11 Comments

1. 

   Anonymous on August 1, 2018 at 11:42 am

   Can’t believe Fianna Fáil is losing track of its own history, ignoring its own foundations like this. Ó Cuív has a family lineage vital to FF… why are they instead on their knees to the Blueshirts? Duffy of Dragon’s Den is an arrogant egotist and a close associate of Denis O’Brien. Where are we going with this?

   Then we have Joan Freeman, ex-charities… a lovely lady but it seems like there is some turmoil in her head. Who will head for the Áras next? (Wait, this just in: sources from Crumlin say Conor McGregor is giving it serious consideration, with the backing of Xanax Flynn….)

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2. 

   Conor McKnuckles on August 2, 2018 at 7:58 pm

   Re: “taking on Higgins” … his term in the Áras is marked by high staff turnover and low morale, compared to Robinson and McAleese who kept their core staff during their whole terms. It’s remarkable that Higgins seems to think he can run for another term uncontested, or might still be “fit as a fiddle” when his second term expires at age 84.

   The discussion of his fitness for the Presidency should include the opinion of the professionals formerly on his staff who left their own eminent jobs to work with him, only to quit a short time later (see “Staff churn”): https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/president-michael-d-higgins-four-years-in-1.2420222

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3. 

   Anonymous on September 12, 2018 at 4:47 pm

   and and I am not talking about endorsing the position of a second run for President O’Higgins. Presumably when President O’Higgins said last time around that he would not be running for second term, he realised that he would be too elderly a Statesman and it would only be fair to make the position available for another person. What changed this man’s position? Is the elevation to such height and status that has turned his socialism to immersed in capitalism (Emperor’s new Clothes) that he just cannot let go. £32 million a year it costs to host the President in a Presidential Palace with a garden beyond belief, the Phoenix Park, each year.

   Eamon O’Cuiv is the man for this position. Shame on FF for their narrow vision.
   Maybe it is not too late … what if President O’Higgins decided not to put himself forward? While An Gardai Siochana are forced to leave the service at the age of 60; surely the people of Ireland have a right to ask that President Higgins have a medical appraisal by an independent body of the medical profession to see if he is fit for office for another 7 years in office, taking account of the fact that he will be moving from his late 70’s to his 80’s. This is not too much to ask. Even President Trump has recently had to engage with a medical team regarding his health in the US.

   John McGuinness is a man of great experience especially when he chairs the PAC committee. Why not get together FF members who would give the backing to Eamon O’Cuiv and over-ride the reprimand and threat by Micheal Martin ie expelling O’Cuiv from FF. This is bullying in sheep’s clothing.

   FF – the next seven years are each in their own right a centenary year. We have celebrated the anniversary of the Rising. Now it is time to have Eamon O’Cuiv (with his family history) and his commitment for decades in politics with a special knowledge of agriculture in the West of Ireland, as our President.

   Brexit looms. O’Cuiv is best suited to represent Ireland in the knowledge of the chaos that will arise if the UK crashes out or if Chequers is agreed.

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4. 

   Ashkoba on September 13, 2018 at 2:48 am

   August 15, 2011 – https://www.herald.ie/opinion/andrew-lynch-im-younger-than-gaybo-and-trapattoni-but-if-elected-president-ill-only-serve-one-term-27986869.html

   [Higgins] promises that if elected he would serve just one seven-year term, at the end of which he will be the same age as Gay Byrne is now.

   “I cannot think of a better way to spend the next part of my life,” he says, “And I believe I can do a very good job for the Irish people. But whatever I have to say, I think those seven years should be enough even for me.”

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5. 

   Conor McKnuckles on September 22, 2018 at 12:46 am

   Despite the bizarre “unconstitutionality” reservation cited last week:
   https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/dils-proposal-to-probe-ras-spending-shot-down-by-top-civil-servant-37335665.html
   … it looks like the PAC may overcome the senseless objections to auditing Higgins’ expenses of running the Áras:
   https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/miche%C3%A1l-martin-queries-pac-move-to-examine-presidential-office-costs-1.3635823

   Everyone may already know Higgins’ expenses have been extravagant — though it never would be inappropriate, let alone unconstitutional, to run an audit of the office since the man himself is not being attacked.

   But now that those taxpayer funds have been squandered, the greater concern is Micheál Martin’s declaration, in support of the bizarre unconstitutionality claim, which casts doubt on his own fitness to lead a so-called “opposition” party which, under his leadership, only promotes and condones the actions of the party in power.

