The Wholesome Photo of the Month Thu May 09, 2024 11:01 | Anti-Empire
In 3 War Years Russia Will Have Spent $3... Thu May 09, 2024 02:17 | Anti-Empire
UK Sending Missiles to Be Fired Into Rus... Tue May 07, 2024 14:17 | Marko Marjanović
US Gives Weapons to Taiwan for Free, The... Fri May 03, 2024 03:55 | Anti-Empire
Russia Has 17 Percent More Defense Jobs ... Tue Apr 30, 2024 11:56 | Marko Marjanović
Anti-Empire >>
Indymedia Ireland is a volunteer-run non-commercial open publishing website for local and international news, opinion & analysis, press releases and events. Its main objective is to enable the public to participate in reporting and analysis of the news and other important events and aspects of our daily lives and thereby give a voice to people.
Julian Assange is finally free ! Tue Jun 25, 2024 21:11 | indy
Stand With Palestine: Workplace Day of Action on Naksa Day Thu May 30, 2024 21:55 | indy
It is Chemtrails Month and Time to Visit this Topic Thu May 30, 2024 00:01 | indy
Hamburg 14.05. "Rote" Flora Reoccupied By Internationalists Wed May 15, 2024 15:49 | Internationalist left
Eddie Hobbs Breaks the Silence Exposing the Hidden Agenda Behind the WHO Treaty Sat May 11, 2024 22:41 | indy
Human Rights in Ireland >>
Live and Let D.E.I. Sat Jul 27, 2024 09:00 | Dr James Allan
Law professor James Allan has had a bet on Donald Trump to win the Presidency for two years. He's even more confident of winning now that Kamala Harris has become the Democratic nominee.
The post Live and Let D.E.I. appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Three Generations of Waughfare: Alexander Waugh (1963-2024) Sat Jul 27, 2024 07:00 | James Alexander
Politics professor James Alexander pays tribute to Alexander Waugh, the grandson of Evelyn Waugh and master of non-fiction prose who died aged 60 last week.
The post Three Generations of Waughfare: Alexander Waugh (1963-2024) appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
News Round-Up Sat Jul 27, 2024 01:48 | Toby Young
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the ?climate emergency?, public health ?crises? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? Fri Jul 26, 2024 17:00 | Toby Young
A new edition of the Equal Treatment Bench Book instructs judges to avoid terms such as 'asylum seekers', 'immigrant' and 'gays', which it says can be 'dehumanising'.
The post Judges Told to Avoid Saying ?Asylum Seekers? and ?Immigrants? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum Fri Jul 26, 2024 15:00 | Toby Young
Labour has appointed Becky Francis, an intersectional feminist, to rewrite the national curriculum, which it will then force all schools to teach. Prepare for even more woke claptrap to be shoehorned into the classroom.
The post The Intersectional Feminist Rewriting the National Curriculum appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.
Lockdown Skeptics >>
Voltaire, international edition
Netanyahu soon to appear before the US Congress? It will be decisive for the suc... Thu Jul 04, 2024 04:44 | en
Voltaire, International Newsletter N°93 Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:49 | en
Will Israel succeed in attacking Lebanon and pushing the United States to nuke I... Fri Jun 28, 2024 14:40 | en
Will Netanyahu launch tactical nuclear bombs (sic) against Hezbollah, with US su... Thu Jun 27, 2024 12:09 | en
Will Israel provoke a cataclysm?, by Thierry Meyssan Tue Jun 25, 2024 06:59 | en
Voltaire Network >>
View Comments Titles Only
save preference
Comments (5 of 5)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5In Ireland the PD's may claim to be the party of private enterprise etc etc but it seems to me that the party does not have an ideology.
PD Minister Tom Parlon is a farmer with two thirds of his income provided by a form of public welfare. Michael McDowell's profession operates a closed shop type system that trade unionists could only dream of and Mary Harney's family background is also in farming.
The party jumped on the Thatcher bandwagon in the 1980's but apart from cheerleading for lower taxes, what else does it stand for? Competition? Deregulation? The taxi industry was an easy target but apart from EU mandated deregulation, what has Harney achieved? The fact that she is awaiting a report from a group on consumer policy after 7 years in governmnent, to provide a policy response to 'Rip Off Ireland' speaks volumes.
This kind of crap has been all over the Times since they gave the editor's job to Kennedy, a founder member of the PDs.
This is possibly the worst story I have ever had the misfortune to read.
What are you saying Sean? That there were two articles in the Irish Times that caught your eye? Did you think that this was of such value that you just had to share it?
You think you know what the writer is talking about? Are you brain dead? Really are you? Every single person in the world knows what the writer is talking about, outdated opinion about how it's a man's world and if you don't drink 15 pints and play golf you're fucked. Great.
Then your venerable opinion on the evil empire and the right wingers who are 'basically weak-minded and cowardly people'. Great analysis, Dick Cheney never struck me that way. He's a dick maybe but weak-minded? You got to be weak to be strong is that it? Like Jesus? Now there's a good guy and strong but weak, yeah.
Then the holiday story, you're a real world traveller. Thanks for that.
Next time keep it to yourself.
When I wrote the story at the head of the thread here I was not really writing about the PDs and so I find it interesting that the very first comment (from Michael Hennigan) was about this aspect of the story and it was re-echoed in one of the following comments.
As readers of indymedia may be aware I have been a member of the PDs since about 1987.
In the early days it was a kind of protest movement. Dessie O’Malley - the first leader - set out to "break the mould" of Irish politics as it existed in the middle to late 80’s. O’Malley, all through his days of leadership carried at least some trace of a "chip" on his shoulder and there was always the underlying idea that he was "agin" something. I must admit that that side of his personality always appealed to me.
However even in those days the party quite quickly assumed the air of a "yuppie" party. Frankly even though I often thought about it I do not know how this happened. Perhaps it had something to do with the class background of O’Malley himself or of some of the other leading lights in the party around the time of the late 80’s or early 90’s. For some reason the name Pat Cox comes to mind (he was General Secretary of the party in the early days).
Mary Harney has been leader of the party for over 10 years now. She was an acolyte of O’Malley’s when the party was founded but the whole animus of the party has become more moribund in her reign. National Party Conferences have become less frequent and less participative. Whereas party conferences in the late 80’s and early 90’s were lively with lots of motions and plenty of authentic debate and an enjoyable social atmosphere, this year’s conference - before the local elections - was a disgracefully stage-managed affair.
I do not know how the situation has arisen where Mary Harney and Micheal McDowell seem to delight in wearing Margaret Thatcher’s old clothes. Frankly I must confess I never liked those clothes even when Maggie herself was wearing them.
As I suggested in my original story, despite apparent political constipation at the moment, things inevitably change and where we are now is only a staging post for the future. It should be remembered that not all change is gradual - there can often be remarkable discontinuities and jumps.
You joined the PDs because you thought they were a protest movement???
In all fairness, I reckon that is was you and not they who lost their way.
It would be interesting all the same to explore the origins of the party and in particular the large donation (£100,000?) that set them up and for which they have never accounted. This money may have come from the same source that put up the money to bribe Government Ministers like MacSharry to get rid of Haughey. Various guesses as to who might have been responsible.