Archive for June 2016 | Monthly archive page
Clare on the unilateral wind-up of the CRC pension scheme, undertaken without any consultation with staff who had paid into it all their working lives. The treatment of staff throughout has been shocking, and there are major questions around why the scheme needed to be wound up at all. Transcript below.
Deputy Clare Daly: There is something incredibly rotten around this. It has the potential to put other CRC controversies into the shade. Overnight, unilaterally and without warning, a pension scheme was shut down that loyal staff members had paid into all their working lives. Subsequent to that decision, those staff members have been unable to meet the members of the board of the CRC who have no problem going to a gala dinner in the Burlington tonight. It is absolutely reprehensible.
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Press Release
Shannonwatch 15th June 2016
Shannonwatch have recorded an unusual number of US military aircraft at and overflying Shannon Airport since June 4th. This time period coincides with the preparations for NATO Anaconda-2016 military exercises in Poland which are being conducted from June 7th to 17th.
The 10-day military exercise, involves 31,000 troops and thousands of vehicles from 24 countries. The Guardian described it as follows “The largest war game in eastern Europe since the end of the cold war has started in Poland, as Nato and partner countries seek to mount a display of strength as a response to concerns about Russia’s assertiveness and actions”. The UK Independent said it was one of the biggest exercises on NATO’s eastern flank since the end of the Cold War, and was a move likely to put further strain on the already-tense relations between the Kremlin and the West.
While some of the US military flights through Shannon may be connected with military operations in the Middle East and elsewhere, it is likely that many of them are associated with the Anaconda exercise.
In particular the presence of US military mid air refuelling aircraft at Shannon would suggest that aircraft taking part in the Anaconda exercise may be being refuelled in or just outside irish airspace. This would not only be in breach of Irish neutrality but would also be in breach of assurances given to the Irish Government by the US Government that none of the US military aircraft using Shannon Airport or Irish air space areon military operations or military exercises.
These matters need to be addressed as soon as possible by the Irish Government, while the Anaconda exercises are still going on (until 17th June). If they discover that any of the aircraft using Shannon are involved in Anaconda-2016 permission should be withdrawn immediately for all such overflights and landings.
For a list of US Military aircraft recorded at Shannon Airport or overflying in Irish airspace close to Shannon between June 4th and 11th see http://www.shannonwatch.org/blog/ireland-supporting-nato-exercises-eastern-europe.
For more information phone Shannonwatch at 087 8225087.
Clare denounces the Government’s decision to renew, for yet another year, the draconian emergency powers in the Offences Against the State and the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Acts, which have been widely criticised by any number of human rights bodies, and which have been totally ineffective in stopping organised crime. Transcript below.
Deputy Clare Daly: It is a bit distressing to be here again for our annual ritual debate about whether to retain for another year the emergency powers in the Offences Against the State Act and section 8 of the Criminal Justice (Amendment) Act. It is deeply ironic they are supposed to be emergencies but they have become a norm in this country. Every year the Minister tells us the threat is unchanged and is the same as it was the last time and that these are exceptional powers and must be retained. Given what we have witnessed over the past year, with the rise in organised crime, is this failure of the legislation to in any way deal with this situation not even evidence enough on its own of how futile it is, not to mind the appalling trampling wholesale on the human rights of individuals for it? Has the penny not dropped, given what has happened here while the Government has been utilising this legislation, that a different approach will have to be necessary?
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by Jamison Maeda
Native American activist and six-time Nobel Prize nominee, Leonard Peltier, has been in prison in the US for 40 years for a crime he claims he didn’t commit. And thousands of people around the world believe him.
“…Leonard Peltier has committed no crime whatsoever,” said former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
In addition to Clark, the list of Peltier’s supporters over the years included Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Coretta Scott King, Amnesty International, Robert Redford, multiple Native American nations, documentarian Michael Moore, and it goes on. The Soviet Union cited Peltier’s case as an example of human rights abuses in the US.
The US justice system failing poor people and people of color is not news. But even in a climate of institutionalized discrimination and racial prejudice Peltier’s case stands out.
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