   In fact he may be the only opposition party leader in Irish history who has consistently undermined their own party in favour of the government. If anyone thinks “undermine” is too strong a word, then please let us know where & when O’Cuiv has been seen since he was threatened and silenced out of the presidential election.

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6. 

   Conor McKnuckles on October 11, 2018 at 7:17 pm

   As the Irish media continues to present Higgins as the ONLY candidate for the Áras, I wonder how Higgins can be characterised as a socialist, or why his extravagance (in the face of a homelessness crisis) and dishonesty are not portrayed as offences by the media.

   As proper socialists all over the world commit, at least in the public eye, to sharing of wealth, with at least a pretence of social responsibility, here we have a “socialist” president with:
   — a salary of €250,000 (as documented)
   — an annual €317,000 allowance made to the President for entertainment: fully utilised by Higgins every year, so it might as well be added to that salary
   — a pension of €19K from his tenure at NUI Galway, which he promised to give up but never did
   — this year’s €96K of promotional films and photographs from Higgins’ trips abroad, which he says are “nothing to do with me”
   — and a further €300K for his re-election campaign, as he spends only €100K of his own savings (from the above income, and matched three-fold by taxpayer money), while other candidates have to borrow funds for a fraction of those resources to be able to compete.

   It is no wonder that news of a media-rigged Irish presidential election has reached American shores, and Irish expatriates here are wondering why the people are standing for a monopoly in favour of a candidate with this level of hypocrisy. We are also wondering why the Labour party, with their increasing shame and embarrassment from the Higgins ball and chain, are not hacking off this diseased foot to save the body.
   https://twitter.com/oconnellhugh/status/1047147394935246848
   sources:
   — https://www.galwaydaily.com/news/president-higgins-still-getting-e19000-nui-galway-pension-while-in-office
   — https://www.herald.ie/news/96k-for-photos-and-videos-is-nothing-to-do-with-me-higgins-37402805.html

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7. 

   Fred Bassett on October 23, 2018 at 2:21 pm

   The circus continues when the writing is on the wall. The little Michael D. that big spender of taxpayers money will get in for another seven years. What can we say now? Well let us take a little inventory on how a socialist swaps his humble attire for the Emperor’s Clothes and then of course becomes that Emperor.

   Salaries all combined and all private come to in the region of £325,000 per year, plus his property empire and when you add it all up, this little Emperor puts into his own banking account and not forgetting his wife, the amount above annually without being touched. In the middle of all this he spends at least £5000 a week on looking good, his clothes and hers, make-up and not forgetting his Yoga and the dog grooming which costs the Irish State £10,000 per year. This is Ireland’s definition of a true socialist who for many decades was a senior member of the Labour Party. Even Dermot Lacey is blushing on all cheeks! How can Labour stand over the latest saga of the helicopter and the cost of £7500 to fly the big little Emperor which if he had travelled on the motor way would have been such a lesser cost.

   Michael D. now has the taste of the high life and he will not lose this monarchy status now. I cannot understand how the staff who were bullied out of the Aras in the last seven years have not come forward and told their stories (and their nightmares). Let’s look around and see who is competing against Michael D. and say Alas!

   Joan of Darkness and No Light, Peter the Great but his mouth is his weakness, Duffy the former Formula 1 racer and now currently one of Ireland’s greatest bullshitters – You are Fired!. At this rate I am shocked that Sarah Newman is not going for the Aras instead of selling re-cycle knickers at the flea market in Croydon with the Hurler on the Ditch in the back alley. Last but not least, Bruce Lee Gallagher, the man who would never take an envelope with cash to Mr Diesel on the border. Well seven more years of the Garden Gnome and there is nothing we can do about it but just grind our teeth. As for Liadh Ni Riada – what about a career as a model. I have to say Eoghan Harris gave her a great tribute on the Independent last Sunday. Now there is a turn up for the books.

   Now elections can change overnight and unless there is a major scandal looming among the trees of the Phoenix, this little man will be installed as the President of Cronyism Corruption Ireland.

   Fred

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8. 

   Ashkoba on October 23, 2018 at 4:11 pm

   With far more people for Higgins in the polls than every other candidate put together, I have wondered where the obsession comes from. The biased media couldn’t create all of that support, nor the common tendency to worship the elite who milk the public exchequer. I realised it is a Zeitgeist phenomenon, one with intimate cultural roots:
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leprechaun#Folklore

   Perhaps by race memory we are associating Higgins’ diminutive figure with the seven years’ good luck of “economic recovery” and looking forward to another “pot of gold.” Unfortunately deals made with the fae are the Devil’s bargains, leaving us exhausted and ruined, and the only pots of gold in this case will be Higgins’ scandalous presidential income and accumulated pensions.
   

