Tag Archives: Martin McMahon

Damien’s Bad Omen

Admin at 10:14 am April 28, 2017

Above From left: Shane Cassells, Damien English, Seán Boylan, Paeder Tobin and John McCallister at the ‘Meath for Unity’ debate last night

A funny thing happened at the Meath For Unity debate…

Martin McMahon writes:

Last evening I attended a ‘Meath for Unity‘ debate in the Newgrange Hotel Navan chaired by Meath GAA legend Seán Boylan. The debate on the issue of Irish unity was organised by Peadar Toibin TD with guest speakers Shane Cassells TD, Junior Minister Damien English and special guest John McCallister former Ulster Unionist Party Member of the Legislative Assembly.

Sean kicked off proceedings with an account of his own personal experiences of north/south relations during his career. Shane followed with a historical context. Damien stressed the importance of consent beyond a 50% + 1 majority for unification. Peadar was excellent with facts, figures and the potential benefits for the Island as a whole should unification occur. John was brutally honest in his view that unification was a distant second for the unionist community behind the more pressing issue of Brexit.

The debate was then thrown open to the floor. Questions about Ireland in the Commonwealth were raised and answered. The need for more private business growth was stressed by Peadar.

I listened with interest to all the questions raised and answered. I was lucky enough to ask the final question. It wasn’t a premeditated question, it had occurred to me while listening to John and trying to see the situation from his perspective. I asked Damien:

“How can we be seen as a country for all the people of Ireland when Fine Gael gift the National Maternity Hospital to a Holy Order?”

The question genuinely electrified the room. Most recognised my effort to look beyond our own insular view of the situation but a sizable group became immediately irate and accused me of ‘Ambushing the Minister’.

It was not my intent to ambush Damien. For me it was the kind of nitty gritty question which would have massive ramifications if we are ever to reach a position where unification is a workable possibility.

Much to the anger of the majority of those present, Damien avoided the question by saying that it was a good deal with which doctors agreed and that we should all read the agreement (I have).

The palpable anger in the room at Damien’s non-answer does not bode well for Fine Gael. The issue of the National Maternity Hospital’s ownership is vital not only for women and their families, it has implications far beyond our current borders and is pivotal in how we in the south are perceived by our northern brethren.

The anger at grassroots level as to how the ownership of the National Maternity Hospital has been handled by Fine Gael is a very bad omen for Fine Gael. I have no doubt that when it comes to election time, the ‘little free stater’ attitude they have displayed on this issue will come back to bite them in a very big way.

The ownership of the National Maternity Hospital is not exclusively a south of Ireland issue, the world is watching, our neighbours are watching, Fine Gael has failed to realise that they are on a bigger stage, a possibility of unification stage.

Martin blogs at RamshornRepublic

Pics via Meath4Unity

Show Trial Of The Century

Admin at 5:26 pm April 24, 2017

Paul Murphy (centre) outside the Central Criminal Court today

Roll up.

Bring your rotten veg.

For the last of the 1916 tributes.

Martin McMahon writes:

As part of the ongoing 1916 Rising Commemorations, the Fine Gael led government has arranged a special series of ‘Show Trials’ for the entertainment of the masses.

Very kindly, Irish newspapers, journalists and politicians have risen to the challenge of making this experience as close to the original as possible. To quote that memorable Irish Times 1916 editorial:

‘We said, and we repeat, that the surgeon’s knife of the State must not be stayed “until the whole malignant growth has been removed”… Our demand that the elements of rebellion should be finally extinguished… We have called for the severest punishment of the leaders and responsible agents of the insurrection.’

Exactly as in 1916, the public has been fed a constant stream of vitriol against the defendants and those who support them. Comparisons to ISIS and labels such as ‘Sinister Fringe’ have been spat across the parliament floor in a wholly convincing portrayal of the bloodlust for vengeance which existed among the ruling class and courtiers in 1916.

The Minister for Recreations told us:

“We can’t do military trials, but we appoint the judges and control the jury. We encourage people to come along to the courts where rotten fruit & veg will be provided free of charge to throw at the guilty on their way in and out during the course of the trial. We expect it to be a huge family event”.

