Another reason why you did nothing for the hundreds of thousands of pounds for ‘yourself’. Yes Bertie, you were paid to do nothing and you excelled at it!
========================================================
Is this the peace that you were bladdering about in the USA when you addressed the Joint Houses of Congress? Did you know Bertie that while you were being accoladed by those who, like yourself, are totally divorced from reality, that there were decent people terrified in their own homes in this ‘great country of Ireland’ because YOU and your inept government have abandoned them?
You would better serve your country Bertie if you had stayed at home and tended to the mess that is now Ireland.
Is this the ‘peace’ that you were talking about?
From Sunday Independent
Gangs turn ordinary lives into a living hell
How can you expect a child to go to school when his mother is to scared to cross the road to go to Mass, asks Jim Cusack
By Jim Cusack
Sunday May 04 2008
THE terrible price being paid by families caught up in the widespread gang intimidation and constant threats of being murdered in Limerick is leading to nervous breakdowns in both parents and children caught up in the city’s lawlessness.
One family who agreed to speak produced letters from a primary school head teacher and a doctor, describing how a seven-year-old boy’s life has been destroyed by the threats and intimidation of his family. The boy has been too afraid to leave his house for months, cannot sleep at nights and needs constant company.
The letter from a doctor describes how the situation has caused his mother to become depressed. The letters were written in an effort to have the family relocated out one of the worst affected areas of the city to a place of safety. The family has been waiting for months to be found a new house away from the gang-controlled streets where they live.
The doctor’s letter warns: “Such a move may also be necessary to save her life.”
While speaking in their front room, the boy’s parents constantly looked through their net-curtained windows at anyone or any cars passing. The family seal the front door letter box at night with tape before going to bed as young gang members are squirting petrol through letter boxes using washing up liquid bottles and setting the fluid on fire. Several houses in their street have been shot at. Hundreds of homes in the city, abandoned by families in similar circumstances, are due for demolition under the regeneration programme to try and revive the areas.
They say that they have been on the receiving end of constant attacks and threats since a relative gave evidence in court against members of a gang under the control of the city’s major crime family, the Dundon-McCarthys, who now control a large swathe of the city. The Dundon-McCarthy’s main rivals, the Keane-Collopys are now restricted to a small area in the Island Field. In April, houses of the Keane-Collopys came under attack by Dundon-McCarthys who fired from an automatic assault rifle at four houses in St Mary’s Park in the Island Field.
According to local sources, in the past two years the Dundon-McCarthy gang have consolidated their control on drug dealing and other criminal activity in areas from their stronghold in the Ballinacurra-Weston and Southhill areas in the south of the city to the area including Moyross on the north side. In Moyross, the Dundon-McCarthys are understood to have taken control of the area from a gang which includes members of various crime families.
The Dundon-McCarthy gang, which has links with gangs in Dublin, Limerick and in Britain, is still being directed by leading members of the gang from prison who still have access to mobile phones. It is understood that the takeover of the Moyross area was completed last year when one of the Dundon-McCarthys walked up to one of the leading Moyross gang members and handed him a mobile phone. On the other end was the Dundon-McCarthy leader speaking from jail. He simply told the Moyross gang leader that he was now under the control of the Dundon-McCarthys. The reputation of the prisoner is such that the Moyross gang immediately conceded control of the area.
Residents — who all asked to have their identities kept secret for fear of being murdered — say they have lost confidence in the gardai to protect them. They said that their lives have been a hell because of the constant intimidation including daily death threats from young gang members driving by in cars.
“There are children here that need inoculations but are too afraid to go to the health centre because it is a no-go area. We can’t go to Mass in the local church. If we want to go to Mass we have to cross the town. We can’t go to the shops. They are coming to our houses and busting up our cars.
“A woman here has a son with spina bifida. Her house is attacked all the time. When she called the guards she automatically became a ‘rat’ to the gang members. They told her to get out or they would burn her out with her and the child in the house.
“99.9 per cent of people here believe that the guards are useless. Don’t get me wrong, there are great gardai, young ones who really care. But people here truly believe that there are people on the take. They [the gangs] have no fear. We call them [the garda] all the time — but nothing happens.”
