Thought and Action

SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE FOUR ACCUSED IRISHMEN!

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Wed, 22 May 2013 11:59:00 +0000

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group

“SHOW YOUR SUPPORT FOR THE 4 ACCUSED IRISHMEN. Come to Galway Courthouse on TUESDAY MAY 28th at 11am and join turf cutters from all over Ireland. Stand up for your own rights too.”

Troikanomics is a form of self-harm

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Tue, 21 May 2013 19:59:00 +0000

An article here from Ray Kinsella.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/troikanomics-is-a-form-of-self-harm-231729.html

NEWS FEATURE ... Should Ireland exit the euro zone?

Monday, May 20, 2013

THERE are three reasons why a managed exit by Ireland from the eurozone is the most urgent economic priority. But first consider this reality.

By Ray Kinsella

The German finance minister, under whom the euro was launched, Oskar Lafontaine, earlier this month called for its break-up. He asserted “the current policy is leading to disaster”.

He was referring, in particular, to the impact of eurozone polices on peripheral countries. But much closer to the centre, France — whose credit rating was downgraded late last year — is now deeply mired in a second recession, with no obvious way forward. The Economist has called France “the time-bomb at the heart of Europe”.

In the late summer of 2010, I argued in these pages and elsewhere that if Ireland did not change course, matters would be taken out of the government’s hands. They were. The “inconceivable” happened. The “inconceivable” may be happening again.

The austerity doctrine imposed the burden of adjustment to the post-2008 economic collapse on the labour market. It is an indefensible misuse of economics that the eurozone “authorities” should seek stability on the back of tens of millions of unemployed — this month’s eurozone unemployment figures reached yet another record.

It is equally indefensible that, within an economic epoch characterised by intellectual capital and innovation, youth unemployment should now stand at an average of 25% — and more than double this in some of the peripheral countries which are most in need of their intellectual capital and capabilities.
At this stage in the present recessionary cycle, there is no sense in what is being done to the economy — and what is being planned for forthcoming budgets. After five austerity budgets the deficit has been reduced, at a terrible cost, and with much further to go. The country has been brought to the brink just to impose further cuts of €300m — of which half is slated to come from health including disability services that are already bleeding.

“Adjustment” to an economic shock is never painless. Adjustment to the post-2008 crisis required deleveraging the banking system, restructuring the economy and restoring competitiveness. However, the larger point is that the whole Irish political system proved incapable of delivering a consensus around how we could ourselves undertake these “adjustments”. Instead, it ceded responsibility to our “partners” — and it has used the power of strangers to enforce regressive and counterproductive policies. The policies reflect the self-interests of other and larger powers.

The economies of a still growing number of countries are being impoverished while countries at the centre — Italy and France — are caught in the headlights of a still lengthening recession across the eurozone. The only response has been “we need more integration”, or, to put it another way, more and more power and control to the centre. But it is the policies dictated from the centre that are the cause of the problem, and which are now subverting what the wider European project was originally all about.

Ireland is caught up in this nihilism. We have learned the hard way that no one at the centre is much interested in Ireland, except as a nuisance in terms of its corporation tax (which is now under very real threat). Also, as a “poster child” for policies that have failed and whose failure has, as the IMF have repeatedly pointed out, jeopardised global economic stability.

So, to return to the three primary reasons for a managed exit by Ireland from the eurozone.
The first arises from the fact that, facing into an unprecedented economic crisis, the eurozone “authorities” required countries with very different economies and burdens to conform to the stability and growth criteria — a maximum 3% budget deficit and a 60% debt/GDP. These were originally “indicative”. And yet, in the face of a seismic and accelerating economic crisis, these indicative criteria were transformed into articles of faith, to which all had to conform. It made no sense.

Furthermore, the intellectual underpinning of austerity which the eurozone “authorities” adopted was the Roghoff/Reinhart theorem — that is, above a debt/GDP ratio of 90%, countries enter a kind of “black hole” from which they cannot escape. This has been discredited. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman and others have argued that the line of causation probably does not run from “high” debt to low growth but rather from low growth to rising debt. Common sense would indicate that this was surely the case in the post-2008 eurozone.

These fundamental errors were reinforced by the destructive time-table initially required for adjustment. In the case of Ireland, being compelled to even attempt to meet the “stability” criteria by 2014 was deeply damaging — it further exacerbated the underlying problems of adjustment. The eurozone authorities were wrong in their myopic fixation on reducing debt and effectively ignoring what is key to the whole ratio, namely, growing GDP, while simultaneously pushing ahead with, and incentivising, structural reforms.

Instead, there has been a succession of crisis summits involving people with big jobs talking about people with no jobs being “more flexible”.
In recent months, the eurozone authorities have started backtracking: Grudgingly accepting the evidence that their short- term austerity doctrine has been enormously damaging to the eurozone and to global stability. It is a bit late for them to be making speeches on “rebalancing austerity”.
It is little comfort to Ireland or its economy to have “good” school reports from a troika comprised of European institutions whose policies were deeply flawed and an IMF that has no business lending its credibility to an ideologically driven agenda.

