Socialist TD Paul Murphy and Irish Water protesters, including Ken and Carole Purcell, centre, addressing the media at a press conference in Brookfield Community Centre Tallaght this morning
Further to RTÉ Crime Correspondent Paul Reynolds’ report on Wednesday’s Nine News that the DPP Claire Loftus has directed more than 20 people who took part in the Jobstown protest last November are to be charged, some of those involved held a press conference this morning.
In the Irish Times, Mary Minihan reports:
Protesters who took part in the incident in Jobstown, Dublin last November when Tánaiste Joan Burton was trapped in her car have warned Government Ministers they can expect worse treatment….“It’s not a personal hatred of Joan Burton. I don’t know the woman. Nobody here knows the woman. But it’s a hatred of what she represents politically which is a complete sell-out of people and then really laying the boot into working class communities,” Mr [Paul] Murphy said.
Meanwhile, RTÉ reports:
“Carole Purcell and her husband Ken said they found out about the possible charges when they read it in the newspaper on Thursday, after it was reported by RTÉ the previous evening…Ken Purcell said he hoped gardaÍ would contact their solicitor so that they would know where they stood.”
Water protesters warn Government of ‘a hell of a lot worse’ (Irish Times)
Jobstown residents express fear over possible protest charges (RTÉ)
Pic: Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
Earlier: Iffy Leaks
….“It’s not a personal hatred of Joan Burton. I don’t know the woman. Nobody here knows the woman. But it’s a hatred of what she represents politically…..”
Said Deputy Murphy under a giant picture of Joan Burton.
Well, she is the “poster girl” for the issue and the point he is making, is she not?
She is the poster girl for what exactly?
Broken promises & austerity.
Yes, which is Murphy’s point.
Poster girl for head like a bag a spanners.
Just messin’… Poster girl for austerity and broken promises.
Don’t reply gowl. You’re annoying.
Not you clampers, the medium sized pest I mean..
Great title! Now I must listen to Real Love…
Real Life even. I’m her number 1 fan :D
Best Headline EVAR!
I don’t get the headline.
I don’t either, and I feel sad and left out. :(
It’s a band name init
Superb
Great headline!
This is going to be a compete sh**storm for the government.
I don’t think so. It’s a Garda matter to do with charging individuals with criminal behaviour. Not a government matter at all. (unless you swallow conspiracy theories fr breakfast)
I don’t think that matters. The way in which this was done, the fact it’s these particular charges. It’s not going to end well.
People who hate the government will continue to hate them. Those who don’t hate them already won’t really care. It will be a sh*tstorm in your mind and in similar minds.
Owen, you know nothing about how I think.
You said it will be a sh*tstorm. Its fair to say you think it will be a sh*tstorm. You’re really not that mysterious.
That’s not what you meant though is it Owen?
Ooh, now looks who’s trying to tell people how they think…Ah irony…
Oh man, you are so good at the internets!! 5 internet points to you!!
No no no. You need a really mysterious name like Don Pidgeoni before you can get all of those internet points. Avatar that you ridiculous person.
Oh man, another zinger!
I will look you up on Facebook Owen C and then we can be buddies. Let’s meet up this weekend. Maybe we could be like an internet tag team duo. I’m Batman though because you don’t have the chops to be as mysterious as me, the mysterious and outrageously sexy Don P. We could get costumes and all.
I’m reasonably sure you sitting there in your pajamas is enough to scare anyone
I’m actually wearing super sexy sexy pants that drive all the boys wild. They have milkshakes on because I am sexy that Kelis copies my style. When you are in my Batman internet group you can see but only for a down payment of 500 euros per month and no touching the girls.
@Don pidgeoni.. weirdo
Was anybody named in the RTE news report? No. If they were (before being charged) there would be an issue. I get the impression they believe their actions warrant charges…. and I agree.
I don’t know but if it was known who was previously arrested, then it wouldn’t be hard to figure out. I think this is going to look bad for the government and people won’t care or care to make the distinction between who brought the charges.
