NEWSFLASH: GENDER CRITICAL FOLK CAN BE SOCIALIST TOO

 

Hi all.
The vast majority of people who are reading this blog will know this already, but for those who do not - I am very passionate about my support for Women's Rights aka I'm Gender Critical.

I have not fallen for fairytale Gender woo-woo, I simply buy into straightforward facts:
There are only two Sexes - Male and Female
It is impossible for a person to change Sex - a Man cannot become a woman and a Woman cannot become a Man.
Yes, in some countries a Male born person can have it said on some documents that they are now Female;  But let's call a spade a spade here.
A person physically cannot change Sex, it is  simply impossible.
So some countries legally allowing Male born persons to change their designation to Female on some documents, would be akin to Belgium allowing Mr. Penguin - of Eurotrash fame -to state on their Passport, that they are a Penguin.

I am also a Marxist-Socialist, in that I believe the state should run things in the public intereest on a not for profit basis, be it building houses, Healthcare, college education free at the point of delivery and providing transportation services etc.

Last week a group of people living on the island of Ireland joined together in Belfast for an event headlined by prominent UK Campaigner Kellie Jay Keen aka Poise Parker.
I was unable to attend the event for personal reasons but I expressed by full solidarity online with those who did make it.
Suddenly I had people claiming that I was of the Far Right and others saying they were sad to see that I had aligned myself with the Far Right etc.
Why did they start saying this stuff?  The reason was because, out of the few hundred persons who had attended the Standing for Women event, at most a handful, were in fact Far Right agitators.
Any notion that I in anyway had any grá for members of the Far Right, is preposterous in the extreme.

Yes of course, it would be nice of a Fortune Teller was able to hand me a list of all those who were to attend an event, in advance of it happening, but that is never going to happen.
I have been on large scale marches on issues such as opposition to Water Charges, opposition to the Property Tax, against Austerity and more resent protests to do with housing.
Given the massive turnouts at these protests there were persons from all walks of life at them.
 This included people who would be regarded as being involved in Far Right activism.
Also on these protests were TD's and councillors from Far-Left parties.
Now using the yardstick, folks (involved in the same political parties as these elected representatives) used last Sunday, during and after the Belfast Standing for Women event; These Politicians are now Far-right sympathisers too.
 

Let's take the current issue of the housing crisis in the Republic of Ireland (I have recently become aware of there being a severe housing crisis in the UK too)

I thank the politicians in the Solidarity-People Before Profit party for the work they are doing, both in highlighting the homeless crisis in this country, while also trying to help those sadly living with no roof over their head.
As I have said, there have been recent protests held across Ireland on the housing issue.
This issue is of vital importance to many people, just as the issue of Women's safety while using public spaces, is important to many people too.
Should the Left Wing TD's and Councillors refrain from attending such protests because of the possibility that a tiny number of those present might be of a Far-right persuasion?
In my view; absolutely not.
I welcome the Left Wing TD's and Councillors attendance at these protests. The issue is far too important and urgent, that they should not turn up because a tiny number of Far Right elements sought (and as always, failed) to hijack the event for their own Neanderthal motivations.

I was recently reading a # thread on Twitter of people claiming that J.K. Rowling was Transphobic and/or in league with the Far Right.
However one - not one - of these Tweeters, when I asked them for proof to back up their allegations, could provide any.
As per usual, quite a few of them tried to put a false slant on my motivations for asking, before Blocking me.
Recap:  They made an allegation about someone.
All I did was ask them to back up this allegation with proof; no more no less.
The way some of the Trans Rights Activism side try to blindly place pins on imaginary Donkeys is something to behold.
 This analogy I'm going to use, might seem very far-fetched to you, but believe you me it. sadly, sums up where we are:

Imagine you go on Holiday and you visit a lovely Restaurant and the food and the service were excellent
You decide to ask the Waiter to get into a photo with you  and your companions and you put the photo online praising the food, the service from the Waiter and recommending that people visit said Restaurant.
Now fast forward a couple of months atfer your meal and what ops up online?  A video of this same waiter speaking at a Far Right Rally, saying things you never in a million years would agree with.
My money would be on somebody doing a collage of your  Restaurant photo and the video and declaring that this proves without doubt, that you have an affinity with the Far Right.
Honest to god folks, this is the level of imaginary straw clutching we have now reached.

