Day of protests...doh doh dooooohh

macvin

So Paul Murphy the self proclaimed leader of the Cost of Living Coalition that seems (according to Mr Murphy) to included Whiners about Profit, sinn fein, social democrats, ICTU, and Union of Students (do they all know he is their self proclaimed leader?), had a day of protests today.

He had plenty to say on RTE & Newstalk about it and in various media, but stumbled whenever asked what exactly he wanted.

Anyway, in a city of 1.2 million, about 600-800 people turned up.

To put in in context, a bottom of the table league of Ireland match on a cold went monday night would get a bigger crowd.

Has to be seen as an abject failure. And shows most people know that this is a world wide issue and knee jerk pandering to those that shout and who primarily receive one of the highest social welfare rates in Europe is not the answer.

Maybe Mr Murphy will realise that even in the face of economic hardship, people still will not give his mouthy whiney style any credibility whatsoever

Paul Murphy is from the same stock as the likes of Mick Wallace and Clare Daly. They all pretend to care about the working class, organizing protests etc. - all the while lining their own pockets.

All three of them are utterly repellent.

dorothylives

I've no time for the alphabet soup parties. Fair play to everyone who got out and protested, at least they're doing something, it's gonna change nothing but at least they bothered to protest.

macvin

Ms Mc Donald of sinn fein spoke in Dublin

Mr Quinlivan of sinn fein spoke in Limerick

Mr Gould of sinn fein spoke in Cork

sinn fein also had speaker in Galway & sligo.

So who do you think sinn fein rolled out for the belfast cost of living protest?...

whoops - they are in joint government up there and have plenty of power to take action on many things that affect cost of living. And somehow they seem to have ignored the belfast protest and did not have anyone there to speak.

mmmm....

Hypocrits

buried

Every political party gombeen, greedy, cowardly, shyster, hypocrite hoping to get elected into the next Dáil would want to get all every last single one of their thick deluded team fanboy and fangirls out voting for them in the next twist because that's all they will have. Every other sentient Irish person has cottoned onto the game and won't be there for any of them, FF, FG ,SF or PBP or whatever else is currently making a holy show of themselves trying to make out they can make a difference in a world where they have literally zero influence on any realm of power whatsoever. Times up.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119220090#Comment_119220090

I'm sorry but I don't get that reasoning. It was a wasted, worthless exercise that only fed the egos and profiles of a few politicians who have no workable solutions.

Brucie Bonus

The general public deserve better. I don't care which politicians or parties jump on the band wagon. its like the water protests were the general public protested and the arseholes made it all about Paul Murphy. Giving out about the shinners and Murphy sure helps avoid the issues and the public protesting. Its a **** bore.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119220795#Comment_119220795

Care to share your ideas on improving things?

skimpydoo

Does anyone know why Labour did not take part today?

Galwayguy35

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119220984#Comment_119220984

Maybe they copped on that they are irrelevent.

Galwayguy35

I haven't much faith in the shower we have in Government.

I have no faith at all in SF and the looney left.

Mary Mac played that crowd like a fiddle today.

rolling boh

I presume the numbers wre fairly paltry around the country if the Dublin protest was anything to go by unless you can get the middle ground out the protests will acheive nothing and a waste of day off .Irish people love to complain but rarely take to the streets in big numbers with only a few exceptions over the years .

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221089#Comment_119221089

Shopping centres were packed with shoppers today. No sign of a cost of living crisis. The airport has been busy too with people who seem to have more than enough spare funds for a holiday.

AngeloArgue

I'm getting the same vibe as before the 2008 crash. Politicians trying to outdo each other on all the giveaways their promising. Inflation seemingly unstoppable, American tech companies looking overvalued and overstaffed, a weak euro the only saving grace in our competitiveness.

This whole thing has the potential to turn sour. Except next time where's the bailout coming from?

MFPM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119220008#Comment_119220008

Somewhat typical of discourse on sites like this, no comment on the actual issues, hurl a few slurs and abusive remarks around at politicians who probably can't do right from doing wrong in your eyes and then recede back into the anonymity the site affords you.

MFPM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221151#Comment_119221151

Indeed, but wasn't that the case in 2008?

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221232#Comment_119221232

2008 wasn't an inflationary cost of living crisis.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221224#Comment_119221224

Paul Murphy is a creature of the far-left, or at least pretends to be.

