Great news from Ardraigue bog as Siege of Clonmoylan is remembered

The great news is that the turf has been cut and RTE has the incorrect number of “around 50 people”. Around 200 people is more accurate and a necessary mobilisation given a previous attempt by the State to seize property.

http://www.rte.ie/news/2013/0619/457632-turf-cutting-galway/

Protest over turf cutting in Co Galway ends

Updated: 11:20, Thursday, 20 June 2013

A protest near a bog designated as a Special Area of Conservation in Co Galway has ended without incident.

Around 50 people gathered at a roadway leading to the bog amid concerns that machinery used to cut turf may be seized.

Ardgraigue bog near Killimor is one of 53 bogs where a ban on turf cutting is in place.

Yesterday, turf was cut on banks belonging to more than 50 local people.

The process began at 5am and was completed by early afternoon and four machines were used.

It is the first time turf has been cut on the bog this year.

Gardaí said they were maintaining a presence in the area and monitoring the situation.

There were no incidents at the scene and no arrests were made.

Under the terms of the European Habitats Directive, a number of raised bogs have been declared as Special Areas of Conservation and a turf-cutting ban on these bogs was introduced in 2011.

Compensation is available for those who abide by the ban.

Thirteen of the bogs in question are located in Co Galway.

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Save Europe's bees!!

A regular reader of Thought and Action has sent in the following. T&A supports good food and good farming and opposes these bee-harming pesticides.

http://www.goodfoodgoodfarming.eu/eventsactions/bee-action.html

“Is it possible for you to send this link to many people asking them to send emails as described to Coveney and Irish EU ag rep (all details are at link, very little effort required).

It needs action over next few days.

http://www.goodfoodgoodfarming.eu/eventsactions/bee-action.html

It appears the companies have been heavily lobbying the politicians and the bureaucrats in recent months so WE THE PEOPLE need to get a voice in there, and pronto.”

“The European Commission has proposed a ban on the use of bee-harming pesticides (neonicotinoids) for an initial 2 year period. This move is a step in the right direction to save our bees and ensure good food and good farming in Europe.”

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Spy Planes in Galway!

Barroughter & Clonmoylan Bogs Action Group

“This type of Cessna plane is used by the NPWS every day of the week to spy on our people as they go about their work. We have recorded this plane flying NINE times a day over our bogs and private homes.

To fly this plane, with a crew and 2 NPWS on board costs €1,200 per hour. It flies 12 hours a day over our people at a daily cost of €14,400. This is a weekly cost of €100,800.”

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Solidarity Gathering for the Turf Cutters in Loughrea 10th April

A reminder that four men are in court. You are encouraged to show your support.

 

http://youtu.be/BqvHJrYX0-Y

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SOLIDARITY GATHERING FOR TURF CUTTERS IN LOUGHREA!

Four turf cutters are back in court on Wednesday 10th April. Those wishing to show solidarity with the four gentlemen are asked to gather at 11am in Loughrea, Co. Galway. Please bring a friend or two with you.

 

http://youtu.be/BqvHJrYX0-Y

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Attack The Tax Meeting in Trim!

On Holy Saturday there will be a meeting concerning the property tax in Trim, Co. Meath. The details are:

Our next talk is in Trim this Saturday morning (11am).
Trim Castle Hotel, Castle Street Trim, Co. Meath.
Saturday 30th. March 2013 --- 11am sharp to 1pm.
All the People of the Island are welcome.

See also: http://www.attackthetax.com/events.html

Dublin
Time: 7pm to 9pm
Date: Thur. 4th. April
Venue:Faughs GAA Club,
Wellington Lane, Templeogue
Beside the Spawell,
Junction 11 off M50

Wexford Details
Date:Saturday 6th April.
Time: 11am Sharp to 1pm.
Venue: Talbot Hotel
The Quay, Wexford Town

Gorey Details
Date: Saturday 6th April.
Time: 2pm Sharp to 4pm.
Venue: Loch Garman Arms
90 Main St, Gorey, Co. Wexford

Cork Details
Date: Saturday 13th April.
Time: 10am Sharp to 12am.
Venue: Munster Arms Hotel
Oliver Plunkett St, Bandon, Co. Cork

Cork Details
Date: Saturday 13th April.
Time: 2pm Sharp to 4pm.
Venue: St. Finbarrs Hurling & Football Club
Deanwood Ave, Togher, Co. Cork

Kerry Details
Date: Saturday 20th April.
Time: 11am Sharp to 1pm.
Venue: To Be Arranged

Galway Details
Date: Saturday 27th April.
Time: 11am Sharp to 1pm.
Venue: The Clayton Hotel,
Ballybrit, Co. Galway

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Ballymun

The first video is of the Thought and Action visit to Ballymun. The second video is a song called ‘Ballymun Lullaby’. The T&A visit concluded with a visit to the Church of the Virgin Mary. St. Pappin, Pray for us.

