Ain’t Nothing Change But The Weather

Posted on 27/03/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Éamon Gilmore – Calm The Rich, Con The Poor

One definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result each time. So take the words of Robin McAlpine in the Scotsman newspaper on the SNP’s policies for an independent Scotland and more importantly the example of Ireland’s calamitous slide into cowboy capitalism during the 1990s and 2000s.

“Currently, the SNP exists in a third-way fudge between two political philosophies. Critics have named this delusion “the myth of Scandimerica”, the belief that you can have Scandinavian social services with US-level taxes. Actually, there was no need since the delusion already had a name – the Arc of Prosperity.

The Arc of Prosperity was a knowing fantasy predicated on the belief that corrupt, housing-and-speculation-gone-mad Ireland was actually the other side of the coin of socially democratic Norway.

The opposite is the truth; economically and socially the politics of Ireland were diametrically opposed to Norway. The former followed unstable get-rich-quick doctrines with an unsustainable faith in short-term trickle-down. The latter emphasised productive growth, a balanced economy and long-term investment strategies where the equality and high standard of living these generate make higher taxes painless.

Let’s call these the neoliberal model and the European social model. There isn’t space here to detail their characteristics but very loosely one promotes progress-through-conflict (markets, competition, wealth-creators) and one promotes progress-through-mutuality (productivity, balanced economy, public services).

…they are more-or-less mutually exclusive. The things you do to increase real productivity work against short-term speculative gain. The things you do to encourage competition create unbalanced economies. The ideology of “wealth creators” is at odds with the ideal of a strong welfare state.”

Which begs the question, why are the three establishment parties of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour working so hard to revive a socio-economic model that has proven to be such an economic, social, cultural and environmental disaster for our island nation? What is driving the political, business and media elites in this country to recreate the Celtic Tiger economy and society of a decade ago when they – and we – are well aware of its superficial and ultimately corrosive nature? Are the political classes in Ireland so lacking in wit that like a dog returning to its vomit they must nose at the mess they have created in the hope of lapping it up again?

We Fight For Neither King Nor Kaiser (Íomhá: éirígí)

Or do they wish to replace a failed Celtic Tiger economy with another certain-to-fail Neo-Celtic Tiger economy that is little more than a self-perpetuating Ponzi Scheme for the top 1%? And where does that leave the other 99% of the population who have nothing for their labour but bitterness and resentment? What then of any concept of social or communal responsibility by the majority when a minority can simply act as if they exist above such things?

We have a choice in Ireland. We can become the Celtic Norway or Finland of western Europe with our social and cultural mores reflected in our economic structures. Or once again we can become the Wild West of Europe, where society and culture are dirty words, where concepts like responsibility are deemed to be an unnecessary restraint on our freedom to do our worse.

Comment: Why SNP must tap into their inner Borgen (scotsman.com)
One of Ireland’s ugly economic realities: snakes on the loose (seattletimes.com)
Socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor – “Tempered with Reality: Economic Theory and the Real World” (irishcentral.com)

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Fine Béarla

Posted on 26/02/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Fine Gael under pressure to promote English

Not the story you might think but the headline seems appropriate enough…

Voting Fianna Fáil – Like A Dog Returning To Its Vomit

Posted on 17/02/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Fianna Fáil, back from the dead ( (Photo: Séamas Ó Sionnaigh, Binn Éadair, Cúige Laighean, Éire, Meitheamh 2012)

Another weekend, another poll, this time a telephone survey of 1000 voters by Millward Brown on behalf of the Sunday Independent newspaper. I’m always wary of examining polls in newspapers that fail to provide a link to the hard data of the survey and this one is no different. We are relying on the journalists and editors to provide us with the substance of the poll free of any predefined spin. In the case of the “Sindo”, an agenda-driven right-wing newspaper which has traditionally curried favour with the two big political power blocks of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, that is something of a challenge.

However, for what its worth, here are the results of the telephone questionnaire:

“Fianna Fáil 27%

Fine Gael 25%

Sinn Féin 20%

Labour 13%

ULA 1%

Greens 1%

Others 14%”

The most obvious thing to note is the slow drift back to Fianna Fáil, which has now been played out across a number of different opinion polls and can no longer be simply dismissed as “snap-shots” of voter dissatisfaction or statistical blips (or as Jason Walsh so memorably puts it: “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so an Irish voter returneth to his Fianna folly“). Though we continue to have a very volatile electorate with high levels of “don’t knows” or “undecideds” it is clear that FF has managed to stabilise its core vote (albeit at a historical low level) and is successfully building upon that.

On the other hand Fine Gael is rapidly shrinking back to its electoral inner heartlands. There is no good news in the survey for the party and quite a few TDs elected on narrow margins must be beginning to worry about their future prospects. Eventually such worries will be made known and sooner rather than later.

For Sinn Féin it is a case of no news is good news. While the party seems to be having trouble making or sustaining a 20%+ breakthrough in the polls it can be fairly confident that any drop in voter satisfaction is not going to be too significant for its percentages. For a political party that in the electoral lifetime of many its sitting TDs was normally in fifth or sixth place in the opinion polls to find itself a regular number three must be satisfying indeed. However the party’s position, though laudable, is still lower than it should be. The SF ceiling is arguably in and around 25%. While it is very hard to see how it could progress beyond that in the near to medium term it certainly should be questioning why it is failing to approach anywhere near that figure.

The core membership of the Labour Party (or those left after the WP/DL putsch) must be ruing the day they followed their executive-hungry leader into power. In effect all that Labour managed to achieve was to clear out an electoral space for Sinn Féin to grow (and for a while the ULA with it). It is debatable whether the party will get back that traditional or Labour-tending floating vote not to mention the many first-time voters who bypassed the Labour Party altogether and went straight to SF (both now and in the future).

The ULA will be similarly depressed with these results, as must be most activists on the non-Sinn Féin or non-Labour Left across Ireland. This is their time, if any time is, and they have simply failed to exploit it both in political and electoral terms. The ULA debacle, and all the animosity and bad blood surrounding it, will make for a hard sell with voters come the next general election. Increasingly parties of the further-left seem likely to be character-driven, one or two politicians popular with local constituents around whom a political party operates. It is all-but certain that the Socialist Party or the People Before Profit/Socialist Workers Party will never become major national parties in Ireland. They will remain local, parochial even, but with unfulfilled higher aspirations.

As for the Greens… I can’t even bear to bring myself to comment.

Another Poll – Fianna Fáil Voters Abandon The Fine Gael Fold (ansionnachfionn.com)
Polls, Politics And Conspiracy Theories (ansionnachfionn.com)
Millward Brown Poll: Scary buns for Fine Gael? (sluggerotoole.com)
Labour at the next election ……10 seats? (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)

Another Poll – Fianna Fáil Voters Abandon The Fine Gael Fold

Posted on 09/02/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Fianna Fáil – Back With A Bang! Thanks To All Those Former FF-Turned-FG Voters

Two weeks ago I queried the possibility of the next incarnation of An Dáil becoming more like the Israeli Knesset: a host of independents, small parties and shifting political alliances with a handful of big fish around which other groups coalesced. Following the latest Irish Times / Ipsos MRBI poll that certainly looks more likely:

“Fianna Fáil 26% (+5%)

Fine Gael 25% (-6%)

Sinn Féin 18% (-2%)

Labour 10% (-2%)

Green Party 1% (-1%)

ULA/Independents/Others 20% (+6%)”

However two important facts must be borne in mind about the survey. Firstly it comes with a significant margin of error of +/-3%, a statistical figure many commentators and journalists simply choose to overlook (or don’t understand). Secondly the poll was taken before the crucial (and divisive) debates and deal in Dáil Éireann on the so-called “promissory note” which will certainly effect any future polling (the Red C / Business Post poll is some two weeks away, as of now). With those things noted it is clear that recent polling indicates an upward trend in Fianna Fáil’s support amongst the electorate with a corresponding fall in that of Fine Gael and the Labour Party.

The prolific Adrian Kavanagh at Political Reform has number-crunched the figures and come up with the following estimates for Dáil seats:

“Fianna Fáil = 54

Fine Gael = 45

Sinn Féin = 24

Labour = 13

Green Party = 0

ULA/Independents/Others = 22″

More than ever it seems clear that Fine Gael’s phenomenal general election results were in part dependent on disaffected FF voters some of whom also registered a preference for Labour. With Fine Gael effectively following the same socio-economic polices as the previous coalition of Fianna Fáil and the Greens, albeit without the deft populist touch of FF, many former FF voters are now returning to the fold. Fine Gael it seems is now being punished by the electorate for pushing through the very same austerity measures favoured by Fianna Fáil. Ah, the fickleness of the Irish voter!

But one must hand it to FF. As I pointed out before, they have adopted the previous post-atrocity tactics of Sinn Féin: go low, keep your core happy, issue a few platitudes or inoffensive phrases and wait for the heat to die down. And die down it did. While some Irish voters may never forgive Fianna Fáil for the mismanagement and corruption of recent decades (in and out of office) others are more forgiving and quite prepared to shake hands with the devil they know. How many cheques and donations will be flowing FF’s way over the next two or three years from the usual sources now that Fine Gael is in trouble? Its called hedging your bets. A little bit of largesse here, a little bit there.

