There was a video doing the rounds; quite some views. “Girl attacked by woman in Ireland” black teenager being assaulted by a white woman. No idea the grounds but which was irish? ..or more tellingly which was Eastern European, as it transpired. All the while taken for Irish - taken for racism; as it caught on across America in particular and it may well have been, but just another example of the absolute pickle we’re putting ourselves in trying to prove ourselves to be anything but
-but then I suppose there need be no Irish involvement, other than playing host to it all. And ultimately you only end up paying regardless
great summary. btw went into kilmainham hospital yesterday. beautiful building and gardens packed unfortunately with hideous shite.
At the start of the first lock down I sat in the Oncologist's office with my Mother as she was given a diagnosis of stage 4 bowel cancer. The Oncologist didn't want to commit to what her odds of survival where, after that question he asked her if she had private health insurance. This far on she's still waiting for a final procedure that keeps being rescheduled. So, when I click on the Journal and I read that our government is now flying in cancer patients from Ukraine as part of our governments 'solidarity' with Ukraine, while we've never had higher or longer waiting lists in this country I REALLY REALLY want to punch someone.
https://www.thejournal.ie/ukraine-medevac-ireland-ukrainian-soldiers-war-5790108-Jun2022/
Indeed, an unintended consequence of the Brexit vote was that a significant number of East Asian voters voted for it specifically because they felt too many white Eastern Europeans were coming into Britain.
Of course not, not nearly exotic enough. Or politically acceptable enough, or god forfend, reflective of reality. To be fair the wider European psyche has had the horn for the exotic beyond its shores for centuries. Orientalism and dreams of Cathay were huge and the "Noble Savage" from "beyond" was a long running theme. Though mysterious Egypt got fashionable from the 18th century onward, wider Africa really only started to get big in the late 19th century and early 20th. Picasso and his buds were big into it, which replaced the Japanese exotic of the previous generation of artists.
Then again this is the art world so... "this fund will enable them to present challenging works in new media" AKA 90% of any viewing public will look at it and go WTF? 😁 Part of it is also about works from 1800 on, so I suspect a fair chunk will actually go towards that and the "diversity" angle was as much a way to get the funding in the first place. Funding for the arts is hard won.
I don’t think so. If the art is expected to be representative of the “diverse communities of contemporary Ireland”, Michael D. will be creaming himself at the thoughts of both galleries filled with the works of our ethnic brethren on wheels.
Well let's make a bet: for diversity and inclusion and representation purposes that art should be mostly European with a Polish majority. I'm ready to bet that it will definitely not be the case.
SF aren't burdened by respectability
Nor are they burdened by loyalty to the Republic. SF are not any kind of reliable answer. TBH they're essentially the "Trump" choice.
What a great idea
New funding to acquire contemporary artworks for the National Collection, in new media and on pressing issues including climate change, diversity and global migration, has been announced by Minister Catherine Martin.
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media today announced an ambitious new fund of €1.5 million for the Crawford Art Gallery and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The purpose of the award is to address significant gaps that remain in the National Collection following years of limited acquisitions. This funding will enable both National Cultural Institutions to acquire works that ensure that the National Collection is more representative of the diverse communities of contemporary Ireland.
So? Only 60% voted in the SSM vote, 64% in the Repeal vote, the former passing by 62%, the latter 64%, not exactly landslides by comparison to 80% and we (rightfully) patted ourselves on the back for those. I'd bet the farm you'd not try to question the SSM and Repeal votes on the basis of "those who bothered to vote".
I would if anyone were making similar claims about those referendums in support of the idea that Ireland voted by a majority in favour of the proposal.
To be fair I probably wouldn’t give a sugar about the SSM result, it’d depend upon the claims being made, but the 8th amendment and other abortion related referendums - I wouldn’t be patting anyone on the back for them. I’d point out the discrepancy if anyone made the claim that Ireland supported abortion because 62% voted to repeal the 8th amendment, because they’re not the same thing.
In the same way I question the idea that the way Ireland voted in the birthright citizenship referendum had anything to do with people’s opinions on immigration, or the same if we were talking about people’s attitudes to divorce or children and someone was making claims off the back of the results in the numerous referendums we had on those issues, if I thought their claims didn’t sound right.
I guess the “So?” is that I think people’s attitudes to these issues aren’t as simple as is reflected in the results of a referendum on a change to the Constitution.
I remember local/EU elections on the same day and the constitutional referendum on the birthright law, I don't recall clicking any box regarding votes for asylum seekers/refugees. Link please. It would be some trick for it to be in the same vote, given months before said vote the government of the day was encouraging the same groups to vote and extending the list of documents they could use as ID.
That’s fair, I made a balls of that one! We weren’t asked to vote on it.
I do understand why that is what is expected but SF base are not particularly in favour of immigration, the party are cynical enough to go WOKE for votes from otherwise Soc Dem voters now but ruthless enough to do what needs doing when in power
SF will almost certainly not put the brakes on non EU migration. If anything they'll seek to encourage more.