Bacchus this is Ireland and everyone knows that people who shouldn’t talk to each other DO talk to each other.
Don’t be naive or willfully ignorant, whichever it is.
Left wing politicians have been harassed by An Garda Siochana since the foundation of the state. Almost every single one of them.
Care to give examples?
Clare Daly arrested on suspicion of drink driving which amounted to nothing?
Subsequently picked up while driving into the Dublin port tunnel for SFA.
A true police/fascist gov.
Clare Daly’s example does not count – she did an illegal turn & had a smell of whisky on her breath. This is by her own account. Bringing her into the station to do a blood test was the reasonable course of action tbf.
That being said, I do think that Supercrazyprices is correct at least in regard to ‘extreme’-left politicians. Jimmy Gralton is an example.
In their partial defence, for much of this time there were links between far-left groups and Republican terrorism which terrified the state.
Leaked by Gov to the papers? Governement interfering with policing. Jaysus, how is it NOT a shytestorm??
I’d say more a sandstorm an hourglass
*in an hourglass
We’ll have to wait and see.
I think it will be a good’un.
irish water is dead. the government may just as well admit it, they’ll look less like idiots if they do.
And if they get rid of it who will pick up the tab? To revert backwards will cost a lot more then to move forwards. Looking backwards and learning from it is great, and changing practice. But it is not financially viable to remove Irish water. No government will.
Putting Irish Water back on the government’s balance sheet means there’s less money available for hospitals, schools, homelessness services, etc.
A great victory for the people.
Unless I misunderstood, I thought they made a balls of that aspect so it now has to stay on the balance sheet?
Yeah – it’s on the balance sheet so now the government has roughly 500 million euro less to spend on other services than if IW was off being a semi-state company as planned.
It would have cost the State the same amount regardless surely. They just wanted to keep it off balance sheet so that the stats looked better to our European masters no?
They made a balls by modifying the pricing structure under pressure from an angry electorate.
The stats look better (no small thing since we have signed up to limits on our borrowing) but also it has an impact on the prices at which we can borrow.
It won’t cost because the people are paying for it.
I know, its great the way the government pay other services from tax and we don’t have to worry about it.
” To revert backwards will cost a lot more then to move forwards”
really? do you have the figures? Because it seems to me they’re still chucking buckets of cash at it right now
They will be regardless.
While being paid as a TD and then inciting people to break the law and disrupt the actual working class is treatment enough.
*scratches head*
iMoan Joan strikes again
“I WANNA LIVE LIKE COMMON PEOPLE”
Ha very good
Does anyone know if Joan Burton actually has any power to stop people being charged? I don’t think it’s up to her.
It would be scandalous if she did.
A far greater scandal than this.
Indeed.
…this is similar to football players taking a dive and getting their opponent penalised. Joan may regret the consequences of her pretence in the long run ( although I doubt it ) but this sham has now taken on a life of its own and whatever the outcome it will lead to deeper devisiveness.
Yes, and it’s way too close to an election. Without sounding dramatic, these are very interesting times and this “political policing” claim is still sounding a hard thud, be it true or false.
It doesn’t matter to the election.
The votes this will lose for the Labour party are already lost and most likely were before all this happened.
joanaldo?
…diva!
Does anybody else find ‘Jobstown’ an ironic name?
like Doletown was already taken
*Darndole
If she withdraws her complaint to the Gardaí then this ends.
And I think she will do that before any trials start because she’s afraid of losing her seat.
She didn’t make a complaint to the Gardai. She wouldn’t need to anyway.
Do you think that’s how it works?
Lads great title.
Can anything be done as the media got info beforehand therefore any trial is prejudiced?
Would the knowledge that someone is getting charged for an alleged crime really prejudice a trial?
Due process?
Would the knowledge that someone is getting charged for an alleged crime really prevent someone from being arrested formally and then brought before the courts?
