Tuesday, 20 April 2010
Heyday - call for a general election
Gombeen Nation is on the campaign trail again, so thanks to T for bringing the following to our attention.
Most readers of the blog will have had it up to here with the Fianna Fail-led government that has been in power for far too long, and has saddled us bankers' and developers' debts for decades to come.
Somebody has set up a Facebook campaign to get Brian and Co out of the Dail's most potentially damaging seats - see the video above and the link below.
Now, while I'd be sceptical about the power of a Facebook campaign to effect any kind of meaningful change - and would never underestimate the potential of the Irish electorate to vote the same shysters straight back in come the next election - it's still worth supporting, I think.
Worth a beep or two, anyway, if you see them about.
Saturday April 24th 2010 - Call for a General Election
http://www.facebook.com/generalelection
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28 comments:
RARELY is there anything good in The Irish Independent; the pithy bit of writing below, however, is not by 1 of their so-called journalists- but an aggrieved member of the Public on the letters page, really hits the nail on the head as to Why this government should go :
'Unions expected to pay for sins of others'
Tuesday April 20 2010
" I cannot understand how some trade unions, including my own, SIPTU, expect their members to accept the public-service deal when bankers are still being given massive pay increases and even more massive pension pot top-ups; when the likes of Michael Fingleton are walking away with massive bonuses; when Sean FitzPatrick can still live the high life; when developers can sign their several houses in Ireland over to their spouses to avoid them being seized to pay their debts; when landlords are still allowed tax breaks; when rich people are still not paying their fair share of tax; when developers can leave the country for their boltholes abroad without the Government rushing through legislation to stop them leaving until they pay a large contribution to the public purse from the wealth they made as a result of political connections, developer-friendly planning laws, tax breaks and low personal tax.
Why do these trade unions expect their members to support this deal when Mary Harney has dismissed, out of hand, the proposal for a universal, comprehensive healthcare system, free at the point of use, something that research shows the public wants, whilst she supports private hospitals being built on public land?
More importantly, why do trade unions expect their members to support this deal when Government economic policy consists of getting back to the same economic and political system that made it possible for ruthless, greedy people to bring the country to its knees?
As usual, ordinary working people have to make sacrifices to save a country devastated by the selfish, the greedy and the stupid, including the Government.
Ordinary working people should not be asked to make these sacrifices until those responsible for the economic disaster have made a sacrifice proportionate to their wealth and assets, and the Government has given the people a chance, by calling a general election, to elect people who were not responsible for the economic crisis and who have no intention of returning to the same economic and political system that made it possible. "
Brian Abbott
Bishopstown Road, Cork
Irish Independent
Hear, hear Brian! to which I would add:
speed up the banking enquiry and make some prosecutions: not just bankers, but developers, some lawyers, TD's :
Tighten up all those areas considerabely to prevent arrogant and dishonest greed in future: and a fair taxation system- stop the rich stealing our money through outrageous tax breaks !
God dammit, did anyone see Saturdays IT- Dublin ( EU city of sport 2010) is to close THREE council swimmimng pools!
Hey GM,
worth supporting, certainly yes ! But wanna bet - unfortunately the same ****heads will be in the very same chairs after the next general election again ! Everybody is giving out about this Irish "government", but when push comes to shove, they haven't got the heart to change their voting habits. Seats in the Dail seem to be inherited anyway. Strange that they didn't start growing banana plants outside the gov' buildings yet...
Yes I Can fill that in when I get home…don’t under estimate the internet….it did a lot for one unknown, now great politican , who I paraphrase slightly below :
yes, we can. Yes, we can change. Yes, we can.
Yes, we can heal this nation. Yes, we can seize our future. And as we leave this Possibly OK country (great state ) with a new wind at our backs and we take this journey across this moderate (great) country, a country we love, with the message we carry from the plains of the Bog of Allen (Iowa) to the hills of Cavan (New Hampshire), from the Cultural ( Nevada ) desert to the rocky coastlines (South Carolina) coast, the same message we had when we were up and when we were down, that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we will hope.
And where we are met with cynicism and doubt and fear and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of the Irish ( American ) people in three simple words -- yes, we can.
