IRISH EXAMINER HURLING writer Diarmuid O’Flynn has relaunched his efforts to rally opposition to the EU/IMF bailout by embarking on a seven-day “bread and water” fast.
Enraged by the colossal sums which the Irish people are handing over to European bondholders each month, O’Flynn has become more and more consumed by a protest movement which started off with small weekly marches in his native Ballyhea, Co Cork.
When those efforts failed to grab the public’s attention, he stepped up his action in June, setting off on a three-day run from Cork to Dublin to deliver an anti-bondholder petition to the government.
Those protests were met with widespread, if unsurprising, indifference as well, O’Flynn told TheScore.ie this afternoon. But that hasn’t stopped him from starting the fast which will be his “last throw of the dice.”
Since last Sunday, O’Flynn has had nothing to eat and drink but bread and water, a symbol of “the penal condition to which the ECB will have us reduced should we continue [...] redeeming in full all the current failed bank bonds, as directed by them.”
Though he has no formal economic training, he has spent a huge amount of his free time trying to educate himself in the ins and outs of Ireland’s financial mess.
“I’ve spent every waking moment on this for the last few months,” he said. “Everyone around me has suffered. My social life, my hobbies, my family, they’ve all been neglected.”
His latest campaign comes at a particularly important time for the country’s finances. According to his own estimates, Ireland owes €444m in bank bonds to be repaid this month, with 10 times that amount – over €4bn – due at the end of September.
“This is happening at a time when the government had to close an autistic school in Dublin because they couldn’t find €100,000 in funding.
This is human suffering we’re talking about here. People are being subjugated for capital.
Despite this, O’Flynn says, the people of Ireland have succumbed to passivity as far as the bondholders are concerned. The mainstream media, he adds, have been just as negligent in their coverage of opposition to the bailout terms.
“With regards to people taking notice of us, it’s the same old story all over again. But then, I figured this was going to happen.
“We’ve been holding weekly parades in Ballyhea for the last 22 weeks and in Charleville for the last six weeks, but they’ve been totally ignored by the media. It’s as if they’ve decided that there’s a blanket ban on covering any protests.
There’s an old saying that the more people that witness a crime, the less likely it is that somebody will report it. This is the biggest bank heist in the history of the state.
Despite the reaction to his previous protests, O’Flynn will not be deterred and he is adamant that the community marches in Cork will continue every week, even if his latest personal effort ends in further disappointment.
“When I get into something, I get into it 100%,” he explains. “Even when I was a young fella playing hurling, I was always trying to fight someone else’s fight.”
“I’ve lost about a stone in weight – that’s my contribution to Ireland’s cause.”
Amen!
He is spot on. This years six nations has been so dull and dour. Forget the wins so far – has anyone actually enjoyed watching Ireland so far? One try scored from a pass in this years campaign so far – says it all.
2 point penalties and 1 point drop goals would be a start, making scoring tries even more valuable and dissuading teams from milking the penalty as reward is low. It may also result in more instances of teams going for high risk plays/true attempts on penalty advantage, like Henshaw v England, with a droppy not equal to the successful penalty goal if not advantage comes from playing on. Making the English and French top tier closed leagues have strong arguements. ATM winning at all costs is everything. Makes for usually dull games despite quality of players. Get rid of fear of relegation and it might open up more like the closed Super Rugby
Even better to penalise conceding deliberate penalties even more….
Yeah reducing the points for a penalty just promotes the defence to play more cynically as there is less of a punishment.
I’ve always thought that 6 points for a try and 3 for a conversion would be enough to entice more attacking play.
More liberal use of the yellow card would be good – there shouldn’t need to be a warning or much of a precedent to dish one out. Kill the ball 2m out from your own line 30 seconds in? Off you march.
I’ll e the first to admit my logic isn’t completely sound. I thought about the defending team being cynical after my OP, that’s a good point. I suppose there is an onus on attitude change. In my second point about closing off the two biggest European club leagues, unlikely as that is to happen right now, maybe it would help with the overall style of rugby played in NH. It’s interesting after Hansen made these comments last week or whatever, I watched Highlanders Tahs in Super Rugby. The endeavour to score tries is always there, regardless of kickable penalties. I don’t love SR, but it’s interesting to see the attitude difference after watching so much 6N the past month or so
The scrum still requires serious work. More often than not a penalty is given and many of us (the refs included) are none the wiser as to what really happened. Its all down to perception and thats really not ideal as is the ridiculous play time which is lost with scrum resets. At the very least the timer should be paused (similar to when injuries occur) and resumed once the ball has been cleared from the scrum. Fans get bored and feel somewhat cheated when over an eighth of the game has been held up in a confusing huddle.
Secondly i firmly believe rucking should be brought back. Take the responsibility out of the official’s hands and give it to the players. Want to deliberately loiter or slow the ball? Heres a few boot scrapes to encourage you to move on. Any over-zealous rucking (attacking of the head) obviously can’t be tolerated however players will quickly learn and adapt. Let the officials focus on ensuring the defensive team are onside.
Watch how much quicker the game will speed up from the lack of penalties and slowing down of the ball.
As a prop I enjoy the scrums but like everyone else I get frustrated when the ref keeps resetting and then gives penalties for little things.
Ways to make it better:
Make the scrumhalf feed it straight. First time he doesnt its a free, second time penalty, third time its the bin.
Dont wait for the perfect scrum. If it is some-way steady get the ball in. Its 16 big men trying to get the physical advantage, its rarely going to be perfect.
Dont penalise a prop if he is trying to keep the scrum up. If he puts his hand on the ground he is trying to stay up. Warn him you’ve seen it and give him a few seconds to rebind instead of immediately pinging him.
Have retired props watch each game with the TMO. Have them communicate with the ref at scrums, e.g. 3 green is boring; 1 red is dropping, etc.
Yeah, the use of the TMO at scrum time would be good. Perhaps they could use those location trackers the players have in their jerseys to determine what actually happened?
As a retired prop I think the scrum could be sorted by the referee bringing together both front rows first then the second rows introduced and lastly the back rows. The ref then gives the instruction to the 9 to ‘feed’ & then to the packs, ‘compete’. Where by the packs can then shove.
Trouble is these days most refs I’ve seen never played the game least of all were in a competitive scrum.
no more penalties at the scrum either or at least not for going backwards like it is now. free kick or play on. scrums shouldn’t decide the outcome of games.
To be fair, Wayne Barnes hasn’t even read the updated version of the Rule Book not to mind ripping it up!!
All the refs are struggling with the interpretation of what’s legal or not at the breakdown. As for the scrums, it’s a lucky dip with whatever ref is on duty that day!!! No consistency whatsoever!
I think Barnes actually reads it at half time and adds some new updates – how else do you explain how he manages to ref differently is each half
An English ref shouldn’t have been used IMO!! Is there an Irish ref doing England v France by any chance????!!!! It’s bad enough our TMO this weekend is English too!!! In the interest of fairness at the business end of the tournament Southern Hemisphere refs are a must!!
Reduce penalties to 2 points. Increase try to 6 points. After 4 tries scored in a game by a team every other try scored after by that team in the game, the conversion points given automatically.
At breakdown bring in 5 second challenge, if the team defending the breakdown haven’t had an attempt at getting their hands on the ball or counter rucking within 5 seconds of the ball going to ground then the ref calls no challenge and team defending players all have to get 1 metre back from ruck.
Reducing points from a penalty encourages defences to break the laws even more.
He’s asking for simplicity not complexity
What’s complex about it? Ball goes to ground, 1,2,3,4,5. No turn over, no counter ruck, so Defending team out, back 1 metre.
thats rugby league mate