Is this really our country?

Is there no end to the crimes committed by the Church and State? The horror of the institutionalised rape, slavery and crimes against children carried out in Ireland is almost too much. Few read the reports of the investigations finally carried out on what actually happened to survivors of child abuse and the children interned in industrial schools. Since the foundation of the Republic of Ireland in 1921, Church and State have treated certain children as disposable, as less than human.

Since the publication of the Ryan report on industrial schools and the Murphy report on child sexual abuse within the diocese of Dublin, revelations on the treatment of Irish citizens in the twentieth century by the Church and State have undermined everything we believed about ourselves. And the revelations keep coming.

The Primate of All Ireland Sean Brady covered up the rape of children by paedophile Brendan Smyth allowing him to continue raping children for a further nineteen years. The publication of this information has not led to his resignation but rather to his adopting the persona of a “wounded healer”. This persona allows him to continue in his position and treat survivors of the Catholic Church’s brutality with utter contempt. His "wounding" is the discovery of his coverup.

Then there is the systematic mutilation of women by doctors both through symphysiotomy and corrupt individuals wielding a scalpel. There was no oversight because doctors were “self-regulating”. And the medical scandals have not ceased - unread x rays, trolleys, cancer misdiagnosis, surgeons removing the wrong kidney.

Now, we find out that children were used in medical experiments. These children were not those living at home with parents. These were children in mother and baby homes and industrial schools. Members of religious orders gave "consent", violating numerous ethical codes including that of Nuremberg, which was drawn up in the aftermath of the Nazi behaviour in concentration camps.

All of this was done by Irish people, ordinary Joe and Jane Soap. Our uncles, aunts, friends, parents participated or knew what was going on. We are all complicit. What sort of a fucked up country is this? The human rights violations continue on - children in care left on the street, rat infested schools, children in adult psychiatric wards and the children in care disappearing by the hundreds.

Something has to be done. The Murphy inquiry needs to be expanded to cover all dioeses. Victims who did not survive the industrial schools need to be identified and cause of death established. Serious reform or possible abolition of the HSE. The state needs to acknowledge ALL the human rights violations. Offering resignations is not enough. Firing, followed by criminal charges is a beginning.

Ireland has been a republic for less than 100 years and already we have violated human rights on an unprecedented scale. What sort of people are we?

Happy birthday to you

... my dear contraceptive pill. Without you I would have had to live with years of pain once a month. Without you, I would have not have been able to get out of bed with the anemia. Without you, I might have gotten pregnant when I was raped. During consensual sex you were my back up plan, should the condom break or leak.

You are still only available on prescription because the balding middle age white men who take the decisions are not willing to relinquish control of women's bodies. The logic is, if girls are afraid of getting pregnant, they won't have sex. As if pregnancy was just another "I told you so". As if having consensual sex was a bad thing.

There is a direct correlation between lack of comprehensive sex education and teenage pregnancy. If schools taught that girls are supposed to feel pleasure too, it would be another tool in the box of "stand up for what you want". Girls should not be put in the position of gatekeepers to the precious vagina always saying no. Mutual respect and informed consent is a more pragmatic approach.

But the medical profession prefers to be thought of as gods dispensing wisdom from on high, reserving the right to scold women as being foolish little girls, especially in the case of the morning after pill. Firstly, you got to pay €50 to see the doctor. Then put up with the lecture. Eventually you get the prescription and then pay the extortionate pharmacy fees. In plenty of other European countries, anyone can walk into a pharmacy and buy the morning after pill over the counter.

Then again Ireland has never taken a pragmatic approach to any issue. Ireland legislates for the population it wants, not the population it has. That's why the measures taken never work.

What are we?

Joyce called it the general paralysis of the insane. Some say it's the post colonialism thing. Why do we not protest? I went to the Tralee demo a few weeks ago and I was the only one. There were only a few people out in Dublin. Why are we letting the government pay for Quinn and Seanie's gambling debts? Why do we reelect politicians exposed as corrupt? Why?

Oh we go into the streets on a non-issue like head shops. We'll call Liveline and complain to Joe Duffy about whatever the news of the day is. But when is comes to actually doing anything, the best we can come up with is a dirty look?

The Greeks are in the streets. The British are in the streets. The French are always in the streets. Where are the Irish?

I find the lack of action on the Catholic Church repulsive. Why is Brady still a prince of the church after covering up child abuse? Why are the religious orders named in the Ryan report still in charge of education? Why are their lands not seized and used to pay compensation?