Now Does he have any Irish relatives?
lest we forget: and no this wasn't just greedy private industry- all this went on with the collusion of TD's and Irish financial regulator-
THIS IS IRELAND- WHERE YOU GET A HUGE BONUS & PAYOFF FOR WRECKING THE ECONOMY!
On The Record » The man with the €27 million pension20 Apr 2010 ... No matter what happens in the future, Irish Nationwide will always be associated with Michael Fingleton and his €27 million pension. .... repaying the money, she got the same amount virtually overnight from Fingleton. ...
www.irishtimes.com/.../the-man-with-the-e27-million-pension/ - 6 hours ago
@ Pike. Sadly, that's the way it seems to work here. Banana Republic, septic isle... Really makes me marvel on the subject of patriotism. Is it the right to be shafted, good and proper, by "our own"?
@ Anna. Yes, saw that about the swimming pools. Stunning, really stunning... what few amenities there are they are shutting down, while continuing to spend money on frivolous nonsense.
The Fingleton thing is a belter, even by Irish standards. This guy runs the place into the ground, makes of with a €27 million pension AND a BONUS. A bonus for what?
That link seems to be broken, Anna, so I'll paste it in here. Cheers.
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/ontherecord/2010/04/20/the-man-with-the-e27-million-pension/
See Metro Herald Wed April 21 2010, www.e-metroherald.ie.
It has a letter from Robert Murphy of Rush who set up the facebook page, above, Solution Revolution.
In today’s letter he says he wants people to come along and make noise at 12 on Sat 24th, at various locations in cities and towns
1 location being outside government buildings Merrion Sq, yes I will go along with a frying pan, why not,
‘Start the ball rolling ‘ he says’ this is your chance to make a difference.’
Yes, saw that alright, Anna.
GM its more than election needed in irl nothing less than a revolution will do , an anti asshole eradication scheme would help send the boys in long black dresses back to rome , wimmminn only in the dail and senate MARYS only no paris or brittney celebrity types need apply CHEERS BH
Hi GM, Paddy and Mary were far more concerned with that French man denying us our chances in the world cup, than banks and developers being bailed out. This is sad but true.
@BH, wimmin only in the dail and senate (whilst not a feminist I do believe in equality) so not sure about that at all, at all. Remember that iron lady across the pond all those years ago and the damage she did. As for one of our Marys, well she is a laughing stock, a national embarrassment and the other as she is so busy feeding herself, she doesn't have time to do her job.
I think Pike is correct. All too cosy in the Dail. None of them were effective when it was needed.
Dakota
Finally some members of the Irish public are unhappy and are prepared to get off their arses and do something about it.
PROTEST AT BANK BAIL OUTS
March to the Dail
We Want Jobs and Public Services
Tuesday 11th May
Assemble 7.30 Garden of Remembrance,
Parnell Square Dublin
Speakers:
• Fintan O'Toole (Journalist)
• john Kidd (SIPTU Firefighters)
• Janette Byrne (Patients Together)
• Walter Cullen (Unite trade union)
• John Bisset (Canal Communities Project)
• Professor Kathleen Lynch (UCD)
• Siobhan O ’Donoghue (Community Workers Co-op)
Organised by: Right to Work campaign tel: 087-26n04143 Email: righttowork@live.com
Sponsored by Unite the Union
WHY WE ARE MARCHING
• €33 billion of OUR money has already been put into the banks.
• This government is destroying our public services to pay for the bill.
• Instead of pouring vast sums into these banks, we should take them into public control and make the wealthy pay for their economic crimes.
• We need to change economic policy to help the half a million people who are unemployed.
• We should set up a public works programme to provide jobs and build up our public services.
• We should resist wage cuts. Wage cuts mean less spending in our economy – and more jobs losses.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Don’t just sit at home and get angry. People power is the only way to bring real change. So come out on the streets and make your voice heard. This government needs to receive one big message: GET OUT OF OFFICE.
