Willie Penrose speaks… November 19, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics, The Left.15 comments
In the Daily Mail this morning you’ll find this interesting interview conducted by Jason O’Toole with the bould Willie Penrose, first – one assumes – of some Labour Party TDs to break with the party over cutbacks. An emotional time for the man who in fairness has had no end of personal as well as political pressure on him:
It HAS clearly been an overwhelming few months for the affable Willie Penrose. Apart from falling on his sword and resigning from his super junior minister position, is also recovering from undergoing recent surgery for prostate cancer.
So, one can easily sympathise with him when, as we sit in his constituency office in Mullingar to conduct this interview, he’s suddenly forced to pause mid-conversation when he becomes tearful.
The emotional outburst is not one of self-pity however, it’s more that he still finds it extremely difficult to talk about the passing of his mother Mary Jo, who died four years ago at the age of 71.
And this has a political impact for him:
At first glance, Willie Penrose’s dramatic exit from Enda Kenny’s Cabinet over the closure of the army barracks in Mullingar had all the hallmarks of being nothing more than a politician actually keeping his promise to fall on his sword if he failed to keep an election promise.
But if one digs a little deeper under the surface, it would appear that Penrose gave up his high-powered job and all its perks because he was guided in the decision by his late mother. ‘She would’ve found Tuesday a hard day,’ the 55-year-old reveals.
‘But she always says that, “It’s never a hard thing to make the right decision.” I actually thought about what she would have wanted me to do. I have no doubt. That’s the way we were brought up. The closure is a very emotional issue for an awful lot of people in Mullingar.’
To be honest it’s refreshing to read a politician being so open.
The Westmeath politician — a man who clearly wears his heart on his sleeve — explains that his mother’s death had such a profound effect on him that it brought with it a wave of horrifying panic attacks which have since, thankfully, stopped.
At one stage, however, they had become so severe that he would faint. Back in October 2008, it was rumoured that the deputy had probably suffered a heart-related scare when he collapsed in the Dáil and was taken to hospital.
But he now says of the incident: ‘It was not long after the death of my mother. Stress related. Panic attacks. There were a couple of issues there. And I’ve had a couple of health-related issues. I’m particularly overweight. It was brought on by my mother dying as well. I’d say it was related to that.’
How long did they last?
‘I had them for nearly three years after my mother died.’
Sadly, no sooner had he conquered his anxiety attacks than he was diagnosed with prostate cancer.
And although that’s been successfully treated this too impacted on the political…
He then reveals that he became annoyed that the contentious proposal to close the army barracks in Mullingar ‘erupted’ only a few short weeks after his therapy.
And he continues:
It was, he admits, an emotional moment when he drafted his resigna¬tion letter — so much so, that he couldn’t face delivering it personally and instead got someone else ‘to hand it down to the Taoiseach and Tánaiste’.
Did they try to talk him out of it? ‘Ah, look, they spoke to me. All the Government colleagues did. I have to say that they did try to convince me that I would still have a very positive role.
‘Everybody encouraged me to reflect upon the position. But people understood, I have to say that. There was a good understanding of where I was and the dilemma I was in.
‘But it wasn’t a dilemma for me insofar as once I make a decision, that’s it. It was a difficult decision. but I’d given my word. I was emphatically opposed to it, I’d spoken in public — and I mean what I say and I say what I mean. That’s the way I was brought up.’
He openly admits that by stepping down, Westmeath has lost its only voice at Cabinet. It was a decision he says he could not have made without the backing of his wife and three daughters.
Kind words for the Mail too…
‘I actually saw the editorial in the Irish Daily Mail (on Wednesday) and whoever wrote it said they probably wouldn’t agree with me but, at the same time, they said they understood where I was coming from.
‘It was a very fair point — unlike another editorial which said “good riddance”,’ he adds.
By the by there was an uncharacteristically reflective Irish Times editorial on the same topic during the week.
Penrose still clearly can’t under¬stand the Government’s supposed logic behind closing the army barracks in Mullingar.
‘The barracks is part of the very fabric of this town — not just in terms of the military personnel, who actually served in it and served overseas with great distinction. There are people who are the fourth or fifth generation of families who served in the barracks. There’s a socio-economic impact. There’s a disruption of life for people.’
He points out that Justice Minister Alan Shatter argues that the closure will save the Exchequer about €5million a year, but he says it is estimated that it could, ‘in theory’, take up to €10million out of the local economy. Such figures would suggest it has been a vital part of the lifeblood of the county.
‘I couldn’t see any sense in it in terms of the economics and figures. I was always of the view that if you subject it to a very stringent cost benefit analysis that the cost would outweigh the benefits.
An interesting point made here too… and in a way one wonders is this a tool used to keep people in their offices long after they might wish to go [though of course it works both ways]…
Penrose explains that he’s more concerned for his two drivers, who chauffeured the ex-minister around in his modest six-year-old Toyota people carrier, who have now lost their jobs following his decision.
‘One of the things that is lost in all of this is that the two drivers I had are now unemployed. They were local guys.
‘To be honest with you, on the Monday night when I knew that this was going to come to a head that was something that caused me deep concern. Those guys, who were excellent and loyal, worked any hours, day and night. They were unemployed and now they’re unemployed again. That’s a big wrench that nobody puts into the equation either.