From what I could see on the ground the Brexit vote in Britain was far less about legal internal EU migration and far more about darker skinned peoples from their former colonies, or darker skinned people trying to get into the UK from the EU. Put it this way; if the UK had been 99% White Europeans, native or more recent people from the EU, I'd be surprised if it would have passed the way it did.
It was the Government of the day who were campaigning for a Yes vote in that referendum though, and it wasn’t 80% of the electorate either. It was 80% of the 60% who bothered to cast a vote in the referendum.
You’re still ignoring the fact that the same electorate voted in favour of extending the right to vote in general elections to asylum seekers and refugees on the same day.
The Government has extended the list of documents acceptable as identity cards in the upcoming local elections to allow refugees, asylum seekers and other non-nationals to cast their votes.
Tue, 27 Apr, 2004 - 12:53
The referendum/local elections vote was in June. Time travelling asylum seekers and refugees. Whatever next. So yeah, when did we vote for that then?
Alternatively Ireland could, or maybe should have during the brexit debates, proposed that the UK and Ireland retain an ability to limit numbers into the countries. Both eu and non eu. Could have been enough to keep Britain in the eu. Who knows. Would such a thing be enough to being them back? Maybe. Would definitely benefit Ireland.
Though the EU could just say no and they did to Britain and I highly doubt the will of the general population to leave the EU. So I'd love to hear proposals/solutions to the issue of mass migration which results in limited integration
I wonder would the British let us piggy back on their Rwanda idea? We could pay a percentage, it might just work. We could set up a new flight route from Dublin to Rwanda.
At this stage I'd actually place more faith in SF putting the brakes on immigration once they take power, they won't do it now as they need to virtue signal to court the progressive vote who are thinking about voting SF but when they get in ,they are less likely to be concerned about frowns from RTE and the Irish times etc
SF don't seek respectability like FG do and Michael Martin does so are more likely to ignore the media and NGO tribes
RTE was always a Labour Party stronghold, it might have put out material which pleased the church etc but the people who ran it were committed lefties
A 600% increase since the Brits said thanks but no thanks. At the same time our politicians gave those already here an amnesty n proposed giving asylum seekers full welfare n keys to their own gaff after 4 months.
The Brits loss will be paddies gain- fill yer boots Roderick n Helen. Also try book every hotel room in the country for next year- ye'll need them!
I don't think it's really left wing.. it's just agenda driven. (Like RTE used to be ultra conservative when I was young) The woke, feminist, PC, etc.. while associated with the left is more than them. Actually RTE reminds me a lot of The Guardian, again.. very agenda driven depending on the context involved.
But agreed.. they'd rip any new party to shreds, but I think that's because they know where their bread is buttered... any new party would likely axe a pile of them, or the whole thing altogether. They might have to get a real media job then, and compete with others on a level playing field.
The conflation between refugees from an actual warzone and Asylum Seekers (mostly economic migrants with French or London accents once they stop pretending to not speak English) is infuriating but not unexpected.
AS who do not have a legitimate claim will have have their applications rejected and be deported at the end of the process. I posted the numbers a few pages back.
Does RTE or the IT ever even suggest that most of the AS are bogus?
Their articles seem to be written or based on the false presumption that the AS are genuine.
Any AS leaving the UK to come here is by definition bogus.
There has to come a time when we say "no more we can't cope", right? The Government seems so into being the best boys in class that they won't either say "no" or actually process applications speedily
https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/social-affairs/2022/06/13/uk-asylum-seekers-to-rwanda-policy-partly-behind-600-hike-in-applications-to-ireland/
"The sheer volume of people arriving into Ireland seeking protection over the first five months has put authorities here under considerable strain to find adequate accommodation. It emerged over the weekend that a number of asylum seekers slept on temporary beds in conference rooms of Red Cow Moran Hotel because there were no available rooms.
Senior sources in Government said that the announcement of the British government that it will transfer asylum seekers to processing centres in Rwanda was undoubtedly one of a “combination of factors” that has driven the increase. The other major factor has been the opening of international travel post-Covid which has led to a glut of applications seeking protection across the European Union.
Speaking on Monday ahead of the Cabinet subcommittee meeting, Green Party leader Eamon Ryan acknowledged that Ireland’s more open policy compared to Britain’s Rwanda policy presented more difficulties and challenges.
“There is a real challenge. It is very, very difficult. But we will have to manage. We committed at the very start of this war that the right thing to do – and the Irish people agree with this – is to keep our door open, unlike our neighbours who haven’t taken the same approach.
“And unlike our neighbours, we don’t agree with the sort of approach where you might send a refugee back to another country as a solution to what is a real challenging problem.”
As of June 5th there were 11,873 people in international protection accommodation. This compares to 7,000 at the end of 2021 and also 7,000 at the end of 2020. The figures are the highest for over 15 years.
Mr Ryan said there was “a lot of frustration” among Government Ministers about bureaucratic hurdles that have led to delays in providing refugees and asylum seekers with adequate accommodation.
“Even with even if all those offers [of accommodation] came to fruition, it would still leave us with a really challenging situation on the numbers. That is the reality. We have to be honest about it,” he said."
giving voice to the silent majority
There was no giving a voice to the silent majority. By virtue of the fact that people exercised their right to vote, they were not silent. It’s just fallacious reasoning to assume that people who have not expressed an opinion either way, support an argument.
