A little birdie told me that Sandal John* (That’s John Gormley to you not with it cool kids) got into a heckuva lot of trouble with his FF counterparts about even suggesting banning the Ward Union Hunt. In short and possibly four letter words, good ole Sandal was told you can’t ban the Hunt and withold their licence. So no surprise today that he is allowing the hunt but in a “limited capacity. Yeah right. “limited capacity” or “attached conditions” = total u-turn with facesaving gofasterlikestripe political accessory. Another another Green U-turn. At least we still know who the real bosses are and it seems at the cabinet table John and Eamo are reminded of this, a lot. Though it seems Eamo is even laughing at the FF in-jokes now. Bloody shame that Myers was right though.
I’m sure there’ll be a redefining of what a u-turn is now. They’re redefining everything else. How’s about: “Redirecting of resources to face down rather than run with the existing momentum.”
*Yes, like a Green Minister’s lies, say it and believe it enough and the thing will stick.
I hope anyone who voted for any green candidate is feeling properly ashamed of themselves at this point. FF is at least more or less honestly bloody awful.
[…] Via the ever-enlightening Mulley.net: Grean Team head honcho John Gormley has backed down on the hunting ban. Not only that, we hear he drives a Hummer, eats squirrels AND leaves his fridge door […]
Also know that green ministers are basically confined to their own ministerial barracks when it comes to ‘joined up government’ – perhaps why this whole water for schools thing (sponsored by Tesco natch) is such a mess. They have already accepted their fate as government outsiders.
I love how this whole stag hunt thing was fine for (undoubtedly) 300 years until one ran into a *playground* last year. zOMG! WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!?!?! Never mind, you know, the stag…
I hope anyone who voted for any green candidate is feeling properly ashamed of themselves at this point. FF is at least more or less honestly bloody awful.
Im not ashamed. Im disappointed, but not ashamed. Im not ashamed for voting for someone (who incidentally didn’t get elected) who represented my views better than any other candidate.
Hi roosta!
I believe the point is that the person you voted for may very well have ‘represented your views’ whilst they were seeking your vote , but that alone is no guarantee that that person , if elected, will continue to ‘represent your views’ from the chamber.
Sharon.
You have to admit it opens up all sorts of spin possibilities. “Limited capacity” rendition flights, a few “limited capacity” incinerators, and of course, a “limited capacity” road through Tara (with a U turn to get you back again). It seems the only thing with limitless capacity is their willingness to compromise on core issues.
Hi roosta!
I believe the point is that the person you voted for may very well have ‘represented your views’ whilst they were seeking your vote , but that alone is no guarantee that that person , if elected, will continue to ‘represent your views’ from the chamber.
Sharon.
Well, I agree with that, I think its just the shame part. I don’t feel shame for having voted for my local Green candidate for what they are doing now.
I’ll take the Greens making compromise on core issues when it moves those issues down the right track, as opposed to no Greens and no movement at all.
Hi roosta !
“Well, I agree with that, I think its just the shame part. I don’t feel shame for having voted for my local Green candidate for what they are doing now.”
Perhaps it’s the elected Greens that should feel ‘shame’ for what they promised to do as opposed to what they are actually delivering on ?
Sharon.
If you make the u-turn in a Prius or on a bicycle, it doesn’t count. So there.
Hi Markham Nolan !
But think of the repeated damage to the environment caused by all that tyre burning .
😉
Sharon.
I used to think that the Green party were vaguely honest. Then I heard Sargent speaking at a debate. VERY politician-y.
I don’t agree that people who voted Green should feel ashamed. I don’t believe they expected the Green’s to abandon all principal and lie down with FF knowing their calibre. If any voter should be ashamed it should be those who helped put FF back in.
Eh! Dunno why you’re surprised. Dunno why anyones surprised. He’s a politician…
Headlines tomorrow –
“Politician Compromises Principles to Stay in Position of Power”
Oh my goodness! I’m soooooo shocked! 🙂
From Eirbiz last Jan.
Kildalkey is a small village in Co. Meath with a national school for around 200 pupils.
Yesterday Tues 23 Jan 2007, at about 3pm, when the school was about let the kids out to their parents and school buses to be taken home, around 80 horses and riders from The Ward Hunt accompanied by a pack of hounds arrived in the village galloping after a terrified stag. The stag, in it’s efforts to escape, jumped into the school grounds chased by the pack of hounds which caused the principal to activate the school’s emergency plan. Some of the children were already on their way out of the school and had to scramble back in to avoid being trampled by the animals.
Numerous people from the area who witnessed the ‘event’ contacted the RTE Live Line radio program to describe what went on.
Some people said that the stag was covered in blood and terrified as the hounds tried to corner it and some of the children were upset for a long time afterwards.
Like every other rural village school, there isn’t enough parking for cars at the best of times and for 80 horses and riders with an entourage of galoots on quads and more hanging out of jeeps to come galloping into the situation, it had to have been a nightmare for some. There was an account of one terrified horse slipping on the road amid heavy traffic.
A spokesman for the hunt came on radio and apologised for the intrusion and tried to make out that they had no way of knowing where the stag would go and the hunt had to follow. He also said that the stag was ‘checked’ afterwards to assertain its condition and was found to be none the worse for his delightful experience.
A farmer also complained that the hunt had trampled about his property and damaged fences while, at the same time, scaring his livestock.
Future generations, if there are any, will rightly wonder how 80 people in the year 2007 got up one morning looking forward to getting up on a horse while bursting with anticipation as they waited for a terrified wild animal to be let loose so that they could have a ‘great day out’ chasing it to exhaustion or death.
Lest there be any supporters of this stupid behaviour saying that I am some urban do-gooder who doesn’t know what he’s talking about…wrong!
I was brought up in rural Ireland and fifty years ago the god-fearing all went to mass every Sunday and afterwards, groups of these neanderthals spent the afternoon killing as many wild animals as possible.
Gangs would head off armed with shovels, iron bars, dogs, guns and traps. No bird was safe, rabbits and hares were set upon by the dogs and foxes and badgers were dug out with shovels while more dogs waited to pounce.
Animals in general were treated apallingly in those days and we don’t seem to have made much progress since.
It’s time that these ‘traditions’ were consigned to history and
I’m sure all animals are looking forward to the day when there is no such thing as an ‘animal lover’.
Newspaper report
Latest Dec 2007:
Our Minister for the Environment John Gormley (Green Party) has given permission for this idiocy to be allowed to run amuck again with 28 conditions, most of which will be ignored.
At one stage it was proposed to map out the route of the hunt but, it was pointed out that a terrified deer might not be able to read a map at 40 mph. They also must be going to supply the deer with a watch as they, in their generosity, have decided to give it a start of one hour.
Apart from the utter cruelty that this activity causes to the deer, the horses are also going to be treated cruelly. I don’t know much about the way a horse thinks but, it would want to be very stupid, in horse terms, if it enjoyed tearing through hedges, barbed wire fences, drains and every other obstacle in the countryside with a 12 stone galoot on it’s back.