Care to expand on that Gary? Do you think it’s right that thousands of peaceful and otherwise law-abiding citizens are criminalised for using a naturally occuring drug which is infinitely less harmful than tobacco and alcohol? Do you think it’s right that prohibition (and the resulting addition of adulterated substances to the product) costs the exchequer and the HSE millions more than it would if it was legalised? Do you think it’s right that while we’re broke as a country, those said individuals pay millions (possibly billions) of taxable cash into the hands of unscrupulous criminals?

Well there not law abiding if there giving money to drug-dealers are they …. The weed that’s around these days is not natural it’s been cross breed for the last 30 years .. The thc in the weed these days can be upwards of 25percent …… And yes Ming is a clown

Well, if it were legal and regulated, consumers would be better able able to chose the THC potency of the products they’re consuming and make an informed decision.

We don’t really think that prohibition is eventually going to lead to the end of dope smoking, do we? Maybe it’s time to admit that the War on Drugs isn’t winnable, and try a new tack.

Just sayin’.

To be fair to Ming, he’s extended his political vocabulary considerably since his early days – he does seem to have a rare ability to connect with his constituents’ key concerns.

I’d be more concerned about the alleged “ringmasters” who decided that sartorial matters were a major concern for the national parliament. Co-incidentally enough, not long after Ming had bloodied Fine Gael’s nose over Roscommon Hospital.

You have a credible source for that info Gary? If people want to smoke a PLANT they should be allowed! Also if weed was legal it would be harder for children to get it, dealers don’t ask for ID you know!

I agree, he is a clown

OK he’s a clown, but I bet he’s a clown that knows the difference between “there” and “they are”.

Think of the crack if it goes on fire in there!

Think he did ok on the hospitals issue, no concrete result as yet, but we’ll see how FG’s attitude changes as the general election draws near. Denis Naughten certainly takes him seriously.

Tbh, I wish I had a Ming in my constituency.

Think the suit is hilarious … have that, with your dress code.

Nor will there. Jackie healy rae without clout

Wouldn’t underestimate him. I seriously think, between the hospital, the next few budgets and Ming, that there’s a realistic prospect of Fine Gael being wiped out in Roscommon in the next election.

Whether this comes to pass remains to be seen, but it’s certainly something that the party will have to consider.

‘Nothing delivered by him yet’ and what exactly has FG/Labour delivered Mike? Austerity and misery and thats about it. At least Luke has a backbone and is TRYING to follow up on his promises to his electorate, unlike our spineless government that followed up on nothing and continue to play the good little boys and agree to all the EU and IMF want instead of fighting for the interests of the people.

At the moment the only one we have is that screenshot of him in the Dáil – but we’re working on it.

Ring the Capel St store, Louis Jr always makes sure he gets photos of stuff like this so he’d be sure to have one.

U can buy hemp clothing, slippers & other clothing items at The Hemp Store, Dublin 7. Big deal, Ming. More self serving publicity stunts from this clown.

The Hemp Store is on Capel St near the bridge. No – I don’t work there.

Jeez, I thought that was one of our elusive female TDs. The pair of them need a flippen haircut, and to take their role seriously.

Right. A combover, a brown envelope and it’s business as usual.

Just as a matter of interest.. Why does he have to have a haircut? Will cutting his hair somehow make him more capable?
Likewise, if a man is clean shaven – does that make him more suitable than a man with a beard?

Really that’s like saying that a woman who wishes to be held in high regard in politics should be a brunette because obviously blondes and redheads aren’t appropriate for the Dáil..

It really has no bearing at all. And is a ridiculous attitude to have in this day and age.

I think they look ridiculously unprofessional, dirty and unkempt. These are our international representatives. Legalising hash… It’s not a teenage house party they are attending. The dail is for grownups. Do you see anyone in the UK parliment dressed like that?

Dear God. And that’s of any relevance to anything, is it?

Can you give me a good reason why their mode of dress has any bearing on their ability to do their jobs?

These aren’t our international representatives, btw – that would be the President, ambassadors and ministers. They’re domestic representatives, so what harm if they dress more like their average constituent than a member of the House of Lords?

I’m not trying to harass you, btw … you just have this habit of saying things that I disagree with.

No, but I’ll tell you what I do see.
A bunch of self righteous, compassionless, corporate lackeys who seem to have forgotten that it’s the people and not corporations that they work for!

Would you show up to work like mick wallace is presented here?

Not far off. I go for the old Tin O’Fruit for certain facets of the job, as and when required, but otherwise it’s jeans and a tee shirt. It has no bearing whatsoever on my ability to do the work.

From where I see things, most “grown ups” dress in a fairly similar style to Wallace, maybe you move in more rarefied circles.

And, unlike most “grown ups”, Wallace is a public representative, people knew what they were getting when they voted him in. Like it or not, he has a mandate, what he wears is of no consequence whatsoever.

What he says and what he does is what we need be concerned with, as is the case with every public representative.

Would you say you would wear the tin o fruit for occasions where you would be client or public facing? Those are the times I would dress professionally. This is what these clowns are supposed to be doing every day. Public facing.

