Lorna Bogue
LightNews LightNews
banner
lornabogue.bsky.social
Lorna Bogue
@lornabogue.bsky.social
600 followers 150 following 8 posts
Leader of An Rabharta Glas. Cork City Councillor. Candidate for Cork South-Central general election 2024.
Is Féidir Domhan Níos Fearr a Chruthú - A Better World is Possible!
Posts Replies Media Videos
lornabogue.bsky.social
While Sinn Féin are being criticised for what they are saying/not saying in the media and by political opponents I think it is more salient to think about the alternatives that the government-in-waiting can implement in the meantime. Our statement on de facto recognition of a Palestinian State.
“I call on Sinn Féin to table an urgent Dáil motion on recognition of Palestinian statehood, and to see that an indication that they would recognise Palestine when in power would be interpreted internationally as a de facto recognition by an EU member state which could interrupt and halt the present hyper-escalation of collective punishment by the Israeli military. “The Norwegian state, which coordinated the Oslo Accord of 1993, has pointed to the truth of the worsening situation in Gaza: “There is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The only way to achieve peace is to restart a political process between the Israelis and the Palestinians.” “There is an absolute urgency at this moment to produce a ceasefire and talks, and Ireland as a neutral state has a means by which it can intervene to this effect. “Hamas knew when they embarked on their attacks against Israeli civilians – the very obvious consequences of which were needless deaths. “As one of the world’s few remaining neutral states, and one which punches above its weight in the diplomatic sphere, Ireland could directly challenge US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s pronouncement in Tel Aviv today that “this is no time for neutrality”. But the present Irish government is not going to use its leverage to save millions of lives. “Sinn Féin, widely seen as the government-in-waiting, has so far been frustratingly mute in the face of this inaction, despite being a party which has for decades attached itself to the Palestinian cause in all its diversity. “The clear course of action Sinn Féin can take to apply its leverage is to submit an urgent Dáil motion on unilateral Irish recognition of Palestinian statehood. Although we know that the government parties will seek to defeat such a move, it would allow Sinn Féin to indicate that when it gets into government its first foreign policy action will be to recognise the Palestinian State.
October 15, 2023 at 1:53 PM
lornabogue.bsky.social
What if I told you that we could all be arguing about rates instead of LPT? A preview of my piece in today's echo about local government funding.
During budget season, many kites are flown by all political parties but especially in the final furlongs of election terms. The most visible at the national level is Sinn Féin’s ‘alternative budget’, and at a distance it is practically indistinguishable from Fianna Fáil’s traditional aerobatics. In the Junior B local government kite-flying competition the usual fracas over Local Property Tax (LPT) has become a hardy annual in Dublin City Council. This year the capital’s professional managerial class proposed a 15% increase on homeowners’ annual bills in order to raise enough money to pay an army of street cleaners to advance a gentrification blitzkrieg. This was supported, of course, by the tidy-town burghers of the Labour, Green and Social Democrat parties for whom inflicting a little bit more pain on homeowners is worth it for manicured streets, while community projects are to be crowdfunded through a British platform website called Spacehive. Priorities, eh?
October 9, 2023 at 12:47 PM