In a break with history, it is understood that negotiations are underway with RTÉ and SKY to televise the executions live from Kilmainham Jail where the Garda Band will play a constant loop of ‘God Save the Queen’. Seats are limited and families are advised to book early for what will be the last event in the 1916 Rising Commemorations.

Martin blogs at RamshornRepublic

Earlier: Meanwhile, At The Jobstown Trial

For Your Consideration: Jobstown, Protest On Trial

Rollingnews

What It Is

Admin at 4:25 pm March 2, 2017

“Well, it’s not about water, is it?”

Enda Kenny, November 2014

Martin McMahon writes:

‘It’ is etched on the worried face of a young mother walking from Cork to Dublin.

‘It’ is CF sufferers huddled and masked in protest outside a newly refurbished Leinster House. ‘

It’ is Grace betrayed by unaccountable shadows.

It’ is Megan’s twisted spine, her publicly promised operation cancelled when the camera is turned off

‘It’ is whistleblowers criminalised.

‘It’ is the tears in tissues beside the computer after the weekly Skype to older children and grandchildren who may never be seen again toiling in far flung corners of Australia or America.

‘It’ is Dublin Airport Christmas week where broken hearts will brim with joy once again reunited, squeezed half to death with years of missed embraces condensed into minutes only for those hearts to be ripped asunder weeks or even days later as loved ones leave a country that has failed most of us.

‘It’ is the fear of never seeing elderly parents again save to bury their bodies in graves that will never be tended or prayed over by the generation they raised.

‘It’ is skipping meals to pay bills that were never ours.

‘It’ lies freezing on unwelcoming streets, in Georgian doorways or crammed in hostel hotels with no dignity, forever destined to live in the margins.’

It’ is newspapers advertising thousand euro coats ripped up to cover holes in the soles of shabby shoes.

‘It’ lies dying on hospital waiting lists. ‘It’ is social immobility denied yet propagated by the same affluent few generation after generation.

‘It’ is protesters criminalised in courts at the behest of billionaires who will enjoy immunity from criminalisation in rich men’s tribunals.

‘It’ is a Dail that fails to hold government to account.

‘It’ is in the breaking of a people forced to protect banks and bondholders who will never be stooped by the burden of ‘it’.

‘It’ is a hundred years of right wing government, of broken promises, of pandering to a privileged elite.

‘It’ is a tale telling Taoiseach.

‘It’ is a country divided by wealth and influence. ‘It’ is knowing there is a better way sold out for petty political positioning.

‘It’ was never just about water.

Martin blogs at RamshornRepublic

Rollingnews

Vera’s Long Walk

Admin at 5:17 pm February 27, 2017

Vera Twomey on the Road from Cork to Dublin to help her daughter Ava.
Please help @SimonHarrisTD Don’t just talk about helping !!! #Please pic.twitter.com/6zq9nXn6No

— Jim Coughlan (@jmcoughlan) February 27, 2017

Vera Twomeyt’s daughter Ava has Dravets Syndrom,an extremely rare drug resistant epilepsy.

Martin McMahon writes:

William Brooke O’Shaughnessy was born in Limerick in 1809. He first studied medicine at Trinity in Dublin before transferring to the University of Edinburgh in Scotland from where he graduated in 1829.

O’Shaughnessy joined the British East India Company in 1833 and moved to Calcutta, remaining in India for approximately nine years where he fulfilled the roles of surgeon, physician, professor of chemistry at Medical College and Hospital Kolkata.

His medical research led to the development of intravenous therapy and introduced the therapeutic use of Cannabis sativa to Western medicine.

O’ Shaughnessy established his reputation by successfully relieving the pain of rheumatism and stilling the convulsions of an infant with cannabis.

This led O’Shaughnessy to declare that “the profession has gained an anti-convulsive remedy of the greatest value”. In 1856 he was knighted by Queen Victoria.

