Thursday, 31 May 2012
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
The Island of Martyrs
Ireland is of course an island of martyrs. W.J. Lockington S.J. states in ‘The Soul Of Ireland’ that “Christendom knows no parallel to this page of Irish history.Bitter persecutions it had felt from the earliest ages; but never before had it seen a whole nation, men, women, and children, unfalteringly climb Calvary to crucifixion; never before had it seen martyrdom of a people. The Island of Saints and Scholars was to pass through the furnace of suffering, and become the Island of Martyrs”.
Ireland has been a beacon of light, a beacon of the faith to Europe and a centre of civilisation. Amidst the persecution, the faith was not relinquished. As Fr Lockington stated “Ireland was nailed to the cross of the penal laws”.
Indeed it “was the possession of the divine strength of the Mass and Communion that enabled the nation to live through those awful centuries, and be as fearlessly Catholic at the end of them as she was in the days of St. Patrick.”
The blood of the martyrs flowed but there was no fear of the enemy. Catholics “firm in their faith, they walked through the gates of death, for they saw the God whom they loved smiling a welcome to them.”
“For the strength of Ireland is the drinking of the chalice of Christ, and the glory of Ireland is the carrying of the cross of Christ”.
We must fight for faith and the Nation. Our way is not the easy way.
Tuesday, 29 May 2012
Eviction Halted in Whitehall, Dublin
Fantastic news from Dublin.
http://www.facebook.com/AntiEvictionTaskforce
“If you didn't hear what happened this morning with BEN GILROY and THE ANTI EVICTION GROUP.....well, I've just been told that Guards / Sherriff turned up Ben and about 60 supporters were there.......more Guards and then more supporters turned up.
TV3 arrived and Guards/Sheriff left as people tore up eviction order!
RESULT!”
Monday, 28 May 2012
Stop an eviction in Whitehall, Dublin tomorrow
Readers are alerted to the following. Keep a check on this page for updates. Spread the word and halt these evictions.
http://www.facebook.com/AntiEvictionTaskforce
“the time seems to be 10am tomorrow, address 176 larkhall road , whitehall.Dublin 9”
North Kerry Turf Cutters Press Release
Press Release from North Kerry Turf Cutters. Published on Facebook.
A gay day for a dead democracy
A repost of an article. Written for a UK audience but can be applied to Ireland.
http://newsfromatlantis.blogspot.com/2012/05/gay-day-for-dead-democracy.html
The UK coalition government is possibly the most hated government in living memory, and it is certainly a contender for the least democratic. At a time when the policies of government have pushed the people to think only of how they are to survive, the cynical opportunists are wasting no time to break every election pledge, and push forward with an agenda that the people did not, and would not, vote for.
Under the lie of 'austerity', the government are transferring wealth away from the poorest sections of society, into the coffers of the richest. Giving tax breaks to their friends and their masters in the Establishment, and cutting services for the common people, the government insist that only by encouraging enterprise and cutting bureaucracy can the country struggle out of recession. What they fail to mention is that the recession is artificially created in order to redistribute wealth away from the people.
The proposed re-privatisation of the Banks taken into public and part-national ownership under the previous regime, is to be conducted at a loss to the taxpayer. Yet again, the bankers are to gain at our expense. If the government was honest in any way, it would admit that the banking crisis was created to increase the grip of international finance, and that the only solution to our economic woes is for the government to issue its own currency, and pay the banks what they are owed in debt, using worthless pieces of paper created with no backing - in exactly the same way as the banks created the debt in the first place. Would the banks then fail? Hopefully so. However, what would be guaranteed would be that the people would owe the banks nothing, and the graduated income tax system introduced as a temporary measure to repay the Bankers' loans to pay for the war against Napoleon, could finally be abolished. Of course, as the politicians serve the Bankers and not the people, this outcome could not be expected under the present system.
On top of the theft of the people's money; in effect reducing us all to wage-slaves who have no option but to pay their taxes forever, the government have 'relaxed' green belt restrictions, allowing for the already over-populated UK to be flooded with millions more people who will be housed at the cost of the destruction of the land. Our country already relies on imports of food, thus an increase in population can only make the suffering which will come when food imports are interrupted, more devastating than if the population stayed at roughly the ridiculous level it is at now. Mass starvation will come. The disruption of the food supply is not in doubt; the only question is when it will come, and how many people will die.
Not giving a damn about the people in the UK, the government also do not care one iota for the people of other countries which they seek to exploit. The war criminal, William Hague, is eager to condemn the Syrian government for not being democratic, but he conveniently forgets that Bashar Al Assad is far more popular than the politicians in Westminster, and that the opposition so beloved of Hague is comprised of foreign mercenaries, and terrorists in the employ of the UK and US Establishment. The dead and dying in Syria, just like their counterparts in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Serbia et al are the responsibility of the UK government and its partners-in-crime.
Theft and murder are high on the agenda of the UK government, but their anti-human crusade doesn't stop there. The government are at the forefront of the moral destruction of the UK. By forcing the idea that homosexuality is a lifestyle choice and that it is just as valid as heterosexuality, the government is condemning the misery of homosexuality onto generations to come. Homosexuality is a mental disorder caused by a chemical imbalance; it is wholly curable. Legislating for homosexuals to be able to 'marry' as do healthy people, is to normalise the abnormal. This makes it far harder for those who are afflicted by the condition to seek help. Shewing that the government despises its own MPs as much as the rest of us, the Liberal faction of the coalition is adamant that MPs will not be allowed a free vote on the issue, and will be forced to vote for homosexual marriage. Even the hated Tory faction will allow its member to vote as they see fit. The ironically titled Liberal Democrats are very illiberal and absolutely anti-democratic.
Democracy is dead in the UK. It is as dead as the children murdered by NATO war 'planes in Sirte, or by MI6/CIA 'Al Qaeda' bombs in Damascus. The only thing left to do with the festering cadaver is to give it a good Christian burial, and to move on to a new society where the living decide their own fate, and are not dictated to by the inhuman shells of the living-dead.
Sunday, 27 May 2012
Pentecost
Happy Feast of Pentecost to all our readers and friends. There will be upcoming posts on the blog regarding the 50th International Eucharistic Congress being held in Dublin next month. The Congress was last held in Ireland in 1932. Whilst an evil council wrecked havoc on the Church and Society in the 1960s, the Judeo-Masonic enemy have been at work for centuries. Catholics must never forget that they have enemies.
Ireland, you have been robbed of the mass!
Cheeky Yes-men fail to see the irony
See the video below the article.
http://www.independent.ie/national-news/cheeky-yesmen-fail-to-see-the-irony-3119324.html
A gaggle of Labour TDs got cheeky yesterday.