We let our daughters be enslaved by the nuns because they had sex, were raped or looked too pretty. We put our children into religious reform schools, where they were beaten, raped, starved, murdered and traumatised. We exported our pedophile priests all over the world. Chances are that if you heard about a priest raping kids in other countries, that priest would be from an Irish order.

What does that make us? What does our lack of action make us?

Why?

A caveat: if the following does not apply to you, don’t make it about you.

Demonstrations were organised in the major towns in Ireland for high noon on 24 April. It was not being organised by a political party or interest group, union or society institution. It is just a group of people who want a general election.

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

A gentle revolution of the wheel to permit the people of Ireland to choose their leaders. It is the democratic way of the world. Violent revolution never really worked for us.

Most people are feeling the knock on effects of the global recession and the treacherous actions of our cowardly, parochial government. With pay cuts, tax hikes, job losses, home losses, small businesses folding and cuts in social welfare, most people have personally felt the recession. Many feel angry, worried, or despondent or apathetic.

Since 2008, the failures of the Irish Government to regulate the banks, curb their expenses or prosecute white collar criminals mount week on week. Disability allowances, carer’s allowances and blind allowances have been cut. Public sector wages have been cut. Almost half a million, mostly private sector workers, have lost their jobs. Zombie banks stalk the land, gobbling the cost of running the country. And the same people are in power. Not a single member of the government has resigned for incompetence. There have been resignations over expenses, perjury and interference in an official investigation but not a single resignation over the fundamental inability to fulfill the terms of employment.

I think most people know that no one can shame or embarrass members of the current government into resigning, regardless of their incompetence, bad judgment or corruption.

• Michael Woods indemnified the religious orders and negotiated immunity for child rapists, torturers and slavers.

• Batt O Keeffe referred to the Magdalen slaves as employees

• Conor Lenihan used racist slurs in public

• Mary O Rourke used racist slurs in public
• Mary Couglan topped up Rody Molley's pension and refused to fire him for the FAS debacle
• Brian Lenihan included Anglo in the state guarentee without assessment. His actions are why Ireland is in the economic mess
• Dermot Ahern decides policy based on his personal extremist Catholic beliefs: introducing the crime of Blasphemous Libel and in 2006 assuring the pope that there would be no funding for stem cell research in Ireland
• Mary Harney is privatising our health services pushing costs up. She is also responsible for the creation of the HSE which is unaccountable to the public
• Noel Dempsey did nothing during the snow crisis. He was on holidays
• John O Donaghue resigned the office of Ceann Comhairle but remains a TD despite lavish expenses abroad and constant flying between Dublin and Kerry with his garda driver bringing the limo at Kerry airport to collect him and his wife
• Willie O Dea committed slander and perjury and is still a TD
• Bertie Ahern is still a TD after he signed away the sovereign rights to our natural resources; told those warning about the property crash to commit suicide; told TV3 that leading the parliamentary party was like being in a concentration camp. And I haven’t even recalled all his goings on in Galway tents, involvement with tribunals and perjury.

The members of this Government are unshameable. They represent the epitome of privilege - private law. There is one law for us and one law for them.

This makes me angry. And I believe it makes other people angry too. Liveline usually has a plethora of callers complaining about lack of credit, losing jobs, losing houses and all of those tiny personal tragedies that have no influence on society as a whole or even make meaningful examples. It's one of the reasons that I hate Liveline. The show is a lightning conductor for anger and fear which dissipates at three o'clock.

As I mentioned there was a demonstration today - a call for action. Tralee was my nearest venue so I took the time and petrol and drove the hour to Tralee. What I found did not surprise me but it did dishearten me.

No protest, demo or call to action. What does it take for people to get out and show that they want something else? Are people happy with the government we have? All the statistics and opinion polls say no.

Whereas when the issue is something utterly trivial, like head shops, the people are up in arms firebombing and waving placards.

(thanks to @kerryview for the pic)

The government is not some scary totalitarian nightmare. It is made up of the people we put in place. It can be deconstructed. Every voter has power. But that power must be exercised. Yes we can change how this country is run. So why are people so reluctant to protest?

• It might be the postcolonialism thing that we naturally never discuss.
• Is it the general paralysis of the insane  to which Joyce referred
• Is it just that we don't bother with protests unless mandated to by unions or highlighting the human desire to escape

I dunno. I find the whole thing makes me heartsick. People are not willing to take action but they are willing to complain endlessly about what over people should be doing. Because of that attitude, Ireland will spend a long time in this recession.

