CLOSE EVIL BBC DOWN NOW !

BBC Director Quits in Furore Over Coverage of Sexual Abuse

November 10, 2012

LONDON  After weeks of turmoil at the BBC’s coverage of a spreading pedophile scandal within its ranks, the broadcaster’s director general, George Entwistle, resigned on Saturday, to a wave of condemnation by critics including a longtime BBC television anchor, who portrayed him, as having lost control of “a rudderless ship heading towards the rocks.”

CLOSE EVIL BBC DOWN 

NOW!

The BBC is at the heart of Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) and what is called British Culture. It has promoted licking arse upwards and bullying those below you, ask anyone Irish in British Occupied Ireland. Anyone telling the truth is rebutted by a culture of rampant denial, not interested in the truth only power and money. This evil culture is being exposed for what it has been doing to millions of vulnerable people, especially little people like children. 

As a result of the BBC culture of lies and deceit especially with regard to people in power, the real criminals have not yet being held accountable, while people with political conscience like Marian Price are being interned for years, for confronting their evil tyrants. People are starting to stand up and tell all about their experiences of abuse by those in power. The BBC culture and as result, the British one that is exported, with their world wide service, denying those who tried to speak the truth, with rampant censorship. BBC America, BBC world service, the BBC itself should be shut down and taxpayer monies should not be used, to groom children worldwide for rape.

Paedophile Information Exchange (PIE) was formed in 1974 within the ranks of the BBC and supposedly closed 1984 but many claim it still exists. Its headquarters was in London with one of its biggest paedophile rings in the BBC. PIE's founder member was Michael Hanson but when its headquarters was located to London in 1975, Keith Hose became its Chairperson. Certain sections of PIE favoured the abolition of the age of consent with a march in support of their demand.

 The PIE Chairperson's Annual Report for 1975-6, stated that they seek out as much publicity for the organization as possible.... If we got bad publicity we would not run into a corner but stand and fight. We felt that the only way to get more paedophiles joining PIE... was to seek out and try to get all kinds of publications to print our organization's name and address and to make paedophilia a real public issue.'

PIE submitted a 17-page document to the Home Office Criminal Law Revision Committee on the age of consent, in which it proposed that there should be no age of consent, and that criminal law should concern itself only with sexual activities to which consent is not given, or which continue after prohibition by a court. PIE campaigned for acceptance and understanding of paedophilia, creating controversial documents. Its formal aims, included giving advice and counsel to paedophiles and providing a communication network for paedophiles.

It held regular meetings in London, with a 'Contact Page', with advertisements, giving membership numbers, general location and brief details of their sexual interests. PIE with a box number system replied in a manner where correspondents were unidentifiable, until they gave their details. The contact page enabled paedophiles to contact one another. The Contact Page eventually resulted in prosecution for a 'conspiracy to corrupt public morals'.

PIE produced regular magazines, distributed to members and in 1976 one titled "Understanding Paedophilia," which was sold in radical bookshops and distributed free to PIE members. They attempted to make the magazine a serious journal with the aim of establishing respectability for paedophilia. Eventually, "Understanding Paedophilia," was replaced by the magazine Magpie, which contained news, book and film reviews, articles, non-nude photographs of children, humour about paedophilia, letters and contributions by members.

In 1978 PIE became affiliated with the National Council for Civil Liberties, with members attending meetings. They campaigned against media treatment of Paedophile activist groups. With the NCCL, PIE campaigned to reduce the age of consent and opposed banning child pornography. In 1976 the National Council for Civil Liberties asserted that “childhood sexual experiences, willingly engaged in, with an adult result in no identifiable damage” and that a "Protection of Children Bill" would lead to “damaging and absurd prosecutions”. 

Whilst PIE was affiliated to the National Council for Civil Liberties it argued that incest be decriminalised and that sexually explicit photographs of children be made legal with Harriet Harman arguing that it would “increase censorship”. In 1978, the homes of several PIE committee members were raided, as part of a full-scale inquiry into PIE's activities, with a report submitted to the Director of Public Prosecutions and the prosecution of PIE activists followed. 

Five activists were charged with printing contact advertisements in Magpie which were calculated to promote indecent acts between adults and children. These charges related to letters that the accused exchanged detailing various sexual fantasies. After the trial, it emerged that there had been a cover-up with a certain Mr "Henderson" who had being prime communicator with all working for MI6 and who was a high commissioner in Canada.

