File Under: You’ve got to be kidding… June 17, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.add a comment
It’s the waiting that’s the hardest – eh? No result yet…
As entertaining in it’s own way today are some of the contributions we saw on the RTÉ site… Flagged with ‘live updates’ all was okay in the morning until 12.00 when the TDs, MEPs and Senators arrived to do the deed.
At which point it all went quiet. Because, of course, everything was happening inside and nothing was coming out. Well not quite nothing, for one could read at:
13.22 Political Reporter Brian Dowling tells RTÉ Radio’s News at One that there is little information coming from the meeting, but he understands that so far, 20 people have given speeches.
Someone’s texting!
That said there were some gems on the entries prior to that…
11.38 Olywn Enright has said she has not made her mind up on whether or not she will serve on the Fine Gael frontbench if Mr Kenny remains on as leader.
She said that she is still confident that he will lose the confidence vote.
11.28 The Fine Gael MEP Jim Higgins has described as almost fascist like the behaviour of some frontbench members who said they will not serve on the frontbench if Enda Kenny remains on as leader.
10.27 Chairman of the Parliamentary Party Padraig McCormack admitted that in the short term this was damaging for the party but he said they have recovered from worse situations.
You know, I have a genuine sympathy for many members of FG who must wonder at all this. I know I do.
Miriam Lord’s piece today is spot on.
More thoughts on the putsch and the man who would be king… June 17, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.5 comments
Addendum: I’m surprised that it’s still tight and not conclusive as of early this morning. I had somewhat expected some new figure or figures from the Kenny camp to announce late last evening that they were going over to Bruton. A choreographed series of defections like that would have added to the troubles he had with Flanagan et al jumping ship. And yet, it didn’t happen. Perhaps they’re waiting for the comfort of the secret vote. Or perhaps not.
On the one hand I’d be amazed if the margin for Kenny, should he succeed, was in double figures. I’d have thought it would be very very tight if that were the outcome. On the other hand I’d wonder if the conduct of the ‘campaign’ was as off-putting as it was attractive as a solution. We’ll know by the very early afternoon who has been overly optimistic…
Got to say, Miriam Lord’s columns this week sort of sum up my own thoughts.
The basic problem – in political terms – with this push was timing. To push this week of all weeks when the confidence motion went through is bizarre. You’d have to wonder what sort of soundings Bruton et al were taking. What possessed them to move so fast, if not particularly hard given their shuffling around and coy silence.
If they had waited a week, just a week, so that the impact of the confidence motion was demonstrated to be completely ineffective, as it always was destined to be, then they could have struck and done so decisively. The argument that the polling data and that whatever efforts in the Dáil weren’t working would have done the trick – although one suspects Kenny would have still been no more likely to leave quietly.
But wielding a knife is little good if it’s wielded half-heartedly.
The Saville Report June 16, 2010
Posted by Garibaldy in Irish History, Northern Ireland.37 comments
As we all know from the wall to wall media coverage, Lord Saville’s report into Bloody Sunday has reached the only possible conclusion, establishing definitively the innocence of all those marchers murderered and wounded by the Paratroopers, and burying once and for all the travesty that was the Widgery report. Its 5,000 pages run to ten volumes, so few people will ever sit and read the whole thing. Chapters 1-5 of volume 1 give its principal conclusions and overall assessment. The superb Guardian Bloody Sunday mini-site also has them in an easier to read format. One of the interesting, and I suppose inevitable, things about the report is that even though it reaches firm conclusions about what happened, and is very clear that the soldiers’ firing was “unjustified and unjustifiable”, it remains much more tentative about whether the soldiers were justified or rational in thinking themselves under attack.
We have concluded that the explanation for such firing by Support Company soldiers after they had gone into the Bogside was in most cases probably the mistaken belief among them that republican paramilitaries were responding in force to their arrival in the Bogside. This belief was initiated by the first shots fired by Lieutenant N and reinforced by the further shots that followed soon after.
There are other areas of confusion and uncertainty as well, due to the contradictory nature of the evidence presented. For example, some people thought there was one Fianna in Derry, and others two. Given the number of witnesses and the number of issues such as these that the Inquiry had to come to a view on, it’s no wonder the report is so long.
The basic conclusions of the report have been summarised by the BBC. As far as I can see, they are as follows. The first and most important conclusion is obviously that none of the victims on the day was doing anything that justified their being shot.
None of the casualties was posing a threat of causing death or serious injury, or indeed was doing anything else that could on any view justify their shooting.
Some heroic spinning of the last opinion poll… June 16, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics, The Left, Uncategorized.4 comments
…by Noel Whelan in the Irish Times at the weekend. And perhaps it’s best to allow the Fine Gael leader campaign/putsch/defenestration continue on its own way and consider other aspects of what surely must be a poll that has – for once – actually had some influence (mind you, for some reason I’m reminded of a certain IT poll prior to the Lisbon I referendum). So let’s look its reception elsewhere.