After today I want to quit this unequal, parochial, corrupt Catholic shithole. The majority do not have the same rights and services as the minority who use who they know to play unfairly. That applies to everything from planning to employment contracts. The rules are there for a fucking reason. That reason is equality for all. If X and Y want to apply for a grant but Y knows the local councillor, regardless of circumstances or resources Y will get that grant. My local councillor told me on the doorstep while canvassing to contact him with anything that needed fixing. The implication was clear.

I don't understand why people are still going to mass said by those bishops who covered up child abuse. Anyone who is capable of shielding a child rapist is capable of anything. Why has nothing happened? Why are the men in black allowed to rape children with impunity? Why did the state agree to the Woods abomination of an agreement?

I just wish that people cared, just a little bit. Now I'm going to get drunk.

Patrick's Day: what the hell?

I've a new post on GlobalComment

“You say Saint Patty’s
And I say Saint Paddy’s
Let’s call the whole thing off.”

Chances are that somewhere near you is celebrating the 17 March. From Dili to Tucúman, from Nairobi to Wasila, people celebrate the patron saint of Ireland. But do they really?

Who was this guy? No one knows whether he was from Britain or France. We do know that he was a slave in the mountains for seven years, eating what the pigs ate. A more humble life might be difficult to find. Aided by a mysterious voice he escaped the land of the Gael, but he returned years later to Christianise Pagan Ireland.

Little is known about his mission. All accounts of his doings were chronicled after his death. The only primary accounts are two letters written by Patrick, in which he declares that he “baptised thousands of people”, ordained priests to continue his work and targeted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition, and the sons of kings. *

If this was not enough to cement his mission, Patrick reputedly banished the snakes, used the natural flora to explain the Holy Trinity and even baptised one of Ireland’s greatest warriors, Oisín mac Fionn, after his return from Tír na nÓg.

It does make one wonder about the steadfastness of the Irish to yield their gods so quickly, while not under the threat of arms. Although since all remaining documents are accounts kept by the early Irish Christian Church, there is room for a little scepticism. Naturally 17 March is a holy day of obligation in Irish Catholicism – a day for solemn reflection and mass going.


Continue reading here...


* Thomas Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge, 2000)

Yerra kiss me, amn't I Oirish

Bheul, top of de mornin' to ye my good fella. Would you be buyin' a shamrock off me, wouldya?

Unbelievable right? Tom Cruise in Far and Away that utter piece of shite. Could not believe my ears when I let the News at One overrun to Liveline and was assailed by the whining and moaning of Oirish people objecting to the use of the four leaf clover in place of the shamrock in an ad for a shopping centre. Plastic Paddies the lot of them.

Feeling patriotic now or just ridiculous?

The legend of St Patrick is one to be valued. The coming of Christianity to Ireland and the preservation of the ancient stories by monks has greatly enriched our cultural heritage.

The shamrock was used by St Patrick to demonstrate the Holy Trinity. He could just as well have chosen a three leaf clover. In fact he probably did, considering that it is far more widespread than shamrock. And getting upset about a flour leaf clover is mystifying. It's a pleasant enough plant.

I think the underlying offence was the perceived kowtowing to johnny foreigner and the constant enemy of Political Correctness. In fevered imaginations they are stealing our culture, jobs, money and now they want to take our jingoism. In this imagination, one should be allowed to beat one's wife, send one's children to the parish priest to be raped, send one's daughters to be slaves to hide the shame of her forced pregnancy and worship the bishops as gods. That's not the Ireland I want.

We tore our ancient gods down and turned them into a joke we flaunt on St Patrick's Day. We turned criminals into gods. The green of Patrick's Day is unnatural and jingoistic. Patrick used an image from nature. We laugh at our ancient gods.

Slick Willie

The poor Minister for Limerick lied under oath. Now Slick Willie is free to spend 75% of his current salary for having his ass on a seat in the Dail. His political highlights include

• losing the Dell jobs
• starting a bar brawl
• pointing a gun at a journalist
• slandering an Irish citizen

Blood sports *yawn*

From the Irish Times

Outside the venue, a small group of about 25 protesters from various animal rights groups held posters and banners deploring the event. The Irish Council Against Blood Sports issued a statement saying they found it “incredible that in this, the year 2010, in a so-called civilised country, such a barbaric activity, having its origins in the Roman amphitheatres, still prevails”.