How are Fianna Fáil’s recently dire party finances now, I wonder? That would be interesting to know and an indicator of where the “smart money” thinks its best hope for future influence lies.

So could the unthinkable happen? Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in coalition following the next general election? No. Those who believe such an alliance to be the likely outcome of voter fragmentation at the ballot box simply don’t understand the intensely factional nature of politics in Ireland. Or how institutions of any sort conduct or perceive themselves. No institution chooses to deliberately help its rivals; and when all is said and done FF and FG are rivals. And bitter ones at that. Each wishes to drown the other, not toss it a lifeline. Even at the risk of their own survival. If the Socialist Party and the People Before Profit/Socialist Workers Party couldn’t make the United Left Alliance work, let alone merge with each other, what chance of a united FG-FF coalition (or a Fianna Gael. Or would it be Fine Fáil?).

As for the smaller parties, Sinn Féin keeps bobbing along in the high teens, up to 20%, down to 15%. If the old rule of thumb of previous polls is true (the SF vote is always underestimated through voter reluctance to admit a preference) then the party should be content with 18%. However its mediocre performances of late (especially in the north of the country) should be a cause for worry. 18% is good but it should be better. The glass ceiling for Sinn Féin votes hasn’t been reached yet and that is largely through the party’s own inadequacies (and admittedly a resolutely hostile media establishment that runs the gamut from newspapers to television).

SF will remain possible partners for a future FF administration, either in coalition or through some procedural chicanery in Dáil Éireann. That still leaves the Labour Party who one suspects will be Fine Gael’s only hope of a coalition ally unless the much-prophesied PDs Mark II emerges from the shadowy wastes of Ireland’s political Right (with a few wayward Independents thrown into the mash). As it is Labour is on its continued downward spiral. The only question is when will the crew start bailing? Or do they intend to go down with the captain?

The Independents, the rump ULA and such flotsam and jetsam as rises to the surface of Irish politics, continue to see an improvement in their standing as far as the polls are concerned. Some are motivated by genuine social and economic concerns and beliefs (despite her recent troubles, and my own personal views, Claire Daly is still someone to watch – which goes some way to explain the media fascination with her). Others are a downright embarrassment. But where will a significant vote for various “Others” get us? A more diverse Dáil Éireann certainly but also a more fractured one too.

Meanwhile in the north-east of the country another poll, albeit a regional one this time (via Hoboroad’s Political Highway):

“DUP 25.1%

SF 21.7%

SDLP 18.6%

UUP 13.2%

APNI 10.4%”

However several seasoned observers strike a note of caution in relation to the figures. Interesting but a bit unlikely seems to be the general impression. Of course the figures here are more telling of changing political demographics than any amount of voter surveys.

UPDATE 17.00: Talking of the “promissory note” Football Clichés has some pertinent thoughts while NAMA Winelake highlights the continued asset-stripping of the Irish nation. Also check out Tomás Ó Flatharta for his take on the recent polls.

After thee years of witnessing the abuse and manipulation of Irish democracy my own feelings on Ireland’s continuity state, the political establishment of Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour, the parasitical and amoral business and media elites, and the self-serving bureaucracies of the EU, et al, are probably best summed up by the below. Our new national anthem?

Polls, Politics And Conspiracy Theories (ansionnachfionn.com)
Government Sign Emergency Bank Legislation Before Mum & Dad Get Home (donegaldollop.wordpress.com)

The End Of Gaelscéal?

Posted on 02/02/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Gaelscéal – the end of the Irish language newspaper

Foras na Gaeilge, the government body charged with overseeing the state’s Irish language policies (such as they are), has unexpectedly announced that it is terminating its contract with Torann na dTonn Teo. the enterprise that publishes Gaelscéal, the weekly Irish language newspaper.

In a letter to the directors of Torann na dTonn Teo. the board of Foras na Gaeilge indicated that their decision reflected the shifting trends in the reading habits of the Irish-speaking public and that new plans were being drawn up to meet those needs. When initially contacted by the Irish language radio station Raidió na Gaeltachta for a statement Foras claimed that they had no spokesperson available until next Monday. However the anglophone Irish Independent newspaper has run a media release from Foras claiming that the €400,000 funding for Gaelscéal represented a €7 subsidy for each copy of the weekly newspaper sold and that this amounted to less than 1500 copies per week.

However the Gaelscéal editorial team have responded by disputing the weekly sales figures adding that 1000 copies of the newspaper are distributed free to Irish schools each week, with 400 downloads of the digital edition and 1000 visitors weekly to their website. They have also pointed out that since its launch Gaelscéal has risen to become the second most popular Irish language media site on the internet.

The announcement of the withdrawal of funding by the government and Foras na Gaeilge came a few days after Gaelscéal broke a front-page news story describing the fear felt by many Irish-speaking employees of state-funded bodies when it comes to voicing public criticism of the state and its controversial policies towards its Irish-speaking citizens and communities.

The excellent Nuacht24 has more.

UPDATE: Irish journalist and former newspaper editor Concubhar Ó Liatháin has established a petition opposing the closing of Gaelscéal at Change.org. You can show your support here. Please share with as many of your friends as you can.

Tweet at #gaelscéal

There’s No Irish In Ireland! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Angloban Ignorance Posing As Informed Commentary (ansionnachfionn.com)
Two Tech Stories For Gaeilgeoirí (ansionnachfionn.com)
Foclóir, The New Online English-Irish Dictionary (ansionnachfionn.com)

Polls, Politics And Conspiracy Theories

Posted on 28/01/2013 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

An Taoiseach na Chófra – Those were the days!

One weekend, two polls, and the results look good for both Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin. However things are not so rosy for Fine Gael and are positively awful for Labour.

From the latest Sunday Business Post Red-C survey:

“Fine Gael 28% (no change)

Fianna Fáil 21% (+1)

Ind/Other 21% (no change)

Sinn Fein 19% (+2)

Labour 11% (-3)”

Ouch. Meanwhile the “Oirish” edition of the Sunday Times has the results of its Behaviour & Attitudes poll:

“Fine Gael 26% (-4)

Fianna Fáil 24% (+2)

Sinn Féin 19% (+5)

Ind/Other 18% (-1)

Labour 11% (-1)

Green 3% (no change)”

That has gotta hurt. Political Reform crunches the numbers and comes up with the following seats based on the Red-C poll:

“Fine Gael 56

Fianna Fail 38

Sinn Fein 25

Independents, Green Party, United Left Alliance and Others 24

Labour 15”

Taking the Behaviour & Attitudes results the extrapolations yield:

“Fine Gael 51

Fianna Fail 42

Sinn Fein 26

Independents, Green Party, United Left Alliance and Others 24

Labour 15”

Based on this polling (and the ongoing trends) I think several members of the present FG-Lab coalition will be breathing sighs of relief that the next general election is some way off. I certainly wouldn’t like to guesstimate the make-up of any future government with surveys like this. Could we end up with a politically fractured Dáil that has more than a passing resemblance to the Israeli Knesset? And would that be good or bad for Ireland’s democracy?

As others have pointed out Sinn Féin seems to be hollowing out Labour’s “working class” vote while scooping up quite a few former Fine Gael voters too (though the latter should probably be regarded in most cases as ex-Fianna Fáil and some at least will continue their electoral journey back to the one-time Republican Party). Oft-made media predictions that the SF vote would fall back to pre-2011 general election levels (in and around 9%) seem more and more like wish-fulfilment than political analysis. The Sinn Féin vote has bobbed up and down in the 14% to 20% range for some time now and there it is likely to remain for the foreseeable future (and if it does change significantly the direction of movement seems likely to be upward not downward, bar some unforeseen catastrophe).

Fianna Fáil must also be be quite satisfied with its rising polling, not to mention expressing a fair degree of wonder at how the hell it got away with not paying the ultimate price for being part of the disaster that enveloped this nation in 2009/2010. The switch from a near electoral meltdown to a respectable 20%+ poll proves the party strategy of simply hanging on until people’s memories faded, and the Fine Oibre coalition of FG and Labour created plenty of unpleasant new ones, has paid off. Ironically FF took a leaf out of the Sinn Féin playbook – in times of trouble keep your head down, keep your nose clean, mumble a few inoffensive platitudes, and simply wait until the trouble blows over. As it always does.

On the other hand Fine Gael must be starting to worry with the old rival coming within a hair’s breadth of out-polling it though there is certainly no sign of a panic yet. People may express dissatisfaction in mid-term surveys but come election day?

As for the minnows of the coalition, the Labour Party (emphasis on the “parrrrty!”)? Well that leadership putsch by former WP/DL apparatchiks isn’t looking so great now, is it?

Though there is some sort of good news for Labour as the United Left Alliance (ULA) enters true meltdown mode with the Socialist Party bidding it a not so fond adieu. What is left now of the ULA is pretty much a rag-bag of independent Left activists, effective and (more often) ineffective, not to mention the Socialist Workers Party – sorry, People Before Profit (ahem…). At a time when Ireland needs a genuine left-of-centre voice on politics, economics and society the further reaches of the Left seem to be spending as much time campaigning against each other as against the reinvigorated phantasm of anglo-american capitalism. Which of course suits Labour. Not to mention Sinn Féin.

Any bets on SF emerging as the dominant left-of-centre party in Ireland over the next decade?

