Upcoming Events

National | Anti-Capitalism

no events match your query!

New Events

National

no events posted in last week

Blog Feeds

Public Inquiry
Interested in maladministration. Estd. 2005

offsite link RTEs Sarah McInerney ? Fianna Fail supporter? Anthony

offsite link Joe Duffy is dishonest and untrustworthy Anthony

offsite link Robert Watt complaint: Time for decision by SIPO Anthony

offsite link RTE in breach of its own editorial principles Anthony

offsite link Waiting for SIPO Anthony

Public Inquiry >>

Human Rights in Ireland
A Blog About Human Rights

offsite link UN human rights chief calls for priority action ahead of climate summit Sat Oct 30, 2021 17:18 | Human Rights

offsite link 5 Year Anniversary Of Kem Ley?s Death Sun Jul 11, 2021 12:34 | Human Rights

offsite link Poor Living Conditions for Migrants in Southern Italy Mon Jan 18, 2021 10:14 | Human Rights

offsite link Right to Water Mon Aug 03, 2020 19:13 | Human Rights

offsite link Human Rights Fri Mar 20, 2020 16:33 | Human Rights

Human Rights in Ireland >>

Lockdown Skeptics

The Daily Sceptic

offsite link Hancock Fails to Have Bridgen Libel Case Thrown Out Paving Way for Full Trial Fri Mar 29, 2024 11:00 | Sally Beck
Matt Hancock, the ex-Health Secretary, has failed in his bid to have Andrew Bridgen's libel case thrown out after Hancock branded him antisemitic, paving the way for a full trial.
The post Hancock Fails to Have Bridgen Libel Case Thrown Out Paving Way for Full Trial appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link DEI Wokery is Swallowing Small Businesses Too Fri Mar 29, 2024 09:00 | C.J. Strachan
It's not only large corporations with hyperactive HR departments that are succumbing to efficiency-sapping wokery, says C.J. Strachan. Small and medium-sized enterprises are being swallowed up by DEI as well.
The post DEI Wokery is Swallowing Small Businesses Too appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Are We Being Gaslit Over the Cause of the Princess of Wales?s Cancer? Fri Mar 29, 2024 07:00 | Melissa Kite
First Charles and then Kate ? it's hard to ignore the soaring cancer rate when two members of the Royal Family are diagnosed within weeks. But are we being gaslit about what's behind the surge, asks Melissa Kite.
The post Are We Being Gaslit Over the Cause of the Princess of Wales’s Cancer? appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link News Round-Up Fri Mar 29, 2024 00:04 | Richard Eldred
A summary of the most interesting stories in the past 24 hours that challenge the prevailing orthodoxy about the virus and the vaccines, the ?climate emergency? and the supposed moral defects of Western civilisation.
The post News Round-Up appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

offsite link Women?s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player ?Broke Opponent?... Thu Mar 28, 2024 19:30 | Will Jones
A women?s football competition has been branded misogynist after it was won by a team featuring five transgender players, amid accusations one had broken an opponent?s leg in two places.
The post Women’s Team with Five Male Players Wins Football Competition After One Male Player “Broke Opponent’s Leg” ? But Teams Who Refuse to Play Against Them Are Branded “Discriminatory” appeared first on The Daily Sceptic.

Lockdown Skeptics >>

Voltaire Network
Voltaire, international edition

offsite link Moscow attack reminds us of the links between Islamists and Kiev's fundamentalis... Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:57 | en

offsite link Failure to assist a people in danger of genocide, by Hassan Hamadé Tue Mar 26, 2024 06:32 | en

offsite link Yugoslavia March 24, 1999 The Founding War of the New Nato, by Manlio Dinucci Sun Mar 24, 2024 05:15 | en

offsite link France opposes Russian Korean-style peace project in Ukraine Sat Mar 23, 2024 11:11 | en

offsite link Voltaire, International Newsletter N°79 Fri Mar 22, 2024 11:40 | en

Voltaire Network >>

The persecution of Mick Wallace TD

category national | anti-capitalism | opinion/analysis author Monday June 11, 2012 14:11author by Sean Marks - Socialist Party/CWI Report this post to the editors

Rightwing parties have rounded on Mick Wallace, a true friend of the working class.

When the story broke about Mick Wallace's minor difficulty with revenue , there was an immediate orgy of gleeful attcaks from the parties and politicians who are collectively responsible for the impoverishment of the Irish working class.

Mick Wallace's explanation is reasonable and measured. Yes he should have payed, and we can be sure he would have payed had things turned out differently. He did his best to keep his workers in employment, a minor accounting exercise becomes a crime of gigantic proportions in the eyes of the usual suspects the friends of Denis O'brien etc.

The Socialist Party TDs have correctly not called for his resignation. We need in the Dail as many fighters for the working class as possible. Mick Wallace has not been found wanting on this front.

