Category Archives: Misc

90409926

President Michael Higgins and Sabina Higgins voting In general Election 2016 at St Mary’s Hospital polling station, Phoenix Park this morning

 

It’s Show Time!

Frilly Keane writes:

Do you know, earlier this week that Bishop fella was on the wireless telling us that it was a very boring election. I write this now, days later, still wondering if he was talking about China again.

Stop whinging Des. It’s bin’a beauty!

So many have never waited on an election for so long; and yet even the premier level players in this game got caught in the wrong gear when the lights went to amber.

Gender Quotas pissing off the FFsakers, John Perry giving it loads, Independent candidates growing like weeds, and now, and well into the Green light, a Healy Rae eile is grabbing a hould’ of the gravy train.

We’ve even had some superb poster miss-action going on too (my favourite is Wallace’s No Ties in 3D btw) and this weekend past the Shinners actually grassed up the Blueshirts for nicking a few flyers. Sur’ you couldn’t make that up.

There has always been flying poster patrols, and the nudge nudge wink wink divvying up the constituency between opposite candidates and their crews, but GE16 is nothing less than pure Dog eat Dog. Between the party candidates, the non-candidates, the independents, the activists, the press, even neighbourhood watch has got into the mellee (if Dorset Stree’ is an’ting to go by.)

On my own street, Mickey Martian couldn’t get out of the car, and he’s a mere opposition TD looking for re-election. Experienced Leinster House passengers are having to venture into territories unknown, with Lowry having a naw’ful time of it in South Riding, and the Healy-Reas are in Naurt Kirrie for the first time in their baldy brazen lives.

We even have nasties coming out of the woodwork like never before. Where was Barrister O’Halloran last time out? Or the time before that? Or the time before that? Looking for grander call up maybe? We may never know. But what we do know is that evidence of the most shocking neglect and behaviour by a Government Minister is not even headline news. I don’t consider that to be boring. Des. It’s scandalous.

The complete lack of manners by some of the candidates is not boring. It’s foul. TWO, not one but two, senior Government Ministers never even bothered their wholes turning up to a Peoples Debate in their own constituency. That should never happen in Ireland. Why? Because they live locally and are in good health, that’s why.

They have drivers and transport that we pay for to bring them door to door at their own whims. Leo bhoy, you’ve no excuse other than your typically Noonan manners. Joan, enjoy the two fingers you’ll be getting today, ‘cause I certainly will, you are a coward and a fraud. You couldn’t even summon up the effort for a last fighting stand for the party that elected you their Leader in RTE the other night. Anyway, rant over.

GE16 has it all and some new ones: Fiscal Spacers. Renu’aryan Brotherhood. Different versions and combinations of the letter A that would leave Sesame Street in the Junior B divisions. And The Colour Purple.

Is that Boring?

I tell you what is boring tho’, the predictable front pages of the Sin/Indo and the Irish Times, Paul Williams’ look-at-me appearances and rants, and that Prone’wan.

Although, the latter is a business person, it’s all just a paying gig to her. To Ms Prone’s organisation, Politics is only commerce, and GE16 an earner, nothing else. Once you accept that she becomes mundane and every day, like the ESB bill.

The conduct of RTE has been particularly noticeable in this General Election. REPORT THE NEWS. Ta’uck to who is on your board, or who is on the Montrose fleet of panels and couches. REPORT THE ‘EFFIN’ NEWS.

I’m keeping it short this week. I’ve a busy day stuffing ballot boxes.

But when ye read this, most of ye won’t have voted. So remember if you vote for a Fine Gael Candidate, any Fine Gael Candidate, you are endorsing Michael Noonan, and all that he did, does, what we don’t yet know and what he is still capable of.

You the Fine Gael voter don’t get to complain about Dopey Charlie Flanagan making a show of us overseas or leaving our citizens rot without trial, or Phil Hogan aping it up like EuroMillions lotto winner.

You don’t get to complain about our Health Services or Shatter being an unprofessional tell-tale or why Frances Fitzgerald can’t connect with the meaning of Justice. You don’t get to whinge.