Dominic Hannigan, Ciara Conway, John Lyons, Kevin Humphreys and Ged Nash headed down to Sinn Fein's head office on Parnell Square to launch a poster for a Yes vote.
The poster pointed to Sinn Fein's support for the bank guarantee and their record of "getting it wrong when it comes to major decisions".
"They were wrong on that and they are wrong on the treaty," Mr Hannigan said.
Of course he didn't mention that Fine Gael also voted for the bank guarantee, because that would imply . .
The sad truth is, Enda Kenny's a chicken
See the url below for the opinion piece from Gene Kerrigan.Enda Kenny is controlled by the International Financiers. The Irish people are not taking Enda seriously and has become a comical figure like Brian Cowen.
(Enda Kenny being tickled by Nicolas Sarkozy)
Friday, 25 May 2012
Discover Ireland!
The weather in Ireland is particularly warm at the moment and a perfect opportunity to take the time to visit some interesting places in your community or beyond. There is plenty to do and see in your own area. Try and get away from the city for a day or two.
Labour – A party hanging on for dear life!
(Dominic Hannigan falls off his ladder after putting up a Labour poster. Photo: Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland)
Whilst falling off a ladder is no laughing matter, the photograph symbolises, how the Labour party are falling in every direction.
Dominic Hannigan being asked a question that every politician should be asked.
The Black and Tans are back in Ireland!
Yesterday, I walked past Lenaboy Castle outside Galway. Under the pretext of a sick call, Fr Michael Griffin was lured from his house in Montpellier Terrace in November 1920 and brought to Lenaboy Castle where he was tortured and murdered by the Black and Tans. His body was discovered a few days later in a bog in Barna. He had been shot through the head. Fr Griffin never broke the seal of confession and his funeral was one of the largest ever seen in Galway. He is buried in the grounds of Loughrea Cathedral in East Galway.
Did the Black and Tans ever leave Ireland or have the uniforms and name changed? The following are photographs of ‘rangers’ trying to take private property from people in East Galway. They call themselves the ‘National Parks and Wildfire Services’ Rangers. There are helicopters flying over family homes and livestock are being frightened. These rangers seem to be the “eyes and ears” of a foreign power. Who are these ‘rangers’ working for?
Thursday, 24 May 2012
Community Action
Community Action is a new section to the blog. Those of us involved in Thought and Action are involved in various projects in the community. One current project is helping those in difficulty with rent and issues with the council. A family have fallen behind in paying the rent and repairs haven’t been carried out in their council house. A few other families have contacted Thought and Action.
Another project is circulating three specific themes in a leafleting blitz. Another project is circulating books and meeting people of like mind.
Please feel free to send us an email. The email address is thoughtactioneire@gmail.com
FACTSHEET: Abortion for terminally-ill children
Do visit the link to read and share the factsheet. See also ‘Eugenics and Other Evils’ by G. K. Chesterton.
The factsheet explains that:
- 90% of Irish parents do not abort their baby following a fatal diagnosis. Many of those parents have then been able to spend precious time with their children - both while the baby was in the womb and then for hours, days and sometimes weeks and months after birth.
- On some occasions babies who were not expected to live at all defied the odds and continue to amaze their families and doctors.
- The experience of parents that have spoken to the Life Institute is that the Irish medical system encourages abortion for children with a fatal diagnosis. This is unacceptable and contrary to what is best for mother and baby.
- Those parents also pointed out that children with life-limiting disorders have a right to their life, however short that life may be, and however severe their disability.
- In stark contrast to the Irish experience, in countries where abortion is legal, up to 95% of children with a fatal diagnosis are aborted.
Protest outside AIB Bank in Galway
Daily protests outside banks are becoming the norm. Our current financial system based upon usury is immoral. Public opinion in Ireland is certainly against the banks. A significant number of people are more aware of the swindle of the modern banking system. A Credit Union provides the positive, practical alternative.
http://www.galwaynews.ie/25980-city-protest-over-payments-bondholders
CITY PROTEST OVER PAYMENTS TO BONDHOLDERS
May 24, 2012 - 3:12pmA demonstration against government payments to bondholders is underway outside AIB bank in the city centre [3PM].
A group of up to 20 people is protesting on Shop Street outside the AIB Lynch's Castle facility against the continued payouts.
Former members of the Occupy Galway camp are leading the demonstration and are also campaigning for a NO vote in the upcoming fiscal treaty referendum.
The group plans to stage a further protest at the Forster Street branch of Anglo Irish Bank tomorrow.
Chris Duignan, a member of the protest group and a former occupier says while the camp has moved, the protest against corporate greed will continue.
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Cut your own Turf
It was ironic that the following appeared in a Galway newspaper.An archive from the 1940s.
Recent media coverage regarding the situation in West of Ireland. Rangers continue to try and intimidate local people.
How the Banks Are Screwing You
This new book was mentioned in a previous post on the blog. It is a “call to action; it is a call for the Irish People to stop paying the banks in order to create change and leave our children with a legacy worth having, a legacy of freedom.”
Turf Cutters Stand Up to the EU Bullies
The fiercely Catholic and Nationalistic people of the West of Ireland have confronted the EU bullies. Lucinda Creighton and her party have no loyalty to the Irish people or Nation.
http://www.galwaynews.ie/25946-galway-turfcutters-protest-loughrea-treaty-meeting
Galway turfcutters claim they are being intimidated by low flying aircraft that are checking to see if the turf cutting ban is being adhered to.
Up to 50 turfcutters gathered in protest in Loughrea last evening [May 22] where the European Affairs Minister was officiated at a meeting.
Minister Lucinda Creighton was addressing a public meeting and Q&A session on the upcoming referendum on the European Fiscal Treaty.
The group has now cut turf in Barroughter, Ardraigue and Killimor raised boglands and began working on Clonmoylan at the weekend.
Speaking to Galway Bay FM news, Dermot Moran of the local bogs action group says
turfcutters asked the Minister to intervene against the EU ban
Homeowners vent anger at PTSB's 'moral bankruptcy'
See the previous blog post regarding the protest yesterday in Galway. Customers would be advised to close their account and join a Credit Union or set up a community bank/credit union.
By Laura Noonan
Wednesday May 23 2012
ANGER, frustration and utter despair. Those were the feelings amongst outraged Permanent TSB (PTSB) mortgage holders who gave the bank's bosses a roasting at the annual general meeting yesterday.
Describing the bank as "morally bankrupt", they lambasted management for their "extortionate" interest rates and described the hardship inflicted on their families as a result of the high charges.
