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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaNnWh5bshA
SINN FÉIN AND Fianna Fáil have both outlined concerns about this afternoon’s Budget announcement before Michael Noonan has even taken to his feet.
Commenting on the various leaks to the media about what will be announced later, Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said that “it’s going to be a very unfair Budget”.
A short time later the Fianna Fáil health spokesperson Billy Kelleher raised concerns about the proposal to introduce a free GP card for children under 5, a measure confirmed by Noonan this morning.
Kelleher raised concerns that free doctors’ visits for young children could come at the expense of others:
YouTube: Hugh O’Connell
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Love this lady!!
@Paul Jude Redmond: The English don’t care what she has to say. She received a lukewarm applause, even though she spoke the truth. In the DUP heartland, she would have heard crickets or nothing. We need a United Ireland to solve both the short term and long term effects of British rule. People who ignorantly purport we cant afford a United Ireland need to understand how much a hard Brexit this year or at some point in the future will cost us.
@DaMoons: she’s not the only American datinge this in fact their own senators have stated the same.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: I’ve already contacted my 2 state senators and my congresswoman to let them know as an Irish American voter I don’t want Congress ratifying any potential US-UK trade deal unless the UK lives up to its commitments under the GFA.
Many of my other ex-pat friends are doing the same.
@DaMoons:
The UK voted for Brexit and the US voted for Trump without knowing the financial impact and likely consequences. They trusted their politicians to have already done this and to tell the truth. How wrong were they?
Let’s not make the same mistake. We have waited for a United Ireland for a long time so let’s do it right.
Let’s work out the cost and the consequences, with EU and USA independent oversight and seek appropriate financial recompense from the UK to take on onboard our fellow Irish people and the failed entity created by the UK, aka, Northern Ireland. We can make this right but as a country with one of the largest debt burdens in the world we need to be smart.
Tóg go bog é agus in am ar bith tiocfaidh ár muintear agus ár airgead!
@Diaspora’d: I’m sure they’ll listen to you.
@MJF Consultants: Good Lord, are you drunk?
@Charles Alexander: Apparently they are. Thanks
@DaMoons: it’s not that easy to make United ireland
@Diaspora’d:
We’ll see. Thanks
@MJF Consultants: please don’t have United States oversight until this a**h**e (the funky gibbon) is kicked out off the White House
@Charles Alexander: No need to be snide. He’a doing his bit
@Diaspora’d: this is what we need – the Irish diaspora having their voices heard and making their views known – the Irish/2nd generation in Britain are also a huge percentage of the population – speak up. Thank you
@Charles Alexander: I don’t think drunk would explain it. Brainwashed with a warped sense of Faith and Fatherland would be closer to the truth. The kind of mental disorder that assumes everyone in the south is fixated on taking control of the backyard basket case that is Northern Ireland.
@DaMoons: She got a luke warm applause because she told the truth and didn’t pander to their sensitivities and their desire to have their tummies rubbed
@Will Hamilton: speak for yourself, I personally will sing in the streets with the tricolor wrapped around me when it happens.
Ironic that an American born person knows more about Ireland than our nearest neighbours. What does that say?
@Eamonn Byrne: that’s not what ironic means
@Jesus Christ: Troll
@DaMoons: That’s not what troll means either. He’s right the word ironic was used incorrectly, everyone still understood what was meant though.
@Eamonn Byrne: Maybe more than yourself
@Jesus Christ: You’ve hit the nail on the hand there JC
@Paul Linehan: and got his point a cross
@Eamonn Byrne: What our nearest neighbour has fermented worldwide is a longing for a long lost murderous empire. Since the foundation of this state (certainly would not refer to it as a Republic) Irish conservatives replaced British conservatives. We Owe Then Nothing.
@páraicS: He nailed it..
@Diarmuid Hunt: Situational irony occurs when the actual result of a situation is totally different from what you’d expect the result to be. Why is it not ironic?
@Eamonn Byrne: No surprise considering they don’t cover Ireland in their history. Bit like the Japanese not teaching about their role in WW2, sweep it under the carpet.
