“My heart is with Longford; my people are from Longford – over 200 years. What I want is strong representation for Longford.” – Manchán Magan, Green Party candidate in Longford-Westmeath
I’d be the first to say that pride in one’s county is a commendable thing – but then I would say that, being from Tyrone. However, Manchán Magan was campaigning to be a TD for Longford-Westmeath, not just Longford. If I were a voter in, say, Westmeath, I’d be very worried about giving Manchán Magan my vote.
And it doesn’t stop there. There’s at least one other Longford-Westmeath candidate who’s been complaining that people from Longford have voted for candidates from Westmeath. He gets quite eloquent in a confused sort of way, declaring that people talked about pride in the county jersey, and yet here they were, Longford people voting for candidates from Westmeath. If this keeps up, we’re told, Longford will have no representation in the Dail.
WTF? Are these people aware that any candidate who is elected for Longford-Westmeath has the responsibility to defend the interests of Longford and Westmeath? I can see a case for distinguishing between the Longford electorate and the Westmeath electorate, if you’re trying to manage the vote and get two of your party’s candidates elected. But to accuse voters of somehow betraying their county because they voted for their choice elsewhere in the electoral constituency has to be localism gone mad.
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There’s been much talk of Tom Murphy not paying his taxes. These two paragraphs from this morning’s Irish Times will almost certainly galvanise journalists and politicians to recommend stiff sentences where appropriate. Won’t they?
“Six Irish citizens are members of the billionaires’ club with a combined net worth of more than $30 billion (€27.6 billion), according to the latest annual Forbes ranking of global billionaires.
Just three of the six Irish billionaires were born in this country, however, while only two of them maintain their main residence here for tax purposes.”
Granted, it’s not bundles of money in a hayshed, but there must be some interesting tax stories behind these six Irish worthies. Ireland of equals, anyone?
In the interests of balance, we should not forget the plight of 20 of the richest people in the world who have lost billions in financial markets around the world. The wealth of the top 20 has fallen from $899 billion to $827 in the last year. The number of billionaires has also fallen from a record 1,826 in 2015 to 1,810 in 2016
As some former politicians strive to hold on to power, certain statements made prior to the election are being dropped like hot potatoes. Is it any wonder that some of the electorate are being urged to examine their consciences given their stated preferences in the ballot box? Nil desperandum, Mr Ahern is not standing idly by.
The problem with slab Murphy it seems is he took the old traditional way of avoiding tax payments. If he was amongst the ‘insiders’ for example in NAMA he would’ve still been a ‘good irishman’ and indeed a ‘good republican’. He would’ve been privy to the tricks of the trade when making enormous sums of loot and also who to avoid the inland revenue. Alas only the chosen few get into them circles. Murphy’s couple of hundred grand is chicken feed to the numbers mentioned in NAMA circles but his case is a good distraction for the gullible.
INolan on Monday last quizzed Conor Murphy on whether Tom Murphy was a ‘good’ republican, the premise being that if one dodged taxes one couldn’t be, as the money the state was deprived of couldn’t go towards health, education and infrastructure.
I felt Conor should have asked was a person who avoided tax by using legal loopholes was a good citizen, Afterall the money that the state was deprived of was not available for health, education and infrastructure.
The Sunday World, a few years ago, carried a story about BBC talent having their ‘fees’ paid into off shore banks in which the had accounts in the name of their management company, of that was owned by them. Naturally they received a salary from that company which meant they paid minimum income tax. Morally, is this different from what Tom Murphy did?
P J
The answer would be simple.The very wealthy who avoid tax are not good citizens as they are not concerned with the good of society. If they are acting within the law they cannot be prosecuted like Murphy. That is a reason to tighten up the law, not to let people like Murphy off the hook.
Tax avoidance is immoral, tax evasion is illegal.
Here’s a thought, gio: if we were all free to fiddle our tax returns with no fear of being caught, how many of us would engage in full disclosure? Only askin’, like…
Jude
I can only speak for myself, but I am as honest as the day is long.
I don’t expect everyone to reach my high standards of course.
Have you noticed how short the days have been this past few months, gio??
I have!
A succinct definition of tax evasion. Will be shared with my students.
If the Sunday Business Post is to be believed then Tom Murphy’s tax bill was £15,000. Because of the delay in reaching a settlement a further £175,000 in interest and fines was added. Tax demands of many multiples of this amount are settled each week without without using the Special Criminal Court or incarceration. Could it be that Tom Murphy was jailed for something not even mentioned in the charges?
Numbered among the short but stellar litany of Irish billionaires who are named in The Unionist Times today, Esteemed Blogmeister, is the perfectly formed Big Kahuna of Independent (sic) News and Media (INM).
Named but not, as you accurately imply, shamed.
Elsewhere in TUT today is a true knee-slapper of an article. From the wired-up biro of a newly recruited totty who once was a corner stone of Independent (sic) Newspapers, one Anne Harris (yes, and maybe, no). One who fairly sticks the stiletto into her former boss at the immortal ghetto of the Sindo of which she was once the, erm, widely respected editor.
This was a position she inherited when her recently deceased Significant Other, Aengus Fanning, the coiffed, cricket-playing chap from de Kingdom of Kerry in 2012.. (I know, I know). A post she subsequently wandered from, and not too long after.
Amongst the alderberry shots she takes with her p’d off pistol at the billionaire Denis O’Brien (for it is he !) are this one:
-The INM) and its treatment of Lucinda Creighton looks suspiciously like dirty tricks for the benefit of Fine Gael.
