UNIONS CALL FOR LRC TALKS ON COMMUNITY PROJECT CLOSURES February 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Uncategorized.add a comment
Press Release, thanks to John O’Neill for forwarding it.
SIPTU and IMPACT have called on the Government to enter direct talks at the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) in relation to the recent closure of 14 Community Development Projects (CDP’S).
The projects, all but one of which are based in Dublin, employ community workers and provide essential services to the most vulnerable sections of the population.
In 2009, following an internal review of community projects across the country the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (DCRGA) removed its funding of 29 projects forcing their closure and the loss of dozens of jobs.
While 10 projects successfully appealed the removal of funding 14 were informed in recent weeks that their appeals had been rejected by the DCRGA.
The trade unions representing community workers, SIPTU and IMPACT, have now called on the Department, as the employer of those who have lost their jobs, to enter immediate and direct discussions at the LRC.
According to SIPTU’s Community Sector Branch Organiser, Gerry Flanagan, the review process which resulted in the closure of the 14 projects was “deeply flawed and biased”.
“Since February 1st the workers in these 14 CDP’s have been left in limbo following the withdrawal by the Department of their primary funding. They face the loss of their livelihoods while the most vulnerable communities have lost vital services as the result of a deeply flawed and biased review process,” he said.
SIPTU General President, Jack O’Connor, who is also President of Congress called on the Government to use the established industrial relations machinery of the State and engage with the representatives of the community sector workers.
“The Community Sector is seen by this government as a soft touch when it comes to cutbacks. Those responsible for these decisions should take note that this slash and burn approach is unacceptable,” said Jack O’Connor. “It is essential that the Department engages with the representatives of these community sector workers through the established industrial relations machinery of the State.”
For further information contact;
SIPTU Community Sector Branch Organiser, Gerry Flanagan 087 9890791
IMPACT Information Officer, Bernard Harbor, 087 2301262
Area woman says it’s not about the job? Area woman writes letter almost entirely about the job… February 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.39 comments
This is great craic, and with the potential to run for a while. Still, that said, I’ve got to admit the latest missal from De Búrca central leaves a little to be desired. It’s not so much the cursory attempt to deflect the ‘blackmail’ and ‘damaging’ charges from others.
Nope, it’s more to do with the text under the heading ‘Disappointment over the Brussels job’, which in fairness could have been used as the subhead for the rest of the letter.
She writes:
It has also been said that my resignation was motivated by a failure to get a job in Brussels . I openly admit that the failure of my party leader to insist that our government partners honour a clear agreement they had entered into with him about a position in Brussels was the trigger for my resignation but it most certainly was not the cause.
Which is fine as far as it goes. Except, except, surely what that means is that had she been given the job all the other existential angst about the situation of the Green Party, their inadequacy at standing up to FF and so forth would have – it is entirely clear from what she writes, been set aside as she moved towards Brussels at a fair old clip.
Now, add to that the fact that out of 1,450 words the main body of the text of her latest contribution is taken up under the headings ‘Disappointment over the Brussels job’, ‘Green Party lobbying of Brian Cowen for Brussels job’ and ‘Research portfolio unsuitable for a Green’. Add to that most of the concluding ‘My motivations’ paragraph and about 1,000 words or so of the letter are devoted directly or tangentially to… er…the ‘Brussels job’.
She concludes with the lines:
I resigned from the Green Parliamentary Party without any clear plans about my future. I do not regret the decision, although I am obviously concerned about what lies ahead. I hope my resignation will cause the Green Party Parliamentary Party members to seriously rethink their role in government. If they do not, I believe they risk consigning the Green Party in Ireland to political oblivion for the foreseeable future. This would be a very real tragedy and I sincerely hope that it does not happen.
But, as with George Lee and the curious void at the heart of his critique of FG economic policy, we get no sense of any particular divergence on her part from the GP policy as currently formulated. Sure, she name checks the Defamation Bill, and the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Bill. But again, of these disputes not a mention publicly. And while in no sense diminishing the import of those particular issues there is nothing about ‘the kind of decisions’ which so exercise her.
Methinks she doth protest too much.
