"Shame on those in Leinster House....." : a 'retain-the-medical-card' protester outside 'anti-medical-card'-Leinster House today (Wednesday 22 October 2008) objecting to the attempted political State mugging of old age pensioners by Fianna Fail , the Green Party and the Progressive Democrats ."It often happens that the real tragedies of life occur in such an inarticulate manner that they hurt us by their crude violence, their absolute incoherence, their absurd want of meaning, their entire lack of style."
(Oscar Wilde)
Inarticulate , crude , incoherent , absurd and styleless: all of those words , when combined , describe not only the manner in which the unprincipled Fat Cats in Leinster House attempted to condemn our elderly to an early grave by withdrawing their medical cards but also describe the 'qualities' required to 'progress' through the corrupt political system in this morally-twisted State . But ,in this instance - thankfully - the actions of those suited and pensioned political wasters was a bridge too far for respectable people to ignore :
: From the entry gates of Leinster House and to the very last few inches of the street facing those gates - Molesworth Street - and from the St Stephen's Green-top of Kildare Street to the Nassau Street junction at the bottom of Kildare Street stood at least 20,000 medical card holders - most of them between 50 and 70 years young - carrying placards and banners in protest against the on-going attempted removal of their medical cards by the State Administration . Republican Sinn Fein members and supporters arrived outside Leinster House at 11am to add their numbers to those objecting to this act of thievery and were almost immediately approached by uniformed Garda members and told that they would be removed from where they were at about 12 Noon and would be "placed" across the street in Molesworth Street . When this notification was challenged , the RSF people were told that all protesters were going to be moved across to Molesworth Street (a 'side-street' when compared with Kildare Street) in order that 'the main thoroughfare be kept open' . The RSF people replied that they would be staying where they were : in the event the cops backed-down , due no doubt to the fact that , by 12 Noon , there were between at least five and ten thousand protesters blocking the road itself and standing on the footpaths on both sides of the street!
The cops wisely decided to take themselves off-side and dispersed to the far-flung corners of the immediate area to concentrate on traffic management....
Getting ready to make our presence felt...
Medical card protesters blocking the entry/exit gates to Leinster House.
"No votes here for Harney or Lenihan! "
"PD's , FF and the Greens ? No thanks!"
Two of the RSF pro-medical card protesters in the crowd outside Leinster House.
Three of the armed Special Branch members on the rooftops of surrounding buildings : just making sure that those pesky 'Dissident Pensioners' don't offer too much of a 'threat' to the security of the State...Finally : RSF maintained a presence today outside Leinster House from 11am to 2pm : on our way out of the area we 'bumped' into about 20,000 student protesters who were making their way to Leinster House to protest against the proposed manner which those fumbling political mongrels in Leinster House wish to financially and spiritually debase them . The 1169 Team sends its heartiest congratulations and best wishes to those young protesters and to those 'over 21's' who were just breaking-up as the young 'uns were arriving . We all of us - a combined total of between 30,000 and 40,000 people - can't be wrong . The millionaire inmates of Leinster House should save us the bother of having to protest against them again and simply abolish themselves . They all have fat pensions they can live quite comfortably on...
Sharon.
