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THE MIDLANDS NORTH-WEST constituency covers 13 counties and is often referred to as sprawling.
In reality, oversized could be a better way to describe and it is next to impossible to get all the candidates in room for a debate.
So to its credit, the County Meath Chamber did well to get six candidates together for a European elections hustings in Navan at 8am this morning.
A number of candidates who were to attend sent their apologies, but those who were there participated in a lively discussion on the issues facing business people in rural Ireland.
Six candidates were present: Fine Gael’s Mairead McGuinness, Labour’s Dominic Hannigan, Renua’s Michael O’Dowd, Fianna Fáil’s Brendan Smith and independents Dilip Mahapatra and Peter Casey.
Each candidate began by setting out their stall out over three minutes.
McGuinness spoke about climate action and the problems for small businesses in hiring staff and paying for insurance, a topic that would dominate the debate later on.
Hannigan and O’Dowd both spoke about the need to support small businesses with the looming impact of Brexit.
The Renua candidate also spoke briefly about abortion. “On social issues I believe in life at conception and that is where Renua stands,” he said.
Mahapatra, a doctor by trade, spoke about the 700,000 people on waiting lists and the issues facing the health service. On small business, he argued in favour of greater use of micro-financing and the importance of rural broadband.
He also said that there’s a growing “digital divide” between younger people and others with regards to their adoption of smart technologies.
Smith, a TD from the border region, spoke about the importance of trade and protecting Irish exporters. In a reference perhaps to what’s happening between China and the US, he said that “trade wars benefit nobody”.
Departing from the business focus of the hustings, Casey suggested that Brexit would present a problem for immigration, claiming that the country “couldn’t afford” to accept more immigrants.
The former presidential candidate claimed there would be “an influx of immigrants” should Brexit happen, incorrectly stating that Ireland would be “the only other English-speaking country in the EU” (English is also a national language of Malta and is also by far the most widely-spoken foreign language in the EU).
The business people in the room questioned the candidates about their ideas for transport and ‘the circular economy‘ , but a debate on insurance prompted the greatest participation.
Entrepreneur and director of the Alliance for Insurance Reform Linda Murray said her business almost went to the wall because of problems in securing insurance.
Murray runs two activity centres in Navan and has come to national prominence recently as a campaigner against the high cost of insurance.
She explained that the recreation and leisure industry is facing insurance costs that has it “absolutely on our knees”.
“Our business almost closed on 29 April and I was going to be letting 12 people go, but it didn’t close. Not through the help of government but because I got together with 61 other activity centres, formed a group and we went across the water to try and get insurance,” Murray told the politicians.
We approached five insurance companies in Ireland and 15 insurance companies in the UK and we managed to get insurance in the UK.
Murray said that insurance costs are hurting rural communities by threatening local events, with 200 festivals at risk in 2019.
McGuinness acknowledged that this was a problem and said the EU was failing to implement “a single market for services”, insurance included.
“The actions at government level are probably too slow because people are not feeling them, your action of coming together are maybe what needs to be done, ” the MEP said.
“And the truth is there’s no transparency in the insurance industry.”
They need to look at what companies are being asked to pay across Europe for public liability insurance and see whether it claims are the reason for that or are excessive profit levels being made in the insurance industry.
Another local business owner, Martin Skelly of Navan Travel, said that insurance costs were becoming unbearable in his business also.
He explained that he has observed “a sixfold increase” in the cost of insurance and that it is an issue which has been “percolating under the surface for years”.
In the travel business, he explained that travel agents are often at the mercy of their insurance companies.
We are compelled when there is a claim lodged against us or when there is a complaint lodged that we must go to our insurance companies.
“They’ll unilaterally make the decision to instruct us to stand back and take not further action. Because of that, they will say there is a claim pending for a certain amount and they will increase our premium accordingly.”
“As it stands, nothing has happened and we’re facing a sixfold increase next year and the year after,” he added.
In response, most of the candidates agreed that Europe needed to do more to help Irish SMEs with insurance costs.
Smith said that a “standardised model” is needed and suggested more could be done on data sharing to allow for greater competition across member states.
