Old Sneezes

Archive for the 'Politics' Category

Church and State

Sunday, May 24th, 2009

I am an atheist. Moreover I class myself as a devout and fundamentalist atheist with a deep hatred of all religion. That Ireland’s social mores and laws are based on Catholicism has made me so. I hated having to attend a Catholic run school. But that’s all there was. When a judge once tried to [...]

Ard Fheis 2009 – Speech by Fine Gael Leader Enda Kenny – Full Text

Sunday, April 5th, 2009

You looking for the full text too? Thought so. I can’t find it either. Fine Gael obviously don’t consider it worthy of a spot on their website. While we are waiting for the Fine Gael web-heads to get their act together, here is the gist of it: Mr. Kenny pledged last night to restore Ireland [...]

An 72ú Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis

Sunday, March 1st, 2009

I watched live streams from the 72nd Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis yesterday. I read the speeches this morning. They gave me little in the way of joy or hope. They bored me much of the time. They did anger me in parts. When I laughed, it was in amazement at how the delegates are totally [...]

Tractors on the roads

Thursday, August 7th, 2008

In early July, the Road Safety Authority announced the release of a consultation document on the use of agricultural and works vehicles on public roads. Head of the RSA, Noel Brett, said among the problems identified is that a 16-year-old can drive a tractor and trailer weighing more than 30 tonnes without a driving test [...]

Mary Hanafin to implement 1980s policies

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Back in the 80s things were tough. Times were rotten and Robin Hood was a state-of-the-art industrial estate. Christy Moore sang Peter Hames’ Ordinary Man and stirred anger in us all. Countless thousands were unemployed. That’s not totally correct – they were indeed counted. Counted and parsed by gender, age, education, you name it. They [...]

Voting on Lisbon wasn’t easy

Friday, June 13th, 2008

I was just like any other day. Though listening to the news it may have seemed like one from the 70s or 80s – Don Tidy‘s kidnap; fishing vessels in blockade; Britain’s nuclear programme. As an adolescent in the 70s I paid what attention to current affairs as they teachers made me. I remember most [...]

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