Minor point on the below but O’Dea was not a government TD in 2015
“The record is particularly relevant because O’Dea was the first member of government to speak upon the introduction of the bill for its final reading in the Dáil.“
Excellent piece, have wondered about how these debates took place but never got around to checking. Always presumed the GRA just breezed through, especially in light of that Thomson-Denton report (presume you're familiar with it), but that seems to be wrong
It went through some big changes at the start, it not something I had the time to get to but it’s worth looking at if you have time. The earliest drafts/ideas were much more restrictive
Well have a little look at one of the latest treats being distributed to the populace, free ivf for childless couples. Immediately clamouring being amplified by media about it not going fat enough.
Zero about whether its a good use of tax money, will private clinics start gouging, can you really say reproduction I'd a right, never mind assisted reproduction, never mind is it within the gift of the state to grant this as a right. No, its immediate More more more. I'm pro this idea - babies good! - but still struck by the one sidedness of the discourse.
FF and FG are in office but not in power. They comply with all leftist agendas from transgenderism to climate change BS. FF/FG’s only agenda is to get re-elected and remain in office all the time making sure they do not offend any sensibilities in RTE , The Irish Times or that toilet roll the Independent.
"What happened between 2015 and today that caused the change?" My answer:
Non-progressive politicians tend to take a hell of a long time to wake up to Woke. Sixty plus years in some cases. This has been true right across the Western world. They consistently fail to grasp the one-way Progressive ratchet that is 'Democratic' Liberalism. Two things:
1) it affords one-track-minded malcontents (like trans activists) massively more influence than normal people who've got a life.
2) it allows its (taxpayer funded) institutions of 'higher learning' to quietly become petri-dishes for such malcontents to feed their poison into impressionable young graduates who then spread it through all our supposedly 'apolitical' institutions of civil society.
A rather pessimistic answer to your question - I realise.
There is a far bigger agenda here than the rights or wrongs of the GRA legislation.
GRA is but a vector of a larger Agenda.
The State funds the NGO sector with over $6 BILLION Taxpayer money.These NGO's are the activist shock troops ,controlled by the Regime.
They agititate via legacy print and their open door to RTE . The NGO activivists are designed to give the impression of faux democracy to alter or make legislation that is detrimental to the greater indolent majority,as is the fake Citizens Assemblies.
Such is the TENI transgender cult of the mentally disturbed.
This is Lawfare , an attack on the Nation by altering the Constitution to the detriment of the People.
RTE is the biggest NGO of all and a gouger and irresponsible waster of Public money ,as recent revelations testify.
The Irish Nation is under attack, as its foundations are undermined one by one.
The Catholic Church was the first to go, as its scandals of a minority were amplified to undermine it.
The Family structure is targeted by the Childrens Rights Act,of 2012, neutering Parental rights/responibilities to their children.
The Gay marriage referendum made a farce of the Family structure.
LGBTP promotion and the GRA has led to the attempt to indoctrinate children with RSE and SPHE aberrations. and further corrupt the Family structure.
The sinister Mass Plantation Migration is planned to destroy the cohesion and resistance of the unitary Nation, to further the aims of EU central control Totalitarian objective.
The People of Ireland are managed and manipulated to give consent to their own destruction and their perception controlled by the 5th Column Media.
The Nations strength of tolerance ,compassion and charity is now their greatest weakness and is being exploited cynically to undermine and exploit the Nation.
This was evident as false Compassion was used to pass the GRA Bill as stated by several politicians.
Similar false compassion, tolerance , exploitative tactics were used in the divorce,abortion and other referenda.
Time to wake to the dangers, with the complicit Regime but the errand boys of International Forces, seeking power and profit.
My comment was about the terminal corruption of the ideals of Democratic Liberalism in the 21st century West. It doesn't get "more direct" or "larger agenda" than that. I think, with respect, that you have just entirely missed my point.
I indeed did miss your point ,so did everyone else. The US Army has a Philosophy as to weapon design and Battle tactics, it is called KISS.
Keep it Simple .Stupid.
We are both fighting the same battle. lets not be distracted by modalities.
I seek to inform the brain-dead hoi polloi, you appear to be reaching to a different constituency, good luck and keep on the right side , we are Few a glorious Few.
At times it can be compared to Sisyphus ,rolling the boulder up the hill, only for it to roll down again, in a soul destroying battle against indifference, distraction,docility and stupidity.
Pure grit ,determination, doggedness, obstinacy and stubborness will always defeat the loony sunshine soldiers of the Left.
Perhaps a compromise is needed. Separate prisons for those of us who are neither male nor female. Likewise: restrooms, sports leagues, schools, locker rooms, churches, etc. Medical facilities too; I would not like to unknowingly be treated by a doctor who actually believed that men can become women.