CPAD documentary… trailer February 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.2 comments
Heres a link to the trailer for the film about CPAD in the 1980s in Dublin. It premieres at the Dublin Film Festival on Sunday 21st feb. at Cineworld, Parnel St. Dublin at 3.30pm.
Left Archive: An Phoblacht, Sinn Féin, 7 July 1994 February 15, 2010
Posted by irishonlineleftarchive in Irish Left Online Document Archive, Sinn Féin.3 comments
Here’s an edition of An Phoblacht from 7 July 1994. This dates from before the first IRA cessation.
With a front page article under the headline “Peace needs end to British violence” Gerry Adams is quoted as charging RUC Chief Constable Hugh Annesley of ‘Trying to distract attention away from the reality of conflict in the Six Counties and the role the RUC plays in sustaining it through repression and collusion with the loyalist death squads’.
It continues that:
Annesley again predicted that loyalist violence would end if the IRA ‘called a halt to violence’ and if the loyalists did not see a ‘sell out’ in the background. But once again this was as much a threat as a prediction from Annesley, who has made similar menacing remarks, notably when he forecast loyalist attacks in the 26 counties.
What Annesley ignores is the reality that loyalist death squads act against any perceived political movement which threatens unionist domination. Loyalists – in and out of RUC uniform – were doing that long before the present IRA campaign started and were responsible for the first violent deaths. Responding in detail to Annesley’s remarks, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said:
“Loyalist violence is not and never has been reactive. Annesley exposes his real political position when qualifies this perverted view of loyalist violence by saying that loyalists would halt as long as they did not perceive a ‘sell out’ that their murder campaign will only stop ifa political settlement is on loyalist terms.
‘This is the unionist veto in practice – no political change, no change in the status quo and nationalists forced to remain trapped within a political system which discriminates against them and denies them their democratic rights. Underpinning all of this there is the threat of loyalist violence, as voiced by Mr. Annesley, particularly in the 26 counties if nationalists seek to advance these political objectives’.
Later he is quoted as saying:
Elaborating on the present state of the peace process, Adams said.
“Peace is an achievable goal. What is required to make the hope of so many a concrete reality is a commitment by all parties to the conflict is to build on the existing peace process. I have repeatedly said that peace rarely results from single grand gestures on any one side. That is all the more so when seeking to unravel a conflict which is centuries old. In our effort to positively move the peace process forward, Sinn Féin is prepared to put into play what we have to offer. This includes our substantial electoral and democratic mandate and our total commitment to establishing peace.
And…
We must build on the positive achievements of the last 18 months. There is a clear need to press ahead… the present intense speculation about the possibility of an IRA cease-fire in this climate is unhelpful and wholly misinformed.
As interesting is the following.
In addition we must also look at more specific short-term and intermediate-term objectives to develop the potential which the peace process has already provided for addressing issue of immediate concern.
In the short to medium term:
We must ensure by our efforts that there is no return to unionist domination over local nationalist communities in the Six Counties;
Sinn Féin activists must be able to represent and speak for our communities in conditions of peace, uninterfered with by the British military or the RUC, free of personal harassment…
And there’s more on that…
War News has a short report on ‘Belfast RIR HQ blasted’. There are articles on prisoners in British jails looking for transfer to prisons in the Six Counties and this is reiterated in the editorial which notes that ‘Republicans have given a cautious welcome to news that the British Home Office intends to shortly introduce a system of extended temporary transfer for Six-County prisoners currently serving time in English jails’. A page headed ‘Workers Struggle’ looks at the Irish Steel and TEAM disputes of that year.
The centre pages, and apologies for the poor scanning, examines “The British Helicopter Force in Ireland” including accounts of the “IRA engages Helicopter Gunships” and a “Fierce gun battle in South Armagh”. Keep that in mind for a future edition of AP/RN to be posted on the archive over the Spring/Summer.
There’s considerable coverage of a “Toward Peace in Ireland” conference in Ireland, including a photograph of Kevin McNamara, then British Labour Party spokesman on Northern Ireland – seeing that image, it’s like a different world – and a piece detailing a speech by Mitchel McLaughlin arguing that ‘Britain must remove obstacle to self-determination’.
