The Irish Government an oppressive regime?

prodigal_son

When the last budget was announced army and police were deployed on the street. The government said that it was not an attempt to violate constitutional rights, the right to peacefully protest, but was to keep kildare street a main street open.

The other week they closed kildare street because the president of Americas wife visited.

This would imply that kildare street being shut isn't a problem for the government and in fact they deployed the army and police to stop people having their constitutional rights.

The European court of Justice decided that every human has the right to receive and send legal information. It was a human right that extended to the internet. They also said no government should block this sending and receiving of legal information for any reason.

A few months later Ireland passes laws that allow them to block the sending and receiving of legal information online. They also passed a law to turn off mobile phone cell towers. They will soon be blocking websites. A human rights breach.

The Taoiseach has said that abortion laws must be passed to comply with the constitution. However he is trying to remove the blasphemy law which he originally tried to block. This law was brought in to insure people had a constitutional right to freedom of religion without persecution. If the constitution was so important why is his stance change from one issue to the other?

The natural resources of the Irish people were sold off for pennies.

In my opinion the Irish government is oppressive. They are knowingly breaching our constitutional rights and our european human rights, and they don't care about Irish people.

Did Irish people fight so that they could be threatened with violence to comply, so that they could have their rights eroded and violated, or did we fight for freedom to escape that?

Am I overreacting or is my assessment accurate?

Dave!

Yes, you're overreacting quite hysterically.

Closing a street is not oppressive - people are free to exercise their constitutional right to protest. That doesn't mean they get to do it anywhere and everywhere they like, without restriction, though. Whether it's right that a particular street is closed for protest or not is a valid question, but painting a picture of Ireland as some kind of police state, with the military & police violently crushing the people, is quite a bit of an exaggeration.

I assume the Taoiseach would be putting the question of blasphemy to a referendum, which would mean it would no longer be in the Constitution. The abortion question has already been voted on several times, and ruled on by the Supreme Court, so the Taoiseach has an obligation to legislate for this. I don't see your point here at all.

A license was granted for exploration of the natural resources of the Irish people at a rate which gave due consideration to the significantly lower success rate for offshore drilling compared with other European countries.

You really have to force it if you want to use the term "oppressive". Enda Kenny is not quite Bashar al-Assad.

nesf

Calling the Irish Government an Oppressive regime makes a mockery of the suffering millions upon millions of people have gone through in the past and present.

johnnyskeleton

It's all because of Jim Corr

Crooked Jack

Incompetent? Yes. Spineless? Undoubtedly. Corrupt? Probably to a degree. Any different from FF? Well one is black with white stripes and the other is white with black stripes. But oppressive? Nah man, i have little to no respect for FG and Labour but even Im not buying that one.
Like one poster said, it makes a mockery of people living in truly oppressive regimes.
Thats not to say we have to like it though, or shouldnt try to change it or even that radical change isnt necessary, because it is, but you have to choose your words carefully. as soon as people read that youre calling the govrrnment oppressive, many of them will write off whatever you have to say next as the ravings of a loon, no matter how well thought out and articulate your subsequent arguments are.

Corkfeen

Eh, you're using getting rid of an archaic blasphemy law as evidence of an oppressive regime? The countries in the world with blasphemy tend to be oppressive countries. You just used events to create a narrative that isn't there....

Valetta

prodigal_son wrote: »

When the last budget was announced army and police were deployed on the street. The government said that it was not an attempt to violate constitutional rights, the right to peacefully protest, but was to keep kildare street a main street open.

The other week they closed kildare street because the president of Americas wife visited.

This would imply that kildare street being shut isn't a problem for the government and in fact they deployed the army and police to stop people having their constitutional rights.

The European court of Justice decided that every human has the right to receive and send legal information. It was a human right that extended to the internet. They also said no government should block this sending and receiving of legal information for any reason.

A few months later Ireland passes laws that allow them to block the sending and receiving of legal information online. They also passed a law to turn off mobile phone cell towers. They will soon be blocking websites. A human rights breach.

The Taoiseach has said that abortion laws must be passed to comply with the constitution. However he is trying to remove the blasphemy law which he originally tried to block. This law was brought in to insure people had a constitutional right to freedom of religion without persecution. If the constitution was so important why is his stance change from one issue to the other?

The natural resources of the Irish people were sold off for pennies.

In my opinion the Irish government is oppressive. They are knowingly breaching our constitutional rights and our european human rights, and they don't care about Irish people.

Did Irish people fight so that they could be threatened with violence to comply, so that they could have their rights eroded and violated, or did we fight for freedom to escape that?

