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I’M COMING LATE to the Danny Healy-Rae fairy story as I’ve been in Brittany in a campervan for the past four weeks with three little girls under the age of seven, so believe me I know all about “the little people” and the damage they can bestow on your mental and physical well being when crossed.
Like us Irish, the Breton also have a type of fairy, or a “korrigan” as it’s known in their folklore, and similar to “our lads” they are known to cause damage when bothered or upset.
A fairy in Irish folklore
But before I even start talking about “the fairies” I want to clear something up. A fairy in Irish folklore is not some little Disney Tinkerbelle yoke that would fit through a scutty little fairy door or some dainty little girleen with wings that you’d buy off an English woman in a health food shop in West Cork.
No, I’m talking bad little f***ers. Lads that could do you harm. Ones that will burn down your house, make your child sick, kill a priest, harm your animals, cut your brake lines or blow out an ESB supply. These are the types of stories, ancient and contemporary, which you get when you cross the fairies in Ireland.
Now let’s be clear, I don’t really put too much pass on what the Healy-Raes say and I’m sure there are many more cute hoors in Leinster House than these Kerry men: a lot of them with fine, well spoken accents too I must add. And no matter what the national media think of them, a large majority of people in Kerry think differently.
Silly season stuff
My first impression on hearing this supposed news was “What’s the story here folks?” There is no story. It’s silly season stuff with lashings of a Dublin-centric view of “life outside the M50″ as the Healy-Raes would put it themselves, aimed at making smug people feel even smugger.
Now, there are two easy targets in this story: The Healy-Raes and The Fairies. I won’t try and defend the politics of Danny Healy-Rae but I will try and defend personal belief and put forward a case for the poor old fairies and their sacred places.
You see, there’s not a village in the country that doesn’t have these fairy stories. Our folklore tell us that they inhabit certain places: bushes, stones, corners of fields and especially old enclosures which number 40,000 plus around the country.
These enclosures date from the 3rd to the 14th century and go by many names: raheens, raths, forts, dúns and lios, depending on what part of the country you live in. The older native Irish enclosures were circular ring forts made of clay or stone, while there are also numerous square/rectangular enclosures from the early Norman period.
A quick look at an OSI map will quickly identify most of these spaces while many of our Gaelic placenames with easily tell us where these enclosures once stood: Lis, Dún, Rath, Caher etc.
I don’t care whether you believe or not
Whether you believe the fairies or not, I don’t really care, but I will argue that if not for the folklore and superstition surrounding them that we’d have a far poorer built heritage and landscape in Ireland. Due to a combination of fear and respect, people never meddled with these places regardless of faith or social standing and if you did, there would almost definitely be consequences.
It’s generally claimed that we have lost some 10,000 since they were first mapped in the 19th century and this is mostly due to mechanisation and developments in agriculture, land reclamation etc. Growing up on the coast of Wexford my own late father brought me to every raheen in our area, while in the same breath showed me the spots where others once stood and most importantly, told me who was involved in removing them and the consequences they suffered.
And here is the bit I don’t get with this whole sensational story. If the account in the Irish Times had read “Plant Hire King Vows To Level Every Fairy Fort in Kerry” there would be uproar.
However, the man simply expressed his own belief which showed a respect/fear of meddling with these spaces and for his honesty he gets lampooned. Even the most cynical of us will walk on the side of caution. “It’s not worth the risk,” I repeatedly hear from farmers.
”Where you see one, you’ll see three”
There’s also an old saying which I come across on a regular basis which states that “Where you see one, you’ll see three”. This refers to when you stand in one fort, you will almost always be able to count two more. This theory not only highlights how plentiful they were, it also tells us how these farmsteads/enclosures were all interconnected on a communal and defensive level.
So when the landscape changed due to developments in agriculture and field formation over the centuries, these physical spaces were left behind, untouched and this is where your fairy paths come into play.
Danny’s issue with a fairy path is old news really as we literally have thousands of stories relating to the consequences of building/interfering on such paths recorded in our archives or alive in the stories of communities around the country. (See film link below).