The first 20 minutes of the AGM were dominated by tale after tale from put-upon mortgage holders, who described themselves as "prisoners" of the bank and urged fellow customers to pull their savings out of the "morally bankrupt" institution.
Chairman Alan Cook said he'd invited them to air their grievances at the start of the meeting, after learning some homeowners had been buying shares in the bank "just so they could come along and protest".
"I knew we'd take a bit of a beating," he told reporters after the meeting.
"If we're going to be a customer-led bank, this demonstrates that we're interested in what customers are saying."
State-owned Permanent TSB was charging a 'standard variable rate' of 5.19pc to about 75,000 customers until very recently, when it cut the rate to 4.69pc. Some mortgage holders at AIB, which is also state-owned, pay 3pc; while some at Bank of Ireland pay 3.84pc.
"Can you explain to us where you expect us to get this money?" asked Conor McNally, who said he had fallen €6,500 behind on his mortgage.
"The Government has already milked us for additional tax, the income of most people in the population has been butchered.
"I have a family and a greatly reduced income and a greatly increased mortgage thanks to your extortionate rates."
Reckless
Mr McNally went on to proclaim he was "committed to telling every person" he knew to pull their money out of Permanent TSB and that he would, along with thousands like him, "drop you like a hot coal if we could".
"I'm so tired of paying for other people's reckless decisions," he said, drawing a cheer as he slammed the "disastrous foresight and risk management" that triggered massive losses at the bank and prompted the rise in interest rates.
Fellow mortgage holder Karen O'Donohue told the meeting she was encouraging "all customers to close their accounts with the bank" and said the way they had treated homeowners meant it was "too late for an apology".
Ms O'Donohue and her husband bought their home in 2005, when they were paying interest of about 3pc.
"We're lucky because we have steady jobs so we're not in arrears," she told the Irish Independent last night. "But we're paying about €400 a month more in interest than we would with another lender.
"We have a small child and another one on the way, that money would make a big difference," she added.
Ms O'Donohue and her husband can't move their mortgage of "about €300,000" because they're in negative equity and "no other bank would have us".
Mr Cook said hearing the stories of homeowners had "stiffened his resolve" to make Permanent TSB's mortgages competitive.
But despite persistent shareholder questioning, he could not say when the next step might be taken, but said the bank's restructuring plan would go to the EU in June.
"I'd be hopeful, but maybe I'm being naive," said Ms O'Donohue.
- Laura Noonan
Tuesday, 22 May 2012
Protest at PTSB in Galway
A protest was held earlier today outside the Eyre Square branch of the bank. Up to twenty people protested outside for several hours. There was a fantastic response from people on the street.
A relevant video.
They’re Asking Us to Tighten our Belts a Little More
This article was written for an American audience but change a few names and words, and you could be writing of Ireland of today.
http://fromthetrenchesworldreport.com/theyre-asking-us-to-tighten-our-belts-a-little-more/15189
I heard it for the first time last week from one of the neo-con national socialists. “We are going to have to get used to eating beans and rice for a while.” Of course the elitist that uttered these words has never known a hard day in his life and when he says “we” he means you and me, the middle class and poor.
Yesterday I heard another utterance that caused me concern, “We are all going to have to pay higher taxes, especially that 50% that pay none”, of course again meaning the middle class and those working poor who are living so far beneath the poverty level that they are exempt from income tax.
The almost completely filthy rich pay only 15% in income taxes and the entities that are the corporations pay none as this is profit income and offset through tax loopholes. And of course the top 10% of the top 1% pay absolutely no taxes of any kind as they have foundations and foreign hedge funds.
The corporate elite intend to maintain the status quo, which in essence dictates that 95 cents out of every dollar paid in taxes goes directly to the elite via their government contracts, which are the mechanism through which the big corporations are paid to run every government agency in the United States, from the local municipality to Washington DC.
We have reached the point in our country that either more fiat revenue must be pumped into the system or it will collapse. Both the neo-cons and soviet socialists would like nothing better, but they know if the collapse comes all of the sudden the people will rise up and destroy them. They want the destruction to continue but at a controlled rate.
That being said we are about to see compromise within the false left-right paradigm. The elite, who have been making record profits throughout this depression, will very graciously agree to pay a little more in taxes as a part of an across the board tax hike, which will include taxing every dollar of income created and include taxing even those living under the poverty level.
You see they will pony up half of what it will take to bring the rate of destruction back under their control and in doing so, insure further deterioration as these new tax revenues taken from the poor and middle class represent monies that will no longer be spent in our economy. And, as previously mentioned, all tax revenues eventually wind up in the pockets of the corporate elite as they are running our government through an unconstitutional subcontracting scheme.
I heard a statement recently that rang so true I felt compelled to add it to this article. “If the rich becoming richer is the mechanism that causes job growth, why are we losing net jobs as the corporate elite continue to make record profits?” The fact is there is only one thing that creates jobs and that is consumer spending, which decreases every day as more jobs and industry are shipped out of the United States.
I’ve heard it said many times that there is no silver bullet for fixing our economy. Well this is the ultimate big lie. All that needs to be done is to enforce our law, arrest the thieves that have stolen $32 trillion from our economy, and retrieve that wealth. This would eliminate the $15 trillion national debt and the $1.3 trillion budget deficit with $15.7 trillion left over.
Then tax 90 cents on every dollar that has been made through manufacturing our stolen raw resources in foreign countries. Now, every corporation that is not 100% American and that includes ownership, kick them out. Stop all export of any and all raw resources and use that recovered $15.7 trillion for interest free loans to US nationalist entrepreneurs and within two years, every US nationalist is wealthy. Of course we will want to throw every foreigner out of this country while we are at it because they have absolutely no right to the bounty of our land.
In order for this plan to work the Federal Reserve would have to be abolished and a real currency put in place to accommodate our new boom.
The way to fix this economy is simple and to pretend that the neo-con national socialists and soviet socialists do not understand this concept would have to be considered the ultimate act of ignorance.
The very fact that the theft of our wealth is not even mentioned in this phony political environment except by Ron Paul should make the situation obvious. This is why no effort is being spared in attempting to remove the Ron Paul Revolution from our reality. It is not going to work. Homeless and hungry is homeless and hungry and those left in our middle class know that it is just a matter of time until their number is up.
Pray for peace prepare for war.
God bless this Republic, death to the international corporate mafia, we shall prevail.
Monday, 21 May 2012
Socialism and the Real Distribution of Property
The following are some extracts from an article by G.K. Chesterton (1874-1936) entitled ‘Socialism and the Real Distribution of Property’' (1924).Chesterton opposed both Capitalism and Socialism.