It defies common sense that an Irish government should still feel obligated to defend such policies and attempt to impose two more years of “fiscal consolidation”.
Talk of “exiting the bailout” is wide of the mark. The burden of ‘troikanomics’, including onerous debt-servicing costs, stretch into a future that is dominated by those who preached the austerity doctrine in the first place.
Ireland’s growth capacity has been compromised; the best and brightest — our engineers and architects, doctors and nurses, teachers, entrepreneurs — have left and the morale of those remaining is being destroyed. This is not “adjustment”; it is tantamount to self-harm.

The second reason for a managed exit by Ireland is that these same policies are doing enormous damage to two of the most fundamental pillars of a stable and functioning democratic economy. Healthcare and education are the foundations for sustainable growth, innovation and social solidarity. The cuts being imposed arising from the doctrine of austerity are not evidence-based. At the micro-level, in schools and local health provision, they are doing damage that will take years to reverse. The only force that is driving these cuts is short-term book-keeping to appease the troika.

The third reason relates to the damage that is being done to the wider EU project. Ireland is, by its history and conviction, empathetic with Europe and with European solidarity. Austerity has, however, reinforced German hegemony within the eurozone and there is little evidence of the solidarity that was once at the heart of the European project. The UK’s disenchantment with Europe has become significantly more marked. Recent survey evidence demonstrates a deep-seated and widening gulf between the peoples of France and Germany. Expectations of recovery are no longer taken seriously by people in the eurozone.

Recovery cannot be built on a lack of confidence or disillusionment. Ireland has become dependent on the powerful and the peddlers of myths. It does not have to be dependent. It can contribute far more to the European ideal and the single market, outside of the eurozone. Denmark is a case in point.

There is no longer any appetite for the argument that only further integration will solve this crisis. This is a self-serving argument and finds no resonance among national populations. There is always a danger to democracy when the elite — the ‘authorities’ — become semi-detached from the beliefs of the people from whom they get their legitimacy. Riot control is a poor and an obdurate response to the reality that the ‘authorities’ have lost the argument.

In a world a little braver, a bit more far-seeing and one which was capable of learning — and moving on — Ireland would host a meeting of the peripheral countries. They would hammer out the basis for a managed exit from the eurozone for all or some. Those who aspire to national leadership would come out from behind the barricades of “There is no alternative” and would take up again the freedoms and responsibilities of which they are trustees.

I Am Elected! I Don’t Have To Speak With Anybody!

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Mon, 20 May 2013 15:27:00 +0000

Former leader of the defunct and morally rotten Progressive Democrats, Ciarán Cannon has added pro-life activists to his list of people, he refuses to meet. A regular reader and supporter of Thought and Action related to us of how a group including an elderly woman were left standing outside his constituency office in Gort despite having an appointment to see the Minister of State for Training and Skills. The Minister failed to turn up. Cannon, now a member of Fine Gael, who are intent on legalising baby killing in Ireland, is not Mr Popular in his constituency. He has shown his arrogance towards those with legitimate concerns about our unborn children, our future generation.

Certainly poor form when an elderly lady is left standing on the footpath outside his office. What is Ciarán Cannon and Fine Gael afraid of?

1916 Seachtar na Cásca is now out on DVD

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:46:00 +0000

Available in various shops around Ireland.

http://www.abumedia.com/news/1916-seachtar-na-casca-out-on-dvd

Short Attack On Big Pharma Advertising

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sat, 18 May 2013 11:42:00 +0000

http://youtu.be/ffZUHWG66EA

MORE GOMBEEN POLITICS: PAY TO BE PRAISED!‏

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:12:00 +0000

An interesting article from Namawinelake

http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2013/05/15/nama-is-directly-paying-the-ratings-agency-which-gave-it-an-impressive-thumbs-up/

NAMA is “directly” paying the ratings agency which gave it an impressive thumbs-up

May 15, 2013 by namawinelake

“It’s hard to make a man understand something when his livelihood depends on him not understanding it” Upton Sinclair

How do ratings agencies make money? It may come as a surprise to some of you that ratings agencies get paid by companies to rate their debt and prospects. Which inevitably places ratings agencies in conflict between their desire to be retained to provide an assessment on one hand, and on the other the need to provide independent credible assessments to the market. But that’s how the business works, and the world’s biggest ratings agencies show no sign of withering away, despite the opprobrium heaped on them after failing to identify looming crises in American sub-prime mortgage lending and European bank debt.

The three main ratings agencies will be familiar to most of you – Standard and Poor’s, Moody’s and Fitch. A fourth ratings agency, Dominion Bond Rating Service (DBRS) might not be a household name but it seems to get disproportionate reference by the NTMA when pointing to how healthy our prospects are. DBRS recently produced an assessment of NAMA, covered here. Whilst it undoubtedly contained useful and factual information, for example the three year accounts analysis, its opinions on NAMA were eyebrow raising in their positivity.

DBRS said of NAMA that it has assembled a “talented team” with “deep experience” and with “the necessary skills to extract the best possible return from the loans and underlying property assets”. DBRS went on to say “NAMA has developed a robust and efficient infrastructure that allows NAMA the flexibility to develop individual responses to each debtor that bests maximizes the returns “

We find out today that although NAMA picks up some of the costs of the ratings agencies generally who rate NAMA’s bonds, that NAMA itself directly pays only one of the ratings agencies and guess which one? Yes, it’s DBRS! How much does NAMA pay them for their handsome compliments? Alas, that is confidential.