Houses abandoned due to torment by the fairies
It is generally believed these paths were simply the old routes that existed between these enclosures and if you were unfortunate to build on these lines you’d get nothing but hardship from the said fellas. You’d go to bed at night and the house would be ransacked in the morning.
Doors would never stay shut as they were in the way of the fairies walking from one fort to another at the night. The accounts are endless and usually could be fixed with a bit of DIY: a wall knocked out and a new door fitted, or an offending corner of a house knocked off so as to not block their way.
In extreme cases I’ve seen houses abandoned due to the torment brought on by the fairies. And if your DIY skills couldn’t fix it, you’d call for some outside expertise and I’m not talking Dermot Bannon here with his concepts of light and open spaces. No, more along the lines of those those ancient Druid like fellas with their prayers, magic water and long flowing cape ie the local parish priest.
Although Rome mightn’t have agreed with their actions, there are numerous accounts of priests being brought in to perform exorcisms of sorts on such houses all over the country. In my own village in Wexford one such story still survives of a priest who was brought into a house which the fairies visited every night and after “driving the fairies out, he died three weeks later as a result of his efforts”. Such was the power of the fairies.
We have an unusual belief system
You see, in Ireland we have an unusual belief system. Like my own late parents many people believe in God but they also had an understanding of the fairies, of sacred places, the banshee and the omens of good luck and bad luck. Both exist side by side.
Folk belief is a hard one to explain. Unlike factual history or organised religion where you can make arguments for and against, folk belief is much more organic and has an ever changing set of rules depending on the believer. Beliefs change from person to person, family to family, area to area.
Although there are many shared characteristics such as the case in point of building or interfering with a fairy path, these stories existed outside of the formal framework of education and religion and are open to interpretation.
Ridicule is nothing new
This ridiculing of folk belief as highlighted here is nothing new. All over the country a general narrative was created which regarded these stories as nonsense or old pisheogs. Non-controlled folk belief was always seen as a threat to mainstream religion and instead of trying to rid the people of their old ways, we did a lot of “rebranding” in Ireland.
Saints’ days were strategically fixed onto the older dates in our pre-Christian calendar, so you’d have All Souls and All Saints at Hallowe’en, or the Virgin Mary and her May Altars took over from the eggshells of The May Bush etc.
So it’s no surprise when talking about folk belief that I regularly get asked the question “This is just nonsense surely?” And my reply is “Would you ask a Christian, Muslim or Jewish cleric a similar question about God?” Probably not.
So why is it so ridiculous? Do I have to remind you that a majority of our politicians voted to keep the religious prayer in the Dáil some months back?
Now as a “superstitious” non-believer such as myself, I could go on about the fairies all day long but I’ll end with a dark connection to these raths which was never mentioned as the reporting was sensational and lacked depth.
You are not just upsetting the supernatural
It’s a rather sad account and one that I’ve heard repeated in my own family and from numerous older men and women in communities from Mayo, to Tipperary to Wexford. Now this isn’t a story that would have been spoken freely of in the Schools Folklore Scheme of the 1930s and it’s obvious why. Many of these raths were left untouched as they were used for the burial of babies. Unbaptised babies, babies born out of wedlock and babies born in secret.
These accounts are remembered from a time when the Catholic Church wouldn’t allow such babies to be buried in consecrated ground. Instead these dead infants were carried off, mostly in the middle of the night by family members and brought to these ‘sacred places’ to be buried. And here they remained, only remembered by their immediate family or their neighbours who knew.
And so, these forts, these old graveyards and these little nooks in fields were guarded and protected by the people who lived close to them. You see when these places are meddled with, you are not just upsetting the supernatural, you are also upsetting those who are living and those who are dead.
Michael Fortune is a filmmaker/folklorist from Co Wexford. Since 2016 he has been presenting a regular slot on the Sean O’Rourke Show on RTE Radio 1 regarding the ancient and contemporary folklore, customs and rituals existing within Ireland today. To view some of his work online please visit www.folklore.ie.
Dole Pot has found his Khmer Rouge
@Rocky Loveridge: Dole pot. Lol.