Saville Inquiry statements… June 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, Northern Ireland, The Left.34 comments
This from the Communist Party of Ireland…
This from Sinn Féin…
This from the Workers’ Party…
RSF (thanks to SS)
Bernadette McAliskey (thanks to JM)
Please advise of any other statements and I’ll add them in.
The not quite Coronation of King Richard the 1st… Fine Gael’s woes continue. June 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.32 comments
It’s all go for Fine Gael. So, the predictable, albeit undeniably coy, Nine step forward. And… that’s it until Thursday.
A bit hard, even for reasonably disinterested observers to take the idea as mooted…
Spokesperson Denis Naughten said frontbench members do not have Enda Kenny’s support and would like him to withdraw his motion of confidence and stand down in the interest of the party.
He said the leadership contest, which is now inevitable, will be extremely damaging for the party.
Surely not.
Dublin City Council passes motion of no confidence in the Government June 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in The Left, Uncategorized.1 comment so far
Independent Councillor Cieran Perry calls motion “A message from the people of Dublin”
Last night Dublin City Council passed a motion of “no confidence in the Fianna Fail /Green Party Government”. The motion, proposed by Independent councillor Cieran Perry along with Councillor Brid Smith received cross party support at a meeting of Dublin City Council tonight. The full text of the motion can be read below.
Speaking on the success of the motion, Independent Councillor Cieran Perry said:
“This motion sends a clear message to this disaster of a government. It is a message that comes from the people of Dublin. And that message to this government is clear – you have failed us and we do not trust you. Enough is enough, it is time to go”.
Commenting on the impact of tonight’s no confidence vote, Councillor Cieran Perry stated: “This vote of no confidence is not an empty gesture. The elected representatives on Dublin City Council, the local authority in the countrys capital, are not happy with this government”.
Councillor Perry continued: “This Government has allowed the country to be dragged to its knees by their cronies, whose reckless profiteering has destroyed our economy. Rather than try and get us out of this mess, the Government is still protecting the bankers and developers responsible. Meanwhile, working class people are being punished for the wrong doing of others, as job losses, wage cuts and the slashing of services begin to impact all around us.”
For further information, contact:
Cllr Cieran Perry 087-9393331
Motion in the name of COUNCILLOR BRID SMITH AND COUNCILLOR CIERAN PERRY
This Council records a vote of no confidence in the Fianna Fail/Green
Party Government. This Government is presiding over the greatest
economic and financial crises in the history of the state.
Rather than making those responsible pay, the government are
demanding that those who are not in any way responsible, the poor, and
those on low to middle incomes, shoulder the burden, while at the same
time overseeing a massive transfer of wealth to bail out banks and
developers.
This Council condemns the government for the drastic consequences
that the cuts in local authority funding are having on the provision of
services at Council level. These cuts will impact most on the most
disadvantaged areas and on the most vulnerable within them.
Independents Days… June 15, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.3 comments
It’s confusing. Actually everything about contemporary Irish politics appears confusing, but let’s look at an issue as regards today’s confidence vote. On Saturday we could read:
TWO INDEPENDENT TDs have confirmed they will vote against the Government when the Dáil debates a motion of confidence in Taoiseach Brian Cowen next Tuesday.
They are Finian McGrath of Dublin North Central and Maureen O’Sullivan of Dublin Central.
“I’ve gone through the banking reports and it’s a no-brainer for me. Senior bankers, management and Government have to carry the can,” Mr McGrath said.
“And I’ve been furious in recent weeks at the way a lot of people with disabilities are being treated in relation to services and cuts. So I will definitely be voting against Government next Tuesday.”
Screw your courage to the sticking-place and we’ll… er… well, we’ll see… what happens. That Fine Gael leadership challenge that dared not speak it’s name [for a whole weekend]. June 14, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.43 comments
[Okay, addendum... events move apace, as DublinDilettante notes, Kenny has sacked Bruton... oh dear, the gloves are off! And I can't help but feel it's now lose lose for FG]
I had to smile this morning reading the various media reports of a nascent, or fully fledged (insert as applicable), leadership challenge from Richard Bruton to Enda Kenny. This, of course, follows the poor polling ratings in the Irish Times at the weekend. And in fairness who could blame some of the FG crew for getting a bit antsy. They’re barely above where they were in 2007, and we all know what happened then. So some might be forgiven for thinking that now, with an election all but guaranteed to take place in the next 18 or so months, might give sufficient time for a new leader to bed in – as it were.
And who would this new leader be? Why the guy who sits on the front bench to one side of Enda Kenny! You’ll know him. Been there for years.
So… a newish leader.
Socialist Voice from the CPI – Latest edition June 14, 2010
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.add a comment
Many thanks to the CPI for forwarding this. A very interesting read that covers a wide range of topics of relevance to the current situation.