Locals have dubbed the garda’s armed response unit in the city, the AUU — the “Armed Unresponse Unit”.
These two letters, one from a primary school head teacher about a seven-year-old boy and the other from a doctor about the effects on the boy’s mother illustrate how lives are being destroyed. Names have changed to avoid identification because of the real fear of being murdered.
The head teacher’s letter says: “John is enrolled in [name withheld] school since October 8, 2007. John is a nice, quiet boy who is always willing to please. He enjoys school and gets on well with both staff and other pupils.
“However, I am very concerned about John, as since coming to the school he has missed a total of 44 days. I have been in contact with both his parents and they with me on numerous occasions, both of us doing our best to get John back to school.
“John’s parents have told me that he is frightened to come to school, he is afraid that if he leaves his parents they will be dead when he comes back, he is frightened to sleep at night so he has resorted to sleeping during the day. John will not go to the shop, play outside or join extra curricular activities in his community because of the verbal abuse that he receives when he leaves his home.
“This is a sorry state to have a seven-year-old boy in. John should be at school with his friends, enjoying life as a seven-year-old typically does. I am worried that John’s future within the education system is at stake.
“To date John has missed 25 per cent of school and this could escalate to 50 per cent by June if John does not return to school. I have been in contact with [name withheld] of the Education Welfare Board with regard to his attendance and the situation that John is in.
“I would hope that you would strongly consider the family for re-housing as quickly as possible in order that John can return to school and enjoy a life suited to his age.”
A local GP has also written a letter on behalf of the boy’s mother seeking assistance in moving the family:
“This is to certify that this lady is under severe stress and has become depressed.
“Her depression is secondary to intimidation and threatening behaviour to both herself and her son. Her life has been threatened and she is afraid to take the bus, go to the shop and effectively live a normal life where she resides.
“She has reported the threatening behaviour to the gardai, but they seem powerless to protect her. She is afraid to make a statement to the gardai for fear of the consequences she would face if she did so. She is anxious to move from her present address. I hope you will facilitate her in this to prevent further damage to her health. Such a move may also be necessary to save her life.”
Local people see no end in sight for the violence in the city. Over the coming seven months, a number of major gang figures from both the Dundon-McCarthys and the Keane-Collopys are due to be released from prison. Sources close to the gangs say neither side is prepared to back down.
- Jim Cusack
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Irish Army polluting the Curragh Plains
The Irish Army don’t clean up their rubbish
The first photo is from McGee Barracks in Kildare Town and contains empty ammunition boxes and shell containers.
This barracks was used for a few years to house travellers, asylum seekers and refugees. Of the six blocks which were only built in the 1930’s, there is hardly a window that hasn’t been broken. Almost everything has been vandalized with rubbish strewn about the place. Even though a Security Company ‘looks after’ the place, a number of old sheds have been burned and, when I was there, a number of local teenagers were finishing off what they could.
The above four photos are from The Curragh Army Camp close to Orchard Park and show rubbish strewn all over the Curragh Plains.
Of course, if you approach the Military Authorities they will tell you that it’s the responsibility of Kildare County Council and if you approach the Council, they will tell you that it’s an Army problem.
Either way, you won’t find anybody who will accept any responsibility. That’s the ‘culture’ in which we live in Ireland.
The first photo is from McGee Barracks in Kildare Town and contains empty ammunition boxes and shell containers.
This barracks was used for a few years to house travellers, asylum seekers and refugees. Of the six blocks which were only built in the 1930’s, there is hardly a window that hasn’t been broken. Almost everything has been vandalized with rubbish strewn about the place. Even though a Security Company ‘looks after’ the place, a number of old sheds have been burned and, when I was there, a number of local teenagers were finishing off what they could.
The above four photos are from The Curragh Army Camp close to Orchard Park and show rubbish strewn all over the Curragh Plains.
Of course, if you approach the Military Authorities they will tell you that it’s the responsibility of Kildare County Council and if you approach the Council, they will tell you that it’s an Army problem.