Oireachtas Hearing On Abortion All Smoke And Mirrors

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Tue, 14 May 2013 19:50:00 +0000

Again Jerry Buttimer and Fine Gael would have you believe they are listening to both sides. Fine Gael and Labour are intent on legislating for the direct and intentional murder of innocent human life.

High Court Action Launched Against Property Tax

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:12:00 +0000

For more details

http://www.attackthetax.com/downloads/AcornToOakHighCourtSummons.pdf

Is NAMA now planning to take over €14bn of assets currently in Permanent TSB?

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sun, 12 May 2013 17:58:00 +0000

An article in relation to PTSB.

http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2013/05/11/is-nama-now-planning-to-take-over-e14bn-of-assets-currently-in-permanent-tsb/

May 11, 2013 by namawinelake

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan refuses to tell us the book value of IBRC’s loans at the end of 2012 and he also refuses to tell us if any borrowers have yet refinanced their loans out of IBRC since that “bank” was placed in special liquidation on 6th February 2013. We DO know that the independent valuation of IBRC’s loanbook by PwC and UBS should be completed shortly and that loans with par values of over €10m will be offered to the market, and if the highest bid is in excess of the independent valuation, then the loan is sold and if not, it will go to NAMA. The transfer to NAMA was to have taken place in August 2013, but that date is likely to slip and may even be the start of 2014. In June 2012, IBRC had loans with a written-down book value of €16bn, so NAMA will be taking over up to €16bn of loans; that may have a significant impact on NAMA which itself had €22bn of book value loans at the end of 2012.

But NAMA might shortly be receiving a wodge of loans from another source: Permanent TSB.

Permanent TSB has created an internal business unit called the “Asset Management Unit” into which €14bn* of nominal value loans have been shoveled. “Nominal value” means par value, for example if PTSB loaned John €100,000 for his house and he currently owes €90,000 then the nominal value or par value is €90,000. John might have fallen into arrears and his house might be worth only €60,000 so PTSB might have made a provision of, say €20,000 as an estimate of the value which it won’t recover on the loan. So the written-down or book value of the loan might only be €70,000 – the par value of €90,000 less the provision for a loss of €20,000. We don’t know the written-down or book values of the €14bn of nominal value loans in PTSB’s AMU.

At the end of 2012, PTSB had an overall total of €35bn of nominal value loans – see extract from the notes to the accounts above – so the AMU represents just under half of the PTSB loanbook. It is understood to mostly comprise commercial property loans (€2.2bn in total in PTSB, most of that is probably in the AMU) and loss-making tracker mortgages. We don’t know the impairment provision attaching to the AMU loans but the overall total provision in PTSB at the end of 2012 was only €3bn so the book value of the AMU will be €11bn-plus.

PTSB wants rid of its AMU because the uncertainty of what lies within, is dragging down the rest of the operation and preventing the bank from getting back on its own two feet. However, if the AMU is transferred to NAMA, then NAMA will only pay the current market value of the loans, and PTSB is likely to see a colossal additional loss, probably in the billions. NAMA will also end up managing problem mortgages, which is not what was originally envisaged for the agency.

We are likely to soon hear what is to happen to PTSB’s AMU.

*The €14bn was confirmed in a PQ this week here.

More than 30 Galway teachers sign up to Chinese language and culture course – Healy Eames

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sun, 12 May 2013 15:50:00 +0000

http://fidelmahealyeames.ie/2013/05/08/more-than-30-galway-teachers-sign-up-to-chinese-language-and-culture-course-%E2%80%93-healy-eames/

Fine Gael Galway West Senator, Fidelma Healy Eames, has today (Wednesday) welcomed confirmation that more than 30 teachers from primary and secondary schools in Galway have signed up to an introductory teacher-in-service course on Chinese language and culture.

The course, which has been facilitated by the Galway based China Ireland Relations Group, takes place in NUIG on Thursday May 9th. Educators from the Confucius Institute in UCC will conduct the course. “The interest in this course is a very positive endorsement of the potential that exists in Ireland-China relations. Educators and students alike in Galway are embracing the fact that there are huge benefits to learning about Chinese culture and language. As we move towards economic recovery, China should remain firmly in our sights. “This course for teachers will be useful in a whole range of ways, not least in preparation for the introduction of Chinese as a short course at Junior Cert level next year.

Having campaigned for the inclusion of Mandarin/Chinese on the Junior Cert syllabus, I am now actively involved in the roll-out of Chinese language and culture across eight Galway primary and second-level schools. The demand for greater provision is the challenge for all of us working in this area. “I hope the decision to include Chinese Language and Culture on the Junior Cert syllabus will have a considerable long-term impact. Parents and pupils in Galway are recognising that there is a public interest in promoting increased cultural, educational and trading links with China. “I hope the decision to include Chinese Language and Culture on the Junior Cert syllabus will have a considerable long-term impact. Parents and pupils in Galway are recognising that there is a public interest in promoting increased trading links with China.

