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| That the Irish President unyoke the Nation's Welfare from Private Banking Interests |
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To: Ms Mary McAleese, President of Ireland
We, the undersigned citizens of Ireland, hold that the Government of Ireland, by means of the following actions, laws and agreements, underwritten by the wealth of the citizens of Ireland, has unlawfully and immorally yoked the welfare of the nation of Ireland and of its people to the commercial interests of certain private banks and private bank investors:
1) The enactment of the Credit Institutions (Financial Support) Scheme 2008 and the Credit Institutions (Eligible Liabilities Guarantee) Scheme 2009, as amended, through which instruments the citizens of Ireland pledged their public treasury and national assets as surety for various debts and risks knowingly incurred by private banks and private investors.
2) The various disbursements from the public treasury, pursuant to the above legal instruments and others, of sums aimed at shoring up the balance sheets of private banks and obviating with public monies the risks knowingly undertaken by private investors.
3) The enactment of successive punitive public budgets, constrained by loss of public sums so disbursed, eroding the services, public investments and entitlements due to the citizens of Ireland, threatening the well-being of the poor, sick and disabled, and directly removing from circulation in the general economy monies by means of which the citizens might once again thrive and contribute a net gain to the public purse.
4) The negotiations conducted with unelected parties representing the EU, the ECB and the IMF, and concluded on 28th November, 2010, with an agreement to undertake yet further debt, underwritten by the wealth of the citizens of Ireland, the terms of which have yet to be fully disclosed in public, but which have as their aim the further open-ended support of private banks and private bank investors from the public purse, and which put at grave risk the nation's assets and cash reserves.
We, the undersigned, believe that the Government of Ireland, in so yoking the well-being of the nation to the commercial fortunes of private risk-taking institutions, has acted in direct contravention of the Irish Constitution, in particular of the provisions cited below, to the harm and detriment of both living and unborn Irish generations.
Bunreacht na hEireann, Article 45.2
iii. That, especially, the operation of free competition shall not be allowed so to develop as to result in the concentration of the ownership or control of essential commodities in a few individuals to the common detriment.
iv. That in what pertains to the control of credit the constant and predominant aim shall be the welfare of the people as a whole.Bunreacht na hEireann, Article 45.3.2
The State shall endeavour to secure that private enterprise shall be so
conducted as to ensure reasonable efficiency in the production and distribution
of goods and as to protect the public against unjust exploitation.Bunreacht na hEireann, Article 45.4.1
The State pledges itself to safeguard with especial care the economic interests of the weaker sections of the community, and, where necessary, to contribute to the support of the infirm, the widow, the orphan, and the aged.We, the undersigned, call on Mary McAleese, President of Ireland, by virtue of her office, to be mindful of her moral duty of care to the nation, to shield the interests and welfare of the people of Ireland from the hostile commercial powers ranged against them, and, in accordance with her sacred oath given to the people of Ireland as follows:
"In the presence of Almighty God, I, Mary McAleese, do solemnly and sincerely promise and declare that I will maintain the Constitution of Ireland and uphold its laws, that I will fulfil my duties faithfully and conscientiously in accordance with the Constitution and the law, and that I will dedicate my abilities to the service and welfare of the people of Ireland. May God direct and sustain me."
and, in accordance with the privileges and responsibilities of her office, we petition her to seek constitutional redress for her people and to take all actions necessary to unyoke the nation of Ireland from the commercial and private interests of certain private banks and their private investors.
Sincerely,
The That the Irish President unyoke the Nation's Welfare from Private Banking Interests Petition to Ms Mary McAleese, President of Ireland was created by and written by Scotlyn Sabean (scotlyn@imagine.ie). This petition is hosted here atwww.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.
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Bock thanks for your quick response in posting this. I hope to get a reasonable enough quantity of signatures to present this to the President before Budget Day, December 7th. So, any efforts to spread the word is much appreciated!
HI There,
Fair play for making an effort to bring our President into the fray. She has been noticably absent. You should send this to Fintan O'Toole, you probably already know he's running a petition for complete political reform at the moment. Perhaps you could both benefit from each others efforts?
http://fintanotoole.ie/petition/
I signed that but I honestly think , that when you add the total number of signatories, you'll find that more people voted for FF in Donegal. We are a voice in the wilderness.
More people care about X Factor
There are only 65 signatures . What are we doing folks? Get signing.
Sean, I did get onto Fintan O'Toole's website and sign his petition, while leaving notice of this one. Hopefully he might give it a publicity boost. I think his recent piece saying that if we don't act we will be irrelevant is right. The more action right now, the better…it's easy to talk, and vent, but it's also easy to despair if talk changes nothing.
Gary Ireland, I launched this last night and circulated it to anyone I could think of – by bedtime 35 signatures, and 85 just now. It needs to go a bit viral to get enough to be effective. I would dearly love to have a few thousand signatures on it by Budget Day, as it would be good to at least see the President hesitate before signing the Budget into law. It would be good if some reporter would ask the question of whether she is asleep at the Constitutional Guardianship wheel.
Thanks for all who have signed and mentioned it to their friends and acquaintances. It's not 24 hours old yet!
Its gone up to 102 signatures now, including mine
Scotlyn
This is an excellent initiative. I added my signature earlier, and have sent an email to over 200 of my "name & address" book contacts – hand picked. I'd encourage everyone to do this – the message needs to go "viral" as you pointed out.
