Dublin has had water restrictions since before Christmas (I speak of Dublin, as that is my own theatre of experience - but many other parts of the country are similarly affected). We've had no water for weeks now between the hours of 7pm - 7am.
That's bad - especially on a sodden, windswept, miserable piece of muck and rock in the Atlantic that is surrounded by the stuff, soaked by constant precipitation, and is home to some of the largest freshwater lakes in the EU.
Even now, at 9.30am on a Saturday morning, there is no water - despite Fingal County Council's claim that there are to be no water restrictions during the weekend.
Oh. And it is absolutely pissing down outside.
Right, that's it. I'm off to B&Q for a plastic barrel.
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11 comments:
Puss-filled Carbuncle (Irish Independent)
I respect your opinion about Ireland being a 'miserable piece of muck', but I do not agree that the land is the problem. The people who vote for poorly educated politicians who are steeped in guile and cunning (many do not have a degree in anything)are the problem. The people who continue to put up with lack of basic amenities like shortage of water are the problem.
The headings of today’s papers (world wide) espouse the Tunisian people for getting rid of their leader. Ireland should do likewise.
RTE and Fianna fail are virtually synonymous in character insofar the many relatives of Fianna Fail politicians are deeply embedded in that right wing organisation so of course there is censorship and obfuscation of the truth.
Strange that you should mention Gobbles because Fianna Fail a.k.a. Fianna Fascist (Schutzstaffel na hEireann) is like the SS in their attitude to social justice. Ireland is Theocracy and Plutocracy where the just 2% of the population own and control everything.
Fianna Fail have the power and do not be mistaken, they intend to keep it. If the people did rebel like in Tunisia, they would soon end up in a “Stalag” on an island off the west coast of Ireland.
Changing Mr Cowen will not change the culture that bred this puss-filled carbuncle of iniquity (Today's Irish Independent). When Al Capone went to prison, crime still thrived. In Ireland there is a cynical superficial veneer of religious and social morality, but in reality there is wholesale political corruption with the acquiescence of the religious leaders and the people too. It is pure Machiavellian Theatre like a renaissance principality. The rich rule; the poor obey.
DBMG
Geldof was right "Banana republic"
Yes, Anon. Our Bob had it spot-on, all those years ago.
David, I liken the relationship between the political and bureaucratic elite with the great Irish public as a shepherd and his/her sheep. Or a drover leading cattle to the slaughter.
Orwell is another one that comes to mind, with Napoleon's demonisation of the exile Snowball. Though Orwell had Stalin and Trotsky in mind with these characterisations, I always see the "Brits" and the fabled "800 years" as the Irish elite's Snowball.
As a friend of mine says, my only criticism of the British is that they didn't put a bullet in Dev when they had the chance.
A WARNING FROM HISTORY
Bunreacht na hEireann replaced by: Schutzstaffel na hEireann
The Puss-filled Carbuncle of Purification that presents a stink of corruption of Fianna Fail, TD‘s , Senators and Judges of the Fianna Fascist Party High Command (Schutzstaffel na hEireann)is and has been in Ireland since 1922.
Warning: be careful how you breathe; it might be wrong, and you might be sentenced to five years hard labour on a remote island Stalag by most the most honourable, articulate, wise and perspicacious Judge Mary Devins or one of her Fianna Fail cohorts. The law should be above politics, (but not in Ireland). The law is married to politics and serves political objectives only.
Fianna Fail will soon find a way to hang on to power and money (Your money). They may concoct some sort of terrorist threat that will delay the election until they cover their tracks for the crimes they have committed.
Remember the Nuremberg trials showed the Judges to be willingly complicit in the Nazi horrors. Any opposition politician in Ireland at present should be careful, and listen out for words like Troika, Gulag or Stalag.
A wise opposition politician (of any sort) should reconnoitre the outer uninhabited islands of the west coast of Ireland just to check what new secret building programmes were going on there, because it could be your new home. Conspiracy? NO! Suspicion? YES!
If you doubt this just read: “The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksander Solzhenitsyn ISBN 0-06-013914-5. Harper and Row.
And Finally, “Hail Mary” might come to mean “Sieg Heil Mary”. Listen out for the sound of "Broken Glass," because it could be your glass that is being broken.
DBMG
The problem as stated is the public letting assholes run the country
But they won't do anything to change it
They moan and they bitch about it but when a politician says "bend over to I can screw you in the arse again" they all bend over.
Why?
I honestly don't know, it's the same whenever you mention "England" it brings up coments of hrror or discust - yet what happened was further back then the 1st or 2nd world wars, was nothing compared to the German gas chambers or the horrors that went on in Japanese prison camps - yet no mention of that, people are quick to praise Germany and Japan and forgive (as they should) yet because one of their friends is one of these "old time stuck up your arse hating England Irish" they stick with them and copy them - so much so that they even believe the hatred themselves
Even though if you sat down and talked to them properly and got them to explain their reasons and you showed them comparisons they'd probably agree your right - but next day still be sticking to the original views.
