Are Mick Wallace and Clare Daly Irelands greatest shame?

Loafing Oaf · 08-04-2022 9:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118890579#Comment_118890579

is their story and they're sticking to it...

circadian · 08-04-2022 9:49am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118889625#Comment_118889625

I'm on the same boat with a few mates. Like any time Ukraine comes up in the discussion you'll get the NATOs fault, or the west engineered this or whatever. On Bucha, "The West always lies itself into wars, I'll wait for independent reports on it".

I've left said groups and made it clear that there was absolutely no attempt to have a good faith discussion from a few of the mates, I don't even think they realised what they were doing.

liamtech · 08-04-2022 11:41am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897552#Comment_118897552

Yea i have ended discussion on the topic with more than a few people now - i cannot tolerate the rampant 'whataboutery' that is on display RE this War, the players involved, and who is to blame

Brussels Sprout · 08-04-2022 12:07pm

Jeremy Corbyn wrote a piece for Jacobin (hard-left publication). Pretty good refutation of his key arguments in this thread.

https://twitter.com/paulmasonnews/status/1512374800618041346

I didn't realise that Stop the War was a George Galloway group. That explains a lot!

He has recently been labelled as "Russian state-affiliated media" and is not happy about it - hilarious!

https://twitter.com/georgegalloway/status/1511729349204103170

For the record he had a weekly show on Sputnik before it got shut down a few weeks ago which I resume is the basis for the label

JimmyVik · 08-04-2022 12:26pm

I used to think Wallace and Daly were just eccentric, and doing their best to suck off the government t!t as long as they could could get away with it, like a lot of our politicians. Now indeed they are shameful. And whats worse the people who voted for them should hang their heads in shame.

Danzy · 08-04-2022 12:33pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898318#Comment_118898318

I threw Mick a 2nd preference on the back of their support for Garda Mc Cabe, that was fantastic work, at cost to themselves and a genuinely impressive and decent public service.

They have plumbed new depths of sewer politics since.

Danzy · 08-04-2022 12:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898234#Comment_118898234

The West is the source of all evil for these people.

They never really got over it beating the Soviet Union and the working class not falling into line behind the self appointed leadership of the proletariat across the Western world.

The anger is palpable and like anyone who believes that they are a unique force for good in a world dominated by sin, everything that opposes that sin has some merit, Putin, Communist China, radical Islamist groups etc

keno-daytrader · 08-04-2022 12:48pm

Id like to drop off Clare and Mick in the middle of Mariupol, let them make their way home somehow, Id say "if" they got back their tune would change.

Ashamed that they are elected MP's from Ireland.

Same applies to the fools that stood in the Dail without applauding Zelenskyy. Drop this lot into Bucha and let them witness the war crimes committed.

touts · 08-04-2022 12:54pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118897505#Comment_118897505

Not according to the Dail staff who had to clean the leather seat in the chamber after them one night......

liamtech · 08-04-2022 2:06pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2XfzJ0tTmI

Maximilian Robespierre YT's take on Wallace - Dont know if anyone follows Max, but he has been around a while. He posts videos critiquing the Brexit/Tory Nonsense as he sees it

Anyway, just thought id share - i think he goes easy on Wallace actually

https://www.youtube.com/c/MaximilienRobespierre1/videos

Brussels Sprout · 16-04-2022 11:46am

Naomi O' Leary wrote a fantastic piece about these two last year, which I have referenced several times earlier in this thread. Well she's done it again. She has a long piece in today's Irish Times discussing how Daly & Wallace are covered in state media in Russia, China and the Middle East. It's behind a paywall and is a long read but helpfully she has created a tweet thread with the same basic points in it:

https://twitter.com/NaomiOhReally/status/1515228143086354435

New information in this piece:

Both Wallace and Daly are mentioned more times in Chines media than any other Irish person (Conor McGregor is third)
Wallace has been given the knickname "Golden Lion King" on Chinese social media
They went to bat for a Lithuanian politician in an obscure case in Lithuania who had been accused of spying for Russia
They joined pro-DNR protests with a Latvian MEP who is seen as pro-Kremlin even by other Russian speaking Latvian MEPs
Syrian media have given extensive coverage to their praise of Qassem Soleimani
Daly stated that the Iraqi PMF “upholds international law” and praised its “egalitarian nature” and “inclusiveness”. This is a group who are notorious for terrorising, torturing and murdering members of the LGBT community.

The reason why they are so valuable to these regimes is very simple:

Prominent foreigners who support regime points of view are highly valued by authoritarian regimes for internal propaganda purposes, analysts of Russian and Chinese media told The Irish Times.

It is difficult for fringe figures to gain prominence in authoritarian societies that enforce conformity. So to an audience within such a country, someone with an important title like Member of the European Parliament is assumed to represent influential and authoritative views.

“It’s impressive when they are watching TV and see a foreign politician and they are repeating these narratives of propaganda – it’s impressive for a Russian audience,” said Viktor Denisenko, an associate professor at Vilnius University specialising in media coverage.

“They do not know how popular these politicians are in their own countries. They are presented as very important.”

