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The Journal
7 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Fianna Fáil TD claims in Dáil that British Army never shot civilians in Ireland
FIANNA FÁIL TD Cathal Crowe yesterday claimed in the Dáil that the British Army never bombed or shot civilians in Ireland. He made the remark during a Labour motion calling for the Irish government to bring an emergency resolution to the UN General Assembly, calling out the blockade of humanitarian aid in Gaza. The motion was co-signed by Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, the Green Party and Independent TD Catherine Connolly, while the government did not oppose it. Speaking during the debate, Crowe remarked that while the 7 October 2023 should be condemned, the Israeli state has since adopted an 'indefensible eye-for-an-eye approach'. 'What is happening is not a war anymore; it is ethnic cleansing, genocide and, more recently, the weaponising of food,' said Crowe. He then added: 'The British army was a bad actor on this island for many centuries but even in the worst of days, when its cities were being bombed by the terror organisations of the IRA, it never retaliated by bombing and shooting the civilian population of Ireland.' The Journal / YouTube Crowe later said: 'I, too, studied history in college. The Israeli people have a very tragic history of their own. 'Looking at the CVs of several Cabinet ministers, they are children of survivors of the Holocaust. 'They should understand better than anyone what genocide, the loss of life, the weaponising of food and the killing of children involve. They do not.' Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh TD has called on Crowe to apologise for the remarks and to 'correct the record' for his 'false' and 'appalling' remarks to the Dáil. 'I fear for what the schoolchildren he taught learned from this self-proclaimed 'passionate historian' if this is the level of ignorance and revisionism he displays as in elected office,' said Ó Snodaigh. 'In his attempt to rewrite history, Crowe is erasing the countless victims of British state violence in Ireland, North and South, victims and families who continue to fight for justice to this day.' Ó Snodaigh remarked that the Troubles were 'defined by the brutal murder of civilians by the British army, from the Ballymurphy massacre to Bloody Sunday '. Advertisement The Sinn Féin TD also pointed to the British forces opening fire on a GAA match in Croke Park on the Bloody Sunday of 1920, killing 14 people. Ó Snodaigh also said that the British forces 'went on to facilitate the bombings of 1974 which took the lives of people in Dublin and Monaghan'. A total of 34 people, including a full-term unborn child, were killed in three no-warning bombs across Dublin and Monaghan on 17 May, 1974. Operation Denton is investigating the activities of the Glenanne gang, which is suspected of being involved in the bombings. Head of the investigation Iain Livingstone told RTÉ last year that there was collusion between the gang and the British security services. This review was expected to be published by the end of April but is now due to be published at the end of October. 'Crowe made these comments in the context of the 'many centuries' of British activity in Ireland, apparently unaware of Oliver Cromwell and the thousands massacred in Drogheda and across the country,' said Ó Snodaigh. 'The historic parallels between British actions here and Israel's actions in Palestine might be difficult to understand for someone whose party seems comfortable celebrating William the Conqueror. 'It's probably time, however, for Fianna Fáil to drop the title of 'Republican Party' if they are unaware of the British ever shooting civilians in Ireland.' Ó Snodaigh called on Crowe to make a 'full apology to the victims of British violence specifically and to the wider Irish public'. 'I would also invite him to actually take up the cause of Seán Brown and all those killed by British forces and use his position to demand justice, rather than erasing their truth.' Séan Brown, 61, the then chairman of Wolfe Tones GAA Club in the Co Derry town of Bellaghy, was ambushed, kidnapped and murdered by loyalist paramilitaries as he locked the gates of the club in May 1997. No-one has ever been convicted of his killing. Preliminary inquest proceedings last year heard that in excess of 25 people had been linked by intelligence to the murder, including several state agents. It was also alleged in court that surveillance of a suspect in the murder was temporarily stopped on the evening of the killing, only to resume again the following morning. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
The Journal
14-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Fianna Fáil TD says learner drivers should be allowed drive a car unaccompanied
A FIANNA FÁIL TD has said he believes learner drivers should be allowed to drive without being accompanied in the car by a licenced driver. Since 2018, it has been an offence for an unlicensed person to drive a vehicle unaccompanied. Under the law, gardaí can seize a vehicle if a learner driver is discovered to be driving without a qualified driver present. If caught driving unaccompanied, a learner driver faces an initial €160 fine and two penalty points. If you allow a learner driver to drive your car unaccompanied, you could be fined up to €1,000. The change in the law seven years ago was dubbed the 'Clancy Amendment' in recognition of Noel Clancy, who campaigned to have the law changed after his wife Geraldine and daughter Louise were killed in 2015 when their car was struck by a learner driver who was driving unaccompanied. The Transport Minister at the time, Shane Ross said : 'Once and for all we need to stamp out the entirely false notion that once someone has a learner permit they are free to drive as they wish. A learner permit is not a driving licence.' Advertisement The Journal / YouTube Speaking in the Dáil this afternoon during a debate on the long wait times for learners to get a driving test, Fianna Fáil's Cathal Crowe said: 'I believe learner drivers should be allowed to drive without someone accompanying them in the car. I live in a rural county and west of Ennis there is no Luas line, no DART and no public transport of any significance.' He went on to state students can't afford on-campus student accommodation meaning parents have to buy a car for their son or daughter so they can drive to and from college every day. Crowe said young people sometimes bring other students who live in the catchment area to the college campus with them. 