Its inbred - keep the hatred - keep the assholes in power
even though they KNOW they are being screwed they let it carry on
The media I suspect and I dont know but I suspect is controlled by the state they only publish and print that they are allowed and told they can print and publicise
that may be though legislation, or by being owned by someone high up in certain political parties or just by being threatened by people high up in the goverment who is a member of a political party - I don't know but I suspect if the truth is known there is more censorship in Ireland (AND England) than Russia.
(you may wish to edit certain words or not print this I did kinda say how I felt)
Yes I am really pissed off about the water situation - it don't affect me it affects my elderly disabled parents and what country in the civilised world would just leave disabled pensioners with no water for weeks?
Even the worse countries would put in stand pipes to get buckets of water, bring round a water lorry once a day so people could get water or even commandeer every bottle of water in the shops and distribute it
but no - not Longford Council (maybe other councils in Ireland are similar I don't know I only have experience of Longford)
Oh an update I just read in the local Longford paper, the council shut off water to one or two of the "POSH" new partly unfinished estates but put in a stopcock sop people could get water still - yet they leave pensioners on council estates with none
Arghh gets my blood boiling.
You are right, David. Swapping Cowen for another lacky will do nothing for real change. But I'd still like to see some heads rolling and I'd still like to see Fianna Fail getting hammered at the elections. I would love to see them obsolete, but I fear they will only be out of office for four years.
Lew, it is a scandal - and one that the Irish public take in as docile and sheeplike a fashion as usual.
I agree 100% with everything you said in your post.
don't forget - no other country in Europe has unfit drinking water. I know people in Leitrim who only drink bottled water. I also know a 30 year old Kildare man who said that when he was young his clothes always were a bit discoloured after coming out of the wash!And Galway had big problems with its drinking water in recent years.And yet, even in the boom No-One demanded any improvemetn.Reasons- people were always told'We're a poor country.' No- a rich parasite class alwsy did well..Its right to emphasise these problems agian and agian- and GM Deserves applause for highlighting what RTE doesnt evne bother mentioning. N Irealnd had a water crisis too, in the cold snap, ( its mostly over but a few thousand people are still having problems. HOWEVER- the media Never dropped the story- local GPs and MPs consantly highlighted the problems people were having , leisure centres opened to provide showers and bottled water, tankers of water were in public places- and now there are demands for head of NI water to resign. Here More people were and still are affected, as Lew says in places like Leitrim little is done for them- and as GM Rightly pointed out RTE pretends it is not happening- that's what you pay your licence fee for. Like Russia before And After revolution: we're ruled by 2% of nation who treat us like serfs.And as for our official media ...Russians had the state paper Pravda ( which means 'truth') ..Actually RTE doesn't tell lies......but it just isn't mcuh interested in telling the truth either.
We should be looking to the people of Tunisia for inspiration! They simply have had enough. Unfortunately the Irish people have been bred to obey and accept the line fed them through generations of corrupt politicians and their families, starting with Dev and his cronies. Like GM says I hope FF become obsolete at the next general election. Hopefully Biffo wins his confidence vote and leads them to the path of total destruction. Sadly the realist in me will probably be sickened when the votes come in and many of these 'generational' FF heads retain their seats.
Anna, Carlos. We are in the ha'penny place and no mistake. If I had some transerable skills I would be out of here, and no shilly-shallying.
Bana Republic is the exact term! when politicians that are well established and bigger than life and who lies but get elected anyways is indeed surely in a third world country.
Someone mentioned the problem with Irish society. This is a small country. It's allegedly a meritocracy - and in theory everyone has equal opportunity - it's just that some are more equal than others. The Law and Medicine are married into Politics. Brian Lenehan's wife is a judge. Mary Hanafin's family - legal eagles. Judge D's spouse - prominant consultant. The media, in all its forms, are also comprised of people connected through intermarriage and business deals and tax breaks and investments. We are a tiny country, don't forget it. This is an anonymous forum but if we all sat down and revealed our 'true identities' - like the superheroes we are - we'd probably unravel a load of connections, eg went to school with my..., cousin is married to my..., used to go out with my friend... etc etc. All very well until it effects the actual running of the country. And that is what is going on. The news that RTE highlights is agenda driven ('Folk Devils and Moral Panics'), the odd occasional witch hunt serves to distract from the political facts (when the country was going to ruin, the leader was being interviewed in court over his own financial iregularities - what was RTE's big focus? Nursing homes. Hospitals were falling apart mind you). It doesn't have to be like that. When RTE or the papers publish a load of misleading tosh, or lead with a smokescreen, challenge them! It shouldn't be an 'us' and 'them' - stand up! Gombeen Man, run for election! And was anybody delighted when Ms Harney resigned her post? She'd been in it so long it was like a 'job for life' instead of temporarily holding the baton and trying to make things better. Septic isle is right. A new rain is going to come... (joke, am not advocating any Scorsesean antics!!! Yet.)
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