60 thoughts on “Meanwhile, In Sligo”

    1. Surely They Wouldn't Lie To Us

      Not a chance they need violence to deter a mass protest next month.
      Divide and conquer

    2. Samuel

      Yes, because when these people go to their local shop, they peacefully buy bottles of what they’re otherwise claiming to be their right to have. The world of plenty is gone. Get with the times.

          1. Samuel

            We live in a commercial world. I didn’t make, and we’ve passed the infliction point to reverse it, so we should deal with it instead of hassling politicians. However, if you want to hassle a politician, it was Fianna Fáilure that got us here

          2. Mike

            +1 on the fianna f*ckwits, but otherwise fight this crap. With Peoples normal taxes (never mind usc etc) State would have enuf to pay for decent water system and much more besides if same dickhead politicians (under watchful eye of judiciary, cops, media and any practically other institution) hadn’t pissed away 100bn+ on foreign/ failed banks.

          3. cluster

            It’s a false binary option, OC.

            It’s an interesting question. How much overlap is there between the aims of the current protestors?

            The answer to that will determine how successful the govt will be in pushing IW through.

        2. Samuel

          Do bottles of Ballygowan fall from the sky, … eh “Walter-Ego”. Do you pay for them when you get one from the shops?

          1. Samuel

            OC – do you have any idea how much it costs to get the water to your home. Cleaned, filtered, etc. If you’ve a problem, buy some buckets, and use the water from the sky, your drain pipes, etc. Then find something else to moan about.

          2. Original Cynic

            I have an idea of what it costs. I don’t have a problem with it. I will find something else to “moan” about when I choose to do so.

          1. Banotti

            You big jessy. Protestor in charging and smacking leaders car during heated protest gets thrown onto the ground shocker.

          3. munkifisht

            What I saw was a protester, a young girl who looks like she weighs 8 st nothing, that could easily have been restrained by a single Gaurd being flung into a post. There was no concern for her safety in any way shape or form. She could easily have gone into that pillar head first. I agree she should be restrained, but three gaurds grabbing her and flinging her at the closest thing that could cause her serious injury is insane. The Garda’s motto is “the Guardian of the Peace”, not “The Thugs of the Rulling Powers”

          4. Banotti

            She’s a grown adult. She made her choices and received a tiny bruise for her troubles. Stop being dramatic.

          5. munkifisht

            I’m not being dramatic. I’m a realist. The realism is the actions of the garuds in that instance were dangerous. They could easily have restrained her in more responsibly and with more respect for her safety. There was ONE protester at the car, looks like 50 Gaurds in the area, 6 or so around the car, there was no danger, or are you suggesting that ANY force is allowable if people protest? How about they took out their night sticks and broke her arm? How about her face?

          6. Menace

            She pushed a guard out into the road in order to run towards the car. Does that count as assault too? What if he’d been hit by the car, or her for that matter? Would be a lot worse than being removed and, yes, hitting a bollard, with her hip.

          7. Sam

            A tiny bruise for her troubles. Since when are the cops in charge of ‘handing out slaps’?
            If she’s causing a breach of the peace, you grab her and arrest her. Throwing her to the ground is what’s known in legal terms as assault.
            Of course, some people think that wearing a Garda uniform someone makes that a-ok.
            You try lecturing people who throw eggs and water balloons about water protests, when they can point at cops assaulting people, in various locations at various protests.

          8. Banotti

            I think it would be acceptable if they had their batons drawn and smashed her across the body when she rushed the car. If she suffered a serious injury then that is her own problem. The threat of force is there to avoid its use. If people know they are going to get hurt then they will think to protest peacefully.

          9. Banotti

            You are removing the context here. This is not some minor dispute on a quiet housing estate. It’s a highly charged situation that has recently become quite violent. This happened at a critical time as the taoiseach’s car was on the road.

          10. cluster

            Generally the fuss about Gardai protecting politicians from aggressive protestors has struck me as over the top and sometimes infantile.