It was announced that the group was closing down in the PIE Bulletin as of July 1984. In 1978-9, the Paedophile Information Exchange had surveyed its members and found they were most attracted to girls aged 8–11 and boys aged 11–15. Despite the fact that PIE disbanded in 1984, the name still seems to have some power and crops up from time to time in discussions, even in parliament.In the discussions of the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Bill in 2000, Sir Paul Beresford had this to say, for example,

“ Lightheartedly, I should like to ask the Minister to put himself in the shoes of a well-known paedophile--perhaps we could call him Gary, and imagine a little more hair and some high-heeled shoes to add some character. As a paedophile, Gary believes that it is acceptable to have sex with children. He thinks that the bulk of society is completely out of step. He belongs to a group called the paedophile information exchange, and he and his disgusting friends use the internet to exchange data, ideas, names, photographs and even films related to their paedophile activities. That is all stored electronically, and protected by a sophisticated encryption system. ”

A senior Labour politician, speaks today of organised child abuse "in the highest places" which involves the murder of children  with his personal safety at risk.MP Tom Watson has already said in the House of Commons that a powerful paedophile network operates in Britain, protected by Parliament and Downing Street. In the 10 days since he raised the issue he has been contacted by over than 50 people who speak of wrongdoing, "so heinous it made me cry" along with, "mysterious early deaths, disappeared children, suspicious fires, intimidation and threats" of "psychopaths branding children with Stanley knives to show 'ownership,' of parties with children 'passed around,' of golf-course car parks used for child abuse after an 18-hole match.

"They have named powerful people, some of them household names." The senior MP speaks of cover-up of abuse by powerful politicians. He also says he is not going to drop the issue despite warnings his personal safety is on the line and has a detailed log of  all allegations "should anything happen".

In Ireland, where children were taken at gunpoint to Britain to be raped, with the Catholic Church engaged in similar activities involving thousands of children, similar to the BBC  albeit on a smaller scale, there was a children's referendum poll yesterday. However like the last referendum related to children, the turnout was the lowest of all referendum, indicating the protection of children, is a long way down the list of people's priorities. This may be as a result of BBC grooming, Irish people with their "Hearts and Minds" broadcasts. The BBC have unfettered access to Irish hearts and minds including children, while Ireland's national broadcaster is restricted in British Occupied Ireland. It is time to close the BBC down once and for all and allow the truth uncensored in Irish media instead.

British End Irish Peace Process

 international | anti-war | opinion/analysis  Saturday November 10, 2012 00:11 by BrianClarkeNUJ - AllVoices 

Hypocrisy and Arms Deals – Quick Death, Fast Profits

Britain has a shameful track record of exporting arms, along with crowd control equipment, to torture regimes in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. These arms, equipment, counter insurgency techniques, are to be tested again in the laboratory of British Occupied Ireland, something that came to halt during the peace process. Britain cannot claim to be on the side of peace and democracy while their Tory PM, sponsored in the last election by Britain's industrial war complex, acts as a travelling salesman for the arms industry. Sponsored too it appears, are certain elements of Britain's secret services who are responsible for ending the peace process in Ireland.

British Death Dealing Markets

Britain has a shameful track record of exporting arms, along with crowd control equipment, to torture regimes in countries such as Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. These arms, equipment, counter insurgency techniques, are to be tested again in the laboratory of British Occupied Ireland, something that came to halt during the peace process. Britain cannot claim to be on the side of peace and democracy while their Tory PM, sponsored in the last election by Britain's industrial war complex, acts as a travelling salesman for the arms industry. Sponsored too it appears, are certain elements of Britain's secret services who are responsible for ending the peace process in Ireland.

The troubled in Ireland and the use of British equipment and counter insurgency techniques, serves as a window to Britain's neo-colonies of their commonwealth, to involve themselves in the lucrative rackets and political corruption of armament sales, to their political stooges of neo-colonial commonwealth. With the shift in the political decision making process in Britain, now heavily weighted in the upper echelons of their secret service palace on the Thames, Cameron is merely a salesman for their war racket while political internees of secret courts and evidence, such as Marian Price, Peter Corey and Gerry McGeough simply pawns of provocation, to conclude the Peace Process in Ireland. While British Labour appeared to take the process seriously, the Tory leader in waiting, London Lord Mayor Boris Jonson probably expressed Tory sentiment best with his description of Sinn Fein activity as " Left wing crap."