And speaking of photographs, for an unfeasibly fresh-faced Peter Robinson, turn to leathanach 16 and an article on Unionist racism exposed.
Sunday Independent Stupid Statement of the Week February 14, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in media.25 comments
Apologies about the absence of last week’s feature. This week, in third placeBrendan Keenan, proving the old adage about lies, damn lies and statistics.
The fiscal programme is not an attack on public spending, because public spending will not fall. With the economy set to shrink again in 2010, it will actually rise as a proportion of national income.
In second place, for blaming the wrong people, Shane Ross. Apparently, it was mainly the Bank of Scotland’s fault, and not a lot to do with government, economic policy over decades, corruption etc.
The assault on the mortgage market is over. The Bank of Scotland (Ireland) was a willing player in the property madness. It played its part in bringing Ireland to its knees. Good riddance.
In first place, Eilis O’Hanlon, who manages to turn British Tory racism into an attack on the public sector unions.
If so, then it does seem depressingly appropriate somehow that the Irishman who complained about this joke told by a town councillor in his 70s in the back end of Nowhereshire should have been a full-time trade unionist employed by the council in question as an official with Unison. We ought to have guessed. This is exactly the bureaucratic, pettifogging way of doing things which the trade unions love.
Thank heavens that we have a fearless journalist like her exposing the real problems in Irish society.
The gloves are coming off… February 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.7 comments
Interesting to read this.
The rift between the former senator Déirdre de Búrca and the Green Party deepened today after deputy leader Mary White accused her of threatening to damage the party unless she was given a senior job in the EU.
In a letter to party members, Ms White dismissed Ms de Búrca’s criticisms of party leader John Gormley as unfair and totally groundless.
“For the past two weeks, she has stayed away from parliamentary party meetings and communicated a number threats and deadlines to her colleagues,” Ms White said. “It saddens me to say that I have found her behaviour to be deplorable,” she continued.
Particularly on foot of this…
Writing in this morning’s Irish Times Ms de Búrca accused Mr Gormley of failing to ensure that Taoiseach Brian Cowen stood by specific agreements between the Coalition partners, including one that concerned herself personally.
She said that when she challenged Mr Gormley on the issue last week he informed her that she had been “shafted” politically by Fianna Fáil.
Now I know SFA about being a politician, but I can’t help but think that the following doesn’t entirely demonstrate the best way to go about explaining ones actions…
In fact, matters have become more serious of late where Brian Cowen appears to have failed to honour two specific agreements that were made at the highest level (ie between the party leaders), which I do not feel at liberty to disclose here.
When I challenged my leader John Gormley about one of these agreements last week, he informed me that I had been “shafted” by Fianna Fáil.
And from the personal to the political… (although in this case the personal seems to be the political…)
This was the point at which I knew that it was time for me to resign from the parliamentary party and from the Government.
Hmmmm… And I’m entirely sure I wouldn’t have written that, not least because of the potential interpretation that could be read into it.
It seems to me that if the Green Party is now allowing itself to be treated with total contempt by our larger government partners, then matters are only likely to get worse in the foreseeable future.
Perhaps… perhaps… presumably using the very specific definition of ‘getting worse’ if we include… say a Senator deciding to resign…
Meanwhile, there’s a GMO aspect to the story…and nuclear power…
Senior political sources said last night that potential conflicts over nuclear power and genetically-modified foods were among the reasons Ms de Búrca was turned down by the Irish commissioner.
Another factor in the commissioner’s decision, according to well-placed sources, was her reluctance to have a person with close links to the Government, particularly the Green Party, as a member of her inner circle and privy to its deliberations.
At her confirmation hearings last month, Ms Geoghegan-Quinn specifically endorsed nuclear research and genetically-modified crops. Her spokesman was very emphatic at the time that existing European Union policies in these areas would be maintained. However, the renewed programme for government agreed by Fianna Fáil and the Greens last October is committed to “declare the Republic of Ireland a GM-free zone, free from the cultivation of all GM-free plants”.
