Indymedia mentioned in the Dáil by Dempsey

Thursday November 16, 2006 16:38

by erectus

Joins McDowell...

Noel Dempsey mentioned Indymedia yesterday during the Dáil debate on the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006. While recounting a supposed conversation a friend of his overheard on Grafton Street (never a more blatant case of an urban legend/"friend of a friend" story) supposedly talking in advance about how there was going to be a riot in Rossport last Friday, he said this...

"The local people protesting on what I would call the “non-media” days have, by and large, engaged in peaceful protest. They have had no problems with the gardaí on the days on which they have been protesting. However, one can see calls for days of action every day on such websites as Indymedia and the website belonging to the Shell to Sea campaign. On such days, people from outside the area come in and cause problems with the gardaí and local people. Both Deputies Ferris and Cowley know this is true and I hope they will not state that nobody outside of this area was involved in the events which took place last Friday because it is not true."

Of course the whole issue of "outsiders" is a farce, at what point geographically is there a barrier drawn where people can and cannot become passionate about an issue... is it only limited to people on the peninsula, or the county of Mayo, or Connaught? Seeing as how the politicians are telling us that the Corrib field extraction will benefit the country (untrue, unless you count Norway as Ireland), then people from around the country have the right to protest against it also.

Nobody gives out to Bono or labels him as an "outsider" for wanting to solve poverty in Africa, yet he lives thousands of miles away (metaphorically as well as physically I suppose) from the people he's talking about. Does Michael McDowell have the right to engage in debate about Northern Ireland, seeing as how he's holed up in his firework-free fiefdom in Ranelagh?

This is not the first time in recent months that Indymedia has been mentioned in a negative light in the Dáil chamber. Michael McDowell gave out about the site in the aftermath of the video footage featured on the site where demonstrators smashed up the "Progressive" "Democrats" offices during the Love Ulster riot in Dublin City Centre. He also mentioned it several times on the Prime Time programme, but every time he said the word, Miriam O'Callaghan interrupted him...

Makes you wonder who else is trawling through the wire...

save preference

Comments (10 of 10)

Prime Time in Town yesterday morning

by cool j

Sat Nov 18, 2006 04:41

Prime time payed another visit to Bellanaboy on Friday morning the 17th. I assume whatever comes out of this will be broadcast next Tuesday evening. Hopefully something reasonably balanced though I wouldn't have huge hopes given "Morning Irelands" shambolic efforts last Monday morning, which consisted of a few brief heavily edited interviews with members of the community followed by nearly 5 minutes of live uninterrupted Shell PR spin from one of their lackeys in Dublin, with of course no oppurtunity provided by RTE for the other side to reply !!

Letter to papers

by Dermot L - Labour Youth

Fri Nov 17, 2006 18:30

I sent the following letter to the papers yesterday on foot of this nonsense, though none have yet printed it.

A Eagarthóir,

The attempts to slight the legitimate concerns of the broad campaign which is seeking the refining of the Corrib gas in the normal offshore way are getting more desperate by the day, it seems.

First we had Michael McDowell’s repeated and nonsensical rants about the supposedly ubiquitous involvement of Sinn Féin in the campaign, completely untrue if one was to actually speak to those in Bellanaboy or elsewhere through Ireland.

Then we had Enda Kenny’s confused accounts of violence on behalf of the Shell to Sea campaign in Erris last Friday, when the breaches of the peace were actually on behalf of a provocative and completely unaccountable Garda force there.

Now we have Minister Noel Dempsey putting on the Dáil record a second hand report of another TD who supposedly overheard a phone conversation on Grafton Street in which the words “Rossport” and “riot” were purportedly mentioned.

The entire saga of false claims attempting to damage the Shell to Sea campaign brings to mind an episode of The Simpsons featuring the inept Lionel Hutz, Attorney-at-Law. When asked if he had actual evidence, Mr Hutz replied; “Well, your Honor, we've plenty of hearsay and conjecture. Those are kinds of evidence…”

Regards,
Dermot Looney

Labour Youth Communications Officer

-----

Independent News and Media in particular have a lot to answer for in this whole media debacle. I also sent letters to the papers at the time of the publication of the Shell propaganda ads a few weeks back, and again none of them printed it. Somehow I doubt it was my grammar...

The 'outsider' spin

by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain - Save Tara

Thu Nov 16, 2006 23:15

This is the same attitude in the Meath area re. Tara - trying to tell us that only Meath people should have an interest/ view/ rights in the issue.

Meath Chronicle, Saturday, 11 November 2006
People of county do support M3
(Editor, Meath Chronicle)

Dear sir - In response to last week’s letter by Muireann Ni Bhrolchain,
may I state how weary I am of ‘outsiders’ (Ms Ni Bhrolchain resides in
Kildare) who seem to think they know what’s best for county Meath with
complete disregard to the views of local people here.

I fully respect that Ms Ni Bhrolchain is entitled to an opinion on the
matter, but the fact remains that the vast majority of Meath residents
are fully behind the M3 project and want to see construction work
finally begin as soon as possible.

We have simply had enough of appeals, objections and hearings and it’s
now time to get on with what needs to be done.