If we were to use the Citizenship Referendum as an example, as a percentage of the people who were eligible to vote -
50% voted in favour of the amendment
12% voted against the amendment
38% didn’t express an opinion either way because they didn’t vote
There’s just no way of knowing how anyone would vote without at least having some indication of what’s being voted upon, or the wording of any amendment, or whether people would bother to vote at all.
That’s why Government won’t offer a referendum they’re not certain they could win, and the current Government can avoid running the risk of a failed referendum campaign when they can just introduce schemes like this -
https://www.justice.ie/en/JELR/Pages/PR21000292
After the previous Minister for Justice giving reasons like this, for not amending legislation -
He said the Government would refuse to grant a money message for the bill on the basis that it would place “strain on our own State services, including existing immigration provision, housing, education, medical services and welfare” because it would attract more people to Ireland.
https://www.irishlegal.com/articles/government-to-block-birthright-citizenship-bill-by-refusing-money-message
Referendums aren’t free either, they can’t just be called willy-nilly -
https://www.thejournal.ie/referendums-costs-3106413-Jan2017
Such a movement wouldn't stand a chance here as all of the media are left wing to some degree or other, strangled at birth
I gave up on RTE a good while back. News well picked to suit government agendas as the report you mentioned shows.
State propaganda TV.
ok so for a bit of balance enchenko. The family that has cost the taxpayers millions and millions more into the future.
You, like woody22 know full well that's not going to happen, not for an ordinary guy anyway, so its a safe enough challenge to throw out.
Not really, its literally how parties are formed 🤷♂️
But interestingly, your answer that you are willing to address a crowd on political ( or other )issues, begs a question. Are connected to an NGO or Political Party? Which one, I wonder??? And if so, you are not exactly an unbiased poster on Boards, are you? You have an agenda.
Sorry to burst your conspiracy theory, but nope, none of the above
As for the rest, as I said, spoiling does nothing but spoil the vote, nothing more. Feel free to justify it whatever way you wish, but the fact remains that as a vote is spoiled, by its very nature, it is ignored and not counted towards anything except the total spoiled
Like the majority of voters, I've neither the time or resources to start up my own political party, so instead, I will spoil my vote rather than vote for any of the current crop of politicians, and encourage my friends to do the same, especially the ones who will not even go to the polling station to vote for any of the candidates'.
Fair enough, but your action will be no more than a footnote at the end of an election. Entirely up to you though
Try telling them to form their own political party.....just another smart jibe. would you be so brave to stand up in front of a crowd and make the same statement.???
Call a meeting, let me know the details. I have zero issue with encouraging people to become active in our political system
You, like woody22 know full well that's not going to happen, not for an ordinary guy anyway, so its a safe enough challenge to throw out. But interestingly, your answer that you are willing to address a crowd on political ( or other )issues, begs a question. Are connected to an NGO or Political Party? Which one, I wonder??? And if so, you are not exactly an unbiased poster on Boards, are you? You have an agenda.
there is an ever growing tide of disgruntled voter's out there, itching to get near a ballot box. They are presently the silent majority, but when they get their chance, they will make their presence felt, big time.
They are not the silent majority as evidenced by the actual % of voters. Based off the 2019 election, there was 5% of votes spoiled but these were "spoiled" for a multitude of reason, not just protest. As for the protest ones, well the article I linked above shows they are only mentioned a by-the-way and nothing more as these ballots serve no purpose in the electoral system so no politician has to pay any heed to whats written on them.
You consider a voter turnout of 62% as being representative of all the population of Ireland??? Wonder what happened to the other 38% ?? The ones who could not be bothered to vote for the candidates on offer? You consider that a healthy state of affairs??? Now just imagine that instead of not voting, they spoiled their votes, you still think that would not have an effect? Now I know I've used max figures possible but you get the picture, I'm sure.
As for "when they get their chance, they will make their presence felt, big time", thats unlikely if all they do is spoil a vote, see above
And as for the 5% of spoiled votes, I'm pretty sure that would have meant the difference in several seats as to who got elected, and who would have gotten elected, had they the benefit of the 5% spoiled votes. So spoiled votes have no effect?? Really?? Now if only that 5% had not had a reason to spoil their votes.....imagine the different outcome's there might have been. When it goes to the wire, on the 5th, 6th or 7th count....you can bet these spoiled votes would have made a difference.
I think O Gormans big plans are going to crash and burn around him before the summer is over, it will be interesting to see how all these people will be getting their keys to the non existent houses he promised them.
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w9.vanillicon.com/v2/9c6ef39403f5dc93bd4b9e77a11c1821.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w6.vanillicon.com/v2/62877c35768f143f69acd7bb6cd43f3c.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w0.vanillicon.com/v2/05bfdb0bc9f81b358ccf2f55186422bb.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w2.vanillicon.com/v2/282101dc2976956f9dfc87f7a2ef2413.svg)
![Photo of [Deleted User]](https://w5.vanillicon.com/v2/589515102ac9643de8128b44e62aa24b.svg)
