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.