'Criminalising young people' 'We are criminalising all of these young people with the requirement that they must have an accompanying driver in the car with them. It is unacceptable. There is no public transport network and this criterion is unacceptable. 'It is criminalising a lot of young people who just cannot have that college experience on campus. They are living at home and using their car to get in and out,' he said. The Fianna Fáil TD said there must be a 'smarter' or more 'sensible way' to deal with the matter, stating that instead insurance companies should have to require learner drivers to not exceed a certain speed. 'Surely that is the way to have controls on how they drive rather than this punitive rule requiring them to always have an accompanying driver in the car with them, which is not realistic,' he said. 'If we were to really apply the spirit of that law in a rural area, the mom or dad would have to take time off work to drive their child to college and sit in the car while they attend eight hours of lectures before driving home. It just does not work in practice. The reality is that we are criminalising many young people every day with this,' he said. 'No excuse' At odds with Crowe, Fine Gael TD Emer Currie said there is no excuse for unaccompanied learner drivers being on the road. Related Reads Road safety crisis: Readers share their stories of worsening driver behaviour on Irish roads A number of TDs spoke today about the lengthy wait time for driving test appointments, which they said are preventing people from taking up employment in some cases. Speaking during a Dáil debate on the issue, Minister of State Sean Canney said the average waiting time for driving tests is now 27 weeks, a figure he said has risen significantly in part due to a 'backlog of tests'. He said the Road Safety Authority (RSA) has now told him that it plans to reduce waiting times to 10 weeks by September, and that in order to reach this target he will seek a regular update every two weeks over the coming months. The RSA has committed to reduce the wait time to 22 weeks by end May and to 18 weeks at end June. He also said the RSA has been sanctioned to recruit up to 200 more driving test examiners, a figure he said is double that of two years ago. Canney said the provision of a timely and efficient driver testing service is a key priority for him. 'The experience of learner drivers seeking a driver test over the last number of years has been unacceptable and the service being offered needs to be greatly improved as soon as possible,' he said. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
The Journal
04-05-2025
- Politics
- The Journal
Fianna Fáil minister defends James Browne over housing office tsar controversy
A FIANNA FÁIL minister has defended Minister for Housing James Browne over the controversy surrounding the appointment of a chief executive of a new housing office, saying there is cross-party agreement around establishing the unit to build houses at scale. Minister for Higher Education James Lawless attempted to play down the controversy surrounding the government's plan to appoint a housing 'tsar', saying the move is more about creating an office to deliver housing solutions. The head of NAMA Brendan McDonagh on Thursday withdrew his name from consideration to be the first chief executive of the new office. Browne, a member of Fianna Fáil, had said on RTÉ Radio that McDonagh was his preferred candidate for the role. The statement consternation in the coalition over a lack of agreement about the appointment of the role before Browne spoke out about it publicly. A spokesperson for Tánaiste Simon Harris, the leader of Fine Gael, said this week that it is better that such matters are not discussed in public before they are discussed by Harris and Taoiseach Micheál Martin, as well as Independent Seán Canney who represents the Regional Independents. 'The minister is ambitious. He wants to build houses, he wants to get things done and he wants to get things done quickly – and we all do,' Lawless said of Browne, speaking on RTE's The Week In Politics programme. 'It's not about the tsar individual. It's actually about the office and the delivery. The public don't want politics: the public want houses, and that's what Government wants to deliver, that's what Minister Browne is committed to delivering, that's what all of us want to deliver,' Lawless said. 'We need to get through the barriers. We know what about infrastructural complications, we know about zoning, we know about planning permission,' he said, adding 'on paper, there is cross-party agreement, including opposition, including the Housing Commission, which produced the report last year'. 'We need a housing activation office to break down the barriers, to build houses at scale and at urgency.' Advertisement However, Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said what the government has proposed is not in line with recommendations from the Housing Commission report. 'What the Housing Commission did say that we needed (was) that the housing oversight executive would be placed onto a statutory footing, that it would have a legislative strength,' he said. He said that what was being delivered instead was a 'big title' for a role that is 'supposed to go in and shake things up without any legislation'. 'The whole thing was bizarre. The whole thing has just been a shambles, and it's indicative of the Government who don't seem to know what they're doing.' Clare TD Donna McGettigan, Sinn Féin's education spokesperson, said that while a housing activation office is in the party's manifesto, their role is different to the one put forward by Government. 'The difference is it's an executive we were calling for, which is what the Housing Commission is also calling for, and that would give it legislative powers,' she said. 'What is being proposed here by the government is just a name, a person that doesn't have any powers, that is going to have a huge wage, which would have created 11 new garda, 11 new nurses, 13 new special needs assistants,' McGettigan said. A poll published by Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks revealed that 52% of the public blamed Housing Minister James Browne for the controversy, while 46% blame Taoiseach Micheál Martin. Approval for Minister for Housing James Browne was at just 30%, according to the poll. Some 88% of the public said the role should be advertised publicly and that the salary should be between €100,000 and €200,000. Contains additional reporting by Press Association Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