Today, Vera Twomey is walking from Cork to Dublin to fight for medical cannabis for her daughter Ava who is denied access to medical cannabis by draconian and unnecessarily restrictive conditions established under Health Minister Simon Harris.

Thanks to a famous Limerick man we know the science is solid, it remains to be seen if the actions of a brave Cork woman can overcome these nonsensical and damaging restrictions.

You can follow Vera’s long walk on twitter #veratwomey

Martin blogs at RamshornRepublic

Petition: Medicinal Cannabis Leglislation To Save Our Daughter (Change.org)

Pics: Jim Coughlan

He’s Not The Messiah

Admin at 2:36 pm February 17, 2017

Leo Varadkar and Enda Kenny

He’s just a very ordinary minister.

Martin McMahon writes:

Back in the Charles J day, Haughey was more than shrewd enough to have the measure of his would-be successor. Of Bertie Ahern he said:

“He’s the man. He’s the best, the most skillful, the most devious, and the most cunning of them all”

There was a strong element of ‘it takes one to know one’ in Haughey’s remark. Charlie knew people; he knew what made them tick (or thick); he knew the buttons he could press and the ones not to press in order to achieve the best political outcome for himself.

Charlie’s people skills undoubtedly revealed a high emotional intelligence which he used to ruthlessly manipulate others and become the dominant politician of his generation. Haughey never allowed himself to be upstaged by his eventual successor.

The same cannot be said of Enda Kenny. Despite his best efforts to marginalise Leo in the Angola Ministries of Health and Social Protection, Leo has managed to shine brighter than Enda.

One might be tempted to think that Leo is the man, the most skillful, possibly the most devious or maybe the most cunning of them all.

One would be wrong.

The writing is on the wall for Enda. Pretty much everybody knows this except, of course, for the Taoiseach himself. Even if he does defy popular public opinion and insist on limping on, his days as Taoiseach and Fine Gael party leader are numbered. A voter-friendly face is essential to the party faithful.

Leo has become a ‘Daaahling‘ of established media types. His gaffe prone history is conveniently forgotten in the scramble to counter the inexorable return of Fianna Fáil.

No matter how dismal, cynical or self-serving his performance, he is relentlessly flogged by the mainstream media as something he most certainly is not.

This MSM fabricated version of Leo was perfectly encapsulated back in 2014 by RTÉs Drivetime in an analysis by Health Correspondent Sara Burke of Leo’s first six months as Health Minister:

“I think he’s fared very well. It’s the first time we’ve had a competent Minister for Health. It’s early days but he’s hardly put a foot wrong. He’s been really good at preempting crises. He preempted the really high numbers we saw in E.Ds (Emergency Departments). He’s very good at dampening expectations. The weekend before an extremely critical HIAQ report on ambulance services, he went out on the Saturday night with the ambulances.

He made that really nuanced, excellent speech in the Dail on Clare Daly’s proposal in relation to abortion before the story broke of the pregnant woman who’s clinically dead in the Midlands……..

Critically I think Leo’s done two things, he’s brought political news to the point which has been really missing now and he seems to have the support of the Cabinet behind him and critically the support of the Economic Management Council and that’s how he managed to achieve (prevent) any more cuts to Health and a slight increase but also he’s brought clarity and direction setting out a clear stall with his top ten priorities.”

This MSM position is a master class in cognitive dissonance. Leo did not fare well as Health Minister. He was forced to row back on the key plank of the Government’s health reforms, Universal Health Insurance.

Far from preventing cuts to the Health budget, Leo consistently backed his own party on every single callous cut resulting in longer waiting lists, front line under-staffing and A & Es that do actually resemble battle fronts in third world countries.

All of his predecessors in Health also had lists of priorities. Reilly, Harney and Martin were not considered ‘competent’ simply because they had a ‘list’ of what they wanted to achieve.

That leaves only what’s described as Leo’s ‘Preempting’ of crises. Had James Reilly mooched around ambulances the weekend before a damning HIQA report came out he would have been rightly crucified by MSM for creating a self-serving photo opportunity to deflect from his own personal responsibility in creating the very crisis he was ‘preempting’.