There is no evidence since the Tories came to power, of any power sharing dividend of the peace process for Irish nationalists. Indeed Provisional Sinn Fein in the person of Adams and McGuinness, have been made to look increasing like boys whistling in the dark, by the sequence of Tory Vice royals, who in reality are ruling the orange statelet, with a distinctly arrogant bigoted London tone, rather than the usual provincial, orange, sectarian dictat. The Boston College debacle, the arrest in Belfast of former republican peacemakers, along with the return of internment are distinct breaches of the terms and spirit of the peace process.The Irish republican reaction of killing British operatives, is confirmation that the sponsored Tories and secret services, have achieved their target, of ending the process.

Recently the Guardian revealed that Britain lent Indonesia £630m to buy British arms for General Suharto when he was slaughtering protesterss. The weapons, included armoured cars, jet aircraft used against civilians in East Timor. £50m was lent to the Argentinian junta to buy British arms prior to the Falkland war. The British lent £12m taxpayers monies for Land Rovers to President Robert Mugabe. Amnesty International said vehicles were used to smash peaceful demonstrations. £100m in loans were provided to Egypt under Hosni Mubarak to buy British weapons. Unpaid loans were provided to Saddam Hussein in a war against Iran.

Tim Jones, policy officer at JDC told the Guardian; "For years the UK government has claimed it is not possible to find out where debts come from. The figures released show this was a lie. They reveal a history of horrendous loans to dictators such as General Mubarak, General Suharto and Saddam Hussein for military equipment. People in these countries should not have to pay these unjust debts."

A recent article by Colin Todhunter explains it further.

"British PM Cameron is often quite keen to stand in front of the TV cameras and lecture the public on the values of peace and democracy in an unstable world. With his public school accent and an air of authority and respectability afforded by the trappings of state, Cameron words may carry a good deal of weight to the casual observer. But what better way to evaluate his commitment to such high-minded principles by highlighting his actions.

Let’s cast our eyes towards the Arab world. Under Cameron, Britain is not only involved in stoking conflict in Syria right now, but also helped destroy Libya by supporting and taking part in an illegal NATO bombing campaign. Moreover, Britain not only exported weapons and crowd control equipment to Gaddafi months before attacking him, but also to dictator Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and to the regime in Bahrain, a clique which last year carried out the fiercest of crackdowns on protesters.

And this week, David Cameron is accompanying representatives of British weapons manufacturers to Saudi Arabia and the UAE in an attempt to win further lucrative defence contracts for UK firms.

Referring to this trip, Britain’s Green Party MP Caroline Lucas says that while the economy needs a boost, Cameron should draw the line at “dirty money”. Lucas went on to say that Britain has a shameful track record of exporting arms and equipment to regimes in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Libya and said Britain can’t claim to be on the side of peace and democracy while the PM acts as a travelling salesman for the arms industry.

Henry McLaughlin, from the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), added that despite everything that has happened in the last two years in the Arab world, the British government continues to bolster authoritarian regimes with weapons’ sales and to spend taxpayers’ money on promoting further deals.

The beneficiaries of the UK arms trade

While spokespersons from the British government are fond of telling the media that tens of thousands of British jobs depend on the defence industry and that huge arms deals are ‘good for the country’, it is well worth considering that defence companies are privately owned and that each worker employed in the UK by BAE Systems, the country’s largest defence contractor, is subsidised to the tune of around 13,000 pounds a head. It begs the question, media sound bites aside, who really benefits from the arms industry?

The arms sector’s contribution to the British economy is minimal, but the industry constitutes a very powerful and effective lobby and the links and revolving door between government and self-serving arms manufacturers have been noted (1). Little wonder then that in 2006, using a report from BASIC, the Oxford Research Group and Saferworld, and updated government figures, it was calculated that the arms trade received about 852 million pounds a year in subsidies. Much of this money goes to BAE, a company with a track record of bribery, espionage and arms deals with oppressive regimes, among other dodgy deeds.

Kaye Stearman from CAAT says that while BAE loves to talk about the supposed benefits it brings to the UK economy, the greatest benefits go to the arms company’s bosses. Top man at BAE Ian King pockets around a million pounds a year base salary, according to the 2010 BAE annual report and already has a pension pot of 11 million pounds. That’s not even taking into account his various share options.

David Cameron does a good job for the likes of King. In 2011, he was in Egypt mouthing platitudes about democracy and human rights as the Mubarak regime fell. Then he moved on with his arms dealers in tow to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia- those bastions of democracy and human rights, who were invited by the Cameron government to attend a London arms fair. And on the day that Cameron was in Libya celebrating another hollow victory for imperialism, many of his arms dealing cronies in London were reaping the rewards of his militaristic policies and salesmanship at the said fair, the Defence and Security Equipment International Exhibition.

