Fianna Fail

Authoritarianism and the early Irish State

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Fin Dwyer looks at the latter years of Ireland’s first post independence government, which having successfully suppressed political opposition and the workers’ movement, went on to “attack women and enforce their moral and ethical values on wider society”. From the clearing of prostitutes from the Monto and the filling of the Magdalene laundries to the institutionalisation of child abuse, he describes how the state’s close association with the Catholic Church played a decisive role in forming attitudes to women and sex that have had a devastating effect on Irish society that can still be felt today.

Bertie - the Minister of Finance with no bank account?

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It is going to be complicated when you look at the finances of man who had NO bank account from 1986-1993. This was due to the fact that he was going through a divorce and he had a joint bank account with his wife. Being an honorable man he wasn’t going to put his money into that account. He took the decision to not open a bank account at all. In the meantime he managed to save up £50,000 IEP by 1993. This meant he could’ve bought a house for that in pure cash. Didn’t his ‘life partner’ buy a house in the area the following year for just over £40,000 IEP. Who is he? No one other than Patrick Bartholomew "Bertie" Ahern.

Paul McCartney should have brought Bertie in as a consultant on his recent divorce proceedings.

Background to 1992 referendum - Anti-Abortionists told to SPUC OFF!

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IRELAND IS a conservative country. Since the founding of the southern state 70 years ago, church has been intertwined with state. The majority of its citizens belong to the Catholic Church. Catholic ethos is enshrined in the constitution, in the laws, in the education system. Catholic tentacles make there way into most areas of public policy.

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