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9. 

   astonished on October 24, 2018 at 3:02 pm

   this “tea for Michael D” comes right next to Varadkar’s dumbfounding apology for flying the presidential plane around empty… if an airplane hit this much spin while flying it would be knocked out of the sky…
   https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/varadkar-government-jet-was-flown-around-empty-during-recession-878523.html
   Varadkar: Government jet was flown around empty during recession
   https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DqLTzcCXcAAJhSJ.jpg

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10. 

    Fred Bassett on December 4, 2018 at 1:27 pm

    Kelleher now, to read below, and look at his party,s connection to the IRA. Billy must be suffering from loss of memory, except when he claims for 540,000 expenses each month. FF have learned nothing from the crash they caused in 2008, and people across this country, thrown like Sheep to the Vulture Funds.
    Billy and the FF Cork Mafia run the party through pure Bluff, the Cosy Deal with FG, They are not a Opposition party, they are a Coalition party with the FG Clowns, and the people are pissed of with this Bullshit.
    Now Billy read below, the FF and IRA connections, then go on Twitter again, run along now. By the way dont forget Ray Rambo Burke, maybe Billy will tweet on Rambo, and his spin in the Paddy wagon,
    Fred,

    Opinion Analysis

    Tuesday 4 December 2018

    Charles Haughey and the Provisional IRA

    June 25 2006 12:11 AM

    Sir – Apropos of Eoghan Harris’s column (June 18) and his comments on Charles Haughey, I would like to add some points to his remarks.

    It is true that Charles Haughey did make overtures to the IRA in 1969 as to the delivery of arms and money if the IRA and Official Sinn Fein were to cease their activities on social and economic issues in the republic and concentrate their energies and minds on “dealing with” the Protestant population in Northern Ireland.

    Neil Blaney, a co-accused with Charles Haughey in the Arms Trial, openly boasted in the Dail of his involvement in the founding of the Provisional IRA. Mr Blaney, as we know, was as close to Mr Haughey as was Terry Keane, so we can take it that Mr Blaney was speaking for Mr Haughey’s involvement in the effort to split the republican movement and to establish the Provisional IRA as an armed Hibernian militia.

    Charles Haughey used his brother Padraig ‘Jock’ Haughey as his go-between when contacting the IRA. Also heavily involved with ‘Jock’ Haughey at that time as another go-between was a priest in Kilburn, London, who actually did pass money from Charles Haughey, via ‘Jock’, to Cathal Goulding in London. Charles Haughey usually kept himself out of any such meetings except where he believed he would be the deciding interest.

    One such occasion was when a member of the pre-split IRA from Belfast travelled to Dublin and met Mr Haughey in Kinsealy, where Mr Haughey promised him £50,000 to buy weapons for use in the North, provided that the IRA would accept Mr Haughey’s directions and control. This venture never materialised, mainly because Mr Haughey became aware that the particular IRA man was not to be bought and that he had reported back on his visit and conversation to Cathal Goulding.

    Charles Haughey’s legacy, above all else, is his part in founding the Provos, which inflicted 30 years of terror on the people of Northern Ireland, Catholic and Protestant, to what purpose? Seats in a Stormont assembly for the heirs of Cahir Healy and ‘Wee’ Joe Devlin. The fact that he is now being credited with bringing the Provisional IRA into the peace process is just another example of his hypocrisy and opportunism.

    Tomas MacGiolla,

    The Workers’ Party, Hill Street, Dublin 1

    Sir – Eoghan Harris cuts to the chase in his excellent contribution on the late Taoiseach. He is quite right when he says that the real issues are the events of 1969-70 when the state was actually subverted.

    Other things like his playboy image and being a kept man, while important, pale into insignificance compared to this. Desmond O’Malley in his graveside oration at the funeral of Jack Lynch referred to these events as “dark and sinister forces being at work” and went on to say in the same oration that after Mr Haughey replaced Lynch as leader came a “deluge of volatility”. Graveside orations are long remembered here, and one wonders what will be thought of Bertie’s last Friday?