As the London fair was in full flow, Cameron was in Libya wallowing in the limelight on the political platform of ‘protecting’ Libyans from Gadhafi. What sheer hypocrisy. Tens of thousands now lie dead in Libya, countless others were maimed and much of the country’s physical and social infrastructure is in ruins as a result of British-French military rockets and bombs.

Some 1,000 arms manufacturers displayed their wares in London, and over 40 countries were represented. The Economist Intelligence Unit (part of the Economist Group) stated that 14 of those countries were authoritarian regimes. Five countries, according to the British government itself, were countries with “the most serious human rights concerns.”

Quick death, fast profits

But who cares when there is a fast buck to be made? Certainly not the British government, which partly funded the event through its arms promotions organisation. Despite apparent concerns over repression and human rights abuses and despite soothing official statements about the stringent conditions for issuing sales licences for arms, Cameron has few qualms about selling to Algeria, Israel, Bahrain, Libya, Iraq, Saudi, Pakistan and the UAE, some of which constitute his government’s ‘arms export priority markets’.

While Cameron and British Foreign Secretary William Hague stand in front of TV cameras and make warm sounding speeches about humanitarianism and the precious nature of human life, they and their arms dealing buddies are all to willing to play fast and loose with the lives of millions of people through their militarism, the ratcheting up of regional tensions and the sanctioning of arms deals.

If the arms industry ever went into a mild panic when the Cold War finished, there was never any need. Despite the economic downturn and major defence cutbacks in the US and Europe, markets such as West Asia, Africa and India, the world’s largest arms importer, are on hand to keep the pot boiling. With politicians stuffed in back pocket and tensions being stoked in various locations across the globe, regional arms races seem likely to keep the arms trade in profit for a long time to come.

As far as India is concerned, according to the Stockholm Peace Research Institute, India is the world’s largest importer of arms and its imports have grown by around 240 per cent since 2000. In 2009/2010,New Delhi’s defence spending increased by 34 per cent in one year alone. Notwithstanding India’s concerns over China and its ongoing tensions with Pakistan, the Indian state is currently using 50,000 security personnel in an attempt to quell its Naxalite/tribal insurgency.

The insurgents are operating in some of the world’s most impoverished and politically disenfranchised geographic regions. It doesn’t take a cynic to ponder if such a situation merely represents a profitable opportunity for arms companies abroad to flog their wares to the Indian state in order for it to carry out repression on its poorest people who are resisting state-corporate land grabs.

In the meantime and back in Britain, people are continually fed the lie that eye-catching arms deals are good for “the country.” In this time of biting austerity, it’s the quality of life for us, the people, that really counts, not headline-hogging arms deals that ultimately fuel conflict to the detriment of the many and for the benefit of the few."

Related Link: http://irishblog-brianclarkenuj.blogspot.com/

A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall w/Lyrics

BHOY WONDERS CELTIC

What a way to celebrate the 125th birthday of Rod Stewart! 




Paul Doyle guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 November 2012 11.24 EST It happened. It really happened. 

Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

 BHOY WONDERS What a setting, what a scoreline, and what a way to celebrate the 125th birthday of Rod Stewart! More than a club? The Queen's Celtic are that, thanks partially to triumphs such as the one masterminded by Neil Lennon last night and executed by a band of players who will probably never grace the cover of a market-leading console game but showed Barcelona that if you can't do the basics then you've no business calling yourself the best team in history. The Catalan Art Project conceded one goal from a corner, another from a mighty punt upfield, could have had two players sent off for fundamental incompetence and failed to find any flaw in Lennon's ploy of allowing them to have the ball in wide areas as often as they liked. Therefore Tito Vilanova's glitterati deservedly lost to a side glued together for a cumulative cost of £3.50 and a crate of Tizer. It was a Queen's Celtic display that prompted an intoxicating mass outpouring of emotion from their fans, an intoxicating mass intake of lager by their fans and numerous intriguing questions, such as: aren't Celtic's scouts canny? Why did Newcastle let Fraser Forster go? How long before Barcelona try to sucker them into swapping Alex Song for Victor Wanyama? Did Kenny Dalglish think he was signing Georgios Samaras when he forked out £35m for Andy Carroll? And are you watching, the Pope's O'Rangers? "Good defensive tactics, an amazing performance by Fraser Forster in goal, a partisan crowd and a pinch of good luck," summed up Angel LD Maza in Marca after a match that proved that even 99.9% possession is only nine-tenths of the law. "With these ingredients, [the Queen's] Celtic cooked up a night on which Barcelona were unable to offer their best," continued the scribe before praising the atmosphere conjured by the locals. "There is perhaps no greater home pitch advantage in all of football than a match at Parkhead." "It was an enthralling fight between two different schools of football, similar to what has happened in the last few Clasicos ," added AS's Alfredo Matilla, continuing: "Neither team's style of football is necessarily more dignified than the other's: one is direct, the other more elaborate, but both can lead you to victory." Vilanova and his players were similarly fair-minded in defeat, diluting their disappointment with tributes to the Queen's Celtic's valour and their fans' fervour.