Let me be abundantly clear:

I and 98% of the persons I have come across who declare themselves to be Gender Critical genuinely do recognise and respect a person's Right to live as Trans.
We have no problem saying Trans-women are Trans-women or that Trans-men are Trans-men.
But we will never go along with the falsehood of Male born persons becoming Women or Female born persons becoming men.
A Woman is an Adult Human Female, a Man is an Adult Human Male.

 

We recognise and respect a persons' Right to identify and live as Trans
Be it a Male born person as a Trans-woman or a Female born person as a Trans-man.
We simply oppose Male born persons - regardless of how they identify these days - or whatever, from entering Female single sex spaces (ladies toilets changing rooms  etc in a venue) and Female sports.

The vast majority of people I know who declare themselves to be Gender Critical are Left-Wing.
About 20% would be either Right wing or centrist on economic issues

The 80% of us Left Gender Critical folk believe the state should house ALL people who are in need of a house, be they Straight, Bisexual Gay/Lesbian or Trans.
98% of us, be it Left/Centre/Right Wing, genuinely welcome the fact that Transpersons continue to enjoy the same rights as you or I.
We wish it to remain that way.
 Just to further show how disparate people can be on issues; I have seen Trans-women on Twitter who are completely and utterly opposed to abortion and I have seen Trans-women who have been very active in their support for the Right to choose.
Same goes for Gender Critical persons.

I have read my Tweets from people on one side of the fence, saying they wish people would stop discussing the issue of Trans versus Women's Rights.
Another NEWSFLASH: If Male born persons would just stop trying to access Female single sex spaces and sports, 95% of the chatter would stop.

In the vast, vast majority of cases, when I head to a protest, I simply do not know how many people will turn up, or where most of them will have come from.
Some issues will have a very broad universal appeal.
Such as Women's Rights, or s the Poll Tax did in the UK in the 80's and the Water Charges issue did in Ireland, both North and South in the more recent past.
There were Far right people in northern Ireland who declared their opposition to Water Charges at the time of the mass struggle opposing them.
Did I for one nano-second think that this meant the left-wing groups at the forefront of the water Charges battle in the Six Counties where in anyway now aligned with the Far-Right?  No.

It is obvious the pink haired nose ring brigade can't bare to acknowledge our existence, but sorry to disappoint ye: Us Left Wing Gender Crits are very much here to stay!

 

WOMEN'S SPACE IRELAND EVENT IN DUBLIN:

 

Saturday November 11th 2022, witnessed an eclectic gathering of Women and their Male supporters, who came together to voice their opposition to efforts to undermine the status of and protections afforded to, Women in Ireland.

I was one of the attendees at this sold out event.
As well as gaining a lot from the various inspirational speakers, I was also delighted to hear of the great plans to further spread our message and fight back against the repressive ideology.

As the event continued apace, I took synopsised notes, detailing the various issues the speakers raised.

Here is my synopsis:

(N.B. due to the need to answer the call of nature etc I missed the chance to note a small bit of the speeches etc)

1ST SPEAKER ISEULT WHITE:

Iseult began her speech by firmly making it clear that she thought hate crime is awful.
It is awful for people to be targeted simply because they come from a particular country or are targeted due to their skin colour etc.
Also spoke of the hate she has personally received due to being Lesbian.
Only 7% of Hate Crime reports to the police are fully dealt with.
The  percentage of prosecutions is declining, while the number of reported alleged incidents is increasing.   
True hate crime incidents are going unpunished, while vexatious allegations are initially given credence by the powers that be; before being dropped.
She has serious concerns regarding the proposed Hate Speech laws in Ireland.
Many of the Heads of the Bill are very vague and the law could be very open to trget Women who speak up for their Rights.
Ironically; in the drive to supposedly being about a more diverse society, they are seeking to seriously clamp down on the diverse strands of speech and thought.
Iseult also spoke about the backlash the IRFU received when it announced moves designed to protect Females who play Rugby.
Regarding the planned Hate Crime law it is contradictory to say the least,
While it appears it -  thankfully - clearly defines a persons' Sex; when it comes to the area of Gender , it is a case f "Whatever you are having yourself".

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SPEAKER 2: CHRISTINA ELLINGTON:

Christina has appeared on court on Norway for merely saying "a Man cannot be a Woman, a Mother or a Lesbian"
Technically - under Norwegian Law - she could face 3 years in jail.
She was warned by Police that she was being investigated for "Hate Speech" under the Gender Identity Provisions of Norway's Hate Speech Law.
A Male born person who claims they are a Lesbian Mother and has a big hob with a leading Norwegian Trans Rights organisation, is the person who reported her to the Police.
She has now been interviewed by the Police for 9 hours in total, as they still deliberate over wheter or not she should be charged or not.
Remember - This is all because Christina simply and matter of factly stated that a Man cannot be a Woman, a Lesbian or a Mother!
Also remarked that a Male born person who claimed they were identifying and acting like a Woman because they supported Women's Rights; was akin to a person adopting Black Face and saying it was because they were Anti- Racist.

