rest of this entry »Irish Times Tribute to Nell McCafferty, March 28 1944 – August 21 2024 – Hold the Front Page – Nell has a story
An excellent tribute : Web Link :
Nell McCafferty Obituary – Journalist and Feminist Campaigner
Update, Dublin Gathering, Friday August 23, The Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square West, at 12.30. Nell McCafferty’s funeral will be livestreamed.
RIP.IE Notice :
https://rip.ie/death-notice/nell-mccafferty-derry-derry-city-566175
- Born: March 28th, 1944
- Died: August 21st, 2024
- Nell got to the front page in the end :
“Nell”, she called her autobiography, and that was how she was known.
Small, fierce and feisty. That mop of curls, the waft of cigarette smoke, the tongue in cheek smile and her distinctive walk, like a sailor ashore. Everyone soon knew her smoky Derry voice, laconic, challenging, always ready to break into laughter. You never knew what Nell was going to say next. It was often outrageous. She was a character, and she loved to play herself to the hilt. She was also one of the most important Irish journalists of the latter half of the twentieth century. She listened. She paid attention. She told the truth.
She was, wrote her friend, the historian Margaret Mac Curtain, “unequalled in the extraordinary breadth and fearless candour she has brought to bear on controversial subjects.” Her journalistic career started in The Irish Times in 1970, when the paper’s late Northern editor and editor, Fergus Pyle, commissioned her to write about the new bathroom in her family home in Beechwood Street in Derry’s Bogside.
Home was her touchstone. She vaunted her street-cred. She was part of a Bogside aristocracy that included Martin McGuinness, Eamonn McCann, Seamus Deane, Paddy Doherty, John Hume, Dana and Phil Coulter. Her mother was her biggest fan and harshest critic.
McCafferty was born in 1944. Her father, Hugh, was a clerk for the British admiralty by day and a bookie’s clerk at the dog track at night. Her mother, Lily, reared six children. Another daughter died at birth.
Her parents had to work hard to keep poverty at bay. She was fascinated and frightened by the poverty of the tenements where her father was raised. One of his brothers had died as a British soldier at the Somme. Her mother’s parents were Sergeant Duffy, a Catholic RUC man, and his wife Sarah, a Protestant who “turned”.
Read the rest of this entry »The Irish Left Must Unite to break the old stranglehold – Paul Murphy TD (People Before Profit, Dublin South-West), Irish Times, July 4 2024
Paul Murphy’s opinion piece in the July 4 2024 edition of the Irish Times makes a strong case :
“Another five years of FF/FG rule would be disastrous for the country. Left parties and Independents must come together to stop it happening”
There is a bottom line :
No coalition with Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
Time for a new united left alliance to topple Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael
Another five years of FF/FG rule would be disastrous for the country. Left parties and Independents must come together and stop this happening
A general election is looming. If the local election results are repeated, it will mean a return of this Government but with the Greens replaced as the third wheel by right-wing Independents. The 100-year rule of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will continue.
This would be a disaster.
Another five years of their rule would mean a deepening of the crises in housing and health, with more children growing up in emergency accommodation, more adults trapped in their childhood bedroom unable to move out, as well as growing hospital waiting lists. It would mean continued inaction on the climate and biodiversity crises and large numbers of workers in low-paid, precarious employment without the right to collectively bargain.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 