Resistance to the Cuts : News from the Irish Times and RTÉ’s Liveline Radio Show
The Irish Times of Wednesday June 15 was very unusual –
it carried two useful news reports about campaigns against Government-inspired cutbacks.
Dublin Bus is cutting services.
While the newspaper story headline is a bland
Dublin Bus plans further route changes
the story offers a different perspective from :
Save Our Bus Services, which says the changes are in fact cuts to services, which will hurt the old, the disabled and schoolchildren most. Read the rest of this entry »
Irish Soccer Players Won’t Play for Prodestan (aka Northern Ireland) – but Will Tog Out for Trapattoni’s Boys in Green – Let’s Discuss the Elephant in the Room
Irish Soccer Players Won’t Play for Prodestan (aka Northern Ireland) – but Will Tog Out for Trapattoni’s Boys in Green – Let’s Discuss the Elephant in the Room
Prodiban
Protestant Christian Fundamentalists of the North of Ireland’s Bible belt. Often claim that the world is only 6000 years old. This belief is founded on the work of James Ussher. Many also believe that the Giant’s Causeway of North Antrim was formed after the biblical flood experienced by Noah in the bible. Many of the prodiban also believe that Catholics on grounds of their Popery should not be allowed the right to vote.
Followers of the Free Presbyterian Church are members of the Prodiban
Prodestan
An imagined community/nation/country/province, soccer team of the Prodiban.i Under pressure because many young players are declaring their allegiance to international near-neighbour and rival team, the Republic of Ireland.
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Fans of the Splintered Sunrise blog know all about Mullah Jim and the Prodiban – Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) leader Jim Allister. Mullah Jim Rallies the Prodiban Troops
That blog also features hard-to-believe-but-true stories about Ian Parsley – a party-hopping Alliance/Conservative/UCUNF/Unionist candidate who unsuccessfully sought the votes of dyslexic Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) faithful, unaware that Ian Paisley (Senior)’s name is no longer on Euro-Parliament ballot papers.
Ian (not Paisley) Parsley of North Down
Not-Paisley-Parsley did not run in the recent Stormont Assembly poll – he seems to have run out of Unionist-lite parties which will nominate him for yet another electoral defeat. Ian is now examining sporting failure on his chosen home patch – the Norn Iron soccer team is doing badly, and their prospects are darkened by the decision of a magnificent seven – Barton, Duffy, Ferguson, George, Gibson, Kearns and Wilson – to pledge their international allegiance to the Republic of Ireland team and refuse a call-up from Prodestan manager Nigel Worthington. Read the rest of this entry »
The United Left Alliance in Dublin Central
The United Left Alliance (ULA) has held a series of launch meetings since the February 25 General Election.
This is a report of the Dublin Central Gathering, held on Monday May 30 in the Teachers Club, 36 Parnell Square.
About 34 people attended. 
The meeting was chaired by Eddie Conlon of the ULA A Steering Committee and the speakers were :
Joan Collins TD ULA/People Before Profit (PBP) Dublin South-Central.
Paul Murphy Member of the European Parliament (MEP) ULA/Socialist Party (SP) –
[Paul took over the seat vacated by Joe Higgins, who is now a TD for Dublin West]
Colm Stephens PBP/Socialist Workers’ Party (SWP) Dublin Central.
Joan Collins opened the meeting with fresh news that an actor who shares the socialist TD’s name was recently hit by the property crash – Read the rest of this entry »
Eamon Gilmore – Are You telling the Truth, or Is that what you are telling the American Embassy?
Labour Party Leader Eamon Gilmore, lord-lieutenant to King Kenny in the Dublin Government, is having a difficult time.
Did he have one policy in opposition, and is he following an opposite line in government?
Yes, we will come to that – but first something completely different –
Gene Kerrigan reports on the Labour Party leader’s reaction to the defeat of the first Lisbon treaty referendum in 2008: Read the rest of this entry »
Water Privatisation Protest – Croke Park Conference Centre, Tuesday May 31, 8.30am
Water Privatisation is Coming – the five United Left Alliance TD’s have called a Protest at 8.30am, Tuesday May 31, Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin 1 – Primary Privateer is Phil Hogan, Minister for the Environment
http://www.eventznet.com/evx/acs/iquest/watersummit11/Speakers.aspx
No to Water Tax! No to Meters! Keep Water Public!
Protest at during Minister’s speech at big business conference organised
to prepare for water meter installation – Supported by the United Left
Alliance
www.unitedleftalliance.org
For more info tel Michael @ 0872400331, Eddie @ 0876775468 or Sinéad @ 0877712160This
week a senior engineer told Cork City Councillors that 60% of that
city’s water supply leaked out of the system. This situation is repeated
up and down the country to one degree or another.However
instead of investing the resources needed to repair our water supply as
a matter of urgency this government is determined to press on with the
crazy strategy of installing water meters in homes that don’t already
have one. This is estimated to cost €600 million. The government
intends to fund this by introducing a flat rate ‘utility charge’ next
year and then once meters are installed to begin charging people based
on their use of water. Read the rest of this entry »
Alternative to Bank Bailouts And Cutbacks – United Left Alliance Public Meeting, May 30, Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square
The Alternative to
Bank Bailouts
And Cutbacks
8.00pm, Monday May 30
Teachers’ Club, 36 Parnell Square, Dublin 1 Read the rest of this entry »
“Be advised, my passport’s green / No glass of ours was ever raised / To toast The Queen.”