@Sean: Why would you expect the result to be different? That’s a very simplistic view, Britain has had more dealings with Ireland than the USA, but the USA has had more meaningful dealings and higher appreciation of Ireland with lots of them being of Irish descent.
Having worked with and met so many British people over the years, it never ceases to amaze me as to how ignorant they are about Ireland, its people and its politics. If they have Irish relatives that they keep in touch with they are normally clued in to various degrees but if there is no Irish connection then we might as well be at the far side of the planet.
I used to go to a bar near Kinsale which was my when I visited my parents and used to regularly meet British people over on holidays. To say that they were stunned at the level of knowledge that the locals had about British history, politics and current affairs would be an understatement. In return, you could write the British knowledge about Ireland on the back of a postage stamp. We are apparently a cross between Father Ted and The Quiet Man. GFA,forget about it. Irish history “Wasn’t the a Famine or somfink?”. Why don’t we join the Commonwealth and leave the EU? One lad couldn’t understand why so many NI reg cars were in the area around the 12th of July. When I explained the reason he confessed that he thought that OO parades were like some sort of Patricks Day celebration!
It’s not that they are deliberately ignorant it’s just that they are taught British history through rose coloured glasses. Borris Johnson thinks that the Empire still exists. He even recited parts of “The road to Mandalay” while in Myanmar (Burma) before being told to shut up by a clearly exasperated British Ambassader. I’m surprised he didn’t give us a verse of “The Sash my father wore” the last time he was in Dublin.
It’s this hankering after Empire that has screwed them over Brexit. They are used to being the big boys at the table and can’t handle being the small boys now. It’s like the school bully in 6th class going into secondary school. The status quo has changed and they can’t handle it.
@CBD Suppliers: Well said.
@CBD Suppliers: a perfect summary of ivory tower post imperial delusion. They will now be humiliated and will tear themselves limb from limb because of it. Such is the price paid by deluded conceit when it meets reality.
@CBD Suppliers: just to reiterate that!
@CBD Suppliers: I once educated my geordie bf and his family, who in turn educated most of their street. But it never ceases to amaze me…
Thanks for the read, well said!
@CBD Suppliers:
Having worked in the UK for many years we can honestly say most people knew nothing about Iris/UK history.
When we told them, it opened their minds and probably their hearts.
It was the same in the build up to the Good Friday Agreement. Bertie Ahern and Martin Mansergh used to deliver Irish/UK history lessons to the UK side.
So, do not assume UK citizens know what we take for granted.
We are each ambassadors and educators.
We need to know our history, find an interested audience and speak from the heart.
Honest conversations between ordinary people are the precursors of major change.
@MJF Consultants:
I’m English born living in Dublin for nesrly 20 years.
Over the years, I have met many an Irish person with very little knowledge of Irish history save for a vague understanding of the Famine, the 1916 Uprising and the Civil War – some have confused the Civil War with the War of Independence – quite staggering!!
In the UK, there is no standard period within history that is a curriculum requirement within schools – State and Public. The examination body determine the syllabus.
These range from medieval history to social and economic history.
Irish history post 1916 would be covered in modern history and would mainly be taught at ‘A’ level where subject choices are optional and would then be subject to the examining body who oversee the curriculum.
@John Sullivan: that stuff is working!
@CBD Suppliers: well said. I feel it is a lot to do with their old colonialism culture and education system.
@CBD Suppliers: Ah yes, so Status Quo have changed their political beliefs. I never thrusted that lot since tried to sing and never accomplished it all those years ago
@CBD Suppliers: What an excellent response. Agree with every word. I’m constantly annoyed the level of ignorance of all history, including their own, of British people. But in regards to Ireland, it’s harmful
@CBD Suppliers: You hit that Nail well on the head there!
@CBD Suppliers: a nail well hit on the head there!
I found her very refreshing especially seeing some of the audience with their mouths wide open !
Hopefully she will have got her point across to the british public.
I thought talking sense was banned!
@Colmok: no listening to it is
Bonnie will never ever have to buy a drink in Ireland. Much love to this lady.
She made more sense of Brexit and Ireland than anyone else. Cmon over.
#Bonnie Greer for Taoiseach…..
@Alan Foley:
Get a grip.