Either way, you won’t find anybody who will accept any responsibility. That’s the ‘culture’ in which we live in Ireland.
House was €625,000…now €400,000
If this is a ‘barometer’ of our economy, we’re in real trouble
From this weeks Kildare Nationalist.
A four bedroom house in Ardreigh in Athy was on the market two months age for €625,000 and, due to the cartel selling it coming to their senses, the house is now down for auction on June 05 with a reserve of €400,000.
In my humble opinion, this is indicative of how mortgage holders have been fleeced in recent years when the myth of the Celtic Tiger was being spun in order to suck them into their present trap.
All that’s left of this ‘famous’ tiger now are the hairs on carpets that may never be paid for.
It’s just another little Bertie Legacy.
From this weeks Kildare Nationalist.
A four bedroom house in Ardreigh in Athy was on the market two months age for €625,000 and, due to the cartel selling it coming to their senses, the house is now down for auction on June 05 with a reserve of €400,000.
In my humble opinion, this is indicative of how mortgage holders have been fleeced in recent years when the myth of the Celtic Tiger was being spun in order to suck them into their present trap.
All that’s left of this ‘famous’ tiger now are the hairs on carpets that may never be paid for.
It’s just another little Bertie Legacy.
A greedy Ireland
It is the 3rd of August 2007 and in Ireland it still raining! Where is the nearest mental home??? I want to see the men in the white coats!
The biggest event of the Irish summer season is the Galway Races. This is where the wealth and the power in Ireland is congregated, for a full week, into the various commercial marquees, to talk and work the floor, in a classic networking emporium that suits the Irish business psyche the best. The politicians will mix with shakers and movers and every conversation will have a motive for taking place.
There is drink and food in abundance, the opportunity to meet anybody who is anybody, and deals will be done in a haze of alcohol and gambling, probably to be regretted when the implications are realized back at the office a week later.
The Galway Races are, however, still a wonderful mix of the sophisticated socialites and the rural dwellers and farmers, young and old, who are there for the craic which in this case means drink, gambling and sex, not necessarily in that order! For many people the horses are a secondary attraction, and the fillies in the bars and clubs merit more attention.
The races run for seven days now and bring massive revenues to the city of Galway and its environs. This year that income will be particularly welcome because of the recent water contamination problem that hit parts of the city and county. This has scared many potential tourists from visiting the area as well as making life very difficult for families and commercial enterprises. This problem, of course, is being blamed on local county council who had not upgraded sanitation plants in line with the massive increase in population of the area. The blame really should be directed at the government who had not allocated adequate finance to the local authorities to carry out the necessary improvements.
This brings me nicely to the gripe of the week!
Yesterday the final link in the M1 motorway from Dublin to Belfast was opened between north of Dundalk to Newry. There is now what is known as the North/South Corridor in existence. Needless to say all the politicians and assorted hangers-on were out in force at the official opening to bullshit about the wonderful opportunities this will create. These are the same politicians, from successive governments, who should have this road (and many others for that matter) built in the 1980’s when they were getting funds specifically for that purpose from the EU in Brussells . Instead, because of their mismanagement of the economy and gross incompetence, these funds were unlawfully diverted to day to day spending because of the huge current budget deficit that they, and not the people, had allowed to accumulate.
Ireland is light years behind the rest of Europe in terms of infrastructure. Last week a survey found that, per capita, the country is one of the richest in the world, ahead of America and the UK no less. Nobody, from anywhere in the world, who spent time here would realize that so called “fact”.
Our medical service is probably lesser in quality than many African countries that the Government sends money to each year to improve their health system. People go to A+E and lie sick on trolleys for days on end. There are very few regional health centres that treat cancer, for example. Thus, unfortunate people and their families travel long distances to get treatment in Dublin hospitals which are themselves under huge pressure to service the needs of the areas to which they are allocated. The system is top-loaded with administration staff on high wages thanks to the crazy benchmarking process that Bertie Ahern agreed to some years ago.
