Good Friday Agreement, a Border Poll and Sinn féin sellout.

Here’s a topic i meant to write about on the anniversary of the Good friday agreement in April last year.

There has been other developments particularly the Sinn Féin ard fheis (party conference ) in November where they seem to have abandoned the principle of a United Ireland.

Well the leadership have anyway.

A United Ireland was once the main plank of the party but not since they signed up to Good Friday agreement… partition stays in so many words.  I have heard the Good Friday Agreement described as a “False Peace” a agreement made by bribing one side to accept unacceptable conditions lies and half truths.

The bribery seems to be more recent now . They say a border poll within  10 years but they said that in 2014, who believes them now ?

“Plum ” jobs in the British administration seem to be order of the day.

Back to Irish times poll which says most protestants would reject a United Ireland (79%) while only 55% of Catholics would support it. There is no campaigning at this stage.

Despite this poll the British administration will not allow a vote and run a country mile from one.

One could debate whether a six county vote is valid anyway ! It’s a gerrymander of the highest order leaving the most northerly part of Ireland in the “south” and ejecting the counties of Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan cos they would be too many Catholics.

Its a fact that Ireland didn’t join this union of its own free will. William Pitt then British prime minster (in 1801)bribed Irish parliament members to vote for it thus abolishing their parliament which has to be said was pretty unrepresented of the Irish people anyway.

Bribery is not new isn’t it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Youth, Housing and other Matters.

Just listened to the Niall Boylan show on Classix hits Wednesday 23 August 23. The topic being discussed was young people living with their parents unable to afford rent or mortgages. ( Average salary  in Ireland is  €45,000. Average price of a  3 bedroomed house is €305,000, in Dublin average house price is €430,000. Borrowing limits are 4 times salary and a little more.)

What can people do ?

For starters they can pressurize the Government to provide more social and affordable housing, the government is dragging its feet on the  issue by building nowhere near enough houses.( Most of the government Td’s are landlords and have a invested interest in the status quo).

A tax on vacant homes / land with planning permission (stop hoarding )/ derelict houses and properties.

Encourage old people to rent out their houses when they are living in nursing homes.

More balanced regional development, much of rural Ireland is in the doldrums, encourage more people/ business’s to set up in rural towns and villages.

Better Roads and railways, better public transport.

Young people to get organized. Young people get the “shiity ” end of the stick precisely because they are not organized, they don’t vote or vote for parties like fine gael or fianna fail. Young people get shafted on everything like car insurance, student fees, accommodation, wage rates, healthcare and jobs.   Old people who vote get free medical cards,  free phone, electric discounts, bus passes, tv licence and so on.

vote out the present government, they are a government of the rich and will not alleviate the problems of ordinary people.

 

Healthcare Crisis.

Have watched the situation in Irish hospitals unfold over the last few months, one has  to say the overcrowding issue is not new .Its the same story year after year for as long as I can remember,

Its made worse by having politicians in charge, their inept, incompetent and corrupt management of Irish hospitals leaves people in a dicey place when it comes to hospital admission, Lack of beds, lack of Consultants, lack of  nursing staff all add up.

Saw a presenter on Ireland am say that there was 6,000 more beds in the 1980’s than there is now and that was for a population of 3.5 million with the population of over 5 million now (26 counties). According to the Irish times 6,000  less hospital beds  equals to 10 hospital closures . They have done worse than that with 8 Accident and Emergency being closed in recent years.

Hardly surprising we have a situation on our hands is it ?

Things need to change, primarily the present Government which maintains the status qu0, more private medicine basically is what they’ll do. We need a government committed t0 public healthcare building new hospitals and adding thousands of beds and not lurching from crisis to crisis.

Here’s a link t0 s0me previous posts on the matter-

Health disservice / Cedar Lounge Revolution 7th June 2017

https://gearosc.eu/2017/12/13/an-excerpt-from-the-bitter-pill-or-what-is-wrong-with-irelandroi-healthcare-system/

 

 

Pensions, Pensions

 

The government have unwrapped new proposals on pension “reforms”. These “reforms” will allow people to “opt” to take a slightly larger pension at seventy years of age instead of sixty six at present. Other “reforms” will increase the length of contributions to forty years up from the present ten year prsi contribution. These measures are designed to cost the state less in pension costs and make people work till they are seventy !