‘They’re very decent people, they come from great families, and they understood the position.’
He’s quite coy about his [former] leader:
Penrose explains that he’s more concerned for his two drivers, who chauffeured the ex-minister around in his modest six-year-old Toyota people carrier, who have now lost their jobs following his decision.
‘One of the things that is lost in all of this is that the two drivers I had are now unemployed. They were local guys.
‘To be honest with you, on the Monday night when I knew that this was going to come to a head that was something that caused me deep concern. Those guys, who were excellent and loyal, worked any hours, day and night. They were unemployed and now they’re unemployed again. That’s a big wrench that nobody puts into the equation either.
‘They’re very decent people, they come from great families, and they understood the position.’
And what of this?
‘I can live with myself with what I have done. It’s a loss and a lot of people would say I shouldn’t have done it. I had a seat at the Cabinet table — I didn’t have a voting right but that didn’t inhibit me from expressing viewpoints.
‘There are a lot of difficult decisions and I have great empathy and sympathy for my colleagues who have to make those decisions. But, if they’re not made, at a glo¬bal level, or the macro level, we’re going to end up like Greece.’
So our situation is actually worse than people realise? ‘It’s a continual battle to ensure that we keep on the road. I sat at a Cabinet meeting going on for hours and there was nobody jumping with joy with all the things that have to be done. They’re difficult. It’s an evolving situation.
‘In Greece now, pay is cut 35 or 40 per cent and 30,000 public servant workers were suspended or let go. Tax free allowances (are) down to €5,000. They were only the original (cuts) and now there’s more…
Ideology or localism – you decide [though localism can be its own ideology I suppose].
Two other things:
‘Look, I didn’t think the economy was in such a state or we had so many difficult decisions until I was in the middle of it to be honest.’ Speaking of being in the thick of it, what does he make of the whisper¬ings in Leinster House about the so-called ‘Cult of Gilmore’ and his apparently abrasive style of leadership since getting into power?
‘Where do they get all this?’ he asks. ‘I absolutely find that amazing. I read the media and wonder, “Did I sleep through it all?”’
Cult of Gilmore? Shurely shome mishtake.
And check this out…
And what about Fine Gael members who have apparently been saying that there are too many so-called ‘flakes’, those who can’t stomach making hard decisions, in Labour.
It’s a comment that clearly irks Penrose: ‘They obviously don’t know me personally. I generally disregard sources. I love people who speak out. I could’ve laid low when I was speaking at public meetings and played the cute boy. There are not that many flaky people.’
Erm… those FG members might do well to reflect upon the name of Denis Naughten.
Meanwhile it doesn’t appear that for all his heterodoxy Penrose has quite left the fold. As O’Toole writes:
…it appears that Penrose is still a Labour man in all but name, and will continue to toe the party line.
‘I will look at every issue and see what is appropriate and what is not appropriate. But, for the most part, I subscribe to the Labour Party policy so I’m not going to be an opportunistic politician.
‘That’s not the way I work.’
He adds: ‘I have freedom and I’ll give expression to that freedom, but in a balanced way. I wouldn’t be just mouthing off for the sake of being heard.
‘I joined the Labour Party in October 1969 when I was only just 13. So, my DNA is in the Labour Party and my family’s association with it.’
Listening to his comments about his strong allegiance to the party, it appears that it will only be a matter of time before the former member will be welcomed back to the fold.
Very likely true, though I’d wonder a bit about the following:
And his resignation is a move that will probably save his seat when it comes to facing the electorate next time round by keeping his word — unlike his former colleagues at the Cabinet table.
A certain Joe Behan pulled a not entirely different stunt during the last Coalition, but due to voting with the government in part weakened his ‘independent’ stature. Penrose might need to think about that.
This Weekend I’ll Mostly Be Listening to… Disco Inferno – Summers Last Sound. November 19, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Culture, This Weekend I'll Mostly Be Listening to..., Uncategorized.5 comments
We’re shifting into late November, so, as a result I thought it appropriate to look at Disco Inferno, for me one of the very few true – if unsung – greats of UK music in the 1990s and a group whose career ranged from guitar based indie to genuinely experimental post-rock. And why appropriate? Because truly if ever a band caught the sense, the tone, of Autumn it was them.
It was something in the melancholic atonal vocals set to many layered guitar and bass lines not unreminiscent of Joy Division, Wire and perhaps Durutti Column. And if Ian Curtis had sounded like a man raging against the dying of the light then for Ian Crause, the lead singer with DI, there was, by contrast, total resignation if not actual defeat – “Waking Up” opens to the line “A sky without a God is a clear, clear sky”.
Crause, Rob Whatley and Paul Wilmott might have thought the name was a pun, and of course it was. Their brand of music, drawing on Joy Division initially as their starting point, wasn’t – at first – in any sense disco, or at least not to most listeners… though… though… Instead it offered a reconsideration of late 1970s and very early 1980s post-punk that was inflected by shoegaze and layered echoing guitars, and with Crause’s vocal style which was often half spoken in some ways it sounded something closer to a Joy Division fronted by Bernard Sumner rather than Ian Curtis.
But, in a sense there were two Disco Inferno’s, the first being that Joy Divison like band that somehow transcended their base material, or perhaps added to it as exemplified by their first album/compilation appropriately entitled In Debt, and the other being the post-rock outfit [it's worth noting that there was a cross-over of personnel with post-rock standby’s Bark Psychosis in the early days].