'Ireland? It's a great country for a criminal’

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sun, 12 May 2013 14:58:00 +0000

Irish Nationalists have always maintained what would happens regarding immigration. Politicians of the various parties assured the Irish people that only a few immigrants would arrive. Immigration has always been an elephant in the room. Many have seen beyond the lies of the politicians, who encourage mass-immigration. Thought and Action holds the position that immigrants convicted of crime in Ireland should be deported and serve the prison in their country of origin.

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/ireland-its-a-great-country-for-a-criminal-29260026.html

Our lenient justice system continues to attract hordes of foreign criminals who rob and scam people and businesses of millions each year, writes Jim Cusack

JIM CUSACK – 12 MAY 2013

The murder recently of Lithuanian gangster Gintaras Zelvys in Rathcoole, Co Dublin, is a further signal of the invasion of Ireland by foreign criminals involved in everything from organised begging to hi-tech crime.

They are attracted here, gardai say, by what the criminals regard as a remarkably lenient justice system and the low risk of being caught.

Zelvys was regarded as a major criminal figure. He was released from prison a year ago after serving a seven-year term for extorting money from innocent Lithuanians in Monaghan and other counties. He was also sentenced to four months' imprisonment in 2008 for assaulting a female garda in north inner Dublin. Before coming here, he had escaped from prison in Lithuania where he was serving a jail term for rape.

Zelvys also ran a lucrative trade in smuggling mobile phones and other contraband into Portlaoise Prison where he had associations with Dublin criminals. At the time of his imprisonment in 2007, he was living in Celbridge in Co Kildare and driving an €85,000 Mercedes CLS. Gardai believe Zelvys was murdered by other Lithuania mafia here.

A remarkable insight into the view of Ireland as a destination for foreign criminals was discovered by gardai in Dublin last year after they had arrested three Nigerian nationals, members of an organised mobile phone theft and drug smuggling organisation. The gardai checked the phones of the three arrested and on one, they found a text that had been sent to an associate back in Nigeria. It read: "Come to Ireland. It is a virgin country. There is plenty of money to be made."

The theft and export of expensive smartphones is a multi-million industry here. Last month, gardai issued a report calling for people to record the IMEI numbers on their phones so that they could contact their providers and stop the phones from being used in Ireland. They revealed that 8,000 phones had been reported stolen in the first six months of last year.

However, this figure does not include the number of phones that were reported as lost, but were probably stolen.

The number of phones stolen is likely to be very much higher, running into tens of thousands. The Carphone Warehouse reported in 2011 that it had received an average of 380 reports of lost or stolen phones a week, or around 20,000 a year.

Gardai say there is theft of phones from pubs and cafes across the country on an industrial scale and that there is heavy involvement of foreign criminals.

"Young people are daft. They leave their phones on bars and tables and young women leave their handbags open. What do they expect? The robbers go from pubs to cafes, cleaning out the places. Most young people don't even know their phones have been robbed and only report the phone as lost," one garda said.

He added that Ireland had been a destination of choice for foreign criminals for years and gardai were seeing no let-up in the trend. "There are hordes of them coming here. Why wouldn't they? It's a great country for a criminal."

The murder of the Lithuanian at the industrial estate in west Dublin came two weeks after RTE's Prime Time Investigates shone a light on the industrial-scale theft of second-hand clothing from Irish charities' recycling banks around the country.

Prime Time also highlighted the established scam of leafleting householders with fake charity leaflets. Of the few cases against the clothing thieves that have gone to court, none has resulted in imprisonment and instead have involved only small fines and orders under the Probation Act.

Gardai contrast the lenient treatment of foreign criminals with the huge numbers of motorists, more than 400,000 a year, who are issued with on-the-spot fines. The courts are clogged up with people unwilling or unable to pay traffic fines.

The organised begging that the Government had supposedly moved to stop two years ago with the introduction of new anti-begging legislation has been thwarted by legal challenge all the way to the High Court. Young Roma women beggars who, gardai say, are often talented pickpockets are again back on the streets in large numbers.

The male members of the Roma gypsy gangs are often involved in a wide variety of theft from ATM skimming to shoplifting and stealing scrap metal. Recently, gardai arrested three Roma men who had been using foil-lined bags to counter security tags and steal clothing from stores in Dublin. The men were carrying clothing with an estimated value of €15,000. In their car was more clothing with a similar value and at a house gardai raided they found another €30,000 worth of stolen clothing.

Two weeks ago, gardai in Dublin put on display an Aladdin's cave cache of stolen mobile phones, jewellery, clothing and other goods found in a raid on a house in north Dublin.

In the mid-range of organised foreign gangs are those targeting plant machinery, cars and marine equipment. A highly organised gang believed to include ex-soldiers from the Baltic states has been scouring harbours and marinas and stealing marine equipment for the past four years, taking everything portable from petrol containers to outboard motors and inflatable boats. Scouts posing as tourists visit the harbours and, gardai believe, log the location on GPS which they then hand over to teams of men with engineering experience who steal the equipment.

The equipment is collected and exported for sale in eastern Europe's growing, and unregulated, market for leisure boating.