Any attempt to understand the dynamics behind decision making in the Oireachtas needs to take in to account the political monoculture that exists in Ireland today. There is a uniformity among opinion makers and those in a position of influence here that is extraordinary for a Western democracy.
It's the UK if the UK's media and political life contained only Corbynistas or the US if every public voice was a doctrinaire Democrat. It is going to be hard for anyone outside Ireland to accept or even comprehend this could be the case in a democracy with elections every 5 years but it is.
Our massive Corporate Tax take - money to burn that doesn't come from taxpayers pockets - is probably the main reason we are in this situation.
The effect this monoculture has on decision making is to reduce things to the dynamics that prevail among a bunch of teenage girls. Being first to be on trend is the currency they deal in. Asking for a rational defence of a position is as irrelevant as asking for a rational defence of a new popular hairstyle. Asking the question only signals how out of the loop you are and how far you are from being someone who matters.
There is one other factor feeding in to Dail decison making worth noting which is that for the first time in our history becoming Taoiseach or leading an institution in Ireland is not the pinnacle of a career - it's a resume padder that lets you land the seriously important job in Eurppe. The effect is to turn each party in to a support system for the party leader as he builds the case for himself in Brussels.
There is no longer an internal debate in the party because the Europe pleasing outcome is already setled. Willie O'Dea's job is to look after himself in what's left of the party which mostly comes down to enthusiastically obeying the whip. And hence the staunch and passionate defence of the GRA.
But I’m surprised at the attacks that could be very well avoided with a little attention to infrastructure.
The open-shower locker room scene? So outdated. It was uncomfortable before, it’s uncomfortable now, and it’s entirely F unnecessary at this point. Separate shower stalls with locking doors are fine. Showering at home? Also fine. Nobody needs to see everyone else naked.
Take the prison shower model out of the picture, and the objection goes away.
Minor point on the below but O’Dea was not a government TD in 2015
“The record is particularly relevant because O’Dea was the first member of government to speak upon the introduction of the bill for its final reading in the Dáil.“
Gah you’re right. Good spot, stupid mistake
Great piece.
Thanks for the read Angelo
Good analysis. The social/cultural dynamics of how this happened are fascinating.
Excellent piece, have wondered about how these debates took place but never got around to checking. Always presumed the GRA just breezed through, especially in light of that Thomson-Denton report (presume you're familiar with it), but that seems to be wrong
It went through some big changes at the start, it not something I had the time to get to but it’s worth looking at if you have time. The earliest drafts/ideas were much more restrictive
Well have a little look at one of the latest treats being distributed to the populace, free ivf for childless couples. Immediately clamouring being amplified by media about it not going fat enough.
Zero about whether its a good use of tax money, will private clinics start gouging, can you really say reproduction I'd a right, never mind assisted reproduction, never mind is it within the gift of the state to grant this as a right. No, its immediate More more more. I'm pro this idea - babies good! - but still struck by the one sidedness of the discourse.
FF and FG are in office but not in power. They comply with all leftist agendas from transgenderism to climate change BS. FF/FG’s only agenda is to get re-elected and remain in office all the time making sure they do not offend any sensibilities in RTE , The Irish Times or that toilet roll the Independent.
Very depressing.
"What happened between 2015 and today that caused the change?" My answer:
Non-progressive politicians tend to take a hell of a long time to wake up to Woke. Sixty plus years in some cases. This has been true right across the Western world. They consistently fail to grasp the one-way Progressive ratchet that is 'Democratic' Liberalism. Two things:
1) it affords one-track-minded malcontents (like trans activists) massively more influence than normal people who've got a life.
2) it allows its (taxpayer funded) institutions of 'higher learning' to quietly become petri-dishes for such malcontents to feed their poison into impressionable young graduates who then spread it through all our supposedly 'apolitical' institutions of civil society.
A rather pessimistic answer to your question - I realise.
There is a far bigger agenda here than the rights or wrongs of the GRA legislation.
GRA is but a vector of a larger Agenda.
The State funds the NGO sector with over $6 BILLION Taxpayer money.These NGO's are the activist shock troops ,controlled by the Regime.
They agititate via legacy print and their open door to RTE . The NGO activivists are designed to give the impression of faux democracy to alter or make legislation that is detrimental to the greater indolent majority,as is the fake Citizens Assemblies.
Such is the TENI transgender cult of the mentally disturbed.
This is Lawfare , an attack on the Nation by altering the Constitution to the detriment of the People.
RTE is the biggest NGO of all and a gouger and irresponsible waster of Public money ,as recent revelations testify.
The Irish Nation is under attack, as its foundations are undermined one by one.