@MJF Consultants: Get a sense of humour.
Finally someone who makes sense of brexit and what it is about
Stick it to the Brits. Excellent!
@Joe: Always 1 we need a deal not a win
@bmul: Shame the UK can’t settle on a deal. It is not up to Ireland to capitulate to the UK’s fairytale vision of Brexit. There are harsh, cold realities here, a no deal Brexit will be hugely detrimental to all involved but that is the UK’s choice. The EU drew up a deal with the UK’s red lines, the UK didn’t find it palatable. If the UK want a deal it is them that need to compromise and devise a deal that the EU can accept, it would be better for everybody involved.
Just highlights the ignorance of the UK. They may have voted out but they definitely didn’t understand what was involved. UK politicians are so dismissive of Ireland, I wonder do they even understand the history.
@Mango mango: education has been dumbed down for years in UK – no wonder the country is at a tipping point
@Mango mango: The problem lies with the fact that Irish history is not taught in British schools – I can vaguely remember something about the Corn Laws, and that is just about it. Obviously I have learnt a lot more since living here!
It is very wrong, no, disgraceful, that Irish history is omitted from the school curriculum in the UK mainland, I cannot speak for the Northern Irish schools.
So yes, it is ignorance to some extent on our part……………BUT!!
The people of this Island genuinely need to start having straight conversations about how much a United Ireland will cost vs having another British Customs border splitting us apart. Putting all emotions aside, putting a British border on this small Island with tariffs etc will cost us Billions every year from the outset with an exponential degradation in foreign investment. This is a hard reality. A United Ireland part of the EU really is the only way forward. Every business group in the North is saying a hard Brexit will almost eliminate their community.
@DaMoons: You go up North and get the Unionists on our side so, I wish you luck in your endeavours, you’ll need it.
it’s not that easy to make United ireland
@Gavo: it’s as easy as a stroke of a pen, or the lancing of a boil. there’ll be lots of work to do and care to give but an ireland no longer hobbled after a century will find everything easier.
@Diarmuid Hunt: ya manyak
@HuwOS: Its that easy huh? Wonder why it never happened. Change the flag, probelm sorted? Wrong, new problem created. You dont really understand the North if you think enforcing a United Ireland will help. Will be same troubles, opposing reasons.North needs fixed socially, then anything can happen, not until then though.
@Gavo: who said it would be easy? it’s still the right thing to do
@Diarmuid Hunt: know plenty and they’re slowly coming to the realization that Ireland in the EU is a better prospect than and NI stuck to the side of an isolated Britain. They’re called moderate unionists, forget about the hardliners they’ll never go for it.
Very well said, what a great lady and a friend to Ireland at a time when badly needed
Well…she won’t have to put her hand in her pocket for a pint anywhere in Ireland anyway…with the possible exception of the Carnmoney estate in Newtownabbey…
Just because we don’t owe them anything doesn’t mean we cannot be amicable.
@milton friedman: We are being amicable – show us where we haven’t been. Don’t confuse Ireland’s position of refusing to bend to submission to the detriment of our economy and the GFA with not being amicable. There is a very amicable and amenable Withdrawal Agreement worked around the UK’s red lines.
@milton friedman: besides… do we want to tell them.. ‘yep that’s grand .. u drive on… no sweats.. we believe ye, you’ll sort us out in time, yep’
We are not to be moved.very simple… customs union… or full on back stop.
@milton friedman: Do you not think overwhelmingly voting in favour of the good Friday agreement and discarding our claim over the 6counties, genuinely greeting various members of the Royal family to Ireland, beating england rugby in Croke Park whilest respecting their national anthem and general good feeling towards the British as being amicable enough.
We even went so far as to give them high points in the Eurovision. I think we’ve certainly shown them more regard and consideration than they’ve shown us
I think its about time this was nrought home to most English people totally out of touch with the idea of Irelands sovereignty. There is a myth which sees Ireland somehow beholden to an English Parliament that would sell us out (as before) when their own interests are threatened. The very idea of handing “the keys to slam the door” on the Republin every four years is symptomatic of the British lack of lnowledge of Ireland both politically and commercially. Asking the DUP evert four years for permisiion to trade with out border checks is like giving the keys of the henhouse to the fox.
