Month: October 2018

I’ve been wondering this last day or two about a candidate left of the Labour Party. It’s dubious that would have materially impacted upon the Casey nonsense. But perhaps it would have flown a flag that in a way was absent from the contest. For those supporting the incumbent, or indeed SF, that’s absolutely fine. I can’t blame Michael D. Higgins for the support from FF and FG either. But a more clearly radical voice positioned even further left? Could they have been nominated? That’s another question as well (and it was telling to see Independents of various stripes almost searching around in regard to someone to nominate). And if nominated would such a candidate have done any better than the others? I’m dubious, indeed if they’d breached 10% that would have been remarkable. And yet flying the flag, that’s far from unimportant. Particularly at a time when despite the far from inconsiderable weight of numbers in the Dáil – and influence, at least on the broader narratives, there’s a sense that a broader political weight may be a fair bit less than it was even a few years ago.

Perhaps the reality was that Higgins was too well positioned from the off, single term promise or not, and that there was huge support already behind him. Perhaps the means of consolidating behind a single candidate were impossible to achieve given the disposition of those who would have to line up. Perhaps a route to nomination even were the other elements to come into play simply didn’t exist.

An allotment question from polly this morning that raises an interesting question and in passing notes this post hasn’t been around for a while, and it really is time for a seasonal update…

I was politely waiting for the Left Gardeners’ Corner to bloom again, in order to ask this question but got impatient. Does anyone know the allotments at Chapelizod? I am about to put down my name for one but am still dubious about whether they are too close to a busy road, and at the same time not secure from adventurous children or adventurous Phoenix Park deer. Grateful for any local knowledge.

So how’s it going for left gardener’s everywhere?

As always, following on Dr. X’s suggestion, it’s all yours, “announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose”, feel free.

Now RENUA are in on it!

Peter Casey must first become an elected public representative if he wishes to seek the leadership of Renua, the party has said in answer to reports that he could be offered the leadership of the party.

And:

Renua leader, Offaly County Councillor John Leahy, said today that he had no plans to vacate the leadership, though he intends to speak to Mr Casey over the coming days to gauge his interest in joining the party.

“We’re going to make contact with him,” Mr Leahy told The Irish Times. “He’s very close to our line on tax, on law and order, on pro-life [issues]. And we’re recruiting candidates at the moment.

None of this seems to mean anything but I guess it’s giving a lot of folk space in the news media that they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Last month there was a report in the IT on this:

A restaurant has been ordered to pay €2,000 to a former employee who was sacked after a customer posted a negative review on Tripadvisor noting that “the red haired waitress was abrupt”.
The waitress took an unfair dismissal case at the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) which upheld her claim after the boss at the unamed restaurant said he accepted the woman’s version of events.

There’s more there, and it’s worth reading the short report…

WRC adjudication officer Máire Mulcahy said the use of the TripAdvisor comment and 20 other alleged complaints “is not far short of mob rule in the workplace” when the waitress was not offered the opportunity to examine the truthfulness of them. The woman was dismissed on October 2nd last.

Ms Mulcahy said the the ‘vox-pop’ type comment posted on TripAdvisor about the red haired waitress being abrupt, which the restaurant used as the reason to dismiss the woman, was “very far removed” from the concept of substantial grounds as required under the Unfair Dismissal Act.

And:

“There was no disciplinary procedure in the workplace. There was no process,” Ms Mulcahy said. “No advance notice, no examination of the alleged complaints, no opportunity to be accompanied at the meeting which resulted in her dismissal, or right of appeal was afforded to the complainant.”

Does €2,000 seem a lot for losing a job?

Was reading an article recently where BTL someone noted that…

If there is an HR department, report the egregious things, but realize that HR is there to protect the company, not you.

It’s a key point. And I’ve had dealings with HR myself over the years in different workplaces to know the truth of that. It’s not that HR is some sort of evil – or that it can be unuseful, oddly I’ve found when asked to do unreasonable things that saying I’ll run that by my union and HR is often extremely effective. But its function is not that of an union.

Is the thought that comes to mind watching Peter Casey’s continuing lap of not victory. That he came a distant second isn’t for a moment to dismiss the idea there’s a constituency for his thinking out there, but let’s keep in mind the size of that constituency. It’s hardly a surprise – I imagine, that one in five of those who voted might harbour reactionary views of one sort or another (and I’m not sure I’m convinced by the argument in this piece that it was some form of push back against austerity – do we draw the same conclusion, given the higher percentages, from those who voted against repeal of the 8th?).

What’s most telling is just how this would be leader, a Taoiseach no less in his own estimation, is buoyed up by his own rhetoric. Say what one will about Sean Gallagher but there was none of this stuff from him on a better rating on a higher turnout about a ‘new’ Fianna Fáil etc. But truth is that there’s no need for a ‘new’ party, not with those reliably right of centre formations FF and FG in the field.

So where does all this go?