This monster that has been created will haunt the country for decades to come. In his permanent pose of trying to please all people at once, Bertie has bent over and given into greedy union demands for equalisation of pay in the public sector . Thus if the firemen get a rise, the Gardai will have to get one and so on and on. All the various public sector services are therefore linked into this benchmarking process. In return the unions promised greater productivity from their members. How laughable this is! Public service workers do not live in the real world. They are cosseted in warm wool, provided by the rest of the country’s workers, self employed and businesses paying taxes to get a service that should be provided by half their number, and half of their cost. They would not know what productivity was if it hit them in the face and then gave them a French kiss!
This giveaway by Benchmark Bertie has already cost the country 1 billion euro and that is just from Phase 1 of the process. Ireland really is a country that is living on borrowed time. Around the corner and fast approaching is a recession. Jobs are being lost left, right and centre. Why?
The answer is that we have priced ourselves out of the market because of unnecessary wage inflation. No wonder the multinationals are leaving in their droves, to East European countries and further abroad.
The good times are about to come to an end. The first people that will be hit are the ordinary workers and self employed, together with small business owners. The very last people that will feel the pinch will be the protected public sector who will continue to suck the life out of the economy to the very end. These leeches will not face reality because they do not have ability to do so. They will play their violins while the Titanic sinks!
Here is a proposal that might save the day.
The country is managed by incompetents and their minions, the public service workers. These people are not managers. So get in some hard nosed business tycoons to do the job for a price.
Pay Dermot Desmond 50 million euro to design the concept that will run the country right. When Dermot has the concept drawn up (in probably 2 weeks), get Michael O’Leary to implement it. Michael will not be cheap, but he will do the job. His cost will be probably be less than price that is paid every year for the storage of obsolete electronic voting machines. Public servants will quiver in their boots for the first time and soiled underwear could be the order of the day.
But what a great day that would be!
Seamus Maguire
lookaroundireland.com
The biggest event of the Irish summer season is the Galway Races. This is where the wealth and the power in Ireland is congregated, for a full week, into the various commercial marquees, to talk and work the floor, in a classic networking emporium that suits the Irish business psyche the best. The politicians will mix with shakers and movers and every conversation will have a motive for taking place.
There is drink and food in abundance, the opportunity to meet anybody who is anybody, and deals will be done in a haze of alcohol and gambling, probably to be regretted when the implications are realized back at the office a week later.
The Galway Races are, however, still a wonderful mix of the sophisticated socialites and the rural dwellers and farmers, young and old, who are there for the craic which in this case means drink, gambling and sex, not necessarily in that order! For many people the horses are a secondary attraction, and the fillies in the bars and clubs merit more attention.
The races run for seven days now and bring massive revenues to the city of Galway and its environs. This year that income will be particularly welcome because of the recent water contamination problem that hit parts of the city and county. This has scared many potential tourists from visiting the area as well as making life very difficult for families and commercial enterprises. This problem, of course, is being blamed on local county council who had not upgraded sanitation plants in line with the massive increase in population of the area. The blame really should be directed at the government who had not allocated adequate finance to the local authorities to carry out the necessary improvements.
This brings me nicely to the gripe of the week!
Yesterday the final link in the M1 motorway from Dublin to Belfast was opened between north of Dundalk to Newry. There is now what is known as the North/South Corridor in existence. Needless to say all the politicians and assorted hangers-on were out in force at the official opening to bullshit about the wonderful opportunities this will create. These are the same politicians, from successive governments, who should have this road (and many others for that matter) built in the 1980’s when they were getting funds specifically for that purpose from the EU in Brussells . Instead, because of their mismanagement of the economy and gross incompetence, these funds were unlawfully diverted to day to day spending because of the huge current budget deficit that they, and not the people, had allowed to accumulate.
Ireland is light years behind the rest of Europe in terms of infrastructure. Last week a survey found that, per capita, the country is one of the richest in the world, ahead of America and the UK no less. Nobody, from anywhere in the world, who spent time here would realize that so called “fact”.