Truly has she got her stiletto INM.
-At the very least it was very convenient for Fine Gael. In over 12 days before the Election INM ran at least 8 stories about an anonymous complaint about Lucinda Creighton to the Standards in Public Office (SIPO). And about which SIPO said there was no evidence and which previously had been dismissed’.
Eh?
Or, rather , EH ?
Could this be the (gulp) same Lucinda Creighton who was blue of face as well as blue of blouse in denouncing what looked suspiciously like ‘dirty tricks’ (one won’t put it any stronger than that ) which the same, identical Sindo indulges For Ever on a Sunday, every Sunday, against the whinging Shinners ? Sometimes even at a rate of 12 stories per 8 pages. Stories, even of the hoary old variety.
But the real piece de resistance is left for the very last sentence, which is, by any global standards, going forward, uproariously droll:
-Something has swallowed up Fine Gael’s honesty, compassion and justice. We must name the shadow, as the Jungians say.
Hmm.
Shadows? The backing group of Cliff Richards (with an s in the D, E, F cohort of Dublin society ) once had a hit song on that very theme:
-The Jungians
Darling, we’re the Jungians
And the Jungians
Shouldn’t be afraid.
The pillow talk between the two widely respected and sadly, successive editors of the highly regarded Sindo obviously did not include a particular location in the Kingdom of Kerry. OF which country one of which editors was a native. (see above). For in that particular location of a specific occasion those very words were first heard:
-Tomorrow
Why wait till Tomorrow?
For Tomorrow,
Sometimes never comes.
These too were the last words uttered by members of the local showband called The Diehards who felt the, (gasp) ‘honesty, compassion and justice’ of the armed wing of (gulp) provisional Fine Gael.
The year ? 1923. The location? Ballyseedy.
The same county, coincidentally, which has just returned two T.D.s, the heroes of the hayseed cohort, on a platform that ‘One good urn deserves an Udder’), the Tweedle Dum and the Tweedle Dee of the…. Healy-Rae Nua Party.
About whom the first question of the New Doll Aryean has already been tabled;
-Should there be a cap on the number of candidates which this party can run or even slinge in the same constituency ?
Yerra, fot will dem Jackeens tink of nexht, atoll, atoll ?
Heard a good quote from Max Keiser a few days ago: ‘RBC are the Jimmy Savile of the financial world’.
But my impression is that the financial world is full of Jimmy Saviles!
It seems localism is just another form of tribalism, and tribal conflict has been practiced by humanity since the dawn of Time.
I remember growing up the kids in our street would have “Wars” with the kids from the next street during the summers. We use to make “pea shooters” (the tops of plastic bottles cut off and the finger of a rubber washing up glove cello-taped to one end, insert a hard pea or tiny stone, pull back the rubber with the pea and fire the pea lol they bloody hurt too) and attack each other. This went on until inevitably my friend got shot in the eye and had to visit the hospital. The adults from both streets put an end to the “Wars” after that. But it was all about which street was “better” and keeping the “other side” out. Such tribalism when it comes to adults is usually expressed in sports and, unfortunately, real Wars.
Almost all Wars is basically about Tribalism, in my opinion. WW2 is a classic example. The Soviet Union annexed sections of Finland (which Russia still holds today) and annexed Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania in full. They then demanded Romania hand over its Northern territories, which Romania handed over without a fight (Today its Moldova). When Nazi Germany invaded Poland, for good measure the Soviets invaded Poland too and took more than half the country (France/Britain didn’t declare war on Russia…). And so on.
WW2 may have been far more terrible than our “pea shooter wars” on the Falls Road but the principle of Tribalism was certainly an element of its cause.
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Its the same with this “localist” attitude from Manchan Magan and a few others. They don’t want someone from Westmeath to be their TD, or from anywhere else, really. Its similar to the attitude shown towards Gerry Adams from some down in the South, an attitude which says “Who do you think you are coming down here from the North?”. This attitude isn’t just unique to Ireland, it goes on in every country. For example in England people from the North (Newcastle, Manchester, Liverpool, etc) are generally looked down upon by English people in the South. Some parts of southern England really do make northern English people feel alien, even though their still in England and vice versa.
I always remember, I think it was during the European Elections, Mary Lou McDonald and Arlene Foster and a few others were being interviewed by Mark Carruthers on BBC1 while the live count was underway. The attitude and atmosphere was tense and a little awkward, why? well because Arlene Foster and the UUP representative weren’t comfortable with a TD from the South up in the North talking about an election underway here. Mary Lou’s southern accent really did stand out. The attitude from Arlene/UUP seemed to be “Who do you think you are coming up here poking your nose in?”. Of course even northern Catholics are often openly subjected to the “F**k off down South” attitude from the more bigoted element within Unionism/Loyalism.
Tribalism/Localism is all around us, its reflected in kids running around and hiding with make shift weapons (our precious pea shooters)to people from different counties in Ireland/England wanting to be amongst their “own people” and to keep outsiders, well….out basically, to the giant Communist Empire of the Soviet Union ignoring the rights of its neighbours and swallowing Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania whole. It isn’t just reflected in the open tribal, sectarian conflict in the North or in places like Iraq.
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Thomas Murphy was up in court (without a jury) and sentenced for his tax evasion of around 100,000 euros. But yet Google and other massive corporations have dodged tax here for many years, of which maybe hundreds of millions of euros is owed by them. When are they up in a non-jury court? I wont be holding my breath……