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THE LABOUR PARTY’S annual conference is to conclude this afternoon after delegates hear discussions on international affairs, justice and equality and local government.
Motions to put human rights protection at the core of relations with China and to maintain the Irish overseas aid budget will be voted on this morning.
The Tuam branch of the party has also asked the party to consider pushing for the reopening of the Vatican embassy.
During a debate on justice and equality, the Donegal South West branch of the party will look for confirmation that the party will intensify its commitment to bring bankers, developers and a number of politicians to task “for the part they played in ruining” the Irish economy.
Another motion will be tabled during the same session relating to the “legislative void” preventing the termination of a pregnancy where the woman’s life is in danger. The Trinity College Dublin branch of the party has also called for the legal recognition of a woman’s right to abortion when she has become pregnant from rape or incest or if there is a substantial threat to her health.
Last night, Galway East TD Colm Keaveney was selected as the party’s new chairman, defeating fellow Galwayman Derek Nolan for the job.
The conference has been marred somewhat by violent outbreaks between protesters and Gardaí. Pepper spray was used on some demonstrators who Gardaí said were directing violence at authorities.
However, the majority of the several thousand protesters marched peacefully outside NUI Galway.
The centrepiece of the conference was leader Eamon Gilmore’s speech last night which focused on Ireland’s political and economic recovery.
He told Labour’s delegates that most of the hard work had already been achieved by the current government but conceded that two more difficult budgets would be required.
Gilmore said he was “deeply frustrated” about the slow progress being made with the issue of distressed mortgages. He said the party must do more to help families who feel that time is running out.
He said that himself and the Taoiseach have taken “personal responsibility” to drive this agenda forward.
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Sinead, I wish you’d be specific about who was violent at the Protest yesterday. It wasn’t the protesters that used pepper spray! I was there and the protesters were good humoured!
#LaboursWayIsPepperSpray
Yes because attacking the Gardai and trying to shut down a party conference with a democratic mandate is “good humoured”
It wasnt the labour party who sprayed them, it was the gardai.
David I didn’t travel across the country to stand in a car park 2 blocks and a river away from the #lp12! Why on earth would I be that stupid? I went there to protest! We had heard enough speeches by then! I wanted the Labour Party to hear us! So damn right I wanted to be right outside the building. Hell I asked the Gardaí could I get inside!
If you think that the Gardaí had a right to prevent me from at least standing outside the building, you don’t understand the meaning of the word “Protest”!
Hi Réada,
Thanks for the feedback. I have stated that the pepperspray was used on those who authorities believed were being violent towards them.
I also noted how the majority (which I presume included you) marched peacefully ;)
Thanks,
S
Thanks Sinead. I just think that if people defend themselves when provoked by security or a police force that should not be seen as a violent protest. The protest was met with violence and one or two protesters, prevented from exercising their right to protest, defended themselves!
The Gardai have a right to ensure the smooth running of the conference but also to allow you to have your say. Bringing the protests right to the door stopped many policy sessions going ahead. This is where the rights of the protesters to assemble interfered with the right of delegates to proceed with their conference.
If you disagree with the Gardai, tough. You’ve no right to defy their orders. This is a democratic country.
The idea of your “protest” should be to convince the Labour Party over to your way of thinking. Disrupting their weekend does nothing to open their minds to your ideas.
Protests like this are great for letting off some steam, but they do nothing to change the direction of policy in this country.
David, you lot got in on a democratic mandate on the basis of lies. Why would you be shocked or surprised if violence rears its head at any of your events? You are a shower of gangsters in suits and we all know that gangsters and violence go hand in hand. This country got its independence because the people fought for it. The ‘people’ not the government. Who knows, maybe it is time for another uprising because voting you lot in certainly hasn’t helped us.
”Protests like this are great for letting off some steam, but they do nothing to change the direction of policy in this country.”
Wow David, you really are a patronising little man now arent you!