Very well said, what a great lady and a friend to Ireland at a time when badly needed
This must be the best ever ‘slam dunk’ logic anyone could ever give to the UK government over their stance on the backstop and indeed their ignorance and arrogance on establishing new trade deals in a post-Brexit scenario – Bravo Ms Greer, you nailed it..!
Britain either forgot, didn’t know or didn’t care that it has a land border in Ireland
She spoke with sense, fact, calmly and coherently….something Uk government never had…so therefore the uk public will vilify her
Brexit in the British media is still portrayed as an internal struggle, there’s precious little recognition that the EU is calling all the shots. They’re utterly self obsessed right now.
Regarding the education thing, does any country (other than Germany) teach its school children about the more shameful aspects of its past? Are the Magdalene laundries taught on the junior cert syllabus? Genuine question, I don’t know the answer.
I went to school in the UK and modern history was very US centric. Had a fanatic history teacher but I was taught more about US presidents than about the relationship with Ireland. It’s a weird blind spot.
There are a lot of Brits living here happily in this lovely country. I hope if the shit hits the fan with Brexit that you don’t scoop us all up and put us in death camps. The raging gammon don’t speak for anyone but themselves.
@Hundredth Idiot: We’ve no intention of scooping you anywhere. Read recently that the numbers of British people emigrating to Ireand had surpassed the number of Irish emigrating to the UK for the first time ever.
This will probably be the state of affairs in the immediate future.
And the bit in the article that goes “And it’s a truce because the United States of America and the EU sat down with this country to make it happen” is a big problem for those Brexiteers who have no regard for Ireland and make jokes about the potato famine. If the border situation is in chaos there will be no trade deal with the USA or the EU.
Britain either forgot, didn’t know or didn’t care that it has a land border in Ireland
@Yvonne Ní Shamhrain: there’s an awful echo in this comments section
Her statement was exactly how a large portion of us feel. I have nothing against the UK. But some of them through the years are fairly entitled speaking about our country, like we belong to them and we are their “little brother”. I personally so not care if I’m mocked or challenged for this comment as it has probably haooemed to 80% of Irish people. Elegant, intalectual and always welcome at mine for a cuppa. Fine lady whose speach really hot home to me, and so many others. Bravo.
She’s right, but it’s a pity Ireland can’t stand up on its own two feet without some sort of foreign entity proving us up, first it was the British empire, and now it’s the European Union.
@➕The Gray➕: such rubbish
@➕The Gray➕: your comment is so annoying and ignorant all I can muster is…..
This must be the best ever ‘slam dunk’ logic anyone could ever give to the UK government over their stance on the backstop and indeed their ignorance and arrogance on establishing new trade deals in a post-Brexit scenario – Bravo Ms Greer, you nailed it.!
Who?
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: Bonnie Grier, it’s in the first paragraph
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: Your hilarious…. Not.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan:
Who are you?
Bonnie Greer is a very respected author and playwright as well as a critic and broadcaster. She has lived in the UK for over 30 yrs with her husband.
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: someone with a lot more to say than you Mr “I’ve an Irish surname”
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: There is always one idiot who writes ‘who’ try ot be somewhat original
@Shawn O’Ceallaghan: ouch
@Skybloo: ah yes authors and playwrights , because their opinion matters more than anyone else’s
@Mumpsimus: who said that? … Certainly your lack of ability to discern what a person is saying devalues your opinion. The woman has proven herself to be educated, knowledgeable and intelligent.
@my name: so has Eddie Murphy Shaq O’Neal
@Anthony Doyle: and they use the Irish language to spell their names?
@my name: Shawn O’Ceallaghan is the anglicised version of Séan Ó’Ceallachain, not sure what your point is.
English history books have a lot to do with British peoples ignorance of their past and their neighbours. Probably a good reason for it! as their history in other countries was greed and genocide.
It’s a disgrace how the EU Mafia are treating the people of Britain,
The people voted to leave the EU ,
They want to govern themselves ,
Control their own borders,
So they decide who they allow in and who they want out,
Open borders is a crazy idea,
EU is about multinationals power money and control,
The citizens are nonentity,
Hope it implodes when the brits leave.