            This case, though, is reckless and we are lucky she wasn’t more seriously hurt. If Guards want to be treated like respected professionals, they need to act as such. Have they been trained for these kinds of situations?

          12. Alfred E. Neumann

            There is almost no training in Templemore for situations like this, or for anything else. It”s a six-week rubber stamp.

          14. munkifisht

            Right, as I suspected you ARE an idiot Banotti. The Guards are not above the law. That is not controlling the situation, it’s use of excessive force and is in effect assault. Despite all appearances to the contrary, we do not live in a fascist state.

          15. Alfred E. Neumann

            “The new detective course is two weeks in duration and the Garda College in Templemore has planned to run a one-week course for those who have been appointed for some time. Some of those detectives on the course had investigated serious crimes such as rape and complex crimes such as fraud without any formal training.”

            – Garda Inspectorate Report

        2. Jimmy 2 tones

          thats crazy stuff right there, could of just moved her, throwing her into a steel pole. enough enough get out in numbers people & start to stand up for yourselves.

        3. Sancho

          What I dont understand is how she got so close to the car. Fundamentally, this should never have happened; she should not have been able to get past them. She’s a 120 pound woman. What would the Gardai have done is she was a 300 pound man? The Gardai absolutely should be protecting the Taoiseach, – by the looks of it, they are not up to the job. They have no idea how to do it.

      3. Original Cynic

        All of this divisiveness and virtual class-warfare amongst the Irish just to keep the (tax-avoiding) IMF members happy! Sad, sad times.

        1. cluster

          The IMF members are countries, including Ireland.

          What do you mean by ‘(tax avoiding) IMF members’? How does a country avoid tax exactly? Like not paying their UN subs? Or are you referring to countries within the IMF which facilitate tax avoidance, including arguably Ireland.

          4. cluster

            Christine Lagarde is not a ‘member’ of the IMF, just a politician/executive heading it up at the moment.

          5. Original Cynic

            So, the “head” of the IMF avoids paying tax and claims incalculable expenses just like the rest of us …. – no problem here!

          8. Alfred E. Neumann

            I don’t think the present protests have been orchestrated by the IMF as a diversionary tactic, and I don’t know what else you might mean.

          9. Original Cynic

            IMF almost invariably advocate that the countries that they graciously “rescue” sell off their nation’s water to repay them – think we’re actually on the same side here!

  5. Lydia

    As a poster said there they are meant to be guardians of the peace not thugs. We are meant to live in a republic (maybe a few of you need to look the definition up).

  6. ahyeah

    Genuine question here and would be really interested in people’s opinions/takes –

    I don’t understand how it took this long and this much for people to start kicking back. Going back to September 2009 when we were told ‘game’s up, we’re in recession’, bank bailout, IMF in etc etc and all the small (by comparison) stuff that emerged and went on in the meantime… it took water charges to finally piss everyone off? The whole ‘pull a dog’s tail enough and it’ll eventually bite’ explanation seems a little too simplistic, no?

    1. cluster

      I think there are enough different groups/aims at stake here.

      1) Potential privatisation
      2) Govt/semi state waste – Bord Gais won on the basis of expertise which they went and sold to Centrica. Too many employees such that a HSE could be in the making. CEO has a record which is not popular.
      3) Consultants – linked with the above. Public bodies seem to piss away huge amounts if money in consultants fees. IW looks to be the same & very little of which is directly water infrastructure it engineering.
      4) Can’t pay/won’t pay – there’s your dog’s tail but also some deep seated Irish attitudes to public services. The false-martyr where we like to think that we have things uniquely bad & also our unwillingness to face up to our challenges in a mature, practical way.
      5) The shine has gone off Enda and co. No real public sector reform, explosion of decades of poor FF management if AGS etc under this govt, clumsy handling of issues as diverse as whistleblowers, LPT, relations with DOB, banking inquiry and IW.

      Put them all together, pulling in disparate political aims et voila….

  7. Original Cynic

    Friend is a Home Help for elderly people, who are now literally terrified to have a shower or flush their toilet was my personal last straw!

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