INTRODUCTION
I'm Diarmuid
O'Flynn from Ballyhea
Entering the race
for MEP
For over three
years we have marched without pause
Peeling the onion
in Ireland's cause
Peeling the onion?
Yes, the EU skin
Seven layers of
institutional admin
THE COMMISSION, initiators of
legislation
28-member Cabinet
with the power to crush nations
And they've used
it. Unelected though they may be
Theirs is the
power to force austerity
On Ireland,
Greece, Portugal, Italy, Spain
While they, in
their towers, are immune from the pain.
THE EUROPEAN COUNCIL, a gathering of
Heads of State
The guiding
lights, the good and the great
Who have steered
this ship onto the reef
Ran us aground,
marooned, no relief
A SECOND COUNCIL, as though one isn't
enough
Councils of
Ministers, each with their own brief
THE COURT OF AUDITORS checks the EU's budget amounts
Not since 1993
have they signed off the accounts
THE COURT OF JUSTICE has three layers
of its own
Layer inside
layer, how this monster has grown
Then there's the EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK
Bean-counting
number-crunchers of the highest rank.
Finally, the PARLIAMENT, that for which I now stand
Sits in Brussels
and Strasbourg, the people's brass band.
And
here's the rub
Only one of those
layers is directly elected
All of those
others are largely selected
Yet the Parliament,
that democratic institution
Cannot initiate
legislation
It needs to change
We need to
rearrange
The entire edifice
And get back to
the coal-face
Too many layers
Too many players
Too much
bureaucracy
Too little
democracy
Banks, bailouts,
bonds, budgets, unelected bureaucrats
Bullying and
blackmailing us into assuming a debt
That is not ours
Was never ours
Will never justly
BE ours
Is this the Europe
we want?
Is this the Europe
we joined?
Is this the Europe
we want to take into the future?
No, no and no
again.
ASLEEP AT THE WHEEL
Seven layers of
administration
Three layers of
legislation
Three European
Presidents
Three layers of
justice
Two centres of
Parliament
Two European Councils
All with
One thing in
common
All are asleep at
the wheel.
AND WHILE THEY WERE SLEEPING...
85 people
Have the same
aggregate wealth
As half the
world's population
That's 3.5 billion
people
How did that happen?
The world's
wealthiest individuals
And the world's
wealthiest global corporations
Pay little or no
tax.
How did that happen?
Banks are bailed
out
Private investor
losses paid out
Those costs and
losses
Of our new
copper-bosses
All covered by us,
the people.
How did THAT happen?
The most
vulnerable people
In the most
vulnerable nations
Are subsidising
the healthiest
And wealthiest
How
the hell did all this happen?
It happened while
they in the various EU layers were sleeping
It happened while
WE who helped put them there were sleeping
Deregulation
Privatisation
Globalisation
Our legislators
Facilitated all
this
Our legislators
Legislated
all this
Some with eyes
wide shut
Some with eyes
wide open
A WORDY TALE
Pythagoras'
theorem: 24 words
Lord's Prayer: 66
words
Archimedes'
Principle: 67 words
10 Commandments:
179 words
Gettysburg
address: 286 words
Proclamation of
the Irish Republic: 475 words US Declaration of Independence: 1,300 words
EU regulation No.
1591/87 laying down quality standards for cabbages, Brussels sprouts, ribbed
celery, spinach and plums: 5,091
While the seven
layers of the EU onion
Distracted
themselves
And asphyxiated
business
With layer after
layer
Of petty
regulations
Others were using
their
Power and money
To affect and
effect
Major legislation
And thus
Were the
floodgates opened
Thus did a tsunami
of greed
Engulf the world
Surfing that wave
Are the 85
Swamped by that
wave
The 3.5 billion
And more
CLOSING THE GATES
It's not too late
To slam shut that
gate
We've still got
time
To set the world
back in rhyme
All those attacks
on us?
Well let's lay a
tax on them
The Financial
Transaction Tax - the FTT
A small fee
On the most toxic
transactions
Taking back a
slice from the greedy faction
The tax-avoiding
global corporations?
Close those loopholes with global
taxation
Close cooperation
Among the world's
super/supra-nations
For the benefit of
all
That's all
That's needed
The selfish
interests of the powerful few
Now supersedes
The needs
Of the people.
Thus the
Transatlantic Trade & Investment Partnership - you've not heard of this?
