TDs lash out at greater interest in US politics than Irish.

 

Leinster House: Just like Congress. Without the political stuff, obviously. Irish politicians have expressed grave concern at the fact that the Irish public seem to be more interested in the US political system than local Irish politics.

Fine Gael TD Michael Ring suggested that he could not understand “this fascination at all. There are people going around parishes in Mayo more interested in Barack Obama’s plan to reduce global warming over a nine year period then the fact that I attended three funerals in Westport and two in Castlebar last Tuesday.”

Dublin South West TD Charlie Tallaght O’Connor lashed out at voters more concerned with regulating global finance then the fact that he had mentioned Tallaght twice in the same day in a Dail debate on Shrimp regulations. The deputy stated: “ Global financial stability is all well and good, but when are people going to pay attention as to who got his press release out first welcoming the council’s decision to consider putting new traffic lights on the Greenhills road? It’s about priorities.”

FG leader Enda Kenny just can’t see the attraction: “ Vision? Policies? When will the Irish people realise that the level of  earnest political discourse in this country is just as invigorating. Why, only last week the Taoiseach said that the steak and kidney pie in the Dail restaurant was probably the nicest dish, which is absolute nonsense. The dogs in the street know the lasagne is far superior, and if the Taoiseach doesn’t get it, it’s time he found himself another occupation.”

Labour leader Eamonn Gilmore dismissed the FF/FG spat as civil war politics, and pointed out that the shepherd’s pie was by far the nicest, especially with a small avocado and rocket salad.

Why are FF surprised at the failure of corporate regulation? They sabotaged it.

bio_untouchables.jpgI’m surprised no one remembers this:
” Thursday  03 Mar 2007
Ahern rules out 20 extra enforcement office staff.
It was extraordinary that the director of the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement needed another 20 staff when he already had 36, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern told the Dáil. Mr Ahern said that the director, Paul Appleby, was getting additional staff, but not 20. It was a question of prioritising staff, and they had increased the number of labour inspectors. Mr Appleby’s office was getting four staff this year “and it is hoped he will receive another four”.”
Sure feck it, let’s throw a couple of billion at the problem to fix it now instead.

Is Labour nailing it’s colours firmly to the public sector mast?

As a former Progressive Democrat, I’m used to people making assumptions about my political beliefs, assuming I’m a Thatcherite (Used to be. Saw the light.) a neo-unionist (Whatever that is. Liking British culture, a Shinner told me once, before he raced off to watch the Premiership.) and I like wearing white sheets, carry burning crucifixes and don’t like immigrants or foriegners or the mixin’ of the races (Meet my half Filipino brother and two sisters, so.)

The Labour party suffers from that assumption too, that it is in the pockets of the trades unions. Yet when one looks at Labour’s vote, it seems that far more union members vote FF than Labour, and indeed, many sections of the non union middle class feel quite comfortable with Labour. 

Yet, this recent move by Labour seems to be quite radical by Irish politics standards. Is Labour setting out it’s stall clearly as the defender of the public sector? I don’t agree with it, but it is a perfectly noble position, especially in a country with proportional representation, to point to a section of society and say “Those are are people, and feck the begrudgers!”

It’s possible that 75% of the country may disagree with his position, but if Eamonn Gilmore is the man to lock 25% of the electorate, essentially nearly all the public sector and their families, into the Labour column, he’ll have done his party no small service.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it is such a novelty to see an Irish politician take a stand, even a divisive one, on an issue as opposed to the usual Fianna Fail/Fine Gael “Pandering To All”

Sweet dreams are not, in fact, made of cheese.

Former President of France Giscard spoke yesterday in Dublin, and as he’s regarded by Eurosceptics as the Ernest Stavro Blofeld of the pro-Europe side, he tends to get leapt upon by the headbangers who insist upon quoting him out of context.

The creative folk at European Movement Ireland have decided to get their own oar in about this. Have a goo at this: Mmm. Cheese nips. 

Lousy poll for Fine Gael. Yeah, you heard me right.

A drag on the ticket. Today’s Irish Times poll continues the recent trend of Fine Gael leading the pack, and Fianna Fail doing crap. It’ll no doubt be ballyhooed by Fine Gael people who will, as usual, miss the point.

Fianna Fail is on 22%. 22%! Why isn’t Fine Gael on 42%? Why in the worst economic conditions since WW2 are the leading opposition party not absolutely cleaning FF’s clock?

Is there anyone not in Fine Gael who does not believe that Fine Gael would be streets ahead with someone other than Enda at the head. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve met the man, and he is decent, has integrity, and is a nice guy. But he’s had his chance, and by staying, he is denying FG the chance to deliver a crippling blow to Fianna Fail.

As usual, Fine Gael measure themselves not by actual success but always with regard to Fianna Fail. As a friend pointed out to me, If Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were on the Titanic, Fine Gael would regard Fianna Fail going into the water first as a success.  

The difference is, Fine Gael would go down with the ship. Fianna Fail would probably swim to the iceberg, set up a cumann, and start arranging haddock grants for the seals. They’d already have rezoned the north side of the ‘berg for apartments by the time the rescue ship arrived.

Country mortified at possibility of nuclear debate without hysterical mention of little children.

Oh no! It's that scary sign that kills cancer cells and things! Aggh! The country was unsure where to look recently at calls for a rational and measured debate on the future of nuclear power in Ireland. Addressing the issue without once comparing the ESB to the communist dictatorship that mismanaged Chernobyl, the question was raised as to whether Irish people were willing to make energy sacrifices instead of going down the nuclear route.

Anti nuclear protestors lashed out at “the disgraceful framing of the debate as an energy supply issue as opposed to one of hysterical finger pointing and accusations of hating dew eyed toddlers. If that is the level public policy debate has reached in this country, I just don’t know where the country is headed.” A protestor said; before suggesting that cutting up used plastic Coke bottles and using them as flower pots will somehow boost the national electricity output, and then staring malevolently at someone eating a sausage. 

Monkey to head up Irish bank.

 Will work for peanuts. (Thanks to Bob Hope 1951 Bumper Book O' Gags)A leading Irish bank has announced that in order to restore confidence they have brought in a new chairperson completely untainted by contact with Irish business.

Chuckles will take over the key investment decisions of the bank by throwing darts at a wall, or failing that, his own faeces.

A source in the bank said: ” It might work. Where’s the harm trying? Worst case scenario, we’ll be up to our necks in monkey shit, but it’ll still be worth more than our shares. Unlike the last one, at least this monkey is cheap.”

Mock indignation is detracting from real racism.

Norman Rockwell's Freedom of Speech. Don't care if anyone thinks he's kitschy, I like Rockwell!This story caught my attention today.  Normally,  I don’t really pay much attention to celebrity nonsesne like this, but it came on top of a story about Carol Thatcher being fired from the BBC for (Stupidly) referring to a tennis player as a gollywog.

Here’s the thing. In both instances, mock indignation by self appointed spokespeople for different offended groups have rolled out and demanded apologies and acts of public contrition, and the dreaded “R” word has been waved about like some sort of medieval brand ready to be affixed to the non-contrite.

Do we not have bigger racist issues to deal with? There are real issues of foriegn worker exploitation, sex slavery, racially motivated attacks and the rise of the far right, and the media focuses on whether Miley Cyrus pulling a funny face is racist or not? Let’s apply a simple test: Do really believe that Carol Thatcher or Miley Cyrus are people who have a problem with people of different ethnic backgrounds? The answer is almost certainly no.