Nuclear energy is described as “a large element” of Ms Geoghegan-Quinn’s portfolio. “I don’t think Ms de Búrca would have been comfortable in that cabinet,” senior political sources told The Irish Times.
Is the source really so certain of that? There are others, if one reads some thoughts on the web, who wouldn’t it seems be anywhere near as sure…
Celebrate one hundred years of International Women’s Day: Communist Party of Ireland 7/8th March February 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.4 comments
*COMMUNIST PARTY OF IRELAND*
*James Connolly House, 43 East Essex Street, Dublin 2*
*Celebrate one hundred years of International Women’s Day*
2010 is the hundredth anniversary of the decision to hold an International Women’s Day annually. Each year the Communist Party of Ireland invites a speaker from abroad who is an activist in changing society in their own country. This year we are delighted to have Joyce Moloi-Moropa from South Africa.
Joyce is an MP for the African National Congress and served previously from 2001 to 2004. She chairs the Public Service and Administration Portfolio Committee in the National Assembly and is the Deputy Chairperson of the South African Communist Party.
This is an opportunity to hear and meet a woman who is committed to fighting against injustice and poverty, and for the rights of women within that struggle. She will be speaking about that struggle and, in her own words, “bearing in mind the fact of the negative impact that the current global financial crisis has on the black working classes and poor women of the world.” She will talk about how we are to understand and oppose this crisis, and how we are to organise an international movement against it.
We invite you to celebrate the contribution that women make daily to gender equality, social liberation, national liberation, and world peace, bringing women together who are making a difference in their communities and in their country by their actions and ideas.
We have two public events planned during Joyce Moloi-Moropa’s visit to Dublin. You can also visit our web site (_www.communistpartyofireland.ie_) for up-to-date information on Joyce’s visit, including list of speakers, times, and venues.
Dublin region
*Sunday 7 March*, 2:30–3:30 p.m.
*CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN STRUGGLE*
Music · poetry · song
Meet Joyce Moloi-Moropa
Venue: Connolly Books and New Theatre (43 East Essex Street)
*Monday 8 March* (International Women’s Day), 7:30 p.m.
Public meeting:
*GLOBALISATION AND WOMEN’S STRUGGLE TODAY*
Speaker: Joyce Moloi-Moropa MP, African National Congress; Deputy Chairperson, South African Communist Party
Venue: Liberty Hall (Eden Quay)
Dockland residents call for immediate response from John Gormley: Request DDDA report to be made available February 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.6 comments
Press Release
Dockland residents call for immediate response from John Gormley
Request DDDA report to be made available
Resident and community activists in Dublin Docklands have reacted swiftly to claims that John Gormley has a report on the DDDA that may not be acted upon. Two prominent local residents, Marie O’Reilly and Joe Mooney have led this call.
They are calling for immediate clarification from Minister Gormley on the nature and current status of the report , and are demanding that the report be made available immediately.
Both Marie and Joe are long time resident representatives in the North Docklands . Both were involved in the landmark Spencer Dock appeal, and a number of other crucial planning issues involving the DDDA.The communities in North Port , North Wall and East Wall have consistently raised concerns about the operation of the DDDA throughout the last decade . Local Residents, including Joe and Marie, were at the forefront of efforts to highlight conflicts of interest within the DDDA. They were amongst the first to question the role being played by Anglo Irish Bank , long before it became a household name.
Marie and Joe made the following comments today:
“For years we tried to highlight the appalling behaviour we were aware of in the Docklands. We were ignored, because so many had a vested interest in allowing things to continue as they were. Much of what concerned us is now common knowledge , and those that were negligent are now pretending to be suprised. We believe that our consistaent stance in relation to the DDDA will be fully vindicated.”
” An unholy trinity of Politicians, developers and bankers were given free rein in the Docklands and our community suffered , and will continue to suffer for decades to come. If Minister Gormley has a report that highlights the misconduct of the DDDA then he has no honourable option but to release it immediately, and he must also act to address any issues highlighted . Any hesitancy on this matter can only lead to further questions, and heighten our concerns”.
