Christmas Morning in Sallynoggin Church

Only because my memories are raw
The first taste of starvation
In those days folk walked in line
Family seniority and all that
Raw memory waking up to a raw hunger
Then the church cold with people whispering prayers
Whisper whistles sound muted by Latin words

I always wore a winter coat
Gazing at men with fat faces- plate handlers
They stern and very serious
So they took the plates full of cash from nosey kids
A few ten bob notes and Cathleen Ni Houlihan pounds
Consulting as they passed the confessionals
Wearing Roman uniforms as if their suits were dated

There was comfort though
In the march to communion
When pews exploded with perfume
Whilst hats paraded with fervent folk they hissing like cats
The wafer bread sticks to the roof of my mouth
Is it sin to touch it or remove it- prise it away swallow it down
The priest watches whilst the altar boy rings a time bell

I know it will be bright when we leave
We will march up the street by the wasteground
On down by the Piggers and home
Here the world changes and females take charge
The sizzle of bacon and sausage hot succulent
To seal a raw tummy and nourish the truth
The church bells ring calling others to choir duty

Am I the only one to have changed
What sacred lure caught me
Dangling within the remit of rebellious saints
And those voices carried
To caress the sweet lips hanging on the wall
Those raw words that split atoms and air
Leaving me forever with only touch

No Laughing No Talking No Moving No Red Light

When I was young paedophilia didn’t exist. Well ok it did but we didn’t call it that. We were warned about oul fellas hanging around the toilets at the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire—and I remember a boy was accosted in the toilets on Bray seafront. But we lived through it and we were careful, never getting in to cars with strangers and generally avoiding adults where possible, mainly because in those days childhood was a parallel world rather than the all-inclusive world it has become today.

It seems the biggest harbourer of evil in the modern world is the internet and social media. We are told that paedophiles stalk the pages of Facebook and Twitter looking for victims. We are informed that serial abusers groom children for possible sexual exploitation and that criminal gangs target young women around the globe for trafficking into prostitution. This is I am sure very true, but how prevalent is it? I don’t know to be honest but I doubt if it’s all that common as it hasn’t happened to anyone near me, has it happened to anyone near you?

The modern media is made up of absolutes there are a list of evil things and they remind us of them daily—yes some are heinous but others are less so but the obsession it seems is to make the world safe and perfect and I wonder regularly if this is achievable. The list goes like this chief enemy number one are paedophiles, ok accepted not a nice bunch of people—but is there ever an effort to understand the nature of paedophilia and ask why people abuse children. We have it everywhere in the Catholic Church in state run institutions, in care homes etc. But the internet is not where abuse of children starts or ends as the media would have us believe, no most abuse cases take place within the family home, and no matter how much the politicians legislate they cannot police that. So isn’t it time to sort this problem at source and rather than be hysterical about it lets try to own up to the human condition, and admit to its failings, and try to understand and deal with this dreadful problem rather than sensationalise it.

Politicians like Joan Burton have now adopted paedophilia as a weapon to beat her enemies, like she constantly taunts Sinn Féin with accusations against republicans, whilst ignoring all scientific facts in relation to child abuse. Which acknowledges the family home as the main danger area in child abuse.
Yes we have become very black and white—with the notion that tough law will halt all of the world vices. They talk of Twitter and Facebook as loose cannons out of control with no editorial responsibility, so by inference it should be regarded as dangerous. But it is actually the main stream media that has become increasingly dangerous. The nightly news bulletins and the daily editorials are all censored and skilfully edited to present a point of view that serves a particular agenda.

Take RTE nine news last night—it opened with Francis FitzGerald’s new bill on controlling sex abuse and other vices. Yes we welcome anything that reduces the risk to children of exploitation, grooming, trafficking, all heinous crimes but then the newsreader told us that the buyers of sex from prostitutes are to be criminalised. Ok so now prostitution which is legal in many countries is to be tagged to all the heinous crimes mentioned above. As far as I know prostitution is legal in parts of Germany the biggest player in the European Union. It is also legal in New Zealand where only recently they refused to adopt the Nordic models now been proposed by Fitzgerald. RTE interviewed one interested party and she was from 'Ruhama.' a lobby group who’s agenda is to abolish prostitution, like this can be done? They are according to their spokespeople working with prostitutes i.e.: trying to save and rehabilitate fallen women—yet they are continually challenged by sex workers on their interpretation of sex workers lives and aspirations.