Surprise surprise their clothes appear to reflect exactly what they say and do. A man who refused to pay his supplier depts, putting honest small business under pressure by building shoddy quality ghost estates. And a guy who just wants more splifs m’kay.

Clowns.

And what do you say about the stand our Ming took on Roscommon hospital? Or are you only interested in the window dressing?

A lot of people got caught up on fancy suits, big houses and big cars in the past decade … maybe they should’ve been a bit more concerned with matters of substance.

Wallace I have no real respect for, but I’m not speaking as a sartorial critic in saying that.

I wear workwear to work, because I work with oils and I’d rather not destroy my own clothes thanks..
As for “client facing”, he’s sitting in the Dáil, it’s hardly client facing, unless you count the late night Oireachtas Report or bits on the news..

Oh, and by the way, in the UK one of the parties has a member with complete facial tattoos and a Mohawk.. I think it’s the Lib Dems.. And you have a problem with long hair, pfft..

Danny, to unsubscribe to the updates click the second link in the email you get.

I will stop feeding the trolls.

Troll’d.

Kudos, Pwurple. You got me.

Do you know anything about hemp? You can’t get high off it at all! So I fail to see how it’s inappropriate.

Yes a smoking jacket is inappropriate.

So because it’s made from hemp it’s a smoking jacket?

Eh, think he’s also fucused on the revenue it could generate, considering “the countrys in the toilet”.

The legalisation of marijuana would create hundreds (possibly thousands of jobs), it would inject some much needed revenue into the country, create tourism and protect those who smoke it but who are currently buying it from god knows who containing god knows what. It’s well documented that the effects of alcohol are more detrimental to a person and society than marijuana. Try open your mind and see the bigger picture

Plus the marketing writes itself ‘Come to Ireland where the grass is always greener’!

Yeah, look where listening to the suits got us.

Damnit you got there first lol!!

also 1 acre of hemp will produce 4 times the paper that an acre of trees will produce and the hemp will grow again the next year whereas the trees will take decades before it is big enough to harvest for paper.

also most of the world’s textiles were made from hemp before 1937 when the u.s. made it illegal due to pressure from powerful lobby groups affilliated with the paper from trees industries etc.

not 1 fatality from cannabis in any country ever whereas here tobacco and alcohol kill hundreds of thousands every year and leave families devastated.

my mam has had multiple sclerosis for 37 years and on the few occasions that we shared a joint ( the odd christmas) she said the pain in her back had gone and then she got the giggles and then ate about 7 mince pies … trouble is my mam is worried about all things illegal and so won’t use it as a regular medication.

i watch people down the pub getting drunk and depressed and sometimes violent and i look at people smoking who want to have a laugh with their friends and the only conclusion i can come to is that alcohol must be making some important people very wealthy or we wouldn’t be using it at all and if alcohol didn’t exist and was invented tommorow it would be outlawed almost immediately due to the dangers involved in drinking it.
i hope the government cop on to this cash crop and stop listening to alcohol and timber lobbyists.
if you want to reduce the amount of money/power the criminal gangs have then just legalise cannabis and wipe out the majority of their income.
and to all the people against cannabis who have children: most young people will try cannabis at some time in their lives and if they have to go to a scummy dealer who has run out of cannabis he might offer them something else instead and any kid that has been intentionally left in the dark about drugs by worried parents trying to shield them from the big bad world will not realise the difference between a harmless joint and a wrap of heroin. so educate your kids about the different kinds of drugs as the goverment and anti-cannabis folks are determined to leave the money and power of the cannabis industry in ireland in the hands of murderous criminal gangs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMM_T_PJ0Rs

Yes but we can legalization the growth of hemp without legalizing getting high. There two different plants, that with some inspection on growers it could be done

I know, I already use many hemp products, and it is a shame that they must be imported as they are so useful.
Of course I would like to see the whole cannabis family legalised as I believe that the initial ban was motivated by corporate interests alone. There is no true reason for these plants to be illegal, and it is arrogant of man to think that he has dominion over nature.

Good reason to legalise it that is.

Sadly GM has its own issues. I would not trust a Genetically Modified plant. There has been no long term safety tests done on the GM crops that have been patented and used so far and animal testing show them to be quite harmful.
If this were to be used as food this could have serious adverse effects. The best idea is to leave plants the way nature intended (not introduce frog DNA into strawberries..)

May I ask, why is it you would be against legalisation of these plants in their unmodified form? Genetic Engineering where plants are hybridised etc is a different matter, and while you can crossbreed plants for increased potency you can just as easily cross breed for less. And as pointed out above, it is possible to have hemp without the THC.

Well Ming did give half of his salary away to the building of recreational facilities.
He gets in shit from people when he wore regular clothes as it wasn’t high class enough and now that he’s wearing a suit he’s getting slammed for wasting tax payers money…..he can’t win with some.

A billion? It’s around 7 billion at the moment.

