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Social Welfare Bill is austerity measure by Government
Posted on June 21, 2010
The Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010 before us today is more of the Government’s austerity measures for the unemployed and less well off in their approach to resolving the economic crisis.
It follows on two budgets, a pension’s levy and two social welfare acts in 2009, all of which targeted those at the bottom end of the scale struggling to subsist.
This Bill was published on the 28th May 2010 and it will be guillotined by the Government today the 17th June 2010.
Head Shop Legislation needs to go further
Posted on June 21, 2010
Once again today the Minister for Justice has announced his proposals for tackling “legal highs” and putting Head Shops out of business.
What the Minister published today was not the actual legislation but the “Heads of Legislation” or a general scheme of proposals.
It could still take months for the draughtsmen in the Department of Justice to finesse the proposals and have the legislation ready for publication.
This is very disappointing as it took Mary Harney, Minister for Health, over 12 months to produce a Statutory Instrument which is a simple amendment of the Misuse of Drugs Regulations to add certain drugs to the list of banned substances under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1997.
Israeli Enquiry into Flotilla Attack not good enough
Posted on June 21, 2010
The decision by the Israeli Government to establish an internal enquiry into the circumstances surrounding the Israeli hijacking of the flotilla of humanitarian aid ships bound for Gaza is a whitewash and totally unacceptable.
The ships were boarded in international waters by the Israeli army, 9 people were shot by the Israeli soldiers, the ships were compelled to go to an Israeli port, remain in Israel custody and their crews and aid activists deported.
These are the uncontested facts of Israeli involvement in an extremely serious incident. An internal Israeli enquiry into such an international incident with such profound Israeli involvement is quite simply ridiculous.
Address to Meeting about Gaza in the Mansion House June 5th 2010
Posted on June 21, 2010
The blockade of Gaza which was put in place by the Israeli authorities in 2007 when Hamas came to power there, is the reason for the present fatal attack on the convoy of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel has justified its actions on the grounds that the Israeli Defence Forces were acting in self defence and that there is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Both those justifications are patently false.
Israel must now face the facts and deal with the reality on the ground- not the virtual reality of their own propaganda.
Gaza Flotilla Statement
Posted on June 21, 2010
The events of last week are unprecedented; Israel engaged in an act of piracy on the high seas, killed and injured a large number of people then kidnapped 600, forced them to go to Israel before deporting them. Israel is operating as a rogue state in flagrant breach of international law. It is a law unto itself.
ELECTORAL REPRESENTATION (AMENDMENT) BILL (2010)
Posted on June 21, 2010
The speech by the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, in the Dáil last night shows that Minister Gormley has gone native - that is native Fianna Fáil.
He said that he was “giving consideration to establishing an electoral commission on a non-statutory basis to report on the electoral reform agenda set out in the Renewed Programme for Government”.
Even Fianna Fáil would have to admire that powerful kick to touch.
The great Green giants of democracy certainly won’t precipitate a local or general election. Principles were alright when they were in opposition but now they are in the Fianna Fáil tent and like Groucho Marx they have access to a whole different set of principles.
FUNDING NEEDED TO KEEP JUSTICE FOR THE FORGOTTEN OPEN
Posted on May 25, 2010
Justice for the Forgotten will have to close its doors by the end of June unless they can source a new funder. The Government is refusing to provide them with any further funding and they have been seeking to identify alternatives over the past months. They are now in a position that they have no money to keep going in the short term, which means they may not be in a position to avail of funding in the long term.
EURO AREA LOAN FACILITY BILL 2010
Posted on May 25, 2010
The purpose of the Bill is to give Dáil approval to the Loan Facility Agreement between the Euro Area Member States of the EU and Greece in order to prevent Greece from defaulting on its loans and to secure the stability of the Eurozone as a whole.
The Bill provides for the loans to be managed by the EU Commission on behalf of the Member States and for conditions to be applied in relation to fiscal measures and structured reforms which will be reviewed quarterly by the Commission, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.
The funding totalling €110 billion - €80 billion from the EU Member States and €30 billion from the International Monetary Fund will be payable over three years.
Permanent link | Categories: Finance • Foreign & European Affairs
PSYCHOACTIVE SUBSTANCES FINALLY BANNED
Posted on May 25, 2010
The decision of the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, to ban certain psychoactive substances, such as Mephedrone, which are currently on sale in Head Shops, is most welcome.
The banned substances will be included in the Misuse of Drugs Act and are illegal from today.
Of course the ban should have been introduced months ago before the proliferation of Head Shops country wide began. Yesterday the EU Commission told the Minister for Health what the Labour Party has been telling her for months, namely, that there was no need to await the expiration of a three month consultation period before legislation could be introduced to ban certain substances in Head Shops.
As always with this government it is a case of too little, too late.
NEED FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF CHILD WELFARE AND PROTECTION SERVICES
Posted on April 29, 2010
"Many of the abusing priests worked in parishes in my Constituency of Dublin Central. Many of the children who were abused were local innocent boys and girls who were sexually assaulted, had their childhoods traumatised and their adult lives permanently damaged. Coming after the Commission of Investigation into Child Abuse in Residential Institutions and Industrial Schools (The Ryan Report) earlier this year it paints a grim picture of Irish society, where the institutions of the State and the pillars of society invariably colluded with and protected the perpetrator – either passively or actively and left the child victim wholly unprotected. The commitment to "cherish the children of the Nation" rings very hollow when one reads the two reports.
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