Tag Archives: Dan Boyle

Irish-cottage-scenedan

From top: Donegal cottage, 1930s: Dan Boyle

Austerity now.

Austerity Then.

The similarities are not just superficial.

Dan Boyle writes:

It was The Mother’s birthday last weekend. She was born in the 1930s. It occurred to me that the time span between now and then, when applied to before her birth, would have brought her life towards the end of The Great Famine in Ireland and before the start of the American Civil War. So much history enveloped into two life spans.

Thinking of when she was born brought to mind that distinctly harrowing decade of the 1930s. A lot of parallels seem to exist between then and now. It was a decade entered into on the back of a collapse in the global economy, made worse in Ireland. Then we were engaged in an economic war with the British. Now we are economically in thrall to the whims of the Germans. We seem to have lived with austerity more often than we’re prepared to admit.

Then the coming force in Irish politics was a group of people, who several years previously, believed their political goals were best delivered through the barrel of a gun. The leader of that group, patrician like, sought to distance himself from such grubby activity. Thankfully shameless re-positioning like this isn’t practiced any longer in Irish politics.

Then, throughout the rest of Europe, the complacent centre was failing to hold. The disenfranchised and the dispossessed were being attracted to extremes both of the right and the left. Now rejecting old certainties is the reaction of the day.

The comparisons between then and now are largely superficial though. Take the example of poverty. Then poverty was absolute, now it tends to be relative. Then social needs were unmet because of a lack of resources. Now they exist because resources are misallocated.

My mother’s childhood was cloaked in a middle class comfort. Her dad, my grandfather, worked with the newly formed Electricity Supply Board. Apparently it was possible then to establish a state owned company, responsible for the fair and efficient distribution of a public utility.

My own Dad was at the same time living in another Ireland. On another island, Arranmore off the coast of Donegal, in a family home without electricity or plumbing.

How we remember history, especially our personal histories, determines how we make sense of the present. It’s the scale we often get wrong. The relationship between past, present and future isn’t necessarily linear, but it has tended to be progressive.

Are there still flaws? Many, with continuing injustices in place. Are we dealing with these with a sufficient sense of urgency? No, but the amount of what is wrong has been reduced.

In Ireland we have evolved as a society and have progressed as an economy. There have been steps back that have been followed by leaps forward. There have been collective qualities we have lost that we should seek to regain. Technology has helped make life easier but has also made life more complicated.

The future will always be uncertain. We shouldn’t burden it with prophecies of doom. We have no reason to believe that the journey from now to the future will be any less successful than the journey we have made from the past to now.

We should hope though that we don’t choose the route chosen by the rest of the World to escape the torpor of the 1930s. World War Three would be the last in that series.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party Senator.

Top pic via irish Archaeology

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From Left Roisin Shorthall, Catherine Murphy and Stephen Donnelly at the Social Democrats launch yesterday

The Social Democrats.

A short-lived home for popular if routinely disaffected TDs?

Dan Boyle writes:

And so we have a new political party. Formed by three of the more able members of the current Dáil it has a chance of being something different.

Against that it is starting life in much the same way as most political parties in Ireland have been established, being part of the system it wants to change.

Since the foundation of the State only Clann na Talmhan, Clann na Poblachta and The Green Party can be said to have become involved in the political system having been formed from outside of it.

Most ‘new’ political parties have been breakaways from traditional parties. Some have have been new alignments. Some of the more committed independents become frustrated at the limits an individual can do before seeking out other like minded people.

Some of the more iconoclastic members of the Dáil have flitted between both. James Dillon was elected first for the short lived National Centre Party, a brief tying together of the remnants of the old Farmers Party and the National League (itself the dying embers of the Irish Parliamentary Party that last represented Irish interests in Westminster).

The Centre Party became one of the founding components of Fine Gael, from whom Dillon would resign over the question of Irish neutrality during the Second World War. He was still independent in 1948 when he persuaded other independents to support him for cabinet membership.