Meanwhile in some real news, the type of news that some of the parties above should be screaming from the rooftops, the always excellent NAMA Wine Lake reports that:

“Not content with receiving a bailout of €21bn – without which, the bank would be utterly bust – not content with shoveling €1.1bn into its pension fund last August 2012 – without which, AIB would be in the same position as myriad pension schemes around the country and have to renege on pension benefits – and not content with giving redundant staff five weeks pay per year of service - when staff at Vita Cortex had to fight tooth and nail to get 2.9 weeks, this afternoon we learn via the BBC in Northern Ireland that several AIB staff are to receive GBP 2m (€2.3m) of bonuses and contract-increment payments.”

Nice work if you can get it.

Anti-democracy protest leader and British Unionist militant Willie Frazer poses in front of a British terrorist wall mural, Belfast, Ireland

Talking of which David Ford, leader of the liberal Unionists of the Alliance Party and the Justice Minister in the regional administration in the north-east of the country, is making a play for some of the SDLP’s voters. With anti-democracy protests from the militant extreme of the British Unionist minority ongoing the future of the Alliance Party in all those nominally Unionist constituencies with significant Roman Catholic or small “n” Nationalist voting blocs is looking increasingly in doubt. Naomi Long is probably on her way out in East Belfast as far as the Westminster seat is concerned and several Alliance MLAs look to be in trouble too. So to Ford’s forlorn hope of attracting a few disaffected SDLP voters to make up the numbers. However, in typically schizophrenic Alliance mode the party is attracting more avowedly Unionist politicians and activists than ever before with former UUP and Tory types drifting into the fold.

Which hardly adds to its attractiveness for Nationalist voters. Even the palest of pale green.

Of course it could be worse. Here is Willie Frazer, the very public face of the anti-democracy demonstrations, in Q&A with James Bennett at the University Times:

“Q: There is a video of you on YouTube saying that protests over the flag will always be peaceful “except when certain elements who are working for the British government get in and create violence.”

A: Well if I said it that way I probably meant that whenever people attack peaceful protesters they will defend themselves. I was talking about elements within the republican movement… but also elements within the police force. Not every police officer though, because 99% of them are good.

Q: Are you saying that members of the PSNI have purposefully incited violence?

A: Yes. I’ve seen it myself.

Q: How have they done that?

A: Well, for example, if you hit a woman who is standing on the street who is seventy years of age… If you hit her with a baton…

Q: Is this recently?

A: Yes, in the last few weeks. That’s only one. I’ve seen a lot of women being beaten to the ground.

Q: By police officers?

A: By police officers.

Q: Are you saying that the Irish government knew about 110 murders?

A: Yes… There were people… involved. Just to give you an example… We know for a fact, and it is in Irish government documents, that the Irish government authorised the Irish army to give 500 weapons out of the army barracks in Dublin in 1972 to the IRA around the border. We want to know why that was allowed to happen. That’s not hearsay; that is fact. If he can come down here and call up an inquiry into Pat Finucane, we want an answer to that. We want to why they did not arrest the men who hijacked the minibus in the Kingsmill massacre, when they knew the name of the men involved.

Q: The IRA were involved with putting horsemeat into beef products?

A: Yes.

Q: Why would they do that?

To make money. It’s the same with cows that have to be sold within a certain number of months after they’re born. Basically old fat cows that are 30 months old have been put into the food chain because the republicans have the means of getting it in. And a blind eye has been turned to it. This is the kind of thing that’s going on that we’re sick of… There is a blind eye being turned to so much fraud so that they don’t upset the peace process. That is what is creating the problems here.”

Oh dear…

Some Political Musings

Posted on 16/11/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Binn Éadair, Lúghnasa, 2011 – Mother Nature Comments On The Green Party

As a Gaelic Republican I suppose my politics lie somewhere on the social-democratic centre-left. Sometimes my opinions veer towards the centre-ground, sometimes towards the far left. In the days of my (callow) youth I used to vote Fianna Fáil and Labour. Yes, that’s right, I was one of those fabled left-wing FF types. We did exist you know, until greed and corruption forced us to turn away from a party that we thought we knew (but perhaps never truly did). Fianna Fáil and Labour was the dream ticket for those like myself on the left of both, the desirable coalition with the proper balance of republicanism and socialism. Though never enough of both, if truth be told.

One detected early on that something was not quite right in the Fianna Fáil camp. A certain attitude or culture. A tendency to say one thing while doing the other. The generation of the party that spawned the Celtic Tiger scorned a belief in ideology or a core set of principles and eventually dumped their own to seize whatever seemed popular or advantageous at the time – however deplorable or ultimately destructive it may have been. They stole the clothes of Fine Gael and the Progressive Democrats, and covered them with a thin veneer of mindless populism. Power, avarice and cronyism became the guiding principles of the party and its leadership. As for Labour I could never bring myself to be wholehearted in my support. There was something not quite right about them too. A certain holier-than-thou, faux-liberalism that I couldn’t stomach. Some of the biggest snobs I’ve met in my life were young Labour activists. No one can condescend quite like a Labour Party member.

With the FF and Labour pigs wallowing in the trough during the hey-day of the Celtic Tiger I was left voteless, as it were. No question of supporting Fine Gael. For all sorts of reasons that was repugnant and remains so. Some might ask, why was the Fine Gael dog not as openly corrupt as its Fianna Fáil counterpart? The answer of course is that it didn’t need to be. The dog at the top of the dunghill does not need to worry over-much about the rivals fighting it out below. The so-called hard left (silly term) weren’t much better. Back in the day I had more than the odd clash with members of the Workers Party. Some were thoroughly honourable people, genuinely committed socialist republicans. However those at the top were less so, and increasingly less so as they took the reins of power and galloped the party off into near oblivion. Now days of course they sit atop the Labour Party, one time rivals infiltrated from within in classic Communist style (anyone remember the days of the Militant Tendency? The irony!). Of course these guys (and gals) had no more interest in Marx (or Trotsky) than they had in a hole in the wall. Well, except perhaps a hole-in-the-wall cash machine. Mercs and perks here we come. So no WP for me (though in fairness I’m not even sure what their politics are these days). As for the far distant outliers of leftwing politics in Ireland, the Socialist Workers Party, Socialist Party, et al. No thank you. The Socialist Party in particular left me stone cold and still does so. They have too much of the myopic internationalist about them, a party that would seem more comfortable on the streets of London than Dublin. I can’t but help think of the thoroughly disagreeable Kate Hoey when I see the opinions of some SP types (and she’s still at it!). There were indications of change but they have yet to appear (apparently).

For a while I found myself drifting towards the Greens until they showed their true colours. Teamhair was the start, Daingean Uí Chúis the last of it. Never again in my life will I vote Green. Never. These days I usually throw my number one to Sinn Féin (albeit with the odd sigh or two). I have a lot of issues with the party but there are precious little other choices. Truth be told there isn’t a political party out there that truly represents my views. But then again, doesn’t everyone say that? (unless you vote Fine Gael).

All of which rambling leads to nothing in particular

Enda “The Paddy” Kenny

Posted on 07/10/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Time Magazine – Enda Kenny – Ireland – On The Dole

Enough said…

Fine Gael Blues: Dr. James Reilly And Cllr Anne Devitt

Posted on 13/07/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Former Fine Gael Councillor Anne Devitt Campaigning To Build Metro North – Through The Lands Of North Dublin…

Those investigators of all that is grubby in Irish politics over at Broadsheet.ie reveal some interesting facts about the relationship between the scandal-hit Fine Gael Minister for Heath (and businessperson) James Reilly and the controversial local Fine Gael councillor Anne Devitt who was named in two investigations into payments by property developers to elected local government officials.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive…

An Eye To the Future?

Posted on 10/07/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Leo Varadkar, TD. Playing the long game?

According to the Oirish Independent Fine Gael golden boy Leo Varadkar is off to improve his Irish language abilities in the Donegal Gaeltacht. Could someone be thinking about the potential appeal of a fluent Irish-speaking Fine Gael leader to all those affluent ABC1 Gaeilgeoirí and Gaelscoil yummy-mummies? Not to mention humiliating an anglophone Fianna Fáil leader during future TG4 election debates.

“TRANSPORT Minister Leo Varadkar will be using his summer holidays to brush up on his cúpla focail.

While a majority of politicians surveyed were reluctant to reveal their holiday destinations, Mr Varadkar revealed that he will be heading to the Donegal Gaeltacht in the west of the county where he will enrol on an Irish language course.”

Cork City Council Supports Same-Sex Marriage (ansionnachfionn.com)
Gaeltacht Bill 2012 – Progress Or Hidden Agenda? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Gaeltacht Bill 2012 – Another View (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Irish Unarmed Struggle (ansionnachfionn.com)
Institutional Discrimination In The Irish State – The Culture Of An “Anglophone Stormont” (ansionnachfionn.com)
Gay Rights And Gael Rights. Facing Down The Bigots (ansionnachfionn.com)

Support Austerity Treaty Says Pat Cox Megarich European Politician. Sorry! I Meant, MEP

Posted on 10/05/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Ah, the upcoming referendum on the Austerity Treaty has the Golden Circle all of a-quiver as they face the outside prospect that the Irish citizenry, unruly rump of ignorant proletariat that they are, might have the temerity to say no to our betters in the European Union – and thereby upset the lucrative gravy train for the reborn Redmondite ranks of Fine Gael, Labour, Fianna Fáil and the Greens.