For further information or clarification :
Marie O’Reilly 0851457058
Joe Mooney 0876698587
NOTE:
Quote from Déirdre de Búrca letter of resigination today : ” I am aware that you as Minister have a key report in front of you from Dr Niamh Brennan on the issue of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. I’m afraid I lack the confidence that the findings of this report will be acted on in the timely and appropriate manner that the public interest requires.”
This weekend I’ll mostly be listening to… Motorhead, Another Perfect Day February 13, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Culture, This Weekend I'll Mostly Be Listening to....11 comments
It’s good to read that in recent years there’s been a rethink about the place of the album “Another Perfect Day” in the Motorhead canon (and speaking of all things Motorhead here’s a related item). It has had a contentious position in that canon. Too ‘melodic’ was often the complaint. Which in the context of Motorhead makes a certain sort of sense on the face of it, but isn’t really true. That injection of – shall we say – greater melody was the responsibility of Brian Robertson, formerly of Thin Lizzy, who was… well, odd. There are horror stories of his appearing in leg warmers, etc at warm ups, of being a difficult and tetchy character. Not quite the image that Motorhead sought to project. This iteration of the band lasted barely a year with Robertson exiting with Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor to form his own band.
Astoundingly, or perhaps not, according to Wiki none of the tracks were played by Motorhead until 2004. And I read that ‘Dancing on Your Grave’, ‘I Got Mine’ and ‘Another Perfect Day’ have been rehabilitated since then.
For me it’s speedy, seriously heavy… but with some intro’s which because they’re so overtly melodic, even unmetal, counterpointing the sheer metallic dynamic of the sounds that come after them. For example, ‘I Got Mine’ has a near-jangle guitar sound which could have been toned down and fitted into mainstream indie but a few short years later.
Motorhead – Another Perfect Day
Dancing on Your Grave
Marching off to War
Shine
I Got Mine
Tales of Glory
And the title track live…
Area woman offers principled resignation from current job – after NAMA… after the PfG… after the Budget… after the Local elections… after… February 12, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.21 comments
Those of us who have watched that free bird of democracy that is Deirdre De Búrca (she of the variable fada on her website) soar… no, flutter… no… perhaps drop – yeah, drop is the right term …into the air of national and European electoral politics may not be entirely surprised by the ‘surprise’ development of her resignation today.
And, by the way, what a week in Irish politics. It’s like a time-tunnel has yawned open to 2007 or earlier when personalities rather than economic analyses ruled the airwaves – although I’ve pointed out how in the case of one resignation this week that wasn’t as personality driven, at least as a dynamic, as some have argued. In this instance though, many who have met De Búrca will attest to her burning ambition. An ambition that curiously never seemed entirely sated.
Here was a failed 2007 General Election candidate who was nominated to the Seanad by An Taoiseach… not a bad result, all things considered. Though, as a friend noted, their first view of her in that chamber was the sight of her texting furiously on her mobile. And, those who have considered the debates of that august chamber (and this site, as is well known by now, takes them very seriously indeed) will have noted that she was never the most vocal contributor.
The Green Party, will be concerned that this will impact on them seriously. And, as with George Lee where those beyond political activity are more sympathetic than those engaged in it, there is the possibility that she will be regarded as a fallen heroine.
Lousy timing for her, though. I mean of course in the sense of George Lee resigning on Monday. Rumour had it that the good news was to be delivered earlier this week. But, perhaps keen to get some share of the headlines (you can see them yourselves, sure they write themselves ‘What’s wrong with Irish politics that two up and coming politicians should leave in the same week?’) the date wasn’t dropped but was pushed back. Problem is that while Lee is known to almost anyone who has paid the slightest bit of attention to the national news over the past decade, de Búrca’s profile is more modest. If it had been me I’d have resigned on Wednesday, just at the point that the Lee story was getting old. But, this Friday? With the psychological barrier of the weekend? Not that it makes a blind bit of difference. The GP parliamentary party were straight up and out presenting a unified front – as indeed one could easily predict they would. Whatever one’s views on their political path these past two or so years, the general unity of purpose – even amongst such a seemingly disparate grouping – has been quite impressive. And really, what alternative did they have?