I’m not being smart there, due process means getting charged and having that charge tried before the courts.
It doesn’t have anything to do with who knows about your arrest when.
I really don’t know but there must be something in it if they are bringing it up. Any lawyers here?
The information on arrests and charges are generally public knowledge, except in the case of a minor being involved and needing to protect their identity. Unless you’re in favour of secret trials or something of that nature.
You are saying that there must be something to an allegation if Paul Murphy is moaning about it?
Really?
You’re letting your opinion of someone determine whether it not your should be concerned about this? Really?
Don, two wrongs don’t make a right.
My opinion of Paul Murphy is as valid a reason as the “there is no smoke without fire” fallacy you applied to it.
What’s more Paul Murphy spend way more time trumping things up than the constitution or legal system spends disallowing announcement of charges to media members before people are arrested.
It is bad form, but there is nothing illegal.
If people giving out about being arrested was solid grounds for question arrest you’d be questioning most arrests.
Your opinion of Paul Murphy has nothing to do with it if the charges are jumped up to prevent further protest. If you can’t see that that might be a reason for them, out that there is a basis at ask for them, then you are very naive.
Id rather question the situation than the people who are drawing attention to it.
Oh right.
You don’t think Joan Burton was trapped in her car because people are giving out about it.
You are giving creedance to their objections because of the existance of their objections.
And you think that Joan Burton thinks that arresting people prevents further protest, despite all historical evidence and in believing so, sought the gardai to trump up charges for crimes there is photographic evidence of.
Ok cool, whatever.
I think you’re wrong, again regardless of my opinion of Paul Murphy.
That’s not what I’ve said. I don’t think that Joan Burton being in her car is imprisonment. Public order probably but not imprisonment. That is what I give credence to.
I don’t think that Joan herself had ordered these particular charges but I’m also not naive enough to think that these charges haven’t been chosen without a particular reason in mind. I do not think they will stick and i think that will repercussions.
I would always question the use of the courts when it comes to prosecuting protest because this is how governments try to squash protest. Look at student protest in the UK which hasd effectively been destroyed by involving the courts.
If you want to let your opinion of one man cloud your judgement of the situation, knock yourself out. But it would be very silly.
Out.
Don’t piss on people for assuming how you are thinking then assume how other people think. It makes you look a hypocrit.
Fluffy is trying to open the floodgates.
…that defence only seems to work if your name is Sean Fitzpatrick.
But it didn’t work for him…
Anyone know how he defines he defines the working class?
Or what he means by Joan putting the boot in?
I need a translation from nineteenth century language.
Suffragettes were breaking the law, run-away slaves were breaking the law, anti-apartheid folks were breaking the law, brits protesting against bad nuclear waste disposal were breaking the law…
Are you joking?
Considering that water is considered a human right and the first three are examples of human rights protest or violations, then, it’s a fair point in some regard…. not sure about the nuclear thing though :)
It isn’t.
Free Potable water isn’t a human right.
To expand, women were genuinely disenfranchised by not having the right to vote.
People were literally demeaned, treated as sub-human, killed and denied participation in democracy by apartheid.
People in Germany aren’t dehumanised or denied franchise by paying for water.
Can I just be general about it, you know, a bit grey, and pass on the specifics please :)
Then why have the government categorically stated that nobody will have their water turned off if they don’t pay their bill? If it’s just another utility, just cut off the supply until people pay up.
Because politics.
Go find me the declaration of free potable water as a human right.
Then go to most of Europe and campaign against their human rights record.
So the water-payment scheme operating in every single other OECD country other than this one is equivalent to the slave trade?
FFS
Clampers, I presume you will next campaign for every group scheme in the country to be taken over by the govt? And for the govt to take over the operation & maintenance of individual septic tanks nationwide?
‘Cause if it is a human right for those living in urban areas, it is a human right for those living in the countryside.
So a water bill is on a par with being considered a legal non-person? Right-y oh so….
and here-in lies the problem with the loony hard left view on things. Given our progressive taxation system, higher earners must pay for free water for lower earners.
