Saints and Scholars; a new, putrid garden of remembrance for Ireland's neoliberal martyrs?

Readers of this blog may not know that the Irish and British/NI states granted formal recognition to each other only through the good Friday agreement of 1998. Up to then both had claimed the NE corner of Ireland as part of the national territory. Let us note that, in the resource-starved century we live, France has held on to its colonial claims which comprise 97% of its national territory.

A dashed convenient deal for the Brits, that 1998 business; Ireland surrendered ALL its national territory, defining the nation instead solely in terms of people born there. About 1,4 million people ratified this recission in a referendum. Then, in a further referendum in 2004, about 1.4 million people decided this was not such a good idea after all, and the 1998 agreement is now surely null and void in its territorial retraction.

In 2011, in earshot of riots nearby, the Queen laid a wreath to the heroes of Irish independence at the garden of remembrance in Dublin's Parnell Square. 100 meters away, the statue of Parnell proudly proclaimed that no-one has the right to set bounds on the march of a nation. Behind the queen, representing the Irish state, were two non-Irish people; “President” Macaleese, who true to her petit-bourgeois Belfast origins learned Spanish, rather than Irish at school; and the truly sinister then Minister for Defence (and Justice!) Alan Shatter.

In the latter's brief and corrupt tenure, Shatter declaimed the Irish for nor participating in WW2; swore in tens of thousands of immigrants as Irish “citizens”; and repeatedly interfered with the legal system until he was caught and forced to resign. Here is the truth; WW2 was not our business as a state; many Irish fought heroically for the allies, and well over 50% of all congressional medals of honour have been won by Irish-Americans with over 10% going to men BORN in Ireland. In particular, both of Shatter's parents were English Jews; as Louise London has documented, the scale of the Shoah was due precisely to English Jews refusing to admit their continental co-religionionists;

http://www.amazon.com/Whitehall-Jews-1933-1948-Immigration-Holocaust/dp/0521534496/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1416243428&sr=1-1

Now to the matter at hand; we have no evidence that either Enda Kenny. Joan Burton or Michael Noonan have enriched themselves illegally. (It is possible that all have secretly squiirelled away millions ) All are retirement age; none have anything greater than the most minimal undergraduate education. Currently, their well-being is at risk when they venture out in public. For foreign readers, I must point out that, until the Ahern years, one spoke to the Irish PM as person to person in true republican mode at public events,

Noonan and Kenny boast of Ireland's recovery, evidenced by low bond yields; they neglect to mention that serial defaulter Argentina has had the most successful stock market in the world in 2014. Bad girl Iceland, whose refusal to pay back even deposit holders in Icesave provoked British use of terrorist laws and threats of gunboats ( a la the 19^th century remedy for bond default) recovered superbly. The bank bail-out has cost Ireland fully 60 times more per person than it did Britain

There is something of the ancient Irish monks going on Imram in Kenny and Noonan; indeed, finding Ireland too cosy, these monks went to Iceland. I suggest a new corner of the garden of remembrance for these heroes of the new world order, one in which a la Rupert Brooke and Katherine Mansfiled, they will have Brussels/DC pockmarked on their hearts in a country which does  not have a territory. If, entering government in 2016 at latest, sinn fein have not learned from them, we may need a whole new garden

Seán Ó Nualláin  17u samhain  2014


Again, my books on Ireland are at;

scams unveiled

and

http://www.amazon.com/Ireland-A-Colony-Once-Again/dp/1443840858

PS (18 Samhain) This government  has until the end of this week - 22 Nov 2014 - to announce a complete cancellation of installation of meters for water charges in order to avoid complete collapse of the state's control. Otherwise, it can keep the state going with army help for up to a year before there is complete breakdown. My guess is that they see the danger. In either case, it's the end of Kenny, who does not represent any sector of the society

(3 days later) Right on schedule

 The gun returns to Irish politics

PPS The re-engineering of Ireland to exemplify neoliberalism involved what was in effect a  shadow constitution and a dark "deep"  state. The "shocks" through which many were expropriated were implemented initially by use of law as instrument (a la the water charges); when found illegal, the process still continued, which is why I term it a "shadow constitution". We Irish had always prided ourselves, rightly or wrongly, on the notion that our own ability and the strength of community and civil society in Ireland meant that we could do more with less and compete with other countries. What the new dispensation brought was gargantuan structures (like SFI) which were painstaking imitations of those elsewhere and an evisceration of community and civil society.