Counter-Protest on the 18th.

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

Are you sure you are a mod? What happened to the play the ball mantra? Or does it only apply to us 'ordinary people'?

I felt I should clarify the sense in which I meant "ordinary person". Are you saying you're not ordinary? In what way, then, are you extraordinary?

OhNoYouDidn't wrote: »

There will be a protest every Tuesday. It may snowball into something that the government can't ignore, it might fizzle out, but as Bob says, it beats being santcimonious about the motives of the Irish left on the internet....

This is a trade union march supported by dozens of groupings. No-one is hijacking anything. But its easier to sit behind a keyboard and criticise those who stand up and try and do something about it, isn't it.

You're not "trying to do something about it", though, unless you're organising it - all that's required of the ordinary marcher is to walk somewhere with a group of other people. As to those who are organising it - what do they hope to achieve? As far as I can see, all you're really demonstrating here is that majority of people in this country either don't like the hard left, or feel that you're not offering an alternative to what needs to be done.

See, "oppose the NAMA Republic", "bash the fat cats", and the like are just slogans. They're not an alternative to sorting out the public finances - and as long as you're not presenting a realistic alternative to the current government's attempts to sort out the public finances, you're not offering anything worth marching for.

cordially,
Scofflaw

bobbysands81 wrote: »

Well at least those 1,000 people are trying... what are the other 4,000,000+ in this Republic of ours doing? Maybe I'm completely out of touch here, maybe folks are secretly quite happy with the Govt and if that's the case then I accept that and will continue to be in this minority.

No but what are the goals of the 1000?

Ok they want the FF & the Greens out of Government, then what?

The probability is that Lab/FG will get in and still have to clean up the mess and still have to make cuts and increase taxes.

What then?

You do realise that a pixie isn't going to wave their magic wand and conjure up a pile of cash because Biffo and the boys are gone?

As for the 400,000 people who are unemplyed, why don't they go and try and do something about this position we're in engineered by weak Govt? I'll join that protest too.

But again protest for what?
What is the alternative the marchers were looking for?
Why did they bus in people from NI to protest in a different jurisdiction?

I am counting the days to the General Election, when FF and the Greens get an almighty kicking from the electorate. I am also aware that the other times that FF made a mess of things, they didn't have to make the hard decisions and take the heat because of that, they left it to others to sort out. I would prefer them to make the corrections and then be left out of Government for a very long time then skulk off let others fix the problem and swan in again because they didn't make the difficult and painful decisions.

Things will get a lot worse before they get better but FF should not be the ones holding the reins when things pick up. Get them out and keep them out.

That's a statement I don't have any problem with - I just don't see the Tuesday protests as helping with that aim.

cordially,
Scofflaw

bobbysands81 wrote: »

I agree with all that.

Of course there has to be cuts - of course tax has to rise, has that ever been in dispute? We are in the worst recession ever (according to some) yet there was a notional decrease in taxes at the last budget - what is going on???

Personally I believe they should have lowered the tax bands to bring more people into the tax system at the last budget because its something that is going to have to happen.

My problem is the lack of accountability in this State. The Govt knew for years that the property market was going to go tits up, but they ignored it because it suited their aims, not the aims of this country but their aims. My problem is that this Govt are working more for vested interests than the people of this State. Just look at what's happening the banks - why are the regular folks stumping up for the bond holders in the banks? Why has this Govt orchestrated a campaign of villification against all public sector workers in an attempt to divide and conquer?

But there is accountability. Its called an election and in the middle of the whole bubble people re-elected FF (with the help of the Greens) despite all the controversy surrounding Bertie Ahern and others within the party. I have never voted for FF, I have in the past voted for the Greens I will never make that mistake again.

I see where you are coming from with the Banks partially. I see why BoI and AIB should have been helped I do not personally see the reason why the others were.

As for the Public Sector it is clear to any one who has had dealings with quite a few arms of the organisation that in its present form it is not delivering. The failure is that when the time was right to trim and tailor the service to the needs of the public all the government were doing was throwing Stamp Duty money at them and increasing numbers. Now we are in a situation where we cannot afford the PS as it stands, it doesn't deliver a service that is value for money and has to be addressed. If a fissure was to open up under the FF parliamentary party in the morning the PS issue will still have to be dealt with.

We are in an utter state but this Govt are not, and should not be allowed to be the ones to drag us out of it. Of course I know there's no magic wand to fix what's happened but why the hell are you trying to portray such a glib response when you go on to say you can't wait to give them a kicking at the polls?

Its not glib it is based in realism. When I say kicking I of course me in the form of a bashing in the election and not what some of the crowd tried to do against the gardai yesterday and last week.

The Greens and (especially) FF should never get near power in this country again given what they've presided over and given the decisions they've made in self interest. Any poitician that recently voted for Willie O'Dea in a vote of confidence should have been sacked given the comments that the ex Minister made, that TDs backed him up when he clearly acted out of order is a shocking indictment of the calibre of person we have voted in in this country.

A TD can be sacked because of how he voted its called an Election.

Things will get a lot worse before they get better but FF should not be the ones holding the reins when things pick up. Get them out and keep them out.

Yes but unfortunately that's not how it will work. As I have said every time before that FF have made a mess of the economy they have not had to fix it afterwards. The opposition come in make the hard decisions get things back up and running and then get a kicking from the electorate because they did make those hard decisions and FF swan back in again.