The hidden meaning of the Irish Proclamation:
Today I saw a poster in town, a rewritten version of the Proclamation , written by protest group Eirigi, Entitled 'Proclamation of BaNama Republic , which clearly showed that this state was just set up so rich scum bags could benefit from the labour of us serfs, culminatining in NAMA
I tried to find a text version of it- it seems to have made its way onto a few blog spots this weekend- however seems only available as a PDF on the website www.eirigi.com
it is also set out in the Proclamation's original Wild West 'Wanted'Poster style'- So prophetic of the original type setters ..didn't the New York Times describe the IFSC as the 'Wild West'of banking?
Downlaod this poster for your free Irish souvenir.
The Irish bank bailout is the Third biggest in World history – just shocking considering how small a country Ireland is –
The other 2, I think, were in Japan and Korea, both with large populations:
Japan 127,076,183 Million people and South Korea 50,000,000 people
AIB was given a Huge bailout in the 80’s – not because they were victims of global recession- but their problems, were All internal- shameful and illegal banking practices.
Many other Irish banks / financial institutions were also bailed out over the years in the same circumstances. Does anyone Ever query why this happens every 20 yrs or so? In this country- other EU countries don’t go through these familiar cycles.
The Irish financial sector Never had a luminous reputation( a shameful one in fact ) , and the same cycles will carry on until the country is Totally bankrupt, and the population has gone done to its lowest ever level of the early 1960’s (when it was around 2.0- 2.5 million) – people need to ask for change now.
Incidentally I was trying to search for a scandal which I dimly remembered with the then 'Irish Life' insurance co in the 70's (Irish life it seems is now with Irish permanent ' think it became something like Permanent Life or Permanent TSB? )
However I am sure there was some scandal when they were 'Irish Life' does anyone remember?
(2nd 1/2 of above )
The extent to which he thinks himself beyond reproach is mystifying unless we accept that he has a limitless capacity for self-deception. For example, he also describes widespread criticism of his greed as "frenzy" suggesting a hysterical reaction whipped up by politicians and the media. Is his ivory tower really so insulated against normal human responses?
Mr Fingleton goes on to claim "I have no obligation legal or otherwise to account to any party with regards to the funds in question". Wrong again. He has an obligation to account to the Irish people for that tainted EURlm.
And in all the tumult over the bonus, let's not forget his EUR27.6m pension. It made an anonymous appearance in the building society's 2007 annual report, which said a group pension scheme was transferred to a retirement benefit scheme outside the group - without specifying Mr Fingleton was the only beneficiary.
Subsequently Irish Nationwide claimed the omission was a typographical error. That's on a par with the dog ate my homework.
It was an astronomical pension for an executive in charge of a tiny financial organisation, dwarfing even the £16m (EUR18.4m) pension received by Fred 'The Shred' Goodwin, former boss of Royal Bank of Scotland.
Under the circumstances, we should not confine ourselves to simply demanding that EURlm back from Mr Fingleton. The Irish State should go after part of his pension too.
Mr Goodwin bowed to political pressure and returned some of his retirement fund. He was on a package of just over EUR540,000 a year but gave back EUR200,000. So if it can happen in Britain, why not here?
Political pressure must be put on Mr Fingleton. Look at the speed with which Richie Boucher waived his EUR1.5m pension top-up. There is no real evidence it has been exerted on the former Irish Nationwide boss, despite the whining tone of his letter in which he paints himself as the butt of "spin, denial and politicisation".
The pot has trouble calling the kettle black, however. The political class here is greedy - as greedy as the financiers whose toxic activities have clouded our future.
Consider Maire Geoghegan-Quinn's response to an RTE reporter's suggestion that she might like to defer some of her pensions while in receipt of an EU salary. It met with a queenly put-down from our EU commissioner on Friday.
She followed it up by cancelling an interview with RTE's News At One' presumably on the basis that the peasant upstarts might continue to question her extravagant entitlements.We need to take Europe a lot more seriously than we do. Her behaviour shows Maire Geoghegan-Quinn to be an example of our tendency to send off someone convenient to Europe, instead of our brightest and best.