Am I overreacting or is my assessment accurate?

Army and police are "deployed" on the streets every day of the week- not just when there is a budget being announced.

Roads are closed every day of the week- not just when the US First Lady visits.

Our natural resources are of no value until we sell them.

Not sure what you mean by sending "legal information"?

I certainly don't feel oppressed.

hatrickpatrick

Not sure what you mean by sending "legal information"?

I agree with this part of the OP, turning off phone signals and blocking websites isn't on, the government shouldn't interfere in freedom of speech under any circumstances. The mobile phone signals thing strikes me as designed to prevent large protests, which is something I take serious issue with.

Frogeye

There are a small number of soldiers inside government buildings at all times. To say they were "deployed" on the streets ( ie the street in front of the Dail) is a bit disingenous. They are there 24hrs a day for security. Putting them on Kildare Street is just using them for their intended purpose.

Keeping one street open using a small number of soldiers who are there anyway is not oppressive in the least.

nesf

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I agree with this part of the OP, turning off phone signals and blocking websites isn't on, the government shouldn't interfere in freedom of speech under any circumstances. The mobile phone signals thing strikes me as designed to prevent large protests, which is something I take serious issue with.

Actually I'm ok with blocking some websites. It doesn't take much imagination to come up with what I'm thinking about. Freedom of speech does have to be limited to some extent. Turning off phone signals is acceptable if there's a genuine bomb threat so long as emergency numbers are still accessible.

nuac

Prodigal son

relax. try to get out more. Nice and sunny today in the west at any rate.

Riddle101

prodigal_son wrote: »

When the last budget was announced army and police were deployed on the street. The government said that it was not an attempt to violate constitutional rights, the right to peacefully protest, but was to keep kildare street a main street open.

I would say it was done in case people decided to riot, and not to violate peoples right to peacefully protest. Considering that 1) Peaceful protests in the past have turned aggressive before, and 2)It was Budget Day, so there would naturally be a fear that the public might not like what they're hearing. I think it was understandable, and they didn't want to take any chances.

The other week they closed kildare street because the president of Americas wife visited.

Security will always be tight for these events. The President of the United States and his family are VIPs in our country. You can't neglect their safety. I'd say they did a pretty good job in ensuring their safety.

This would imply that kildare street being shut isn't a problem for the government and in fact they deployed the army and police to stop people having their constitutional rights.

As mentioned above, those two events have reason for that. It's not like they closed down Kildare Steet all the time, or the country is under martial law. Would you rather we be living in Egypt right now?

A few months later Ireland passes laws that allow them to block the sending and receiving of legal information online. They also passed a law to turn off mobile phone cell towers. They will soon be blocking websites. A human rights breach.

I don't agree too much with it, but for matters of internet security etc, I can kind've see why. Internet piracy is a big problem, and this law combats that, as well as other forms of internet crime.

The Taoiseach has said that abortion laws must be passed to comply with the constitution. However he is trying to remove the blasphemy law which he originally tried to block. This law was brought in to insure people had a constitutional right to freedom of religion without persecution. If the constitution was so important why is his stance change from one issue to the other?

Since most religions are against abortion including Catholicism, you would have to remove the Blasphemy Law in order to have abortions wouldn't you? I could be wrong there. But I think it has to do with the fact that the Blasphemy Law goes against abortion. It's an outdated law anyway, and it has been long argued that it should be removed.

The natural resources of the Irish people were sold off for pennies.

Sad but true, however it depends on what Government you're talking about. When we sold the oil that was discovered years ago. I believe it was during Bertie Ahern's time. Which means it isn't the same government as we have now. So it's not the same regime if you will. But i'd need you to clarify a bit more about that.

In my opinion the Irish government is oppressive. They are knowingly breaching our constitutional rights and our european human rights, and they don't care about Irish people.

I'm not a supporter of the government, but I don't think it's nearly as bad as other places. I guess it's down to perspective, but I think the government has shown fairness in most cases.

Did Irish people fight so that they could be threatened with violence to comply, so that they could have their rights eroded and violated, or did we fight for freedom to escape that?

I don't remember us being threatened with violence. But I think you're overreacting a bit. Our government are no angels but it's not as bad as it could be as I said before.

I like to look on the bright side. We are quite fortunate as Irish people. If you look at other countries and their governments and point out their flaws, and then compare it was it us, we're not so bad. Russia, China, USA, Britain, not to mention countries in the Middle-East, Africa and South America. Italy. They're worse then us.