Blog Archive
James Connolly, founder of the Labour Party
Posted on October 05, 2010
I anticipated, but I am still amazed and annoyed that RTE and Joe Duffy could do a programme about James Connolly and not mention that he founded the Irish Labour Party. It was his life's work to set up such a party. He proposed the motion that led to he founding of the Labour Party at the ICTU congress in Clonmel in 1912. He was a member of the executive of the Labour Party when he was executed in 1916. The programme highlighted that he founded the IRSP and no mention of the Irish Labour Party! Update: My letter to the Irish Examiner Letters page on the programme was published on Friday and there was a piece where I was quoted in yesterday's Sunday Mail. To be fair Joe Duffy linked to my letter on his twitter account and also described James Connolly as James Connolly founder of the Labour Party.
Still against quotas
Posted on September 24, 2010
I had an article published yesterday in the Irish Daily Mail on the calls for gender quotas. In the piece published Susan O'Keefe, a journalist and Labour candidate for the next election argued for gender quotas and I, Labour TD, argued against. This is the article as submitted to the Daily Mail below prior to editing, the with-the-kitchen-sink-thrown-in version, on why I oppose gender quotas, which by the way are not Labour Policy, in respect of candidate selection for Dail elections:
Milliband of Brothers
Posted on September 18, 2010
That's the title of a programme I hope I get to see about the tensions the British Labour Leadership contest has apparently brought to the fore between David and Ed Milliband when it is shown on More4 this Thursday at 9pm. Good title with that hint of drama and it is a docudrama. There are 5 candidates for this election but by the looks of it the contest will come down to a fight between the two brothers. This makes it a drama and an epic contest which is how it has been portrayed. 'Milliband of Brothers' will air on the eve of the election.
Sparks at the Oireachtas
Posted on August 31, 2010
The Energy Regulator is attending the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Economic and Regulatory Affairs tomorrow and I will be attending on behalf of Labour.
The issues to be discussed include a planned increase in electricity prices and the record numbers of electricity and gas customers being disconnected due to their inability to pay their bills.
The meeting will be at 12.30 and the proceedings can be viewed live on line at the Oireachtas website www.oireachtas.ie There may be sparks flying.
The Report on PR STV and the continuing debate
Posted on July 29, 2010
The Joint Committee on the Constitution launched its report last week and one of its finding was:
"Based on its analysis and evaluation of the evidence presented to it, including its evaluation of the performance of alternative electoral systems, the Committee concludes that there is not a sufficiently compelling case for reforming the current electoral system at its most fundamental level".
I would have put it a lot stronger than that and in fact one of the committee members, Dr. Jimmy Devins T.D., does today in his letter to the Irish Times when he writes:
Tired and emotional
Posted on July 08, 2010
The media will have a field day about TDs and Senators jetting off on holidays from today but many of us will be working away in our constituencies and in Leinster House next week as usual and over the next couple of months, but without having to attend the Dail and Seanad chambers. There are Oireachtas Commitees next week and I will be attending a launch by one of the committees of a report about scrutiny of EU legislation by the Oireachtas post Lisbon.
Great Speeches and a great speech about the emigrants that left Ireland with cardboard suitcases
Posted on June 21, 2010
Was looking at the Oireachtas Website the other day and found a little gem on it, for those that like myself, like looking back through the historical debates.
http://www.oireachtas.ie/parliament/education/historicaldebatesandspeeches/
Remembrance at Derry
Posted on June 08, 2010
This picture shows me in a parade at the Diamond in Londonderry/Derry to commerate the role of Irish people, nationalist and unionist, that fought and died in the first world war in the battlefields of Europe. I attended the event on behalf of the Irish Labour Party. The picture shows Glen Barr O.B.E., Chief Executive of the International School of Peace Studies, and alongside him myself, Pat Ramsey M.L.A., John Green who is grandson of the late John Redmond and great nephew of Maj. Willie Redmond, and David Clarty M.L.A.
The Economist and the Free Third Level Fees debate
Posted on May 30, 2010
It's back, that debate, thanks to a paper by Dr. Kevin Denny of UCD. I have spent possibly hours taking part in an online discussion of his paper on the Irish Economy blog, in fact so much time, instead of writing a blog this week I am going to just link to the discussion and if you get the time to read the discussion, or add your own input, it has turned into an interesting one, and not just because I have contributed! The post is 'Kevin Denny: The Effect of Abolishing University Fees' and the link is here:
Goodbye New Labour
Posted on May 24, 2010
In the Observer newspaper yesterday Neil Kinnock is reported as throwing in his lot with Ed Milliband for Leader of Labour. He thinks he is "a modern democratic socialist" and distinguishes him from Tony Blair, who according to Kinnock was a method actor, whereas Ed is just Ed, he explains. It looks like all the candidates are distancing themselves from Tony Blair and the New Labour Project. Another candidate for leader Andy Burnham told a conference "We let a perception grow that we were in favour of wealth of any kind and with no limits on it whatsoever, that we were somehow in awe of wealth and of business and didn't have the ability to stand up and say what was right and what was wrong". Let's hope this move away from New Labour is more than just for the purposes of the leadership campaign and that the new leader works for a Labour Party that is just a Labour Party. And of course, despite all the pressures here to be what the media or business people want us to be, we should be just Labour too.