So according to our safe media prostitution is a dark crime in line with heinous abuse, and the clients that serve them are criminals this in Ireland but not in Germany, and not in New Zealand and many other countries.
This is all based on a Nordic [Swedish] model that spawned from an extreme feminist lobby in the Swedish parliament. It has had mixed results with some success at first [removed visible prostitution] but then reports came in showing that it actually isolated sex workers, and pushed them into the hands of criminal elements. My own view is fairly simple in that prostitution will never go away no matter how much the moralists do-gooders or religious bigots want –it is here to stay and either the state controls it, or the criminals do, Francis Fitzgerald will take the first step in handing it over to the criminals if this legislation becomes law next summer.

The rise of political correctness has a correlation with all things blown in on the wind of neoliberalism, and even Sinn Féin have fallen victim supporting this daft legislation in the North. It seems the clever people with the agenda have managed to blur many issues with emotion, and a fake attachment to the perception of what is seen to be women’s rights. We go on the merry go round, and new, and old cases of institutionalised sexual and physical abuse emerge to shock us but hardly increase our understanding of this strange murky world. The clever people use all of this ammunition to propagate their agenda of prohibition, and we all know what prohibition gave to the world.

When I was a child we used to play a street game called ‘No laughing No Talking No Moving No Redlight,’ it was a simple really, a few of us would stand on one side of the street, and we would be told to take so many steps forward. The person, who was ‘On,’ came up close to our faces, and if he or she could make us laugh or talk-move or go red, we had to go back to base, and it was the first across the line on the far side that won. I was reminded of the game when I watched last night’s news, and I realised the pitiful view society takes of sex workers, in that they can be lumped into the genre of heinous crime so easily. With nobody to listen to their voices, which scream that they want to work legitimately in their chosen jobs, work safely and profitably, so as to pay their bills and feed their families. Perhaps this is something that the new moral ‘pass a law brigade,’ don’t quite get as they wish for their perfect world, may they wish!

Scary Halloween Blog

It has been a funny few weeks—with more allegations about Gerry Adams rising from the dark swamp. Amazingly a young woman without any factual evidence was given the freedom of the southern media, and also access to the highest office in the land. People were speculating on her allegations which were presented as been true and of great political importance, RTE informed us that many within Sinn Féin were red faced and worried. The twitter folk were going for it as well with some outraged tweeters on the verge of hysteria, the Jean McConville case came back with such venom that one could only wonder at the ineptitude of the PNSI in deciding that Mr Adams had no case to answer—as it turns out to be in the Maíria Cahill case also, that case is slowly dissolving into a report down the road job.
The whole sad mess casts great doubts about our media and its ability to feed those ‘who’s minds are made up,’ on Gerry Adams these people swallow the Free State fantasy that the minority in the North could have negotiated their way to freedom, peace, and a fair society the reality is that without the IRA they would have faced annihilation and the status quo would have flourished. The Free State politicians know this but they need to feed the ‘who’s minds are made up,’ brigade as they are their own constituency and it is a sign of gross insecurity that these animal traps are set for Adams anytime the Shinners show signs of rallying.

Indeed it has been a funny few weeks and for those of you that think I am a secret Shinner or an apologist forget it they won’t be getting my vote in the next election not a chance. My problem with them is on a few different levels. I get a great sense of pragmatism right throughout the organisation, when attacks come like the Maíria Cahill debacle they don’t all come out fighting and screaming in defence of the party, no they stay silent for days. The Shinners run for cover someone must have advised them that all stories no matter how bad have a shelf life of about three days—remember the Tuam Babies the biggest scandal to hit the state what’s happening about it—some sort of report a tribunal? I am not sure are you?

So the Shinners hide, of course Gerry Adams is a stalwart and he will stand up in the Dail and challenge Kenny and so will Mary Lou, then RTE will show Kenny make a winning retort and then cut back to studio, [they think we don’t notice] but where are the rank and file Shinners save for a few exceptions they go missing, actually it is hard to get any tweeting Shinners to engage in twitter debate—it is like they wear a gag.

Of course they are adamant now about water charges and protests after a disastrous slip round the time of the Dublin West By-election where they were outflanked by Paul Murphy of the socialist party. I think maybe that is my real problem with the Shinners their brand of leftism is soaked in pragmatism whereas I like my lefties to be strong and radical. This pragmatism sunk to new depths when the Shinners amazingly rejected all notions of republicanism and civil liberties in the process, when they supported the DUP bill on Sex Workers as in the Nordic model which criminalises the buyers of sex rather than the prostitute. I have a major problem with this as firstly the Nordic model has had mixed results yes it appeared to clean up the activity in the beginning, but many have commented that this model just pushes sex workers and their clients beyond the law and into the hands of criminality.