Selfish Ignorant Irish

 international | elections | news report  Wednesday November 07, 2012 14:28 by BrianClarkeNUJ - AllVoices 

Bailout Babies of Irish Labour

Oscar Wilde, the Irish writer expressed this selfish Irish trait with his usual beautiful choice of words in the following way, “There are many things that we would throw away, if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”

Bailout Babies

Oscar Wilde, the Irish writer expressed this selfish Irish trait with his usual beautiful choice of words in the following way, “There are many things that we would throw away, if we were not afraid that others might pick them up.”

Sometimes, it feels like a waste of time to discuss socialism or even spiritual abundance in Ireland. As James Carlin said, "If you have selfish, ignorant citizens, you're going to get selfish, ignorant leaders." The likes of Eamon Gilmore and the criminal Reilly coming close on the heels of a Fianna Fail Government, are the proof of it. As for the Labour, what is the point of an Irish Labour Party, they are a sick joke. With the Irish politician O'bama just elected in the States and rambling on about HOPE in his victory speech, it reminds me of Carlin's statement 'The Public Sucks. F*ck Hope.'

The particularly selfish characteristics of contemporary Irish people with a particularly, serious tendency to hold and hoard things to themselves, makes for a culture where it is difficult for many Irish people of today, to part with the simplest things, like even their time, never mind money. They hoard it all for themselves and will not share it with anyone, even if they themselves just waste it..

They hardly ever sacrifice anything and even if they do they would expect a lot back. Insecurity may be the main reason behind this characteristic that contemporary selfish Irish people display. They feel it their right to receive but never to return anything. Selfish Irish people f today, behave like this because they have forgotten how to balance giving with taking.

· Low self esteem is another characteristic displayed by selfish Irish people that gives them a negative outlook towards life and making them contemptuous of other people in general.

This negative trait makes the Irish bad team players as they always try to pull down others with their remarks, actions or suggestions. What chance socialism in such an environment.

They find it hard to motivate and inspire people because they themselves lack motivation and the drive to look ahead in life.

· A selfish Irish person is highly self centered and self obsessed.

This particularly modern trait makes them see or hear no one else. They make bad listeners and give little or no consideration to what others people have to say. They are very inconsiderate and have little or no room for compassion and have become heartless. They would cut off conversations and bring the focus on themselves.

It becomes their earnest desire to be seen and heard more than anyone else making them oblivious to the opinions, suggestions and advice of others. All their conversations relate back to themselves, particularly Irish women. I mean I love women but Irish women have gone to hell in this respect and are now often, just very selfish and self-centred particularly in bed. Looking at the traits and characteristics that selfish Irish people possess, one thing becomes clear, that selfish Irish people do not need our contempt. We certainly have to keep ourselves shielded from their often negative traits without having to run away from them.

Of course we are all selfish to some extent, but when this trait is shortsighted and heartless, when we cant see any farther than our nose with it, we become really stupid. Selfish Irish people used to be ridiculed and downcast by society in general but today it has become fashionable and cool.To understand such people and help them out of their selfishness and greed attitude by accepting them as they are with tolerance, is not easy. Of course its easy to to fall into their cagey attitude being around them but by not ignoring them and remaining unfazed and unaffected by their damaging, detrimental and calculating behavior we might help a selfish person understand the value of intelligent selfishness.

James Allen the philosopher, who wasn't Irish wrote, “The selfishness must be discovered and understood before it can be removed. It is powerless to remove itself, neither will it pass away of itself. Darkness ceases only when light is introduced; So ignorance can only be dispersed by Knowledge; Selfishness by Love.” really from my own experience it can only be managed in a more intelligent way, where it works not just for myself but the community I belong to.