With the Independent Alliance now, maybe more properly called The Committee To Make Shane Ross A Cabinet Minister, Deputy Ross is hoping that history can repeat itself. The Independent grouping in 1948 as with its Alliance counterpart now, was a fairly motley grouping.

Among Dillon’s supporters then was Oliver J. Flanagan, who while nominally an independent claimed to represent a national movement known as ‘Monetary Reform’. It seems we treated currency issues more seriously then.

The much admired Noel Browne hardly showed himself to be a model of consistency. Elected first as a Clann na Poblachta Minister he was then elected an independent TD, then as a Fianna Fáil TD. When elected again as an independent TD he formed with Jack McQuillan the National Progressive Democrats (not to be confused with).

While effective in opposition no real effort was made to build a party. One by-election was contested but only three candidates contested the 1961 election for the party. Browne and McQuillan were reelected of course, but both were soon to join the Labour Party. This was another party Browne was eventually to leave. There was one more flag for Noel Browne to wave that of the Socialist Labour Party in 1981. Of course this too would end in tears.

In positioning themselves between Labour and Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats could attract disappointed Labour votes on one side and from those who see Sinn Féin as an imperfect protest vehicle on the other. In this they seem better positioned than Renua whose placing of itself between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael doesn’t seem likely to have many spare votes available to it.

Either newly formed party should look at the template established 30 years ago with the foundation of the Progressive Democrats. It was formed by three breakaway Fianna Fáil TDs, two of whom, [Desmond] O’Malley and [Mary] Harney, could be said to be creatures of privilege. O’Malley had inherited his uncle’s seat. Harney was appointed to the Seanad directly upon finishing her university degree.

The third TD, a now almost forgotten man was perhaps the strongest reason the PDs achieved initial success. Pearse Wyse, no ideologue, he, knew the importance of winning and holding onto a vote.

Our political careers briefly crossed over. I remember being regaled at a doorstep by a supporter of his, who let me know that as a Corporation tenant, Pearse had secured not only one but two toilet seats for her. The second of which was being recycled as a picture frame.

What the moral of this pithy history is meant to be is that those led only by high minded political principles cannot of themselves bring about change. Not without the support of agnostic grafters. These are the people who are needed to sustain any new political movement.

Dan Boyle is a former Green Party Senator.

Yesterday: What We Stand For

(RollingNews.ie)

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Wolfgang Schäuble (top left) and Yanis Varoufakis; Dan Boyle

Chaos theory.

Casually-dressed politics.

Academics in power.

Please beware.

Warns Dan Boyle

I’m not a man who’s disposed to violence. Whenever I find myself possessed of such thoughts I have to hit myself to make the thought go away. I vicariously live my violence, sometime through daydreams, more often in nightmares.

One of the more unwelcome visitors to my subconscious is the sullen image of Wolfgang Schäuble, the German federal finance minister. The greyness of his features highlighted by thin lips through which the coldest of language comes, creates an urge in me to slap the face of the man.

A Freudian psychiatrist might attribute this to a guilt complex on my part, that on however a peripheral level I was operating from, I didn’t take the opportunity to physically challenge our German economic overlords.

I have long since wondered what those who criticised this softly softly approach actually had in mind. My inner Walter Mitty has me grabbing the lapels of the errant Teuton, confronting him with my finest Elvis sneer while parroting the best James Cagney dialogue from any of his gangster films. Those most trenchant in their belief of the effectiveness of physical force, as a means of persuasion, swear by the success of the baseball bat. That’s never been my sport though.

My vicarious self got a lift with the election of Syriza in Greece. Government in that country badly needed a shake up. Their evil twins of PASOK and New Democracy, like ours of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, had mired the country in nod and winkery, placating most of those whose souls were bought with the promise of an eternal tax free haven where living was easy and many things were free.

The new bosses spoke openly, dressed casually, and much as it disgusted the latent homophobe in me, seemed composed of very good looking men. New and different had to be good. Hadn’t it?

