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8th Amendment – Avoidance at all cost?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
8th Amendment – Avoidance at all cost?

The 8th Amendment to the Irish Constitution guarantees the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn and makes abortion illegal, but also puts doctors in a very tricky situation if they expect that they can only safe the life of one of the two in disastrous circumstances. The clause was added to the Irish constitution after a referendum in 1983 and many people think that a lot has happened in these 33 years and that the 8th amendment should be repealed (deleted from the constitution.

The supporters of the clause are not overly interested in a referendum because there is the possibility that the opponents will win the referendum. The opponents want to have a referendum as soon as possible to stop the odd situation that women need to travel to the UK to get an abortion that is illegal in Ireland.

So how could we find out what the majority of citizens in Ireland really wants? Let me think? Hmmmm?? Maybe put the head in the sand and pretend that there is no issue? – That seems to be the government’s approach once again! Enda Kenny and his gang are not the most decisive crowd at best of times.

In a true democracy, you would give the citizens a chance to voice their opinion and you would run a referendum if there is evidence that the public opinion could have changed drastically. There is no guarantee that the 8th amendment will be repealed if a referendum happens, but at least we would know then.

Last week the alliance of Anti Austerity Alliance and People Before Profit (AAA-PBP) has asked the government to run a referendum, but that was rejected and the government explains that in the usual way and I will paraphrase VERY VERY freely here:

“We will not ask for the real opinion of the people because we have put in place an artificial structure of a Citizens Assembly that will allow us to delay any decision as long as possible. We gave them loads ot time until half way through 2017 and we hope that they will take that time. Then this Citizen Assembly will come back to us with an opinion. We secretly hope that they will say that no referendum is needed, because then we can blame them. But if they tell us we should hold a referendum, then we will first need to discuss that and at some time later vote on it. Because once the Citizen Assembly comes back with an opinion we will first give that opinion to a Special Oireachtas Committee as this will give us a chance to delay the process further. That Special Oireachtas Committee will be also given six months to decide. So it will be well over a year before we even think about a referendum and we hope that the Irish citizens will have forgotten by then! If the Special Oireachtas Committee ALSO says we should have a referendum then we will CONSIDER to have one and will schedule it for as far away from today as we can. because we are extremely afraid of the outcome and hope that we have won the next election by then so that that referendum will not screw our chances. All in all, we don’t care about the opinion of the Irish Citizens anyway. We only care about our position in power and to maintain that we will do whatever possible to block and delay anything that interfere with our power in the slightest way.”

So with that in mind – and I stress that this is MY interpretation of the situation, but it is based on the government’s official statement as you can find it through this Tweet – there won’t be a referendum for the next 2.5 – 3 years AT LEAST!

In the last 33 years, the opinion in large parts of the population certainly has changed and they have a right to ask for a new vote. Keep in mind that neither side has a guarantee that they will win or lose and that’s not what this opinion here is about. Sure I have an opinion about the 8th amendment, but my opinion is so irrelevant (I am not even allowed to vote in a referendum!) that I just want to focus on the undemocratic-ness of the government’s decision.

We don’t need a Citizens Assembly or a Special Oireachtas Committee! We have clear evidence that there is a ground swell that could indicate that the opinion has changed. That should be enough to ask for the opinion again!

Irish, Justice, Politics, Society, , , ,

Gaeltacht not viable!? Is that really a surprise?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Gaeltacht not viable!? Is that really a surprise?

As a foreigner, I don’t speak Irish and have never learned it in school. I did make an attempt many years ago to learn it and bought a book and a few cassette tapes (it is THAT long ago!), but I don’t think I made it beyond the first lesson.

Why did I want to learn it? Well, if you move to a country where there is a different language than your own, you at least make an attempt and in addition there is this romanticised idea that it will come in handy somewhere.

But then you realise that ONLY English is needed in Ireland and that apart from some politically inspired publications, there is not even a proper newspaper available in Irish, which is a clear indication to me that the language has been given up.

Is it a terrible thing to give up language that is not useful anymore? Not at all! Otherwise we would all talk in Shakespearian English. Languages change and move, disappear and appear and even if there is history of a language, it does not mean that it HAS to be kept alive. On the other hand, there is NOTHING wrong with keeping it alive if there is sufficient interest and if people want to use it.