    B
    Sir – Eoghan Harris has again hit the nail on the head. For those of us who consider ourselves to be republican, the key event of the past 35 years was the creation of the Provisionals by Fianna Fail and the subsequent conflict which left over 3,500 people dead and many thousands spending their young lives in prison.

    It is clear that Fianna Fail set out to destroy the republican movement and was prepared to sacrifice a generation of Irishmen to maintain the status quo and the corrupt hold on power they had built up in the 26 Counties.

    If republicans want to move forward and ensure that there is a future for republicanism, they have to re-look at the arguments of 1969 and accept that Goulding and the rest of the Official leadership called it right. With hindsight, if we were to have listened then we would not now have Sunningdale Mark II and 3,500 graves.

    Spencer St, North Strand Rd, D3

    Sir – It was with great surprise that I read the front page article in last week’s Sunday Independent (June 18) on the state funeral of former Taoiseach, Charles J Haughey. Having been present at all of the proceedings of the funeral, I can confidently say that the story, sadly, misrepresented the event.

    Tributes paid to Charles Haughey drew several rounds of applause from the congregation at Friday’s mass and I would emphasise that the first of these was prompted by the sound of a spontaneous outburst from the public gathered outside.

    This would have been clear to those watching the RTE coverage, viewing figures for which peaked at 266,000 and drew over 53 per cent of the available audience. Travelling up the Malahide and Tonlegee Roads to St Fintan’s Cemetery, the respect paid to Charlie, in the suspension of business, in the size of the turnout (and it was plainly obvious to anyone present that this was in its thousands) and in the hundreds of tricolours on display along the route, was a comforting and fitting homage. This, not the “disappointment” referred to in your article, was the main theme of conversation at the wake that evening.

    Friday was a day of pride for Dublin North Central and the country as a whole. The massive display of public support will live on in the memories of those who were present, and I find it unfortunate and, indeed, puzzling, that the Sunday Independent felt the need to construe this differently.

    (Cllr) Sean Paul Mahon,

    Mornington Pk, Artane, Dublin 5

    Sir – The first time I saw Charles J Haughey was in a pub in Ashbourne in Co Meath on a summery Friday at the beginning of the Seventies. I was a reporter with the Drogheda Independent and was on my way back to Dublin for the weekend. I called in for a pint. The place was empty save for a laughing character in a corner, dressed in hunting reds and black hunting boots. Being from Belfast, I had not thought that this sort of aristocracy was still tolerated in the Republic. But Charlie was no aristocrat.

    Sweet God, will the mad mythologising of Haughey never end? He is at once a “chieftain”, a “colossus”, a Gatsby, a Caesar; he was King Lear, “a mistrusted prince”, and even comparable in some mind-boggling way with Yeats. Poets and artists, those seekers after “truth”, are feverishly silly about him. Must we consider such self-deception a virtue?

    No. Eoghan Harris got it right (June 18); Charlie was simply a bore. All of it – the perjury, the business around taxes, the financial patronage of big business, the “love” of fine wines, Charvet shirts, the company of poets – was the affectation of a small man who would dress up in someone else’s rig-out to sit in a country pub playing aristocrat. Disgraceful, yes, for the leader of the country – and artists and writers who should have known better were easily purchased by him.

    He was no patriot – my own belief is that he despised the “common” people, believing himself above them and their ordinary laws. But the people had their say; they turned away from his funeral, knowing too much, too well-informed; they knew him, we all did, and no double-speak apologists would rouse us from our knowledge.

    But let us not forget; Gene Kerrigan reminds us that this “man of the people” called a general election “rather than compensate haemophiliacs poisoned by the State”. He had contempt for journalists who questioned him on the sources of his wealth; thus giving the lie to any notion that he “lived in denial” as to what he was about, as Liam Collins tries to assert (also June 18). He left ?30m to his family and an island – presumably, his estate is subject to tax?

    Enough. The lesson to be learned is a simple one. Never again.

    Carn Ard, Circular Rd, Galway

    Sir – “The pen is mightier than the sword.” In the Garden of Remembrance there is an enlightening symbol of the sword in the water. Water crowning fire. What a front page you gave us this morning (June 18), words devoid of pure compassion for a grieving widow and her family.

    In the Book of Proverbs 10:30 are the following words: “Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.”

    Refreshment, light and peace to Charles James Haughey’s immortal soul.

    PR

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11. 