Labour’s Hannigan chipped in:
“I used to run a business abroad as well as here in Ireland, and the premiums were a fraction of what they are here and it seems to be it’s because of a lack of access here.”
Casey, however, went against the tone of the other candidates and the rest of the room by saying that he was “getting annoyed” by all the talk about insurance.
“Insurance is important, of course it is, but we’ve much more important issues than insurance,” he said.
I’m getting annoyed here listening to this, the Irish government could sort that out. You don’t want to be waiting on Europe to sort it out, it’s an Irish government that should step in and sort it out, and should sort it out next week.
Casey also attacked the Irish government for its approach to Brexit, saying that the government “should have been more aligned to the United Kingdom”.
In his final statement to the audience Casey then returned to immigration, calling for a “temporary freeze on migration of labour” because “we just can’t afford it”.
“We could afford it if you started paying taxes Peter,” Hannigan interjected.
“I’ve paid ten times more taxes than you Dominic, ” Casey responded, having explained during last year’s Áras debates that he was taxed on worldwide income due to being a US Green Card holder.
After this back-and-forth, the chair sought to bring some order to the room and gestured towards McGuinness.
“There’s a lot of male hormones at the top table,” she said.
Of that there was no debate.
(Note: The other candidates running in this constituency are: Maria Walsh, Anne Rabbitte, Matt Carthy, Saoirse McHugh, Cyril Brennan, Patrick Greene, Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Fidelma Healy Eames, Olive O’Connor, James Miller, Diarmaid Mulcahy)
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I see the fact Irish ferries insisted on sailing in a storm which resulted in the damage to the dock is not mentioned.
@087 bed: And?
@Paul O’Mahoney: and why not. It’s relevant to the story is it not. The damage wouldn’t have happened if Irish ferries didn’t sail in a red weather warning?
@Ger Whelan: Was it red ? As Ferries sailed from Larne too, no skin of my nose, just wondered what the significance was.
@087 bed: irish ferries always sail in storms thankfully or we wouldn’t get home to see our families. We also drive in storms snow ice to get your goods to you.So the phone you use or the data racks that hold your content & comments came in storms. Funny enough it didn’t bother you up to now. Quite telling.
@Paul O’Mahoney: ferries in the north were stopped ,north was a red warning as well from the Met office
@Mic JHintl: what a load of rubbish
@sean weir: I’m the son of a sailor. You’re better off at sea (risky as it is).
My sister husband & family got stuck at Rosslare 48h because because the wind prevented the ship leaving.
It seems the dock was faulty. No captain worth his salt (excuse me !) would take to sea if that was more dangerous.
@087 bed: There were planes landing and taking off during the storm. And they are more affected by the wind…… What’s your point?!?!….. There are rules in place for what’s allowed during particular weather conditions.
@Paul O’Mahoney: Arrogant know-all!
@sean weir: ya loads of rubbish as well transported in all weather including storms.
@sean weir: not a red warning on the Irish sea or north wales.
Just do your best.
Happy Christmas to all hard workers.
Your appreciated.
At least its not like the Suez Canal hold up/debacle, my furry handcuffs and G*mp outfit never arrived from Wish.com.
@James Rowan: ahhhhhmmmm I’d ask Ur Mrs again just to check
@Pork Hunt: i asked her, she said he doesn’t need a gimp mask as he already looks and is one…
Well done to all the workers making kids dream happen it’s appreciated
@Trump24: Aw, bless … a multi-ID troll with a heart of gold.
@Brendan O’Brien: Thanks BOB have a wonderful day it’s Christmas after all
@Trump24: next you’ll be coming out of your trenches and meeting BOB in no mans land
@Nigel Hayden: Always happy to meet Bob if they allow him out of SF HQ Propaganda Dept for a Christmas glass of Wine.
@Nigel Hayden: At least there’s only one of him in real life.
An Post provides a wonderful service in all weathers and never abandons your parcel at the doorstep when you are away.
@Patrick Westman: unless you live in Crumlin!
@Patrick Westman: An Post are a class act,
@Thomas Sheridan: A very rare occurrence. When you consider the hundreds of millions of items they deliver each year.