“Distributism is right, not because it is in this sense new, but because it is in a very different sense fresh. It is fresh as only very ancient things are fresh.It is as fresh as spring or childhood or the challenge of youth to life; it is fresh because it is old, because it is a romance that occurs.”
“It is normal to man to possess” While “he has a hand, his hand is meant to hold something; not much, but something; not somebody else’s, but his own. It is because this sense of property is primary and not artificial that the whole philosophy of communism is fundamentally false. What is the matter with capitalism is not that the hand thus grasping something is an individual hand, but that it is an isolated hand. In other words, it is not that it is a full hand, but that is leaves so many hands empty”
Distributism is “ the doctrine of a more general enjoyment of private property in the means of production”
“As notions go, Socialism is not particularly a fresh or unfamiliar idea. And if it were our duty to value it for its novelty, it would be necessary to value much more highly many ideas that are much more novel”
Ethics AND the National Economy
This reprint by IHS Press has featured on the blog before but for benefit of new readers, it is recommended reading. The book itself is divided into twelve chapters including ‘Economic Life And Life In Society’, ‘Work and the Worker’, ‘Capitalism and Socialism’, ‘Ownership and the Acquisition of Material Goods’.
The next couple of blog posts will deal with practical ways of putting your thought into action.
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Enda, a man of the people no more
Enda Kenny and Fine Gael have become unpopular in a much shorter span of time than ‘Biffo’ and FF did. Interesting piece here from John Drennan.
Once upon a time, and a long time ago it was too, Enda Kenny was quite the enthusiast for the concept of a 'rate my teacher'-style report card where dilatory ministers would be called into headmaster Kenny's study and told to mend their ways.
Like many other things, once power was actually secured, the concept disappeared into that desolate tundra where inconvenient promises howl disconsolately over their banished state.
In fairness, even in opposition, when it came to the more challenging prospect of a 'rate my Taoiseach' card, Enda was more of an enthusiast for the De Valera 'looking into my own heart' school of self-regulation.
It was a wise move, as a report card on Mr Kenny last week would not have made for pretty reading.
Gerry Adams, as is his wont, was being overly optimistic in his claim that "it must have taken FF eight or nine years before the people had enough of them" but this Government had managed to secure this status in a year. However, Enda Kenny's performance in Athlone did provide us with another indicator of how the ground is beginning to shift beneath this Government's feet.
The Grumpy Old Men (and a couple of token women too!) are not in the same territory as Anglo Irish Bank in 2008 but they are perilously close to the scenario of 2005 for, in spite of ongoing impressive poll figures, their political liquidity, courtesy of impaired ministers such as Alan Shatter, not-so-cute Old Phil and Richard 'the lesser' Bruton, is starting to contract.
And though the Grumpy Old Men have retained a reasonable slice of their election-day support, in the long run they will not be able to quarantine party support from a stark 65 per cent dissatisfaction rating.
We, of course, have not reached the point where the Government's accelerating credit crisis cannot be nipped in the bud, but, outside of the electorate's unhappiness, the most unnerving feature for Fine Gael and Labour consists of the deterioration of the Taoiseach's post electoral triple-A rating.
He has not quite reached 'junk bond' status, but Kenny's star will certainly not have been quantitatively eased by his bull-in-a-china-shop performance in Athlone.
The Taoiseach might have begun his meet-and-insult-the-people walkabout with his
patented 'faux JFK' smile but this was swiftly replaced by Mr Kenny's lips-like-the-rear-end-of-a-duck visage when it was evident the electorate was not in a loving mood.
As the Taoiseach informed one man who had been self-employed for 30 years that "you could do with a day's work, I'd say" and then replied to another citizen's concerns about emigration by telling him "if you want to go and make a speech, you can go and do it outside", Mr Kenny's vulgar derision managed to surpass the worst examples of the Biffo school of seduction.
In fact, such a comparison is unfair to poor Biffo, who was far too terrified of the electorate to ever round on them in such a truculent manner.
It should be noted that Enda's bile was understandable, for it is never easy for a Taoiseach to stay connected with the humble voters. No matter how hard they try -- and plenty don't -- national leaders like bishops and supreme court judges do not live like ordinary people.
Mr Kenny, in opposition, may have made much play of his desire to be an "authentic" Taoiseach but when you live in a world of deferential mandarins, TDs, ministers, CEOs and best of all, celebrities, who find the airiest of thoughts from the man formerly known as Lite to be profound, such privileges change a man.
After sampling these delights, it is particularly difficult to deal with the negative energy surrounding poor, cantankerous, unemployed common citizens. Kenny's dangerously swollen ego has also not been eased by the ramshackle state of the FF/'Posh Boy' Barrett/Mick Wallace Independent Muppet/SF Alliance.
Good opposition keeps governments honest (just ask Bertie!) and it is easy to think you are a political Gulliver when you are confronted by a weekly B-list cast of 'an Idiot Abroad' Adams, FF's not so bright new curate and Richard 'Posh Boy' Barrett.
Last week, nothing epitomised the increasing degradation of the moral sensibilities of our Taoiseach more than Mr Kenny's 'nothing to do with me' stance on emigration.
It represented some sea-change from the high moral sentiment where an empathetic Kenny used to sympathise with parents in our "betrayed" Republic who, "are rendered speechless at the sight of their children boarding planes to countries where spring is autumn and our today is their tomorrow".
That was also a time where Mr Kenny also expressed tender concern about workers who "pray for invisibility as they queue for the dole", families who "worry that neighbours might see the St Vincent de Paul calling to the door and dread the postman dropping bills like stealth bombers into the hall".
Last week, fattened by a year in government, our 'dear leader's' attitude to such matters bore a closer resemblance to the Norman Tebbitt 'on yer bike' school of counselling.
Sadly, Kenny's woes extend beyond the obvious reality that a Lemass-style revival in national morale will not be secured if the Taoiseach, when challenged, behaves like a boorish variant of George Bush Jnr. Instead, any forensic 'rate my Kenny' report would reveal far greater failings, for, it is becoming increasingly clear that a government, whose template is set by the Taoiseach, does not, with a few exceptions, want to fulfil its promises to radically reform the State.
Rather, the Government's real desire consists of a Dad's Army-style nostalgia for normality as it was before this terrible troika business began.
They may have talked the talk in the initial heady weeks of governance but what this Government of the Grumpy Old Men, and in particular its Taoiseach, secretly lust for is the return of our previously safe state of bourgeois mediocrity, a state where we all know our place and there is a place for everyone -- who is in the right party.