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SPEAKER 3: ANYA PALMER:

Barrister Any Palmer spoke next and concentrated her speech on the legalistic ends of things.
She started off by listing the various changes in UK  Law to do with Women's Rights and Gender issues, since the 1970's.
Holding a Belief is absolutely protected in UK law but speaking about your beliefs does not.
It is qualified - a White Lie (E.G. saying to someone over the phone that your boss is not at his desk when they are) is not an issue - telling an egregious Lie is.
Anya then spoke about the machinations of the Forstater Case - of which she was one of the legal Representatives fighting on her behalf - and why it was that they won it.
EU Laws were a cornerstone in this case.

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SPEAKER 4: COLLETTE COLFER:

Collette began by telling those assembled about the time she stood up at an Open Mic Poetry Night and recited a poem she had written, about Women.
It resulted in other writers demanding the event refrain from allowing such persons to speak in the future.
When a lecturer colleague at the institution she works at recited her poem to his students, some students complained the campus authorities.
Collette remarked as to how speaking out against Gender Identity is now seen as the modern day equivalent of Blasphemy.
Saying a Man cannot be a Woman is now akin to Blasphemy.
 She then reminded us how back in the day the Witch Trials, persecution of Jews etc of the Middle Ages also had enjoyed widespread support.

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SPEAKER 5: HELEN JOYCE: 
Gender Ideology truly began seeping into the UK Education system about ten years ago.
We are now seeing the consequences of this, in the rising numbers of Girls and Boys who prior to 'coming out' had no issues of note -  now  identifying as Non-Binary or Trans.
A lot of lobby groups such as Stonewall and Gendered Intelligence etc, have been going into schools to promote Gender Ideology.
They are telling very young kids in schools that Doctors merely GUESSED what they were at Birth and that you cannot really tell if you are a Boy or a Girl until you are older.
Trying to diminish the importance of the issue that is ones' Sex and trying to make the only thing that matter is Gender - is another thing these groups say.
Helen spoke about the importance of Parents finding out what their childs' school is teaching them - if at all - with regards the area of Sex and Gender.

___________________________________________________________________________

SPEAKER 6: Professor Anne Lodge:

As well as being an instructor to educators, Anne is also a Church of Ireland Priest.
She spoke about the democratic  debates that are regularly  held at  church meetings and how it has steeled her in her determination to stand up and be counted on Gender Critical issues.
Anne then spoke of her concern that Gender Identity issues have been placed higher up a school's priority list than say the well being of disadvantaged pupils, or needs of students with a disability.
Also noted how a lot of school in Ireland, while being state funded are NOT state owned.
There are a lots of bodies with the status of "Educational partners", including Parents representative groups, organisations representing Teachers etc.
Various lobby groups dealing with Gender Ideology, have spent a lot of money and time trying to worm their way into schools.
 The NCCA and the INTO seem to have  very much fallen under their spell.
Some of these lobby groups are actively trying to encourage schools to NOT tell parents if thy find out a Pupil is seeking to Transition etc.
Like Helen,  Anne spoke about the importance of Parents checking out what their Childs school is doing - if anything - in relation to Sex and Gender issues.

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SPEAKER 7:  DOCTOR MADELAINE NI DHAILÍGH - GP FROM GALWAY
Madelaine was previously  a Medical Officer in Castlerea Prison.
This has given her a greater insight into the grave dangers Women Prisoner in Ireland face,due to the State housing violent Male prisoners in Women's jails.
Many Women who end up in Jail had experience of being sexually abused, by a Male or Males,  in the past.
She then spoke about how 238 Boys and Girls from Ireland, were referred to the Tavistock Clinic in London.
Many clinicians who sounded the alarm over the actions of the Tavistock; were mightily relieved when Doctor Peter Cass took note of their concerns.
Doctor Ni Dhailigh also echoed the need for the state to provider far greater supports, so that persons with Gender Dysphoria etc, can get vital help in a timely manner.