So what hove’s into view but the grandly titled “Alliance for Ireland”. Hooray! But who are they you might ask? Why none other than a collection of the great and the good. Well, not so great, and not so good, but what the hey: loosers can’t be choosers when you’re desperate. And boy do those Pro-Treaty folk reek of desperation.

From the Irish Examiner:

“A clutch of senior GAA figures, including Cork football manager Conor Counihan, his Dublin counterpart Pat Gilroy, and Kilkenny hurling manager Brian Cody, are supporting a yes vote in the fiscal treaty referendum.

They have agreed to be patrons of Alliance for Ireland, a civil society group of political, business, NGO, trade union, and sporting figures campaigning for treaty ratification.

The alliance, whose director is former European Parliament president Pat Cox, launched its campaign in Dublin yesterday.”

Pat Cox? The Pat Cox? Back again, like Lazarus from the dead. Or in his case from a cushy job in Brussels.

“Chairman Brendan Halligan said the alliance was an entirely voluntary one and that its budget would be “under €10,000″.

Mr Halligan, a former Labour general secretary, expressed himself satisfied with the yes campaigns being run by the coalition partners.

Mr Halligan, meanwhile, said that he stood over language in the alliance’s leaflet which referred to members of the no campaign who wanted to stop gay marriage and abortion as “fundamentalists”.”

Funny people these Yes-To-Poverty types but at least they can claim some fame for being on the side that is willing to stand up for the rights of their fellow citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender.

Ooops, the again, it seems not:

“Shabby Seanad antics by Fine Gael, Labour kill gay Bill.

THE sheer spinelessness of the moment was summed-up by the remark: “Would we really be wasting time consulting with the Catholic Church if they could discriminate against black people in this way?”

Fianna Fáil Senator Averil Power was speaking after her bid to end the fear felt by gay teachers and medical staff who can be sacked on the grounds of their sexual orientation was voted down by Fine Gael and Labour in a nakedly cynical move.

Jerry Buttimer may be out but that did not stop his Government colleagues going in to kill a bill aimed at ending official discrimination against gay people working in schools and hospitals under the direction of a religious body.

Ms Power told the Seanad the threat of being fired is very real in an Ireland that is not as liberal as it likes to pretend.

With 92% of national schools under the direction of the Catholic Church, Ms Power revealed she had received numerous letters from teachers, as well as medical staff in genuine fear of losing their jobs.

One, who can only be named as Mary, is too frightened to even socialise with her partner in the town where they live together.

Such matters left Justice Minister Alan Shatter unmoved as he said the Bill needed to go because he was unsure it would “pass constitutional muster”.

While my view that Shatter does not pass ministerial muster would take up a whole different column, his judgment is highly questionable — especially as Senator Power merely asked for the Bill to be put forward to committee stage so that any problems with the wording could be ironed out.

Instead, Fine Gael and Labour killed it — cementing discrimination and fear in our schools and hospitals for at least another 18 months.

Shatter said the delay was needed for “consultations” with the Catholic Church and others.

The move was particularly craven in Labour’s case as it has long advocated getting rid of this clause — and its parliamentary party is made up of so many ex-teachers.

The grand sounding, but impotent bleatings of Labour Education Minister Ruairi Quinn in the Seanad only added to the spineless nature of the occasion.

Fine Gael may have a more hostile, right-wing agenda regarding getting rid of discrimination, but Labour voted the reform down simply because it did not want Fianna Fáil to be able to claim political credit for it.

Labour would rather gay people have to continue to live with prejudice at work because it suits its petty party interest.

It was the same story with the recent United Left Alliance bid to legislate for abortion rights in line with the Supreme Court’s X Case judgement.

Despite there being nothing in the ULA Bill that was not in Labour’s manifesto — not to mention the despair caused by seven successive governments failing to implement the Supreme Court ruling — Labour joined with Fine Gael in throwing out the reform to prevent the opposition getting credit for something Labour has promised, yet failed to deliver.”

The Alliance for Ireland? Or the alliance for another 90 years of the same old crap?

Éamon Ó Cuív – Republican Dissident? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Young Fine Gael – The Irony Is In The Name (ansionnachfionn.com)
Smells Like No-Irish Spirit (ansionnachfionn.com)
Fianna Fáil… (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)
The Stability Treaty: How are you voting? (ocaoimh.ie)
Is NAMA providing confidential information to Government politicians? (namawinelake.wordpress.com)
If it was raining soup, the man would be out with a fork,…. (awakenlongford.wordpress.com)

Institutional Discrimination In The Irish State – The Culture Of An “Anglophone Stormont”

Posted on 25/04/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Céatadán na ngearán de réir cineáil (Percentage of complaints by type)

If you’ve been wondering just exactly why the Fine Gael – Labour coalition government seems so utterly determined to scrap the office of An Coimisinéir Teanga or the Language Commissioner, despite a torrent of criticism and opposition both at home and abroad, read on. Seán Ó Cuirreáin has released his 2011 Annual Report on the adherence to the regulations governing the Official Languages Act of 2003 by public and state-funded bodies throughout Ireland, and it has proved yet again to be an absolute indictment of continued institutional discrimination within the Irish state towards the nation’s Irish-speaking citizens and communities.

“The year 2011 was a busy and eventful one for the Office of An Coimisinéir Teanga.

At the same time, my Office laid two special reports before the Houses of the Oireachtas with regard to cases where public bodies had breached their statutory language obligations but then failed to implement the commendations made to ensure compliance. The organizations involved – the Health Service Executive and the National Museum of Ireland – did not appeal to the High Court against the decisions reached in the relevant investigations, but they did not implement the recommendations made by the investigations. This was the first time since its establishment that my Office had to take such action.”

This relates to serious breaches of the Official Languages Act by two branches of the civil service, both of which astonishingly continue to flaunt the law despite being publicly named and shamed before Oireachtas Éireann. The absolute arrogance of elements of the Irish civil service in relation to their legal obligations when it comes to Irish is breathtaking.

Céatadán na ngearán de réir cineáil (Percentage of complaints by type)

“During the year, my Office dealt with 734 cases of difficulties or problems accessing state services through Irish – the largest number of complaints from the public to the Office since its establishment. This represented an increase of 5% on the number of cases in the previous year.

Particular significance attaches to an investigation which found that An Garda Síochána stationed a substantial number of members of the force, who did not speak Irish, in the heart of the Donegal Gaeltacht in breach of statutory obligations. Only one of the nine Gardaí stationed in the parish of Gaoth Dobhair spoke Irish. This occurred at a stage when the status of Irish as a community language in the Gaeltacht is more vulnerable than at any time in the past. The State can hardly expect the Irish language to survive as the language of choice of Gaeltacht communities if it continues to require people in such areas to carry out their business with the State through English.”

If one had any queries on the status of the Irish language in modern Ireland it’s place is made quite clear by the fact that in 2011 An Garda Síochána, our national police service, continued to provide non-Irish speaking Gardaí or police officers to serve in Irish speaking communities. One is left wondering if anything has changed since the days of the Royal Irish Constabulary, the former British colonial police force in Ireland?

“As a result of two other investigations it was found that the Department of Social Protection failed to correctly award bonus marks for competence in Irish and English in internal promotion competitions. The system, which is in operation since 1975, was set up as a replacement for ‘compulsory’ Irish, and it was designed to ensure that Irish-speaking staff would be available at all grades in the Civil Service. The Department of Social Protection did not appeal the decision of the investigation to the High Court, but neither did it implement the recommendations. That in itself is a matter of concern but the situation is made worse by the knowledge that the practice of failing to award bonus marks correctly is common throughout the Civil Service.

If bonus marks are not awarded for proficiency in the two official languages in internal promotion competitions at a time when little recruitment is taking place in the Public Service and at a time when the work of Gaeleagras, the Irish language training body for the Public Service has been all but terminated, it is very difficult to see how the quantity and quality of state services through Irish could be improved.”

Scéimeanna imithe in éag (Schemes expired)

Again, what is this but institutionalised discrimination and the determination of anglophone supremacists within our state services to remove Irish as a language of government?

“In 2011, my Office continued a programme of detailed audits of public bodies in order to monitor compliance with the provisions of the Official Languages Act. The monitoring capacity of the Office was mainly focused on the implementation of language schemes. It is clear from the completed audits that the majority of public bodies do not succeed in fully implementing all commitments given in their language schemes within the lifetime of the schemes. Often, the commitments that are not implemented are the very ones most likely to be of benefit, such as the availability of Irish language versions of websites and online services and interpersonal services in Irish.”

Do people understand what is happening here? This is deliberate and wilful criminality by sections of the civil service. These are public officials who have abrogated to themselves the right to ignore the law. Indeed to act outside it.

There then follows one of the most condemnatory parts of the entire report:

“The system of language schemes is at the very heart of the legislation and we rely on the language scheme system to improve the quantity and quality of much of the services provided in Irish by public bodies.

During 2011, the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht confirmed only one new language scheme.

In total, 105 language schemes have been confirmed by the Minister to date, but by the end of 2011, 66 of these had expired. This means that no second scheme has been confirmed for two thirds of public bodies, a development that would have increased the supply of services through Irish that could be expected from those public bodies.