The value of Daly and Wallace for the Chinese government lies in their European Parliament titles rather than the fact that they are Irish, according to Wu Min Hsuan, CEO of Taiwan-based nonprofit organisation Doublethink Lab, which monitors Chinese state media.

“I personally don’t think that they are quoting those people because they are Irish. The most important [thing] is that they are a European Union MP. If you look, every quotation is about the European Union.

So it stands to reason that if the only power that these two have is their office that they will have to stand again at the next election. They are no use to these authoritarian states without being able to say that they are MEPs. I hope that in that campaign every single one of their quotes is dredged up and thrown back at them at any debates and interviews. I don't think their views reflect those of many people in Ireland. Views that only became abundantly clear after they got elected. The next time around the electorate will know who they really are.

Hotblack Desiato · 16-04-2022 6:04pm

It's a very good article and well worth a read. This pair have a lot of explainin' to do to the electorates of Dublin and Ireland South. Despicable that they tried to get the author barred from the European Parliament for asking them a question they'd rather not answer.

sam t smith · 16-04-2022 6:06pm

Pieces of ****.

Yurt2 · 16-04-2022 6:12pm

Good context from Naomi O'Leary. Didn't know they were involved in pro-DNR agitation at a European level.

Really, really despicable.

Questions to answer about trying to get a journalist banned as well. F*ck 'em, roll on the next European election so we can see their faces as they get paddled by the electorate.

shoegirl · 31-07-2022 4:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898318#Comment_118898318

That's kind of it, but thats often been easy to fall for. When Clare was a shop steward in Aer Lingus one of her stunts was to disrupt union meetings and shout down other shop stewards. Hardly brokering union power. Her other stunt was threatening to call a strike because (in the words of the shop steward who told me this) "someone moved a sandwich." Aparently she was literally out with a placard every Friday, and made the union hard to take seriously by other workers.

I recall also some people saying when she was jailed for blocking bin lorries during the bin charges campaign, that someone should go down to Mountjoy with a placcard saying "Keep her in."

She is very good at creating the semblamce of being a great friend of the people, but all she really just is should the opposite of whatever is currently in power or likely to be in power. Except, funnily enough, Putin, Assad, etc

cezanne · 02-08-2022 7:12pm

Sometimes their facts are correct i quite liked these facts :

"Why are we so quiet about challenging the US when they threaten human rights."

The former Wexford TD questioned whether the US was a functioning democracy, claiming that it costs $2 billion to become president.

"They spend over $800 billion a year on arms, which is more than most of the world put together," Wallace said.

"They've been at war for 250 years, but they can't afford universal health care," he continued. "They can't afford a $1.7 trillion debt forgiveness for students, they can't afford a program for the 17 million children that go to bed hungry. Is this a functioning democracy?

"What's your idea of democracy? Bernie Sanders wasn't even allowed to win the nomination for the Democrats. The Americans couldn't spell democracy."

ilkhanid · 05-09-2022 10:29pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119420919#Comment_119420919

All of this may be true, but it makes it all the more bizarre that this great ''champion'' of human rights declared, when faced with reports of one of the vilest instances of atrocity and the violation of human rights, namely Chinese persecution of the Uighurs, that these reports were ''gross exaggerations''. Considering the report released recently by Michelle Bachelet, I'd say this is a great example of egg-on-face, but it will run off Wallace like water off a duck's back.

Danzy · 05-09-2022 10:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118898869#Comment_118898869

He went easy on Wallace but then again Max is on the modern left himself and takes a "nuanced" view of the Ukraine situation and Russia.

Brussels Sprout · 06-09-2022 11:43am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119420919#Comment_119420919

All they ever have is whataboutism. Whenever they are challenged for their tacit support of murderous regimes their tactic is typically to make some passionless general condemnation before then launching into attacks, with great enthusiasm, on the USA/EU/NATO. It's clear as day that they have zero fundamental core beliefs.

Their entire schtick is to get on the opposite side to whatever the USA and EU are doing. They then take advantage of loop-holes in the European Parliament to get as much speaking time as possible, in order to show up on pro-Chinese and pro-Russian social media. There's a reason why the Parliament is generally empty when they speak - it's because they get speaking time on some obscure, nondescript bills and then use that time to instead go off on their social media theatrics.

ilkhanid · 13-09-2022 5:51pm

He looks like an Irish Steve Bannon.

Brussels Sprout · 13-09-2022 9:00pm

There's a reason why the Parliament is generally empty when they speak - it's because they get speaking time on some obscure, nondescript bills and then use that time to instead go off on their social media theatrics.

Think this is an old speech but it's doing the rounds on pro-Russian twitter and is a good example of what was outlined above - note all the empty seats.

https://twitter.com/sahouraxo/status/1569369217312636929

neris · 14-09-2022 8:13am

Wonder are Mick & Clare in receipt of dodgy Russian backhanders

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-09-13/us-says-russia-is-covertly-funding-foreign-candidates-parties?sref=RN5y10oa

Hotblack Desiato · 14-09-2022 9:34am

I expect after their resounding electoral defeats they'll retire to Russia

14-09-2022 9:42am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119420919#Comment_119420919

800 billion. Outrageous.

