Labour Racism in Roscommon

roscommon | rights, freedoms and repression | news report

Thursday September 29, 2005 21:22

by LabourWatcher

Following on from Labour Cllrs. McGarry and Cawley across the border in Sligo, Labour in Roscommon didn't what to be left out of the new populist policy towards minorities. Boyle Town Cllr. Willie Tiernan had interesting comments to say about a German couple, who have lived in the area for over 10 years, who lodged an Appeal to An Bord Pleanala about the building of a hotel, golf course and 297 holiday homes on Coillte land in Lough Key Forest Park.

From the Roscommon Herald:

"It is a disappointing day for Boyle and the West of Ireland when foreign nationals can come in and tell us what we can do in our own town, county and country"

"they should not be allowed the authority to object to a development"

"If a I went over to Germany and objected to one of their buildings or developments I'd be ran out of it straight away"

"Have these people no foresight? There is no place for them in society in this town."

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Comments (3 of 3)

No criticism yet from Labour leadership

by Ming

Thu Sep 29, 2005 21:49

I presume no labour public reps will be criticising cllr. Boyle for his remarks, they'll be afraid they might meet the same fate as Declan Bree.....

Nothing new

by Alan - SWP

Thu Sep 29, 2005 22:25

Nothing new i'm afraid as a motion was put before Balbriggan town council earlier in the year calling for deportations of unaccompanied children back to their country of origin. All Labour town councillors supported the motion. The chair of the council was labour and defended the motion as "not racist".
Quite a statement when 3 other councils across the country said it was.
First labour HQ knew about this was when i e-mailed them about it in June, still waiting for a response on what action they took (if any).

Not surprising

by Killswitch - Roscommon ex-pat

Fri Sep 30, 2005 02:13

This is disgraceful, but not surprising in the slightest, and merely reflects a deep seated parochialism/prejudice in the townships more generally. Many local councillors do, afterall, spout what the voters in their local pub whinge about, regardless of party.

And where this instance is with regard to a German couple, you can only begin to imagine the prejudice boyle-ing (!) in the wee little townships littered across the county (not to mention their next-door neighbours and this island more generally) where non-Europeans are concerned.

Cheers LabourWatcher for the post, not with regard to Labour, but highlighting the deep-seated 'We don't like your type around here' mentality that is so widespread on the Island of 1000 welcomes. Slainte!

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Labour Racism in Roscommon

Comments (3 of 3)