Yesterday Brian Cowen pleaded with public sector workers not to go on strike, but he didn't have the courage to ask for some sacrifices from the well-paid EU commissioner he appointed. At least Mary Hanafin and Eamon O Cuiv showed backbone by speaking up.As for Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore, they deserve credit for renouncing their own ministerial pensions, but I find it odd - and lacking in leadership - that they can't convince some of their deputies to do likewise.
Nothing excuses such a grasping attitude. Not even Michael D Higgins's explanation that he needs his pension for the rest of the year to finance projects in Africa passes muster. If he wants to support charity, a worthy ambition, let him do so out of his generous Dail salary. The Exchequer has a plethora of obligations to meet closer to home.
Meanwhile, Mr Fingleton says the EURlm minus tax lies untouched in a deposit account, as though that gives him some moral leverage. It doesn't matter where it is - what matters is where it's not.
( surprisingly good for the Indo)
Fingleton's capacity for self-deception has no limit
MARTINA DEVLIN
THERE'S cold comfort in wealth when its acquisition leads to the utter destruction of your good name, as Michael Fingleton has discovered.
The financier has embarked on a campaign to restore his reputation by offering to donate his contentious EURlm bonus to charity - a sum he somehow managed to be paid for pushing Irish Nationwide off a cliff.
Last year he offered to give it back. We're still waiting. Now he is volunteering to distribute it to charity.
Charity begins at home, Mr Fingleton. The building society you reduced to junk will receive a EUR2.7bn bailout from the Irish people. That's EUR2.7bn we're obliged to borrow on the strength of our good names - I doubt if yours would raise the price of a bus-fare.
So don't be surprised if others, like me, are underwhelmed. On the contrary, your apparent willingness to give that EURlm to charity reeks of self-aggrandisement.
No more shilly-shallying. You should hand the money straight over to the building society. It would mean the taxpayer has to borrow EURlm less to clean up the shipwreck made of the financial institution you were mistakenly entrusted with running.
It maybe a drop in the ocean compared with the bill we face for your ill-conceived speculations, but it would pay the wages of 28 workers on the average industrial wage for a year. It would help.
If Mr Fingleton had the slightest understanding of concepts such as honour and decency, he'd return the money at once, with an end to his legalistic quibbling about entitlements, and to his self-serving cant about charity.
But the man who dominated Irish Nationwide for 37 years obviously believes himself to be misrepresented. In a letter to Irish Nationwide's chairman Danny Kitchen last September, published in yesterday's Sunday Independent, he claims he was "harassed into volunteering to repay money which I was under no legal obligation to do and to which I was contractually entitled". Michael Fingleton as victim? That's a new one on me.
I gather Marie Geoghean Quinn ‘retired’ as an Irish government Minister in 1994-
and has drawn an Irish ‘Retired’ Minister’s salary since- this is despite in later years, going off to Very well paid positions in Brussels.
Her current Irish Starving and Indigent Ex- Ministers pension – which she refuses to relinquish (in fact on RTE she has Refused to even Discuss it) is €100,000:
She’s had it for 16 years. €100,000 x 16 years = €1,600,000
Well done MGQ: If I carry on for another 41 years (on my public service pay of 39,000 a year) then I’ll have earned the same amount.
NB- at the time of her ‘retirement’ she was 45: I’m 49 and somehow no one is offering me a fat pension.
@Anna, it's the l'oriel effect, so many of our politicians have it, they believe "because I'm worth it"!
Yes Ella, with jaw dropping arrogance last week MGQ said she Refused to discuss her pension...which we pay her.
BUT tonight she Was actually forced to relinquish it...things aren't so tight for her now, instead of living on such a pittance, for Years in the last few months she managed to get an EU commissioner post: another small consideration for this woman ( who may have Some political savvy, cunning, & survival streak - after all she Inherited her father's seat) is that her party will face Wipeout in the next election( FF May only take 5 out of 17 Dublin seats)- well conciliatory gestures like this are too little , too late and Worst of all have to be Dragged out of them!
Stop Press! I was too quick to expect Maire Geoghegan-Quinn to undertand what a sense of decency is - or the suffering of ordinary people:Dont forget that 27 unfortunates have committed suicide Directly because of the recession.
Maire Geoghegan-Quinn is only relinquisking her fat pension UNTIL her term as an EU Commissioner is over: as if she won't be gettign a fat pay of'f from her EU job.