 

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Smug Town Councillors hurry away from locals in Athlone

Smug politicians confronted by local people at the town council meeting in Athlone. The politicians left the chamber when asked questions by the ‘ordinary’ people.

http://vimeo.com/61054934

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'If not for your country, then for your children'

News from Tralee.

http://www.independent.ie/regionals/kerryman/news/if-not-for-your-country-then-for-your-children-29083041.html

20 FEBRUARY 2013

THEY came from Killorglin, Ballybunion, Listowel and, of course, Tralee, last Sunday to voice their anger at the Government's continued policy of paying back bank debt.

The first 'Tralee Says No' march, modelled on the 'Ballyhea Says No' protests which has been going for over two years in the north Cork village, took place at 11am on Sunday outside the Kerry County Council buildings.

A respectable number of about 60 people took part in the walk and organisers said that they were happy with the turnout. Carrying banners, the group marched from the county buildings down to the roundabout at the Mile Height and back around again in a protest which took about 15 minutes to complete.

"It's a good start, I'm so pleased that there's so many new people I don't know here," said co-organiser Geraldine Nolan, from Cahermoneen in Tralee. "Ballyhea started small so we're hoping as we go on that more people will join us on Sunday mornings," she said.

Her sister and co-organiser, Mary Tobin, from Fenit, spoke to the crowd assembled after the march.

"Every Sunday we'll be here walking until the Government get it into their heads that the people of Ireland did not go mad and it's not our debt," she said.

"In simple terms, the bully in the schoolyard will always get away with it as long as everyone else does nothing. We need to send the message to the Government that we're not having it. There are a lot of people at home who see no hope but I'll tell you this much 'Tralee says No'."

Speaking to The Kerryman afterwards, Mary said the turnout was encouraging.

"We're delighted with the turnout. We were expecting just the ten of us but as you can see there's a lot of people who have wised up that it's not their debt and it's not their children's debt."

When asked why people tend not to protest in large numbers about such issues Mary offered her opinion.

"I don't know what it is about protesting in this country, is it that they think their neighbours are judging them? Nobody is judging them and they shouldn't be afraid to come out and protest. If not for your country, for your children," she said.

The protests will continue every Sunday morning at 11am outside Kerry County Council buildings in Rathass.

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Important Notice for Property Owners!

 

A message from the Barroughter & Clonmoylan Bogs Action Group

“SHOW SOLIDARITY WITH THE FOUR MEN. Come to Loughrea on Wednesday March 6th at 11am. Stand up for your rights too.”

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Day of Action

Thought and Action, which is neither left or right carried out a day of action yesterday (Shrove Tuesday). The A5 size leaflets circulated were in relation to opposing abortion, opposing the property tax and water charges. The issues effecting our communities goes beyond the false paradigm of ‘left’ v ‘right’. There was a great response to the day of action. Do continue your opposition in your local community.

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No to Debt March!

Thought and Action participated in the march held in Galway earlier today. Several marches were held across the country today. There was a call for a general strike from sections of the crowd but the Union bosses didn’t seemed interested. Some photographs from Thought and Action.

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Protecting yourself,your family and property!

With the right to private property enshrined in the Irish constitution this short post looks at the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act, 1997.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1997/en/act/pub/0026/sec0018.html#sec18

18.—(1) The use of force by a person for any of the following purposes, if only such as is reasonable in the circumstances as he or she believes them to be, does not constitute an offence—

(a) to protect himself or herself or a member of the family of that person or another from injury, assault or detention caused by a criminal act; or

(b) to protect himself or herself or (with the authority of that other) another from trespass to the person; or

(c) to protect his or her property from appropriation, destruction or damage caused by a criminal act or from trespass or infringement; or

(d) to protect property belonging to another from appropriation, destruction or damage caused by a criminal act or (with the authority of that other) from trespass or infringement; or

(e) to prevent crime or a breach of the peace.

(2) “use of force” in subsection (1) is defined and extended by section 20 .

(3) For the purposes of this section an act involves a “crime” or is “criminal” although the person committing it, if charged with an offence in respect of it, would be acquitted on the ground that—

(a) he or she was under 7 years of age; or

(b) he or she acted under duress, whether by threats or of circumstances; or

(c) his or her act was involuntary; or

(d) he or she was in a state of intoxication; or

(e) he or she was insane, so as not to be responsible, according to law, for the act.