The “Oireachtas Standing Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands” was now told last Wednesday by Dr Brian Ó Curnáin from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies that the number of Irish speakers is decreasing, that young people’s competence in the language even in the Gaeltacht is declining and that the Gaeltacht in its current state is not viable.

This has been reported by RTE.ie here.

It can’t really come as a surprise! Money is spent on Gaeltacht and on Irish language initiatives and the forced language teaching in Irish schools is still in place. But all this seems (to a non-involved observer) more like state-prescribed or forced programmes and not at all like genuine enthusiasm for the Irish language.

It seems that the language enthusiasm in Wales (for Welsh) is much bigger than in Ireland (for Gaelic). And considering that Welsh only became official language of Wales in 2011, that is some achievement. I am not sure what exactly was done in Wales to get there, but the system used in Ireland is clearly failing, so now the strategy needs to be changed OR maybe it should be considered to let Irish die?

Education, Irish, Politics, Society,

It is “country” not “jurisdiction”!

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
It is “country” not “jurisdiction”!

Language is a an odd thing! There seems to a sheep effect sometimes when someone uses a term that we think we SHOULD use. Years ago it was the term “non-national”. It was used initially in a misguided effort to be more inclusive by avoiding words like “foreigner” or “alien”. Not the term “non-national” made no sense whatsoever because nearly all “non-nationals” were very much nationals, just not nationals of Ireland, but of other countries. Oddly “non-nationals” was usually only used for non-Irish-nationals from outside the EU. So, it seems we had different classes of “non-nationals”. Luckily the term is hardly used anymore, which is a good thing.

But there are many other words that are used in odd circumstances. “Jurisdiction” is one of them!

Last week, the Irish Independent wrote “A slump in Sterling against the euro prompted hordes of shoppers in this jurisdiction to head across the Border for their pre-Christmas shopping.”

And it quoted Ash Ireland chairman Dr Patrick Doorley, who said “[…] There are many examples of jurisdictions where tobacco price has been increased for health reasons and smuggling simultaneously tackled and reduced – such as Australia, New Zealand and Spain.”

Why is the word “jurisdiction” used in this case and not the word “country”. Every country is a different jurisdiction by definition of sovereignty. The only difference is where a big country, e.g. the USA, can have different laws in different parts (states). In Ireland we don’t have different laws in different parts of the country, so the use of “jurisdiction” makes absolutely no sense.

And just in case “jurisdiction” is used by some to avoid having to call Northern Ireland a different country than the Republic of Ireland: No matter what your opinion is about the political divisions on this island in the future, currently the Republic of Ireland is a completely different country than Northern Ireland and until that changes, the hordes of shoppers in this COUNTRY headed across the border (there is a big hint in this word!!).

Irish, Odd, Politics, Society,

Enda Kenny – the Mayo eejit?

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Enda Kenny – the Mayo eejit?

One of a number of problems in Irish Politics is the Parish Pump politics that is done. That means that politicians care much more for there people “at home” in their constituency than for the country. As a consequence TDs (members of the National Parliament) waste time with helping Paddy to get his passport faster because he forgot to apply in time or with going to funerals of every Tom, Dick and Harry, just so that their families will vote for that politician again.

It is bad and it could relatively easily get changed, but politicians don’t like change, so we have to live with it. But you would expect that the head of the country, the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny has the interest of the country in mind as the highest priority.

We had in the context of the mess around building a new government and with the recent Apple ruling and a few other stories, quite significant events that needed a strong and decisive Taoiseach and someone who informs the people about his decisions. Did Enda Kenny speak to the nation at that time? I am not 100% sure, but I don’t think so.

This week Mayo (where he is from) is playing in a Football game. Yes, it is the final, but so what. And what does Enda Kenny do? He speaks to the nation to support his home county in a cringeworthy video, What an eejit!

Here it is: www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDmpmOy5qAk

Can we please swap him for a LEADER of the country?

 

Irish, Odd, Politics, , ,

Apple, Ireland and the Taxes

Written by Joerg Steegmueller
Apple, Ireland and the Taxes

A school teacher from Mayo and his pack of friends are in trouble for the last few days. Everybody is giving them grief over something that started 10 years ago, even before they had anything to say and were only dreaming of getting the big job.