Like Owen Jones, they rake in the cash on the back of caring about the poorest in society. In the case of Jones, he has a Patreon account and makes tens of thousands of pounds a month (based on current figures), whilst railing against capitalism and the rich in society! Jones is playing the crowd well and, to some extent, I don't blame him. His audience are sheep, and they only hear what they want to hear.

The same is true of Paul Murphy.

He isn't saying what he's saying because he actually believes it, he's saying it because it has effectively become his business model to say it; his means of earning an income.

If he switched to the political right, for example, what earnings would he make?

Nothing.

So it's not personal to point this out about Wallace and Murphy and so on. It's simply a reflection of the reality of how it's actually they who are playing the system whilst simultaneously pretending to be enemies of the system.

You can presumably identify right-wing grifters? You can see how right-wing sheep follow the likes of Candace Owens and Ben Shapiro and so on? I can see it, and I'm of right-wing extraction. The same phenomenon, whether you admit it or not, happens on the Left, too.

And as long as the sheep hear about how awful the US is, and how poor people are victims of society who need a leader in Paul Murphy to bring them to salvation, they have a massive audience with which to grow their own profile and, as a consequence, rake in the cash. Do you seriously think that the likes of Clare Daly in the European Parliament, earning 300 euros a day just to turn up, cares about the poorest in society?

That's what these protests are largely about when it comes to Murphy and Daly and others.

It's a narcissistic desire to further themselves at the expense of everyone else. They want to be the story; they want to be in the headlines; and they want to be on radio news bulletins.

Eduard Khil

Buy now regret later it has been the Irish way forever. It used to be on tic now it's I need a new sofa,car,holiday,ah sure tge credit union will give me a loan.

This is going to be a bigger financial disaster that the great depression when the stock markets crash and the cryptocurrency debacle falls like a house of cards the banks will not be generous to businesses or the public alike.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221224#Comment_119221224

What, if any solutions were proposed at today’s meetings?

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221151#Comment_119221151

But that is exactly what is causing the inflation.

Too much money chasing too few goods.

Employment is still strong, there are still COVID savings being spent, but the supply can't keep up.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221278#Comment_119221278

I agree but I'd qualify it with 'workable solutions'.

MFPM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221238#Comment_119221238

I didn't suggest it was.

MFPM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221278#Comment_119221278

There were several from what I heard though that's no relevance to the post I ws responding. Though it's interesting that the posters ridiculing the protests didn't put forward any solutions either.

Jim_Hodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221356#Comment_119221356

You're the very one who drew the comparison when there isn't one.

🙄

Andrewf20

The strange thing is this cost of living crisis may be a good thing for climate change. Rampant consumerism will have this planet half wrecked in a matter of decades potentially. Im sicked to death of the waste in this throw away society. The only way to get people to value things more is to reduce our wealth from what I can see.

Also: The only thing that seems very expensive in this modern world is housing. Food, clothes, cars, computers etc are all quite cheap for what they are.

macvin

I'd still love to know why sinn fein did not support the rally in Belfast.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119220984#Comment_119220984

What this looks like is the start of the Water Tax protests. If it gains momentum then these protests will be ongoing (every month or so) and will cost FFG votes. Labour politicians gleefully imposed Austerity on the Irish people and attempted to impose the Water Tax. Labour went from winning 37 seats in 2011 to just 7 in 2016. On its current polling, it will be lucky to hold three seats. Labour just hasn't the credibility to be associated with a protest against the cost of living increases.

Regards...jmcc

Fr Tod Umptious

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221750#Comment_119221750

But the water charges protests had a very definable goal

To remove water charges.

How does this protests movement define when it reaches it's goal?

When things become affordable again?

Who defines affordable?

nullzero

Should the Irish people be protesting en masse about the property crisis and the cost of living?

Definitely.

Should grifters like Paul Murphy stay the hell away from organizing said protests because he is poisonous and delegitimizes any worthy causes he's associated with?

Abso-fvcking-lutely.

nullzero

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119221247#Comment_119221247

Spot on.

It's as if people forget that politics attracts psychopaths and narcissists ("only the other side are like that, not the paragons of virtue I identify with").

They'll all step over your warm corpse to get their hands on your money.