(4) The references in subsection (1) to protecting a person and property from anything include protecting the person or property from its continuing; and the reference to preventing crime or a breach of the peace shall be similarly construed.

(5) For the purposes of this section the question whether the act against which force is used is of a kind mentioned in any of the paragraphs (a) to (e) of subsection (1) shall be determined according to the circumstances as the person using the force believes them to be.

(6) Notwithstanding subsection (1), a person who believes circumstances to exist which would justify or excuse the use of force under that subsection has no defence if he or she knows that the force is used against a member of the Garda Síochána acting in the course of the member's duty or a person so assisting such member, unless he or she believes the force to be immediately necessary to prevent harm to himself or herself or another.

(7) The defence provided by this section does not apply to a person who causes conduct or a state of affairs with a view to using force to resist or terminate it:

But the defence may apply although the occasion for the use of force arises only because the person does something he or she may lawfully do, knowing that such an occasion will arise.

(8) Property shall be treated for the purposes of subsection (1) (c) and (d) as belonging to any person—

(a) having the custody or control of it;

(b) having in it any proprietary right or interest (not being an equitable interest arising only from an agreement to transfer or grant an interest); or

(c) having a charge on it;

and where property is subject to a trust, the persons to whom it belongs shall be treated as including any person having a right to enforce the trust.

Property of a corporation sole shall be treated for the purposes of the aforesaid provisions as belonging to the corporation notwithstanding a vacancy in the corporation.

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No to Brothels!

Currently, Thought and Action is assisting locals in Limerick, who are trying to close down a brothel which is operating on their street.

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100th march and Ballyhea remains defiant

Community Action in Ballyhea continues.

http://www.irishexaminer.com/ireland/100th-march-and-ballyhea-remains-defiant-220869.html

Monday, January 28, 2013

It began as a pebble in the shoe of the ECB, but yesterday the refuseniks of Ballyhea rang up the 100th march against the bailout, continuing a display of defiance that shows no sign of stopping.

By Noel Baker

The chill wind would shake your bones and the inky sky threw down rain and hailstones, but more than 300 protesters — some from as far away as Rathoath in Co Meath and Fenit in Co Kerry — walked the route in the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it village. The difference yesterday was the number of protesters stretched the length of the 60km/hr zone.

Led by Diarmuid O’Flynn, the protest movement that began in March 2011 is heading for its second anniversary. Yesterday’s march even attracted the attention of Al Jazeera and the message is as clear now as it was 100 Sundays ago: Ballyhea says no.
For Breda McCarthy, daughter Julie, and friend Yvonne Sugrue, it was at least their 10th appearance at Ballyhea — not bad given they live in Fenit and Ballybunion.

Julie will emigrate to Perth in Australia in July, joining her sister Deirdre who is already living there. It was a common refrain from many of the mainstays at the march: The slow loss of a younger generation to pay for the dents of others.
“It’s all connected,” Breda said. “As long as they keep paying bank debt, and even if they extend it out, it will be affecting our children.”
Breda’s sister, Mary Tobin, said the country’s shattered economy has meant different groups are left “looking for crumbs from the table”. By contrast, she feels Ballyhea is a unifier, a lightning conductor for change from the bottom up. Her three children were with her yesterday, but she said her brother and brother-in-law had already left Ireland with their families, unlikely to return.

Of the Government, she said: “History is going to judge them very harshly,” adding: “Everything achieved by this country was by the few.”
The marchers yesterday included Luke “Ming” Flanagan TD and what Mr O’Flynn called “a cross-section of society”. Watching from the sidelines was Fine Gael backbencher Peter Mathews, one of the speakers, who also included Declan Ganley at a meeting in Charleville the previous night that attracted 400.
Mr O’Flynn, the man behind the Ballyhea march and an Irish Examiner sports writer, said: “I wish it was over and we could all get our lives back. We are doing this because we have to do it.”

Cathleen Quealey, a regular at the Charleville events, agreed: “I think we have started something very special today.”
Mr O’Flynn said Irish people were being betrayed by their leaders when “we are the power”. Then, with no whopping or hollering, the march strung itself out along this stretch of the N20, people holding aloft their banners and placards, an almost silent show of defiance. After the accompanying march in Charleville, he said that Ballyhea had grown from “a little pebble in the show of the ECB” to “starting to become a real nuisance”.
Afterwards, as people thawed out in Geary’s pub, someone thanked Mr O’Flynn as they left and was told by way of a goodbye: “We’re only getting started.”