At least 20% of the language schemes had expired for more than three years and a further 20% for more than two years.

The following were among the public bodies whose language schemes had expired for long periods at the end of 2011: the Office of the President (three years and eight months), the Arts Council (three years and six months), Office of the Ombudsman (three years and six months), the Courts Service (three years and five months), Galway County Council (three years and four months), the Revenue Commissioners (three years and three months), and the Department for Education and Skills (three years and one month).

In addition to the above, 28 other public bodies had been asked to prepare a first draft scheme but by the end of 2011 these schemes were still not confirmed by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. In the case of ten of those, more than five years had elapsed since they were initially asked to prepare a draft scheme, in two other cases four and a half years had elapsed. It is of particular significance that four years and seven months had elapsed since the HSE was requested to prepare a draft language scheme; this is an organisation with very close ties to the community and where almost a third of public sector employees work. It is almost three years since An Post was asked to prepare a draft language scheme and more than two years since the Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas, RTÉ and the National Roads Authority were asked to prepare schemes.

By year end, no language scheme had been confirmed for the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, which was formally established on June 1st 2011.

Last year’s statistics show that matters have undoubtedly been allowed to slide out of control and that the system for the confirmation of language schemes appears now to have failed completely. I regret to say that I am of the opinion that it will prove next to impossible to re-establish confidence in that system.”

Considering that the language schemes were regarded as the minimal method for implementing some form of limited equality between the nation’s Irish and English speaking citizens in the eyes of the state, the decision by large sections of the state to conspire to deny those rights by simply refusing to implement full or adequate language schemes is a scandal. Furthermore the hundreds of complaints by Irish citizens in relation to discrimination at the hands of public servants or other breaches of the law by public bodies come from right across the country, 79% from outside the Gaeltachtaí or Irish-speaking regions, with 50% in Dublin alone (an increase of 9% from 2010).

Gearáin – An Ghaeltacht agus lasmuigh den Ghaeltacht (Complaints – Gaeltacht and non-Gaeltacht)

What is required by the Irish state, and the civil service that comprises so much of it, before it will recognise and accept the right of Irish-speaking citizens, Irish men, women and children to full equality under the law with their English-speaking peers? When will the culture of an “Anglophone Stormont” in our public institutions be faced head on?

Gearáin de réir contae (Complaints by county) – Gearáin de réir cineál comhlachta phoiblí (Complaints by type of public body)

After 90 years of waiting, and some might say centuries of waiting, what will it take for equality between Irish Ireland and English Ireland to be reached in our lifetimes?

Or do the Irish-speaking citizens of this nation need their own Derry March of 1968 or their own Burntollet? Will it take a Gaeilgeoirí Battle of the Bogside before anyone will take notice?

We Shall Overcome – Civil Rights In Ireland – The 1960s

There is more information on this at Galltacht – The Hidden Ireland.

Census 2011 And An Inconvenient Truth – Irish-Speaking Citizens On The Rise (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Pluralist Ireland? Does That Include The 1.7 Million Irish-Speakers? (ansionnachfionn.com)
The State Of Irish – In The Irish State (ansionnachfionn.com)
Heard The One About The Self-Hating Irishman? (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Empire Strike Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Future Is Irish (ansionnachfionn.com)
Lets Speak The Truth: Those Who Hate Irish Speakers Do So Because They Are Racists… (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Second-Class Education For Second-Class Pupils (ansionnachfionn.com)
Smells Like No-Irish Spirit (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)

From Boycott To Frankfurt, Only Our Rivers Run Free

Posted on 19/04/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

“When apples still grow in November

When Blossoms still bloom from each tree

When leaves are still green in December

It’s then that our land will be free

I wander her hills and her valleys

And still through my sorrow I see

A land that has never known freedom

And only her rivers run free”

So go the lyrics of Mickey MacConnell’s famous ballad “Only Our Rivers Run Free”, an indictment of the British Occupation and apartheid state in the North of Ireland in the 1960s, and now it seems that our Fine Oibre coalition government has determined that in the finest traditions of our colonial past even our waters will no longer run free. From the Irish Times:

“HOUSEHOLDS WILL pay an average of €39 per annum over 20 years to cover the cost of the loan from the National Pension Reserve Fund to install water meters in one million Irish homes.

Government sources confirmed yesterday the cost per household, based on the size of the NPRF loan, would work out at about €780, but that the cost would be levied as a standing charge over a period of two decades, in much the same way as such charges are already imposed by other utilities such as the ESB and Bord Gáis.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny confirmed yesterday that householders would pay for the cost of the meters but that the cost would not be an upfront one. Charges are to become operable in early 2014.

Government sources said last night that, in general, no charge would be applied until water meters were installed. However, it is unlikely that all one million homes will have meters in place by the end of next year.

The sources said households that have no meters installed will pay an “assessed charge” based on the metered charges paid by comparable metered properties. This system will be applied to the approximately 350,000 households that will not be metered because it would be too costly or too logistically difficult.”

Along with the so-called “Household Tax” the citizens of Ireland are being burdened with yet another mechanism to forcibly extract the maximum amount of money from their household earnings in order, ultimately, to pay off the banks and financial institutions of Germany, Britain and elsewhere in Europe (and we’re not the only ones). Irish families will go hungry (or into exile) while our absentee landlords in Frankfurt and London will grow fat on our suffering. And if we dare to resist this blatant system of extortion? According to the Irish Independent:

“TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has warned that people will be cut off it they fail to pay water charges.

Amid continued speculation that households face an €800 bill for new meters, Mr Kenny refused to give details of potential costs when the new charge is introduced in 2014.

“These are all matters for discussion about how the system is actually going to work,” said Mr Kenny.

“If you don’t pay your electricity bill, if you don’t pay your water bill, it’s cut off.”

The Taoiseach pointed out that while water is “fundamental for life”, the Government is not in a position to give people a free allowance.”

Water is but of course “fundamental for life”, which is exactly why the Fine Gael – Labour government is ready to tax it – and at the behest of their masters in Europe. Like some bizarre, reborn clone of the 19^th century Irish Parliamentary Party the coalition government will simply become the public face, the cipher and mechanism, for foreign interests in Ireland. Interests whose only purpose is to exploit the Irish nation and the Irish people for their financial, economic and political benefit.

However, not all the croppies are ready to lie down and die. As the Irish Examiner points out:

“Backlash over planned water charges has deepened after campaigners warned of a one million strong household boycott.

As Taoiseach Enda Kenny was accused of sending mixed messages over threats to cut-off non-payers’ supplies, a mass of residents’ committees nationwide warned they would not pay.

It has been previously reported that the Government could allocate 40 litres of water per day free to each household. Any water used on top of that would be charged.

Sinn Fein deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald said: “The Government is so gung-ho in forcing out levy after levy that the Taoiseach doesn’t know what he’s telling people.”

Ms McDonald said his contradictions were just another example of the “confused fiasco” during the run-up to the introduction of the household charge.

And with no Government guidance on costs for water, the Association of Combined Residents’ Associations (Acra) warned its members would not pay any tax on the family home.

“Our members up and down the country are already pinned to the collar trying to survive,” said spokesman Malachy Steenson.

“We successfully made the household tax one of the biggest campaigns in recent decades. Water charges will be even more forcefully opposed.”

John Lyons, Campaign Against Household and Water Taxes, said the fact that half the population had yet to register for the controversial household charge suggested the same people would protest against water.

“If they cut our water supply – this life giving force – there will be a hell of a lot of trouble,” Mr Lyons warned.

“I think we could see a million people marching against the Government over this.”

The Government has estimated that around 906,000 households have registered for the €100 euro household charge – of a total 1.6 million that are eligible.

Socialist Party TD Joe Higgins accused Mr Kenny of “constructive ambivalence” and warned that the controversy surrounding the Government’s mixed messages would only intensify opposition to the charges.

“You could say that the Government is inept, but it maybe also reflects the fact that the Labour Party is desperately trying to cover up its pledge that it would not introduce water charges, which it has since betrayed,” Mr Higgins added.”

Of course one is left pondering the most obvious question of all. How is it that at the start of the 21^st century the people of Ireland find themselves in the same position in relation to foreign powers and institutions that they were in at the start of the 19^th century? Or indeed the 20^th?

Is this not the ultimate indictment of our political, business and media classes who have led us full circle into a new quasi-colonial relationship with the European Union, and the absentee landlords of the IMF-ECB. From Boycott to Frankfurt, we find ourselves yet again the playthings of others.

“I drink to the death of her manhood

Those men who’d rather have died

Than to live in the cold chains of bondage

To bring back their rights were denied

Oh where are you now when we need you

What burns where the flame used to be

Are ye gone like the snows of last winter

And will only our rivers run free? “

Water Charges (politicsinireland.wordpress.com)
Backlash deepens over water charges (thepressnet.com)
Kenny says householders will pay for water meters, should be fun collecting for that Kenny. (teddyoshea.wordpress.com)
Water charges… redux (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)
Afterthoughts – Easter 1916 Commemorations (awakenlongford.wordpress.com)
Water Charges (cedarlounge.wordpress.com)

The Empire Strike Back!