Soon the zeal of the convert began to desert me. My first fears were realised when I discovered the extent to which the new government was made up of academics. Now I have nothing against academics. Some of my best friends are academics. I’ve spent the last number of years, thankfully successfully, trying to acquire a Masters through mine and their efforts. The best learning I achieved through this process is confirmation that political theory and political practice have absolutely nothing in common.

Sorcerer in chief of this new approach to politics, Mr. Varoufakis, was meant to be able to change the entire paradigm by his being an expert in ‘games theory’.

In my own thesis I had struggled with the theory of this theory. The concepts of ‘leverage’ and ‘minimum winning coalitions’ befuddled me. Even more so when I couldn’t recognise where they existed in the Greek situation.

It seems the chosen tool of confrontation was to piss people off. Delay, defer, prevaricate, whatever you do don’t do anything. The strategy seems to have been to traduce Mr. Schäuble to a non-animated version of Wile E. Coyote with steam coming out of his ears.

And then there was the master stroke of the referendum. A brilliant piece of political theatre, it involved asking a complicated though unnecessary question that could be reduced to an essence of ‘Would you vote for more misery?’ The most surprising thing was 40% of those who voted voted yes.

Because I’ve long believed that politics isn’t a game but something that affects people’s lives, Alexis Tsipras has now become my Elmer Gantry (the film character/religious charlatan not to be confused with Bugs Bunny nemesis Elmer Fudd – although that might work as an analogy as well). It’s a pity. We all could have been contenders.

Dan Boyle is former Green Party Senator

(Getty/Cork Independent)

Meanwhile…

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Today’s Irish Times.

Romain Petton writes:

It probably would make a decent movie…

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A Homeless man in Molesworth Street, Dublin

Dan Boyle writes:

The death of homeless man a stone’s throw from Leinster House will give many pause for thought. No doubt it will be raised there as the political football of the day. That may create some rethink on releasing some small additional resources, but soon again, I fear, the issue of homelessness will be as intractable as it has ever seemed to be.

While a member of the Oireachtas I was aware of about a dozen similar perches within five hundred meters of Leinster House. It wouldn’t be fair to suggest there was or has been there any indifference. When being lobbied, speaking with homeless charities, their frustration was obvious at the lack of any co-ordinated approach to the issue.

Each homeless person lives a unique life. There may be factors in common such as addiction, mental health or economic need but all combine differently to define the circumstances of each homeless person.

The homeless man I remember on Molesworth Street (given the length of time I hope not the same person) would spend his waking time at the same spot shouting abuse at whoever passed by. It didn’t really matter who was being shouted at, on the law of averages by walking down that street you had to be a person with some influence and a certain degree of responsibility.

Then why the passivity of the political system? Why because to those to whom the political system is the narrow mechanism of getting and staying elected, it is not seen to be an issue ‘that had votes in it’.
That observation may add to further cynicism in which politics itself is held, however, it does reflect a sentiment that is found in wider Irish society.

The political agenda is set by those who shout loudest and produce the largest numbers. It is an agenda that has been largely untouched by the issue of homelessness because it is believed that for most people, it has been put into a metaphorical box marked ‘It Doesn’t Affect Me’.
Each of us not only has a responsibility to give homelessness the importance it deserves, but also to further question how we have developed a society where issues of homelessness have been kept on the periphery, while issues of far less significance have preoccupied us.

If we are to be angry let us be angry at this.

Dan Boyle is a former TD and Senator and member of the Green Party.

Dan Boyle (Facebook)

Previously: Less Than 50 Metres From The Dáil

(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

90213044-1[Dan Boyle, Eamon Ryan, and Trevor Sargent during the 2011 General Election]

Forgive the Green Party?

Are you out of your tiny fracking mind?

Let the man speak.

Former Green Party senator Dan Boyle, who is running for a seat on Cork City Council, writes:

The interactions are at a lower level now and are far more informal. Engagements tend to take place more on the street or in a pub. The tone also tends to be less aggressive and is now more often than not one of mutual concern. “This Climate Change is real Dan isn’t it?” It’s no longer being said with any sense of irony.