Related Link: http://irishblog-irelandblog.blogspot.com/

George Carlin Doesn't vote

THE IRISH GATHERING 2013 GABRIEL BYRNE NIHILISM DEBATE

Gabriel Byrne slams The Gathering

Tue 03 Mar 2010Gabriel Byrne appointed cultural envoy

Gabriel Byrne has been appointed as Cultural Ambassador for Ireland, Taoiseach Brian Cowen announced in Washington this evening.

The Dublin-born actor will work closely with the Government and artistic bodies to develop "an artistic vision" that is inclusive of the Irish diaspora throughout the world.

Gabriel Byrne slams The Gathering

Gabriel Byrne says the bridge between Ireland and its diaspora is broken

Related

Gathering 2013 launched in US | 27/09/2012

Gabriel Byrne appointed cultural envoy | 16/03/2010

Gabriel Byrne named Ireland's first cultural ambassador | 17/03/2010

External

The Gathering

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or availability of other websites

The Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has dismissed the Gathering 2013 initiative as "a scam."

Byrne, who previously served as the cultural ambassador for Ireland in the US, said many who left Ireland for the US feel abandoned by the Government - and that the bridge between Ireland and its diaspora is broken.

He also said Irish-Americans are not receptive to being "shaken down" for money.

The Gathering is a tourism initiative to entice people with Irish connections to visit the country during 2013. 

Speaking on The Last Word on Today FM today, which was broadcast from New York, Byrne said the Taoiseach’s speech launching The Gathering was "slightly offensive."

"People are sick to death of being asked to help out in what they regard as a scam," he said

"I wish The Gathering the very best of luck but they have to understand that the bridge between the diaspora and the people is broken and I tried to fix that for two years and it’s still broken.... Most people don’t give a shit about the diaspora [in Ireland] except to shake them down for a few quid."

"The diaspora has a very powerful spiritual connection to the island of Ireland. I remember when I was growing up in Dublin those buses would pull up and those people in Burberry coats would be laughed at because they’d say 'here come the Yanks looking for their roots.' Well, as far as I’m concerned one of the most sacred things you can do is look for your roots."

"The other day I was talking to a group of people. One of them was an illegal immigrant. His father died, he couldn’t get home. He feels abandoned by the Irish Government. He feels an alien. He can’t go back. Then I talked to two kids, a girl and a boy who were forced to emigrate because there are no jobs. And they blame the incompetence and the gangsterism of the Government for being forced to emigrate.‘

Byrne stepped down as Ireland’s cultural ambassador at the end of last year.

THE GABRIEL BYRNE GATHERING 2013 IRISH TIMES DEBATE LINK

"It was a tremendous achievement what we did in two years. I was really disappointed the way all those contacts, all that hard work was just dropped and it really made me disillusioned and disappointed with this Government who go on about their love for culture for arts and actually really don’t give a toss about it."

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MediaBite

There are a lot of Irish people the government does not want to come home: Irish people who have not found work abroad can get no support from the state for two years if they come home.

6 Minutes AgoReplyShare

MártanÓConghaile

Byrne is completely correct. 'The Gathering' smacks of pathetic desperation on the part of a people that have a very ambivalent attitude to its massive diaspora. How many of you have made snide remarks concerning Irish Americans who came here in the past to reconnect with their roots? Very many, I would suspect. I would go further and suggest that Irish people have a profound disdain for Irish Americans. Why? I believe it is shame: that so many people (often from the poorer classes and frequently from the losing side of the Civil War) left this State that failed them and made to the US, Canada and Australia where they became successful and affluent. When these people (or their children) returned to Ireland, their obvious success could only have engendered massive jealousy and (unwarranted) resentment. Yes, we were perfectly happy to welcome them and their dollars but surely people quietly seethed. The political class that inherited the Irish Free State most have felt a profound sense of failure that the country was partitioned and very poor which necessitated going to big Irish American businessmen with the begging bowl to solicit funds and investment (American Irish Fund), often the sons of landless peasants. So the elite in this country made condescending disdain for the uncouth Irish American Yank (and often their Republican politics) a sort of culturally acceptable standard. Most of us have relatives abroad, if perhaps second cousins (or more distantly related), but do most of you have any meaningful contact? What would you say to entice them to visit Ireland? I wouldn't know where to start: our fabulous weather, the inexpensive accommodation? Personally, I would be embarrassed to have them over here, particularly with the rampant anti-Americanism.

14 Minutes AgoReplyShare

soundmigration

A decommissioned social commentator takes a wry look at #TheGathering https://t.co/Z5SDxEG9KevinBarrington likes this.

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

KevinBarrington

The only thing that you need to listen to on the subject of the gathering. 