@Rocky Loveridge: should be WISE…will let ye decide what the W stands for
@Rocky Loveridge: He’s an elected TD and Law graduate – what are you?
@Rocky Loveridge: ignorant comment, anyone who knows anything about Paul Murphy would know his politics have nothing to do with Pol Pot or the Khmer Rouge. Curiously enough though, Henry Kissinger, a man you probably admire, was quite happy to support them as a counterweight to the Vietnamese.
@Rocky Loveridge: If you are happy to repay for the gangsterism of the banks, crumbling health service,homelessness, housing crisis scandal after scandal, a government kept in power by the party that brought this country to it’s knees. You must be over the moon with happiness.
@Donal Desmond: I’m capable of liking all those things as well as disliking obstructionist commies
@Donal Desmond: apologies Donal, that should read capable of disliking, not liking
@SFNutters: TD yes but not a Barrister
@Jude: he never held a real job in his life so .. this party is going to ensure he sits on the sidelines with zero input into policies for the people of ireland
He’s feathering his great big champagne socialist nest for few more years
@Gordon Hughes: Bang on the button. He is riding the eco wave to stay relevant right now. The p rick is a mouthpiece who will forever protest everything without ever offering a solution. He has the dole puppies eating out of the palms of his hands.
@SFNutters: R.I .S .E Rats In Sinking Environment
@Rocky Loveridge: Obstructionist Commie? Since the foundation of this state ..certainly would not refer to it as a Republic. Two right wing conservative parties have governed.. F.F. lose office , Blueshirts replace them. A continuous circus.
@Donal Desmond: not now Donal. My beloved United are on the box
@Rocky Loveridge: Sweet Jesus we have one thing in common… Power of prayer is our only option at this stage.
So he wants everyone that works to work less hours for the same money and those that dont work to get more money for no hours
Genuinely hope that his old party of whatever name they have today stands a candidate against him and they both dont get elected.
@silveryD: LOL
@silveryD: not everyone who works, just everyone who works for a big company or for the state.
Small companies, entrepreneurs (and their staff) and the self-employed will have to pay for that extra cost by working one extra day a week…!
Another Renua…
Goodbye oblivion, hello oblivion
The Judaean people’s front.
@Niall Power: splitters
@SFNutters: It gets my vote if it has frequent transport without robbing front gardens and taking/cutting trees
@Whoswho: you mean the gardens that home owners are being financially compensated for?
@Kev: No. The gardens that their robbing from pensioners who have worked all their lives for
@Whoswho: Bus Connects stated that most property owners will only lose 1 to 2 metres of their front garden and the average payout will be €25,000. They’ll also benefit from a hugely improved transport service. Hardly being robbed. Off with your nimbyism.
@Kev: No he means people’s property being forcibly taken off them and leaving some of them nowhere to park the car
@Kev: sure why dont ya run a bus through your gaff
@Kev: being removed 1 or 2 feet is unacceptable don’t mind 1-2 metres. That’s huge unless your living in Dublin 4! Not only will they lose their gardens, buses will now be going past their front doors, blowing in fumes to their houses. This is totally unacceptable!
@Whoswho: I don’t think this lot have much respect for private property. They will probably take your house as well and turn it into Soviet Russian style apartments.
@Frank McGlynn: No basis for your comment. FFG are the ones who are in government and taking people’s homes and doing a job worse than any right wing party could do!
@Whoswho: Elected government taking control of the factors of production (including land) is basically the definition of socialism…
“People on the left unlike people on the right take politics pretty seriously,” said Murphy
What a strange, disrespectful and partisan thing to say.
@Darren B: indeed, a pRise …. that lad
@Darren B: And of course nobody says anything disrespectful about the left…
@Darren B: disrectful to who? Waiting list, no social houses, water quality failing, hospital waiting lists increases. He is spot on
@Whoswho:
What’s he going to pay for it all with?
@Whoswho: all of which are policies of this country across the board. There is no right wing party in this country.
