Denis O'Brien - The 'Voldemort' of modern Ireland.

On December 10th I along with tens of thousands of ordinary Irish people took part in the 'No to Water Charges' protest in Dublin. It was a joy to be part of a mass demonstration of people of all ages that was more than just about the imposition of another stealth tax. Rather it represented the last straw for citizens throughout Ireland who they have finally said "Enough is Enough”.

The last two governments have implemented a string of austerity cuts to pay for the gambling debts of greedy anti-patriotic bankers and property speculators. Yet those who have bankrupt the country are allowed to get off scot free for committing the biggest crime in the history of the Irish state whilst hundreds of thousands of Irish men and women have as a result lost their jobs, their homes or have emigrated. The fabric of many families were torn apart. For some individuals it was too much to bear and they took their lives.

But the people protesting have not forgotten or forgiven those who are responsible for their pain.

It was very noticeable that coverage by the mainstream print and television media of the huge protest deliberately avoided any mention of the anger directed by demonstrators towards tax exile Denis O'Brien, the man whom the tax-payer funded (€200millions) Moriarty Tribunal found had undermined the Irish body politic. Yet it is he who owns the company that won the contract to install meters for Irish Water!

It is obvious then that because of his omnipotent power (in Newstalk, Today FM. Irish Independent, Topaz...) and his payments to politicians and political parties, the media, Fianna Fáil and the government are too afraid to condemn him. Like Voldemort in Harry Potter, he is the man Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

The Irresponsible Few

However one noticeably dark element of the protest was the actions of a very tiny number of idiots who later on blocked O’Connell Street Bridge for hours thus inconveniencing many people working in the city and stopping thousands of protestors from leaving Dublin to get home to Galway, Waterford, Sligo and elsewhere. I myself went over to talk to them, pointed out that I too was a protestor and wished like many others to get on buses that could not move because of their actions.. A few of them gave me a tirade of abuse and threatened to physically assault me. It was obvious that all they were looking for was a confrontation with the police, which would have only damaged the No to Water Charges campaign and undermined all the positivity of the protest.

Standing Up Against Those Who are Robbing our Natural Resources & Impoverishing our People.

Yesterday, I joined the Galway march against water charges. It was exhilarating to be part of a vibrant community of people of all ages from all backgrounds who are prepared to stand up to the anti-people anti-patriotic establishment who are intent on turning our natural resources into commodities that hard-working people are now forced to purchase in order to pay off the gambling debts of greedy bankers and speculators.

Those that benefit from the water charges are those that bankrupted Ireland in 2008 and led to over 200,000 people being forced to emigrate, hundreds of thousands losing their jobs, their family homes and their families.
Those that benefit are people like the unscrupulous Denis O'Brien, who the taxpayer-funded Moriarty Tribunal stated made payments to politicians for favours and who in the process undermined our democratic institutions, but yet this Fine Gael and Labour government is too afraid to bring to justice.
By failing to initiate action against Denis O'Brien and Michael Lowry, Labour has sold out on the principles of its socialist founders.

The Sad Case of Irish Water: Robin Hood in Reverse- Stealing from the Poor to Pay the Rich.

 
Gene Kerrigan in today's Sunday Independent (Oct 19th 2014) is so perceptive in his analysis of the Irish Water debacle. Check out the article

Through the establishment of the semi-state company Irish Water, the government is starting the process of robbing a national public resource for the benefit of a small elite. The civil servants transferred to the company continue the tradition of what they were used to in the 'public' service by getting taxpayer-funded regular bonuses for doing nothing special; politically-connected consultants get millions in fees paid for once again by the taxpayer. Then at the end of it all, we will probably find a national resource taken from us & privatised for the benefit of business people who are close to the political establishment, an example of the cosy old boys network that looks after each other so well.
People like tax exile Denis O'Brien, who was found by the taxpayer funded The Sad Case of Irish Water: Robin Hood in Reverse- Stealing from the Poor to Pay the Rich.
Gene Kerrigan in today's Sunday Independent is so right. Thru Irish Water, the government is starting the process of robbing a national public resource for the benefit of a small elite. The civil servants transferred to the company continue the tradition of what they were used to in the 'public' service by getting taxpayer-funded regular bonuses for doing nothing special; politically-connected consultants get millions in fees paid for once again by the taxpayer. Then at the end of it all, we will probably find a national resource taken from us & privatised for the benefit of business people who are close to the political establishment, an example of the cosy old boys network that looks after each other so well.
People like tax exile Denis O'Brien, who was found by the taxpayer funded Moriarty Tribunal to have corrupted Irish politics, could well benefit. The Irish Water saga has shown that 'Cronyism' paid for by hard earned money taken from you and me (the little people) is alive and well in Ireland. to have corrupted Irish politics, could well benefit. The Irish Water saga has shown that 'Cronyism' paid for by hard earned money taken from you and me (the little people) is alive and well in Ireland.