The TTIP, twixt
the EU/USA
Partnership yes,
of power and money
The greedy grabbing
ever more of the honey
A corporate
charter, with a court of their own
Where profit is
law
And people are
fodder
Fed to the gods
The euro and
dollar
And all of this
has happened
Under the blind
watch
Of a succession of
EU administrations
The elected, the
selected
They have led us
to this
Sleep-walked and
sleep-talked us
To the edge of the
abyss
DESPAIR, SUICIDE - by-products of Austerity
A black cloud
Hovers over our
nation
The black dog
Takes up his
station
On the shoulders
of so many
And they die
By their own hand,
They die.
Sorrow and despair
Utter despair
Ideas and
impressions
Clouded
depressions
Inane position
Devoid of ambition
Emergency Exit
So many taking
that emergency exit
Not because they
want to die
But because they
can no longer live
Long before that
final fateful act
Life has been
sucked from them
EMIGRATION
We thought it was
history
Consigned to the
past
But it's back
With a bang
Not felt since the
Great Hunger
Younger and
younger
Degrees in their
fists
Despair in their
hearts
They leave
Families fractured
Communities sundered
A nation
fragmented
Again
And why?
This despair
This destruction
This death
At our doors
This mass departure
From our shores
Why?
The mistakes of
others
The greed of
others
Private losses
Imposed by
unelected corporate bosses
On sovereign
peoples
Right across
Europe
With the collusion
of our politicians
The WRONG people blamed
The WRONG cause diagnosed
The WRONG cure prescribed
Leading to one
conclusion
We have been
electing the WRONG people
The Irish people
Didn't collapse
Lehman's
Didn't design the
euro
Didn't pour
hundreds of billions into Greece/Italy/Spain/Portugal/Ireland
'It's a fiscal
problem!' cried the Commission and ECB chorus;
'Austerity the
cure!'
It was a financial
problem of course
Banks at the core
BAILOUT FOR WHO?
Ireland did NOT
get any bailout
Shout that out
from the roof-tops
With your
voice-tops
IRELAND DID NOT GET A BAILOUT!
The IMF moves into
a country in trouble
Lays down its
conditions
Asset fire-sales
Privatisation
Deprivation
With cuts in
services
But always, always
Bondholders burned
Creditors taking a
share of the burden
Until Ireland
The IMF were
joined by
The Commission
The ECB
The unholy trinity
THE TROIKA
One aim they had
One aim alone
Bail out the banks
No bond left
behind
No loss imposed on
those who
Blindly
Greedily
Voraciously
Had fed the Irish
property boom
Had fed ON the
Irish property boom
But now
As the whole thing
went BOOM and burst
They would still
profit
Down to the last
cent on the last ‘coupon’
Why?
Because the ECB decided
so
Because the
Commission decided so
Because Merkel and
Sarkozy decided so
And because our
own government
Cowed and coward
Paralysed by fear
Bowed to the
pressure
The abuse of
political muscle by the Commission
The abuse of
financial muscle by the ECB
And who would
cover all those losses?
Why, the people,
the already-suffering Irish people
Bailout? Oh
bailout alright
But not of the
people
And you can sing
this in verse
From the highest
steeple
Europe didn’t bail
out Ireland
It was the exact
reverse.
STANDING FOR ELECTION
And so I am here
Standing and running
Simultaneously
(Which is kind of a contradiction!)
The parties of record are on the trail
Fleets of jeeps
Custom-painted
Bottomless budgets
Subsidised by us all
Ads, posters, billboards galore
Strategies, vote management
They know the score.
And the promises, the promises, the promises
In Cork and Kerry, in Carlow and Kilkenny
They’ll promise
the earth but ‘twill be no surprise
If all
you get is mud in your eyes
As so often before
“Isn't that what you tend to do during an
election?”
Pat Rabbitte telling it like it is
Shameless admission
But after the fact
After the false promises of the last election
Landed him with a fat Ministry
Landed us with all this misery
If you're happy
With the status quo
If you're happy
With how Europe has brought us this low
If you're happy
With our current MEPs
If you're happy
With how they’ve watched us brought to our
knees
No fiery speech in the Parliament
No public challenge
Save from two – Joe Higgins and Paul Murphy
Joe’s replacement
No defying the native whip
Loyalty to party
Above all else
While paying lip
Service to the people
Again, bar one – Nessa Childers
She paid for her conviction, didn’t she?
I want this job
I want to do full-time
For the next five years
What I've been doing part-time
For the last three years
But this time
With a mandate
A mandate from you, the people.
My first, my last, my only loyalty
Is to you, the people.
ALL the people
Left, right, centre
Party, non-party
Regardless of race, religion, colour or creed
We are all people
We are all in this together
We must all work together.
I make three promises
I will work
I will work
I will work
And so
Come May 23rd
