BLAGAROON

Wednesday morning, 2nd Aibreán/April 2008, An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, announced he would resign his office next 6th Bealtaine/May 2008, following his visit to the USA and making a speech to the U.S. Congress. The pressure on him to clarify his position regarding his finances being investigated by the Mahon Tribunal and the contradictory evidence provided by him at his various appearances at the Tribunal had made his position publicly untenable.

All Mr Ahern’s troubles are of his own making. His infamous television interview on RTÉ in September 2006 where explanations made by him were later contradicted by himself, and by contrary documentary evidence which emerged piece by piece, fatally undermined his credibility and by consequence, that of his government. Behind all this, rampant fear stalked the corridors of Leinster House, especially in government ranks, that the “Bertie Factor” was having an increasingly negative affect on the Government’s campaign in support of the forthcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum. No doubt, Mr Ahern was acutely aware of this and defeat in the referendum in which his personal integrity was at stake would undermine his prospects of getting a sinecure job in the EU bureaucracy later on, therefore the pompous assertions of “going for the good of the country” have to be taken with a large grain of salt. Going for the good of Bertie and Fianna Fáil electoral prospects would be the more accurate statement.

STILL VOTE NO

The arrogant claims of various government ministers and media hacks on the airwaves today that politics should be set aside in this situation and Mr Ahern allowed depart without further criticism of him, and by implication, the failures of his government’s policies, should not deflect us one iota from what is necessary to defeat this government on the question of the forthcoming Lisbon Treaty referendum. The departure of Mr Ahern is a defeat for the YES campaign as he was the leader of that campaign. We now have to consolidate the position which arises and redouble our efforts to bring the truth about the manipulations of the Lisbon Treaty supporters before the Irish people.


The lies, distortions and threats will continue right up to referendum day. The same old gang of tired reactionaries from Fianna Fáil will emerge under whomever they elect as leader to continue to propose the surrender of more of the Irish people’s sovereign rights of having their own independent government to the Brussels Bureaucrats Club.

The saccherine expressions of tribute which burst on the media after the resignation statement are total hypocrisy and obscure the reactionary aspects of Ahern's policies; the asset stripping of the public services under the malign influence of Piss-pot Harney and her neo-fascist party, the subservience to Washington's warmongering foreign policies and the shameful use of Shannon Airport for transit of US military and material to illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The outrageous 'blind eye' attitude to transfer of illegal prisoners to torture camps in Guantanamo Bay and elsewhere. It is indicative of the decline in political morality at the highest level in Irish politics, as represented by Ahern, that these outrages are ignored by the media and a majority of elected representatives in Dáil Éireann.

FearFeasa Mac Léinn
Áth Cliath/DUBLIN, 03 Aibreán/April 2008.