@The Great Unwashed: the blood of the righties
@The Great Unwashed: He’s going to pay for it from taxes that the citizens pay. Not the Google tax or DOB tax. And not squander money putting a legal case for Google to say we don’t want the EUs money
@Whoswho: water quality is actually improving.
@The Great Unwashed: with the money that’s being waisted in the hse and the ridiculous amount of people that don’t need to be there!!
@Stephen Walshe:
So he’s going to add them to the dole queue – socialism in action….
That Murphy thinks Fine Gael are right-wing shows how far left he is. 20% of income tax earners in Ireland pay 80% of the income tax and 50% pay none of it.
If Murphy would describe this as a right-wing fiscal policy, what’s left-wing? 20% of people paying all of the income tax and 80% paying nothing?
@jacquoranda: excellent.
@jacquoranda: Got it in one Sir!
@jacquoranda: Show me the evidence that 50% of income tax earners amy no income tax ?
And then where did u get the 80% paying nothing ? very strange maths here
@jacquoranda: Fine Gael are right wing always have been, thatcherite economic policy and there membership of the right wing group in Europe prove it so.
@Gary Kearney: Ah Gary dont be spoliling
jacquoranda’s load of bull crap with facts now !!
@jacquoranda: FG are Irish Tories…
@jacquoranda: PRSI, USC, VAT, ridiculously high car tax etc. etc.
The Irish left, in gerneral, have no interest in ever being in government and despite what Paul Murphy has said today they do not take politics seriously. RISE may not even run candidates other than himself in general elections nevermind a raft of candidates. All this b0ll0x talk of the broader left is laughable when they keep splitting. Seems there really is no alternative in the real world.
It would be nice to have a reasonable left party but I very much doubt this will be it. Civil disobedience shouldn’t be needed but if that is the plan from the start they aren’t trying to engage the system to change it
@Craic_a_tower: Labour is the party of the left. All these multiple socialist parties need to realise this and then get themselves within Labour and bring about whatever changes they can – otherwise there will never be a really influential Left leaning party just an array of parties who will never actually get into a position of being actually able to effect change.
I am not a supporter of the Labour Party.
@offtheball: Labour are left, this crowd are far left
@offtheball: except Labour is not a left wing party
@JimmyMc: Like I said it would be nice to have a reasonable left party. Labour neither reasonable or left enough
@offtheball: That was funny , LoL…
@JimmyMc: Yeah labour ‘left’ the building about 10 years ago .. thats the only ‘left’ I could equate with labour
@offtheball: All these splinter groups, including any independent lefties , will never fit within a party set up, Because each one wants his/her OWN way, they cannot agree with themselves, — wasn’t Higgins, now gone, the same, everyone was out of step but him, all these are just the same. They will get elected, huff and puff, and never achieve anything, end of story.
@offtheball: yea left behind at the last election
Socialism is a horrible ideology that’s never worked anyway it’s been tried.
And before anyone pipes in with the Scandinavian countries bit they’re not socialist economies – they’re free market economies with social programs (that are propped up by a free market) and consistently rank very highly in the economic freedom rankings.
@sVRCsaSg: That sounds a lot better than the slow-burn Reaganomics we’ve got now.
@Squiddley Diddley: the Scandinavian countries sound better? So more economic freedom for businesses?
@sVRCsaSg: I presume he means more than in a socialist state.
@Squiddley Diddley: Sorry no he didn’t. Not sure what he means by that economic freedom but the Scandanavavians get a lot right.
@Squiddley Diddley: true. But I’d be skeptical we can pull off what the Scandinavian countries do. We spend close to what Sweden does on our healthcare system. Now I don’t know much about the Swedish system but I’d hazard a guess that they get more bang for their buck.
@sVRCsaSg: Well we are spiralling into a more divided society, I pity the future generations of the have and have-nots who will be brought up to regard each other as the enemy. A smaller gap and a more cohesive society has so many tangible benefits that don’t show up in bank balances but make the world a better place. I’d rather we were heading towards the Scandinavian model than the Flint Michigan model market forces will drive us to.