Moreover, de Búrca has no faction, or fraction, she can call her own. Very much a political sole trader, albeit one given surprising latitude by the parliamentary party, it seems bridges were burnt with much of her original constituency party long ago. Although one could reasonably ask what constituency that was? Wicklow, Dublin? Brussels?
But, fascinating is it not that this comes in a week when new Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn appointed her cabinet and the name De Búrca was nowhere to be seen.
The connection? Well, none, of course. Because it had never been stated publicly by anyone close to the action that there was one.
Which didn’t stop the Phoenix from reporting this week that:
Senator Deirdre De Burca may now regret the obvious leaking of news that she was about to be launched into EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn’s cabinet, as there appears to be no place at Quinn’s table for this most ambitious of Green career politicians even though this had been indicated to her earlier.
And…
G-Q’s people were unimpressed when, weeks before Christmas, reports of De Burca’s purported appointment to the cabinet came to them via the national media and the Oireachtas grapevine as well as the Wicklow Times…. however the inspired leaking of the story earned De Burca black marks in the eyes of Quinn and her job prospect zoomed as a result.
And the Wicklow Times piece? Well that put it in the following language (and hat tip to Madam Poulet for having the presence of mind to scan it)…
A source close to the politician told the Wicklow Times that de Burca will abandon her responsibilities as a Senator in the coming months and join Ireland’s first female EU Commissioner and former Fianna Fáil TD, Maire Geoghegan Quinn’s cabinet on a salary of €120,000 plus expenses. [which is great, but the Seanad salary isn't bad either - wbs]
Not a happy article it has to be said, I’m told the Wicklow Times ain’t a fan… hence…
The Green party member of Seanad Éireann will turn her back on national politics and take up residence in Brussels…
While it is unclear at present what the exact nature of the politician’s new role will be, Senator de Burca’s background in psychology and education may come into play.
The move may be seen by many in Co. Wicklow as history repeating itself as Senator de Burca, who was an elected member of both Wicklow County Council and Bray Town Council, walked away from local politics when she failed to get elected to the Dáil in the last General Election.
Of course, all this was idle speculation, and… the Senator wisely did not give in to media pressure, for as noted…
When contacted by the Wicklow Times, Senator de Burca did not deny claims that she would not be continuing her role as Senator in the New Year.
“I am under pressure for time. Goodbye,” was her reply.
Gnomic – eh? Though for those who have met her this brusqueness will be not be entirely out of character (I was slightly amused by an anecdote Dave Cochrane put up on Politics.ie where he said that he’d always found her perfectly friendly, until one time when he greeted her as ‘Deirdre’ and was immediately corrected ‘That’s Senator de Búrca’ or somesuch). I’m always mindful, when de Búrca’s name comes to mind, of the experience of various activists from one campaign or another who could never quite square the individual they knew back when with the one who more recently manifested herself. It might have been the precipitous changes in policy, or attitude or whatever. Where had the real de Búrca gone they would ask, puzzled? Others who encountered her in her more recent incarnation and remembered well the previous one had different and rather more uncharitable analyses…
Although… er… hold on though… there was a connection between MGQ and DDB, at least in one persons mind – for:
Responding to suggestions that Ms de Búrca may have been disappointed by not being included in Máire Geoghegan-Quinn’s incoming EU Commission cabinet, [Trevor] Sargent said Ms de Búrca did, at the time, express interest in such a role.
He said Mr Gormley and Taoiseach Brian Cowen were supportive of the proposal, but he insisted it was up to the commissioner, an independent office, to make her own decision.
“It was not something that could have been guaranteed or delivered in the way of a party political position,” he said.
Which is true. But expectation makes fools of many of us… George Lee can vouch for that. And so the story that does not quite dare to speak its name shambles into the light…
So, for the interested but detached observer, what is to be made of all this? Or to put it another way, where does the balance of probability lie?
There are further clues.
Reading her letter of resignation.. helpfully put up on her website this morning so we could all have a goo, there are those, and they’d not be restricted to Green Party members, whose eyebrows might be raised by one or two of the thoughts contained therein.