You still come across those who hold the Greens responsible for everything that’s ever gone wrong in the country. In all probability such voters never supported The Greens so it’s not a good use of time to engage with them. I usually find that they tend to be Fine Gael supporters who seem to be enjoying their return to the summits of smugness and complacency.

These may be a different type of local elections where instead of being a referendum on national politics. Local issue for once will come to the fore. When I knock on doors I’m more likely to be asked a local waterway or walkway or park. Most of the community wants to participate in how these projects were planned. Many of us were elected first by practicing such projects, it’s a type of politics we would like to see back in practice.

However more benign it has become for Greens to talk to the public, it has to be remembered that Greens were never that popular to begin with. Even at the ‘height’ of Green success the party wasn’t winning more than 3.5% of the national vote in local elections.

Where Greens succeeded in being elected was through secondary votes, transfers, being most people’s second choice. Since a situation reversed in many voters minds. A future for the Greens can only be gained through community engagement.

Irish politics in particular, as opposed to much European politics, depends on an almost personal relationship between the voter and the candidate. Greens have traditionally not embraced this process to the extent they should have. Although those of us who were elected quickly came to realise we would never be elected unless we embraced this political fact.

The issue agenda seems to be veering towards the Greens although this is not as strait-forward as it seems either, issues like pylons and fracking tend to be located in communities where traditional Green support has tended not to exist.

These may help develop independent Green awareness that can be worked with but it’s fair to say it isn’t a large aspect of current Green Party redevelopment either, only to a slight extent.. There is an added complication of Green Party policy on pylons being deliberately misrepresented, but then that’s politics…

I’ve always enjoyed the banter gained from the doorsteps, and the political wisdom that comes from back handed compliments. There are those who in coming months who will prefer the big bang approach in helping to re-direct Irish politics, through staged media events. Knocking on doors got me to where I am it can get those who still believe that we need diverse politics in Ireland and the Green should be a part of that.

Dan Boyle

Fight!

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

Dan Boyle author of newly published Green memoir Without A Clue Power Or Glory, attempted to explain his party’s position in the bank guarantee with Vincent Browne (also featuring Glenna Lynch) last night.

Literally toe-curling.

Vincent Browne: “Dan, you didn’t keep a diary I assume from reading the book?”

Dan Boyle: “Well, not a written diary. I had a lot of electronic sources I could refer to and I’d have had access to notes that were taken of meetings particularly towards the end. And I suppose I was able to research the press reporting at the time as well as others who written books on the same subjects.”

Browne: “One of the things that intrigues me about your attitude on this is, and indeed Fianna Fail’s attitude, and I the attitude a lot of other people in the Green Party, is that even in hindsight you still think that the bank guarantee was a good idea.”

Boyle: “I don’t say that Vincent.”

Browne: “What you say is ‘I remain convinced that a wide scale bank guarantee had to be put in place’.”

Boyle: “I do believe that, I do believe that. You have to remember the context. The context, first of all, the Irish State licences and is meant to regulate banks, financial institutions. It failed miserably to do so. That failure accrues a liability on the Irish State because of that – the extent of which we can argue.”

Browne: “We sure can.”

Boyle: “The second instance is the fact that in terms of the international money markets. The international money markets make no distinction between borrowing by Ireland as a state and borrowing from Ireland, in terms of the Irish banks. And we’re seeing that at the moment…”

Browne: “Really?”

Boyle: “We’re seeing that at the very moment in terms of Spain. Spain has just got a €100billion package for their banks and the international money markets that Spanish lending, as a government, as a state, is compromised.”

Browne: “Dan, Dan, Dan, not true.”

Boyle: “That’s what’s happening.”