@Gary Kearney: Absolutely agree that they are great workers and provide an excellent service.
And who’s to say – maybe some people in Crumlin are better off without some of the packages that were mislaid or fines & summonses not delivered.
Can we gift wrap all the Russians living here and send them back to Vladimir for Xmas?
@Alan: Why just the Russians? Why not the Israelis as well? And the Americans whose nation is bombing Syria. How about we send all foreign nationalities here whose countries are at war home?
@Ger Whelan: by that logic the Palestiniens should be sent home. Indeed all muslims should be, for all those terrorist attacks in the name of allah.
Hamas shill.
@Ger Whelan: Well, apparently, there’s a story in today’s Irish Times that says the Dutch Central Bank is advising that the Dutch keep cash in hand as they expect more cyber attacks from Russia in the coming months.
The Dutch Burglar Union has ” welcomed this” …..
@offside again: read the last sentence of my first comment…… Then tell me why that wouldn’t apply to Palestinians and or Muslims whose countries are at war…
@Paul O’Mahoney: How is any of that the fault of any Russian who lives in Ireland?.
@Ger Whelan: Anyone who condemns genocide is a Hamas shill: stands to reason.
You disagree? What are you: some kind of Hamas shill?
@Brendan O’Brien: I tend not to take anything offside again says seriously. But it’s amazing what you learn about yours on here. When I say genocide is happening in Gaza and look for peace, I’m a Hama’s shill and anti Semitic. When I call for peace Ukraine I’m pro-putin and anti west. Who knew peace was such a terrible word.
@Brendan O’Brien: the left are known in France for their selective condemnations. Seems like they’re not the only ones.
@Brendan O’Brien: Everyone condemns actual genocide. Not everyone believes that downgrading, redefining, and reimagining this most serious of all crimes so they can shoehorn in the Israelis is the correct thing to do. It’s dishonest, politicised, without precedent, and utterly counter factual. Don’t bother with the amnesty opinion either. They gave up being relevant/ honest when certain people being killed were studiously ignored as it was ideologically inconvenient.
@Ger Whelan: Who knows what they’re upto and I’ve worked with them, very dodgy….
@offside again: I see you still cannot comprehend the meaning of the final sentence of my first comment.
@honey badger: the absolute stench of BS from your comment. You were very quick to say Russia was carrying out genocide in Ukraine. Now your denying it’s happening in Gaza despite the fact it’s publicly known Israel has killed more innocent Palestinians than Russia has killed innocent Ukrainians. Again showing your complete hypocrisy
@honey badger: Shooting the messenger one more time? There is a lot of support for Amnesty’s position, which is based on facts. No doubt you dismiss the ICC as well?
Splitting hairs over what does or doesn’t constitute genocide when tens of thousands of civilians are being killed and their country obliterated, in order to justify those crimes, is not something that any person of integrity would do.
@Ger Whelan: I was rightly highly critical of Russias murderous invasion. I never accused them of genocide. Stop making things up, you simple contrarian. Or please post your evidence. You managed to paste some sentences yesterday, so go fetch my words of genocide and Russia. You won’t find them. You know it. I know it. Stop lying.
@honey badger: Stop defending the indefensible.
I ask you yet again: is there any line that Israel could cross that would cause you to condemn its actions?
@honey badger: Again the stench of BS from you is unreal. Do you condemn the Israel invasion in Gaza and the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians? Do you think Israel should withdraw and give back all the territory it occupies in Gaza?
@Ger Whelan: you weighed your words I’ll give you that, but
I’ve been on here long enough to know where you’re coming from.
@Ger Whelan: No, I don’t condemn the invasion of Gaza. It was a wholly justified response. The elected government of Gaza launched their own invasion of Israel and promised to keep repeating it. Let people demand that Hamas surrender and release the hostages. That stops the war.
I take it you don’t have the evidence of your bs about genocide/Russia and me?
@offside again: Yea sure you do. Shame it took you 3 attempts to understand what I posted. I didn’t mention Ukraine specifically funny how come you didn’t mention that. Selectivity at its finest from you.