@John fitzpatrick: absolutely agree with you. Hope the Uk flourishes when it leaves and maybe then other countries in the eu will see that it’s better to run your own country than have the eu dictating how and what we can do.
@John fitzpatrick: What are your thoughts John or is it Paul on the Schengen Area?
You shoud shoot on over to the Daily Mail as it would be much more in line with your level of intellect.
@John fitzpatrick: By the way, who the UK want to let in or not, is a UK problem not an EU one. The fact that they can’t get their s..t together with regard to a suitable customs policy, procedure standpoint is totally lost on you. They can’t even come up with a solution to the Irish border and this has been going on for years. Again I beseech you to go on over to the Daily Mail while the adults are talking.
I listened to that women’s comments and to be honest she is living in a rose glass bowl. Why would the people of the Uk give a damn about Irish history the same way most Irish people don’t give a damn about English history. She would want to look at her own country where 95% of Americans rant on about their Irish heritage but don’t know where Ireland is on a map. The only reason the American government have any association with Ireland is because of tax purposes etc. If they weren’t getting tax concessions they wouldn’t be here. She also said that the Uk were fooling themselves if they think the states will do trade with them after brexit. Well I think they will as at the end of the day it all boils down to money and America will do trade with any country that can offer them something.
The EU are also to blame for the situation as they insisted that the exit deal had to be sorted before the trade deal talks could start. The back stop would get sorted in a trade deal which the UK originally wanted to be discussed in parallel with the exit deal.
@Tom Mullally: Oh for godsake, NI was always going to be used for leverage . A British border in Ireland was always the great big elephant in the room. Too bad, the British couldn’t and still can’t comprehend it.
The number of Irish people who would gladly see Ireland back under UK control is mind boggling.
Divide and conquer has always been British policy over the years.
They have finally succeeded in dividing themselves.
Every one has to stop living in the past,like the Hatfields and McCoys.Yes its true that we must never forget the atrocities visited on us by perfidious England,but we must move on and try to prevent bitterness in future generations The Church and state in Ireland treated the most vulnerable of our people atrociously in the dark past,but we must move on from this also.The fact is we have a symbiotic relationship with Britain,and though we could certainly survive without them we would be better off if we don’t have to,so lets hope sanity prevails and a deal is struck that accommodates all concerned,as,E.P Hartley said the past is a different country,they do things different there.Oh,and Bobs Dylan wrote,”I believe now the Germans have God on their side “
I think the guy that said “maybe Éire could get a loan from the EU and buy back the six counties” sums it all up. How about those apples eh.
Americans worry about one thing and one thing only that they have a job and where the next pay check is coming from and that’s why trump will most likely be re-elected as the latest jobless figures are the lowest in 50 years. Pence also said on his recent visit to Ireland that the states will do massive trade with the Uk after brexit much to Leo’s disgust. At the end of the day no one cares about history of any country as it all boils down to money and what they can get from you so that women can rant on about this country not knowing about that country’s history and vice versa but at the end of the day no one gives a shite as all most people are concerned with is have they a roof over their head and food on the table and the English and American people are the same as everybody else.
it’s not that easy to make United ireland
If it’s a hard brixit it kills the Good Friday borders in Ireland again bojo wants a hard brixit
Stunningly simple.
This is the problem that is insoluble when it comes to Brexit, unless the DUP accept that it is a very real problem. Forget the public here on the mainland. They have no real understanding of a problem that was never solved until we were both partners in the EU. That is why we have to fear another border being put into this island by another Westminster government. To me this is the real stumbling block.
We cannot consign the whole of Ireland to this unrealistic and unnecessary division again and we need to start listening to them.
CBD Suppliers: If you want to know anything about Irish / British history you can read it. The politicians maby excluding the current PM know the history behind the Good Friday Treaty and they don’t give a dam about it. But what a difference it has made to this country we have had peace for how long ? It appears that the British don’t want to do peace and they feel more comfortable with the toxic relationship from the past. Now the E.U. know how we feel and in 6 months they will know what a toxic relation is like.
have your say