Thursday, October 23, 2008

Calling all single parents in Dublin North

I NORMALLY don’t do this, for reasons I have stated before, but I was so angry and disgusted about something that happened during the grey revolution demonstration yesterday (more on that later) concerning Fianna Fail TD Michael Kennedy that I have to post.

Michael Kennedy gets an earful

Being either brave or completely foolhardy and possessing the complete brass neck necessary to put yourself forth as a public representative Michael Kennedy strayed from the safety of the plinth of Leinster House and positioned himself at the railings where he proceeded to comment during the speakers to the pensioners around him.

MK 4

He spoke of the money given to single parents and their ‘10 kids’ and, get this, ‘FREE HOUSES’. (They are actual quotes.) Seriously my daughter is 16 years old now and he is saying there are free houses, given what I said before about the trouble I have had getting onto the property ladder; I have missed out on these free houses. So where can I sign up?

MK 5

Course he could be talking about those people who legitimately put their name down for a council house, because they have a housing need and are perfectly entitled to go to their local authority. Do you see that new word Michael, entitled. These ‘free’ houses also involve paying rent so in reality there is nothing free about it. And to try and basically incite prejudice using this stick is dodgy in the extreme.

I think this shot tells it all, look at that man's face, actually both of their faces.

I found myself doing something I don’t normally do, I went after him asking for my free house; I couldn't help myself. He needed to be pulled up on this disgraceful rant. You were heard Michael and shame on you. It is funny and possibly ironic because he ignored me, a single parent, when I pulled him up on it. Maybe he didn’t have any free houses to hand, for non-Fianna Failers anyway.

MK 3

Speaking of entitlements Michael Kennedy presumably when he retires from the Dáil will do so with a large pension which he is entitled to. So while one of his suggestions to the nearby pensioners who due to the amount of people were stuck on the spot listening to his bile that money could be taken away from single parents, money to which they are entitled too. Taking that as my lead it could also be suggested that some monies could be recouped from hefty ex-TD salaries.

Speak to the hand

Once again shame on you Michael; that was quite simply disgusting behaviour, seriously disgraceful. What were you trying to do? Were you attempting to distract the pensioners’ anger away the deeds of your Government to the other members of our society who are vulnerable? That’s how it would appear to me and that is disgusting behaviour.

DP 22

I was happy having asked him about my free house and being completely ignored, nothing new there as a single parent I have often felt ignored by the Government, when he was surrounded by a pack of pensioners who were having none of his blarney. I had a lot of fun snapping that.

So if you are a single parent in Dublin North, this man represents you, are you happy about that?

Feel free to link to this post, I would be delighted and so would Michael, I’m sure.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a despicable, classless individual!

Good for you redmum! Let him have it with both barrel's. (Of course the real shame is that I'm speaking metaphorically here).

Anonymous said...

Micheal Kennedy is some chancer. I live in Swords and have come across him before, as he was my local cllr. He got my second preference in the general erection, cos in fairness he does the work, but with all the medical card stuff, and with these comments of his, he's getting no 2nd preference next time. a disgrace! Mick

Anonymous said...

nothing politicians ever say shocks me. they'll shake your hand on the way up, even hug a single parent's baby , but you can be sure they'll give you the fingers once they're up there. I'm a single parent too and have worked hard, harder than that fool Michael Kennedy will ever have to, to keep things afloat. They came for the pensioners first, then the poor, then the students, now the single parents. And while we're on the subject of a 'free' house, put my name down on Kennedy's list. If he's having trouble accomodating everyone, maybe he could ask Bertie for a few tips. After all, he got a free house and I believe has only paid it back now x years later, with no interest.

Lydia

Declan said...

TDs dont understand people who are entitled to the medical card because most politicians have spent decades arranging to get the card for people who are *not* entitled to them. The idea that anyone in the country could have a legitimate claim for a card is totally alien to them.

I suppose Kennedy is indicating who will be hit in the next round of cut backs. No money for single parent families. Who else I wonder? Really the government has proven that they are willing to hurt anyone to protect the Civil Servants and the property developers so next year they could go after any group in society they see as an easy target.

Though maybe now that the government has set the precident of removing previous entitlememts from people who have "too much money" perhaps the opposition could propose stripping all former TDs and Ministers of their numerous pensions and entitlements. Let each pick one source of payment and one source only. Also any former minister who makes money private the private sector could have his or her government pension cut accordingly.

Red Mum said...

@the bad ambassador, yup despicable would describe it well

@Mick I hope you follow that through come the next election. His comments were nothing short of a bloody disgrace. And the fact that he ignored me having been caught rightly speaks volumes, he obviously doesn't like being pulled up on things.