It’s not that there was no experimentation during that first phase, there was, at least to some degree, but as they developed later they interspersed it with a manic energy that drew on the techniques they were beginning to use to make the music. Samples, electronic beats, treated bass and guitar sounds and synthesisers combined to make something vivid and exciting. The technique used here was important. They used samples triggered by guitars and bass and pedals, rather than keyboards. And the samples were drawn from an array of sources – children’s voices, the sound of water splashing, whatever. This combined with the basslines and the melodies produced a curiously cathartic, albeit at times challenging, effect. Listen to “Starbound: All Burnt Out and Nowhere to Go” or “In sharky water” from the second album and you can hear the synthesis between their influences and where they were able to take them next. The bassline carries the tracks, but the samples and beats illuminate them.
In that respect some might argue that their second period was not dissimilar to the evolution of New Order, but while some tracks retained a sound positioned in electronic pop – EP track “The Last Dance” and third album track “Sleight of Hand” are definitively pop oriented – more broadly they moved towards something much more gritty and challenging that was influenced strongly by hip hop and electronica while sounding entirely distinct from those areas. Same band, different aesthetic. And if the template was not entirely innovative, the combination was somehow fresh [and has a certain longevity, I discovered writing this up that their 5 EPs have been rereleased this year - about time].
I heard their post-rock stuff first around the time the album D.I. Go Pop, the name of which was most definitely meant as a joke, was released in 1994 and then soon after that I managed to acquire their Joy Division like material from the In Debt compilation album. Added to that were the EPs that they released throughout the 1990s and in total they produced a very cohesive body of work.
When they broke up in 1995 they also had three albums to their name. And although Crause released two good EPs, and they collectively had an EP released around the turn of the millennium, no more has been heard of them (Crause I’ve read has been in South America).
It’s a pity. I think they managed to carve out distinctive spaces in both phases of their career in places that might initially have seemed overworked by others – and shows up the paucity of invention of a later generation of Joy Division/post-punk copyists in the 2000s.
One wonders where, given further time – and by the by there was a political strain running through them (check out some of the samples and lyrics and more particularly check out this interview with Crause and Paul Wilmott here from quite recently – a man after my own heart politically) they might have taken it… listen to the last track below, “Can’t See Through It” – also from 1996′s Technicolour and the track which kicks off MGMT’s mix album released this year – and there’s an hint in the overall arrangements. Magical.
Early period DI
Set Sail [In Debt - Album/Compilation from 1991 but rereleased in 1995]
Broken [In Debt - Album/Compilation from 1991 but rereleased in 1995]
Waking Up [In Debt - Album/Compilation from 1991 but rereleased in 1995]
Mid to later period DI.
Summers Last Sound [Summers Last Sound EP - 1992]
The Long Dance [The Last Dance EP - 1993, a version of theirmost overtly pop song 'The Last Dance']
Second Language [Second Language EP - 1994]
In Sharky Water [D.I. Go Pop Album - 1994]
Footprints in the Snow [D.I. Go Pop Album - 1994 - entertaining outro taken from a live gig]
Starbound: All Burnt Out and Nowhere to Go [D.I. Go Pop Album - 1994] (fan video)
When the Story Breaks [Technicolor Album - 1996]
Sleight of Hand [Technicolor Album - 1996]
Can’t See Through It [Technicolor Album - 1996]
Don’t cry (crocodile tears) for me… John McGuinness… November 18, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics.9 comments
Speaking after a speech in Dublin this morning, Fianna Fáil TD John McGuinness said the pay and pensions of staff in the public service were being protected under the deal.
He said that only 58 per cent of the workforce in the country had a pension while 42 per cent had not.
“But those 42 per cent who cannot afford a pension for themselves are contributing to the pension of the public sector. It is creating a two-tier workforce, it is creating a two–tier pension scheme and it has to be renegotiated.”
Does this make any sense? First up it’s the usual boilerplate we’re served on the topic. Much the same, no – almost precisely the same, was said by Michael Hennigan of Finfacts some weeks back.
But the problem is, as noted before, that this isn’t a two tier workforce, it’s a three or four tier workforce where those − like most of us I suspect, who are dependent upon the state pension are at the lowest rung while those who have public sector pensions and private sector pension provision are at different levels.
Indeed there’s another way of looking at this which is that – for all its clear flaws – at least the state has done what the majority of private sector employers will not do and that is take on its responsibility to its workers.
What I find most irritating about McGuinness’s line is that he doesn’t attempt to rectify that situation in any meaningful way by – perhaps arguing for true universal state pension provision to replace private and public sector schemes for all workers with individuals able to top up [albeit taxed at the appropriate rates], or alternatively by putting pressure on those private sector employers unwilling to provide pensions for workers.
Instead if we follow McGuinness’s approach of curtailing public sector pensions yet further – note how he conveniently ignores the previous increase in payments by public sector workers, which by the way I argued was legitimate – this will do nothing for me, and most likely you and indeed that 42 per cent of workers without pension coverage. So it’s entirely cosmetic his expression of concern because he intends to do nothing to ameliorate the situation. All it will do is to exacerbate the situation where the majority of private sector workers do not have a pension other than the state pension, and cause further attrition to public sector pensions, a situation that is a direct result of wages which are too low to sustain pension payments and private sector employers unwilling to shoulder any of the burden [my last private sector employment was typical of the general pattern. Company directors and certain selected members of higher management were given pensions. All others were not].
