Saturday, March 29, 2014

Within a half mile.

Within a half mile of where I stand in rural Ireland are thirteen houses.
Two houses are abandoned and falling down.The local authority is anxious to see this happen.
In one house lives a bachelor pensioner.He cannot live on his  pension and so works on for very little despite bad health.
In another house lives a mature married couple.Of their five  children two have emigrated because of lack of employment.They will not be back.
In the next house live a married couple with one child.
In the next house live a married couple with two in family.One has emigrated because of lack of employment.
Two houses are near completion but finalisation is held up because state banks will not lend to enable completion.
One house is set because the owners live in the city where employment is available more readily than here.
In another house live a married couple ,parents of three mature children .Two of the three have long since emigrated and made their homes in their adopted countries.None have any intention of returning.
In another house live a married couple.Of their two mature children one has moved abroad and married there.This child will not return as equivalent work is not available here.
In another house of two parents and three children ,one  parent and the entire three children have emigrated.I would wager that the three children will not return to live here permanently.
In another house live a working married couple  of mature years who are totally bamboozled by the unending stream of bureaucratic regulations foisted on them daily by a multiplicity of state agencies.
In another house live a married couple in their twenties with two children who will have to work into their eighties to repay what they borrowed for their house.
There is no public transport of any kind available in the area,
There is no PostOffice nor Garda station in the area.
Between the smoking ban and excessive drink driving laws the local pub is  on its knees and on the very odd occasion when anyone has money they are afraid to drive for a drink and drive home.
All these households were billed for Local property tax.
Theft and burglary is common in the area.
These people live in fear on a daily basis.
Fine Gael Labour ,Fianna Fall the P.D.s and the Greens implemented policies that are responsible for this situation .
Remember that when you  vote.



Thursday, March 27, 2014

Distilled ignorance.

Today I got a lift to Navan to get my hair cut with the best barber I know,Stephen O Rourke.Opposite his shop and beside the old cinema  ( now apartments ) is a public car park.I was dropped off in the car park and proceeded out of it towards his shop.I had to cross a line of cars in a queue to get out of the car park.I checked well and commenced to cross over,
Now let me say that I shuffled over as my left side was destroyed in a stroke I suffered five years ago and walking is an effort,I need a walking stick to move and my left hand is permanently stuck in my hoodie pocket.Fairly obviously and severely disabled.
 Notwithstanding this a youngish woman driving a dark coloured car ,registration ending   KE saw fit to place her hand on the horn and blow it at me.Not accidentally as I looked her in the eye and she blanked me.She was not delayed at all by my crossing as the queue was snaking slowly towards the road and the second or two she lost in allowing me to cross was of no consequence at all.
Yes indeed. low breeding comes in many guises.

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Dunderry V Trim League Div 2 Football 16/03/2014

Played in Dunderry on a pitch in good nick on a fresh Sunday morning this match had special significance for me.My daughter Claire is married to Eoin Kelly who fielded at full back for Trim and we would know most of the Trim lads as we frequent the County Town.
Eoin came around here courting Claire as a skinny gossoon over a dozen years ago.I said honestly at their wedding that when I saw him first that my inclination was to buy him a macaroon bar and a fat frog ice pop and and tell him to return when he started shaving.
Well my daughter's influence on him in the interim is clear as he has developed into a hardy strong full back.A fine lump of a man.And he was marking our Finn ,no shrinking violet either.Hard and fair and no pull back was the order of the day.
There is never much between these teams and today was no different.
We lined out as follows.

                                                     Jennings
Shane Maguire                          Seamus Harte                    A.Newman

Conor Dempsey                     Davy Mac Cormack            Marty Garry 

                  Liam Dempsey                        Conor Farrell
A.Waters                                S.Coogan                           Alan Garry

Baby Doc                                E.Stephens                         L.Martyn.