Other gangs are involved in the theft and breaking of high-value cars. These gangs have electronic equipment that copies signals from keys allowing them to open the cars. They then use GSM/mobile phone jammers to block thesatellite tracking signal as they drive to the yards where mechanics disassemble the cars. It is believed these gangs are part of a major network involved in exporting damaged cars from Britain to eastern Europe, where they are repaired and returned for sale in the UK.

Vietnamese and Chinese criminals are behind the network of cannabis grow-houses across the country, which have been the subject of much publicity in recent years. They choose Ireland, gardai say, specifically because our automatic right to bail means that being caught is merely an expense. The men and women tending the plants are usually in debt to gangs and are effectively slaves and regarded as disposable by the gangs.

Eastern European gangs also introduced technology new to Ireland to help them rob businesses across the country. Three years ago, gardai detected them also using mobile phone jammers to by-pass alarm systems that use land and mobile (GSM) communications to alert alarm-monitoring stations. The jammers, available now on the internet, have effectively made Ireland's 400,000 alarm systems that rely on GSM signalling, redundant.

One gang of ex-military from Kosovo and Albania was detected by gardai after an 18-month spree of robberies in the south and south-east of the country in 2010. They were using jammers to block alarm signals in dozens of late-night robberies. Gangs from the Baltic states, also ex-military, were using the same techniques to rob businesses around the country.

These forms of robberies became so common that insurance companies have been advising customers they must change their alarms to make them less vulnerable.

One Dublin security firm decided the threat from GSM blockers was growing to the extent that it has switched back to a new version of old-fashioned radio signals.

Derek Mooney, director of Action Security Services in Dublin, said the arrival and spread of the GSM blockers led his firm to introduce long-range radio signals in its alarm systems. He said: "It was eastern Europeans who brought the jammers here, the first detected in 2011. We realised that there was a need to counter that. The vast majority, 95 or 96 per cent of alarms in Ireland, use GSM and they are all vulnerable.

"It was very sophisticated eastern European gangs who began using them but our own robbers have cottoned on and they are now being used all round the country. Insurance firms are now directing big retail companies and shopping centres to upgrade."

The Minister for Justice has the authority to deport people, including EU citizens who are deemed to "act in such a way as to be a danger to public order or security". However, having a criminal record is not, in itself, grounds to be asked to leave.

However, gardai and legal sources say there seems to be relatively little effort aimed at detecting and deporting serious foreign criminals. Most of the people facing deportation who are appealing their cases to the High Court have no known criminal convictions here or abroad.

Cases before the Immigration Court in the past two years have included an Ahmadi Muslim woman from Pakistan with a Master's degree in economics and a young Nigerian woman studying accountancy in Dublin, who was deemed to have breached her asylum conditions because she had a part-time job.

The sources say that the "professional" foreign criminals simply continue committing offences after being caught and released on bail and only leave when, often after years of delays in court, they finally face imprisonment. At that point, they move to another EU country and are then free to return here when they feel safe to do so, usually with a new identity.

Irish Independent

Why the Government Spin on Property Tax ?

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sat, 11 May 2013 18:50:00 +0000

An article here from DDI.

http://directdemocracyireland.ie/why-the-government-spin-on-property-tax/

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Admin D

In yesterday’s Irish Independent article it is revealed that registration for the government’s Local Property Tax is currently between 25 and 30% . This is despite the passing of the deadline for returning the LPT declaration form.

It is still quite difficult to get an accurate handle on the real percentage because no two statements can agree on exactly how many households there are in Ireland. Figures range from 1.6 to 1.8 million. Whatever the true figure, it is still a dreadful return and a strong message from the people to the government. Indeed one year on, a third of the population have still not registered for the original €100 Household charge.

The government naturally prefer the lower figure to make the percentage registered figure look higher. Of course there is a good reason for this, and it is the same reason we saw the debate in the media last year disputing the numbers who registered for Household charge. Then the government engaged in a mass media offensive to convince the public that over 50% of the home owners had registered by the deadline, and we are seeing the start of that campaign again.

You see the government continually cites its ‘mandate’ to make these decisions, based on the general election vote (though the fact that FG run the entire country based on 25% of the electorate voting for them is another discussion). However, if more than 50% of the country simply does not register for the government”s new tax, that mandate reasoning evaporates. The government would then be forced to resign, although the history of politicians in Ireland resigning is not an honourable one.

So we can see the thinking behind the wall to wall media coverage. After last year’s problems the government are pulling out all the big guns this time. The Revenue have been called in and have had their ‘information’ campaign all over the media for many weeks now. In reality the Revenue’s message has been one of threat and really nothing else. They refer to people who don’t register as ‘offenders’ and use heavily loaded words to instill fear in normal honest people, and a sense of being unceasingly hunted as criminals. Indeed the article quotes the government on this theme by saying “Government sources say the rise in household charge payments is down to the fear of Revenue being on their trail”

There are still 3 weeks remaining for people to register for the tax online of course and we predict that in that time the media spin machine and the numbers game will hot up again. Undoubtedly the government will claim over 50% compliance (at the lower level figures) before the 28th May deadline. We will of course be seeking our own independent figures as, under the circumstances, it would be foolish to trust a government who has everything to lose to report the figures correctly.

