The Soil of Ireland for the People of Ireland

"The 8,000 individuals who are owners of Ireland by divine right and the grant of God, confirm (by themselves) in sundry successive acts of parliament have a full view of these coming results [i.e. Ireland would become a pasture ground once gain. and its agricultural population would decay or vanish and become extinct at once] and have distinctly declared their intention of serving notice to quit on the people of Ireland…The landlords have adopted the process of depopulating the island and are pressing it forward to their own destruction, or to ours…"

These were the words of the great Irish revolutionary James Fintan Lalor in 1847. Lalor was referring to the damage that the small controlling elite of Ireland had allowed to befall the general population. With the nation crippled from the effects of famine, this controlling interest was sitting back. They were not going to risk losing profit by intervening to help the general populace. Not when it was far more profitable to allow Ireland to become depopulated through famine and forced emigration, allowing them say over a much more "civilised" country.

James Fintan Lalor

Fast forward one hundred and sixty years.

Once again young Irish people are being forced to emigrate, to turn their backs on their families and nation in order to survive. Once again Irish children go hungry. It might not be a famine, but it is preventable. Once again the controlling interest in society is closing ranks. As Fintan O' Toole pointed out quite rightly, these people made themselves non citizens during the bleek eighties to avail of tax exemptions. During the boom they were back as Irish citizens, taking full advantage of the good circumstances and extremely well preforming workforce. And now, well they've disappeared again.

All notions of a wealth tax have been knocked on the head by our new government, which included the supposedly socialist Labour party. Whats worst is that they are making little headway in reforming the crooked tax system, full of exemptions and clauses, which allowed our national top earners to pay less percentage of tax than under pressure PAYE workers during the boom.

Instead, this government, like their predecessors, have let the full burden of the unjust bank bail out fall on the heads of the general population. The banks now require a further €24 billion, pushing the cost of recapitalisation of the banks to €70 billion. That means that each working person in this State will be shouldering the burden of around €39,000 of bank debt. It means public services will be cut. It means social benefits will be cut. It means the continued imposition of the grossly unfair Universal Social Charge. It means no money for a job creation stimulus. It means another decade of misery.

20% of Irish children go to bed hungry

All of this could be avoided if the government would face up to its moral and political responsibilities. Those who benefited most from the boom must now pay back the most to get this country back on its feet, and save it from utter destruction. The faceless figures hiding behind gombeen politicians and an impotent established media must now face their burden.

Back to Lalor. In his last article for the Irish Felon “Clearing Decks,” Lalor wrote —

“Remember this—that somewhere and somehow, and by somebody, a beginning must be made. Who strikes the first blow for Ireland? Who draws first blood for Ireland? Who wins a wreath that will be green forever?”

Confessions of a corrupt politician

Michael Lowry has today demanded more Dáil time to make his case in the debate on the Moriarty Tribunal report. He is demanding 45-50 minutes to make a statement. At present, the Government is only willing to give him 30 minutes, after an initial offer of 20 minutes.

The interesting thing about the above piece is not that the Irish media is treating Michael Lowry, one of the most corrupt politicians to ever serve in our national parliament, as a person with a legitimate right to defend oneself at the expense of the more important debate, but that Lowry is still an elected rep after the startling career which he has led.

In 1993 Michael Lowry became Chairman of the Fine Gael Parliamentary Party. He used this occasion to tell his party leader John Bruton that he planned to avail of a new government tax amnesty. This did not deter Bruton from appointing the tax cheat to cabinet. Lowry went ahead with the amnesty but lied to the Revenue, deciding not to reveal the true extent of his hidden income. The following year, he was made Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications in the Rainbow Coalition government. Proof indeed that there is no room for honest people in politics.

In 1996, Lowry misled the Dail by failing to mention a series of large payments which he had received from Dunnes. He stated that if he had been trying to hide money he would have placed it in an offshore account, clearly indicating that he hadn't. In reality, Lowry had four offshore accounts, and Ben Dunne had paid IR£395,000 for an extension to Lowry's home in Tipperary. Lowry was forced to resign. A year later, he was re-elected with an extra 4,000 votes.

In March 2011 the Moriarty Tribunal found that the former Communications Minister Michael Lowry assisted businessman Denis O'Brien's consortium Esat Digiphone in acquiring a mobile phone licence in the mid-90s. For this he was heavily rewarded.

In the last four general elections, Michael Lowry has topped the poll in his native North Tipperary constituency. He has been the most popular candidate there each time despite it been widely accepted that he is a corrupted immoral man.

The interesting thing is that the electorate don't seem to care.