I'm so bored with the anti blood sports protests. They are fundamentally flawed and run by people who differentiate between those worth saving and those not, based on their "cuteness".

Hares and stags are to be protected for they are innocent at heart and full of nobility. But the humble rat? Where is protection for such a large supplier of meat for human consumption? The cockroach is another being that is reviled by those who love the fluffy bunnies and not entitled to protection based on its appearance.

Campaigning for animals based on the emotions they inspire is unequal and discriminatory. It should be an all or nothing approach.

Also nature is cruel.

Ireland and abortion: something’s got to give

My latest from GlobalComment:

Catholic morals were deeply embedded in Irish society by the theocracy from which Ireland is only now beginning to shake itself loose. Since the middle of the nineteeth century, the Catholic Church took on those responsibilities of the state that were surrendered by England, primarily those concerning education and health.

The Church’s position was solidified after Irish independence, and while the 1937, Constitution granted freedom of religion, it also recognised the “special position of the Holy Catholic Apostolic and Roman Church.” Catholicism and nationalism were tightly linked in the struggle for Irish freedom.

The dominion of the Catholic Church led to the culture of silence around the torture, rape and slavery of children and women by religious congregations and clerics. It was only in the 1970s, with the rise of feminism and freer economic policies, that the iron fist of the Catholic Church loosened around the collective neck of the Irish people.

Continue reading here

Reality check

Today is the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade in the US. That was the decision to legalise abortion. Screaming fundie so-called prolifers have tried to overturn it but with little success.

In Ireland, there is also abortion. We don't talk about it. It's not covered by the media. It's difficult to access and only available to those with disposable income or the ability to get credit. And in this economy, who has access to these?

Women travel to the UK. Women get on buses, boats and planes to get a safe legal abortion. However, because of the secrecy, the stigma, the lies about post-abortion syndrome, the violent protesters, and the stench of corrupted Catholic morality lingering in most homes in Ireland, she goes it alone. No support, no counselling and no trust.

Women deserve better. Listen to Sonya Renee on the subject.


What We Deserve



Aside from the facetious "killing babies" argument, spun by those who beat, tortured and raped children in their care, the principle argument against legalising abortion is that women who use it as a form of contraception and have sex with just anyone.

This argument springs from a paternalistic desire to control women's sexuality and choice. It posits the woman as a child and the advocate as just doing what's best for the woman because she cannot be trusted to make decisions about her own body. It is time, long past time that women's rights are respected as human rights. Women have the right to control their bodies. We have been doing it for centuries. I've written more on the subject here.

Historically women used herbs, potions or physical damage to terminate a pregnancy. (Indeed even today I know a woman who used an old Irish recipe to make sure she wouldn't get pregnant.) Pennyroyal, Black Cohosh, blue cohosh and juniper berries have all been used as abortificants but some work by poisoning those who ingest the herbs.

Safe and legal abortions is what is necessary. Criminalising abortion does not prevent abortion. Criminalisating abortion means that it is more difficult and costly to terminate a pregnancy and that people may resort to dangerous methods to do so.

But attitudes are changing. The stigma is lessening:

Some 60% of young people want abortion legalised here, it has emerged.

According to a Red C poll in today's Irish Examiner, 10% of 18-34 year olds have been involved in a relationship where an abortion took place.

The only difference is that people are now reporting that they are pro choice. People want to live in a modern secular European democracy. Only with the waning of the power and stranglehold of Catholic Church has that become a real possibility.

There is one proven way to reduce the number of abortions and that is a two pronged strategy. Firstly, give children good sex education, rather than the stuttering "no one will marry you if you are not a virgin" rubbish that currently is being inflicted upon 17 year old students. It is too little and way way too late.

The second element of the strategy is to make contraception easily available and inexpensive. The price of condoms, the pill and other methods is ridiculous. In fact, Ireland is the most expensive country in the world for condoms. The morning after pill still requires a visit to the GP and the obligatory offensive"irresponsible behaviour lecture" by the doc and the pharmacist.

It's time to talk about the reality. These vids were made by the The Safe and Legal (in Ireland) Abortion Rights Campaign. Watch them.







Now you can take important action with them. The Campaign give you a number of options.

If you are interested in a more international campaign check out Make noise for free choice.

