Ciaran’s Peculier [sic] Blog

A view of the world from an Irish hole
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Missing the boat

I wish these aspirant councillors would stop plaguing me for my vote. The fact is they are now wasting my time, as I’ve already voted. You see one of the few privileges of being a cripple in Ireland is that you have a postal vote, and are thereby freed from participating in the polling booth pantomime.

 

How did I vote? Does anyone really expect me to vote and tell? In the European elections I voted for Susan O’Keefe, a talented and brave campaigner. I also voted for Joe O’Reilly. This is a personal vote and must not be seen as displaying any support for Joe’s party, but I will never forget the fact that Joe attended my mother’s funeral. This was something I can never forget, nor can I ever thank Joe enough for.

 

And then there was the County Council election. I’m not going to tell who I voted for, except to say that I voted for the only out-going member of the council who had the courtesy to attend the launch of my book last October, an event he really enjoyed. I sent invitations to all the other councillors. Now Joe O’Reilly contacted me from Strasbourg to apologise for not being able to get to it, and Anthony Vesey was in Baku. As for the rest …

 

I only voted for one person, but that was all I was able to vote for. The ballot paper was printed on rather bright red paper which made it difficult for me to read the names of the candidates. I’m sure if I looked too long at the paper it would have given me a headache. Those who will have the task of counting the votes will have hellish difficulty, as the mark of a pen appears almost indistinct and you have to peer closely to see the choice(s) made.

 

The Town council ballot paper was printed on pink paper, and the colour photographs of the candidates made them look as if they had a temperature or had just emerged from a sauna. I’m not saying who I voted for, but I will definitely identify the party I did not vote for and the reasons. As a recipient of a blind pension I, along with all other pensioners, will not receive a Christmas bonus this year, a “hard” decision made with glee by the Lady Bountiful minister for Social Welfare (Mary daughter of Des Hanaffin). The amount was small, but Fianna Fail, along with their green tale, have shown themselves to be nothing more than a group of shameful scrooges.

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Electioneers

In spite of my warnings not to canvass my home in Cavan, some aspirant councillors nevertheless chose to ignore my warnings. I was genuinely sorry to have missed Brian McKeown and Des Cullen. Des is a good lad and his mother unfortunately has MS.

 

Other candidates put in “material” which should really be submitted to a comedy contest. For example, I quote from the Fianna Fail document. In the section headed “Disability Services” we read:

 

“Fianna Fail is committed to improving services to make them more accessible for people with a disability, including physical access to buildings, health services, public transport, training and employment” – how sweet!

 

There is a pub / restaurant in Cavan town, jointly owned by an outgoing Fianna Fail member of Cavan County Council and a Fianna Fail member of the senate. The restaurant is on the top floor, but as there is no lift, this is inaccessible to people like myself who are confined to a wheel-chair. Now some buildings are old, and those operating restaurants only rent a portion of them; so resources for installing lifts are limited. This particular building received extensive renovations before the opening of the restaurant, but the local planners obviously didn’t insist on a lift. No doubt they, along with the premises’ owners, consider that “cripples” are too poor to patronise the restaurant – and certainly the political party to which they belong is determined to make them even poorer. I recall a story about a shop-keeper in the American “Deep South” who was subjected to insults because he allowed “niggers” into his premises. He responded: “The colour of their skin may be black, but their dollar bills are as green as the next man’s”.

 

As for their commitment to improving employment possibilities for the disabled, it is the same as that of Fine Gael – it goes no further than making sure that any of their family who are disabled have nice jobs.

 

I know that once the election has passed the masks will slip. Instead of being nice and courteous as they seek my vote they will resort to being as hostile and indifferent as in the past. Perhaps they may be even more hostile, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m not threatened with vexatious legal action by some of these scoundrels.

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Crime and Punishment in Ireland

The sentence handed down to Frank Dunlop shows once again how blind and socially prejudiced the Irish courts are. He’d have got a heavier sentence for having multiple welfare claims. But this reiterates what every one knows: Irish jails are for poor people – knackers, people from the other side of the tracks who aren’t members of golf clubs.

 

There is another peculiarity of the Irish judicial system. Those who are prosecuted can get time taken off their sentence for the trauma of the prosecution itself. The fact that they have been outed as crooks and the resultant loss of social cachet is viewed as something deserving pity and the commiserations of the court.  There is a glib saying in the ‘states; if you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

 

But then there are the personnel of the judicial system: judges, barristers, solicitors. They wouldn’t know justice if it jumped up and bit them on their penises, though from what I have heard some of them are willing to pay a lot of money for the experience in the North Inner City.

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