There is no difference between what Leo does and a politician kissing babies in public whilst cutting children’s allowance in private.

As for his ‘preemptive’ nuanced, excellent speech in relation to abortion, rarely have we seen such blatantly cynical politicking. An issue that should have been about the rights of women was instead hijacked and spun by Leo to suit Leo’s favourite subject, Leo’s phantom largesse.

So absurd was Leo’s statement at the time, that Kenny distanced the party by rationalising it with a comfortable yet unbelievable illusion that Leo was speaking in a personal capacity and not as the Minister for Health as Leo claimed, a ploy repeated by Enda in regard to Ms Zappone’s activities.

In Social Protection Leo is a ghost, occasionally he issues a statement which is pounced upon by RTÉ where statements from other Ministers gain little if any purchase.

His comment that Maurice McCabe is a heroic whistle blower deserving of a full apology reaches a new low in self serving cynicism from a party that had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the Maurice McCabe debacle.

Leo, like Fine Gael, is not devious, skillful or cunning. It’s not that they don’t try, but the fact remains that like much of Fine Gael’s time in government they have proved to be no better than Fianna Fáil and they are a damn sight short of Fianna Fail’s ability to fool people for any meaningful length of time.

Martin blogs at RamshornRepublic

Rollingnews

Rules Of The Game

Admin at 4:35 pm February 15, 2017

Leinster House, Kildate Street, Dublin 2

How do you know a cover-up is in progress?

Observe the rules.

Martin McMahon writes:

There are a basic set of steps to every active cover-up. Regardless of whom is covering up what, these steps are universal:

Character Assassination – Attack the person exposing the cover-up, do it repeatedly, throw whatever shit you can in the hope that something will stick. This is a classic deflection tactic and will continue regardless of what evidence comes to light.

Internal Review – An Internal Review has a twofold purpose, firstly, it slows the pace of exposure and secondly (and infinitely more importantly), it places control of the process firmly in the hands of those covering up. Any written evidence can be ‘disappeared’ or if that proves impossible, contradictory manufactured evidence can be adduced in order to muddy the waters. This is particularly of use when combined with step 1. Those with nothing to hide have no fear of an independent outside investigation. When you hear the words ‘Internal Review’ it is a certain indicator that a cover-up is taking place.

Incomplete Label – This step has a number of names – ‘No evidence of wrongdoing‘ – ‘Not enough evidence to prosecute‘ etc. It places the onus on the person exposing the cover-up to leave no stone unturned in their exposure of a cover-up. This step is the one most often bought into by Media. A comprehensive exposure may run to hundreds or thousands of documents, not exactly convenient for editors with short attention spans. Reducing your exposure of a cover up to a convenient soundbite guarantees that an ‘Incomplete Label’ will be placed upon it.

Deny & Delay – When all else fails, deny, deny, deny. When ‘Plausible Deniability’ is no longer possible, baldfaced lies become dogma. The Justice process is so slow that continued denials may take years if not decades to reach a courtroom or tribunal. The costs involved in using the Courts are prohibitive for most individuals who will already have been beggared in their efforts to expose a cover-up.

‘Kicking’ it to the courts is the last line of attack by those who would cover-up. By the time any decision is made, the cover-up is no longer relevant to Media and the wrongdoers will have escaped any meaningful sanction regardless of a Judges decision.

In Ireland, the reward for aiding and abetting in a cover-up is promotion. It’s the ‘bung’ that just keeps giving, an increase in remuneration that spans the length of a career and on into one’s pension. Once compromised you belong to the ‘man’ – the next time you’re asked to look the other way you are compelled to do so.

Over time, a dysfunctional organisation ends up with willing compromisers in all the top positions. Even paragons of virtue are susceptible to the promotion manipulation. One can do everything by the book, cross all the T’s, dot all the I’s and dig your heels in.

In return you will get a clap on the back, an ‘attaboy, job well done’ and a move up the ranks that on the surface is a promotion but in reality is a move out of the way so that a willing compromiser can take over.

Martin blogs at RamshornRepublic

Rollingnews