What’s telling is how heavily trailed this is in the media as if his statement is ‘news’ [it’s not], or as if he proposes something that will actually benefit workers [it won’t]. But that’s the orthodoxy for you.
A later statement quoted by him is of interest if only because of its simultaneous implicit assumption and intrinsic contradiction of that assumption that ‘technocracy’ is non-ideological.
“The only reason why that has not been done up to now is that governments were prepared to waste money rather than talk sense to trade unions, culminating in that great monument to sacred cows, the Croke Park agreement.”
“That monument is now being eyed by technocrats who have no respect for cloud cuckoo land and have a great desire to pull down any monument built to false gods. The Croke Park agreement certainly falls into that category.”
One could reflect on how the IMF and ECB have already ‘eyed’ the monument for longer than a year now and not sought to ‘pull it down’.
There are reasons for that, as articulated by Richard Curran in the Sunday Business Post some while back…
Unsurprising then see the new face of Fianna Fáil… same as the old face.
I’ll just add in CMK’s thoughts on this from a thread linked to above. I think it makes the case better than I could of what real pension reform might begin to look like…
here are a couple of positions that could be articulated by good faith commentators on pensions to demonstrate that they are, in fact, concerned about the welfare of current and future pensioners. These are:
- Retention of current retirement ages for all workers
- banning of defined contribution pension schemes and the universalisation of defined benefit schemes in the private sector
- severe mandatory prison sentences for company directors who dip into pension funds
- the prioritising of pensioners and pensions funds in dispersal of assets of liquidated companies including the personal wealth of company directors where there is a deficit
- making company directors personally liable for pension funds and for ensuring that no shortfalls arise on an ongoing basisAnyone not making some or all of the above arguments couldn’t care less about private sector pensioners. Once Hennigan and the rest of his fellow travellers, much in evidence in the comment’s thread following O’Toole’s article, succeed in reducing public sector pensions to poverty levels, something they could well achieve in the medium term, they’ll forget about private sector pensioners and the latter’s travails.
Bits and pieces… that Republican Presidential Debate, Ohio Senate Bill 5 and US politics, David Cameron’s nemesis, a graphic novelist writes, ‘flexible’ labour markets in a recession, the enduring legacy of the Workers’ Party and a humorous aside on the German left… November 18, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in European Politics, Irish Politics, US Politics.8 comments
This week let’s start with a couple of gems from Slate from the latest Republican Presidential debate at the weekend. It was on foreign policy, if by foreign policy one understands that term to mean more or less whatever the hell you want it to. Expediency, they name was the candidates ‘opinions’.
When Ron Paul comes over as the measured voice of reason in any discussion you know you’re in deep deep trouble – or to put it another way he and Jon Huntsman were lone voices against bombing Iran should the occasion arise.
First let us consider the deep commitment to democracy of this shower…
There are a few things Cain was certain about. Obama made a bad decision in backing the Arab Spring, which is “getting totally out of hand” because a “majority” of those people are Muslim Brotherhood. He also wants to keep Gitmo going full-time and forget about trying detainees in civilian courts “because they’re terrorists.”
And what about their knowledge of matters martial?
Perry’s proof that he has experience in this realm: “For 10 years, I’ve been commander-in-chief of 20,000 National Guard in Texas. … I’m dealing with generals, I know individuals in the Department of Defense at the highest level who will help me.” This is half-nonsense, half-puzzling. The nonsense: As was made very clear when Sarah Palin made a similar argument, governors have no control whatsoever over the National Guard units in their states, except to deploy them for local disaster-relief, that sort of thing. The puzzle: Who are these generals and high-level DoD people who will help Perry if he’s president? The same ones who are currently helping Obama?
But this, this was the best, or worst, of all, demonstrating both the emptiness of the rhetoric and its limitations when applied to the actual power relationships at work in US foreign policy.
Perry said he would reduce all foreign aid to zero, then have advocates for each individual country come in and make a case for getting “one penny” of taxpayer money, much less billions of dollars. (His staff back-pedaled on this after the debate, noting that an exception would be made, of course, for Israel.)
Of course.
Speaking of which a fascinating point made on KCRW’s Left Right and Centre in regard to the Ohio collective bargaining limit repeal referendum vote and others on November 8. The former where the Republicans sought to constrain the right of public employees to collective bargaining was handily overturned on something like a 63% vote against.
Ohio overwhelmingly voted to repeal Republican legislation restricting public sector unions. Mississippi voters also overwhelmingly rejected a conservative initiative that would have defined human life beginning at the moment of fertilisation meanwhile incumbent parties easily held onto Governerships…
And the analysis as regards this for 2012?