Huh? The way this is being set up is not progressive. You have a lone parent or a pensioner paying the same amount as an MD of a successful company. That’s not very equitable. Why not raise taxes, get it up and running, sort out the leaks, and then start charging for the supply. Seems a fairer way to do it.
I think that a means tested allowance and a flat rate for consumption is way more fair for a commodity.
As in give a fixed amount for free to those who are less able to pay. That is equitable.
You can’t get more equitable than pay for what you use and a fixed allowance for people who can’t pay means that people with diminished capacity get covered by the state. If you go over the allowance, you can always use less. Provided the fixed amount is right.
I like the raise taxes bit.
The only think you’re missing is that I think you underestimate how much it would cost to fix.
Ted Bundy was breaking the law. Larry Murphy was breaking the law. Charlie Manson was breaking the law…
joan should be charged with incitement to hatred…..of herself!!…..lol………………….lol…LOL..L
Are they not the thugs who were harassing the labour candidates and filming it?!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z1AQ2vzUKC0
Not very nice people by the looks of it.
Cops leaking information again. Didn’t learn from the Roma case. Fat dickheads.
Individual leak information. It happens everywhere. It is part of the nature of humans.
Sometime it suits the story or side you are on. Sometimes it doesn’t. I didn’t hear anybody complaining about leaks when Shatter was being slowly destroyed by his political enemies.
Leave this debate until Monday as it will be addressed by Dr. Geography in his Monday musings. Oh to curtail freedom of expression and lessen my headache.
Hopefully these working class heroes will see the irony in the tax payer covering their legal aid in order that they can try to avoid paying tax whilst sitting at home receiving welfare benefits paid for by the taxpayer.
That comment says more about you than anyone else.
Yes it says I pay tax and fund the welfare state. Unfortunately I don’t get a say in what my hard earned taxes pay for but, if I did, I sure as hell wouldn’t be paying this lot’s legal aid.
No, that’s not what it says.
Oh, ok then. Sorry for the confusion
I know that understanding that people who working class and might actually have jobs and be politically engaged must be confusing for you but you’ll get there one day.
Paul Murphy is such an absolute demagogue, it’s unbelievable. Being against Irish Water and protesting/campaigning to change it is one thing. Whipping disaffected and angry people into even more of a frenzy and then setting them off and denying responsibility is disturbing.
+ 1.
-6%
So, it’s all a co-incidence eh?
Who’s the bigger threat to democracy? Jobstown water protestors and Paul Murphy or [Redacted]?
And what of the leaks to An Garda’s favourite drinking buddy?
“Someone’s treating the law as a political tool. They expect the Minister for Justice to just sit and take this, as though she doesn’t have a responsibility to protect the integrity of the criminal justice system.
But, of course, Fine Gael is the law-and-order party, and so, already – well, eh, nothing.”
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/columnists/gene-kerrigan/minister-watch-out-its-that-smell-again-31454188.html
Burton and Co carry around their sense of importance and entitlement like a stink. Any wonder she and her buddies are on 6%.
She’ll be back book-keeping and enjoying her fat pension early in 18 months.
‘Who’s the bigger threat to democracy? Jobstown water protestors and Paul Murphy or [Redacted]?’
Do we have choose one single threat? I think they both are. Clearly [Redacted] has the bigger potential for ill (and good) given his immense wealth. Does that mean that all other criminality
What of the leaks? That’s how newspapers get stories. That’s how I know much about TTIP, about GSOC, etc.
Too right they should be arrested. As a whole, what happened that day to the minister was a disgrace. If those people have a problem paying water charges now then they are definitely going to have a problem in 30 years time when income and car tax takings are reduced so hugely that the state won’t be able to afford to to run our water services. it’s called forward thinking.
The words you’re looking for are “It’s called a con whereby both politicos and their mates get paid.”
She’s on 6% and she knows it.