@Squiddley Diddley: yeah I agree that inequality can stoke division. But inequality is also a result of freedom. And it also raises living standards for all – although they may be raised by 2% for some and 50% for others.
Flint Michigan is an interesting one though. From what I gather there was a lot of political cronyism and deceit and it’s not so much a failure of the markets. But I will agree with you that private monopolies are as bad and many markets (like water, rail, roads, etc) can’t always be left to the market because we they’re natural monopolies in many ways.
@sVRCsaSg: …and the day we vote for extra taxes like the Scandis do then we can join the party. Until then signal away…
@Tom McHugh: I’m not advocating for copying the Scandinavians on everything. As you said they’re taxes are very very high.
@sVRCsaSg: The free market economy much loved by the grab all for myself people. The Scandinavian countries are socialist, they use their free market economy for the betterment of all and not the Builders Bankers and Vulture funds.
@sVRCsaSg: They do as its run properly and not got an albatross around its neck as we have here in Public Private Partnerships
@Gary Kearney: but they’re not socialist. Socialism is anti capitalist and anti private property (commercially at least). It’s a common misconception that simply having social programs makes you socialist. Scandinavia can only have strong social programs because they reject socialism and have a high level of economic freedom.
@sVRCsaSg: Extreme socialism is anti capitalist and anti private property. Socialist policies brought you the weekend, public education and public healthcare. The world is not black and white and neither is politics, it is not either capitalism or socialism. Full capitalism has never ever been tried, full socialism has and failed horribly. You are the one with the common misconception. Scandinavian countries are further towards socialism than most, that does not make them out and out socialists though. You’ve got to realise there is a spectrum. For a country to be purely capitalist the market would have to be totally deregulated so that the hand of the market governs all, no limit on working hours, no limit on working age, no minimum wage. Pure socialism failed and so would pure capitalism.
@Diarmuid Hunt: I get that things aren’t so black and white but chalking up some things to socialism that aren’t part of socialism is disingenuous. Socialism has a definition and it centers around the seizure of the means of production. We can’t just say things that may or may not have been attached to socialist movement are socialism.
If we want to find a more socialist country we should look for those with more nationalised industries.
@Diarmuid Hunt: and I’m not saying some social programs aren’t good. But socialism as it is definited is a horrible idea.
@Diarmuid Hunt: and it could be argued that Scandinavian countries are less socialist than some we might consider “free market”. I’ve seen them rank higher on economic freedom than the US.
@sVRCsaSg: You seem to be confusing Marxism with Socialism, Socialism is a much broader term. Socialist policies are… socialist. It is not that complicated. Surely we can agree that capitalism tempered by some socialist policies are the best combination we have at the moment. Human nature will never allow socialism to work, there will always be some who just can’t share. Capitalism capitalises on this greediness as it’s driving force. 1/2
@sVRCsaSg: I’m not being disingenuous, I understand Marxist socialism, which has communism as it’s end goal, it is idealistic and fails to take into account human nature and so is always destined to fail. You say you understand the world isn’t black and white and then show that you only understand socialism in it’s most extreme form, either you view the world in black and white or you don’t understand the word socialism.
@sVRCsaSg: Look up the term economic freedom, you seem to misunderstand that too. Economic freedom does not equate to capitalistic, you can pay higher taxes (Scandinavian countries) but also benefit more from the socialistic policies which give you more economic freedom. State childcare is an easy and obvious one, this is a socialistic policy which allows mothers back into work earlier and therefore creates more economic freedom. A universal income, which would allow people to retrain or go to government funded college/university courses would also lead to more economic freedom. Having bright-minded people working in menial jobs with no way out because they were born to the ‘wrong’ family and couldn’t access higher education is detrimental to the economy.
@Diarmuid Hunt: I’m just going by the definition of socialism:
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/socialism
I think there’s now a trend to rebrand socialism due to it’s horrible past. Socialism is now trying to encompass any social programs and call them their own in order to gain support. But social programs aren’t socialist, socialism has a very specific definition.
I’m all for certain social programs by the way.