“Be advised, my passport’s green / No glass of ours was ever raised / To toast The Queen.”
Séamus Heaney wrote those marvellous lines in 1983, but he has changed his mind :
“• Another day of triumph for the Queen in Dublin. Who could fail to be seduced by her charm and poise these days? Certainly not Seamus Heaney, for there he was at the Dublin Castle banquet, raising a glass to toast the lady herself. There he was, feted with the top people at the top table, placed between Big Dave and Prince Philip. Not a care in the world and not a thought for the poem he published in 1983. Let us remind ourselves of An Open Letter. “Be advised, my passport’s green / No glass of ours was ever raised / To toast The Queen.” One-nil to Liz, we think.”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2011/may/20/hugh-muir-diary-lars-von-trier
Sadly, Heaney has lots of company among the masters of the Leinster House Universe and their toadies :
As Raymond Deane says :
“Hugh Muir in The Guardian points out an irony that the Irish embedded media chose to miss.”
One segment of the Irish embedded media also noticed the poet’s changed mind :
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0521/1224297441669.html?via=mr
Perhaps Heaney will now be included in the ranks of (West) British Poets :
United Left Alliance “A Work in Progress” – Steps Towards a New Party
The Irish election returned five TDs for the United Left Alliance, with 2.8 per cent of the first preference votes. But this victory for the Left is only part of a bigger picture of political change, writes Brendan Young, in an article commissioned by Scottish Left Review. Republished here with kind permission of the author and SLR.
This article is also published on the Irish Left Review Site :
United Left Alliance A Work In Progress – Steps Towards a New Party
Joe Higgins TD - Socialist Party and the United Left Alliance
Described as a sea change by commentators, the biggest shock of Ireland’s recent general election was the collapse of the vote of Fianna Fáil (FF), the State’s largest party; from 41.5 per cent in 2007 to just 17.4 per cent this time. FF has governed in Ireland for 61 out of the 79 years since it was formed in 1932 and has won 14 out of the 19 general elections. Yet it now has only one TD (member of parliament) in Dublin – down from 13. Its first preference vote in Dublin was only 12.5 per cent, whereas the United Left Alliance, on its first outing, got 7.1 per cent. What stands out is the loss of support for FF among working class voters – confirming what has already been happening in local elections. Read the rest of this entry »
Garret FitzGerald – “a Politician Often Judged on his Intentions Rather than his Actions”
The former Taoiseach and Fine Gael leader Garret FitzGerald has died aged 85 years of age – a very sad event for people who were close to him. Many credible testimonies are recorded showing he was a kind and courteous man in his personal relations. His public political career stretched from 1965, when he was elected to the Seanad (Senate) on the Fine Gael ticket up to a couple of weeks ago – he wrote a regular Saturday column in the Irish Times which was often interesting.
Many media professionals liked FitzGerald (no harm in that), but very few were willing to face him down on key issues of public policy (dangerously harmful).
Most of today’s broadcasters fall into that trap, with one small telling exception : Vincent Browne, presenter of TV3’s late night week day current affairs programme :
Tonight With Vincent Browne – TV3 Read the rest of this entry »
“Dispatches from the Dark Side – On Torture and the Death of Justice” – Gareth Peirce Talk at the Law Society of Ireland
Gareth Peirce is a dedicated lawyer who, for the last 30 years, has defended “suspect communities” against state attacks. In the 1970’s successive British governments targeted Irish people living in Britain and many individuals were framed, tortured, and forced to spend several years in jail for IRA bombings they did not commit.
Peirce came to public attention for tirelessly defending individuals in cases such as the Birmingham Six, the Guildford Four, Judith Ward and Danny McNamee. She delivered the Law Society of Ireland 2011 Human Rights Lecture on May 10 in Dublin.
http://www.humanrights.ie/index.php/tag/law-society/
John Meehan reports.
On March 14 1991 the free man Paddy Hill grabbed a microphone outside the London Old Bailey Court where the Birmingham Six were finally released, and told the world that the Judges inside the building behind him “did not even understand” the word Justice.
Gareth Pierce marked the 20th anniversary of the release with a Guardian article pointing out lessons from that era had been ignored, and today the British state is trying to create another “suspect community” : Muslims.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2011/mar/12/gareth-peirce-birmingham-six
The Law Society Meeting Room was packed – Scattered among the large crowd were many activists from the Miscarriage of Justice Campaign in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. One was Michael Farrell, who texted me and many other people about the meeting.
Some are no longer with us – notably Thom McGinty (the Diceman) who starred as “British Justice” in a huge Dublin “Parade of Innocence” protest march against the Birmingham Six frame-up in 1989 :
http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article/1375/troubled-images-posters-1-10 Read the rest of this entry »
Tomás Ó Flatharta 