Maman Poulet

Thanks to WorldByStorm for this email he received regarding a meeting in Leinster House tonight hosted by Dublin South TD and Cabinet Minister Eamon Ryan.

The meeting is regarding the Civil Partnership Bill and the delgation attending are lobbying against the bill and seeking protection for those who wish to concientiously object to conducting the registrations of partnerships.

But they are not homophobic, ah no…

Our concerns must be conveyed in a dignified and non-emotive way in order not to allow our concerns about the bill being described by the media as homophobic or intolerant.Our case will be that we have a democratic right to campaign for the protection of marriage and the family as they are understood by moral and natural law and by all the major religions of the world.

The group, as yet unknown, are hoping to meet with other TD’s during their visit.  Anyone who attends, delegation or TD and wants to report on it please let me know!

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In case you missed it earlier!

Interpretations and comments are very welcome as I’m not up to speed on everything.  Note Enda Kenny’s intention to bring a motion of no confidence against him.

Minister Willie O’Dea’s personal statement 16 Feb 2010 from maman poulet on Vimeo.

Update – the Affidavit of the TD and government minister if you’ve not seen it – just click to enlarge.

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Great Letter and interesting timing given the chickenfeed passed to me yesterday.

I’m out of the country for the weekend…I don’t think we’ve seen the last of this ‘cos this is not about Brussels. Cheques and balances.

Now the last person I want to sound like is Guido so I’ll hop it (though his bank balance might not be pass upable..)

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Yesterday as news spread on twitter about George Lee’s resignation from public office many turned to Senator Paschal Donohue for comment, he is the most followed and active FG rep using the medium.  And Paschal usually replies back to those who ask questions – it’s called conversation – something others using twitter might take note of.

It took a little while (meetings about crime in the constituency had to be attended to!) but Paschal came back and replied to comments and said the show went on.  He also let the world know he talks to Enda and Richard a lot and can get his ideas across.

And then at 1.11 am this morning after a long day on the Radio came a tweet from Lucinda Creighton TD

No word from FG front benchers including Fergus O’Dowd.  I bet in the days ahead Twittering blueshirts may get a few more followers.  Will head office send texts to them all asking for pre approval like the text HQ sent to TD’s yesterday asking for co-operation and advanced knowledge in relation to radio interviews?

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No use spending ages talking about himself. Thanks to Caricatures Ireland for the best thing that sums it up! (And any rumour that my thoughts turned to by-elections and coverage is probably very true. But I know I’m not alone there.)

I was going to post this week about the move over 10 days ago by Enda Kenny to email all party members every Friday updating them about his weeks work. Helpful FG members have been sending me copies! Last Friday’s was all about trips to Brussels for meetings and to visit windmills and talking about emigration.

Now the urgent rush to email make a lot more sense since Enda knew that the resignation was coming for a while. On top of the reported apologies over his recent media performances Enda needs all the friends he can get.

Only this morning before George’s departure, Fine Gael’s media team were uploading a new video of Enda talking to them about his plans for 2010. We are in the second week in February.

Do you think the plans have changed?  He’s lying low in Mayo today.

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I was intrigued but not surprised on Saturday night to read Cllr Dermot Looney’s blog about wanting to bring Dublin Pride to Tallaght.

I have long had difficulties with the Dublin Pride March and it’s lack of message and meaningless ending in a scuttle down the back of of Wood Quay hidden from everyone. South Dublin City Council have supported initiatives to increase lesbian and gay visibility in their library and through measures promoting social inclusion.  Cllr. Looney wants to go one better and bring the march to Tallaght and is bringing a motion seeking support to the council’s monthly meeting tomorrow night.

This Council congratulates the success of Dublin Pride in raising awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender rights in Dublin for more than 25 years and offers its support for the 2010 event. This Council will contact Dublin LGBTQ Pride Limited to offer support and assistance, with a view to holding events in the South Dublin area in this and future Pride festivals.

The issues facing lgbt’s in Ireland are local issues as well as national. Throughout this city people face discrimination and violence in their homes and continue to struggle for acceptance in their workplaces and amongst their families. This applies in Tallaght, Clondalkin and other parts of the city as well as between the canals. I mentioned during last years local and European elections that there were lots of issues beyond recognition of relationships that need to be addressed by elected and unelected officials and it’s very encouraging to see someone who is not gay taking on the issues unprompted and realising the importance of diversity and inclusion throughout the city and county.

I’ve been to North West Pride in Sligo for the past four years and the visibility, friendliness and involvement of other groups and support of local councillors all make the event extremely enjoyable and important for lgbt visibility.