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SPEAKER 8: STELLA O MALLEY:

The decision of the National service in Loughlinstown Hospital  -from it's inception - to NOT follow the WPATH Guidelines - due to their dodgy advice,  needs to be applauded.
The dangerous advice given to Teens with issues E.G. Breast Binders are good for you,  yes you were born a boy but really you DO want to be a girl - is deeply troubling.
We really need to keep pushing back against the advice being peddled by various Gender Identity groups.
Stella then briefly touched on the issues around Anorexia and Bulimia and how and why issues that were once extraordinarily rare, had become common enough occurrences.
She referenced panic of schools and GP  Practices at the time, when the upward spike in Anorexia and Bulimia cases started -  many really hadn't a clue what to do.
The same scenario is now playing out with regards Pupils saying they are Non-Binary or Trans etc.
And just like Anorexia and Bulimia, it is becoming more bedded into society and is here to stay.
The Pile on's that are initiated online and elsewhere if people dare to espouse a differing view to the common consensus has made it harder for people to raise genuine concerns regarding the whole Gender debate,
Stella then told those assembled abut ho the Director of the programme on Gender issues that she made for Channel  4, has also made documentaries in various war zones over the years.  
He has told her that getting both sides of a war to talk face to face about the conflict was a lot easier than trying to get two opposing sides to debate the Gender vs Women's Rights issue.
She then spoke a bit about the Tavistock.
Many Trans Rights activists allege there has been a high suicide rate amongst the Trans population, that preventing Male born persons from accessing Female single sex spaces etc, will lead to many committing suicide etc.
However from 2010-2020 of the around 15,00 people who were seen by the Tavistok or were on a Waiting List to be seen, the number if persons who actually (sadly) took their own life was 4.
Stella spoke about  how each and every incidence of a person taking their own life was devastating and her heart went out to the family and friends of these people.
However the figures from the Tavistock are completely at odds with the mantra of various Trans Rights lobby groups. 

 

Written by Seán Heffernan

 

HEFFO'S HISTRIONICS:

EPISODE 1 - THE MONUMENTS OF JFK PARK (EYRE SQUARE)

A lot of ye reading this blog will know of the many history pieces I did for the Echo Newspaper's 'REWIND' Column.
Due to taking up fill-time employment, writing that column ceased.
I still have a burning love for all things historical and thus have decided to write the odd historical blog post in between my current affairs/political musings.

For this first such post I will focus on the monuments in John F Kennedy Memorial Park in Eyre Square Galway...

This iconic part of Galway City was developed by the then Mayor Edward Eyre, who gave this amenity to the people of Galway as a gift in 1710.
He was a major landowner whose Irish lineage began when a relation was gifted a substantial acreage by Cromwell as a gift for helping him defeat people who had rose up in anger at the restrictions on those who were members of the Catholic faith.
It was initially enclosed by wooden fencing which was replaced by iron railings in the 1700’s.
They were to remain in place until the 1960’s, when they were removed and now surround Saint Nicholas’s Church on Lombard Street.
The Square’s official title is “John F Kennedy Memorial Park” in honour of the late U.S. President who visited Galway City on Saturday June 29^th 1963, less than 5 months before he was assassinated in Dallas Texas.
A bust of him commemorating the visit now stands in the park named after him, and is one of a number of monuments dotted around this square space.

                                                                                                  
One of the first to be erected - and still in place - are two brass cannons which were gifted to the Connaught Rangers army Regiment as a thank you for their bravery in the Crimean War.

In 1881 a major review of the stature of the British Army led to major reforms being initiated and one of these led to the amalgamation of the 88^th and 94^th Foot Regiments into what became known as The Connaught Rangers.
In it’s early years the regiment saw action in the likes of Egypt, Sudan and the infamous Boer War in what is now South Africa.
The first and second battalions set out in 1914 to fight on the Western Front, but by the end of the First World War, so many of had been killed that the two had merged into a single regiment by then.
Another battalion saw action both in the ill-fated attempt to fight the Turks in Gallipoli and further south in Palestine.
There were two battalions that were held in reserve and had not been summoned to war by 1916.
When they were eventually summonsed they did not leave the Island as they were sent to Dublin to quell the Easter Rising.

However an incident most historians would recall when asked to talk about the Connaught Rangers, started in India at the foothills of the Himalayas on the night of Sunday 27^th June 1920.
Traumatised by various actions carried out by British troops against rebellious Indian citizens allied with reports from home about the actions of the black and Tans; many Irish troops had truly had enough. 
It was on this night that the soldiers mutinied and declared their refusal to serve the Crown from then on.

