It’s difficult to tell if Irish journalists are Fine Gael Loyalists, propagandists for the establishment, or just blind to reality when they promote a positive image about a government which has completely failed its people.

Recently I picked up an article by Daniel McConnell @McConnellDaniel  in which he rated the government’s performance by cabinet member in which the average rating was 5/10 with the boy Taoiseach getting 6/10 and the only one to fall lower than a four was Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan.

The message being delivered is one of strong leadership with a shaky cabinet to reflect the turbulent year the Fine Gael government had, whitewashing over the cracks and the real troubles the government face. This is the art of misinformation, everyone knows the government faced problems in the Justice department in 2017 but the journalist simply hangs the department and leaves the boy Taoiseach off the hook as well as representing other members of the cabinet in a more favourable light also.

So for the record here is a breakdown of the cabinet’s performance in 2017, even if this is not read today I hope that someday someone may find it useful. The government is not sailing the country in the right direction, if anything it is avoiding the rocks on a course set in 2011, plotted on a web of lies.

Leo Varadker, Taoiseach

First of all it’s vital to remember that the boy Taoiseach was not elected to lead the country by the people. The elected Taoiseach was forced to resign because of the growing scandal in the Justice department. Leo stepped up to the role of Taoiseach to quell the storm but evidently took no action to reassure the government or the people that he was here to represent change. The biggest mistake he made was not asking Francis Fitzgerald to resign from her position as Tanaiste.

This isn’t simply an easy dig made with the benefit of hindsight; it was fundamentally corrupt to acquire a position from his predecessor but to take no action to tackle the reasons behind Enda Kenny’s resignation. Dare I say it was a PR stunt by the party and Enda fell on his sword, albeit with the benefit of a Taoiseach’s pension to soften the blow.

Leo’s PR stunts and appeasement policies were on display from his first slide down the Westminister banister, to his public glorification of Churchill, his decision to adorn the Shamrockoppy, and the establishment of MerionStreet communications unit which has come under heavy criticism from government partners who see it as a fundamental threat to democracy.

Also worth noting is Leo’s odd sense of humour this year which has caused fall out in the party & also making sexist remarks towards Mary Lou McDonald in the Dail similar to which George Hook got fired over.

All in all the boy Taoiseach has proved to be an ambitious runt who seized power at the right moment and has done very little to benefit the country, so how does he get a score of 6/10 from the journalist. Well apparently his handling of the Brexit negotiations is disserved an above average rating, which probably entitles him to a coppers gold card or something. However the journalist once again is being too kind on this occasion. The Brexit negotiations are no different from the Anglo Irish Treaty of 1921 in that we had a chance to unite the country but came away with half the loaf. Arguably the difference being that this time the cowardice avoided a civil war as opposed to creating one.

For me the Boy Taoiseach has not acted with any courage or conviction in delivering a new cabinet or taking this country in the right direction. He has failed his people and should do the honourable thing and set a date for a new election next year. Hard to score him anything other than a 1/10.

Next on the list the journalist very cleverly put acting Tanaiste and co-runner for leadership Simon Coveney with a glowing review of 7/10, but we’ll come back to that as more prominently, and as mentioned the Tanaiste for 2017 was Frances Fitzgerald who, as I’ve already wrote about was forced to resign over the McCabe scandal.

Frances Fitzgerald, Tanaiste

Frances Fitzgerald is a key figure in a scandal that has rocked this government three times now, first with the resignation of Justice minister Alan Shatter, secondly with the resignation of the elected Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and thirdly with her own resignation after a series of lies told to the Dail in defence of an e-mail which revealed her part in discrediting whistleblower Maurice McCabe and a conspiracy of a harassment campaign against him.  Undisputed rating of 0/10

Simon Coveney, (Acting Tanaiste) Minister for Foreign Affairs

So to revert to the journalist’s glowing rating for the second runner in the leadership race, Simon Coveney. Arguably more qualified for the job as Taoiseach than the boy, but with the personality of Pat Kenny’s test tube baby he was never in prime running for the role.

Simon is a very articulate politician, defender of the status quo in previous positions in Agriculture, Defence, and Housing. In summary a well rounded centrist but lacks the PR skills and social media savvy which Leo pulls off in tank tops.

His stance on implementing a soft border in wake of Brexit is reassuring but also needs to be criticised along with the Taoiseach for failing to seize the opportunity to unite the country under one flag. There is no way our forefathers would have given up this gift from the gods.

Simon’s failure to implement our born right for self determination is reflected in his departments stance to support democracy in Catalonia stating “Ireland respects the constitutional and territorial integrity of Spain” after the Catalonian region called for independence following an unsanctioned but democratic referendum.

Simon’s view on defending the eight amendment is also open to further criticism as the government continue to ignore the recommendations of the Citizens Assembly and Amnesty International in favour of lying in bed with the Catholic church and pandering to a conservative electorate, this shows a lack of courage and real leadership.