The Catholic Church was the first to go, as its scandals of a minority were amplified to undermine it.
The Family structure is targeted by the Childrens Rights Act,of 2012, neutering Parental rights/responibilities to their children.
The Gay marriage referendum made a farce of the Family structure.
LGBTP promotion and the GRA has led to the attempt to indoctrinate children with RSE and SPHE aberrations. and further corrupt the Family structure.
The sinister Mass Plantation Migration is planned to destroy the cohesion and resistance of the unitary Nation, to further the aims of EU central control Totalitarian objective.
The People of Ireland are managed and manipulated to give consent to their own destruction and their perception controlled by the 5th Column Media.
The Nations strength of tolerance ,compassion and charity is now their greatest weakness and is being exploited cynically to undermine and exploit the Nation.
This was evident as false Compassion was used to pass the GRA Bill as stated by several politicians.
Similar false compassion, tolerance , exploitative tactics were used in the divorce,abortion and other referenda.
Time to wake to the dangers, with the complicit Regime but the errand boys of International Forces, seeking power and profit.
My whole comment was about "larger agendas" Did you just not GET that?!
You need to be more direct,we are dealing with a docile , sleeping ,trusting population,unaware of the danger and destruction planned for them.
Otherwise a good comment on the ridiculous GRA.
My comment was only tangentially about the GRA.
My comment was about the terminal corruption of the ideals of Democratic Liberalism in the 21st century West. It doesn't get "more direct" or "larger agenda" than that. I think, with respect, that you have just entirely missed my point.
I indeed did miss your point ,so did everyone else. The US Army has a Philosophy as to weapon design and Battle tactics, it is called KISS.
Keep it Simple .Stupid.
We are both fighting the same battle. lets not be distracted by modalities.
I seek to inform the brain-dead hoi polloi, you appear to be reaching to a different constituency, good luck and keep on the right side , we are Few a glorious Few.
At times it can be compared to Sisyphus ,rolling the boulder up the hill, only for it to roll down again, in a soul destroying battle against indifference, distraction,docility and stupidity.
Pure grit ,determination, doggedness, obstinacy and stubborness will always defeat the loony sunshine soldiers of the Left.
Keep on ,keepng on
Maybe this: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/invasion-of-the-virtue-signallers is more up your street. Or this: https://grahamcunningham.substack.com/p/how-diversity-narrows-the-mind
Conor, you have really brought your A game the last few essays. What percentage of Gen-X Dubliners endorse transgenderism, do you think?
Perhaps a compromise is needed. Separate prisons for those of us who are neither male nor female. Likewise: restrooms, sports leagues, schools, locker rooms, churches, etc. Medical facilities too; I would not like to unknowingly be treated by a doctor who actually believed that men can become women.
Any attempt to understand the dynamics behind decision making in the Oireachtas needs to take in to account the political monoculture that exists in Ireland today. There is a uniformity among opinion makers and those in a position of influence here that is extraordinary for a Western democracy.
It's the UK if the UK's media and political life contained only Corbynistas or the US if every public voice was a doctrinaire Democrat. It is going to be hard for anyone outside Ireland to accept or even comprehend this could be the case in a democracy with elections every 5 years but it is.
Our massive Corporate Tax take - money to burn that doesn't come from taxpayers pockets - is probably the main reason we are in this situation.
The effect this monoculture has on decision making is to reduce things to the dynamics that prevail among a bunch of teenage girls. Being first to be on trend is the currency they deal in. Asking for a rational defence of a position is as irrelevant as asking for a rational defence of a new popular hairstyle. Asking the question only signals how out of the loop you are and how far you are from being someone who matters.
I tried to describe it further here. https://joblog.substack.com/p/its-like-the-countrys-being-run-by
There is one other factor feeding in to Dail decison making worth noting which is that for the first time in our history becoming Taoiseach or leading an institution in Ireland is not the pinnacle of a career - it's a resume padder that lets you land the seriously important job in Eurppe. The effect is to turn each party in to a support system for the party leader as he builds the case for himself in Brussels.
There is no longer an internal debate in the party because the Europe pleasing outcome is already setled. Willie O'Dea's job is to look after himself in what's left of the party which mostly comes down to enthusiastically obeying the whip. And hence the staunch and passionate defence of the GRA.
I’m not from Ireland.
But I’m surprised at the attacks that could be very well avoided with a little attention to infrastructure.
The open-shower locker room scene? So outdated. It was uncomfortable before, it’s uncomfortable now, and it’s entirely F unnecessary at this point. Separate shower stalls with locking doors are fine. Showering at home? Also fine. Nobody needs to see everyone else naked.
Take the prison shower model out of the picture, and the objection goes away.