On this, I support the views of Bertie Ahern when he berates the ‘silly
old systems’, bringing as they do only systematic and frustrating
‘paralysis through analysis’.

Indeed, the current government’s transport policies for county Meath can
only be commended.

The M3 has the potential to underpin economic competitiveness throughout
the county, promote regional growth and enhance the quality of life for
generations to come.

By contrast, there is a distinct lack of coherence with what the
Opposition parties are saying.

Both Fine Gael and Labour have no clear position on the M3, sitting on
the fence as it were, playing opportunistic politics, and all this is
only contributing to the delay in the project.

Residents in Meath have a right to demand first-class services,
infrastructure and facilities.

As taxpayers, we deserve the best. This Fianna Fail led government, with
its commitment to the delivery of the M3, is listening to these demands.

May I suggest to Ms Ni Bhrolchain that she and others like her respect
the democratic processes that have led to the M3 being given the green
light? She might not have favoured the decision but the majority of us
do and we want to see this project happen.

Yours sincerely,

S. K. McKee,

Grange Rath,

County Meath.

Phone Tapping - New Style

by shell to sea supporter

Thu Nov 16, 2006 21:18

I am pleased to add my voice to Minister's Dempsey's fear of phones. Second reference in a few weeks. Life threats came along phone lines. Anyone charged yet? Any way I feel a song coming on. Support to anyone who makes it happen.

Listening in to phone coversations in not becoming to a Cabinet Minister or his party members.. Any rule about the right to privacy? Lip readers at work in Grafton Street! Must have been a training exercise.

David Norris again

by me

Thu Nov 16, 2006 21:08

..............With regard to energy, thank God for the people who are protesting in Rossport. Let us consider the way Putin dealt with Shell. It is one of the most disreputable companies on the face of this planet and it is dishonestly buying its way into publications like National Geographic to pretend it is ecologically friendly. It is not. Putin knew how to deal with it. If there is something in it for Shell, it will come back. It is disgraceful that the Irish State should be used by a multinational to crush a local population, so to speak.

http://www.senatordavidnorris.ie/blogger/2006/10/statem....html

Riot? Riot?? Did I miss something?

by Jan Palach

Thu Nov 16, 2006 17:58

Do not question the armed men defending the private property.

Non-media days??

by supp

Thu Nov 16, 2006 17:35

http://royaldutchshellplc.com/2006/11/16/irish-times-pl...psey/

Why does he think the media are there to get pictures of the gardai being beaten with sticks of course.

phone riot

by pat c

Thu Nov 16, 2006 17:02

The same crap is in the Irish Times, but at least they have Jerry Cowley saying that the minister made an "unfortunate accusation" (hes limited as to what he can say in the dail). Cowley went on to say that allegations made were about some of the activities involving him and his constituents and that the protest would continue.

In the Senate, David Norris said that the Taoiseach was aligning himself and the Garda with a malign multinational corporation. In true blueshirt fashion, Maurice Cummins of FG said the treatment gardaí were being subject to in Mayo was appalling.

Jaysus boys- you'd want to be careful

by C Murray

Thu Nov 16, 2006 17:01

Low-lifes who inhabit the hallowed corridors of power are speaking on indymedia....
You'll be the establishment next.(!)

Other contexts in which indymedia has been discussed- the worldwide condemnation
of the murder of independent media journalist and film-maker Brad Will (it even made
the Guardian). All protests at the murder had the (((i))) logo to remind people of the
service and what it does.

Feck Dempsey- He's branding the collective ( they don't realise it sustains its strengths
from the independence of all contributors)- and is therefore not an 'entity'.

Dempsey reported in Indo to be talking of a "riot"

by Authoritative Source - Genuine Information, Not Proganda

Thu Nov 16, 2006 16:55

The following piece of shite appeared in the Irish Independent with no attribution or byline, so it must have been placed by the editor. You'll notice that it introduces the idea that there was a riot and without managing to crack a smile (figuratively speaking) it relays as serious news that a government minister claims that "someone" heard a mobile phone conversation in the street and he thinks that it's valid information to put on the permanent record on the Dáil!

Irish Independent, Thu, Nov 16th 2006
Riot organised, says minister

The riot last Friday at the Shell site in Rossport, Co Mayo was organised in Dublin, Energy Minister Noel Dempsey has claimed.

He said a mobile phone conversation was overheard in Grafton St last week where
the caller was telling the receiver to get on down to the Shell site as there was going to be a riot. Minister Dempsey said a Fianna Fail TD had overheard the conversation in the city centre in advance of the riot.

Truly, this has to be the most inept attempt at propaganda that I've ever read. And even more amazingly the minister still holds his portfolio.

That the Irish Independent reproduced and published this nugget without any context is down to their usual low standards. A journalist would have questioned the authority of the minister's information, would have queried his description of the assault on peaceful protestors by the Gardai as a "riot", would have ... oh you know very well.

Number of comments per page

Upcoming Events

New Events

Other Press

User Preferences

Feeds

Blog Feeds

Anti-Empire

The Saker

Public Inquiry

Indymedia mentioned in the Dáil by Dempsey

Comments (10 of 10)