Sahara? Berlin? A billion? I’d say you’ve been having a few tokes yourself

Thats correct noddy, quite drastic isn’t it?

check the historical world population statistics, the only reason there are 7 billion people is because of oil, every crop means that every year people use oil powered machines to plow , sow , fertilize and harvest on their land then it is processed in a factory and then transported in another oil powered machine ( a lorry or a container ship) to a warehouse and then transported to a supermarket in yet another oil powered machine.

by the time you pay for it at the till in the supermarket it has taken 10 calories of oil energy to produce each calorie of food and that’s before you drive it home in your oil powered machine and cook it with gas or electricity and guess what ….. half of it will probably go into a wheelie bin and another oil powered machine will arrive to collect it and drive it to a landfill site.

we have already reached the point where supply of oil cannot be increased because the production of it has peaked and will enter a period of decline within the next decade , that means not enough oil to go around.

with america militarily positioning themselves in all the major oil producing regions of the world you can be sure when oil shortages become a stark reality there will be no military vehicle running out.
as bush senior said at the Earth Summit on the environment (Rio de Janiero, 1992). ” the american way of life is non-negotiable”

point is if the oil starts running out our food producing systems will collapse and population levels will have to return to pre -oil levels (1 billion) as that is all the people the planet can sustain with no oil to help us produce food the way we do.

Hope he does.

All that angry talk because the man bought a suit made from hemp. Is that all it takes to piss people off these days?

But it’s ok when all the other TDs go there for their suits?

There was just more of a fuss made of this because of the whole dress code controversy, Ming obviously decided to turn it around on them.

At least he’s keeping pressure on over the HSE, one issue that really matters. One of the very few who’s doing so, I might add.

Also it’s probably good value for money in the long run, hemp clothes are very durable.

You are obviously unaware as to where his salary is being distributed?

“do I need to go on but the best this clown can do is use his over the top td salary to purchase an expensive louis copeland suit” Ming only accepted half his salary and donated the rest to charity I believe. Also its his first expensive suit as far as I can tell compared to other politicians you likely have many. “the economy is in the toilet”, Legalise and add 7 billion to the economy. Name any politician who has an idea that can generate/save as much money as that. “emigration is rising” Legalise and create hundreds of jobs. ” do I need to go on but the best this clown can do is use his over the top td salary to purchase an expensive louis copeland suit” . “So angry that a public representative can waste tax payers money like that.” Politicans are wasting 7 billion euro by not legalising cannabis. Why are you angry about a suit that cost a few hundred euro? You say that Ming isnt worrying about the biggest issue! Complete hypocrite.

Are you serious like?

Incredible amount of ignorance from people who cannot see that something IS a BIG ISSUE just because it’s not a big issue to them. That seems to be the Irish way now I suppose.

Cannabis is a big issue, Alcohol is proven to be over twice as harmful and legalising cannabis would not drastically increase use, it would however seriously inject a lot of money into the ecomony (even through money not wasted in court time) and potentially decrease Alcohol use as well.

A lot of Irish people smoke cannabis, people don’t choose to do something based on the legality of it, they choose to do it due to different cultural and social issues. The number and percentage of cannabis users is going to rise as the older generation move on as the internet generation will simply not believe the bullshit fed to them as much.
Cannabis is proven to not be a gateway drug but imo is currently a gateway drug BECAUSE OF PROHIBITION. Prohibition allows gangs make serious money on something that is relatively harmless, and then allows dealers a window of opportunity to sell the harder drugs.

Currently most cannabis in Ireland is sprayed with contaminants that are a serious health issue to the country,

When cannabis is illegal it becomes easier for kids to get it. The real problems with cannabis is adolescent and youth use as it does effect the developing brain….could you explain to me why the 2 european countries with the lowest child and adolescent use are Portugal and Holland?

The vast majority of Cannabis smokers commit no other crime than simple possession, do you think so much Garda time and tax payers money should be spent criminalising these people?, putting them in a constant state of fear for doing something that’s safer than drinking? 80% of violent attacks are on alcohol.

Decriminalisation of Cannabis is something that should happen immediately, and before you switch off, decriminalisation can just mean that they won’t criminalise people for possession, it doesn’t mean that you can go into a shop and buy it and it doesn’t mean that people are allowed deal it…..under decriminalisation at least resources are better put to use, money is spent on rehabilitation services and people are more willing to come out and admit their drug use/habits and problems if they need help. Guards would spend most of their time trying to catch dealers and not trying to catch students with possession amounts.
Ireland will never be forward thinking enough to do such a thing anyway, Decriminalisation will be a new UN Convention in the next 10 years.

jezz thats cool, is it widely known? could be a great way as sustainable attic insulation and stuff
cheers for that, any other info?

Des, Hemp, mixed witl Lime and Added Water acts as a Plaster which will allow the Blockwork or Stone to breadth, with no dampness being allowed, either, Enter or Exit. The Sheeps Wool is the Insulation Product…, not the Hemp

This information should be more widespread don ya think?

Des, It Is already Widespread! Its Common Knoweldge…, which is something this, wonderful, country of ours has lacked over the past few years…, Common Sense and Logic…., Not GREED and Trying to make a name for ones self in Public.

You make a good point, Ming who uses/used a relatively harmless soft drug but is honest and admits it as opposed to the rest of the thieving pricks who’d be snorting cocaine in the toilets of Dail but no full investigation is done.