  On July 1st Two large battalions of Seaforth Highlanders and South Wales Borders arrived and quelled the Resistance.
While being marched off to a makeshift internment camp, a drunken Major Payne, who was in charge of the march ordered everyone to stop.
He then called out 20 names and declared they would be shot on site, when a Fr. Livens – a Belgian Priest who accompanied them on the march -  stood in line with the 20 men and said  if they died he would die too.
This defused the situation and the men’s lives were spared.   

 Given the dire conditions of the internment camp, most of the soldiers eventually relented and would continue to follow orders until it’s disbandment in 1922.

As you walk around JFK Park you will notice the statue of a man sitting down and deep in thought;  The man in question is the late Padraic o’ Conaire, reckoned by many to be the finest writer of works in the Irish language.

This writer of some renown was born in what is now Galway City in 1882, but sadly both his Mother and Father had passed away by the time he reached 12 years of age.
 Initially he lived with family in Connemara and Co. Clare before being sent off firstly to Rockwell College in Co. Tipperary and then Blackrock college in Dublin.He never really took to the Boarding School regime and left before his final exams to take up a Civil Service job in London.

While there he became active in the local branch of the Gaelic League where he taught Irish to others and wrote his first ever work a short story entitled “An t-Iascaire agus an File” (The Fisherman and the Poet in English)
O’Conaire mostly wrote about the harsh reality of ordinary life in Ireland, be it emigration, alcoholism or poverty and the like.
In 1906 he won the prestigious Oireachtas Literary Award for his short story “Nora Mhárcais Bhig” (Nora, Daughter of Little Marcus in English).
It is  harrowing tale of a women who is driven to prostitution by an addiction to drink which sees her being disowned by her Father back home. 
He continued to write until his passing in 1928 and his works are still dissected and discussed to this day.

The final monument we will visit is the statue dedicated to the late revolutionary Liam Mellows.
Mellows was born in Manchester, but his family soon after returned home and he celebrated his first birthday in their new lodgings in Fairview on Dublin’s Northside, when his father ran army Sergeant was moved there.
As a young boy Liam suffered from ill health and it was decided that living with his Grandfather in Inch near Gorey Co. Wexford might cure him.

At his father’s pushing he enrolled in the Wellington Barracks in Cork and continued his military training in Portobello Barracks in Rathmines.
However he did not stick around long enough to become a soldier proper, opting instead to take up a desk job in various firms in Dublin.

His first introduction to militant Republicanism came about after he had approached Tom Clarke, who owned a tobacconists shop on Amiens Street.
He was co-opted into Fianna Eireann, an organisation that agitated for Irish Independence while also embracing socialism after meeting  James Connolly, whom he had a number of conversations with.

He was one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers, which was setup after a meeting was held in the Round Room of the Rotunda Hospital in response to the creation of armed militias in parts of Ulster.

His activities saw him placed in a prison cell on a number of occasions and eventually the authorities decided to deport him to England to serve out his sentence.
With the help of his brother Barney and Nora Connolly – James Connolly’s daughter – he managed to escape whilst dressed as a priest and was soon on a boat from Stranraer to Belfast.
During the 1916 Rising he commanded IRA forces in the west of the country, eventually fleeing to the USA to escape arrest when the insurrection failed.
In 1918 he was elected as MP for two constituencies – Galway East and North Meath – and when The Dail was later convened to debate the recently signed treaty agreement, he voted against the deal.

In June 1922, Mellows joined a band Anti-Treaty militants who had been occupying the Four Courts on Dublin’s Quays since April of that year;  many regard this event as the start of the Civil War.
After the Free-State army bombarded the complex with bombs fired from the Royal Navy warship the Helga, (whom the British had leant the Irish authorities as they anxiously wished a swift end to the siege), the insurrectionists surrendered.
Liam Mellows was imprisoned along with other from the Four courts occupation in Mountjoy Jail.
He was executed in December 1922 in reprisal for the killing of the Pro-Treaty TD Seán Hayles outside the Ormonde Hotel, which was ironically just 500m from the Four Courts.

Thursday April 13^th 2006 was a momentous day for Galwegians, as Eyre Square was officially reopened after lengthy renovations works costing almost €10M.
Upon viewing the finished project many locals concurred that it was worth all the disruption as they marvelled at the new children’s play area, 120 newly installed trees and the marvellous paving that now adorned the pedestrian walkways around the square.
It truly was a fine blending of the old with the new as many of the  magnificent buildings that look out on this popular thoroughfare, including Ceannt train station and the Hardiman (formerly Great Southern Hotel).

