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FORMER TÁNAISTE MICHAEL McDowell has insisted that Ireland is not a failed State and has defended the abolition-threatened Seanad claiming it costs each citizen just €1.60 per year.
McDowell, now a barrister who is campaigning for the retention of the Seanad, was speaking at the Parnell Summer School in Wicklow today when he said that since independence the Irish state has been a “major success”.
He criticised “some commentators” who he said “enjoy wallowing in what I have termed as a ‘middle class self-hatred’ of negativity.”
McDowell said: “A particularly striking historical nonsense is the fairly widespread tendency, particularly evident in the post-marxist left, to equate republicanism with socialism, and a failure to deliver socialism as a betrayal of the Republic. The two ideas are not equivalents.”
Author Fintan O’Toole recently claimed that Ireland was a failed nation pointing to what he said were three main failures: in the legal system, the legislature and the executive.
Outgoing Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly also recently accused the government of “wielding power in a manner never envisaged in the Constitution” while Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams also claimed that country’s institutions have turned their backs on Northern Ireland.
But McDowell insisted: “As Garret FitzGerald frequently observed, [Ireland] has achieved for the Irish people progress that would never have happened if [it] had remained an undeveloped western province in a post-industrial, postimperial United Kingdom.”
The former leader of the Progressive Democrats also reinforced his arguments for retention of the Seanad ahead of the October referendum on its abolition, saying that arguments that it cannot be afforded are “false, threadbare, and illegitimate”.
“The actual direct savings to the Exchequer would be about €1.60 per annum for every citizen, less than the price of a two litre container of milk,” he claimed.
He accused “abolitionists”, as he termed them, of spending €14 million on a referendum in the middle of a period of austerity and added: “If the Seanad is too costly now, why not cut its costs now? The budget for the Seanad could be cut now without constitutional difficulty.
McDowell claimed that reform of the Seanad could be done without constitutional change to allow a more inclusive electorate and a gender-balanced chamber “with persons of experience and expertise”.
He also said that “corrosive cynicism about politics damages democracy” and insisted that “politicians are not the enemy”.
“Politics is the process that we as citizens choose it to be. We should not cannibalise the Constitution in the name of reform,” McDowell said.
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Mountains out of mole hills comes to mind.
Rubbish – just like her show on sat nights.
Anybody ever read the stories on that site? The stories are rubbish,
but the viewers comments make it for me…
Almost always degenerates into:
“Is this entertainment news?”
“Is this what I pay my Licence money for”? blah blah
and invariably includes the comeback,
“If you think the story is rubbish, why did you read it and leave a comment”
It’s my daily dose of fun!
have to agree with you on that one! Doesn’t matter which site you go on, you’ll always find those types of comment! :D
oh and btw, this is such an irrelevant story. ;D
Everybody is entitled to express their opinion, no matter how banal.
Yeah they are. So what’s your point?
I was responding to BW’s comment: “If you think the story is rubbish, why did you read it and leave a comment”
Re-reading though, I think I misinterpreted
lost all respect for her when she turned down that MILF award .
She reckons her kids would be ‘happier’. So, are they less happy than they would be, or unhappy? She’s happier working, but I suppose the question should be – what would be better for the child. If her kids say they would be happier… its a fairly simple what they would feel is best for them. Swings and roundabouts.
Personally, I feel not every child is the same, and some need their mother (and father for that matter) more than others at certain difficult times in their lives. Really need their mothers I mean, rather than be ‘happier’. A need where a lack of parental input can cause considerable harm to themselves and those around them.
Now that our property is worth shite perhaps we can start to explore what’s really important for ourselves and our families rather than for our careers and mortgage providers. Is mothering at home an investment of a better kind – in our children’s confidence, identity and ‘happiness’. Yep.
On another note, I wouldn’t be too hard on myself for working, if I were her. If I had eleventy thousand mouths to feed, you may be sure I’d hold onto my cushy well paid number in RTE, too.
RteTen is, while on the face of it, a good idea (Exhibit A being a website we’re all more familiar with!), is actually godawful, with unimaginative copy and paste “journalism”, a ridiculously overmoderated comment policy, and a distinct slant towards PR friendly guff and putting a positive spin on everything that emanates from Montrose.
In relation to Morr-ee-om, I don’t think her clarification was sought, required, or necessary. If she wanted headlines, she could always tell her adoring fans whether Tom McGurk wore socks in bed or not.
Tom McGurk definitely is the type of person to wear socks to bed!
Feminazis and Manginas are burning effigies of the shapely Miriam as i type, silly made up nonsense who ever wrote it , whatever works for you i say , all the so called experts are only giving their own spin which ultimately means nothing .
Miriam was a neighbour of mine when with Tom McGurke, a more lovely, intelligent and friendly person you would be hard pushed to find. Hello Miriam from Phoenix.
I don’t see what all the problem is…
Miriam said what is the truth is; children want their mother at home. Whats wrong with that ?
Its been like that since time began and will always be. Some women choose to deny it and choose an awful life of compromising their home and children, while trying to hold down a job.
Miriam is concerned because she appears to be breaking ranks with the ‘modern’ view that all is PC and ‘equal’ (whatever that means in these circumstances ?), and women and men enjoy the same opportunities regarding work, when clearly thats not true.
Another crap publicity stunt!
if you say something in the public domain then you must be prepared for the repercussions if good or bad, especially if you are a public figure, when will people learn
That is the eternal problem of putting stuff in print, it’s hard to say you didn’t say it as the stupid public are’nt really that stupid. But you will get away with it Miriam as Joe Public doesn’t really care as you live in your little rte world of well paid buffoons. And sure if this doesn’t work out sure they will make something else for you, don’t you have family there to look after you in RTE and then it will be your turn to look after them and have them on different shows’, etc. Go on Miriam, wonder has she on of the litter in RTE yet?
Sounds like she’s trying to prevent a fire blowing up before she heads for the Park. Wouldn’t do her any favours to be touting that kinda stuff. Is there not something she could’ve done to stop it going online with that rubbish website though? Instead of the embarrassing “I work in RTÉ but watch TV3″ thing…
With 8 kids a successful career I have to hand it to her. As a father with only two kids I don’t know how she pulls it off. No way she, or the kids could be happy but everybody’s reality is different. Personally, I’m surprised they’re not jacking up the TV license cost just to feed her family…..
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