Introduced were Stefan Clarke,J.P.Kenneally,Paddy Kenneally,Tosh Doc.,and Owen Dempsey as the Troika continued with their revolving player system.
The match reminded me of the old under 21 club type of football that used be the norm in Dublin in my youth where there were 13 players a side.Fast furious and open with no sign whatsoever of a hard tackle.And plenty of intricate and well drilled hand passing by both sides.
Refreshingly the ref.went against the grain for a while and properly penalised forwards who didn't get rid of the ball quickly,Arther than penalising the defenders.Good stuff said I ,now we might see some decent football.
And we did for the first  half at leas, at the end of which we led by 0-5 to 0-2.
There was nothing between the teams skill wise and commitment wise and open and knacky play was the norm .No bite worth mentioning.
But we were carved asunder four times by Trim who scored four clear goals wide if you get my drift.It was easier to score than miss as Jennings performed stopping miracles in one to one situations to deny Trim.
The second half was played in the  same vein ,we converting 4 minors to Trim's 5 to run out on a final scoreline of  0-9 to 0-7,Trim again missing an open goal and contriving to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
The last fifteen minutes were exciting as Trim tried mightily to draw level and overtake us but our boys never hoisted the white flag and just about kept their snouts ahead at the finishing line.
And that's what matters.Two more points in the bag.
As far as I could see both Alan Watters and Aaron Newmamn were black carded.
There wouldn't be a dirty bone in their combined bodies.
This carda dubh is a nonsense.
The sooner it itself is red carded the better.It is destroying the game and is too easy to flash.
Three Dempsey's were on the field of play.Don't happen too often these days.
Last time it happened here at top level  (for us ) was when the Bear's sons T.J.,Marty and Alan fielded but that was before the Fir Breaga forced the abandonment of the country by the youth to satisfy the hateful Troika .T.J.is now an Aussie of some type.We miss him.
Scorers.Davy Mac  0-1.A.Garry 0-1.S.Coogan 0-2.L.Martyn 0-1.Baby Doc, 0 -2. P.Kenneally 0-2.

P.S. We wish Simon Carty well with the Meath  under 21 footballers in the Leinster Final .
We hear that he is playing well.





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Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Arrogance of Shatter is astounding

The petulant and sickeningly arrogant display of Alan Shatter tonight on the News at Six when he refused point blank to apologise to the Gardai who brought the many deficiencies in the operation of the penalty points system to public attention,which  the Garda Inspectorate have confirmed in their Report today, while hatefully odious,ought not surprise anybody,as it is par for the course for the entire Government all of whom are totally immune to the widespread suffering ,despair and fear they are deliberately inculcating amongst all sectors of society ,particularly the elderly,the disabled and the isolated.
Their latest targets,the grannies of Ireland ,who are the glue  holding together the very fabric of family life in Ireland ,is nothing short of evil.
More concerned with the rights of Trannies than Grannies,the recent attempt by Joan Burton to pass the blame to the Revenue,is cowardly and devious.
The Government ,of which she is part,call the shots,not the Revenue.
Always blame the organ grinders ,never the monkeys.
Although it is hard to see why Revenue should  bring up the issue of even attempting to tax the grannies of Ireland ,who are forced to man  the breach and mind their grand kids to allow their parents to pay off the State banks.Have they nothing better to do ?
Maybe those at the top in Revenue are getting like their political masters,arrogant and uncaring ,by virtue of the immense powers vested in them by this fascist and authoritarian Government.
This government has managed in a few short years to attract the same level of contempt that it took Fianna Fail decades of misrule to attract and that is saying something.

Monday, March 10, 2014

The gelding of the Judiciary in Ireland.

Retired Supreme Court judge Catherine Mac Guinness and the Judges own advocate body have sent out the warning shots.
In essence these are:-
(1) This Government is demolishing the independence of the judiciary brick by brick.
(2) The fact that the Government can reduce the pay of Judges at their discretion effectively compromises their independence entirely.
It's like this.If you find against your employer he can punish you ,short of dismissal,by reducing your wages and future pension to levels you cannot sustain.
So the Government gets it every way against the citizen,
It can trample all over him and if he brings it to Court the Judges could be afraid to side with him for fear of retribution.History and current events show that retribution is thought to exist at the highest levels,so we shouldn't be surprised at the power of this  emotion ,
No legally qualified ,competent and successful person having the attributes to make a top flight and independent judge is going to buy a  pig in a poke,abandon a successful career and take up a job where his future may be at the whim of a vengeful and vindictive Government and we do face a second hand or lower order of politically motivated and pro Government judges.
The people were right in 1937 when they voted to debar a reduction  in the pay of judges once appointed ,
This position should be constitutionally revisited,( wouldn't be the first time a subject was revisited ) and the gelding of the judiciary reversed so that we can have trust in the Courts and the administration.
Given the fascist and authoritarian bent of the Government don't hold your breath.