Sorry MGQ your FF report card should be stamped 'not good enough.
BBC site 24/6/2007:
When Tony Blair leaves Number 10 he will be much better off than Churchill was when he became an ex-prime minister in 1945 – after winning the war. "My grandfather was bankrupt by the end of the war," says his grandson. Churchill was forced to put his home, Chartwell, on the market. "Lord Camrose, was outraged," says young Winston. "And he corralled 10 wealthy well-wishers and they each ponied up £5,000. "So for £55,000 - a lot of money then- they bought Chartwell so my grandparents would live there until their deaths and then it would be PRESENTED TO THE NATION ." In contrast Blair will receive a severance package worth some £300,000 a year. Thanks to some astute lobbying by other ex-PMs, Blair will get a car, a police driver and round-the-clock special branch protection. He will also receive an immediate prime-ministerial pension of almost £64,000 a year as well as a further £84,000 to run his office - on top of what he makes as an MP.
*Ok part of the above is Blair’s security costs, car, office etc- the actual pension ( in 2007) was £64,000. And he Was leader of 60,000,000 - a country with 13 times the population of Ireland (4,500,000)
1. Bertie Ahern and the €98901 pension
http://www.politics.ie/economy/128460-mgq-her-pensions-arrogance-personified-7.html#post2625634
Now just try the link above- it will lead you to a very useful grid which shows which SITTTING Irish TD’s - already getting a HEFTY Dail salary- are also getting a pension! Read, fume- and vote them out
Daily Mail (UK) 31/12/2008 : “Gordon Brown and his ministerial colleagues now have pots - the total saved up towards their retirement - worth nearly ten times the private sector average. The figures - coming at a time when the stock market crisis is hammering the value of many The ministerial scheme is on top of the lucrative pension they will receive for their service as MPs. The official figures reveal that Gordon Brown now has a personal ministerial pension pot of £274,000, WHICH WOULD PAY OUT around £19,000*** a year in retirement. Justice Secretary Jack Straw's pension pot is worth £294,000, which would pay out £20,520 ***a year. Chancellor Alistair Darling's is worth £235,000, paying out £16,400***. “
***Peanuts!!! IS THAT ALL???? They don’t even seem to see a BEAN of it UNTIL THEY ACTUALLY RETIRE!! SO Different from our own dear TDS! And for this we can be grateful for our 1916 risiing- establishing a Truly Irish
State for the huddled masses of rich yearning to be super rich.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1103204/Ministers-pension-pots-worth-TEN-times-private-sector-average-guess-whos-paying-them.html#ixzz0mINoJVWf
You know Anna, there's a blog in that. Shocking.
I've often wondered what the big thing was with 1916, and what exactly we have to be so grateful for? Dying for something does not necessarily make it a worthwhile cause. See 9/11.
If things had been left to take their course, I'm sure a more progressive independent Ireland would have come about, rather than the two reactionary states that took shape as a result of polarisation.
****One Minute's Silence******
for*****
a character*****
who*****
should ***
have**
gone a long time ago:
Tonight on my car radio I heard;
Bertie, yes Bertie!! is
giving back his pension!
and a lot of Dail personnel are following suit.
Yes Bertie (AKA known as 'the cutest hoor of them all'- Charles J Haughey)-THAT Bertie
Could the cute hoor finally be about to die out from Irish life?
(2nd 1/2 of above)
We declare the right of the private banks to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible. The long usurpation of that right by the will of the people has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people, which is now well under way.
We hereby proclaim the NAMA Republic as a Sovereign Independent
State, and we pledge the lives of the innocent to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the multinationals.
Having deceived and betrayed her manhood through our secret revolutionary organisation, the Golden Circle, and through our open organizations Anglo Irish Bank and Fianna Fáil, having patiently perfected our discipline,having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal ourselves, we now seize that moment, and, supported by gallant allies in the IMF and the EU, but relying on first in our own brass necks, we strike in full confidence of victory.
The NAMA Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The NAMA Republic guarantees unequal rights and unequal opportunities to all its citizens and cherishing all of the children of the nation unequally we promise to promote the interests of the minority over the majority into the future.