@Lydia As long as I get one of these free houses before you :)

@Declan one of the worst things about this to me is that he was talking to one of the pensioners about all the money given to single parents. having had to survive, just about, on the lone parents allowance some years ago, I would love him to have to try adbn live off it.

The fact is despite my not having a high flier salary, not having a lavish lifestyle (far from it) I pay 41 per cent tax. I, like everyone else, will have to deal with all the price hikes. And yes Lenihan that will involve me getting a bargain up north, Harney has said to shop around, so I will; I will lose my children's allowance when herself is 17 with six month remaining in second-level education. He is a disgrace and if he had to try and live they way I have at times, he may be a little more circumspect before trying to win over protesters with that diatribe.

Emma in Canada said...

You lose your children's allowance at 17? We have until 18, but both Taylor and Liam will still have a few more months of schooling to go. My two oldest will also lose a disability pension they get because of their dad, which means a loss of almost $800 a month once they are 18. I've been lucky so far though, I think Canada is very good to single parent and/or low income families.

I am always amazed at the pension politicians walk away with. We have one fellow from Edmonton who was not relected as an MP (federal gov't) in the recent election. He is 36, has been an MP for 11 years and gets a $300,000 + ump sum payment becuase his pension of $55,000 won't kick in until he is 55. Crazy. The rest of us have to wait until we are 65 to get a pension of about $12 000 a year.

Anonymous said...

In all fairness to Kennedy, Bertie Ahern is probably the only unmarried parent he's ever spoken to and Bertie did get a free house.

Anonymous said...

What a disgusting thing to say and well done on your post about it.

This is a classic 'divide and rule' tactic, isn't it? - set one group against the other. I've encountered this attitude before; many years ago an unfortunate right-winger said something like this to me. Unfortunately for him I'd just done some research on poverty stats in Ireland and had plenty of figures to bombard him with. I daresay I made no difference to his attitude, but it was satisfying. This was pre-blogs of course - you have this!

I'm disgusted that this sort of attitude still prevails; in a TD it's utterly disgraceful. He should he hauled over the coals for it by somebody, somewhere.

Well done redmum.

Bock the Robber said...

Jerk.

Maybe we should set up a bloggosphere award.

The Arsehole of Fame.

Anonymous said...

I swear I did actually post a comment here last night, but obviously I screwed it up somehow.

Anyway, well done for catching him red-handed. His comments were a total fucking disgrace, but sadly not atypical from members of certain political parties.

Great post - here's hoping people actually spread the word, and cause some proper outrage over this.

Anonymous said...

@Anonymous: yes this is classic divide and conquer stuff alright. It's the same when 'those asylumn seekers' are looking for free houses, nappuies and car tax. It is an easy way to get people on your side: I believe it is called a scapegoating tactic.

Fair dues Red Mum.

ScaryGirl said...

I heard him say this as well! I have since emailed him about it and received a very rattled email back. I'd say all FF & Green TD's are as nervous as hell. Their collective brass necks are something to behold - but I have to wonder at my own naivety that it actually comes as a surprise at this stage.

This is a verbatim quote from his email -
"The comment about single parents and houses was made by a member of the public who offered the view that this should not be happening and I can sympathise to a degree with that view."

Nice. Trying to wriggle out of actually saying that comment while still blaming those bold single parents for messing it up for the rest of us. Just shows the calibre of the man.

Unknown said...

well photographed, well written and the fact that you confronted him too? priceless.

Red Mum said...

@Emma In Canada - It was down to our Budget announced by the Govt two weeks ago, from this January 18 year olds still in school will only get half of the allowance which will then be scrapped in Jan 10, which is when herself turns 18. Because of the dates when she turns 18 she won't get it. Thats a disgrace but in fairness to my circumstances there are people who have been hit a lot harder by this budget, people who had feck all to begin with.

And wow what a pension, could do with something like that myself.

@ciaran that is true, and it certainly sprung to mind. Honest to god, the sheer brass neck of it all is sickening.

@anonymous thanks for that, and its always good to be able to throw their nonsense back in their face. I did try but Michael was just completely and utterly ignoring me, I really think he didn't realise that people could hear him and would be astonished and disgusted by it.

@Bock the Robber - I'd certainly vote in that award, we could have a seriously long list.

@Neil People have been great linking to it, Mr Mulley is now second for google search for michael kennedy td. People should know how this man feels.

@irishrearch Thankfully he misjudged using this to get people on his side, those standing around him while this was going on were disgusted.

@scarygirl well done for emailing him and its even better because you know that wasn;t the context in which he saying it.

@Amanda thanks, and he was confronted by a lot of angrier people than me too.

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Ruairi said...

Nice article - and great pics!!Good luck in the blog awards for this!

Anonymous said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
The Knitter said...

Just heard him on the Pat Kenny radio show being 'indignant' about RTE News reporting the news.

What a tosser!