If the Dublin Pride directors (who are in charge of a healthy bank balance according to the accounts sent to all members recently) have any liathroidi they’ll be responding to Cllr. Looney and taking him up on the offer. The one thing about Tallaght is that there is space out there to have a party afterwards – a football stadium for a concert even! South Dublin County Council aren’t bad at all on disability access either which might solve another problem that Dublin Pride has had with it’s activities.

Or are they too deferential to the commercial interests in town, some of whom are not so keen on the idea?

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Someone’s been getting a bit of flack for his comments last week, but is Leo blaming it on the reporting or the reading of the reporting or misreading? Note the last line – all his own work!

From today’s Irish Times

Madam, – Last week I spoke in the Dáil on the Civil Partnership Bill during which I addressed tax implications that may arise from the introduction of civil partnership. I drew attention to the fact that the tax system can require a single person to pay considerably more tax than a married couple that earns more, despite the high cost of living alone.

I pointed out that this tax advantage is also given to married couples with no dependent children and even married people who do not live together. The major beneficiaries of this anomaly are wealthy couples with no dependants.

I said this was unjust and that extending the tax benefits of marriage to civil partners would result in further disadvantageous treatment for singles. This aspect of my speech was picked up in an article on Page 6 (January 28th).

I went on to argue that the State should instead, give the tax benefit to the “family unit” to recognise the cost of raising children and the social good of family life. In fact, the tax system barely recognises families at all and only does so through a special tax credit for families headed by a single parent and a small credit for the stay-at-home spouse. This was picked up on Page 8 by another reporter.

Unfortunately, some stay-at-home parents read the article on Page 6 but not on Page 8 and got the wrong end of the stick, totally. I wish to have the matter clarified and to restate my support for favourable treatment for families. I do not, however, believe that single people should be treated less favourably than married couples or civil partners where there are no dependent children involved. These views are my own. – Yours, etc,

LEO VARADKAR TD,

Leinster House,

Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Update

Thanks to Joe in the comments for showing us this letter in the Independent. I think Jedward and Vanilla Ice’s soon to be number 1 maybe rather apt here.

I AM not sexist and I fully appreciate that being a mother is a full-time job. Jane Dignam (Letters, January 30) has got the wrong end of the stick.

Clearly, she neither heard nor read my speech. Nor did she bother to contact me to check the facts. Rather, her letter is a reaction to an article in another paper, which has since been clarified.

I wish to re-state my support for the favourable treatment of stay-at-home spouses with dependent children.

However, I do not believe that single people should be treated less favourably than married couples where there are no dependent children involved — a situation which will be exacerbated if the taxation advantages of marriage are extended to civil partners.

Civil partnership was the topic of debate. These views are my own.

I sincerely hope that Ms Dignam raises her children to be more dispassionate and discerning than she is.

I highly recommend that she reads the Irish Independent, instead of the other paper.

Leo Varadkar TD

Dublin 2

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‘The Pefect Storm’

Remember last year where Cowen made his non state of the nation address and only Harry McGee was in the room? Well tonight An Taoiseach was back talking off the cuff tonight at the Dublin Chamber of Commerce AGM. (Sean Whelan in RTE reporting on the Nine O’Clock news said Cowen was speaking to an audience of business men.  I assume this is not true and that Dublin Chamber of Commerce is an equal opportunities organisation!)

This time Harry was not alone and the press room was buzzing after it – well the keyboards were. I wonder if anyone was singing Kumbayah or the like.

You can listen to his speech here. Think of him on a trailer in Clara battening down the tarps against the wind or something.

(Thanks to Dublin Chamber of Commerce for the Audio)

I’ll have a think about it and be back to you! Things are going to get worse a bit before then get better or something but we’re all still in it together.  Ah oh yes the Recession is to be known as The Perfect Storm

See Alexia for more on the film and the script or whatever you call the transcript of the off the cuffery!

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Tonight in Trinity College Dublin a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution will take place to discuss electoral reform. It’s believed to be the first time that the committee will have met outside the Oireachtas to debate. Discussions at the meeting will include presentations by members of the public on electoral reform. (Yes I know the meeting is only down the road, but you never know what this may have started! The decentralisation of the Dáil and Seanad cannot be too far away!)

Tonights meeting will then be followed by a panel discussion chaired by John Bowman with participants including Noel Dempsey, Minister for Transport, Professor Ken Benoit, head of the Department of Political Science, Senator Ivana Bacik, Trinity Fellow, Sean Ardagh, Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee, Jim O’Keeffe, Vice Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee and The Hon. Mr. Justice Frank Clarke.

The event is hosted by TCD JS Irish Politics (3rd year) class and TCD Department of Political Science.

There will be a liveblog and webcast, more information can be found on TheStory.ie.  I’ll be liveblogging at some stage hopefully if the wifi goddesses oblige! So please join in and we’ll try and get some points across from the viewing public!

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