Posted on 05/04/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

The results from the 2011 Census of Ireland published last week revealed continued growth in the Irish-speaking communities of the nation and the raised social standing and acceptance of our indigenous language and culture. 1,777,437 million people or 41.4% of the population stated in the census that they were able to speak Irish, an increase of 7.1% since the 2006 results. Of that number 801,063 recorded themselves as regular Irish speakers, another big jump from the last census. We know, of course, what the reaction was to these results by the anglophone supremacists who dominate much of the news media in Ireland. Arrogance, lies, falsehoods, distortions and simple anti-Irish propaganda of every conceivable form and make. So no surprises there.

And no surprise in the news that the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government, who’s ideological hostility and indifference to it’s Irish-speaking citizens and communities is greater than that of any government in the 90 year history of the state, is now signalling its intent to implement another policy to undermine the growth in Irish observed over the last several years. Eroding the equal rights of Irish-speaking citizens with their English-speaking peers is not enough. Now the anglophone elite want to erode their educational rights and standing too. From the Irish Times:

“THE AMOUNT of class time devoted to Irish and religion in primary schools has been questioned by Minister for Education, Ruairí Quinn.

He said teachers had told him how up to 30 per cent of all contact time in some primary classes was taken up by these two subjects. “If we are worried about literacy and numeracy and this figure is close to being correct . . . then we have to ask ourselves questions.”

In an Irish Times interview, he recalled how some educationalists had labelled Irish-language policy as the “biggest single policy failure in Irish education”.

Last year, Fine Gael proposed the abolition of compulsory Irish after Junior Cert; it later abandoned the proposal under pressure from the Irish-language lobby.

Asked if he would revive such a measure, Mr Quinn said: “I am implementing the programme for government.” (This proposes no change in Irish-language policy.) He said he had “enough fronts” open at present, including the drive for major reform of the Junior and Leaving Cert exams. Mr Quinn said he would be happy to get some of these reforms “over the line”.

Mr Quinn said his priority in office was to overhaul second-level education, which, he said, “did not encourage independent thinking”. He hoped the new Junior Cert would be implemented from 2017, with a revised Leaving Cert being rolled out shortly after.”

The latest battle in Ireland’s 800 year old culture war has been well and truly flagged. Not content with abolishing the Office of the Language Commissioner, gearing up to gut the Official Languages Act of 2003 of any meaning or purpose and undermining from the outset the state’s 20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language, Fine Gael and Labour are now intent on lowering the status of the Irish language (and Irish speaking children) in the education system.

Are these people our new Anglo-Irish elite?

Colum Kenny, The Irish Independent And Some Media Spin (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Young Fine Gael – The Irony Is In The Name (ansionnachfionn.com)
Meanwhile In Ireland, Another Form Of Censorship… (ansionnachfionn.com)
The State Of Irish – In The Irish State (ansionnachfionn.com)
Smells Like No-Irish Spirit (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Second-Class Education For Second-Class Pupils (ansionnachfionn.com)
Lets Speak The Truth: Those Who Hate Irish Speakers Do So Because They Are Racists… (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Census 2011 And An Inconvenient Truth – Irish-Speaking Citizens On The Rise (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (ansionnachfionn.com)

Smells Like No-Irish Spirit

Posted on 14/03/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

I have frequently pointed to the complete and utter bullshit that passes for a genuine commitment to equality between Irish and English speaking citizens in modern Ireland, and none more so than in the ranks of our political parties. From Left to Right they make various public utterances about supporting the Irish language while rarely actually doing anything concrete about it.

Do you know the policies of the political parties in Ireland on the Irish language?

Well, we know Fine Gael’s all right. Abolish the Office of the Language Commissioner to prevent Irish speaking citizens seeking redress for discriminatory treatment by the state, gut the Official Languages Act of 2003 of any meaning to emphasis the standing of Irish speakers as second class citizens behind their English speaking peers in the eyes of the state and the public at large, reduce and denigrate the status of the Irish language in the education system to discourage its learning, starve Gaelscoileanna of resources so that they wither on the vine, force the closure of small Gaeltacht schools by reducing pupil-to-teacher ratios to non-viable levels, and generally complete what eight hundred years of foreign colonial persecution failed to do.

And the Labour Party? The tail-wagging puppy running alongside the Fine Gorm dog, eager to lap up its running-mate’s vomit as long as it gets to be part of the pack? It has no more interest in the Irish language than it has in those it once worked on behalf of. Did you not hear the news? Labour doesn’t do poor people any more. It does middle class professionals, journalists and academics, people with degrees and two car households. But like, people on social welfare? Households struggling on one income and bills to pay? Old people? Ugh. No thank you. We’ve moved on from that. Much like our dear leader.

Fianna Fáil, the Republican Party? Don’t make me laugh. Yes, they brought us the Official Languages Act. Ten years ago. And it only took 70 years and the possible threat of a Supreme Court judgement to force them into doing that. As for the Act itself, it was not created to facilitate genuine communal and language equality in the state between Irish and English speaking citizens. No, it was created to limit that equality before a legal judgement could have been sought that would have demanded something far more substantial and far-reaching. But, as the song goes, what have you done for me lately? The answer? Sweet FA…

Ah, but you cry, what about Sinn Féin? The true republican party? To which I reply: get over yourself. Have you seen Sinn Féin’s policies on the Irish language? No? Next time you’re on their website try using the magnify option in your browser. You might be able to find something there. I say might be able to. I tried. It took a while. Go to Policies, then scrawl down to Culture and bing, you’ll find Sinn Féin’s program for the Irish language. Well, program might be going a wee bit strong. Actually policies is probably being a bit over-the-top too. Wanna see them? Don’t worry, it won’t take long.

“Irish Language development

Irish-language newspapers should be expanded with support of government funding;

All public authorities and public buildings shoperate a bilingual policy;

Provision of two-way translation and translation staff in elected chambers;

Increased funding for Foras na Gaeilge.”

Taa-dah! Amazing, yes? Isn’t it wonderful what you can do with a grubby old pencil and the back of an envelope? And I love the attention to detail. “Shoperate”! Fantastic. Makes ya proud ta be Oirish, so it does.

I could go on. There is the Green Party. I tried to find their Irish policies but to no avail. There was something about the Hill of Tara and no motorways, no way, ever – Ooops, sorry, that was like soooo 2007, wasn’t it Moonchild Dawntreader?

I had a look at over at the United Left Alliance, the Trot love-fest between the Socialist Party and the People Before Profit (who in fairness have actually heard of the poor – y’know, the ones the Labour Party apparatchiks avoid by not crossing the Ha’penny Bridge and offending their newly refined sensibilities by some guy begging for money. That’s when they’re not in their BMWs and Audis – no Mercs though. We are after all, socialists…). My prime impression from the ULA, SP and PBP websites to queries about the Irish language is this: what the fuck is the Irish language? Do you mean Polish?

In fact, as far as I can work out (and the ULA folk are pretty cagey about this when you try to pin them down) both the Socialist Party and the People Before Profit oppose the Irish language in the education system as it presently stands, disagree with the Official Languages Act and the Language Commissioner and are at best lukewarm about Gaelscoileanna (or as I was told by one bug-eyed SP activist, Gaelscoileanna are “racist institutions” because the children there speak Irish. Go figure…). So, when it comes to Irish, it seems the ULA and Fine Gael and Labour stand shoulder to shoulder. Which is nice. For them. Not so much for the rest of us, of course.

All of which rambling brings me to a post by Eoin Ó Riain at Athfhás, detailing the invisible language on the websites of our national political parties – namely the Irish language. Its an excellent feature, though all too depressing. But it tells you everything you need to know about what Ireland’s political parties really think about the nation’s Irish speaking population. Read it!

Ann Marie Hourihane – Carrying The Torch For The English Language In Ireland! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Ireland – A Western Province Of The British Isles (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Lets Speak The Truth: Those Who Hate Irish Speakers Do So Because They Are Racists… (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Meanwhile In Ireland, Another Form Of Censorship… (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (ansionnachfionn.com)
What About Our Irish Rights? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Ivan Yates – No Irish For Your Children. But Plenty Of Irish For Mine! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish In America (ansionnachfionn.com)
The State Of Irish – In The Irish State (ansionnachfionn.com)
Young Fine Gael – The Irony Is In The Name (ansionnachfionn.com)
Heard The One About The Self-Hating Irishman? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Silent Voices (ansionnachfionn.com)
Colonially Speaking (ansionnachfionn.com)
An Anti-Irish Free State? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Freedom To Talk (ansionnachfionn.com)
From Irish Ireland To English Ireland (ansionnachfionn.com)
Speaking In Two Tongues (ansionnachfionn.com)
Get Your Gael On! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Alice Milligan – An Fíorghael (ansionnachfionn.com)

The State Of Irish – In The Irish State

Posted on 06/03/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

In today’s Irish Times (following on from yesterday’s bizarre anti-Irish rant by Ann Marie Hourihane) Finbar McDonnell examines the Fine Gael-Labour coalition government’s attitudes to it’s Irish speaking citizens in these economically straitened times:

“THE VIBRANT Seachtain na Gaeilge festival runs nationally until March 17th, with tomorrow a Lá Gaeilge in the Dáil. At the same time, Irish language groups are campaigning against the effects of funding cuts on the language. So what is the state of the language and how might the current recession affect it?

Since independence, all governments have supported the language and, 90 years on, the evidence suggests these policies have had mixed results.