On the civil liberties issue, many presume those who purchase sex are abusing women, but that is not the case there are many lonely depressed, disabled, and needy people in society who often buy sex for company and for physical relief many able bodied and happy people want to buy these services also but now they are to be treated as criminals. The sex workers themselves will find their business is affected pushing many of them into poverty and possibly into the arms of criminals, the bottom line for me is that if a person can legally pay for sex in Berlin or Auckland why not Belfast or Dublin. The whole Nordic idea is utterly daft as prostitution like other society dislikes as in abortion is here to stay we need to legalise it put it under the control of state so it is safe for all.

It’s been a funny few weeks—culminating into today’s passage into winter and reminding me of the days of apples & nuts, but now like the imposition of private medicine and the persistent drive towards privatisation, we have ‘Trick or Treat,’ and have you ever seen anything like the parental supervision of ghouls & spiders webs on front doors—I remember when we went out after dark to forage alone and if you weren’t careful some sneaky neighbour might slip a garden snail into your bag, imagine the fuss now—the phones would be hopping on ‘talk to Joe,’ yes it’s funny how things change and how I suddenly realised that we can’t fund our services to any acceptable level anymore and they keep introducing stealth taxes and cutting and selling off public services imagine that, a country with just about five million souls can't produce enough indigenous wealth to fund its state and it has to be run like a business with lots of smart fellas talking about ‘off balance sheet,’ and the like, how about we pick up a blank sheet of paper and we work out exactly what it will cost us to mind each other properly and then we tell the international money vultures to fuck off and we start work on becoming self-sufficient.

Have to rush there are kids with their parents knocking on my front door looking for sweets, and saying stupid things like ‘Trick or Treat,’

Statism is the true alternative

We own this island us the human animal--we are the Irish herd, it is our territory our nation, yet we have given it over to an ideology that doesn't provide for us, leaving many in poverty with thousands of others emigrating, and peoples lives ruined from austerity.


In Ireland we formed the Free State in 1922 and went on our merry way, but let us have a look at the kind of ideology adopted by the State, [the herd] Ireland despite the impressive rhetoric of the proclamation adopted a similar system to our former political masters in Great Britain. We actually implemented many fine policies to begin with, as the herd needed electricity, its own infrastructure – a mix of state and semi state institutions that were major successes by the way, such as Esb—Bord na Mona—Aer Lingus, however Ireland was a small mainly agricultural economy with little indigenous industry, and because of this the notion that we could not sustain ourselves was born, and we got many years of Irish emigration mainly to our former masters in the UK, whilst at home much of the herd lived in city tenements or were subject to poor housing and living conditions.

After the counter revolution the civil war—coup d’ état –whatever one wishes to call it, all pretence of socialism, communism, or anything that didn’t protect the elites was dismissed, Ireland had adopted the mantle of capitalism and the freedom of individuals to excel –this is the mantra to this day, and the herd is still emigrating and many cannot afford housing and live in poor conditions, indeed many working people cannot afford the many essentials we need to live comfortably.

What is the argument –well it is in relation to how the herd wants to manage itself, if I mention statism critics go on about individual freedoms and the right to property, and to accumulate wealth, well lets counter that with how much are those rights worth? In a world where three quarters of its population live in poverty, that is the way it stands on a global scale. Where billions are spent on armaments by rich and powerful countries like the United States, whilst millions of their citizens exist on food stamps—and millions of America’s poorest work in dumbed down yellow pack jobs that resonate slavery. In truth we are seeking to trade an ideology that gives a minority the freedom to exploit their individualism to the detriment of the entire global herd, and Ireland is just a microcosm of that.

The far right are smart enough they now present capitalism as some sort of a neutral zone between Stalinism and Nazism; they rightly portray both of these forms of statism as murderous and brutal, and go as far as to claim that Nazism is fundamentally socialism with a racist caveat, of course they say all of this to deflect from the excesses of capitalism, which as stated earlier leaves us both globally and nationally unequal, and where it may give unlimited opportunity to the individual, it crushes the opportunities and freedoms for the majority of individuals through economic and social disadvantage. It is poignant they should quote a Stalinist and Nazism example, as if they looked to Norway for an example of how the state drives economics they may be forced to concede--and whilst I hold that property is the root of capitalism and all property should be under state control, that isn't the case in Norway where they have successfully married statism to capitalism--which shows how adaptable the ideology is.

The pro capitalists have their own version of [opus dei] in the form of neoliberalism which furthers the cause of unregulated capitalism, this ideology is the ultimate danger to the herd or the state in that part of its doctrine is to dismantle states by stealing the herds collateral piece by piece—this is done through the failure of capitalism to provide for the herd, either through gambling with citizens money propping up failed banks, or a downturn in the gambling markets, as in our recent history, this leads to austerity within the herd to be paid for by the ordinary herd members, then they dismantle the herds collateral by selling off assets belonging to the state, one by one they go, and when this combines with the gifting of our natural resources to the elites? The outcome is sure to be that only the strongest will survive, and those human animals that are old, sick, or disabled will be dispatched to the slaughter house, as they will be deemed unproductive and a drain on society.