Browne: “Not true. The money given to the banks, the money given by the EU institutions by the bank is given in the first instance to the sovereign, to the Spanish sovereign, to the government state, and they’re giving it on to the banks. And it’s because of that, because of this debt is being inflicted on the Spanish state that there’s a problem with the financial market.”

Boyle: “The Spanish government are represented as different from the sovereign – markets haven’t accepted that.”

Browne: “They didn’t, no, not alone did the markets not accept it, neither did the EU institutions. The EU institutions insisted that it is the sovereign debt.”

Boyle: “Well I think that comes through.”

Browne: “So you’re completely wrong on that issue.”

Boyle: “Well that’s your opinion of it Vincent.”

Browne: “No it isn’t my opinion, it’s fact. You’re completely wrong on that issue. But go on.”
Boyle: “Well.”

Browne: “It’s fact.”

Boyle: “Well  if you say it is Vincent, I’ll take it as your fact, right. The third instance is that in terms of the freedom of movement and you have to remember that Irish public expenditure had already gone out of control even before Lehman Brothers. There was a collapse in tax receipts, borrowing by the Irish state increased over the same period and we went into the cycle where the 7 per cent came from Ireland and we found ourselves under pressure from the ECB and the IMF. And ultimately the freedom of movement was restricted because we were part of a multi-national currency.”

Browne: “Freedom of what movement?”

Boyle: “To make independent decisions, to make different decisions.”

Browne: “What?”

Boyle: “The ECB has always had, from day one, a right of veto practically as to how we approach this situation.”

Browne: “Absolutely not at all. Tell me, tell me under what authority is that?”

Boyle: “Because even at that stage. Even at that stage, Vincent.”

Browne:You’re just making this up.

Boyle: “Even at that stage, on the night of the guarantee being made, the ECB was providing liquidity support to Irish banks to the tune of €130billion.”

Browne: “Not at that time.”

Boyle: “Yes it was.”

Browne: “No, not at that time.”

Boyle: “Yes it was, Vincent.”

Browne:I’m sorry, of the bank guarantee? Oh, absolutely not. That was true of the night, of the time of the EU/IMF deal. But not at the time of the bank guarantee.

Boyle: “Not at all.”

Browne: “Go on. It’s just not true. But go on anyway.”

Boyle: “Well Vincent..look…”

Browne: “You don’t make that point in the book by the way.”

Boyle: “I do, I make those three points exactly.”

Browne: “In the book you make…”

Glenna Lynch: “Not about timescale, I don’t think Dan. You actually say [quotes from book] ‘Every piece of official advice we were receiving was telling us at that point, at that stage, that Anglo could achieve liability’.”

Boyle: “I point out the lack of distinction between the sovereign debt and the bank debt from international money purses. I point out the fact that the liability accrues because of the failure of the Irish state to regulate banking properly and I point out that fact, and in terms…”

Browne: “OK, OK. So in other words I was correct in interpreting your position as – even in hindsight, you did the right thing.”

Boyle: “No, what I said should have been done was that Anglo Irish should have been nationalised immediately but that wouldn’t have affected its bank debt. You were assuming the bank debt. And some the categories of debtors should have been tackled immediately such as the subordinated debt. But even with that, the best case scenario I think we would have, we would have saved about 10% of the bank debt.

Browne: “So here we go, and it’s the same with Fianna Fail, you people still believe that the most devastating single decision taken by the State since the Civil War that you’re still right. There’s a…It sort of suggests there’s no hope for you people.”

Boyle: “No, look.”

Watch here

Without Power Or Glory, Dan Boyle (Amazon)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bt7d9IwcfxU&feature=player_embedded

“Fate can be cruel if it’s tempted, You take a chance you lose your all. Nor can pride be exempted, for it precedes a fall,

What did we do? Who did we harm? What was the fault that caused such alarm? What we once had we can now throw away. All we do now is pray.”

Dan Boyle singing his self-penned God’s Bad Joke, live at Whelan’s, Dublin, on Sunday night.

Eamon Keane on the old Joanna.

Via Big Mental Disease

Buy it here.