So the next time you get off the train or bus in Galway City, instead of legging it to the nearest pub, why not take the time to appreciate the true beauty that is JFK Memorial Park?

No home for serious initiatives to help the homeless in Fine Gael/Fianna Fail's plans.

An acquaintance made a comment to me just after the 2007 General Election which has stuck in my head since then - "o you ever notice that down the boozer noone will ever admit that they are planning to vote Fianna Fail, yet their candidates always top the poll"

The same can be said with regards Fine Gael today.
Many people claim in opinion polls that services, such as providing more houses for people to live in and more hospital beds are their main priority, but yet most vote for the two main parties Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, whom these voters know place more impetus in putting a small bit of money into your back pocket (While the rich keep waaay more due to various tax breaks that leave them with an eventual corporation tax bill of much less than the standard 12% for companies and   40% for high earners) then spend it on things to improve society overall.

Over the past few years I have read an avalanche of comments from people criticising the levels of homelessness in this country and the severe lack of action by the Fine Gael government in tackling this crisis (with the help of a number of not-so Independent TD's and the Fianna Fail who sat on their hands on this).

But yet in the last two election Fine Gael got the most votes and seats of any party despite the worsening housing and hospital crises.
At one stage this did puzzle me, but it does not do so anymore.
The sad reailty that has dawned on me in the past while is that a lot of people in this state simply do not care about it.
Going by the latest C.S.O. data 60-65% of the houses in this country are owner occupied with the mortgage paid off, while there is another notable chunk of people who still have a mortgage over their heads but are well able to financially meet  the mortgage repayments every month.
This figure would greatly exceed those who are in severe difficulty with their mortgages.
While the numbers of people who are renting a house is growing every year (And the stats show this is by far the main cohort of the under-30's category),

I’ve spoken to people from different parts of this island about this issue and while many at the start of  the conversation would agree that the homeless situation is worrying, when you start to delve into how we might sort it, the attitude of a lot of these people changed.

I’ve had been sternly reminded by regular mass going folk that “it is NOT the Governments money it is the TAXPAYERS money” and then asked me why someone should get a house for free (Very Christian of them right?), but most of this cohort were of the “I am working my backside off to pay my mortgage and these people want a free house from the state!...”

I think it is important to say the following before I move on – People DO NOT A GET a free house from the state.
For example: A husband of the household works as a printer on €30K a year and his wife works part-time for €15k a year, and they pay €600 a year rent for their council house.
Then their son graduates from college and is now earning €45,000 a year as junior solicitor, which the council is now aware of.
The rent of the house is now increased to €1,200 a month as a result of their sons income.
Does that sound “FREE” to you? –

You had Fine Gael tomorrow morning announced they had got the green light to borrow €3Bn from the European Central Bank at 3% to build over 10,000 houses, and that they would use part of the property tax to pay this loan back, this large % of the population who either own, or are well onto their way of owning their own house would be outraged – and well the Government know this.

These people would secretly much rather have €10 a week more in their back pocket than see Mrs Murphy down the road get her hip operation a lot sooner or the people living in the hotel up the road a house much sooner than is the case.
Thus they vote Fine Gael/Fianna Fail – and well both parties knows this.

 

In the immediate term this is why the current Government policy will continue (be it Fine Gael or Fianna Fail that get in on February 8^th) with regards the issue of housing.
More vulture funds will buy up whole apartment blocks, charging sky high rents in the process.

I feel the turnout in the election will be rather low as people who are being out to the pins of their collars by high rents/mortgage repayments become further disillusioned and decide not to vote at all, rather than vote for those parties that want to see radical change in the Governments housing policy/agenda.
The Government moved at lightning speed on the HPV smear test error issue as the country as a whole was angered in unison at the plight numerous women sadly suffered as a result of false results etc  -
The country is divided on the housing issue, which us a serous impediment to serious measures being taken to solve that issue.

In stating all the above I have to finish by thanking the numbers of people who have actively got involved in measures to try and force the Government’s hand on this issue.
I do of course hope and pray the next Government will start a large social housing building scheme, which will take many thousands off the housing list.
This will only happen if there is sufficient movement from below for it (as it has for the Climate Change issue) and as these young people grow older and start to take societal issues far more seriously and connect the dots to realise what is needed to make this change happen I hope this country will change for the better.