Finally I would agree that free markets play on people’s own self interest (greediness you may say) but socialism fails because of the same reason. Because it’s very hard to motivate people to work harder when they see no direct benefit.
@sVRCsaSg: Democratic Socialism is part socialism, part capitalism. You are going by a narrow definition of the word socialism rather than the concept. I think we agree in concept but disagree in semantics. The benefit is that you get everything you need, but as I said people want more, the problem is as Animal Farm details sok well, that those at the top of Communism don’t play by the rules. Again you could have a mixed theory where more difficult jobs do get higher rewards but everybody still gets what they need to survive. You will of course get those that don’t want to work, they don’t fit well with that idea either because part of the concept is that everyone gives to their ability and everyone receives for their needs.
@Diarmuid Hunt: Sorry not democratic socialism, I meant social democracy. It’s amazing how much the concept changes just by the order you put the words in.
@Diarmuid Hunt: but social democracy isn’t something that belongs to socialism. Either is working with capitalism. Socialism has a definition and people keep trying to expand the definition to make it more palatable.
If they want to be the social democratic party that’s fine, but they’re not – they’re socialists. And I think we’d be foolish to view them in any other way.
You sound like a social democract to me as opposed to a socialist and that’s perfectly fine. But I’d appeal to you to vote social democract instead of socialist. They’re wolves in sheeps clothing.
@sVRCsaSg: Oh jesus don’t get me wrong, wouldn’t vote for this crowd. Anyone who has the word radical at the start of their party name is off to a bad start. Social Democracy, in my view, is the best of both worlds or at least tries to be. As I said in an earlier post, there’s a spectrum and absolutes don’t reflect the world we live in.
@Diarmuid Hunt: I think it’s all semantics and definitions we disagree on. It seems like you’re pretty informed and aren’t getting swept in by this crowd
They haven’t been active in a while but Rural Ireland Says Enough got the RISE name first here.
@Ronan McKeon: also there’s a charity called RISE .. pretty uninspired name choice
@Ronan McKeon: I wouldn’t be surprised if Murphy et al were forced to change their name.
Load a bollox led by one
Still waiting on him to explain how on his €19,500 salary that he is only claiming, how he afforded a house over €350,00.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: Will you explain your finances in public if he does?
@Gary Kearney: Jim’s question is a valid one as Paul Murphy is a public representative. He campaigns on taking home a young workers wage which apparently was €1,800 take home in 2016 – circa €25,000 before tax with the rest of his salary going to the party. I cannot see how he could buy a house on that salary so an explanation is required. Not that any of this matters to the state as he ddn’t ask the state to cut his wage accordingly.
There is form in so called lefties claiming to take home the average industrial wage when they patently don’t e.g. Dessie Ellis and Liadh ní Riadh in the recent past.
I’ll give it 6 months. Another freakshow
Annual conference on bench in Johnstown beside memorial to burst balloon launched a comrade Burton.
@SFNutters: *Jobstown
Should call themselves SPLIT, Spoiled, Pigheaded , Loud, Intransigent, Tiresome.
Another posh boy socialist from Trinity. When he sold his upmarket 2 bed apartment in Dundrum he of course moved to be among his people in Jobstown, killinardan or Fettercairn…
Oh no. Not good enough for our lefty class warrior. Of course if my daddy was CEO of Mars Ireland I would avoid living with the plebs.Much more respectable in Kingswood Heights whose Centra was not raided by the locals during the winter freeze.
His erstwhile butty Joe O Higgins who gifted his MEP seat to him at least was a genuine socialist. But he
achieved shag all.
Won’t be getting my vote anyway. Voted for enough chancers in the past including Labour.
@David Glynn: whats you beef ? as you said you wouldnt vote for him anyways ?
I suppose you would voite for silver spoon posh boy liar Varuka
@Gowon Geter: At least Varadkar, for all his faults, does not pander to the parasites who contribute nothing to our society.
@Gowon Geter: No I won’t. Not for any of the major parties. My beef is that he won’t live among the people who canvass for him. He is a phony and its simply a dalliance with left wing politics.