Dont forget who put you lot there and the lies you told to get in. It wont be long till your back in the dole queue.
The idea of our Protest, David, was to bring the Labour Party around to those that voted for them’s way of thinking – not big money’s way of thinking! Get real David!
Whether you like/dislike David and his views or not, he is still entitled to them. There are too many here playing the man and not the ball. Come on folks, you can do better than this….
Thanks for the kind words Martin
@Ciara All opinion polls show that FG/Labour would still be returned with a majority if an election were held tomorrow. I’d admit there have been broken promises on college fees and on rent reviews but people like the progress this government is making and are sticking with us for the time being.
Even if the government was doing badly in the opinion polls there is NEVER justification for violence at party gatherings.
Also Ciara you have a grammar mistake in your second post so we’ll see who ends up on the dole!
@Réada If your intention is to change the minds of the Labour Party do you really think angry protests are the way to go? To be fair to Labour they have a good set of motions at their conference. You could join up, put your ideas forward there and get change that way. Otherwise join another party and take your message to the doorsteps for the next election. We have rule by democracy, not rule by the mob!
Dear David, I have a job. Im highly skilled and qualified unlike your good self I see.
Im sure perfect grammar is very important in your job but I doubt that very much.
Opinion polls mean sweet FA to me Im afraid as just after the election, I felt hopeful that this country was on the right track and that the government gave a damn about us. That was MY opinion and I have had my hope shot down in flames so you see, it means nothing. Not an iota!
Thanks for calling me part of the mob David. And again I tell you it was not an angry protest. It was good natured. I in no way felt threatened by any of the protesters. I saw some of the protesters and they were not violent people. They were real “flower power types”! Gimme a break!
But back to the “mob”, as James Connolly said: The mob will humanise the World!
I witnessed first hand how these thugs behaved and it made me sick. I saw a young Garda being dragged along the ground by a baying mob of thugs. These thugs don’t represent me, balaclava and mask wearing trouble makers. The vast majority of people were there for a peaceful protest as is their right. Those who behaved in a violent manner deserved to be pepper sprayed. They are a drain on the already depleted resources of our country by the Gardai having to call on assistance from other stations to try and quell the violence therefore leaving large parts of the county with no Gardai to deal with other matters. Shame on those thugs, shame!
Nice cut & paste job there Toorkeel.
Toorkeel and David. Before you try classing me as an anarchist I come from a family of Gardaí, including my father, ranking as high as Chief Superintendent! My father would have been disgusted at the behaviour of some Gardaí yesterday. Pepper spraying young girls? That’s a long way away from Guardians of the Peace!
I spoke to several Gardaí yesterday. I even read them out their oath. They take an oath to protect us, not big money!
David, you took your time with that one but i already have that on my facebook page.
Then again we are all used to waiting in line in the local supermarket.
Guys,
Can we please keep it on topic and away from the personal insults. We love the debate but there’s no need for the personal to come into it. Play the ball, not the player!
Cheers, S
Ah Sinead, wheres the craic in that?!
When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Want some salt and vinegar with your pepper Reada ? Couldn’t resist
Right and wrong are subjective. Everyone believes they’re right.
Ahhhmm, copy and paste Ciara. No. I used the same tone in other posts. What an idiotic reply. I am stating a fact, what I WITNESSED FIRST HAND. You maybe happy to have selective vision, ill say it as i see and saw it. Your kind might be happy to try and create anarchy and somehow think its democracy, but not me. Be careful for what you wish for!!
Well if you come from a family of gardai as you say Reada, you should have more respect for them rather than joining the mob, dragging a young Garda along the ground. I’d say your relations would be proud alright of that behaviour alright, bet you “read out their oath” as you put in a mannerly tone alright….but somehow I doubt it. It was a peaceful protest highjacked by varios vested interests. A disgrace.
When the protest came to its natural end I went up to the Gardaí and told them that I was shocked by their behaviour. I told them that my father would have been too!