It augments Mr Byrne's argument. 

But in a slighly more vehement manner. 

With touches of what the common man might deem poetry. 

If anything will bring anyone to Ireland, it's wit like this. 

Not the witless, dumbed down, sexist drivel that some idiot in Failte Ireland approved in a coked out fervour. 

"Can we get a Chinese angle in on this?" 

Sweet mother of divince act of fornication, how low have we stumbled? 

How abject have we become? 

Do you actually think anyone actually buys into the Enda drivel of being the 'best little country in the world' to come gather in. 

All we need is John Waters dancing with hordes of kids in protective custody at the pyschic crossroads. 

And then we have it. 

Modern Ireland as seen by those it has long left behind. 

We wept. Jesus wept. 

God help us. 

God graciously help us.

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

SimonMaher

I worked at the Notre Dame American football pep rally, in the O2, and was completely embarrassed at the cynical nature of it. Thousands of fans, who had traveled across the world, attended the rally expecting to experience the world renowned Irish hospitality. Instead they were robbed. Food and drink prices were extortionate and the event it self was pathetic. The sound didn't work for the first minute of a pre-recorded address from Martin Sheen, which rendered the rest of it pointless. Enda Kenny made an appalling speech nearly begging the attendees for their charity and the acts were very average. The look on people's faces when it was over said that they knew they had been conned. I found it hard to look any of them in the eye. Danganbeg likes this.

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

soundmigration

heres a wee video I made looking at the gathering "A decommissioned social commentator takes a wry look at #TheGathering" https://t.co/Z5SDxEG9

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

fyicmurphy

I agree with Gabriel Byrne, I am an expat (versus a pat I suppose), I have lived in Canada for 25 years. I come back to see the parents every year. I do not blame the people here in Ireland for the cynicism and disgruntlement, they were lead astray by the elitist and the powers that be. The taxi driver in Dublin told me his tale of woe and I genuinely felt sorry for him, at the end of his tale of woe he said "we don't say Cead Mile Failte here anymore (to the tourists), we say "give me your money and F*** off"". I was not upset with him, I was mad that a small bunch of people destroyed Ireland and sold the people into slavery.

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

KenCurran

damn, there goes my plan for international tayto day (special shamrock edition cheese and onion only 100 quid a bag in NYC)Danganbeg likes this.

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

Declan J. Foley

"It was a tremendous achievement what we did in two years. I was really disappointed the way all those contacts, all that hard work was just dropped and it really made me disillusioned and disappointed with this Government who go on about their love for culture for arts and actually really don’t give a toss about it." 

Welcome to the club.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

normanwyse

Top level chugging for Ireland, I guess. If there's one thing worse than being robbed, it's being robbed at a professionally designed event engineered for just that purpose. But I guess we'd be stupid for not shaking that money tree...

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

MichaelHiggins

The cute hoor cynicisim of this 'event' only serves to remind me of one of the main reasons why I left in the first place.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

MichaelMurray

While agreeing with Gabriel Byrne, I want to suggest an answer to "Tom Tom's" question (praphrased for brevity): "what can any country do for those who have left?" GIVE THEM A VOTE IN THEIR OWN COUNTRY. That's what the vast majority of other countries do. Hence, for example, in cities all around the world tonight and tomorrow night US ex-pats will be getting together to witness the results of the voting and electioneering in which they have a constitutional right to participate. What makes us the exception? We know the answer to that, deep down. Peadar O'Donnell said it decades ago: emigration is the safety valve when the social and political pressure for change builds up. "That toinn do rhainnigh chugainn." Yeah. But don't expect reciprocation. Riocard Ó Tiarnaigh and John Tangney like this.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

Declan J. Foley

"...all around the world tonight and tomorrow night US ex-pats will be getting together to witness the results of the voting and electioneering in which they have a constitutional right to participate" because they have paid US taxes. Would you pay tax to the Irish government in exchange for the right to vote? 

Also these US citizens abroad are just that, US citizens, they do not have dual citizenship.Danganbeg likes this.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

John Tangney

Gabriel Byrne is right about the spiritual connection to Ireland that many expats and diasporic descendants feel. I'm more connected to Ireland than to any of the other places I've lived in the past 12 years, and as an Irish passport holder I should be able to pay tax and to vote there. I wouldn't be paying it to a particular government, but to the country, and it wouldn't be so much a commercial exchange, as it would be my obligation as a citizen. As things stand you cease to be a full citizen as soon as you go abroad.

1 Hour AgoShare

Danganbeg

Spot on Declan.