DDI’s stance on this issue is clear. We are well aware that the government has slashed hundreds of millions from local government budgets over the last 2 years, and have diverted that money to paying unsecured bondholders against the wishes of the people. This new tax is simply filling that hole. For that reason we do not agree with this tax and propose that the two issues must be solved together as they are simple cause and effect, and both have been imposed without any recourse to the will of the people.

There is more than one way to stop an unlawful tax of course. The tax can be, and is being challenged in the courts over the last few months by the first man to be brought to court for not making a declaration This test case was reported in the Sunday Mirror on 5th May 2013. The established parties naturally all refute that this is even possible, and we can understand why they would say that. The oddity though is that the minority parties that get themselves directly involved in the campaign protests against the tax seem to be actively coming out against the legal route too. A route which could offer a definitive and binding legal determination on the government. Why these parties choose to ignore the courts is a question only they can answer especially as it is common knowledge that they ‘had’ a very large legal fund collected by tax protestors over the last year. If one were a skeptic one might wonder if they are just another form of controlled opposition to try to limit the effectiveness of the campaign.

In addendum, today at the Public Accounts Committee it has also been revealed that the rate of property tax can be increased by 15% at the start of 2015. This is despite the government having previously said the tax could not be increased for 3 years. The revenue also disagree with the government’s original line and say that it was always in the legislation that it could be increased within the first 3 years. Indeed in 2016 the councils will be able to increase it year on year at their own discretion.

We all remember how Enda Kenny’s government sold the Household Charge with spin like ‘It’s only €2 a week’ or ‘it’s less than a pint a week’. Well now in 2013 that has risen to an average of €8 per week. In 2015 that will be €9 per week, and in 2016 it is going to be over €10 per week and forever rising to the levels we see in the UK where bills of over €60 per week (€3,000 p.a. equivalent average home) are common. Have no doubt this is the goal. Like the boy with the finger in the dyke, if you take out the stopper and let that water trickle through pretty soon the dyke is gone and you will be flooded.

Turf Cut In NPWS ‘Jewel in the Crown’ Bog

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Fri, 10 May 2013 20:23:00 +0000

Some people cave in under State persecution whilst others get stronger in their determination to preserve their tradition and heritage. This was demonstrated recently at Carrownaguppal Bog in Mountbellew, Co. Galway. Described as a ‘Jewel in the Crown’ by the NPWS, which also confirmed that turf has been cut successfully in nine of the fifty three bogs. In the week that European Commissioner Janez Potočnik visited Ireland, how fitting it was that the bog owners and turf-cutters upheld their constitutional right to cut turf on their legally owned private property bog plots.

This is good news for rural Ireland and it shows the Irish people are willing to stand up to the unelected bullies in the EU. It shows also that the relocation scheme in Mountbellew is dead “in the bog hole water” as one bog action group has described it.

‘Doctors advised abortion – I'm glad I said no’, reveals mum.

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:43:00 +0000

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/doctors-advised-abortion-im-glad-i-said-no-reveals-mum-29257563.html

Jennifer Kehoe with her daughter Louise (3) at home in Naas

CLAIRE MURPHY – 10 MAY 2013

A MUM was advised by her doctor to “travel to England” for a termination because of her baby’s foetal anomaly.

She was told her foetus had a life-threatening congenital heart defect and a rare brain disorder – and would have little chance of surviving outside the womb.

But little Louise Kehoe, now three years old, defied the odds.

Today, adoring mum Jennifer tells of how she and her husband felt “judged” for not choosing abortion – and how happy they are that they didn’t.

Jennifer and John Kehoe were told that their baby had little chance of survival outside the womb.

If she survived, her quality of life would be diminished.

But Jennifer said that, if they had gone ahead with the termination, they would never have experienced how their “delightful little girl” would “blow us away with love”.

The Kehoes’ daughter was diagnosed in the womb with a life-threatening congenital brain malformation called Dandy-Walker Syndrome and a heart defect.

As soon as the abnormality was identified, the couple said their obstetrician immediately offered to write them a letter to ‘go to England' and have a termination.

Jennifer and John, a GP, say that they were “advised to have an abortion by an Irish obstetrician on the grounds of foetal anomaly”, but are eternally thankful that they decided against.

“The very first thing our obstetrician suggested was, ‘Go to England'. We decided against that and to give our daughter a shot at life, however long or short that might be,” Jennifer said.

Louise (3) has now come through three heart operations, her cognitive development is normal and she is expected to lead a long and normal life.

fluid

However, Jennifer, who is now a mum of six, said that she and her husband felt “judged and punished” for deciding not to abort their baby.

“The very first thing that was said to us by the obstetrician was: ‘A lot of people would go to England'. And then there was a pause,” Jennifer told the Herald.

“Abortion would have been so far off from what we were thinking so we were so shocked.”

Jennifer was 42. The couple decided to have an amniocentesis or amniotic fluid test to check for chromosomal abnormalities.

“I had loads of miscarriages since the last baby – we had five children and the youngest was six,” Jennifer said.

“Abortion was never ever what we were thinking of, not even for the single flicker of a second.”

Jennifer from Naas, Kildare, said that once the diagnosis was outlined to her, she began to grieve for her unborn child.