There’s a big bellwether and that is the break up of the marriage between the GOP and the white working class independent voter. The white working class as voters are traditionally extremely important to Republican victories and they gave John McCain a huge boost in 2008 and even then that wasn’t enough to win against Obama and they gave Republican candidates nationally vote a two to one margin of victory and that was enough to get the Republicans fifty four per cent of the national house vote. What you see with this [Ohio] vote is white working class voters not aligned with the conservative base… and I think that spells big trouble for the party as it tries to move to the General Election and also it spells trouble for Mitt Romney because he has historically not been the kind of politician to appeal to those working class voters…
Tony Blankley, resident conservative voice, admitted that in Mississippi and Ohio the Republican Party was over-reaching, though he seemed to focus more on the abortion aspects and felt that on other issues the GOP/white working class vote had held steady. Still, good to see labor push back. A lesson for everyone there perhaps about the limits of the possible even for the right in what is – counter-intuitively – its most powerful phase in a generation if not more.
Speaking of the right… Terrible terrible news from the UK where…
A senior Tory MP is said to have predicted that David Cameron will be ousted in a backbench coup next spring during a secretly recorded conversation at a party.
Who was this ‘senior Tory’? Why Patrick Mercer! By the way as an aside I love using the term Tory over Conservative. It’s childish, yes, I know, but it’s enormously satisfying.
The former army officer was sacked as a shadow minister by Cameron in 2007 for making inappropriate comments about ethnic minority soldiers. He is known to be a critic of the prime minister.
Get out of here. So critical is he that he apparently…
…told a guest he would rather have “a beggar off the street” as prime minister than his party leader.
Among the insults he was reported by the Sunday People and the Sunday Mirror to have levelled at Cameron were calling him a “despicable creature without any redeeming features”, an “arse” and “the worst politician in British history since William Gladstone” – one of Mercer’s predecessors as the MP for Newark.
But this is a man for whom the concept of verbal restraint is a near-unknown. And while it’s entertaining to some degree to hear him express his ire over Cameron the remarks that saw him dismissed by Cameron went as follows:
…[he] was sacked by Cameron for implying racial abuse was part and parcel of army life.
He said at the time his claim that it was normal for an ethnic minority soldier to be called a “black bastard” had been twisted.
But here’s an odd little twist…
The outspoken politician, who went on to be a security adviser to the Labour prime minister Gordon Brown, was among backbenchers who rebelled over a referendum on EU membership last month.
I give up.
Actually, it’s reading this that I really give up. For those fans of ‘flexible’ labour markets no doubt this will be great, for the rest of us… 
As noted by Starkadder a day or two ago Frank Miller hardly covers himself in glory… but those of us who’ve followed his career to date will find this an unsurprising event. Bilious right wing guff is something he’s never been shy about expressing.
And croneyism? In Irish politics? Never!
THE GOVERNMENT has nominated six judges to date – and five have a personal, family or funding link to Fine Gael or Labour.
Last month, the Government nominated Judge Michael White, a former Workers’ Party election candidate, to the High Court. Judge White was promoted from the Circuit Court, to which he was appointed by the last Coalition government in 1996.
In the Workers’ Party, part of which morphed into Democratic Left and later merged with Labour, Judge White was a colleague of Labour leader Eamon Gilmore.
It really is time to do a revised chart on the careers of former WP members and where they now sit in the context of this society, North and South. Might be interesting.
And to conclude this weeks round up what of this from the German left?
Left Party politician Oskar Lafontaine (68) has announced that he has left his third wife of 18 years to start a relationship with Sahra Wagenknecht (42).
And…
Dubbed “Red Sahra” for her defence of the Berlin Wall and regret at the end of East Germany, Ms Wagenknecht is also married. Her husband since 1997 is Ralph Thomas Niemeyer, a German filmmaker who lives near Killaloe, Co Clare.
Mr. Niemeyer is taking it better than might be expected…
Niemeyer took to his blog yesterday to say he was not embittered by the news. “It is only honest and decent that Sahra has made public our separation, which goes back some time and was completely consensual. There was and is no secrecy,” he wrote, saying he felt a “connection” to Mr Lafontaine.
“If, however, she had told me she was smitten with Helmut Kohl, I would have shot myself.”
This Week At The Irish Election Literature Blog November 18, 2011
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Irish Election Literature Blog.Tags: Irish Politics
2 comments
Starting off this week with this musical gem from the 1981 General Election Campaign
Back then to the 1923 General Election ,a leaflet “Vote for Sinn Fein” . Amongst the opening paragraph is that Sinn Fein offers “Justice and Brotherhood- not Flogging and Tortures”
“For the Record I strongly support Metro North” -letter from Leo Varadkar from the General election campaign
Flyer from Paddy Lynn of The Workers Party from South Belfast 2001
and given the student protests this week some Student related leaflets I posted a good while ago
“Students- Everything you wanted to know about the Workers’ Party” -circa 1990
and again from around 1990 “Ten Reasons to be a Labour Student”
As an aside There’s a nice Gallery on the Radio 4 site with some Posters from an exhibition about the depiction of Family Values in Political posters.
Irish Advertising Images 1848 to 1921 November 17, 2011
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Uncategorized.1 comment so far
These images are taken from a fantastic archive of Irish Advertising images that has been compiled by a team in Durham and Sunderland Universities. It contains all sorts from Political Advertisements to Ads for Religious items, Drink and Tobacco, Tourism, Consumer goods and more. The Library of images can be accessed here on the projects website
This project, funded by the generous support of the Leverhulme Trust, addresses a fascinating but relatively neglected topic: the historical and literary resonance of consumer culture and advertising in Ireland between 1848, the year of the Famine, and 1921, the year which saw the signing of the treaty which led to the formation of the Irish Free State.