43 Minutes AgoShare

BrendanHegarty

We have had lots of gatherings and in fairness all have been remarkable successes. The GAlways races tent, paying people we didn't own money to with money we don't have, self-regulated legal cartels, Haughey, etc, etc. Now where's the bucket, pun not intended! If the cap fits, pun intended! 

As an emigrant I once organised a few to contribute to a local cause, only to find out my local solicitor had been derobed for stealing grant money. 

Let's see how it goes but emigrants don't have a lot of money either, many work in construction and this is always the worst sector in recessionary times everywhere. 

Jazus when you thionk of it, we drove people out of the country and now we want to tap them. The real gathering should be if the vested interests gave back what they took. When we needed to be bailed out, they bailed out themselves, literally!Riocard Ó Tiarnaigh and HughTreacy like this.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

EamonnMurdock

Dam! that IS funny AND true. 

Thanks be to God some people are beginning to see through the bs.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=8wt9CiM5KdAKevinBarrington likes this.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

KevinBarrington

Without a doubt the most inspired and pertinent response to this substitution of posing for policy.Riocard Ó Tiarnaigh likes this.

2 Hours AgoReplyShare

John Tangney

. 

2 Hours AgoShare

safabiltagi

This is so sad, i love my country (Ireland) after GOD, its the people that make it, living in ireland during the 70's and 80's was the ultimate time of greed with the Garret Fitzgerald and Charles Ha-ha-ee, and now in 2013 someone is standing up and saying something, thirty years later,omg, i want to give Gabriel Byrne a hug and say well done, i too live in america and know exactly where Gabriel Byrne is coming from, unless you walked in his shoes, no one will understand as expatriates how we feel about Ireland, its like looking in a window, but we are on the other side.Riocard Ó Tiarnaigh likes this.

3 Hours AgoReplyShare

KevinBarrington

The other side is called the modern world.  

And if it wasn't for the greedy, the abject and the patronising, responsible for insult like the gathering, we might all be able to live in the same place.

1 Hour AgoReplyShare

JamesO'Sullivan

This term 'diaspora' is being bandied about in in an emotive manner and each will have their own perspective on the real meaning. I know no Irish, who are living or working in other countries, who feel abandoned or are not content with their lot. Very few feel the urgent desire or need to return home except for visits. They have generally gone by choice in search of adventure, fortune, better weather or simply out of a need for change. I have met many because I have traveled outside Ireland for four of the last five years. The Gathering sounds like a desperate begging bowl but at least it is something. Why condemn the county for doing nothing, on the one hand, and then condemn when some effort is being made?  

Gabriel Byrne has made some sweeping statements and is very selective in his choice of examples. bassett_brendan likes this.

3 Hours AgoReplyShare

JohnO'Driscoll

When I was an emigrant fadó fadó was fond of going to Irish bars and alongside other emigrants both recent and much older would sing Ireland's praises to the rafters amongst much mawkish come-all-yizes and beer. Would never hear a bad word said against the place and anyone else was the same. Ireland had a magic then; it was a place we could believe in with some justification that was set apart from other places, that had an history of such suffering and grandeur and a people so storied in art and history and achievement (overseas for the most part admittedly) and set such high standards for Herself with Her moral laws and Constitutions and would surely never do to others what was done unto Her for so long, nor help others do to others what was done unto Her etc.  

Why even Her National Anthem proclaimed that the air of Ireland was so free that no wo/man could breathe it and remain a slave. ''No-o-O MORE our ancient Si-i-reland sha-hall shell-turr the despot nor the slave.'' 

Round about March 2003 all of that started coming apart at the seams when we sold our national soul to the Devil down our Illegal-War-N-Torture-Ports. If you could nod and wink at that, doing that unto others which had been done so long to ourselves, then you could nod and wink at anything. 

And as we see all about us, we did.  

Reckon I'm not the only one feels this way. Yirrah sure we'll see.

3 Hours AgoReplyShare

irishineurope

This highlights some serious communication issues how the Irish Government, civil servants and some commercial interests need to respect ,relate better to and connect more with the different strands of the world wide Irish Diaspora from an position of mutual respect. Despite these negative comments, it is still best to encourage as many people of all nationalities to visit Ireland and support the many local communities on the ground who are making a genuine effort to welcome visitors and make their visit a most enjoyable one. Ultimately the more tourists that visit Ireland, it will help keep people in jobs and help pay their mortgages and reduce emigrationPostIreland likes this.

3 Hours AgoReplyShare