The main policy focus (perhaps to an unbalanced extent) has been the education system. [ASF: or to put it more honestly, the effective ghettoization of the Irish language in our school system!] In many ways, achievements here are disappointing compared to inputs.

On the other hand, the work of the schools has led to the number of people who say they can speak Irish rising from 20 per cent of the population in the 1920s to more than 40 per cent today.

The 2006 census showed that 1.66 million people have an ability to speak Irish, with more than half a million people using Irish every day. This included more than 72,000 people who spoke Irish daily outside the education system.

As such, there has been some movement towards a bilingual society, although Ireland is clearly no Canada or Belgium.

Opinion polls consistently show that strong public support for Irish (despite a minority who don’t seem to “get” the language) and the vibrant Gaelscoil movement, as well as growth in the use of Irish in Northern Ireland, represent strong sources of optimism. (Research suggests one in four parents would send their child to a Gaelscoil if available.) While many languages around the world died in the 20th century, Irish is very much alive.”

There is more, including the worrying decline of Irish in the traditional Irish-speaking heartlands of the Gaeltacht, though with the proviso of the very public increase of Irish speakers in major urban areas like Dublin, Cork, Galway, Belfast and Derry. However it is the government’s record on the Irish language that receives the most attention, including its long-term commitment to agreed strategies to encourage growth in the number of fluent speakers across the country:

“On the positive side, the recent Gaeltacht Bill suggests commitment to the strategy. As well as focusing on the urgent challenges facing Gaeltacht areas in keeping the language alive, an innovative part of the Bill will allow any area where large numbers of Irish language speakers live or work to become a “Gaeltacht network” (groups in both Clondalkin and Co Clare are already looking at this). New “Gaeltacht” areas, with a range of outlets for people to use Irish, could generate local pride and create virtuous circles of language visibility and use.

On the other hand, the national austerity is having detrimental effects and particularly negative decisions include:

The proposal to merge the Office of the Irish Language Commissioner with the Office of the Ombudsman, which will lead to almost no savings, but may well affect the rights of Irish speakers;

The cutting of grants to trainee teachers to spend time in the Gaeltacht. This is particularly illogical as trainee teachers need more and not less time in the Gaeltacht;

Reduced funding for small Gaeltacht schools.

The risk is that spending cuts from different Government departments could, taken together, undermine the “horizontal” Government objective of supporting the language. There is an urgent need for the Cabinet committee on the Irish language to take a “joined-up” view to ensure the 20-year strategy is given high-level leadership and oversight.”

And is that likely to happen, given the government’s generally deplorable record on Irish and prevalent anti-Irish attitudes amongst many members in both parties?

Young Fine Gael – The Irony Is In The Name (ansionnachfionn.com)
Lets Speak The Truth: Those Who Hate Irish Speakers Do So Because They Are Racists… (ansionnachfionn.com)
Heard The One About The Self-Hating Irishman? (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Future Is Irish (ansionnachfionn.com)
Get Your Gael On! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Ann Marie Hourihane – Carrying The Torch For The English Language In Ireland! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Freedom To Talk (ansionnachfionn.com)
Meanwhile In Ireland, Another Form Of Censorship… (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Second-Class Education For Second-Class Pupils (ansionnachfionn.com)
Fighting For The Truth (ansionnachfionn.com)

What About Our Irish Rights?

Posted on 28/02/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

The much heralded Constitutional Convention is finally on the horizon after many a false dawn. According to the Irish Times:

“The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste are to brief Opposition leaders Micheál Martin and Gerry Adams as well as the Dáil’s Technical Group this evening on the Government’s plans for the proposed Constitutional Convention.

Mr Kenny and Mr Gilmore will meet with Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin leaders tonight.

Independent TD for Kildare North Catherine Murphy, who will attend on behalf of the Technical Group at Government Buildings, said she was preparing a “menu” of options with her colleagues.

The Cabinet formally agreed last week to establish the Convention and a spokesman said at the time that the Government would be holding consultations with the Opposition.”

I’ve highlighted my fears for the Irish speaking community of Ireland in relation to this convention, especially one convened by a coalition government dominated by the anti-Irish factions in Fine Gael and Labour, but it’s interesting to see at least one party’s main concerns. According to Slugger O’Toole the press briefing from Sinn Féin focuses on:

“• Acknowledge and take account of the relevant prior commitments under the Good Friday Agreement.

• It should be able to consider recommending a new constitution for the 21st century which is inclusive, reflects the desire for Irish unity that is shared by the majority of citizens on this island and which protects the rights of citizens, including our unionist neighbours.

• The Convention’s Terms of Reference must also ensure that the outcome does not prejudice any future process of agreeing an all-Ireland constitution – post a referendum on unity as set out in the Good Friday Agreement.

• It should involve the economically disadvantaged, citizens from all provinces including northern citizens; ordinary unionists and their official representatives; citizens in the diaspora; and our newest citizens – in addition to the political parties, civil society representatives and those with relevant academic and legal expertise – and ensuring the equal representation of women on the Convention.

• The Convention’s process must also be fully public, transparent and accountable, from discussion of terms of reference to appointments, and from the debates to conclusion of recommendations.

• There must be clarity in the Terms of Reference about the conventions final report and how it is put to the people in a referendum.

• It must be able to examine the need for guarantees of economic and social rights, the extension of voting rights for northern citizens and citizens in the diaspora, and the architecture necessary to establish a more robustly inclusive, fully representative and accountable democracy.

• It must contain all the modern equality and human rights protections that reflect the full spectrum of our international obligations and any others that are necessary to establish a rights-based society.

• Including the equivalence of human rights protections north and south.

• The Convention must in its work consider and make a complementary contribution towards an All-Ireland Charter of Rights.”

What? No Charter of Irish Language Rights, no Irish Bill 101? No guarantees to protect, or indeed to enlarge, the position of the Irish language in the Constitution of Ireland? No demands to incorporate aspects of the Official Languages Act of 2003 into the constitution?

Sinn Féin, a progressive nationalist party?

Tell that to Plaid Cymru, Convergència i Unió or Parti Québécois!

From Irish Ireland To English Ireland (ansionnachfionn.com)
Silent Voices (ansionnachfionn.com)
Colonially Speaking (ansionnachfionn.com)
No 11% Has The Right To Fix The Boundary Of A Nation (ansionnachfionn.com)
Political Policing (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)

Young Fine Gael – The Irony Is In The Name

Posted on 21/02/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Over the last year I have catalogued on An Sionnach Fionn the inherent hostility of the right-wing Fine Gael party to the Irish language and Ireland’s Irish speaking communities, a situation that has only worsened since it entered into government with its junior coalition partners in the supposedly centre-left Labour Party.

In power both parties have displayed various levels of antipathy or indifference to any notion of equality between the nations’s Irish and English speaking citizens. Driven by Anglophone contempt they have taken measure after measure to undermine the status of our national tongue while slowly dismantling a decade of civil rights legislation for Irish speakers (legislation that took a shameful eighty years to be put in place and which has met consistent opposition from within the civil service and other public bodies).

Now these crude anti-Irish impulses have reached their absolute nadir with the conservative “youth wing” of Fine Gael, Young Fine Gael (YFG), passing a resolution at its recent conference (attended by FG leader Enda Kenny) calling upon the party to effectively degrade the Irish language and the standing of Irish speakers in the education system by removing its obligatory teaching in the last few years of schooling. From the Irish Times:

“A resolution passed at last weekend’s Young Fine Gael national conference in Tullamore calling for the removal of Irish as a compulsory subject in the Leaving Certificate has been criticised by Fianna Fáil.

The motion, proposed by Young Fine Gael’s Wexford branch, called on Fine Gael “to live up to its election promise and remove Irish as a compulsory subject in the Leaving Certificate.”

Fianna Fáil spokesman on Justice, Equality and Defence Dara Calleary said…“The continuation of this policy by Fine Gael to downgrade Irish within the education system has no merit and threatens to undo the significant work that has been carried out, particularly through the Gaelscoil movement, to increase Irish usage in our communities.”

Mr Calleary said Fine Gael was intent on damaging progress made in advancing the language in recent years and criticised the party’s “lack of enthusiasm” for the 20-Year Strategy for the Irish Language 2012-2030…

The proposal was criticised by language and Gaeltacht community groups last year prompting a number of Fine Gael election candidates to express their disquiet at the plan.

In February students marched on Fine Gael headquarters and handed in a petition signed by more than 15,000 students opposed to the measure.”

Young Fine Gael, which has moved increasingly to the right in recent years, has regularly embroiled itself in questionable activities and policies (not to mention quiet bizarre attempts to recruit new members). At the start of this year YFG activists publicly supported a proposal to make the controversial former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher an “honorary member” of their organisation despite her disastrous role in Irish affairs in the 1980s, a role which arguably prolonged the conflict in the North of Ireland by over a decade. FYG members have been involved in invitations to various right-wing figures from around Europe to make speeches or give lectures in Ireland, notably the infamous Holocaust-denier and Nazi-apologist David Irving, and Nick Griffin the leader of the British National Party, an extreme right-wing British nationalist organisation with Neo-Nazi and fascist roots (the “Irish” commentator and arch British-apologist Kevin Myers seemed to make an extraordinary defence of both in his regular column for the anti-liberal Irish Independent newspaper in January).