In conclusion let us have a look at what statism is or could actually be, let us imagine the herd on this island, the herd [state] actually owns all of the land the natural resources the surrounding seas, so what is it that citizens –herd members need? Alright we need food and shelter, and we need good health to enjoy it, we need access to education, and we need infrastructure, we need to work if we are able to work, we need to pursue personal happiness in comfort and with security. We need the love and support of our families and our friends, and to know that our children are safe and will have prospects, and that the herd will care for all of its citizens.
How far away from that are we now—so far away that it is nigh impossible to imagine we can ever exist like that. Are we sacrificing this so as the world can be bought up by wealthy billionaire’s, surely people can see that countries are been sold off bit by bit, where sovereign countries are no longer sovereign. I believe the only answer is to place the state back where it belongs at the centre of all activity, and it is the state that should drive the economy and wealth creation as the states prime objective is to protect itself. The herd needs to take control, not in any Stalinist sense no grey uniforms, but a bright and wonderful system where the citizen shapes the world around them, capitalism will never go away but it is best controlled by strong state intervention, basically this boils down to the herd caring for itself, that is all of its individuals, not just the elite few.

Lessons from the Closure of the West Cork Railway

In March 1961 they closed the West Cork Railway the reason given was that it had accumulated losses of £56,000, the single line ran all the way to Bantry with detours to places like Baltimore and Courtmacsherry—basically this closure lead to the isolation of the whole region with both freight and commuter traffic gone, the cost of closing the line must eventually have been in the billions in monies lost to the local economy, this may have led directly to increased emigration, reduced tourists numbers, and the stagnation of industry so badly needed to sustain employment.

Well that is capitalism the one hard assed ideology that doesn’t work for the citizen but works only for the few that can take the cream from the cake before it goes stale. So capitalism was alive and well in 1961 and before that when Sean Lemass sold us the notion of private medicine. The dismantling of state started a long time ago and it is implemented with such nerve and skill that the average Joe citizen barely notices it, they use many devices such as newspapers television, religion, and movies whatever stick that can beat their drum, and it is not so much that they lie to Joe citizen no it is more that they just don’t tell all of the truth. For example people pay huge premiums to private health insurance companies to fund their private healthcare, yet they also pay income tax to fund the public health system, so why don’t the powers that be just charge the premium unto a person’s income tax bill, this would most likely work out more cost effective for the citizen but it would also mean a properly funding public health service for all citizens, the more you earn then the more you pay—fair and equal. Ah no –you can do that? Why? Well because it cuts out the profits been made in the privates system, by the likes of consultants and investors in private hospitals, we couldn’t possibly discommode them even if it were to the citizens benefit, one has to remember that these are Ireland’s brightest and best and without their little perks they might leave the country, along with the multinational corporations so then where would we be?

This is neoliberal doctrine my friends, the money ideology that keeps rich people rich and destroys communities and nations; they do this by destroying the fabric of communities, and by dismantling all idea of public service. To do this they reform public services this is usually preceded by spinning this particular service as wasteful and in need of reform, they are adept at swinging public opinion and creating a furore about dossers and costs in the public system, thus the public service collapses and is diluted or privatised, again the notion that there is no waste in the private sector, as the hard arsed serious players wouldn’t stand for it. Of course this is total nonsense I spent some time working for a large insurance group and the wastefulness was spectacular in all areas of its operation, and especially so at annual seminars where a banquet was held in a plush hotel with free drinks all night, how many corporate golf days are taken at the behest of some golf crazed MD—who fancies he is Gods gift?

In conclusion one cannot help but notice that the old style capitalism has grown some very sinister wings, the advent of globalisation has imposed an ideological nightmare throughout the world, it rains the same the world over, if one watches the adverts in Germany they run the same as in Spain and Portugal only the language is different. Many indigenous cultures are fading and losing their identities to Americanism’s and clichés from the movies, even the movies are becoming tired and boring many of them from the jaded fantasy genre—or light romantic comedies, by the way the next time you watch one of these—check out the suburban house these dude’s live in they are as we would say ‘Mansions,’ how many Americans live in Mansions? All would be fine and dandy with the world should all of this muck be societally good, and teach us how to behave and be happy, but the core problem with neoliberalism is that it doesn’t work, as in the case of the West Cork Railway it is the triumph of spin over truth, £56,000 losses led to billions in lost revenues –somewhere along the line—the hard-nosed accountants forgot the state must invest its stake in order to create profit, it is the simple fact that in this case on ideological grounds the state refused to pay, and disaster ensued.