We place the cause of the NAMA Republic under the protection of the
Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our bank accounts, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by courage, honesty or integrity. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by our readiness to sacrifice other people worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
www.eirigi.org
I was Choked on reading this: The True spirit of our leaders, our glorious 90 yr old Revolution- and its Pinnacle of achievement- NAMA - 3rd Biggest bank bailout in the History of this Planet.
(you can always get this tasteful Oirish souvenir on the Eirigi website- I just couldn’t copy the link, the 1 on website also has tasteful photos of out politicians & bankers on it )
- I don’t know anything about Eirigi- but they don’t have links to any paramilitary political parties/ racists etc , so I assume their hearts are in the right place.
Protest group Eirigi ( who occupied Anglo Irish Bank HQ) unveiled the secret meaning of the proclamation, which has been there in code all along:
POBLACHT NAMANAMA NA H EIREANN
THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT
OF THE NAMAREPUBLIC
TO THE PEOPLE OF IRELAND
IRISHMEN AND IRISHWOMEN:
In the name of God and of the dead generations from which she receives her old tradition of nationhood, Ireland through us, summons her children to pay for our greed, corruption and avarice.
Signed on Behalf of the NAMA Government,
BRIAN COWEN
BRIAN LENIHAN, SEAN FITZPATRICK,
MICHAEL FINGLETON BERNARD McNAMARA,
BERTIE AHERN. JOHN GORMLEY.
We declare the right of the private banks to the ownership of Ireland, and to the unfettered control of Irish destinies, to be sovereign and indefeasible.
The long usurpation of that right by the will of the people has not extinguished the right, nor can it ever be extinguished except by the destruction of the Irish people, which is now well under way.
We hereby proclaim the NAMA Republic as a Sovereign Independent
State, and we pledge the lives of the innocent to the cause of its freedom, of its welfare, and of its exaltation among the multinationals.
Having deceived and betrayed her manhood through our secret revolutionary organisation, the Golden Circle, and through our open organizations Anglo Irish Bank and Fianna Fáil, having patiently perfected our discipline, having resolutely waited for the right moment to reveal ourselves, we now seize that moment, and, supported by gallant allies in the IMF and the EU, but relying on first in our own brass necks, we strike in full confidence of victory.
The NAMA Republic is entitled to, and hereby claims, the allegiance of every Irishman and Irishwoman. The NAMA Republic guarantees unequal rights and unequal opportunities to all its citizens and cherishing all of the children of the nation unequally we promise to promote the interests of the minority over the majority into the future.
We place the cause of the NAMA Republic under the protection of the Most High God, Whose blessing we invoke upon our bank accounts, and we pray that no one who serves that cause will dishonour it by courage, honesty or integrity. In this supreme hour the Irish nation must, by its valour and discipline and by our readiness to sacrifice other people worthy of the august destiny to which it is called.
Anna, its being said the recession is over. With over 400,000 unemployed, this stat rings very hollow, dont you think? I wonder will these people be left that way? Abandoned? Will they be expected to emigrate? While fingers Fingleton and the rest of them languishes in the lap of luxury.
Remember the "glorious" rising was just another Irish unheaval with nothing tangible emenating from it. The power structure only transfered from the British Empire to an Irish power base which favoured cronyism, corruption and the catholic church. The power base just changed accents, thats all. The celtic tiger was a golden opportunity for the doyens of Irish society to prove their patriotism. This they obviously didnt do. Dramatically! If anything they destroyed the aspiration of 1916. Hence all that bloodshed was essentially for NOTHING!!
Dakota
Sadly, Greek riots turned to violence (3 died in a bank fire- their PM said ”Protesting is one thing- but murder is Quite another.”)
However before things got nasty, one Greek protestor was quoted in the Metro on Thursday 6th May saying, (approx)
“Of Course we are protesting about all these cuts in our pay and public expenditure. We are Not going to be robbed to pay for the crimes of the rich- We are NOT Ireland.”
- Thanks Zorba The Truthful, for saying what several million Ordinary Irish didn’t.
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