“I said to John, ‘I hope that the baby dies soon' so that I could start the grief process.

“But about a day later I started to hope that the baby would get to 24 weeks, so she could get a birth cert. During this time we were handed a card for a bereavement

councillor and quite quickly after that I said ‘I want this baby to live, no matter what.'

“If we had made an appointment for England there and then, we wouldn't have had the chance to come to the third point in the thought process – that we would do anything to save our baby.”

The amniocentesis identified that there was no chromosome abnormality.

“It was only then that we got to see a cardiologist,” Jennifer said.

The Kehoes do not wish to name the hospital where the advice was given. But Jennifer wanted to tell her story to inform parents of their options when they are given information about terminations.

“Whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, it is about the pressure that doctors put on you to make a decision,” she said. “The choice isn't being given.

“Doctors are pressuring people to go to England if there is a foetal abnormality and then punishing them if they don't make that decision.

“I think it was a eugenic attitude, that people who are disabled are a drain on resources.

“When the cardiologist saw us, he was the first one to call her a baby and said, ‘I give this baby a very good prognosis'. I found that much harder to get over, that she wasn't treated like a baby.

“I always remember the very last thing that was said to us by the obstetrician on the last day, ‘50pc mortality by age five, John.'“

Dandy Walker Syndrome affects one in 2,500 babies born and can severely impact brain development, speech and movement. Symptoms include slow motor development and progressive enlargement of the skull.

But Louise has none of these problems. She faced serious heart operations, but pulled through each one stronger than ever.

“If some of the babies have a strange chromosome deletion, there is no way of knowing how the baby will turn out.

“Louise is completely normal, she has this heart condition and she will be monitored all her life.

“We would never have known that Louise was about to defy all predictions, that she was about to defy her genes and that she would grow into a delightful little girl who has reached all her milestones with time to share,” she added.

The mum-of-six acknowledges that she is firmly pro-life and doesn't agree with abortion “in any circumstance”.

“To take an innocent human life is always wrong,” she said.

fighting

“We didn't know at the end of the day what the brain was going to be or if she was going to be seriously disabled.

“But when I see Louise now, the amount of people whose lives she had touched: everyone loved her before she was born.”

And she believes that Louise was the making of their family. “The eldest is 17 in June but for all of the children to see Louise fighting to live, to see how people have taken her on, I see a difference in them.”

Strong Support For Moanveanlagh Bog Turf Cutters In Listowel

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:22:00 +0000

A successful and well attended solidarity gathering took place outside Listowel District Court earlier today in support of two men appearing in court. They will appear in court again on 23 July. After the court hearing there was a march through the streets of Listowel to the constituency office of Jimmy Deenihan (Fine Gael). A second march then took place and afterwards people met for a well earned cup of tea and something to eat.

Many travelled long distances to support John O’Connor and Chris McCarthy. Various bog action groups were represented including the Ardraigue, Barroughter, & Clonmoylan Bogs Action Group. Later this month (28th May) four men from Galway will appear in court in Galway. A solidarity gathering will take place and a large crowd is expected in the "City of the Tribes" in support of the four men. Between now and then, do spread the word among your friends and assist in every possible way.

Some photographs from Listowel

(River Feale)

Solidarity Gathering For Kerry Turf-Cutters In Listowel

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Tue, 07 May 2013 15:20:00 +0000

Two men are to appear in court in Listowel on Thursday (9th May) at 10.30am. A solidarity gathering for the men is taking place at the Courthouse. Do make every effort to support the men.

Rural Irish People Won’t Be Bullied!

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sun, 05 May 2013 23:00:00 +0000

Some further good news from Carrownagappul Bog

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984

“This is the way it's going to be in every bog this summer. This is Carrownaguppal Bog. Fergal O'Coigligh, Assistant Secretary General at Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht in charge of NPWS pronounced at the Peatlands Forum that this bog showed a spirit of good community relations between the turf cutters and NPWS. What a lie to tell. You now have your answer Fergal & we hope Commissioner Janez Potocnik noticed your ineptitude this week when he was in Dublin. It was good that the turf was cut in your "Model Bog" while he was here. Don't break the news to Deenihan just yet, he is still sleeping on the job. The 2013 crop is just great black turf.”

“THE VIEW FROM THE HIGH BANK in CARROWNAGUPPAL BOG. Some of the beautiful turf cut recently in the "NPWS Model Bog". NPWS tried to trick the private property bog owners into relocating to an inferior bog. NPWS Director Conor O'Raghallaigh held this bog up as a model at the Peatlands Forum and expected all the rest of us to be fools and not know what NPWS are about. More turf will be cut in this bog and in every other bog this year and the silly boy Conor will not stop us.”

“More news from Carrownaguppal Bog (Mountbellew). This bog formed the basis for the Mountbellew Accord. Conor O'Raghallaigh, the Director of NPWS came to this bog and in a blaze of publicity said that there would be no more turf cut on this bog and that this bog was the template for all other so called SAC's. As is your form Conor you told a lie. Below is shown the 2013 crop of beautiful black turf cut recently in Carrownaguppal Bog. Well done to all concerned. Conor will not walk on rural Irish people.”

Aged 13 ‘C’ was brought by State for abortion without knowledge or consent.