@honey badger: at least now you finally admit you support genocide
@Brendan O’Brien: Of course, if I thought for one moment that Israel was out to annihilate the people of Gaza, I could not support that ever. They’re not, though. They have the means to. It’s not what they want. If the situation was reversed, the lunatics of hamas would kill as many Jews as they could, as quickly as possible. October 7th was only curtailed by their limited access to weaponry.
@honey badger: You don’t condemn the killing of tens of thousands of women and children? What kind of person are you?
‘An Israeli strike late on Thursday [i.e. yesterday] killed at least 30 Palestinians and wounded 50 others who were sheltering in a post office in the built-up Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, medics told Reuters.’
Absolutely no problem as far as you’re concerned?
@honey badger: But you accept that Israel has killed tens of thousands of Gazan civilians?
Whether or not it is ‘out to’ annihilate the people of Gaza, that is what it is doing. Jesuitical distinctions cut no ice.
@Ger Whelan: I’m still waiting on your evidence re Russia/ ukraine/ genocide.
I support the defeat of Hamas. I support Hamas surrendering and releasing the hostages. You should, too. It’s odd that you don’t.
@Brendan O’Brien: I accept that war is horrific. At all times and in all places. Europe was torn asunder to defeat the nazis. The price of victory and the cost of defeat has always been high. Civilians always suffer the most. The civilian to combatant death ratio – a cold measurement, no doubt – tells us that this war started by hamas has the lowest in any comparable war in history. That doesn’t make their suffering any less painful or the human cost any less tragic. It makes Hamas surrendering and releasing their hostages necessary to end the war.
@Ger Whelan: it seems selectivity for you is a christmas box of choclats.
Do you think Hamas should surrender and release the hostages ? Or do you think they are a ‘resistance’ movement ?
@honey badger: how can I post proof? The site doesn’t allow you to post links or copy and paste your comments? But you know that don’t you. You support the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians. You support genocide by ignoring Israel’s human rights violations and war crimes.
@offside again: i 100% think Hamas should release the hostages and hand over all those who took part in the October 7th attacks over to the ICC so they can face justice. I do not in any way support hamas. I support the innocent Palestinian civilians. Contrary to what you think all Palestinian are not part of hamas.
@honey badger: A state that is capable of slaughtering tens of thousands of women and children is well capable of lying about its actions. Hiding behind a ‘civilian to combatant death ratio’ to justify war crimes is despicable, and the old ‘terrible things happen in war’ chestnut reminds me of Provisional IRA apologists.
Why not simply admit that you see you see Palestinians lives as worthless when this is obviously the case?
‘Many observers believe Israel simply treats all adult male casualties as militants.[79][111][83] Other observers argue that Israel could be arriving at inflated figures of militant deaths by including all civil servants as militants.[112]
BBC Verify repeatedly asked IDF for its methodology on counting militant deaths, but the IDF never responded.’
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_Israel%E2%80%93Hamas_war
@Ger Whelan: You were lucky enough to be able to copy and paste sentences from the New York Times yesterday. I want to believe in you, Ger. Prove you’re not just some utterly redundant contrarian liar. Cheers.
@Brendan O’Brien: Yes, brendan. We’re back on old ground again. I’ve given you my answers, and you’re still complaining about them. This is why I stopped answering them, but you persist. You further laminating your views and extrapolating them onto imaginary things you think I believe is silly, redundant, and boring. I’m not asking you to agree with me, Brendan. I don’t want or need you to change your mind. You believe Israel is capable of anything. I don’t. It’s really that simple. I do strongly believe that Hamas should surrender and release the hostages. That ends the war.
@honey badger: What Israel is *capable of* is immaterial: it’s what Israel is *doing*, and has done, that matters. You defend it, while choosing your words carefully so as to have plausible deniability. It’s an extremely low thing to do, and it shows that you have absolutely no regard for human rights or human dignity.
I’ll quote Bernie Sanders (writing in October) again:
‘While Israel had a right to defend itself against the horrific Hamas terrorist attack of 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 innocent people and took 250 hostages, it did not have the right to wage an all-out war against the entire Palestinian people.