Far from being elderly iconoclastic revolutionaries, it is increasingly clear that once the Cromwells of the troika are dethroned, our Grumpy Old Men are plotting to take the easy road of securing the restoration of our old semi-corrupt but mostly harmless Mediterranean-style state.
The only difference will be that FG rather than FF would be the permanent party of power.
Mr Kenny's sanguine absence of ambition is on one level understandable for he knows, too well, the Irish voters generally do not ask for much. Unlike those mad Greeks, we understand that whilst it might be socially desirable, random drive-by shootings of top banking CEOs 'pour encourager les autres' is not permitted by the Constitution.
But, in 2011 an electorate who, to quote the Taoiseach's own words, engaged in a "democratic revolution" did not, on this occasion at least, vote for a speedy return to Ireland's perennial colonial embrace of the politics of fumbling in a FG (as distinct to a FF) greasy till.
When it comes to Mr Kenny's apparent ignorance about this, the kindest thing any report could say is that whilst he is energetic, the Taoiseach shows little understanding that the fire of public dissatisfaction is getting hotter under his feet.
Instead, like the frog who was boiled so gently it didn't see its fate until fork and napkin were produced, our Taoiseach still thinks nodding, winking and getting out of the leaba at 6am each morning will revive the State's morale.
But if a capacity for early rising (and a lot of loud crowing) was the main template for the Taoiseach's job, we'd have put a cockerel in charge of the country.
There again, maybe we did.
Pat Rabbitte denies saying 'Government has no plan'
Very few still believe that power is “wielded in parliament” when in reality what politician can withstand pressure from the media or the banks.
A number of leading businessmen have told the Sunday Independent that Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has said that the Government is unable to formulate a plan to deal with the economy such is the speed and ever-changing nature of the crisis.
In an alarmingly frank admission, which was made on condition of confidentiality, Mr Rabbitte is said to have stated that the Government has been pre-occupied with challenges as they arise and has not managed to construct a strategy for recovery in the medium to long term.
Mr Rabbitte asked that his remarks, which were made at a luncheon attended by figures drawn primarily from the energy sector, not be repeated outside of the meeting.
The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources set aside his speech and/or speaking notes at a specially arranged luncheon at the headquarters of Ernst & Young in Dublin on April 11 last, which was attended by around 25 business people.
According to one of those present, Mr Rabbitte said: "The Government don't have a plan. We don't know what we're doing. This is an unprecedented time. Things are moving so fast."
Another said: "I came away with a definite sense that the Government is in reactionary mode. The minister said the Government is 'very reactionary at the moment', that it is 'not dictating policy at all' and that it 'can't plan'."
This source added: "The minister said the Government was not sure day to day, week to week, what might happen, that there were curve balls coming at them all the time.
"He said something about it being difficult to have a plan, that they were in reactive mode all the time, that they were doing what they could in terms of what they were in control of, but that, basically, they were working on the hoof all the time."
Another businessman present said: "He was talking in the spirit of a meeting which was being held in private. He was saying, 'look, we are living in unprecedented times and we are dealing with these challenges as they comes at us'.
"He was saying that, as opposed to saying, 'we have a strategy for the next five years and we know from month to month and year to year what it is we are hoping to achieve'."
Yesterday a spokesman for Mr Rabbitte said: "The minister is happy to confirm that he attended that meeting in Ernst & Young on the date in question. But he flatly denies making any of the comments as suggested."
Mr Rabbitte declined an opportunity offered to paraphrase what he believed it was he had said at the meeting.
Last night the Sunday Independent reported Mr Rabbitte's categoric denial to one of those who had attended. He said: "Ah well, fair enough then, but I can tell you for a fact he said this, verbatim, 'we don't have a plan'. It was off the cuff stuff.
"It's a bit scary at one level, when you think about it, but it was refreshingly honest too. He knew there was no point bullshitting the people in the room."
Another attendee said last night: "If somebody said they recall him saying verbatim, 'we don't have a plan', then I'm not going to deny that's what was said. For my part, I know I heard him say the Government 'can't plan'."
The luncheon took place in the boardroom of Ernst & Young on Wednesday, April 11, last. It got under way at 12.30pm and continued until 3pm. It was hosted by Tony Spollen, the former AIB auditor, now of Ernst & Young.
Mr Rabbitte took notes while guests spoke and then he replied towards the end of the lunch, making a point to set aside what was said to be either his prepared speech or speaking notes.
The Sunday Independent has established that, among others, the meeting was attended by representatives of Bord Gais; ESB; Coillte; Bord na Mona; An Post; Eirtricity; Irish Wind Energy Association; Retail Ireland; Mason Hayes Curran solicitors; a Canadian diplomat was also present, as was a representative of the New Zealand and New South Wales Lotto.
Guests were invited to "talk freely" and in "full confidence that what was said in the room stays in the room", one source said. Another source added that Mr Rabbitte invoked the "Chatham House Rule", which governs the confidentiality of the source of information received at a meeting.
Almost all of the speakers asked Mr Rabbitte if there was anything the Government could do to bring an end to what they felt was a continuous cycle of negative media coverage, particularly in national newspapers.
Mr Rabbitte is said to have replied that newspaper editors had been "called in" but that they had explained that they, too, were under business pressures. He is said to have remarked: "The more you try to influence them the worse they get."
Mr Rabbitte also assured those present that the coalition partners were on good working terms and that the Government was working in a "cohesive fashion".
- JODY CORCORAN, JEROME REILLY and LIAM COLLINS
Saturday, 19 May 2012
Labour haunted by old slogans
This was very obvious today when I passed a stall manned by a Labour TD and his ‘Yes’ men. Nobody bothered to take their leaflet or engaged them in discussion on the ‘stability’ Treaty. Their own party leader Eamon Gilmore stated on live television that “Lisbon is dead” yet didn’t accept the ‘No’ vote and the people had to vote again. Many Labour members at local level have deserted the party and they are having a difficulty get their supporters canvass for a ‘Yes’ vote.
http://www.independent.ie/opinion/editorial/labour-haunted-by-old-slogans-3111830.html
Percentages are the nightmare of many a school pupil, and the ones in the latest political poll represent a nightmare for the Labour Party.
For anyone not a dab hand at the maths, a four point fall to 15pc in Labour's rating since the election may not look too bad. But it represents a percentage fall of more than 20pc -- which means almost one in four of those who voted Labour last year have now deserted the party.
Just like school, one cannot do well unless one learns one's lessons. This the Labour Party seems signally unable to do. It has bitter experience of how the junior partner in a coalition tends to suffer more from voter dissatisfaction. This was bound to be even more the case in this government, faced with the most unpleasant task of any administration since the Civil War.