Look at your ballot sheet very carefully. Identify the candidate and or party that can represent you and ALL of us. All of Us; in Finance, Health and Care in the Community, Social Welfare and Protection, Education and Skills, Housing & Infrastructure, Agriculture & Food, Trade, Investment, Innovation, from Foreign Affairs to Rural Affairs. Ireland needs a Government that will represent and fight for

ALL OF US, and that needs TDs who are qualified, capable, transparent and hard working. TDs who are in it for the long haul as 100% full time Public Representatives.

Look at who they are now and what they can do for ALL of us over the next Dáil term. Vote for Substance and not for historic family connections, 100 year old bullshit, loyalties or habit.

Here’s just one example of a Substance over Style win ye’ll all identify with, Catherine Murphy or Simon Harris?

Vote New Faces into our Government benches. With new faces come new voices, new experience, new dissent, new approaches and a new culture of public service and not self-service. The latter we’ve been enabling for too long. We need new people to break the chain of over indulgence, job-for-the-boys, absurd pay and pensions, zero accountability and F.A. transparency.

Don’t let the Blueshirts, the Labour party or Paul Williams or RTÉ or the Indo Group convince you they are right about Sinn Fein at this level. They are not. Therefore I’m sticking with last week’s prediction; Sinn Fein 37-40 seats.

We must elect a house of whole time political professionals, and not TDs who see politics as a handy gig, or the family business, or a business opportunity, or a career break

Use it well. Tiocfidh.

(btw if anyone wants updates from the Tally in a double constituency count centre, stay tuned @frillykeane)

Rollingnews

90410022 90410023 90410027 9041002890410021

This morning/afternoon

Mountjoy Street, Dublin 7

Sam writes:

The building where it has been reported that there is a proposed eviction of 13 families who have been living in emergency accommodation…. The families were served with a notice stating that they were to be evicted on 26 February, election day, on 18 February. The stated reason for the eviction is an increase in the property’s rent which Dublin City Council (DCC) would not match.

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

iyr

Democracy is a beautiful thing.

So why do we only get to do it every five years?

Peter O’Neill writes:

Today is the day many of us have been waiting five years for. Today is the day that we, as citizen of Ireland, get the chance to exercise our democratic right to vote candidates into the up-coming 32nd Dáil.

Yet, it would seem those that are hoping, nay praying, for your vote wish to extend the ‘democratic process’ only so far. The joke about ‘only seeing a politician every five years only when they are looking for your vote’ doesn’t seem so funny but becomes more of a truism, a fact of life.

Politicos want your vote; after that, they want you to go away and leave them alone for the next five years – hopefully they can do well; maybe go on to form a Government, get a Ministerial position and then, who knows? But addressing the will of the people and what they want – no.

Let me give you an example: While watching Vincent Browne’s The Peoples’ Debate last Monday night every candidates running for the General Election and looking for YOUR vote was asked a very simple Yes/No question by the presenter, Mr Browne.

The question was: Are you in favour of a referendum whereby people can choose to repeal the Eighth Amendment?

Not: Are you in favour of repealing the Eighth? But: Are you in favour of a referendum to repeal the Eighth?

Out of 13 candidates nearly half of them, six, said: No – they were not in favour of allowing a referendum – with many of those negative responses coming from the usual ‘Establishment parties’. And herein lies the problem.

Due to the political system we operate in this country, the people who we elect to represent us will decide for us what is good for us – a moral yard stick decider for us, if you will. Or, more importantly, they will decide what ‘We’ the people are allowed to decide on! In other words: they will only allow referenda to go to the people on matters which suit them.

This could be seen ‘in all its glory’ on Monday night when a number of candidates claimed that repealing the Eighth amendment wasn’t an election issue, for them.

While the issue was only raised once during the three Leaders’ Debates, the latest Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll found that nearly two thirds of respondents, or 64%, were in favour of repealing the Eighth.

Maybe another example: the Marriage Equality referendum last year – the proposal for which came through the Constitutional Convention.

This grouping consisted of 100 representatives, made up of politicians and ordinary citizens, who debated on proposals submitted by the general public and then voted on their preference for such proposals and these were then passed onto Government who then decided what proposals they would ‘allow’ to be put to the people by referendum in order to alter our Constitution and change society – hopefully for the betterment for all.

And while the Marriage Equality Referendum was a very worthy exercise to those who supported it, we also had a referendum running congruently on the proposal to lower the restriction on the age of the Presidency from 35 to 21 years of age and this is the crux of the issue.