Listowel: rape apology that the rest of Ireland will not tolerate

I've a new post up on GlobalComment:

A figure sits shivering in the drafty courthouse. She is only twenty two, alone except for the counsellor from the Rape Crisis Clinic. She waits for the judge to enter and sentence the man who sexually assaulted her. She must give her victim impact statement, and maybe then, she can concentrate on healing and taking care of herself. The courtroom door opens to reveal a line of men and women. Danny Foley, in the defence chair, receives condolences, handshakes and some tears while she, the state witness, the young woman who was found drugged and half naked by the police, gets dirty looks.

Continue reading here.

Bad apples or a bad barrel? Sexual abuse and the Irish Catholic Church

I've a new post on GlobalComment:

Resignations of bishops is the issue of the day in the Irish Catholic Church. The initial shock of the Murphy Report has worn off, probably because many who opine on its contents have not taken the trouble to read it. I think there is a danger in demanding resignations, not that any demands have been forthcoming, because the Report contains merely a sample of cases. Resignation, as opposed to dismissal, is an ideological move, and the whole issue smacks of the “few bad apples” mentality.

The “bad apples” argument is the preferred argument when it comes to discussing widespread abuse. It allows institutions to choose a few scapegoats. The institution, in this scenario, does not have to consider the role it played in facilitating evil or contemplate greater responsibility for the unfolding of abuse.

In The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil (Random House, 2007), Philip Zimbardo, the coordinator of the Stanford Prison Experiment, investigates the idea that a hierarchical institution itself creates the environment that allows abuse to flourish. The conclusions he reaches are applicable to the attitudes of the Vatican and the Irish Catholic Church upon the revelation of widespread serious sexual assault and rape in the Murphy Report and the torture, violence, sexual assault and rape in the Ryan Report.

Zimbardo suggests that there are seven social processes that may trigger evil:

Taking the first step, dehumanisation of others; de-individuation of the self; diffusion of personal responsibility; blind obedience of authority; uncritical conformity to group norms; and passive tolerance to evil through inaction or indifference.

Each of these social processes can be easily applied to the Irish Catholic Church:

The priestly uniform allowing de-individuation; the unquestioning obedience to Rome and the bishops; the lack of responsibility to the victims of the church; the lack of oversight in every area; the passive tolerance of abuse; and the dehumanisation of the children in the industrial schools through excessive use of force and in the parishes through insurance policies, unjust authority and the culture of silence.

The church in Ireland not only passively tolerated the abuse, but also actively moved the criminals from parish to parish while covering up the details of the crimes in question. This is active evil. The decision to hide a paedophile priest in the boot of a car and drive him to another town was a resolute act to shield a criminal. In addition, it shows that the allegiance was to the institution regardless of the legalities of the situation. The current Pope, meanwhile, instructed bishops not to reveal the crimes to civil authorities. Only those who are severely in denial could allow a “bad apples” argument to stand in the face of such actions.

The conspiracy of silence was aided by the power structures in place. The Catholic Church were the de facto morality police, condemning sins from the pulpit; condemning, for example, sexuality and contraception. The priest’s word or deed was never questioned. The extent to which priests enjoyed immunity was revealed in the Murphy Report. The police dropped investigations of sexual abuse accusations against priests even when corroborating evidence was available. Zimbardo says that power without oversight is a prescription for abuse, and that statement has been played out in the parishes and industrial schools throughout Ireland.

Business as usual will not cut the mustard. To date, nothing has changed within the power structures of the church. However, civil society has changed. With the decline of the church’s influence, survivors of sexual abuse, rape and torture are in a position to seek legal redress. Such action was nigh on impossible until recently, considering that the Irish government has been complicit in covering up abuse, limiting liability for the clergy and acting cravenly in the face of clear violations.

The bottom line is that the institution that is the Catholic Church has not taken responsibility for the environment that it created and maintained. Even now, after two reports that contain graphic descriptions of evil, the church fathers speak through public relations representatives and lawyers. Mealy-mouthed apologies abound, but there is no sense of understanding for the suffering of survivors or the extent to which this evil was allowed to flourish.

Every priest who knew and did not report was complicit. Every bishop that did not pass on information to the police, the Vatican or the priests in the abuser’s next diocese was complicit. Every police officer who dropped an investigation or sent complainants away or returned runaway children to industrial schools was complicit. The state that colluded through apathy and inaction, sending children to industrial schools, and allowing the church such unchecked power was complicit.