    Fred Bassett on February 18, 2019 at 11:55 am

    Micheal Martin, on paper, is Leader of the Fianna Fail party and he is also the Tanaiste of the Party in Government. Now, this may seem very confusing even for the Goonies or the Pink Panther (Chief Inspector Clousseau). Tuesday of this week, while Varadkar takes a short break from politics and flies to his boyfriend in Chicago, and while Coveney must fly to Brussels to check out the speeches which are prepared for him, Micheal Martin will take over the role as acting Taoiseach for the day!!!!

    Timmy Dooley, for the last three years, is very cosy about the deal and the reason I can say this is every time I see him in the car, he is on the Smarty phone and if he wants me to prove it I can put it online. Barry Cowen, renowned for his temper trantrums, will find it hard to swallow that the FF Leader Martin will be the opposite side of the benches come Tuesday. Even while writing this, I find it very hard to believe in this. Dara Callerary spoke on this week with Aine Lawlor today and stated that the row between John McGuinness and Barry (the inventor of the water meters) was just schoolboy stuff. Well I don’t swallow this. Nor does Willie Groucho Marx O’Dea and others who need to come out of their rabbit holes and tell Martin he is making FF the laughing stock, not just in Ireland, but beyond.

    Can you imagine on Tuesday, Mickey the Boxer, taking Leader’s Questions and sitting beside the Canadian Mounty Ms Zappone, Mary, the Blond bombshell Mitchell of O’Connor, and Josephine Madigan who looks in the mirror 37 times each day to make sure she is the perfect Doll for the Dail. What has gone wrong with Irish politics when a Leader of the Opposition party can just bounce across the floor and join the opposing gang. Are we talking about a comedy of errors here? Are we talking about a re-run of Yes, Minister? Are we talking about One Flew over the Cuckoo’s nest? Are we talking about Fake politics among FF and within the Dail.? So I ask everyone today with an interest in Irish politics (with Brexit Looming) to tune into Dail Eireann on Tuesday next for one of the greatest comedy events in Irish history. I am just wondering now, if Haughey and PJ Mara came back along with Jack Lynch and saw a Leader of FF taking Leader’s Questions from his own TD’s but from across the floor, what comments would they have in the Dail Bar afterwards?

    If anybody thinks the above is Drama and an attack on Martin and his FF puppets, let me go for a recall of fact:- A few days ago in the Dail – Questions to the Taoiseach in relation to the one billion overrun of the Childrens’ hospital Mary Lou MacDonald stood up and stated loud and with full clarity – “I notice Deputy Martin smiling but then again he is a coalition partner with FG”. Martin sat there and did not respond, I ask you now why did he just sit down and almost hide behind his cushion and the Cosy Deal.

    I can’t confirm the above: It is all the rumours coming from the once owned by Nama Buswells hotel where Shane Ross does most of his transport work and the Boxer Moran, Minister for Suckler Calves reads the Beano. Also, the rumours are coming from Donny and TitBits and the infamous Doll House where all wives are excluded and all shades of men go wearing wigs to engage.

    But tomorrow could be a very historic day since Neil Armstrong landed on the moon. Mick the Sheep Martin standing beside the Blueshirts and taking Leaders Questions as a Nixer for Leo as part of the Cosy Wooley Deal. My question now is to Biffo II, Barry Cowen, what questions are you going to ask Mick across the floor in relation to Broadband, the invisible water meters, and not forgetting that you have to ask Mickey why did Thomas Byrne cancel his turkey and ham last Christmas, out of spite, from the Butcher, that he traded with for decades? The only crime the butcher enacted was to join Peadar Toibin’s new party called “Cardinal’s Defrocked” with his deputy leader, Ruby Mullen.
    In the meantime, I hope Mary Lou who has just begun her 15th diet in 2 years is not smiling too much because Sinn Fein are in melt down and the bullying within the party would make the Nazi front of the Thirties look like boy scouts. In the middle of all this, Michelle O’Neill, across the invisible Border is taking lessons in French and German and has had more hairstyles that Marlene Dietrich. Don’t forget also that they still take their orders from the back of a launderette in West Belfast so the Circus continues but FF need to sit down and dig up the roots to make sure they haven’t been white washed in History.

    I will close by saying today – when a country has an Opposition that is actually operating within the Government; it is not just laughable; it is actually dangerous and Democracy is skating on thin ice. We need to get a grip on the Brexit storm that is beginning to gain momentum and please don’t tell me that the shower of Clowns in FG will depend on Enterprise Ireland (and the daily advertising in the media ie PR) to protect the economy because it is like asking Herod to run a creche.

    To be continued:

    Fred

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