De Rossa urges electorate to give the Government its walking papers

by zen Sat Apr 17, 2004 16:16

Since you have put it in CAPITALS, did he actually SHOUT "So lets get stuck into this wretched government and give it its walking papers" at the end of his speech? Or did he say it in a more moderate tone?
Or did you just add it in for effect?

by labour_supporter Sat Apr 17, 2004 17:42

He pretty much shouted it. It was a good speech, I must say...but Bacik was better.

Shoutiest speech of them all was Michael D and fair play to him :-)

Some of the speeches from local candidates were crap in how they were presented, while others were very clear and concise. They should all have been the latter!

by Labour=racist??? Sun Apr 18, 2004 02:32

Why does Labour not come out and oppose the referendum?

All they are objecting to at the moment is the timing or the poll not the referendum itself.

Maybe someone could please answer, do Labour support the taking away of citizenship from immigrant's childern or not? Are Labour in support of a racist referendum or not?

BTW
I find it rich that de Rossa is looking for votes off left wingers when he is sitting in a parliamantary group in Strasbourg with Blair's Labour Party (who support war in Iraq, attacks on the public services and Israeli settlements in the West Bank...), Schroeder's SPD (who are rolling back pension rights that have been enjoyed by the German working class since Bismarks time with Agenda 2010), The Spanish PSOE (still have not pulled out their troops!), Dutch PvdA (were prepared to support war in Iraq in return for cabinet positions). Why should Irish working class people support these policies? The 'Party of European Socialists' are not friends of the European worker.

by Dee Sun Apr 18, 2004 02:35

"Shoutiest speech of them all was Michael D and fair play to him "

That's all you'll get out of Michael D nowadays. He sold out completely when he sold his soul to Reynolds for a seat in the cabinet and then promptly went about attacking the conditions of working class people with social welfare cuts and the water tax....

by dq Sun Apr 18, 2004 11:56

enough with the knee-jerk sectarian rants and educate yourself a little.....

http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64261#comment68636

by Eoin Dubsky Sun Apr 18, 2004 12:07

Looks like a great speech, and I bet Michael D's and Ivana's were great too. The MEP elections in Dublin are going to be crazy, what with about four candidates running on a left-wing ticket.

by Phil Sun Apr 18, 2004 14:45

"The MEP elections in Dublin are going to be crazy, what with about four candidates running on a left-wing ticket."

Who are these 'left wing' candidates exactly. Labour are not left wing, they support the Nice Treaty and sit in the same parliamentary group as Blair's warmongers and Schroeders pension cutters. As for the Greens, they are more genuine but do not have a clear position against the privitisation agenda in the EU (for example they support bin tax) and like Labour they sit with the right wing European Green Parties like the German Greens who have bombed Belgrade and slashed workers rights while in government. The only real candidate standing on a left wing ticket in my opinion is Joe Higgins.

by QED Sun Apr 18, 2004 14:50

"De Rossa has always been good on the race issue in Ireland"

Well why has he not come out in opposition to this referendum then?

Why has his colleague, Eamonn Gilmore, come out and said he supports stopping 'baby tourists'?

another thing, I have just been listening to a report from 'the conference floor' on RTE Radio 1, the reporter noted that he could not find one delegate that expressed any dissent from the leadership. Where is this 'Labour left' that all these Labour hacks spout on about on this site. The fact is that it does not exist. There is no opposition to Rabbittes right wing take over, there are no genuine activists that oppose partnership, bin tax, coalition, racist referenda, privitisation....

by ? - ? Sun Apr 18, 2004 20:18

You believe the media?

by Paddy Mon Apr 19, 2004 12:26

In Finglas, De Rossa's name is a byword for selling out, the epitomy of the former radical politician who has long abandoned his roots. In fact he is a positive liability to the (almost non-existant , membership-wise) Labour Party in the area. People who shout loud about equality etc are often those who have abandoned any concrete commitment to a radical transformation of society.

A question to all De Rossa fans: How can you justify a man who earns the plump salary of MEP and the trail of expenses that go with it, also receiving a substantial ministerial pension? Maybe Frank might like to explain that to a woman living on a non-contributry pension in Finglas West. But then he's not seen very often anywhere in Finglas these days and to judge by the overwhelmingly hostile reception he got outside the Supermarket in Finglas village a few weeks ago when canvassing for the unfortunate local Labour candidate, he won't be coming back soon!

by QED Mon Apr 19, 2004 14:09

Yes I do believe that report on RTE was reasonably accurate, there was no dissent from the floor of the conference. The fact is that if there was any dissent the media would have jumped on it and portrayed it as 'a disunited party' etc.

Even if this was not the case and there was indeed a left opposition at the conference, provide the evidence, where are the left wing publications, leaflets and speeches? You provide the evidence.

The fact is that the Labour Party has completely emptied out of left wing activists, there are no members that are principly opposed to partnership, the capitalist EU, coalition and so on. The Labour Party today is a party of the well heeled middle classes, careerist students and union bureaucrats.

by Eoin Dubsky Mon Apr 19, 2004 16:43

The five people who I believe are running on a left-wing ticket in the Dublin MEP constituency are: Patricia McKenna MEP (Green), Joe Higgins TD (SP), Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Proinsias De Rossa MEP (Labour) and Ivana Bacik (Labour).

You are likely to find non-lefty skeletons in each of their closets, and indeed you might believe that only one or two of them are *really*, *really* left-wing. But I think they'll agree that they're all running on a left-wing ticket. On the political spectrum (right-left) of Irish MEPs and MEP-hopefuls these five are all left of centre. Indeed, on the political spectrum within each of their parties, they are left of centre.

Patricia McKenna has been an outspoken critic of NATO and military aggression as an MEP, so I doubt seriously that she supported the attacks on Yugoslavia. Furthermore she, like her British colleague Caroline Lucas MEP, has 'put her body in the way' in nonviolent resistance to the NATO nuclear weapons at Faslane in Scotland.