Labour should have known that, and been ready to apply the inevitable financial corrections in a way which would do it least damage and, even more, to have policies in other areas which it could distinctively claim as its own.
Instead, we got the idiocy of, "Labour's way or Frankfurt's way". In a desperate attempt to get votes, the party left people with the impression that the pain would be less with Labour in charge.
Now, many of those who did vote Labour are showing their disappointment. Eamon Gilmore and Labour could do little about the economic and fiscal situation, but they should have led the way on reform of government structures, accountability for failure, and the curbing of vested interests, whether in business, the professions or the trade unions.
They did very little on any of these. There is little sense that the general election changed anything in Irish politics and governance, even if the present cabinet is more energetic and engaged than in the latter days of Fianna Fail.
Not surprisingly, the poll shows that Fianna Fail is not yet a credible alternative. Much will depend on whether it can become one before the next election. If it does, Fine Gael's solid ratings may also begin to slip. If it does not, the advantage will lie with Sinn Fein.
Sinn Fein has the luxury of presenting policies even more implausible than those of Fine Gael and Labour before the election, without the fear of having to try to put them into practice any time soon, but that presents its own dilemmas.
The voters may reject Sinn Fein's more impractical, and dangerous, policies once a general election looms near. It is very easy to lodge a protest with a pollster as compared with choosing a government.
Even if they don't, Sinn Fein itself should be careful. If it stands on an impossible platform, in the hope of garnering votes, it will suffer the same fate when its empty promises have to be broken. There is even less sense in "Sinn Fein's way" than there was in Labour's.
"The eyes of the world will be on Galway"
I spotted this interesting letter in the Irish Times. This comes as yesterday several members of the ‘Occupy Galway’ camp were arrested for writing with chalk on a wall in Eyre Square. A good shower of rain will wash the chalk off and it was environmentally friendly chalk. Where were the same Gardai when men were openly dealing heroin on the streets of Galway a few nights ago? A flawed argument put forward by Councillor Terry O’ Flaherty (O’Flaherty is a woman) is that the camp would have an impact on the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race next month in Galway. The same Gardai, who arrived in large numbers to raid the camp earlier this week, previously stated on the public record there was no legal basis to remove the camp and it had made Eyre Square a safer place.
It is disturbing indeed that heroin can be sold openly on the streets of Galway yet a man ‘chalking’ is arrested for ‘Criminal damage’. His arrest seems to be nothing other than bully boy tactics being employed by the Gardai.
These arrests and the dismantling of the camp has raised many questions from the attack on the constitutional right to protest to the legality of the camp dismantling.
I disagree with this letter writer that many will be driven to the ‘far left’. People need to look beyond the left versus right. Our own particular ideology at this blog is support for popular rule. Many might use the term ‘direct democracy’. People should have a direct say at local level and working upwards beyond the flawed party politics system.
The mainstream parties are losing support on a daily basis with a whole vacuum for a new folk movement and a move away from party politics.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/letters/2012/0519/1224316357181.html
A chara, - I am disappointed and angry at the decision by Galway City Council to remove the Occupy Galway camp.
I have paid my household charge and this is what I get. Eyre Square belongs to me and the rest of the citizens of this city. In whose name was the camp removed? I welcome the arrival of the Volvo Ocean Race to Galway. I, like many Galwegians, had a ball the last time the race was here and I am not blind to the fact that the race brings in much revenue to the city. And I sail and enjoy the water.
I also welcomed Occupy Galway to Eyre Square. I helped erect a tent when they relocated the camp to facilitate the Christmas market. I am not a member of the Occupy group but I recognise their aims.
Nobody in their right mind would deny that the world is riven with inequality. It is obvious that the vast majority of the world's wealth is still in the hands of the tiny minority. The Occupy Galway camp was a protest against this injustice. By removing the camp, Galway city councillors have taken a stand for inequality, injustice and greed.
Galway is an awesome city. It is the sort of place where the radical and the corporate meet. It is a city of culture and arts, yet is the party town for stags, hens and the Galway Races. Occupy Galway and the Volvo Ocean Race are not mutually exclusive; there is room in the civic space for the campaign for social justice and the enterprise of business men and women of Galway to make a living.
Yet by removing the camp, the voices for equality are again sacrificed on the altar of profit. The people are silenced while all the concerns of business are met. This slew in favour of one side of the civic equation only results in the alienation of the responsible citizen. One can't help but wonder what President Higgins thinks.
"The eyes of the world will be on Galway", say the councillors. Never mind the eyes of the world, I truly doubt that they would have cared about, or even noticed, the Occupy Galway camp. But the councillors should pay heed to the eyes, hearts and minds of the people of their own city.
The mainstream parties of Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fáil further drive the ordinary citizen into the arms of the far left with every conservative decision they make. - Is mise,
JOHN ROGERS,
Lower Canal Road, Galway.
Father Norman Weslin
Please pray for the repose of his soul.
http://prolifeaction.org/hotline/2012/weslin/
Posted by Joe Scheidler (May 17, 2012 at 9:57 pm)
Father Norman Weslin died Wednesday at the age of 81 at a retirement home in northern Michigan. He was a devoted friend of the Pro-Life Action League, and on multiple occasions offered Mass in our office and in the Scheidler home.
Before he was ordained, Father spent twenty years on active duty in the Army, earning the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. While in the Army he married and he and his wife, Mary, adopted two children.
In 1980, shortly after he was discharged, Mary was killed in an automobile accident.
Both of them had been ardent pro-lifers, and the tragic loss led Weslin to found the Mary Weslin Homes for Pregnant, Unwed Mothers. This home has served more than 300 single mothers and still operates in Omaha.
Following Mary’s death, Father entered the seminary and was ordained a priest of the Oblates of Wisdom in 1986. He gathered a group of activist pro-lifers in 1988 and founded The Lambs of Christ.
Arrested More than 70 Times for Peacefully Protesting Abortion
Although the Lambs peacefully prayed at abortion clinics, they were frequently arrested. As they were representing the unborn babies, they would not give their names when they were arrested, but knew each other by a chosen name beginning with “Baby.”
To this day they refer to each other by these names. Father Weslin was jailed over 70 times, including his famous arrest on the campus of Notre Dame in 2009 protesting President Barack Obama’s appearance at the Commencement that year.
My recollections of Fr. Weslin at many pro-life gatherings are many, but one that sticks out was our time together during the Republican National Convention in San Diego. Many of us were staying in a low budget motel on the edge of town, and Father was sitting in a beach chair by the pool hearing confessions.