Now, true to Fine Gael’s corrupt Neo-Unionist and anti-democratic roots, elements of the party are once again targeting those in Ireland who identify with our indigenous language and culture in an attempt to roll back the slow progress of growth and development made by the Irish-speaking communities of Ireland since the 1990s. A veritable vipers’ nest of Anglophone intolerance and bigotry, Young Fine Gael – like much of its parent party - represents all that is wrong and self-destructive in modern Irish society. A society where all too many are still bound by the mental shackles of eight centuries of colonial occupation.

Less Young Fine Gael and more Young Palesmen.

From Irish Ireland To English Ireland (ansionnachfionn.com)
Meanwhile In Ireland, Another Form Of Censorship… (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Second-Class Education For Second-Class Pupils (ansionnachfionn.com)
Ivan Yates – No Irish For Your Children. But Plenty Of Irish For Mine! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Speaking In Two Tongues (ansionnachfionn.com)
Contrasting Attitudes – Ireland And Wales (ansionnachfionn.com)
Get Your Gael On! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Petition launched to ‘save Irish’ (introtosociology.wordpress.com)

From Irish Ireland To English Ireland

Posted on 20/02/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

There’s been something of a surprise result from Latvia where a national referendum has rejected moves to make Russian the second official language of the small Baltic nation along with Latvian. In an unusually high turnout which saw 70% of registered voters going to the polls, a majority of 75% voted against the proposal, much higher than was expected. From the Guardian newspaper:

“Latvian voters have resoundingly rejected a proposal to give official status to Russian, the mother tongue of their former Soviet occupiers and a large chunk of the population.

Russian is the first language for about a third of the Baltic country’s 2.1 million people, and many of them would like it to be a national language to reverse what they claim has been 20 years of discrimination.

But for ethnic Latvians the referendum was an attempt to encroach on Latvia’s independence, which was restored two decades ago after half a century of occupation by the Soviet Union since the Second World War.

Many Latvians still consider Russian, the lingua franca of the Soviet Union, as the language of the former occupiers. They also harbour deep mistrust towards Russia and worry that Moscow attempts to wield influence in Latvia through the ethnic Russian minority.

“Latvia is the only place throughout the world where Latvian is spoken, so we have to protect it,” said Martins Dzerve, 37, in Riga, Latvia’s capital. “But Russian is everywhere.”

With more than 93% of ballots counted, 75% of voters said they were against Russian as a national language, according to the national election commission.

More than 70% of registered voters cast ballots, considerably more than in previous elections and referendums. Long lines were seen at many precincts both in Latvia and abroad, with voters in London reportedly braving a three-hour wait.

…Mara Varpa, 57, said she voted against the proposal since Latvian was an integral part of the national identity and should therefore remain the sole official language. “I don’t think there should have been a referendum to begin with because it’s already in the constitution, but since there was I had to vote,” Varpa said.”

It’s interesting – and instructive – to see how the Latvians and other Baltic peoples regard their languages as the primary signifier of their national and cultural identities. This has been explored from the point of view of Irish speakers in Ireland where once the Irish language was indelibly associated with Irish national identify (and still is for many citizens).

Yet, as I noted recently, much of “Official Ireland”, the political establishment and its fellow-travellers, has now rejected the notion of an Irish Ireland and has instead embraced the concept of an English Ireland while paying lip service to any concept of bilingualism. Indeed this was heralded way back in 1996 by the Constitution Review Group which included many “experts” close to Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Labour Party and which recommended that the Irish language be robbed of its status as Ireland’s national language (its unique legal position under Article 8 of our constitution). Instead they urged that the English language be given the same status once reserved for Irish.

“Article 8 [the current wording in the Constitution of Ireland]

8.1 The Irish language as the national language is the first official language.

8.2 The English language is recognised as a second official language.

8.3 Provision may, however, be made by law for the exclusive use of either of the said languages for any one or more official purposes, either throughout the State or in any part thereof.

Discussion [by the Review Group]

Article 8 establishes the two official languages of the State. It accords primacy to the Irish language which is described both as the national language and the first official language. The English language is recognised as a second official language. This wording is unrealistic, given that English is the language currently spoken as their vernacular by 98% of the population of the State. The designation of Irish as the ‘national’ and the ‘first official’ language is of little practical significance. The intention to give special recognition to the Irish language is understood and respected but it is arguable that this might be better achieved, while allowing both languages equal status as official languages, by including a positive provision in the Constitution to the effect that the State shall care for, and endeavour to promote, the Irish language as a unique expression of Irish tradition and culture.

The Review Group considers that there is an implicit right to conduct official business in either official language and that the implementation of this right is a matter for legislation and/or administrative measures rather than constitutional provision.

Recommendation [by the Review Group]

The first and second sections of Article 8 should be replaced by English and Irish versions on the following lines:

1 The Irish language and the English language are the two official languages.

2 Because the Irish language is a unique expression of Irish tradition and culture, the State shall take special care to nurture the language and to increase its use.

[However the third section of Article 8 would be left the same:

3 Provision may, however, be made by law for the exclusive use of either of the said languages for any one or more official purposes, either throughout the State or in any part thereof.]”

In other words, the Irish language would be of the same legal status with the English language but the state would be free to make exclusive use of the English language if it so wished. And who imagines it would do otherwise?

So, given all the promised constitutional reviews and amendments committed to by the (anti-Irish) Fine Gael – Labour coalition in their programme for government how long will it be, I wonder, before this particular section of the 1996 review is dusted off?

Speaking In Two Tongues (ansionnachfionn.com)
Get Your Gael On! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Ivan Yates – No Irish For Your Children. But Plenty Of Irish For Mine! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Meanwhile In Ireland, Another Form Of Censorship… (ansionnachfionn.com)
RTÉ Should Be TG4 – And Here’s Why (ansionnachfionn.com)
Some Irish Pride (ansionnachfionn.com)
Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Latvians reject Russian as official language (guardian.co.uk)

Ivan Yates – No Irish For Your Children. But Plenty Of Irish For Mine!

Posted on 14/02/2012 by Séamas Ó Sionnaigh (An Sionnach Fionn)

Scratch a Blueshirt, even an ex-Blueshirt, and it doesn’t take long for the Inner Anglo to come out. Ivan Yates, former Fine Gael politico and (recently bankrupt) businessman turned radio presenter, has pin-pointed the cause of Ireland’s economic woes. No, it’s not the euro, or a global economic depression, or (god forbid) unregulated free market capitalism gone wild. No, the cause is… the Irish language!

From the Irish Independent:

“Despite the critical competitive advantage of having a natural English-speaking workforce, we persist with compulsory Irish language teaching and exams. A diminishing 3 per cent of the population converse in our official tongue. Declining relevance of Irish is swept under the carpet. If both Irish and religious studies were replaced by computer studies/information technology learning, we could greatly enhance economic performance. Heresy? Let’s embrace a future of options rather than obligations.”

A “diminishing” 3% of the population speak Irish? When 42.8% of the population stated that they had an ability to speak fluent or partial Irish in the 2006 national census of Ireland (a rise from 1.57 million to 1.66 million people)? When even conservative estimates place the number of native Irish speakers at 8% of the population as a whole?

One only has to look at the exponential growth in gaelscoileanna, Irish medium schools, in traditionally anglophone urban areas over the last two decades which now account for 10% of the schooling population to see that Irish speakers are on the rise. Ivan should know this. After all he sent his children to Irish medium schools to be taught through the Irish language.

If Irish is good enough for the children of Ivan Yates why is not good enough for the rest of us?

Irish Rights Are Equals Rights – So Fight Back! (ansionnachfionn.com)
Discrimination Dressed As Reasonableness… Isn’t It Always? (ansionnachfionn.com)
Meanwhile In Ireland, Another Form Of Censorship… (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Future Is Irish (ansionnachfionn.com)
Colonially Speaking (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Little Less Ireland, A Little More Éire (ansionnachfionn.com)
A Second-Class Education For Second-Class Pupils (ansionnachfionn.com)
RTÉ Should Be TG4 – And Here’s Why (ansionnachfionn.com)
The Real World Value Of Ireland’s Indigenous Language And Culture (ansionnachfionn.com)
Contrasting Attitudes – Ireland And Wales (ansionnachfionn.com)

An Sionnach Fionn

Éire Ghaelach – Éire Shaor

Tag Archives: Fine Gael

Ain’t Nothing Change But The Weather

Fine Béarla

Voting Fianna Fáil – Like A Dog Returning To Its Vomit

Another Poll – Fianna Fáil Voters Abandon The Fine Gael Fold

The End Of Gaelscéal?

Polls, Politics And Conspiracy Theories

Some Political Musings

Enda “The Paddy” Kenny

Fine Gael Blues: Dr. James Reilly And Cllr Anne Devitt

An Eye To the Future?

Support Austerity Treaty Says Pat Cox Megarich European Politician. Sorry! I Meant, MEP

Institutional Discrimination In The Irish State – The Culture Of An “Anglophone Stormont”

From Boycott To Frankfurt, Only Our Rivers Run Free

The Empire Strike Back!

Smells Like No-Irish Spirit

The State Of Irish – In The Irish State

What About Our Irish Rights?

Young Fine Gael – The Irony Is In The Name

From Irish Ireland To English Ireland

Ivan Yates – No Irish For Your Children. But Plenty Of Irish For Mine!

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