Confirmation Day in Dunderry 2014

When my own children were making their Confirmation over the last thirty years the Parish of Dunderry used join up with the Parish of KIldalkey in order to have enough numbers to populate one Church and make it a memorable day for all involved.
Three Sundays ago 47 children from Dunderry Parish alone were confirmed in Dunderry Church by the Bishop of Meath .Such was the demand for places at the Ceremony that each child was limited to 4 guests and even at that many were disappointed at being unable to gain admittance.
Just goes to show two things .One is the increase in population in the Parish and two is the the continuing importance of the Catholic Faith in the lives of the people of the Parish.
I suspect that this is the same throughout the entire country ,
Of course the mainstream media ,staffed overwhelmingly by atheist,secular and anti Catholic personnel paints an altogether different and fallacious picture and our exiles should know this.
On a slightly different vein the organisers of the traditional Saint Patrick's Parades in the USA and worldwide ought know that the boycotting by some politicians of their parades by certain Government Ministers in favour of the homosexual alternatives has no popular support here.
In fact any view expresses contrary to the views of the homosexual movement are shouted down by their advocates and serious threats of harm have been made against members of the Iona Institute who advocate the Catholic position on  these matters,
Of course the mainstream media totally back the anti Catholic position but what would  you expect given the mindset of its practitioners.
Back to the Confirmations.Congratulations to the parents of the children involved and to the teachers who ensure that a Catholic education is given in Catholic Schools.
Long may it last.

Sunday, March 9, 2014

Blog hits nearly 100,000

The number of hits on my blog is rapidly approaching 100,000.I have no way of knowing whether the audience is a monkey hitting his finger repeatedly on a button or whether the intelligence services of those countries who have them are hitting separate buttons to check in on what I write.
I assume it is a mixture of all of the above with a few loyal readers thrown in.
In the overall scheme of things it is insignificant but the longest journey begins with the smallest step.
Anyhow if you want keep reading.

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Putin's next move in the Ukraine.?

I am somewhat of a history buff and cutter through bullshit.
All this talk of preserving territorial integrity is amusing ,particularly when it comes from any of the present or former superpowers.Not one of them ever did nor now does respect this notion,being governed by the concept of national interest instead and the desire for revenge.
Putin is a patriot.He looks after  his own people.Unlike any of the Irish leaders since the Revolution  here who did ,despite the rhetoric, stand idly by and  let the Nationalist  population of the North stew in its own juices until  they took up arms themselves.
Now  the EU is not a Nation and I don't see any constituent country taking up arms to repel the Russians from the land of their nearest and strategically important neighbours.
Those MPs and EU ministers.particularly the Baroness, who interfered and took sides  when the street protests began should apologise for their gross interference in the matter to the peoples of the EU and the population of the Ukraine among whose Western  oriented peoples they raised unrealistic expectations of practical support.
Put bluntly I don't see the UK government welcoming into the UK the street protesters from Kiev who kick started this chaos.If for no other reason but that they might start the same antics in England.Nor do I see any other EU member doing the same,with the possible exception of Germany,who after all did employ many Ukrainians to do their dirty work during the Second  World War..
The USA is far enough away to do what it likes but NATO ,which has a European leadership and is EU based has the same conundrum as the EU.
Russia cannot be treated as a misbehaving non entity in  the general scheme of things.If the US and Russian bulls square up there can be but one winner.And Europe would be a massive loser no matter who wins.The USA is far enough away to withdraw at any convenient time.Europe ,if it gets involved,cannot pull out until its load is shot.That's the conundrum.
Putin must hugely  curse Krusckev for giving the Crimeae away.I'd say any statutes of him still extant will be soon destroyed.
Having acceded to the request from the Crimea to take it over  Putin must now determine just how far he will go to protect his countrymen in the remainder of the  Ukraine.He will have further requests.
My guess is that having started he must finish .
History indicates that he will take into the Russian ambit maybe two thirds of the rest of the country ,allowing those who wish for the West to emigrate to their third  and those of a Russian bent to emigrate to his sphere of influence.
Thea alternative would seem to be all out war and possibly the modern day version of Armageddon.
Unthinkable.

Conventional wisdom on demise of Celtic Tiger suspect.