Once Father asked me to join the Lambs. I was tempted, but didn’t know if I could afford the amount of time I would be away from the League office. As it turned out, the prayer-protest I would have taken part in cost them three months in jail. I may have disappointed Father and the other Lambs, but I don’t regret my decision.
The Lambs were in reality a small religious community. When they were settled in jail they would have regular prayer schedules, spiritual reading and Mass.
Harsh Treatment by Police
When Fr. Weslin was in jail in Houston during another Republican National Convention, his attorney had procured a consecrated Host at the end of a Mass we had attended, and when he was meeting with Fr. Weslin he tried to give him Holy Communion, but the police tried to pry open Father’s mouth while also wrestling the attorney to the floor.
Those of us outside the room could not imagine what was going on. We always hoped that Father had been able to consume the Host, but never had the nerve to ask him.
Father was often treated harshly by the police, since he was bad at taking orders. There are many stories of him being dragged by his handcuffs, with a nightstick twisting the chain. He once complained, “You try not to scream, but you can’t help it.”
Father Weslin loved the League and our work for the unborn children he represented. Once when we tried to give him a pair of shoes, since his were falling apart and wrapped in tape, he graciously accepted them. But the next day he was still in the shapeless wraparounds, and the good shoes remained with us.
That was the day he offered Mass in our office, and the picture of him at the altar (see above, left) now hangs in our sacristy.
Who knows—we may have a picture of a saint.
Friday, 18 May 2012
Richard Bruton Let The Cat Out Of The Bag
With a former Fine Gael councillor Fred Forsey being found guilty of corruptly accepting payments totalling €80,000 at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court today, it has been a bad few days for the party. Fine Gael have been quick to assure the Irish people that Richard Bruton was mistaken when he stated there would be a second fiscal treaty referendum if ireland voted ‘No.’ He then corrected himself "There is no question of a second vote on this. I'm retracting what I said. The Government has made it clear there will be no second vote”.
The same thing was said with regard Nice and Lisbon. The Irish people voted ‘No’ but that was the wrong answer according to the unelected bureaucrats. Who believes these ‘Yes’ men now?
The Irish people don’t believe the hype or the lies.
Enda Kenny accuses protesters of bullying and intimidation
Remarkable given the way Kenny and Fine Gael are trying to bully and intimidate the Irish people.
“Gardai remove a protester from a hotel in Galway city yesterday morning before Taoiseach Enda Kenny spoke at a briefing on the fiscal treaty referendum. Photograph: Joe O Shaughnessy”
TAOISEACH Enda Kenny has accused some protesters of using "intimidation and bullying" tactics to stop people speaking to him during the referendum debate.
Mr Kenny came under fire from protesters in Galway yesterday when anti-treaty campaigners heckled him and rushed his car.
Mr Kenny had been addressing a breakfast meeting at the Radisson Hotel in the city promoting the Yes vote.
A group of up to 15 protesters, many from the Occupy Galway movement, gathered outside and minor scuffles broke out between the group and gardai during the protest.
While most were kept away from Mr Kenny, one managed to rush the car, slamming his hand down on it as Mr Kenny was driven away.
One protester was escorted from the hotel during the fracas but no arrests were made.
Speaking later at the launch of 200 jobs with Merit Medical Systems in the city, Mr Kenny said some protesters were using intimidation and bullying tactics to prevent ordinary members of the public from speaking to him.
"Peaceful protest in this country is perfectly legitimate but I get people who want to speak to the Taoiseach as Taoiseach who have been prevented from doing so by intimidation and bullying and that's not something I can condone," he said.
Mr Kenny added that he was pleased that the final Occupy camp, Occupy Galway, had been demolished.
'Condone'
"I seem to recognise some of what I might call serial protesters around the country and, as I say, peaceful protest is perfectly legitimate so I don't condone the kind of activities that I see in some places."
Mr Kenny was at Merit Medical to announce 200 new jobs at the company's new facility at Parkmore and a further investment of €20m by the US multinational.
He added that each of the 200 jobs created would reduce the country's deficit by €20,000.
The jobs will be in research and development, operations support and manufacturing.
Over one-third of the jobs, which will be filled over the next five years, are graduate positions.
The company is engaged in the development, manufacture and distribution of disposable medical devices.
It currently employs 379 people.
- Caroline Crawford and Elaine Keogh
Thursday, 17 May 2012
Ben Gilroy Halts Receivers
“Ben Gilroy of People for Economic Justice stays that "You cannot have a receiver forced upon you that does not provide and act on a duty of care to you!"
This video is released under the
I hereby release this video under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Please do not edited the content but feel free to Redistribute.
Download, Show at public meetings etc. (You get the idea)”
Protest outside Enda Kenny IBEC/Galway Chamber Meeting in Galway
People gathered earlier this morning to ‘welcome’ Enda Kenny to the IBEC breakfast at the Radisson Hotel in Galway. Many of the protesters were from the ‘Occupy Galway’ camp.
Wednesday, 16 May 2012
You Can’t Evict An Idea
The serious activist knows that he or she lives permanently in the shadow of Repression. Recent actions against the Occupy Galway camp highlights how afraid the system is. Our readers will be encouraged by these words from the “Political Soldier”.
“Our principles dictate that we draw upon every sinew of our being- physical, mental, spiritual-stretching ourselves to the limit in advancing the Cause, whilst simultaneously maintaining our purity of Spirit. It is far too easy to abandon our principles and values arguing pressure of circumstance. It takes strength of character, fortitude and resilience to resist the corrosive ideas of our enemies who bid us take the easy way. We have only to compromise once and we are on the slippery slope that leads to betrayal. Our way is not easy. It is arduous, it is ascetic, it is a landscape of blood sweat and tears. The day that it ceases to be these things is the day that Revolutionary Nationalism sells out”
See this statement from the Occupy Galway group. It’s clear that people want better and realise we live in an oligarchy.
http://www.occupygalway.org/2012/05/16/you-cant-evict-an-idea/
OCCUPY GALWAY POST-EVICTION PRESS STATEMENT 16/05/2012
You cannot evict an idea. Occupy Galway will only gain strength from this eviction. The Gardaà and their string-pullers in the City Council have only engendered further support and interest in the Occupy Movement. Today, we had our largest people’s assembly in many months on Eyre Square.
The movement has been reinvigorated.
We will be bigger, stronger and more active as a reaction to this abuse and waste of Garda resources. Only a few weeks ago senior Gardaà stated publicly that Occupy Galway was not acting illegally. What changed in the meantime? Already, the people of Galway are looking to the future.
We have been planning for it through the long, cold winter months.
Agents of repressive state power always come in the middle of the night, because they fear the legitimate public backlash when they finally show their true colours.