I have said before that these proposals are anti-people and designed to catch the poorest and leave them with nothing . More than 50% of the workforce have no private pension and these people will be most effected by state pension “reforms.”.  Opposing the Government measures is a must for all workers.

Most people have worked hard for their retirement and don’t deserve any extra obstacles in the w\y. Maybe the government would look into civil service pensions and tax loop holes for the rich

Life expectancy Of Ireland =82.3- 82.6 yrs

Classic Hits “Guaranteed Irish”.

May be an image of 1 person and text that says 'classic 94 94-105FM 105FM Ireland's Classic Hits Radio GUARANIEED WIHMEGHANN WITH'

Flicked on the radio to “Classic Hits” the show that was on was “Guaranteed Irish” with Meghann Scully 8-10 pm Sunday night . She introduced a band i think was called the  “Academic”  and their t0ur dates in Belfast and Derry which she called “Londonderry” only a loyalist calls it rhat and then asked if rhey had any Irish dates ? ? !!!

Fuck me but I thought that Belfast and Derry were in Ireland !!!

Didn’t ace at geography but at least I got that right.

Here a map of Ireland for her/

Beautiful Map of Ireland in English and Irish Gaeilge image 1

Sinn Fein’s Gerry Adams denies being Mi5 Spy.

Just browsing facebook and came across this post from Irish History and Troubles about Gerry Adams being a Mi5 spy.. This accusation dates from 2014, you can see the article on Belfast Telegraph website here .

The report alleges that Gerry Adams was turned in 1972 during a Police interrogation and worked secretly for Mi5 since then. The RUC/ PSNI made this claim when Mr Adams was arrested in 2014 over the Jean McConville killing, Mr Adams was held by the Ruc/PSNI for four days. Accusations like this are not uncommon in this regard. Rumor has it that at least half of the IRA worked for the security forces.  Working for the security forces would make alot of things add up- why all the constant “mistakes” that ended up being a propaganda victory for the Brits.

One wonders if more will come out on Mr Adams, I will keep a ear out for anymore.

 

See the source image
£

1921 Anglo Irish Treaty.

The Anglo-Irish Treaty, formally known as the ‘Articles of Agreement’, signed by the Irish and British delegates on 6 December 1921

Above is gif from Wikipedia Commons showing the signatures on the Anglo Irish treaty which was signed on the December 5th/6th 1921. What can one say about the Anglo Irish treaty ? Absolute disaster is what I would say, the Irish delegation had under pressure signed up to the partition of Ireland, an oath of allegiance to the British King, British army to have garrisons in the 26 counties. Little or no real independence really. The Irish delegation signed the treaty without Dail or  cabinet approval which they had told to get before they signed anything.

The result was two very nasty little states being established  in Ireland, Both states were economic basket cases . What should be noted was the amount of people that left Ireland for foreign shores … emigration was a fact of  life for all Irish people.  The resulting  civil war  and the “troubles” could be laid at the door of those who signed the treaty. Maybe allocating the blame is more appropriate than the “hero” worship of the pro treaty Fine Gael/Fianna fail and Rte.

One fact that has to be made is that a 26 county dominion of the British empire could have be negotiated by a home rule parliament in Dublin . The Irish delegation had gone nothing in the way of concessions from the British. The British had given very little but it was enough to cause a split in the Irish. People who had jumped on the band wagon now jumped off. It was like a battle between the “have’s and the have-nots”.

The decisions made a hundred years ago touch us t0 this day.

https://www.yourirish.com/history/20th-century/the-anglo-irish-treaty-1921

https://www.museum.ie/ga-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/Documentation-Discoveries/Artefact/The-Signing-of-the-Anglo-Irish-Treaty,-1921/7a49e7e5-7cf7-4218-b3b4-c974d4adafa6

Books I have Read – Thatcher’s Spy by Willie Carlin.