Before Christmas I spent a week in Somerset and Wales,the first time I was outside the country in decades.
Two aspects of what I witnessed there gave me pause for thought.
Firstly I blew a headlight in my car on the way to Frome in Somerset and went to get it replaced there in the nearest garage,which happened to be in an industrial estate.To my great surprise each and every unit was buzzing in the estate on a Saturday and I was looked after immediately.Total charge for supplying and fitting the bulb was a fiver.
Frome is about the same size as Navan and is in the  middle of farming country.It still has a seed factory in the middle of the town.It has a Farmer's market and other artisan markets where a wide range of locally grown foodstuffs can be purchased.Many and varied shops are open there and there is a good buzz about the place.
The surprise to me was that all the units in the industrial estate were open and buzzing ,unlike here where the industrial units are largely empty.The other aspect of the place that struck me was that the standard of the buildings are much inferior to what we have here.This is no surprise perhaps as a many date back to Roman times.
£25,000.00 is a very good yearly wage.
The second thing that struck me is the current price of housing.A decent three /four bed family home is £300,00.00 upwards ,which when converted to Euros is similar to the prices obtaining here  for similar homes at the height of the bubble here.
There are clearly purchasers for these even given the prevailing salaries of £25,000.00.How its done I don't know.
The lesson I drew from this is that it was not the price of houses that caused the rise and demise of the Celtic Tiger but the outrageous level of wages and all that went with it.
I have  no doubt but that these astronomical wages and salaries percolated downwards from the professional class whose greed knew no boundaries and a legitimate expectation amongst the population grew that they too could aspire and become entitled parry passu.
What a just and fair Government would do is to help people keep the roofs over their heads,totally ban evictions from family homes,full stop,ensure that everybody has enough to survive ,stimulate employment,eliminate suicide and mass emigration and abolish the dead hand of the excessive bureacrats so that those with the drive to self help are not twarthed at every hand'd turn.
But we have not got that Government
.Quite the opposite.
 

KIlmessan V Dunderry adult Hurtling. 2/3/2014

We played Kilmessan's second team today in Kilmessan.

Team.
                                                        Davy Gilkenson

Davy Stephens                             Brendan Wright                              Aran Feeney

Jordan Martin                               Ted Dowd                                     Conor Dempsey

                                   Liam Dempsey                Conor Farrell

Stefan Clarke                                  Dylan Keenan                              Lukie Martyn

Kit Harrington                                 Johnny Moran                                        Alex Walshe

Introduced,.Stephen Coogan,Joey Martyn,Mikey Dowdall,Christopher Fitzgerald and Alan Casey and  I may have missed a few in the blizzard.
We are a team in transition .Not only are we in transition mode but all the older lads bar Ted were either sick or injured. Ted would be nearly twice the age of most of the guys who made their debut.I know that a lot of our exiles read the blog to stay in touch with home.So I'll put into context some of the names to try and connect to their people.Aaron Feeney and Lukie and Joey Martin are grand sons of Tom Feeney from Meadstown.There is no pull back in either of them.Young Tom Feeney knew no fear either so its not off the ground Aaron licked it and his mother is a Kennedy from Trim..Auld Tom didn't play as far as I know so it may be a Larkin thing or maybe it came from Gus for his sons Joey and Lukie ,but Gus played very little if at all.Any how these guys know no fear and that is a  good starting point.
Dermot Dempsey ,now a selector,was fairly brave.I know as I played alongside him in years gone by.His sons Liam and Conor share this quality and it would be augmented from their mother's side the Henry's and John and to a lesser extent Kit donned the Dunderry jersey with distinction while yielding the caman.
Johnny Moran is a son of Catty Dowd a sister of Tommy and Ted.Dylan Keenan is a son of Tommy and Breda Gough,Kit Harrington's ma Lucy yielded the caman with Kilmessan, Brendan Wright was forged in the plains of Offally ,Davy Gilkenson in the heat of the North,Jordan in the land of full and plenty Dublin,Stefan in Kilcooley of this Parish am Alex is from the Black Road in this Parish .Davy is my son.Conor is the youngest son of the Bomber Farrell of Moymet fame and Josie Sheridan.
Anyhow a razor blade wouldn't need replacing too often with some of our debutaunts .Alex in his first adult match showed well early on and scored two good points.Lukie later scored two good goals,
under the watchful eye of referee Masterson ,who gave his usual impeccable exhibition of the art of the whistler in conditions that bordered on the Baltic.We had cold ,we had driving rain ,we had hailstones.A pitch that was good at the start cut up badly and it is to the credit of both teams that they stuck it to the end .
We started well ,finished better and won all the tussles in between.Every line of the field was won by us and everybody played adequately ,at least,given the oppressive conditions and the lack of hurling practise so far. I lost score but we won by a distance. (Actually 3-11 to 1-4 )
Conditions militated against thickey hurling and the standard was not the highest.But the commitment was excellent and there was nera a coward on the field,on either side.
Full marks for effort all round and it is great to see that the rivalry between ourselves and KIlmessan is as keen as ever.
Two points in the bag.Onwards and upwards.