The council and Gardaà have completely missed the point of the Occupy movement. The camp played an important role in the movement’s survival through the winter, and functioned as a centre of information and education. The camp has well served its purpose, so on to Phase 2…
We have forged links with the myriad groups around the country protesting the disastrous social effects of the bailout/NAMA process. This social support network will see us through in ways that bankers, bureaucrats and their hired thugs can’t understand.
The inequity of the bank bailouts has not gone away, so one of the main reasons for out protest still exists.
It is interesting to note that other Occupy camps around the world were raided on the same night.
Solidarity to our comrades in Frankfurt, Moscow and St Johns, Newfoundland.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank the thousands of people who expressed their support and solidarity, in so many ways, over the past seven months. We couldn’t have done it without you and look forward to your continued support.
Watch this space.
Occupy Galway camp has been raided and is now being dismantled!
The last of the camps has been raided and dismantled by the Gardai earlier this morning. Their camp was on public land in Eyre Square in Galway. They had camped there for 215 days. With the Volvo Ocean Race arriving in Galway next month, it is obvious somebody has put pressure on the City Council and the Gardai. In March, Galway Gardai stated that the camp was breaking no law and it featured on a local newspaper that the presence of the camp had made Eyre Square a safer place. It makes it all the more disturbing for up to 40 Gardai and council staff to arrive without warning and raid and dismantle the camp where people were sleeping at the time.
Several arrests were made but those arrested have been released without charge. The camp is having an assembly in the next hour at Eyre Square in Galway.
Tuesday, 15 May 2012
“Irishness” Racist!
Leo Varadkar, the Irish Transport Minister and son of an Indian immigrant has branded as ‘racist’ the displaying of green signs on a taxi. It’s political correctness gone crazy when he is telling taxi drivers what they can’t display on their own car.
Why should the Irish be apologetic for being Irish? It’s a bit cheeky for the likes of Varadkar to be telling Irish workers what they can’t put up on their own cars. This is political correctness gone mad. An Irish man/woman wishing to put a green light on his/her own car is ‘racist’ according to Leo Varadkar?
Taxi drivers are trying to earn a living and provide for their families. This PC nonsense about green lights being racist is laughable. Varadkar is the same man who said not “another cent” of tax payer money would go to the banks.
Putting Ireland First!
The ‘Yes’ men promised Jobs if people voted ‘Yes’ to Lisbon II. Since voting ‘Yes’, thousands of Irish people have lost their jobs, and young people are emigrating. Wages have been cut. The photograph below shows thousands of Irish men and woman waiting to attend a Working Abroad Expo at the RDS in Dublin earlier this year.
These ‘Yes’ men lied to the people and their posters are a reminder of this. They lied regarding immigration. People were assured during the campaign on the Treaty of Nice in 2002, there would not be an increase in the level of immigration. Since 2002, how many Irish jobs have been given to migrant workers?
Irish people are paying the debt of foreign banks. As Vincent Browne reminded Dominic Hannigan Labour TD (MP) ten times on live television that it is not our debt.
Controversial finance experts called in to help Permanent TSB
Couple of songs below the newspaper article.
New CEO of Permanent TSB Jeremy Masding
A BANKING consultancy firm which famously proclaimedAnglo Irish Bank to be the "best bank in the world" has been hired by state-owned Permanent TSB to help reorganise its entire operations, the Irish Independent has learned.
New York-based Oliver Wyman was also named in the US Financial Crisis Inquiry as a secretive consultancy which advised Citibank in 2005 to ramp up its exposure to collateralised debt obligations (CDOs), the complex mortgage securities which caused the world financial crisis.
The decision contributed to losses in excess of $50bn (€39bn) for Citibank and the losses meant the bank required a government bailout.
Sources within PTSB said that around 20 top Wyman financial consultancy staff have been based in Dublin for some time and are looking at all aspects of the bank's operations at the behest of the new British chief executive Jeremy Masding.
The consultants, whose work is likely to cost the Irish taxpayer millions, have until recently been housed at the luxuryFour Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge while carrying out their extensive operations in the bank -- which is effectively owned by the taxpayer.
A PTSB source added that the consultants were "going through every single aspect of our operations with a fine tooth comb. Needless to say it's making a lot of people nervous".
A banking industry insider added: "It seems that almost all senior executives have been told that they will have to reapply for their positions. It has also been made clear that they are unlikely to get the same positions when the reorganisation is finished."
Ray Gordon, a public relations consultant hired to represent Permanent TSB, declined to confirm or deny that Wyman had been hired. However, he released the following statement on behalf of the bank.
"Permanent TSB bank is in the midst of a major transformation programme which will see the creation of a new Permanent TSB bank, a new asset management unit and the creation of a new management structure at the bank. The programme has been reviewed by the troika and by the Department of Finance.
"To assist in this task, new CEO Jeremy Masding and the board have brought in a number of consultants who have the skills and the experience necessary to do this work while the bank proceeds to fill a number of senior management roles.
"Over the coming months our reliance on consultants will decrease as we complete that recruitment process and skill up current staff members to take over these roles."
Wyman is a risk management consultancy with special skills in financial services. In 2007 it described Anglo Irish as the "best bank in the world" at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland and ranked Anglo as a star performer in its proprietary shareholder performance index.
In 2006 the firm stated that Anglo was one of the world's four "supermodels" of banking. In 2008, a year after the Wyman accolade, the Irish State was forced to nationalise Anglo at a cost of billions.
Wyman also verified Bank of Ireland's bad debt levels at €6bn in 2009 -- but the bank exceeded this within months by €1bn. In the same year Wyman was also hired on a previous consultancy operation by PTSB.
The Department of Finance declined to reply to a series of questions from the Irish Independent about Wyman's suitability as a consultant given its record.
"Day-to-day operational matters are a matter for the respective board and management of the institution," a spokesman said.
Accommodation
Quizzed about the cost of staying in the Four Seasons, the department spokesman added: "The minister would expect that any financial institution in receipt of such extensive state support would be mindful of ensuring that operational costs are kept to the minimum and are commensurate with the needs of the business."
PTSB spokesman Ray Gordon said: "The bank is very conscious of the need to secure as much value as possible when negotiating contracts with consultants such as this. While we cannot comment on what arrangements individual consultants have in respect of accommodation in Dublin we do know that a number of different hotels in Dublin are being used by different individuals and, in respect of rates, some of the more high-profile hotels are actually providing the best value."
The day after the Irish Independent raised the accommodation issue, the Wyman group checked out of the Four Seasons.
Oliver Wyman's London office would neither confirm or deny its presence at PTSB in Ireland.
- Mark Keenan
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