I regret to say that I can no longer support the Green Party in government, as I believe that we have gradually abandoned our political values and our integrity and in many respects have become no more than an extension of the Fianna Fail party. I have had a number of conversations with you as Party Leader over many months now about my growing discomfort with the decisions that the Green Party has been supporting in government. You have been very aware of my frustration with the fact that despite the Green Party holding the balance of power in this government for some time now, our willingness to try to exercise that influence appears to grow less with every passing week.
And although this is couched in terms that quite bluntly engage with John Gormley as leader of the GP and with a few curious throwaway comments added in for good measure…
Despite the fact that you have been asked on many occasions over the past few months by the Parliamentary Party to take a stronger line with Brian Cowen and the Fianna Fail party in relation to certain core issues, you have clearly been unable, or unwilling to do so. Unfortunately the effect of this unwillingness to act is that the Green Party has been slowly haemhorraging support because of a growing public perception that we have lost the courage of our convictions and have become no more than an obedient ‘add-on’ to Fianna Fail. For example, I am aware that you as Minister have a key report in front of you from Dr Niamh Brennan on the issue of the Dublin Docklands Development Authority. I’m afraid I lack the confidence that the findings of this report will be acted on in the timely and appropriate manner that the public interest requires.
…one searches in vain for evidence in public pronouncements that this agony of indecision was reflected outwardly over the course of the last year or two. And it’s not as if there weren’t chances to do so. Party Conventions, NAMA, the revised Programme for Government and not least a certain Budget late last year. A set of European and Local elections.
As for the charges about Fianna Fáil. Well, probably overstated, but who outside of the already convinced (or unconvinced) will have their opinion altered an iota about that party. Indeed, ironically, it might just be the sort of thing to shore up Cowen in the minds of his own. For the Green Party, not great news, although they may be fortunate that this happened this week, but all in all a very happy week for Fianna Fáil.
Her last two contributions to the Seanad, not huge in volume it must be admitted during her time there, referenced the GP as recently as 21st of January…
Standing Committee on Operational Cooperation on Internal Security: Motion.
I welcome the Minister of State and the opportunity to discuss this motion on a new Council standing committee on internal security, COSI. The shift within the provisions of the Lisbon treaty to a much more genuinely European or Community approach to justice and home affairs, as opposed to the more traditional inter-governmental approach, was supported and welcomed by the Green Party.
And there was even a kind word for the Minister of State in Agriculture on the 26th of January. And not only him…
I welcome the Minister of State. I also welcome the opportunity to engage in the (Dog Breeding Establishments Bill 2009:) Second Stage debate on the Bill. As Senator Glynn said, the legislation is very welcome because it is long overdue, as most of us would accept. Both of the Minister’s immediate predecessors in the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government had spoken about their intent to introduce legislation in this area. I give credit to the Minister, Deputy Gormley, because he is the one who has done something. He has acted and introduced the legislation.
But a perusal of the Press Releases on her website indicates that they ended on September 30th last year. It is surely entirely coincidental that the (second) vote on the Lisbon Treaty was held on the 2nd of October 2009.
The future? Well, truth is – as has been discovered by almost all who have walked away, that while many would argue there’s not much life inside the party, there’s surely none at all outside it. It seems implausible even given her erstwhile albeit rapidly diminishing appetite for elections that she will appear under a new flag any time soon. Her record so far has been unfortunate. Others will have noted that. And in two weeks, or a month or whenever… events will have moved on.
Which makes the following an interesting exercise, whether she follows her own proscriptions, offered to former GP MEP Patricia McKenna, in the wake of the GP vote in favour of Lisbon as when she said on July 19th of last year…
Responding to Patricia McKenna’s comments today, Green Party European affairs spokesperson, Senator Deirdre de Burca said:
“I am disappointed but not unduly surprised by Patricia McKenna’s comments about the Green Party’s decision on the EU Lisbon Treaty. The proposal to support a Yes in the forthcoming Lisbon referendum campaign was endorsed by two thirds of Party members after a full and balanced debate.
“Patricia McKenna left the Green Party some time ago. When she made that decision she lost the right to criticise the internal debates and procedures of an organisation to which she no longer belongs. Perhaps it is time for her to move on and concentrate on her own career”
An interesting analysis here…