I read out the Garda Oath to them as they had obviously forgotten it! Had I not seen with my own eyes what I witnessed I would not have believed it either! :(
What bad Garda behaviour did you actually witness? I am interested to know, seriously. Did you also tell the Gardai that you were shocked by the behaviour of some of those protesters who behaved in violent and aggressive behaviour? Unlikely. Its always one way traffic with your type. The Gardai I have to say behaved in a professional manner and their job was to facilitate the protest. This was made extremely difficult by the minority who were intent on causing trouble. Would you be happy with Greek style riots in Ireland? Is that your aim? I dont like your version of Ireland if that is the case. You are championing “democracy” but your version scares me greatly. The majority of those people who came to protest were there for A PEACEFUL PROTEST, not to behave in the manner that the minority did, the minority which you are happy to back slap and support. Shame on you. Judging by your picture its clear which minority you belong to.
Some fun pictures of “good humoured” “flower power type” “peaceful protesters” not looking for trouble at all
This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the founding of the Labour movement in Ireland! There is something symbolic that this anniversary is marred by pepper spray being used on peaceful protesters outside #lp12!
Don’t try and tell me that the protesters during the Lockouts were favourably portrayed in the media! Same thing now. Please don’t be fooled!
“peaceful” – *giggles* :)
“Peaceful” protestors generally don’t smash their way through Garda barriers and wave pikes at people
http://files.broadsheet.ie/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/IBvjKe.jpg
It’s amazing how much you can change a sentence with an adjective..
The protestors got through the Garda barrier
Vs
The protestors smashed through..
Similar sentiment, very different connotations.. the truth doesn’t need manipulative grammar..
And pluralizing can add a whole new slant too;
Waving pikes
Vs
One man has a pike (as demonstrated by your photo)
So you think he was standing stock-still holding his pike?
Why does he need his pike?
A barrier is designed to stop you passing, how do you get through it without smashing it? If you cut it, aren’t you at least metaphorically smashing it?
It’s amazing how you can play word games to abrogate responsibility for your own actions, but that won’t get help your eyes when pepper spray is placed in them
I dont know Chuck, contrary to your assumptions, I wasn’t there..
Do we know whether or not he pointed it at anyone or whether it remained vertical? Should we assume?
Perhaps it’s symbolic?
Neither you or I know, but it was one man whereas you gave the impression of several..
And yes, barriers can be passed without violence, as I was not there I don’t feel it is correct to assume, I was merely pointing out how much colour one can add to a sentence with a few small adjectives..
Chuck. You are a scream. I was there and I saw the rusty pike. Don’t know where he got it but I’d guess an old barn. He wasn’t threatening anyone. I’m roaring laughing writing this. You are a panic. Fair play. I needed a laugh. :D
Yes Reada, it’s hilarious. I’ve no doubt you would have had no problem with the Gardai having pikes?
Shanti, I was using ‘you’ in the hypothetical sense in the same way that one might use ‘one’. As if you didn’t know that.
Do you think the pepper spray might have been symbolic too?
I dunno Chuck, did they hold the pepper spray aloft or spray it in people’s faces?
If I had some ceremonial pepper spray in my possession and I saw that guy ‘peacefully’ make his way through some barriers and come towards me at the head of a mob waving his hilarious pike, I promise you he would have some spicey eyes before too long
What would you do?
Gardai have a right to defend themselves and a duty to protect the people inside. If a mob has already knocked over a few barriers and are coming towards you with weapons like that, how could you NOT percieve it as a threat?
That pike would do far more permenant damage than pepper spray
That would depend Chuck, if he was charging at me with it held vertically I’d probably run in the opposite direction or move to the side, it’s a rather unwieldy weapon so his range would be limited..
If he was in a crowd with it held vertically I’d realise there wasn’t much damage he could do with it one way or the other as he simply didn’t have space, never mind the fact that it’s not an aggressive stance..