This is a book I read (listened to actually) by Willie Carlin who enlisted as British soldier from 1965 to 1974 and on leaving the British army was asked to spy on Sinn fein for the British security service Mi5. He wasn’t asked to spy on the IRA but on the politics of Sinn fein and what they are doing. Being a Derryman he joined the waterside branch of Sinn fein and gradually worked his way in to the organization, becoming branch secretary, working in the Sinn fein advice centres and so on. He was told to get close to Martin McGuiness which he did, he kept Mi5 informed of Sinn fein tactics, electioneering , voter impersonation , membership records and expensives and income. meetings and so on.  He had little time for the local IRA who he described as the “fuckup squad”, riddled with informers as they where but also mentions that he met Martin McGuiness coming out of a Mi5 safe house this was in the seventies ! The author waited till 2019 to tell people about this

The author was a rising star in Sinn fein, he was talked about standing as a councilor in the local elections. One mistake he made was ringing the British army barracks from the Sinn fein advice centre, they checked the phone bill ! They saw the unusual phone number, rang it up and found it was the British army. The author had to be very careful for months after this and resolved not to make such a stupid mistake again.

The author met his “contacts”  in carparks of hospitals, they pull up in a van longside his car and take him to the British army base. He continued to work for Sinn fein whilst all the time being a spy for Mi5/FRU. He carried on till March 1985 when he was pulled out by the British army after a former handler blew him to the provos. His life was saved by none other than Freddie Scapatti of “Stakeknife” fame who told his controllers that Carlin (the author) was to be picked up by the IRA  nutting squad the following morning. The author was told by the British he would be dead by morning and whisked him away to a British army base outside Belfast. Margert Thatcher’s ministerial jet was sent to collect him and his family. He was placed initially outside Cardiff in Wales where he lived happily for years, he received relocation expensive, a new name, new driving license and a lump sum. He recounts meeting Margaret Thatcher who tapped him on the arm and told him “What a great thing he was doing for his country !”

He believes that the British Government was successful in drawing Sinn fein away from the armed struggle and into main stream politics. The author has many regrets on his life as a informer principally being that he was unable to attend his son and daughters funerals, his life was marred by personal tragedy.

 

 

 

 

World Day Against the Death Penalty.

statement about the International day against death penalty – Amman Center for Human Rights Studies
https://achrs.org/english/2019/10/10/statement-about-the-international-day-against-death-penalty/

 

World and Europe Day against the Death Penalty

Today was/is (10 th October )the international Day against the Death penalty. The death penalty is formally abolished in many countries or off the books legally. Some countries retain the Death penalty such as China, USA, Middle Eastern countries and so on.

What does the Death penalty achieve ? Very little, it doesn’t deter anyone from killing so it seems.. Every country would seemed to have killed someone who is innocent. someone who is poor or mentally deranged. The guilty in alot of cases get off scot free, so it is unsafe form of justice.

Under what circumstances does someone deserve to lose their life, I  don’t know but someone who killed and later cut up the body with a chainsaw, I would find it hard to defend them even though I am against the Death penalty.

I would support making a life sentence for murder mean life in jail or at least forty years in jail without parole.  Another thing that could be done is to switch off all the violence on TV, it encourages the taking of human life and there is too much killing. Much could be done to scale back the gun culture that exists in many countries.

RTE and its blatant lies.

Just watched the six one news, apparently it featured a story that a court in the North has ruled that the 1998 Omagh bombing could have been prevented.

That’s hardly news as many people believe that the Brits knew all about it and did nothing to stop it.

RTE reported it as the single worst atrocity of the troubles. I thought the Dublin and Monaghan bombings were the single worse event, with up to 30 people killed in Dublin ( including a woman pregnant with twins). RTE puts out propaganda for the  British intelligence services as far as I can see. I am open to correction if I have got the numbers wrong.

My point of view is that “Who came out the Winner”  because more often than not the “Winners” are the ones who were behind it  in the first place. Who gained  ? reaped benefit from the situation ?