The bigger boys wrapped our school teacher over the knuckles for something that he didn’t do and maybe didn’t even understand when he found out. But since he is in the driving seat at the moment, it is only fair that he has to take responsibility. And I tell you, he and his mates did screw up! But they screwed up intentionally and would do it again in a heart beat. They took money from these big boys and these big boys are not happy about that at all.

But on the other side, the people our schoolteacher wanted to help with the money (at least that’s what he – probably genuinely thought – are also not happy. And it is not just one gang, but two gangs that are complaining. So the Mayo man gets it from all sides.

We could nearly feel sorry for him….but then he has form on screwing up, he does that regularly probably because he just doesn’t know better, he is just a school teacher, you know and hadn’t learned any better. We all wish we had someone who knew what he or she was doing, but the whole country has NOBODY that knows any better, A little bleak, I know, so we just let him meddle on. Complain regularly, but nothing will ever change.

Our school teacher in this story is, of course, Enda Kenny and the story is about what would be called tax fraud if you and I did it. He and his cabinet weren’t even close to being in government in 2003 (or 2007) when the is special arrangement started. So I have some sympathy with them. The special tax treatment was just another mess that they inherited form the previous Fianna Fail government. BUT they didn’t even try to fix it.

What was happening? Apple (and others do that too!) sold products in other EU countries, but officially all products were sold from Ireland and not from the Apple companies in these other EU countries. So all the money went back to Ireland, even if that shouldn’t have been the case. The other EU countries are (I have to say: understandably!) not happy about that because they lost taxes. But they can’t do much against it, because it is not illegal. They are already annoyed about Ireland just charging this super low 12.5% corporate tax, but that is also not illegal. So they were trying to find something that WAS illegal to shake up the whole cosy arrangement that Ireland has with some companies.

They found out that Ireland is not really charging any taxes at all from Apple because Apple cleverly transferred the income from the other countries from one company in Ireland to another and that other company had got a sweet deal from the Irish government. Still nothing illegal, but dodgy nevertheless AND many would say STUPID!

Apple has a lot of money and to let them run their business virtually tax free in Ireland doesn’t make sense. Sure there are 5000 jobs that they have created, but if they had to pay a few % of tax instead of well below 1%, the deal would still be soooo good, that these 5000 jobs wouldn’t be in big danger.

So the Irish government should certainly have charged them some taxes!

When the other countries found out that Ireland was doing dodgy stuff, they said that this is like paying Apple money for being in Ireland. It is and it isn’t. Either way it is a form of tax fraud. When the guy who imported garlic from China declared it as Apples (which have a significantly lower tax rate than garlic – for NO apparent reason!) he got a prison sentence of 6 (!!) years a few years ago. The Irish government was not doing much else: Re-labelling you could call it! But they are the government, not a garlic importer so they get away with it.

But let’s face it, a little school teacher from Mayo and his gang wouldn’t dare a super big company to pay more, right? It’s an inbuilt inferiority complex that the Irish government has (don’t get me started on offshore oil and how they just give it as a give to the oil companies).

When the EU said that Apple will have to pay EUR 13 billion plus interest, Apple was understandably not too happy about that (despite the fact that they have around $231 billion in cash), the Irish government wasn’t happy either (they don’t like being wrapped over the knuckles and there is definitely a danger that other foreign companies in Ireland also could have to pay a lot of money. I wonder how Microsoft feels about all that!

So the Irish government HAS to challenge the EU decision because of that. They also have to be seen to defend Apple to show other companies that they stand up for the companies that come to Ireland.

But then there is the other side. Because of that inferiority complex, a few years ago the Irish government screwed up when it came to the bank debt and took on responsibility for debt that they shouldn’t have. So these 13bn would help nicely getting rid of some of that debt. Which means now that a lot of people in Ireland say screw Apple, screw the EU and let’s take that money. Maybe we use some of it to pay our debt back, but, hey let’s buy something nice from our windfall. (and that is another opinion).

A right mess? Definitely!! And it looks like a lose-lose situation for everyone involved. Don’t you love politics and even more so, don’t you love our competent politicians? ;-)

Economy, Justice, Odd, Politics, Taxes, , ,
 
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