Category: Green Party

Green Party retreat into mental reservation

Green Party TD Paul Gogarty on the Willie O’Dea scandal.

The collective opinion is that while we’re not happy with the situation at this moment in time it is not a resigning matter and you cannot put pressure on someone to resign if you genuinely feel that they shouldn’t resign.

Have the Greens been taking advice from Cardinal Connell on the concept of mental reservation?

De Burca resigns

In a posting last June after the Greens were wiped out in local elections I wrote about Senator Deirdre De Burca.

And although it may not be very charitable I was also delighted that Senator De Burca of the Green Party did not get enough votes to qualify for a refund. De Burca may be a Green in name but in attitude and action she is pure Fianna Fail.

My views on this politician have not changed. She claims to have resigned because the Green Party has abandoned its political values and integrity. Perhaps she’s genuine, we’ll see as events unfold

Corruption, ignorance and political naivity will see Fitzpatrick off the hook

Green Party leader and Minister for the Environment, John Gormley was crystal clear on how the Government is going to deal with Sean Fitzpatrick (Six One News, 6th report).

He will be pursued for every penny and I’m very confident that the Minister for Finance will do that. He will not spare Mr. Fitzpatrick and I don’t think the Irish people would accept that.

These are not the words of a clear minded politician with the best interests of his country at heart.

They’re the words of a man who operates within a corrupt system of government saying what he has to say because he foolishly believes that the implementation of his party’s agenda is more important than the rooting out of the disease of corruption.

As in all previous cases of a similar kind the corrupt political and administrative system will make arrangements to ensure that Sean Fitzpatrick suffers little or no loss.

The Irish taxpayer will be forced to pay most if not all of his liabilities and, despite what Gormley says, they will accept it because the great bulk of Irish citizens ignorantly labour under the delusion that power comes from above rather than from below.

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John Gormley

I don't believe a word they say

Brian Cowen responded as follows when challenged on the Late Late Show regarding banks sharing the pain of recovery.

We guarantee that NAMA will not be in a position where it has a deficit and if that deficit emerges we will make sure that a levy system will ensure that the money comes back from the banking system.

Brian Lenihan and the Greens have also sought to reassure taxpayers that the banks will be hit with a levy or extra taxes to make sure they take their share of the pain.

The problem with all these assurances is that they are only promises. To my knowledge there’s nothing in the NAMA legislation that will force the banks to pay their share.

We are being asked to trust politicians who, for decades, have worked very hard to protect the interests of bankers at the expense of consumers.

I don’t believe a word they say.

Fianna Fail tells Green Party to take a hike – again

The Green Party made a pathetic attempt to boost their flagging credibility by abstaining on a vote in the Seanad on the Criminal Justice Amendment Bill.

Green Party Senator, Dan Boyle, who used to be a beacon of plain honest speaking, descended into the dark pit of Fianna Fail speak in an effort to cover up the party’s cowardice.

We’re unhappy about the current situation and we want it to change and the fact that we’re obliged to take a public action is a clear signal that we feel that things aren’t as they should be and they should be done differently and to presume that the Greens are to be taken for granted is not something we want to allow as a public perception and it’s not something we want to allow to be seen in terms of how our partners in government deal with us.

The brutal truth is that Dermot Ahern told the Greens to take a hike – and they did.

The Greens finally wake up

There has been much discussion about what the Greens are going to do after their wipe out in the recent local elections. Will they jump ship, will they stay the course, will they demand a radical reform of the Programme for Government?

All the talk is just so much waffle, the Greens are in big trouble and they know it. (As predicted by Public Inquiry in Sep 2007). The election result has finally opened their eyes to what happens to any political party that’s stupid enough to risk contamination with Fianna Fail. They have only one course of action open to them – get out as soon as possible.

They can’t go immediately because they would be accused of running scared, of not being able to hack it, of not being a reliable coalition partner. But I have no doubt whatsoever that after a decent amount of time, say about six months or so, they will be on the lookout for an opportunity to remount their ethical horse and put some distance between themselves and the putrid Fianna Failers.

Trouble is, Patricia McKenna, the most honest and democratic politician in the country has already ridden off into the sunset on that particular horse. I was delighted that Ms. McKenna did so well in the election, so well in fact that she qualified for a refund of election expenses.

And although it may not be very charitable I was also delighted that Senator De Burca of the Green Party did not get enough votes to qualify for a refund. De Burca may be a Green in name but in attitude and action she is pure Fianna Fail.

Politicians ignore the law with impunity

Every political party in the country broke the law recently when they erected election posters before the legal deadline according to the Irish Independent (Link not available).

The law in question was only recently introduced by Minister for the Environment, John Gormley but even his allegedly ethical party disregarded the law.

The Green Party candidate, Dave Robbins, said he had done nothing wrong as he had covered up any references to a vote on his poster.

Apparently, this is correct as the law was carefully drafted so as to allow the erection of posters so long as the part that has ‘Vote No. 1’ was covered up.

This is typical banana republic legislation designed to give the impression that Ireland holds the same standards as real democracies but at the same time dishonestly giving politicians a (legally corrupt) mechanism to circumvent the law.

Clearly, the Green Party was closely involved in the drafting of this Tammany Hall law which further demonstrates the degree to which their ethical standards have been polluted by their association with a corrupt Fianna Fail.

No political party has or will be prosecuted for breaking this law and therefore it becomes a joke and adds to the contempt citizens have for the body politic and, increasingly, the law in general.

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Green Party

Ignoring the disease of corruption

Green Party leader, John Gormley gave a good speech at his party’s convention last night and I have no doubt that he and all of his party colleagues are 100% genuine in their intentions.

Unfortunately, they’re still labouring under the illusion that Ireland is a normal functional democracy. So when Gormley tells the nation that white collar criminals will be pursued and face the full rigours of the law; that they will pay for what they have done to the country, he probably believes what he’s saying but it’s not going to happen.

Gormley finished his speech with the quote:

“We must do what we conceive to be the right thing and not bother our heads or burden our souls with whether we’ll be successful because if we don’t do the right thing, we’ll do the wrong thing and we’ll be part of the disease and not part of the cure.”

He seems to be completely unaware that by adopting a head in the sand policy (we look after our probity and our standards and ignore those of Fianna Fail) towards political and financial corruption his party has already become an active supporter of the diseased system.

His party is acting like a doctor determined to cure a patient of a skin rash while studiously ignoring a deadly disease eating away deep within the patient’s body.