When this blows over it will be instructive to see who stood where. Only the truly principled socialists will emerge with credit.

author by poor personpublication date Tue Jun 12, 2012 06:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

meanwhile as the media are keen to point out that mick wallace attended the soccer, none other than Seanie fitzpatrick also attended the soccer, but mick wallace wasn't staying in 550 euro per night accomodation with charlie haughey's buddys, unlike seanie fitz.
I guess some people still get to live the high life while the children of the people they bankrupted get to emigrate with little hope of a future in Ireland.
Maybe mick wallace should have paid his taxes, but if our government really believed that principle was really so important in regard to people's finances, seanie fitz would be doing a long stretch in prison instead of living it up all over the world in the finest hotels and golf courses.
Until the banksters are doing time, mick wallace should continue in his elected position.

author by opus diablos - the regressive hypocrite partypublication date Tue Jun 12, 2012 08:27author address author phone Report this post to the editors

This one is being pumped by our Labour con(sic)rades, as a diversion from their class treachery.

Blow smoke and lie low...

author by Contrarianpublication date Tue Jun 12, 2012 15:01author address author phone Report this post to the editors

He has robbed €2million from the taxman, ie you and I, which he says we will never see again. He was also convicted for failing to pay over pension deductions for his workers.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/1206/1....html

He's a property developer and speculator, whose gambling debts have been offloaded onto all our collective shoulders. Normally, this might be expected to make him one of the most reviled species for those who self-describe as "left." But, no, our Mick has achieved a certain hero status. Puzzling. Seanie fitzpatrick must be wondering where he went wrong and what he needs to do to rehabilitate himself. He's making a good start with a newfound interest in the soccer rather than the rugby. All he has to do now is let his hair grow long and invest in a few pink shirts. Oh, and put up a few anti-American banners on any buildings he owns. http://www.indymedia.ie/article/38740
http://www.indymedia.ie/article/14830
How easy the "left" is fooled. Talk is cheap. Taxes and pension contributions cost money. In Mick's case, other people's money.

author by Trotsky's underpantspublication date Tue Jun 12, 2012 15:04author address author phone Report this post to the editors

Saw this on facebook some sanity from the left at last.

"There is no justification for and no explanation/excuse for what
Wallace did.
He (1) took money from his employees as pension contributions and did not pay it into the pension fund (2) took money from people buying apartments in the form of VAT and did not pay it over to the Revenue Commissioners
That's wrong - there should and can be no equivocation about it.
In an Irish Times interview on Thursday he claimed 'I lived simply, I never went crazy, or flew around the place'. His definition of 'living simply' is a hell of a lot different to mine. 'Living simply' in Mick Wallace's book is to own at least 3 - 4 winebars, a vineyard in Italy, several apartments, a couple of construction companies and property management companies... as well as having an annual Dáil salary of €97,000 and claiming expenses of €50,000 last year.
Most of us will spend the next couple of weeks looking at the Ireland games in Euro 2012 in the local pub or at home. Very few of us have employers that will allow us to take off on full pay to go to Poland to attend the games - 'Living simply' in Mick Wallace's book meant that he had no shame in announcing on national radio while this scandal was unfolding around him that while he had no intention of paying back the money he had stolen (Collected under false pretences... any other description for it??) he was swanning off to Poland - does he take the people for fools.
Our Campaign is a campaign of ordinary people. Most of us have no idea what €2.1million even looks like - nor will we ever have unless we win the Lotto. But when the Revenue Commissioners decided to 'make a settlement' with him for that figure, they made a decision that because he is one of the capitalist class (he might be one of the nicer ones but that's what he is) different rules applied to him. Yesterday's Irish Times carried a short story about a father and his twin sons who had been charged at Dublin District Court with alleged social welfare fraud worth about €26,000. If they are found guilty, does anyone think they'll be able to make a 'settlement' which will involve writing it off??
Mick Wallace has no credibility left on issues of taxation justice - if he cares about the issue of the household tax, he will have the good grace to apologise to all the genuine activists and members of the campaign the length and breadth of the country and promise to never appear on a campaign platform again - lest he tarnish the image of the campaign."

author by poor personpublication date Tue Jun 12, 2012 17:47author address author phone Report this post to the editors

whatever. As another poster pointed out, this issue is still just a distraction to the real issues at hand
(1) shady businessman dennis o'brien now controls newscorp, i.e. most of the influential media in Ireland
(2) the euro is heading for destruction as spain an italy need bailing out.
(3) our country is run by crooked idiots, and it's not just mick wallace
(4) Labour have completely fucked over the Irish people
(5) Activism is now a main target for our national police force

 
© 2001-2024 Independent Media Centre Ireland. Unless otherwise stated by the author, all content is free for non-commercial reuse, reprint, and rebroadcast, on the net and elsewhere. Opinions are those of the contributors and are not necessarily endorsed by Independent Media Centre Ireland. Disclaimer | Privacy