Category Archives: Turf cutters
Bankers go free, turf-cutters face imprisonment
by Mick Healy
On 9 March 2012 four-and-a-half thousand working people took part in an agrarian-style demonstration outside Leinster House organised by the Turf Cutters’ and Contractors’ Association. As a result the Dublin parliament passed a motion tabled by Luke Flanagan TD in support of the turf-cutters and for a national raised-bog restoration plan.
Having previously rejected the turf-cutters’ case, the Government promised to organise a delegation to travel to Brussels to meet the EU Commission in an attempt to resolve their grievances. This was not to be, as the Government simply reneged on the commitment made to the turf-cutters.
More than a year later, however, the government is continuing its offensive against Read the rest of this entry
éirígí’s Easter promise – two views
The first piece was written by D.R. O’Connor Lysaght, a long-time Irish Marxist activist and writer, associated with Socialist Democracy. (I assume he is still a member, but I’m not totally sure.) He sent the article to the blog via a mutual acquaintance. Since I want to encourage contributions from a viewpoint which is both socialist and recognises the centrality of the national question, I’m running Raynor’s piece along with a second view from myself. I’d also encourage folks to read éirígí’s own report and watch the video of the Dublin commemoration (both here).
éirígí’s Easter Promise
by D.R. O’Connor Lysaght
Eirigi’s Dublin Easter Commemoration was impressive. Despite a last blast of the coldest recorded March weather, at least a hundred people of all ages, more than on the previous years, came to parade and listen to the orations.
But what message went forth? By now, this writer has enough experience to distinguish the cover of the rhetoric from the core meaning. Here he came away having seen a movement groping its path in a generally progressive direction. Brian Leeson’s keynote presentation was a significant advance on that which he presented at éirígí’s conference eighteen months ago. It was a blistering attack on capitalism from the standpoint of that mysterious force Socialist Republicanism. Such rhetoric has been used in the past all too often to cover the abandonment of the revolutionary core of Republicanism with the verbiage of social concern; it was a technique of Official Sinn Fein before it proclaimed itself the Workers Party. Leeson’s speech was different; if it emphasised the economic crisis, this was particularly proper in Dublin.
It did not ignore the British occupation. It made especial mention of Stephen Murney and his arrest for possession of photographs Read the rest of this entry
Turf Cutters counter state lies
by Mick Healy
On October 2011 Luke Ming Flanagan TD and PRO for the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association (TCCA), noted that “the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht , Jimmy Deenihan, had signed the EU Birds and Natural Habitats Directive which banned turf cutting while the matter was still in negotiation.” He added that this ban occurred despite a compromise proposed by the TCCA whereby 80 per cent of 53 bogs in special areas of conservation would not be cut.
One year on and the Dublin government is continuing it’s offensive against the turf cutters.
Following an extraordinary meeting of the TCCA in Birr Co. Offaly this year the group issued a strong statement disputing Read the rest of this entry
Newbridge meeting against Austerity Treaty
by Mick Healy
On Wednesday 2nd May 2012, a meeting took place entitled “The EU Permanent Austerity Treaty: is it economic suicide?” at the Liffey Studio in Newbridge, County Kildare . A standing room only crowd came to hear artist and veteran activist Robert Ballagh of the People’s Movement and John Dore, PRO Kildare Turf Cutters Association. The large turnout from the people of Kildare seemed to reflect the concerns about the Austerity Treaty.
Robert Ballagh explained that the Treaty would turn Ireland into a regime of economic austerity, involving deeper and deeper cuts in public expenditure, the privatisation of public services with more unemployment and emigration. The Treaty will make a permanent feature of that external interference in our economic affairs that was obnoxious when Fianna Fail surrendered sovereignty to the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Ballagh noted, “if it’s bad in the short term – and it is – it’s even worse when made permanent.”
John Dore spoke of the turf cutters experience in dealing with the EU, explaining that the EU Habitats Directive will prevent families and domestic turf cutters from cutting turf as they have done for hundreds of years. He noted, “Turf cutters, their families, friends and supporters may wish to take this into consideration when they vote in the referendum on the Austerity Treaty.”
Having previously rejected the turf cutters’ case, the government promised a delegation to travel to Brussels to meet the EU Commission. However, this approach floundered in Brussels, the EU insisting that turf cutting must stop.
Turf cutters win initial victory
by Mick Healy
One of the most important developments in the last 18 months in the twenty-six counties has to be the resistance of turf cutters to the EU directive that banned turf cutting. On March 9, several thousand people took part in a protest outside Leinster House organised by the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association, some travelling from as far away as Kerry, Clare and Cavan. They carried placards saying “No to EU bog evictions and no to EU dictatorship”.
As a result the Dublin parliament Read the rest of this entry
the irish revolution 