Many Irish people want to know what is next in terms of the punishment of the guilty. To my mind, there are a couple of Bible verses that would suggest themselves.

It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

- Luke 17:2

Break thou the arm of the wicked and the evil man: seek out his wickedness till thou find none.

- Psalm 10:15

Strike

Murphy Report: will ANYONE resign over child abuse in Dublin archdiocese?

I have a new post up at GlobalComment

Matthew 25:40 Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Last week, the Report by Commission of Investigation into Catholic Archdiocese of Dublin was published. It sent shock waves through the country. Although there were warnings about the content before the publication, it was worse than anyone could imagine. I have previously written about the revelations of torture, violence and rape in the Ryan Report. The Murphy Report, as it is commonly called, is just as revealing. It details the sexual abuse and rape of children by 102 priests in the archdiocese of Dublin.

Continue reading here...

The bitter fallout of France vs. Ireland

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Ireland’s final hopes to participate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup were dashed when Thierry Henry scored a goal in extra time. It is widely acknowledged that the Irish team played well and perhaps deserved to go to the World Cup, but the referee called the goal for the French side. This has proved to be incredibly controversial, because Henry’s hand touched the ball just before his goal. Henry admitted as much after the match.

Damien Duff wept in the changing rooms while the Irish people wept in houses and bars across the land. Interviews were conducted on radio and television with every pundit and family member the media could lay their hands on. The country rang with the sound of outraged voices about robbery, rematch and revenge. Many Irish people have taken the handball as a personal slight and for the first time, some Irish people are sympathising with the British over their exit from the 1986 FIFA World Cup because of Maradona’s Hand of God.

Read more...

Irish Times unaware of the meanings of words

From the IT

A RESIDENT of Roscommon has been jailed for four years by Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court for repeatedly having sex with and indecently assaulting his younger sister in the 1980s.

It's not sex, it's rape.

Perhaps it's time for a new editor.

Dead politicians walking

This is the end, my only friend the end... The future of Ireland contains the debt of banks and it will be decades before the coffers will fill. NAMA is about to awaken - the wolf that will devour our money, healthcare and education systems, pensions and future.

And there was a chance to stop NAMA. Green party members were balloted. They could have voted it down - voted down legislation that Dr Joseph Stiglitz called criminal. But there was no enlightened self-interest at that vote. Instead Fianna Fáil lite voted to ensure that not a single Green will get elected in the next few decades.



Dead politicians walking. In exchange for conceding NAMA, the Greens got nothing but aspirational bullshit. Words like recommend, advise, consider, examine etc. are not hard commitments, they are wishy washy feelgood bullshit to make pretty with the Greens.

They have no idea how to play hardball. Ironically they are both naive and evil. Gormley looks perpetually bewildered. Ryan's gone over to the dark side. Are there any other Greens? Not so as you'd notice.

There is no money in the kitty and there's nothing in the PFG about protecting the vulnerable. The Greens have sold the country out in exchange for power.  It's a poor strategy - short term gain at the expense of the future. Political lilliputians.

No jail time for child abuser maybe because he's an award-winning author?

According to Judge Moran, the abuser's needs supersede the victim's rights. What a wonderful fucking justice system

Desmond Hogan has been given a two-year suspended jail sentence, placed on the sex offenders register and ordered not to have unsupervised contact with children after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy...

“This is a very serious matter . . . this was an incident with a young boy who was under age, it’s completely unacceptable, it was an abuse of a relationship between a young boy and a considerably older man,” Judge Moran said.

However, he believed society would benefit more from Hogan continuing with his treatment than from sending him to jail where he might meet like-minded people serving sentences for similar offences.

“He is a person with a complex make-up and if he continues his underlying therapeutic treatment, in all the circumstances, society is probably better served than if he is sent to jail,” Judge Moran said.

Bloody "eurocracts"

I am sick to the teeth of hearing about Brussels elite and eurocracts. Do people who reduce the EU to the evil empire really believe it? Do they do any fucking research? Do they believe the utter untruths spouted by Coir and others?



The so-called elite is made up of international civil servants from all over the EU including Ireland. Yes there are Irish employees among the "elites".

If you want out of the EU that's fine but you've more of a chance of succeeding if you vote yes. This is because it organises the EU coherently.


moar funny pictures

You know it should be really called the Dublin Treaty because the vast majority was negotiated in Dublin by Irish civil servants.

I heart Deputy Burton