‘It did not have the right to kill 42,000 Palestinians, two-thirds of whom were children, women and the elderly, or injure over 100,000 people in Gaza. It did not have the right to destroy Gaza’s infrastructure and housing and healthcare systems. It did not have the right to bomb every one of Gaza’s 12 universities. It did not have the right to block humanitarian aid, causing massive malnutrition in children and, in fact, starvation.’
@honey badger: yes HB the new York times allows you to copy and paste. I have this app on my mobile. It does not allow me to copy and paste your comments. Again you know that. Keep supporting genocide theres a good boy
@Ger Whelan: Open the app on your mobiles browser, you dullard!
@Brendan O’Brien: Again, Brendan, your opinion of me is none of my business. I’m not interested in how you interpret my honestly held beliefs. You really should stop laminating my views with your own hysterical prejudices. Nothing you have said about me is remotely true. I’d genuinely prefer if we stopped having mildly different versions of this conversation over and over. Cheers
@honey badger: I would genuinely prefer that you and others would stop defending the indefensible, so that the world might move a nanometre closer to decent and humane values. I don’t care about you personally, but your views are abhorrent and, I believe, must be challenged. If you don’t like that, it’s too bad. If you and others keep expressing such views, it’s likely that I and others will keep challenging them.
@Alan: my Mrs is russian!!!!
@Ger Whelan: and when we first got to know you we knew you were a C.U.#.T
@Alan: you can put a nice flag up on your social media and pretend you give a feck
@Paul O’Mahoney:
racist sh##e
@honey badger: you really don’t like the brown people do you
@honey badger: you are blind or just plain racist
@Brendan O’Brien: You, of course, mean you find your own interpretation of my views abhorrent. You layer my views with your own hysterics and then say I’m the bad man for saying things like Hamas should surrender and release the hostages. You’re tilting at windmills, Brendan.
@sean weir: You’re the only one mentioning race or the colour of a person’s skin here, Sean. Oaf.
@sean weir: Pot calling the kettle black
@honey badger: No: you gloss over genocide (or war crimes, if you balk at that word) as if they didn’t exist in order to paint a positive picture of Israel’s actions (characterising them as mere self-defence). That is objectively a bad thing to do: you are supporting actions that thwart the unfolding and fulfilment of human potential.
Think of all the dead babies and small children who still lie in the rubble of Gaza, and consider blaming the people who actually put them there for once.
@Brendan O’Brien:
Hamas are just as barbaric as the Israeli’s, if not more so. The only difference is the Israeli’s have more brains, money and military might. Hamas would slaughter innocents just as readily if they could, one side is just as bad as the other.
@Regular John: Obviously you don’t have the intelligence to understand that I am arguing against the killing and maiming of civilians and the removal of their human rights.
@Brendan O’Brien:
Except you’re not. You haven’t the intelligence to realise that everyone see’s through the virtue signalling bullshít you constantly write.
@Regular John: well John, Brendan is blinded by his ideology and can’t see things any other way. He’s an intelligent person, just misguided.
@offside again: where as you’re neither intelligent or misguided.
@Ger Whelan: So lads are ye meeting up for Christmas drinks?
@Ger Whelan: unless they call out Putin, they have a lot to answer for
@honey badger: total bigot.
@Regular John: you have this strange habit of thinking that you speak for The Journal comment section. Sad
@Paul O’Mahoney: that would be some crack
@Kevin Kerr:
I speak for a lot more than you anyway !
@Regular John: as I said, sad
@Kevin Kerr: so do you clown
@Kevin Kerr: you accuse others of having other accounts ?
@Kevin Kerr:
Sad ? You’re the guy that spends half his life on here posting beta boy nonsense. All you do is virtue signalling. Did you not get enough attention as a child ?
Can all the east coast yacht owners stage a Dunkirk style rescue to save our packages?
An post very busy wasting even more taxpayer’s money sending tv license summons. Rte have not been held to account yet. And we shouldn’t be paying for something that’s of no benefit.
With all these parcels coming in one go from the UK, I hope Revenue has also scaled up and is ready to tax us at an increased rate!
#prayforderek
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