It’s not worth assuming everyone is out to get you, it can result in people jumping the gun on their self defence and responding to perceived threat rather than actual..
Oops, if he was runnin at me with it held horizontally.. Silly me..
The Labour party should shut up shop and pack away it’s convenient socialist, liberalist sound-bites and take it’s place on the scrapheap of lost causes along with the Greens and the PD’s.
that a party that can trace it’s roots back to the Dublin Lockout of 1913 and the principals and philosophy of James Connolly who gave his life for this country would even consider a vote on the asset stripping of this country is beyond belief
That 152 of it’s delegates would vote in favour of the sale of state assets to finance national and international capitalist greed is outrageous. labour is nothing more than the broken down ‘madam’ of Irish politics.
I think the choice of the word ‘madam’ might have been more appropiate, my favoured word was a little stronger in tone!
Labour just passed motions FOR abortion and AGAINST re-opening the Vatican Embassy.
How this site doesn’t LOVE the Labour Party is beyond me!
Well at least we got two bits of good news from them this weekend. If we are really lucky we may see a separation of Church and State at long last.
Tell ya why David.
Because Labour follow the same vulture capitilist policies as FG. Former Labour leader Dick Spring executive director of Alder Capital making large profits on currency speculation on the ailing euro for example.
In fairness to FG to the don’t hide behind a facade of false socialist retoric, just a barrage of other less sycophantic lies is all!
Jay
These Labour Party motions on abortion and the Vatican Embassy are nothing more than a sugar coating over a degenerate response to the vote on the sale of state assets (152 votes in favour!).
Passing a motion on these two issues is just a hyprocritical ploy to show some backbone when in fact all they are doing is poking a stick at an institution well capable of sinking it’s own ship.
Er, maybe because we are all painstakingly aware that they’re a bunch of snide, smug, self serving liars David.. Didn’t you get the memo?
@ David Higgins I know you worship the ground Fr Enda walks on but a bit of balance please
How do you balance your position with a party who’s top guys came out of sinn fein the workers party and had very funny views about quantitive easing !!!
Their past views don’t really matter now. Labour’s all on board with capitalism nowadays so I’m cool with them. Plus I’d agree with their liberal social agenda too (except abortion) :)
Hi all,
I’ve had to delete number of comments on this thread because people seem to be just throwing personal comments at each other.
I don’t want to nag but could we please keep it on topic but at the very least refrain from bringing each other’s personal circumstances (age, job, etc) into the arguments. It’s just not relevant, nice or within the rules of our comments community.
Thanks very much,
Sinead
Well said Sinead.
There’s enough meat on the bone not to have us snapping at each other!
Sinead,
Its hard to read the comments by Reada, Susie, Jimbo et al and not get annoyed. They have infested your website resulting in run of the mill people leaving.. Thats your problem…Not sure how you solve it.
It is imperative on all contributors to this forum to restrain themselves from gratuitous insults to other contributors regardless of the opinion proffered or the frequency of their input. One contributor you mention Declan has not even commented on this article!
I’m amused at your ‘Run of the Mill’ reference though! Whoever could you might mean?
Well said, there’s really no need to get personal, besides, it show that your argument is really weak when you have to resort to slinging mud.. Surely as adults we can all manage to discuss the topics instead of each other..
Does he mean the likes of Barry Williams who couldn’t make a comment without breaking the rules and using ad hominem insults? (and came back as another John Murphy??)
It’s funny, the contributors I’ve seen disappear have been the very ones I’ve directed to the comments policy a million times over rather than report them.. Are these your “run of the mill” guys Declan? Judging by the standard of your own comments (see below) I would imagine it may be..
A ‘John Murphy’ Shanti who has strong misgivings about paying his TV licence (unlike me of course!).
Oh and Shanti! I reckon there’s a ‘Run of the Mill’ virtual graveyard somewhere with several ‘Run of the Mill’ corpses interred who’s ghosts are feverishly inventing new personas to once again haunt these hallowed halls!