Alongside detailed consideration of the cultural significance of advertising copy in the period, both amongst nationalist and unionist constituencies, the project will also look at the way in which literary figures such as James Joyce, W. B. Yeats and others reacted to the nascent commercial culture around them.
The project team is based at the Universities of Durham and Sunderland.
Fianna Fáil organisation… November 17, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.4 comments
There’s some pretty stunning stuff as regards Fianna Fáil in a piece by Harry McGee in the Irish Times this week. It’s all on foot of the news that…
THE LATE Fianna Fáil TD Brian Lenihan proposed radical organisational changes for Fianna Fáil in a document he was working on at the time of his death.
There’s one obvious caveat there. Radical, perhaps, in the context of Fianna Fáil, but hardly at all for any other political party. For example, note the following:
The document, which has been seen by The Irish Times, proposed the abolition of the party’s arcane system of sending three delegates to represent local branches at constituency level and when selecting party candidates for elections.
Instead it set out a new system that would allow for one member, one vote at selection conventions. He also included a device that would prevent election hopefuls signing up large numbers of new recruits to the party with the singular purpose of voting at a selection convention.
All sensible enough stuff. But what of this?
It also included the introduction of yearly subscription fees to the party – throughout its 83-year-history, members of the organisation have never been asked to pay membership fees.
Can this be accurate, and if so, isn’t it remarkable that in the years since Haughey no one thought to impose membership fees?
Whether this is all part of a broader myth-building around Lenihan is hard to say. Consider the following:
Mr Lenihan began working on the document, entitled “Fianna Fáil Re-Organisation”, some weeks prior to his death on June 10th.
The four-page document was largely completed but he became too ill to make a number of additions and changes he wished to make. The document is laid out in the form of a constitution or rule-book with two sections, each broken down into numbered paragraphs.
The first is primarily focused on cumainn, while the second lays down the rules for the constituency executive.
The form in which it is written is legal in nature, and owes much to Mr Lenihan’s own professional training as a constitutional lawyer.
Well, quite. And remind us again what his last Ministerial position in the Cabinet was?
And then there’s this:
It refers specifically to his own constituency of Dublin West but those close to him have said he had intended to use Dublin West as a template for similar reorganisation in the other 42 constituencies.
Even that in itself is telling. Would he have had the authority to impose it on Fianna Fáil in Dublin West alone? Is FF that atomised from constituency to constituency? It seems like it, if only to judge from another element to his plans.
“On acceptance, the new member [to FF] shall be assigned to a cumann and shall be issued with a membership card, confirming acceptance of the Coru and rules.” The most far-reaching proposals are contained in the changes to the comhairle dáilcheantair.
Rather than each cumann sending three delegates to the executive, Mr Lenihan wanted the executive to be open to all members of the party in good standing.
His definition of good standing was designed to exclude “instantaneous” members, brought in by prospective party candidates for the sole purpose of voting for then at selection conventions.
Fears of such a phenomenon occurring has dominated the debate on the move to a “one-member, one-vote” voting system within the party.
What I find intriguing about all this is that it readily explains, if it is correct that local constituencies are the focal point of power, why when TDs break with FF they seem to bring so much of their constituency machines/supporters with them. Granted that’s inevitable to some degree as a byproduct of the power relationships at work – something similar was evident when the TDs who would go on to found Democratic Left split from the Workers’ Party. But in a larger party like Fianna Fáíl one might expect a stronger ‘corporate’ self-identification on the part of members above and beyond local TDs – and yet this would suggest the contrary. Is this pen picture McGee offers us a good assessment of FF structures? Anyone know?
Five scenes from the Seanad November 17, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics.add a comment
I: A link in the Seanad to the recent Referendums…
Senator Thomas Byrne:   First, it is appropriate to thank our Clerk, Deirdre Lane, for her role on the Referendum Commission—–
A Senator: Hear, hear.
Senator Thomas Byrne:   —–as she suffered a lot of brickbats, as did the entire commission, from a Minister of the Government.
An Cathaoirleach:   It is not in order to refer to officials in the House.
Senator Thomas Byrne:   It is in regard to her other public role. She did the public a good service in the way she listened to the debate in this Chamber. She did not agree with us. It is important to note that she did not agree with the Government nor with the Opposition. That is welcome. We need a full debate on the—–
An Cathaoirleach:   That is completely out of order.
Senator Thomas Byrne:   —–Referendum Commission and the Government’s attitude to it. It is about the attack on the Referendum Commission by the Minister, Deputy Howlin, and the Minister, Deputy Phil Hogan, at a politics society event.
An Cathaoirleach:   Senator, that is completely out of order.
Senator Ivana Bacik:   On a point of order, that is inappropriate. The Minister, Deputy Howlin, has already given a full apology to the Referendum Commission.
An Cathaoirleach:   Senator Bacik, I have ruled that it is completely out of order.
II: A Presidential Candidate returns to his natural home…
Senator David Norris:   As a neutral observer of the sometimes acrimonious altercations between Opposition and Government, can the Government make a statement indicating precisely what are the differences between this and the previous Administration?
Senators: Hear, hear.