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A Week Ago

Last Saturday over 30,000 people attended the Vigil for Life in Dublin. Earlier today Thought and Action distributed leaflets in Galway. Fine Gael were reminded of strong opposition to intentional and direct killing of the unborn child in the womb. A leaflet highlighting opposition to the property tax was also distributed around the city.

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Minister confirms private, lakes, woodland, gardens over 1 acre NOT included in property tax – “phew!” says a certain health minister

With mass opposition to tax on the family home this article outlines that certain folk will be exempt.

http://namawinelake.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/minister-confirms-private-lakes-woodland-gardens-over-1-acre-not-included-in-property-tax-phew-says-a-certain-health-minister/

The new property tax that will take effect from 1^st July 2013 was rushed through the Dail before Christmas, with the debate about its many and draconian provisions cut farcically short – in the end there were about three minutes per proposed amendment allotted for debates, and it was a pantomime display of democracy in action to see a Budget announcement one day, an expert report (which had been sitting on a minister’s desk for six months) published the next day and the next day still, 70-pages of new legislation.

In the rush, you might have missed some of the detail of the new household charge. And you might not be very pleased to learn that large country piles, and perhaps a few urban manors also, will not have to pay the tax on the value of so-called “amenity land” in excess of one acre.

Take the home on Shrewsbury Road in Dublin which was associated with the Dunnes, Sean and Gayle. “Walford” was bought for €58m at the height of the boom and was placed on the market with a guide price of €15m in 2011. It is understood that it still hasn’t sold. How much is it worth for property tax purposes? Difficult to say, but the property does have 1.5 acres of grounds. What we do know is the property tax will only apply to the first acre. As for the other 0.5 acre, that won’t be taxed at all.

Now take the country manor of embattled health minister James Reilly and his wife, Dot. Loughton House – pictured here – in Offaly is said to have 150 acres of amenity land, mostly woodland and gardens. How much will the man who has recently graced Stubbs Gazette have to pay in tax on the 13-bedroom mansion and surrounding land? Difficult to say, but what we do know, is that he will only have to value the sprawling estate as if it had one measly acre of amenity land.

In the Dail this week, the Minister for Finance Michael Noonan responded to questions from the Independent Kerry TD, Michael Healy-Rae and the Sinn Fein finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty. Minister Noonan did confirm that tennis courts are regarded as structures that need to be valued, and presumably outside swimming pools will be similarly treated. But if your home has private lakes, lawns, gardens, woodland only the first acre will be taken into account for valuing your property for the property tax.

Fair?

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Elderly brothers who beat off burglars are raided again

Earlier this month, Thought and Action highlighted criminal activity against elderly people in Ireland and has proposed that people should patrol their community to protect the most vulnerable. It is advisable for homeowners to have a gun.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/brothers-who-beat-off-burglars-are-raided-again-3363467.html

TWO elderly brothers who beat off raiders with just a brush have been targeted again.

Farmers Jim and Eric Steele saw off a gang of four burglars who called to their Co Donegal home looking for cash.

The pensioners, aged 69 and 75, gave one raider a beating and chased them from their home on Main Street in Manorcunningham on Monday of last week. One of the attackers was injured and the gang fled empty-handed.

However, the brothers have revealed that they were set upon again just four days after they had seen off the first gang.

Doors on their outhouses were broken, machines were damaged and oil was stolen in the second raid.

The brothers didn't hear the break-in at the rear of their home and only discovered the damage and robbery the next morning.

Jim, the eldest brother, said he suspected that it could have been the same gang again and that he will deal with the raiders in "his own way" if they call back again.

Gang

"The first time I used a brush and gave one of them a good shot to the guts. They weren't expecting that but this is our home and we will do all we have to do to defend it.

"The next time it might not be a brush if they come in here," he warned.

Eric said they were now taking it in turns to sleep in case the gang come back.

"The guards can't be everywhere, so we have to look after ourselves and our property," he said. "We don't have anything in our house but this is our home."

Nobody has been arrested in relation to the burglary on the Steele brothers' home.

More than 20 burglaries have taken place across Donegal in recent weeks, with several elderly people hurt during some of the raids.

Seven people appeared at Letterkenny District Court this week, charged in connection with other alleged burglaries across Donegal.

All of them were released on bail to appear at future court sittings.

- Stephen Maguire

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Criminal Activity in Rural Ireland!

The establishment politicians have failed the people of rural Ireland. In recent weeks and months there have been an increase of attacks on elderly people in their own homes. In one case burglars punched and attacked a 96 year old woman in Co. Donegal. Thieves are roaming the Irish countryside. Elderly people deserve better than to live in fear in their own home, in their own country. 

What Thought and Action supports is local people patrolling and defending their community. 

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Constitution Halts District Court!

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