I have said this before and I’ll say it again, the comments policy says that if you are banned the journal will not enter into any discussions as to why.
This is a huge mistake..
If you were banned for breaking the rules, you should be told. Otherwise how will you learn? They can just set up another account after all..
It’s amazing the amount of regular posters on here who have obviously never even read them (no matter how much staff like Sinead point them out to them), the only way to get people to pay attention is to ensure they have no excuse.. I’m sure had Barry Williams been told he was barred for making really quite despicable ad hominem attacks on people he may have toned it down a little upon his return, and maybe then we could have had better, more rounded debates.. There’s no need to start calling each other names, there’s no need to make insinuations about people’s employment status, surely we can all behave like adults and not reduce ourselves to the level of children?
Why is it necessary to delete comments? Even if they are “just throwing personal comments at each other”? Don’t you think we’re old enough to sort through that ourselves without your nannying?
Not really enough there to casue any trouble… generally vibe in Galway was…..’what are those muppets doing’…Thats your lot Reada, not the labour bunch….
Think we should have a protest outside the ULA or SF conventions… Show them that the majority of ‘TAX PAYERS’ in this country are not interested in their bull….
Ah now Declan.. What did Sinead just ask?
You’ve already had your go at Reada, but you don’t appear to be able to stop.. You just have to get in another dig…
You sure you haven’t got a thing for her?
@Journal
I am having difficulty posting a comment. Is it being moderated before it shows up?
Hi John,
Both your comments have shown up there now. It sometimes just takes a couple of minutes for them to appear (particularly if you’re using the app).
But we don’t pre-moderate any comments at all!
Thanks,
S
OK Thanks Sinead.
Keep up the good work!
@ Sineád
The Journal don’t pre-mod !?!?!?!?
That’s news in itself…
Many readers (including me) post comments that don’t appear whether from the app or on line
Hi DubInNaas,
No, we don’t pre-moderate comments. Your comments may have been taken down from the site if they go against our (pretty lenient) comments policy.
If you want to familiarise yourself with our community rules, they can be found here: http://www.thejournal.ie/comments-policy/
Cheers,
Sinead
@DubInNaas
I got it up there anyway. Changed one auld word and up it popped – like Lazarus from the grave!
My mistake I meant of course – Declan. Now how could I be mixing up these two names?
Carelessness? Haste?
I was rushing for the juggler there alright Chuck!
”’
I am sure Shanti… Sinead needs to deal with the bullying etc. coming from certain people on this site. I am here to let them know the regular person wont take it..
Right, by going against the comments policy and using ad hominem and personal attacks to make yourself heard? Because that’s bullying man, you single out one or two people for attack, break the rules and see no problem with that?
If you have a problem with what someone says, focus on that, not who they are or whether you reckon they have a job or not.. Seriously dude, read the comments policy, it’s there in black and white.
Gosh! Now here’s an interesting example of a ad hominem attack:
Examples:
“You can’t believe John when he says the proposed policy would help the economy. He doesn’t even have a job.”
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem
Now where did I see such a comment? Hmmmm
Now I remember where! Here:
”Hope you get a better turnout that your last adventure….. pathetic effort Reada….couple of hundred idiots….That was you lot protesting by the way…zero relevance to anyone…
Do you have a job Reada??”
Ring any bells David?
Brilliant banter here !! Ciara , math thu !
David Higgins said “We have rule by Democracy, not rule by the mob” I would refer David to recent referendums Nice and Lisbon, on these occassions it seems ‘democracy ‘ got it wrong. Until last year we had a Minster for Health whose party got 2% of the vote and our present govenrment does the bidding of unelected technocrats in Europe. The forthcoming referendum, which the Labour party is backing, would if passed do away with Democracy altogether.
As usual the Labour party is not listening, you are too busy correcting grammar.
have your say