Senator David Norris:   It seems to me there is no difference at all. I have a great deal of sympathy for Senator Bacik because she must be experiencing a very unpleasant sensation of déjà vu. She introduced a climate change Bill in the last session and was advised by Friends of the Earth, which issued a strong statement condemning the Government. It does not swallow the situation. It was obvious during the final days of the last Administration the junior partner was rolled over on by the Government. It might happen to the Labour Party as well. What are the differences?
With regard to the Keane report which was mentioned, I have raised the issue in public. The inquiry comprised 22 members, including 17 civil servants, three members of the Central Bank, one representative from AIB, one from the EBS and none from New Beginning or representatives of the people who are actually feeling the pinch. Once again, the good old establishment ignored people who are actually experiencing difficulties. The principal recommendation was that MABS be upgraded. We already know it is under financed, under resourced and cannot do the work. It was a cosmetic procedure. It is rubbish. It is like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, and I and the decent people of Ireland would like to know the difference.
In regard to the bondholders, the Tánaiste and the Minister for Finance, Deputy Noonan, were supposed to do all kinds of wonderful things but have done absolutely nothing. Our money is being poured down the drain—–
Senator Ivana Bacik:   On a point of order—–
(Interruptions).
Senator David Norris:   We also have the question of student fees.
Senator Ivana Bacik:   I do not like to have to interrupt my friend and colleague, Senator Norris, but I would like to point out one major difference this summer was the renegotiation of the IMF—–
A Senator: That is not a point of order and you did not renegotiate it.
Senator David Norris:   Having accepted that as a bogus point of order, I assume I will get injury time to reply because it was not my contribution, rather it was that of Senator Bacik. On the question of student fees, I am asking for a response—–
(Interruptions).
An Cathaoirleach:   I did not realise it was a point of order until it was not a point of order.
Senator David Norris:   I appreciate that. I am not impugning your—–
An Cathaoirleach:   You are nearly out of time.
Senator David Norris:   The Cathaoirleach must take cognisance of the fact after the inappropriate intervention occurred.
An Cathaoirleach:   I did say it was not a point of order.
Senator David Norris:   Before he was Minister, we witnessed the Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, signing a document to ensure there would be no increase in student fees. Not only will there be fees, there will be a cap—–
An Cathaoirleach:   Does the Senator have a question for the Leader?
Senator David Norris:   We are going into the information world and knowledge economy but there will be a cap on students.
I join colleagues in raising the issue of the disastrous abuse of alcohol in our society. I am pleased that not only the Taoiseach, but also the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Róisín Shortall, have indicated their intention to take action in this regard. They are talking the talk, and I hope they will walk the walk. There has been an increase of 145% in the number of people under 18 years presenting at hospitals with alcohol-related injuries. In County Donegal last month, for example, 26 young people were hospitalised in one weekend as a consequence of alcohol abuse. An important factor in this problem is below-cost selling and promotions by alcohol retailers. Will the Government, in its consideration of the Seanad, examine whether it is appropriate in these circumstances, given the damage arising from the unwise use of alcohol, to have a representative in this House nominated by vintners? I would contend that it is not.
III: A Labour Party Senator speaks on the Gaza flotilla…
Senator John Gilroy:   I would like to comment on the lack of balance in the debate on Gaza and the ship which has been detained. We recognise that Israel is a legitimate state but from some of the comments I have heard, it seems that some people believe Israel is completely wrong on this occasion. Surely, a state has a right and a responsibility to protect its borders. The sort of language I have heard—–
Senator Terry Leyden:   They are not its borders; they are Palestinian borders.
An Cathaoirleach:   Senator Gilroy, without interruption.
Senator John Gilroy:   The sort of language I have heard in the House does the proponents of each position no good, in particular when we hear calls for the President of this country to become political and make a statement on this. That does no good. It shows that we do not even understand—–
An Cathaoirleach:   Is Senator Gilroy supporting the call for a debate?
Senator John Gilroy:   I am but I also—–
Senator Terry Leyden:   He is not going to be muted.
Senator John Gilroy:   There is also talk of expelling the Israeli ambassador. This sort of talk is ridiculous. One of those detained is a former Fianna Fáil Deputy. If we want to put pressure on the Israelis, perhaps if we sent an entire boatload of former Fianna Fáil Deputies—–
Senator Darragh O’Brien:   That diminishes the seriousness of this situation.
An Cathaoirleach:   Does Senator Gilroy have a question for the Leader?
Senator Darragh O’Brien:   That is a disgraceful comment.
An Cathaoirleach:   Senator O’Brien—–
Senator Darragh O’Brien:   I ask Senator Gilroy to withdraw that remark.
Senator John Gilroy:   It is no less—–
Senator Darragh O’Brien:   This is a very serious humanitarian situation.
Senator John Gilroy:   I understand the —–
Senator Darragh O’Brien:   Some 14 Irish citizens have been detained and I ask that Senator Gilroy withdraw that remark immediately.
An Cathaoirleach:   Does Senator Gilroy have a question for the Leader?
Senator John Gilroy:   If I was not interrupted, I could ask a question of the Leader.
An Cathaoirleach:   Senator Gilroy, a question for the Leader.
Senator John Gilroy:   I will not withdraw the remark.
Senator Darragh O’Brien:   Senator Gilroy will not withdraw that remark. It is a disgraceful remark to make.