I believe that there is already an organisation called Rural Ireland says enough. They call themselves RISE as well
Ah poor lil Paul. Getting less and less significant by the week!!
….and it will all be paid for by…. increased taxes on everyone who earns more than me! Hooray! Sign me up.
Wish them success in fights for workers Deputy Murphy did a massive amount to help with slowing water charges and against political policing, I got your back deputy Murphy and co when you need me.
@Matthew O’Kane: surely if it’s environmental, water meters should be welcomed?
@Joe Vlogs: Howya Dennis hows the weather in Malta. Not great in Ireland at the moment. The good news is the resevoirs will be full to the brim, catch you soon.
@Joe Vlogs: Oh yeah @ Supoer- Quango and the dodgy meteres would stop climate change ..
how could a super-quango, whos set-up is worse that the HSE and putting more money in DOB’s pocket going to help Climate Change ?
‘Some RISE by sin, and some by virtue fall’. Hopefully the former does not apply to these left wing communists who just want to spend other people’s money.
The record shows that Socialist Governments are usually destructive of the Environment. The strangest example of this was Mao’s campaign against the small birds who were eating grain. So there is scope for a split within RISE. Come on the Splittists
@Felim O’Rourke: Mao was a communist read up on the difference between the two please
Wakey wakey rise and shine……..all your early risers tax paying hard working good for nothing people
RISE isn’t that a generic brand of viagra ,
Rise up and F@%k off
Real Irish Socialist (r)ejects RISE
Right Irish Sad Eejit
Where dose that leave the RISE ORIGINATION ??????
People’s Front of Judea split from Judean Peoples Front
… SPLITTERS!!!!
As long as the Rise political party keep away from Labour and the Joan Burtons of this Country I would be be interested in what they have to say. The working class in this Country are screaming out for fair representation I hope the Rise party will step up to the plate.
@Alan Scott: The working class are already well represented. The last thing needed is a jumped up posh boy pretending to care for them in an effort to keep his own pockets lined and ego inflated.
Will his failure to “rise” after the next general election be ascribed to “electile dysfunction”?
Sponsored by Viagabrators no less.
Not sure they’ll get a rise out of voters tbh
Ruining Irelands Sensual Elections R.I.S.E
Best of luck Paul Murphy , a very intelligent politician always not afraid to speak out against the fascism … Hail hail Paul Murphy ,
And soon it will be rebranded “FALL”. . .
The only thing the Left are good for is Splitting!
Will Paul Murphy be paying royalties to the British Labour Party and Congresswoman Ocasio Cortez for ripping off their ideas?
His timing he much view as perfect as Taoiseach has said water charges coming back as future Governments can lower threshold.
However the massive peaceful water protests,supported by people all around the country,were organised by Right to Change/Right to Water which also highlighted other important societal issues such as homelessness, housing, health,etc at the big rallys.
@Nuala Mc Namara: I believe him to be sincere and wants to work hard re social issues but excluding SF is a mistake.
SF are the 3rd largest party and with SDs,Independents4Change,etc they could form a Government without FG/FF if they could unite re important issues similar to what they did under Right to Change.
Ordinary people want functioning and adequate public services, affordable housing/rents, secure tenancies, adequate response to National emergencies,etc
These will only be achieved by good workable policies.SF&SDs,etc have good fully costed policies.
Real Irish Spectators Elect
This is just the spinoff of a split in the UK hard left who control the Irish hard left factions Murphy has gone with one group the rest of SP with another, his group want to concentrate on undermining the green and feminist movements with trotskyite nonsense and the other faction want to stick with their traditional policy of undermining the trades unions and Labour movements with their trotskyite nonsense
Sounds a lot like renua, looking for a niche he can manipulate
Leaving, left overs, loosers, longing for power!
Was this not Rural Ireland Says Enough?
Tubs can’t wait to get him on the Late Late
Rural Ireland Says Enough
They could hold their annual conference in a phone box!
Wow,the spin machine commentary is literally near hysteria!
There is already a group called RISE……Rural Ireland Says Enough
Deluded.
have your say