Indymedia mentioned in the Dáil by Dempsey

Thursday November 16, 2006 16:38

by erectus

Joins McDowell...

Noel Dempsey mentioned Indymedia yesterday during the Dáil debate on the Energy (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2006. While recounting a supposed conversation a friend of his overheard on Grafton Street (never a more blatant case of an urban legend/"friend of a friend" story) supposedly talking in advance about how there was going to be a riot in Rossport last Friday, he said this...

"The local people protesting on what I would call the “non-media” days have, by and large, engaged in peaceful protest. They have had no problems with the gardaí on the days on which they have been protesting. However, one can see calls for days of action every day on such websites as Indymedia and the website belonging to the Shell to Sea campaign. On such days, people from outside the area come in and cause problems with the gardaí and local people. Both Deputies Ferris and Cowley know this is true and I hope they will not state that nobody outside of this area was involved in the events which took place last Friday because it is not true."

Of course the whole issue of "outsiders" is a farce, at what point geographically is there a barrier drawn where people can and cannot become passionate about an issue... is it only limited to people on the peninsula, or the county of Mayo, or Connaught? Seeing as how the politicians are telling us that the Corrib field extraction will benefit the country (untrue, unless you count Norway as Ireland), then people from around the country have the right to protest against it also.

Nobody gives out to Bono or labels him as an "outsider" for wanting to solve poverty in Africa, yet he lives thousands of miles away (metaphorically as well as physically I suppose) from the people he's talking about. Does Michael McDowell have the right to engage in debate about Northern Ireland, seeing as how he's holed up in his firework-free fiefdom in Ranelagh?

This is not the first time in recent months that Indymedia has been mentioned in a negative light in the Dáil chamber. Michael McDowell gave out about the site in the aftermath of the video footage featured on the site where demonstrators smashed up the "Progressive" "Democrats" offices during the Love Ulster riot in Dublin City Centre. He also mentioned it several times on the Prime Time programme, but every time he said the word, Miriam O'Callaghan interrupted him...

Makes you wonder who else is trawling through the wire...