What a waste of money, they could cure world hunger over 2 times with that https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2020/oct/13/ending-world-hunger-by-2030-would-cost-330bn-study-finds

Is the military in the US the equivalent of the monarchy in the UK. Embarrassing, frivolous and ongoing but maintained as part of a heritage?

Brussels Sprout · 14-09-2022 9:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119616206#Comment_119616206

Nah. Western Shills don't actually want to live in Russia. I mean the people in the regimes that they go to bat for don't even want to live in Russia!

Russia, for people like Clare Daly is a state of mind. A mythical place that exists in opposition to the USA and NATO and the EU. A kind of utopia for the hard-left who are actively uninterested in learning the truth about it.

The dirty little secret about these people is that they love to live in the West. In the case of these two, they love living in Brussels. They love to claim their expenses. They love to give jobs to their friends and family and milk the system for all it's worth.

I have no idea where they will go to when they lose their seats but it certainly won't be Russia, that's for sure.

Wanderer78 · 14-09-2022 9:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119616238#Comment_119616238

the military industrial complex is an out of control beast at this stage, it only requires a 'small' amount of will from administrations to remain to be, even little ould ireland 'gains' from this beast.....

14-09-2022 10:32am

Taiwan and Ukraine seem to be doing pretty good out of it too.

Wanderer78 · 14-09-2022 10:36am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119616471#Comment_119616471

ah its a global beast, its completely out of control....

Economics101 · 14-09-2022 11:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119616291#Comment_119616291

The out of control beast at the moment is the Russian one. It takes another beast to counter it.

BTW, the longer term trend is for military expenditure to account for a falling share of GDP. I remember when UK expenditure on the NHS overtook Defence expenditure (late 60s). Now it's out of sight.

The Russian military beast is the proximate cause of likely famine in Africa and. Middle East.

Brussels Sprout · 21-09-2022 10:49am

What are the odds the dynamic duo show up in occupied Ukraine in order to "oversee" these referenda?

Nody · 21-09-2022 10:55am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119645582#Comment_119645582

Zero; no chance to get in to there in time (no direct flights; no flights to Russia that would take you there in time due to the accelerated timeline). Besides there's no reason for Russia to risk they might see something they should not on their tour there esp. with the local resistance blowing up administration building and personal multiple times a week. but I'd not be surprised to see "virtual oversight via video on the voting room" or "we trust the oversight committee put in place by Russia" or similar reviews.

awec · 21-09-2022 11:38am

Two MEPs being involved in overseeing those "referendums" would be quite the story...

rogue-entity · 30-09-2022 12:01pm

Short answer, yes

30-09-2022 12:09pm

Do they ever hold clinics in their constituency?

They've probably forgotten we exist.

touts · 30-09-2022 12:11pm

Did they get a VIP invitation to Putin's party in the Kremlin today? It wouldn't surprise me to see that **** triangular head of dirty white hair standing out in the middle of the audience.

markodaly · 30-09-2022 12:11pm

Voting these two idiots into these positions is a good warning against protest politics. We think voting for the local idiot to protest on our behalf can be a harmless endeavour. Alas, now we know it's not the case.

These people should never be in public office again. They are a disgrace to themselves, to Ireland and to their constituents.

Brussels Sprout · 01-10-2022 6:37pm

https://twitter.com/wallacemick/status/1575901316366454784

Classic tactics by him. Gets the half-hearted, qualified, condemnation of Russia in in the first 10 seconds, just to cover his bases and then spends the rest of the speech spouting the Kremlin line blaming the EU & NATO.

nigeldaniel · 01-10-2022 6:47pm

I don't know about others but the wally and day'ly show give me a few laughs. One looks like he was dragged through a hedge backwards and the other looks like she is on weekends release from a 1960's nunnury.

01-10-2022 6:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119690103#Comment_119690103

I wonder who writes his tweets for him. Don't the pair of them employ each others' sprogs as "personal assistants" funded by the European taxpayer?

Brussels Sprout · 01-10-2022 7:02pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119690133#Comment_119690133

Not sure of the exact relations (think Daly's ex-husband might have been one of them) but yes they basically skirted the rules by doing something like that - which further underscores their rampant hypocrisy.

Hotblack Desiato · 01-10-2022 8:42pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119690103#Comment_119690103

There is one person who started and can end this war - his hero, Vlad.

01-10-2022 10:00pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119690809#Comment_119690809

Clare is that you? 🤣

07-10-2022 2:07pm

Looks like Irelands second most famous tax cheat has forgotten to take his meds yet again.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/mick-wallace-accuses-fianna-fail-and-fine-gael-of-promoting-and-loving-the-war-in-ukraine-42048031.html

Sunny Disposition · 07-10-2022 2:12pm

Wallace is absolutely disgusting, criticising anyone for helping the Ukrainians defend themselves from an army that have already committed multiple atrocities is unforgiveable. Scum.