Morning After Arklow Referendum Debate

The information and debate session held in the Arklow Bay Hotel last night on the forthcoming referendum was very successful for me. It certainly consolidated my views.

The Referendum should NEVER have been initiated. It has the potential to do more damage than good unless a resounding YES vote.  A number of NO voters were unable to give any concrete solution or reason why we should vote NO.  In fact I got the impression that the NO voters who did not give their names or politcal alliance;  were Sin Fein members attempting to play party politics.

They raised the local Irish issue of the Anglo Bank debt and were attempting to tell us that we should vote NO in protest against the Anglo Irish Bank debt and the fact that we have lost our sovereignty.

Apart from the 800 account holders, I would be confident that 99% of voters would vote against the payment of this criminal debt.  But the Referendum is not about Anglo Bank or our sovereignty. Voting NO will give us neither! So please - will the NO voters tell me if we vote NO what is your solution for the future?

Unfortunately the referendum is all about party politics when it should be a debate about the solutions and road map on how we move forward for the future.
Sin Fein appear to be using the referendum to take away more Fianna Fail voters.
Fine Gael & Labour are attempting to use the referendum to justify their budgets and austerity measures.

You have to ask yourself - why are we having this referendum?

Euro Referendum Debate in Arklow!

I remain unclear why this referendum is taking place. It appears to me more about party politics than about the Irish people voting on the treaty. The political parties that sat in Leinster house over the last two decades have bankrupted the country.
We do note really have a choice but to vote YES unless we are intentionally attempting to make the situation worse. 

However...........
the referendum has been a great vehicle for the country to debate and discuss the whole mess we are in and specifically to focus on the financial circumstances that we find ourselves.  It is important time for people to discuss all the current issues in relation to our relationship with Europe!

Another interesting aspect for me is that Stephen Donnelly, newly independent representative from Wicklow in Leinster House, has organised a number of public debates in Wicklow on the referendum. All the established parties are telling us how to vote with their yes and no campaigns.  Stephen's efforts represent a different type of political thinking that engages with the community in a meaningful way!

I look forward to attend the meeting taking place in the Arklow Bay Hotel on Friday 10th May!

RTE /Fr Reynolds Versus Cardinal Brady/BBC !

What a strange week it has been. BBC start the week with more harrowing child abuse revelations and RTE are over the barrel on their journalistic standards, ironically concerning a priest, Fr Reynolds.

Now at the end of the week, I have a new profound respect for RTE and the way they are dealing with the issue. It is exactly one year since the "Prime Time" programme was aired on TV.  I did not see it myself but witnessed RTE deny wrong doing initially (like the organisation of the Catholic Church). But there ends the similarity.

Well before the official report published this week, RTE took responsiblity for its mistake resulting in a number of resignations, internal actions and changes. The actions look set to continue at RTE.  Fr Reynolds has got his justice within a year plus compensation.

.....and Brendan Boland, the young 14 year old in 1975?  He is still waiting for justice 37 years on!   .....and the Church is still in denial. No - ok I got that wrong.

The Church is putting canon law above the state law resulting in the continued abuse of children. The same Church organisation and ethos  that controls our education system, hospitals and "God knows" what else?!

Solution: Separate Church from State.