Blasphemy, blas for you. A taste of Dermot Ahern for everyone.

// January 4th, 2010 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Over on Irishelection, Veronica has a piece covering the media push for Blasphemy.ie.

What will make this focus on blasphemy and mass cards by the minister all the more ridiculous will be the possibility that the courts will end up tearing the Oireachtas a new one on foot of the challenge by the 15 year old boy to the under-age sex legislation.

Legislation that it was admitted at the time was rushed and probably flawed, so flawed that the likes of the Green party suggested that there should be sunset clause in it so that it would be revisited in a timely and more considered fashion. Almost 4 years on from the summer of 2006, we still have legislation that criminalises sexual activities on the basis of gender, and which says some activities are illegal on their own but become legal if they lead to full sexual intercourse. And which seems to suggest (from what I recall of Brendan Howlin’s rather excellent examination of it from the Labour benches of the Oireachtas)that girls can’t have under sex at all. Crazy beans.

Meanwhile the man who has been minister for Justice made rectifying blasphemy so that it would keep pace with changing times and regulating the sale of mass cards his priority.

From my warm, clammy, live hands!

// August 17th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

So with all the focus in on-line commentary on the effect of the new blasphemy laws, a provision of the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2009 managed to slip by most of us. That being the portion that deals with samurai swords, though they are not named specifically in the act and I guess this means such orders could include other weapons – ray guns and diamond tipped pencil sharpeners for instances.

Now, while I’ve never been seen, in public at least, naked with my swords nor have I been temped to run down the street with my steely weapons unsheathed I do as it happens possess a pair of samurai swords. And I’ve no intention of giving them up. Actually according to the Act I won’t be required to but if I’m in the humour for mock outrage then I’m not going to let the facts get in the way of things which is kind of how we’ve ended up here. How many people have suffered injuries as a result of being hit with glasses in pubs? Are we going to ban them? (Glasses I mean not pubs, I’m not going to completely lose the ran of myself.) Of course not.

Yet according to the minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, “It is proposed to increase the maximum prison sentence for possessing a knife in a public place from one year to five years under section 39 and to extend the power of search without warrant in circumstances where a member of the Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds to suspect a person is carrying any article for unlawful purposes under section 41. We also intend to create a new firearms and offensive weapons order to deal with the issue of samurai swords.”

So there we are then, a ban will sort it all out. Just like the ban we currently have on handguns (outside of gun clubs) and the way we sorted out the north by banning machine guns.

Interestingly as we’re on the general subject of bills that pass us by in the night we managed to have a bill on the stockpiling of depleted uranium, it was entitled “an Act to give effect to the prohibition of the use, stockpiling, production and transfer of weapons of depleted uranium” which as you all know was a massive problem there for a while. Parts of Longford were almost overrun with people stock piling depleted uranium while the people of Leitrim were crying out for people to stockpiling their spare depleted uranium there if only it would create some much needed employment.

You could hardly cross a county boundary within seen a sign for “depleted uranium stockpiled here” or “Muckross welcomes your depleted uranium”. Truly it was a massive and imminent problem so we had a bill on it. And I guess a debate too and perhaps some voting. Meanwhile, and i will admit nowhere nearly as important or pressing as the depleted uranium storage problem the wait for voting reform in the Seanad passed another deadline and the 30 yeatr plus wait for someone, anyone to slip a draft bill onto the order books goes on.

Is the Irish government trying to collapse itself?

// July 17th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

There is a widespread presumption aboard in the media that the Green’s get together over the weekend on the review of the program for government is merely an exercise in being seen by the membership to at least be going through the motions. And that getting the An Bord Snip Nua report out early is just a new effort at convincing the public that the government has nothing to hide and that the way forward for Lisbon will be cleared of too much speculation.

But what if it’s not?

What if the government is deliberately trying to engineer a situation whereby they collapse in the face of the decisions they face resulting in the need of an election once the Dail were to resume in September and timed to coincide with the Lisbon Treaty vote?

FF once there was a general election underway would probably see their support sneak back around the 30% mark which would be a recoverable position. The Greens while their % would be down nationally might be able to rally support to least some of their seating TDs. Sure people will say that FF would be looking at losing 1 in 4 TDs but just as the parliamentary party has no great personal loyalty to Brian Cowen so too has he no loyalty to the parliamentary party. His interest would be above and beyond all else the wider FF family. And that could be best served in his view by a spell in opposition while avoiding harsh measures that will make the 80s look like the 90s.

This would leave FF with almost a full Dail term to regroup and recover while FG and Labour would have had to take very, very painful decisions faced with an opposition lead by, my guess, Dermot Ahern which would have the default position of the Irish electorate to rely on in arguing that any and all harsh measures were the fault of the current government not a preceding one.

Is this likely? Not so much. But is it just possible? You betcha!