The Constitutional Convention voted by 50% to lower the presidential age, however, they also voted by a whopping 83% to reintroduce the concept of Direct Democracy (Articles 47 & 48) back into the constitution.

Yet, the Government decided lowering the Presidential age was the most relevant proposal to put to the people!

While the Children’s Referendum of 2012 was another worthy and worthwhile exercise for both the protection of children and democracy, however, the Abolition of the Séanad Referendum of 2013 was seen as nothing but a power grab by the Government.

So instead Án Táoiseach, Enda Kenny, promised reform of the Séanad, yet there was little or nothing to show for it at the end of his term as Táoiseach, while the proposal for Direct Democracy never saw the light of day.

Yet, the concept of Direct Democracy is not something new. It was in our very first Free State constitution. However, as Article 50 of that constitution allowed an eight year period for amendments to be made, under the Cumann na nGaedheal Government led by WT Cosgrave, articles 47 and 48 were removed from the constitution forever and, after eight years, so was Article 50.

Reportedly, 100,000 signatures were collected at the time to retain both articles 47 and 48, yet the will of the people was ignored and this is where the solution lies with useless referenda.

For over a year the grassroots organisation the One Year Initiative has been canvassing candidates running in the General Election in an attempt to get the candidates to sign up to the principles of Direct Democracy.

Its aims are simple: it wishes to empower citizens through concepts such as citizen initiated referendums, allowing people a veto to stop government implementing unwanted legislation and actually allowing the people to create their own legislation (Article 47); as well as create a safety net for citizens so that politicians can be held accountable (Article 48).

There are 133 candidates running who have signed up to the One Year Initiative, yet, unsurprisingly, there are no signatories from the ‘Establishment parties’,

But, imagine that, eh – a politician being held accountable and having to stand by their convictions in Ireland? Now, that would be a ‘change’.

Direct Democracy Ireland (Facebook)

 

Hmm.

Alternatively,

Whingers of the State unite,
Now is the time to put it right,
Let’s get out and cast our votes,
And see if we can get this country afloat.

While Ireland was sinking, under the floods,
And Irish Water, that shower of hoods,
Were going around spending money like water,
Digging holes in the ground, and giving no quarter.

Some years ago we heard it said,
“That the rising tide would raise all boats”,
But we’ve seen what that group did,
And how and why they turned their coats.

Now that other shower have done no better,
In fact they follow things to the letter.
So now it’s time to change the team,
And hope that they don’t run out of steam.

Because hope is all that we seem to have left,
When of all our entitlements, we are bereft.
Hope that there is a different solution,
And an end to all this verbal pollution.

Frank Cronin

Presumably: Why Didn’t They Exhume?

The Thin Blue Timeline

5FB

Music writer Mike McGrath-Bryan (above).

Not just a buffed-up, mid-career Elvis Costello lookalike.

He’s claimed a coveted beanbag desk in Karl’s den. the Broadsheet office.

Mike writes:

I’m the new music writer for Broadsheet, handling the site’s daily ‘You May Like This’ column, talking about festivals, and generally keeping an eye on developments in independent Irish music.

When not scribbling about tunes [ for The Thin Air and others] and being one of those “mature” students, I’m involved in the Cork music community as a DIY promoter, disc-jock and occasional jamming/improv musician, as well as presenting and producing shows for community online radio station Room101.

“I also help run a newly-established night in the Friary in Cork called STRICT. Indie, electronic, hip-hop, ska/reggae, funk, and whatever else, old and new. Free in, plus the venue’s usual selection of craft beers, boardgames and other cool stuff.”

Yes, I’ve seen your comments. Yes, I am working on toning the writing style down.

Indie lovely?

Fight!

All music related items marked ‘Mike‘ to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie

1916bus

For ‘trams curious’ Dublin Bus porn fans.

How they wrapped the 1916 Tour double decker.

Ian Duffy writes:

The amount of hard work and dedication that goes into designing and wrapping a bus is staggering. The people at Freeney’s Graphic’s spent countless hours working on this new 1916 Dublin Bus that’s now on the streets, and their attention to detail was amazing…

*swoon*

Freeney’s Graphics