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Sat, 04 May 2013 18:26:00 +0000

http://www.independent.ie/irish-news/c-case-woman-seeking-legal-advice-over-treatment-29239316.html

GEMMA O'DOHERTY – 03 MAY 2013

THE woman at the centre of the 'C Case' has revealed she is seeking legal advice about her treatment while she was in the care of the State.

In 1997, when she was 13, Miss C was taken to Britain by a health board social worker for an abortion after being brutally raped.

This was permitted by the High Court following testimony from a psychiatrist for the State that she was suicidal.

Her parents were opposed to the abortion but failed in their legal bid to have it stopped.

The 29-year-old Dublin mother-of-two, who deeply regrets the abortion, is seeking answers from the State as to why it left her so badly scarred. She also wants to know why she was put into care for five years after the abortion and given powerful sedation against her will.

In an exclusive interview with the Irish Independent tomorrow she says: "I didn't want to become a mother at 13, but that baby didn't deserve to die."

"I grieve for my lost baby every day": Full interview in tomorrow's 'Weekend Review'

Irish Independent

GREAT NEWS for the turf cutters, the bog owners and the people of Ireland

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:34:00 +0000

Some news from the turf-cutters.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Barroughter-Clonmoylan-Bogs-Action-Group/195445003875984

“GREAT NEWS for the turf cutters, the bog owners and the people of Ireland. Once again the West is Awake. Carrownaguppal Bog near Mountbellew, Co. Galway was held up high by the NPWS, Jimmy Deenihan, Ciaran Cannon and the Kenny Government as their model bog for relocation and how to brow beat bog owners from their private property bogs. In the week when EU Commissioner Janez Potočnik was in Ireland the good people of Mountbellew and surrounding areas went back from their so called relocation bog and CUT TURF ON THEIR OWN PRIVATE PROPERTY BOG. Well done to all concerned. We hope that the Commissioner spotted the ineptitude of the NPWS and Deenihan - neither of whom want a settlement. More details later.”

Revenue and the Property Tax

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Fri, 03 May 2013 20:15:00 +0000

A notice from Attack The Tax

Your hardcopy LPT1 form needs to be returned no later than Tuesday, however Revenue indicated today on the Pat Kenny radio show, that if returned with Tuesday 7th post mark it would be accepted.

Please visit http://www.attackthetax.com/faqs.html for the return procedure.

See also http://www.attackthetax.com/events.html for upcoming meetings.

Letterkenny Details
Date: Sat. 4th May
Time: 10:30am to 12:30pm
Venue: Station House Hotel,
Glenfinn Suite, Lower Main St,
Letterkenny, Co. Donegal

Donegal Details
Date: Sat. 4th May
Time: 2pm Sharp - 4pm
Venue: St. John Bosco Centre
Station Road, Donegal Town

Wicklow Details
Date: Wed. 8th May
Time: 7pm Sharp to 9pm
Venue: The Grand Hotel,
Abbey St, Wicklow Town,
Co. Wicklow

Drogheda Details
Date: Sat. 11th May
Time: 11am Sharp to 1pm
Venue: Boyne Valley Hotel
Dublin Road, Drogheda

Dundalk Details
Date: Sat. 11th May
Time: 3pm Sharp to 5pm
Venue: Fairways Hotel,
Dublin Road, Dundalk
Co. Louth

Shercock Details
Date: Sat. 18th May
Time: 11am Sharp to 1pm
Venue: St Patricks Hall (School Hall)
Kingscourt Road, Shercock
Co. Cavan

Virginia Details
Date: Sat. 18th May
Time: 3pm Sharp - 5pm
Venue: Riverfront Hotel
Main Street, Virginia,
Co. Cavan

Kerry Details
Dates: 24th & 25th May
Times: To Be Confirmed
Venues: To Be Confirmed

Please check back as this page will regularly be updated.

If you'd like to help organise an event in your area,
please contact us and we will be happy to deliver a talk.

''A picture paints a thousand words''

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Thu, 02 May 2013 12:31:00 +0000

Yesterday, at very short notice, hundreds of people took to the streets of Dublin in opposition to abortion. The proposed abortion legislation is an attack on God and on our community. The pictures shows the truth and reality of abortion. It is murder. The abortion of the innocent, contrary to the moral law will be resisted.

Stick Your Property Tax!

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:34:00 +0000

What To Do Next

With Revenues LPT1 Form and Letter

Instructions are Laid Out Below ... Step by Step

http://www.icontact-archive.com/6FnIU6Xpr7AsrExo_nHTm1TFu3cIyoBF?w=3

Every Child Matters, Except To Fine Gael?

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:23:00 +0000

Hundreds Of People Gather For Pro-Life Protest At Leinster House

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Wed, 01 May 2013 19:33:00 +0000

Hundreds of people gathered in Dublin earlier today in opposition to the plan to directly and intentionally kill the unborn child by abortion. This so called government of Fine Gael and Labour are ignoring the Irish people, who are opposed to abortion.

Bring Flowers Of The Rarest

noreply@blogger.com (Thought and Action) — Wed, 01 May 2013 18:56:00 +0000

http://youtu.be/kFCg2zEToVU