Senator John Gilroy:   It is no better or no worse than many of the comments made—–
An Cathaoirleach:   Does Senator Gilroy have a question for the Leader?
Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill:   It shows a total disregard for the issue.
Senator John Gilroy:   I have not shown a total disregard for the issue. I am very well informed——
(Interruptions).
An Cathaoirleach:   Senator Gilroy, without interruption.
Senator Brian Ó Domhnaill:   It is an international issue.
Senator John Gilroy:   I support the call for the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade to attend the House to discuss this issue in a balanced, mature and democratic way and without demonising one party or the other, which adds no merit to the argument.
IV: A bit of populist knock about as regards the banks…
Senator Rónán Mullen:   It seems to have gone unnoticed that the Government did score one victory in its joust with banking executives yesterday, namely, that it managed to convey to the public, through the media, how deeply disappointed it is at the awkwardness of the banks. We have been told that the Government is “infuriated” by their attitude. It is good for a Government which is not doing what it should be doing to succeed in at least conveying to the public that it is on the side of the victims in this and is infuriated on their behalf. Senator Darragh O’Brien is right to put the challenge to the Government today. It is simply not good enough to ask the regulator whether he requires additional powers. The business of Government is to propose, before the Oireachtas, that the regulator be given certain powers and then to let the regulator use those powers if he sees fit. The response of the Government on this issue has been very weak.
Perhaps the reason the banking executives are able to eyeball the Government so successfully is that they are being paid so much more than the Government members they meet. It is easy to eyeball and talk down to people when one’s salary is so much higher than theirs; it improves one’s attitude and heightens one’s sense of authority in a given situation. On that basis, some of us here would be better equipped to eyeball than others.
Senator Paul Coghlan:   Does the Senator find it so?
Senator Rónán Mullen:   It is noticeable and notable that the banking executives are of the view that their salaries should not be capped at even €500,000. In one case, a salary of €640,000 is being sought. It is clear where the power still lies in this country.
Senator Trevor Ó Clochartaigh:   Hear, hear.
Senator Rónán Mullen:   The Government should, at the very least, facilitate the bringing forward of legislation at an early date to allow the regulator to do what he needs to do in regard to the passing on of interest rate cuts.
Senators: Hear, hear.
V: And a revealing point, perhaps made in error?
Senator Jimmy Harte:   I agree with most of what Senator Crown said. However, those of us who come to this House through the local government route have constituencies to which we relate as a consequence of having served the communities in question.
Senator Rónán Mullen:   The Senator has an eye on a constituency.
Senator Jimmy Harte:   I take the point that, technically, we do not have constituencies, but people appreciate that we look after certain areas.
Do they? Do they really? [And there’s nothing technical about it either].
Unemployment tropes… November 16, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Economy, Irish Politics, The Left.10 comments
Reading this from Michael Taft it struck me that any guff put around about the unemployed should be countered by the following:
Employment: Eurozone average will only grow by 0.3 percent – pretty miserable given the levels of unemployment. Ireland won’t even reach that: employment will flat-line over the next two years.
Student Demonstration Time… November 16, 2011
Posted by WorldbyStorm in Irish Politics, The Left.56 comments
…Quite impressive and certainly very vociferous was the march/demonstration this afternoon. The precincts of Merrion Square etc were echoing to the marchers. Interesting to list who can get a crowd out these days, isn’t it? Unions, to a degree, students, pensioners and after that it tends to tail off in terms of numbers.
Anyhow, the drumbeat from the ‘student fees must be reimposed’ crowd is strong and increasing. We were treated to this in the Irish Times.
Student fees of at least €4,500-€5,000 per year are necessary to maintain the quality of higher education in Ireland, according to UCC president Dr Michael Murphy.
As graduates gained a significant income premium from their degree, it was right, he said, that those who can afford to pay fees are asked to make a more significant contribution.
It’s an interesting argument, but one could turn it around and suggest that if that is the case, then that premium expressed as income could then be recouped through higher taxes. Indeed that’s tended to be the mechanism used in the past and elsewhere.
Or for those wedded to fees how about introducing progressively scaled fees, dependent upon family income from next to nothing to tens of thousands. And therefore instead of imposing a single, and entirely affordable from the perspective of the better paid, fee structure of €5,000 why not have fees of €25,000 per annum or more at the higher end and cheap as chips one at the lower end? From each according to their…
Of course that won’t happen because although there’s no end of rhetoric about sustainability and the necessity to pay our way it’s very clear that, as with pension reliefs and so on, these are structured in such a way as to support those on higher incomes whatever the impact upon those with no or low to middle incomes. €5,000 per annum is an huge cost burden for most people on ordinary wages, and obviously well out of the reach of the unemployed and those on lower incomes. Even putting aside the negative effect of fees and charges instead of universal provision in terms of disincentivising access to services such as education, as addressed here, it is this which further reinforces the inequities apparent in such approaches.
Entertaining, with that thought in mind, to see the following:
Dr Murphy, the highest-paid university president [€232,000 - he’d hardly miss €5,000 or €10,000 or even €15,000 for university fees for his progeny], defended his salary. A former medical consultant, he said his pay was significantly below his earnings a decade ago. He also noted a recent Guardian newspaper survey on pay among college heads which indicated his remuneration package was relatively modest when compared with that available in Britain and elsewhere.
What we have we hold…