Our medical service is probably lesser in quality than many African countries that the Government sends money to each year to improve their health system. People go to A+E and lie sick on trolleys for days on end. There are very few regional health centres that treat cancer, for example. Thus, unfortunate people and their families travel long distances to get treatment in Dublin hospitals which are themselves under huge pressure to service the needs of the areas to which they are allocated. The system is top-loaded with administration staff on high wages thanks to the crazy benchmarking process that Bertie Ahern agreed to some years ago.
This monster that has been created will haunt the country for decades to come. In his permanent pose of trying to please all people at once, Bertie has bent over and given into greedy union demands for equalisation of pay in the public sector . Thus if the firemen get a rise, the Gardai will have to get one and so on and on. All the various public sector services are therefore linked into this benchmarking process. In return the unions promised greater productivity from their members. How laughable this is! Public service workers do not live in the real world. They are cosseted in warm wool, provided by the rest of the country’s workers, self employed and businesses paying taxes to get a service that should be provided by half their number, and half of their cost. They would not know what productivity was if it hit them in the face and then gave them a French kiss!
This giveaway by Benchmark Bertie has already cost the country 1 billion euro and that is just from Phase 1 of the process. Ireland really is a country that is living on borrowed time. Around the corner and fast approaching is a recession. Jobs are being lost left, right and centre. Why?
The answer is that we have priced ourselves out of the market because of unnecessary wage inflation. No wonder the multinationals are leaving in their droves, to East European countries and further abroad.
The good times are about to come to an end. The first people that will be hit are the ordinary workers and self employed, together with small business owners. The very last people that will feel the pinch will be the protected public sector who will continue to suck the life out of the economy to the very end. These leeches will not face reality because they do not have ability to do so. They will play their violins while the Titanic sinks!
Here is a proposal that might save the day.
The country is managed by incompetents and their minions, the public service workers. These people are not managers. So get in some hard nosed business tycoons to do the job for a price.
Pay Dermot Desmond 50 million euro to design the concept that will run the country right. When Dermot has the concept drawn up (in probably 2 weeks), get Michael O’Leary to implement it. Michael will not be cheap, but he will do the job. His cost will be probably be less than price that is paid every year for the storage of obsolete electronic voting machines. Public servants will quiver in their boots for the first time and soiled underwear could be the order of the day.
But what a great day that would be!
Seamus Maguire
lookaroundireland.com
Irish Rail and their leaking train.
My teenage daughter and myself took the train from Kildare to Hueston today after paying the exhorbitant fare of over E24 return. It was announced at Kildare Train Station, before we left, that the train was ‘Hueston only’ which led me to believe that there were no other stops on the way. My interpretation was obviously wrong because we had numerous stops on the way. I’m not a regular train traveller and, perhaps, I’m missing something here.
My daughter was sitting next to the window while another woman passenger sat opposite me.
At one of the stops along the way, another lady - African I believe - came and sat opposite my daughter…next to the window also.
The African lady placed her large handbag on the table next to the window and, while the train was slowing for Hueston, the rain which had been streaming down the outside of the window changed it’s course and flowed into where we were sitting…including into the lady’s handbag.
The clothes of both my daughter and the African lady were now wet as the amount of water which leaked in amounted to about a litre.
I suppose it was only a minor inconvenience but, I had to smile when the the lady said: “I thought this type of thing only happened in Africa”.
I hope that she never has to use our Health Service because, if she does, she will feel ‘right at home’.
And, here is the evidence.
My daughter was sitting next to the window while another woman passenger sat opposite me.
At one of the stops along the way, another lady - African I believe - came and sat opposite my daughter…next to the window also.
The African lady placed her large handbag on the table next to the window and, while the train was slowing for Hueston, the rain which had been streaming down the outside of the window changed it’s course and flowed into where we were sitting…including into the lady’s handbag.
The clothes of both my daughter and the African lady were now wet as the amount of water which leaked in amounted to about a litre.
I suppose it was only a minor inconvenience but, I had to smile when the the lady said: “I thought this type of thing only happened in Africa”.
I hope that she never has to use our Health Service because, if she does, she will feel ‘right at home’.
And, here is the evidence.
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