Unfortunately for Simon the year of 2017 was not a fruitful period to be Minister for Foreign Affairs for a politician who has made a career out of being exceedingly average, Simon’s stance on Catalonia, the North, and religious bias has seen him defending his lot at the cost of progress. 2/10

This concludes part one of my 2017 cabinet review. Part two coming shortly. 
Photo from @thephoenixmag

Erin July 2nd 1881 - In forty years I have lost, through the operation of no natural law, more than Three Millions of my Sons and Daughters, and they, the Young and the Strong, leaving behind the Old and the Infirm to weep and to die. Where is this to end?

The pain you endure today is suffering your children will never have to feel. We make sacrifices for the sake of our blood, if there is a way of making a better future for this land we are so proud to call home, the land our ancestors united under Brian Boru, that land that rallied with Charles Stewart Parnell, and raised fists with Tom Barry, then we must answer that call even if it doesn’t look like the easiest of options.  

We now have a chance to come together once again as a United Ireland. We have waited since the death of Boru in 1014 for this opportunity, and everyone who’s lived on this small island since then has waited in vain for this moment.

Everyone who’s lived, died, or emigrated from their Eire since 1014 has dreamed of Brexit. The occupied counties have democratically voted to remain in the EU. The EU supports us. There is a legally binding international instrument, it’s called the Good Friday Agreement, which sets out the people’s democratic right to chose reunification, provided peoples of both sides of the border are in agreement.

If Fine Gael pass up this opportunity by agreeing Brexit Terms with Theresa May then they are doing nothing more than pissing all over the graves of our ancestors. Now is the time to act. Doing nothing is the easy option. Unification is possible and we must call for it. Erin December 2017 need not read: In Brexit negotiations I have lost, through the operation of unconstitutional law, the division of more than Five Millions of my Sons and Daughters, and they, the Young and the Strong, leaving behind the Opportunity for a Border Poll, which has caused my dead to weep. Where is this to end?

The DUP would let Bobby Sands starve twice over if they thought he was on strike over Brexit. They are not looking to negotiate and they do not represent the majority of people held hostage behind the border.

Waiting around for the ship to sail is an insult to the soul you’ve inherited from this land. Now is the time for a Border Poll. We must call for Ireland to remain as one country within the EU and let the UK find a way to govern itself without DUP contamination.

“They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think that they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools! - they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves, Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.” Padraig Pearse 

It’s 2017, the average individual is technically savvy, plugged into various Skynet platforms from Gmail to Facebook to Twitter, uploading daily visuals to the cloud by Snapchat and Instagram, while unknowingly having their voices harvested for the robots of the future (you heard it here first).

We’re all so plugged in your only choice is to be connected or else you can go live in the woods hunting badgers, left wondering how long you can stay off the grid before you appear on National Geographic.

As savvy connected hamsters we have slowly come to terms with how Google read our e-mails in order to select what appears in our ad banners, we know Facebook have reinvented the world of marketing, and we’re now all too familiar with terms such as ‘Fake News’ and ‘Bot Accounts’. Most people have accepted that Russia interfered in the American presidential elections and most people are aware of political groups and lobbyists interfering in elections with waves of unaccountable ad warfare on social media.

In November I wrote about how outdated our legislation is to ensure we have a level political playing field in our elections. To ensure we have fair elections we have an act which outlines what each candidate is permitted to spend in campaigning, for the record the most a candidate can spend is €45,200 in promoting themselves. The act is called the Electoral Act and it was passed in 1997, some 20 years ago and a decade before the advent of social media. 

Following on from this I recently picked up the Irish Times to read a story about how Fianna Fail have challenged the Taoiseach’s (Leo) use of Government websites. Fianna Fail spokesperson on Technlogy, James Lawless, told the Times he has “serious concerns” regarding Leo Varadkar’s use of Merrionstreet.ie, a Government information website.

Big Jim outlines how Taoiseach Leo is using public money to fund videos which cost in the region of €100,000 but end up being used for party political means. This creates an unfair political playing field and is borderline propagandist in nature. Fine Gael yet to use Merrion Street to explain why Frances Fitzgerald resigned or why Cllr Brian Murphy lost the party whip. 

In reaction to interference in our elections and for greater clarity in social media spending James Lawless has introduced the Online Advertising and Social Media (Transparency) Bill 2017.

This is one of the most significant laws introduced in the whole word to prevent cyber interference in western democracy, while also managing to snipe at the heels of Fine Gael who have remained unaccountable in their social media spending. Two birds with one stone I hear you cheer. Death to Russian Bots and Fine Gael propoganda. 

The very mention of cyber laws is always daunting, we have seen the introduction of fairly ominous legislation such as the Snooper’s charter in the UK, but we must also be weary of threats to our society by cyber means, and social media is such a significant part of life now it would be foolish to allow it to grow in an unregulated environment, especially with proven threats and growing interference from unknown sources in our elections and referendums.  

To this end Big Jim has done this country a great service as we have an opportunity to see who exactly funds our candidates in the next election, we have an opportunity for transparency to see exactly which politicians are funded by those parties implicated in the Paradise Papers. If we can go a step further in exposing how corrupt this little parliament of lobbyist funded clowns is then I might just very well forgive Fianna Fail for bankrupting the country, or at the very least stop spray painting it on my local library wall.