How do you intend to present the finished petition to Áras an Uachtaráin?
I signed,but dont expect any miracles. With McAleese on 300k shes hardly going to rock an already sinking boat. But id like to have to eat my words.
Thanks to everyone who has signed! And to Bock for posting It's just surpassed the 250 mark. I'm thinking if we could get up to 5,000 or so by next Tuesday, it would be worth my while to use the petition "print off" option and take a trip to Dublin in person (from Donegal). I would also notify the Aras of my intention, and also notify anyone who signed with the "authorise petition author to see your email address" option with an invitation to meet at the gates of the Aras and help me hand it in. I would present the petition in person, if allowed, or hand it to her rep, with a letter explaining why I started it, and what I hope to accomplish.
We just need every current signatory to recruit 20 more. I'd be grateful to anyone who will post the link to their email contacts, post it in comments on relevant blogposts, or post it on their facebook page, twitter, etc. I have no party or organisation machine to do this with. Just the will of one person to stop talking and start acting. But, I know the people of Iceland managed to force a referendum on this same question. I don't see why we couldn't do that. The mood is right!
Link in full is: http://www.petitiononline.com/IRpres10/petition.html
First radio interview lined up to talk about this petition! With Maire Garvey at http://media.westernwavesfm.org (community radio in Bundoran) this Sunday between 12.00 and 1.00. They're small, but they podcast the shows at the above link, so it should be accessible to everyone, if interested.
333 now.
Well, it's Budget day, and we're just edging up to 600 signatures. Thanks for the ongoing support from this blog.
It is a lot harder than you think to get things "going viral," although the momentum is picking up a bit. An inverview on local Donegal radio station, Ocean FM yesterday, a short piece in The Star today, a piece in the Donegal Democrat on Thursday. I've also had a good few supportive messages from people who have signed with great ideas for spreading the word. One works in a very large company and volunteered to email all her co-workers there. This person suggests anyone else working within a large company structure could do the same. Another one suggests several online forums to post on.
I think I would like to keep this petition open for a few more days, just to see what is possible. So, for anyone who is interested in this effort, I'd appreciate any way or place in which you could post the link – text it in to a radio station you're listening to, put it out on twitter (which I am still uninitiated in), link to it on Facebook, post the link in a relevant blog comment, anything! I'd be most grateful.
The sovereignty of the people is not just an idea. We have to keep working at keeping it a reality.
Scotlyn
I've just checked my figures.
I sent a carefully worded and personal email to 206 contacts, each one hand picked from my name & address book.
5 bounced
1 wrote back to say (in effect) that it was a pointless, futile gesture.
1 wrote back to say "Great idea! Count me in" and then failed to sign (despite a reminder from me)
Of the 199 remaining recipients of my message, I can only recognise 6 (at the most) names on the petition.
It's difficult to feel anything but despair if people can't be arsed to sign a simple internet petition on such an importanat issue, unless of course I am acquainted with a statistically significant number of dyed-in-the-wool FF supporters?
I'm not sure which is worse.
BoldPilot do not despair. We are fighting the good fight and shall overcome!
Bold Pilot – Thanks for signing and passing it on – please don't despair! It is true that people get apathetic, but we've got to get better at "thorn in your side"-ness.
We are slowing down at arouund 750 signatures, but we have more time than I had originally thought, since the Budget (Finance Bill) won't be signed into law until the new year.
I did get a bit of a plug – both for the petition, and for this blog, in on this local radio broadcast – (it was meant to happen last Sunday, but took place this morning instead) – http://media.westernwavesfm.org/audio/podcast-2010-12-12-62530.mp3.
I would still ask anyone interested to keep circulating this – text the petition link – http://www.petitiononline.com/IRpres10 – to your local radio stations, post the link on twitter and facebook, and keep up the reminders to friends.
Also, don't forget to write to your own TD's to encourage them to vote against the IMF deal in the Dail. They should be reminded of Article 45 of the Constitution, the Iceland alternative, and the fact that they work for us, not the banks.
And thanks to everyone here, especially Bock, for keeping this live.
Scotlyn
Ref – radio link above, if you want to go straight to the petition bit, it is almost halfway through – around minute 27 or so.
Petition update. Well, folks, it has been a learning experience for me. One of the lessons is how hard it is to get things going when you do not have any particular network of influential associates, or money, or media contacts, etc. I have been very busy at work for the past week, and the signing rate has slowed down to a trickle – the petition now has 813 signatures.
However, something really interesting happened as well. A man in Cork, who is completely unknown to me, gathered and sent me through the post, around 50 hand-written signatures as well.
Bock has just posted on the calling of the Council of State to look at the sweeping powers that will be gained by the Finance Minister in the new Credit Institutions Bill. The actual Finance Bill (Budget) will not be signed into law until the new year. The Council of State, ridiculous as it is in its current form, has a function, which is to refer constitutionally unsound legislation to the Supreme Court.
In honour of all the people who have or will sign the petition, including those who sent me the handwritten signatures, I am proposing to present myself at the gates of the Aras at 3pm, Wed 29th December, to present the petition and the signatures to whoever will accept them. Anyone here who has signed is more than welcome to accompany me.
Thanks.
Aras postponed…The handing in of the petition will not take place at 3.00 pm Wednesday the 29th of December, as announced above, but at 3.00 pm on Wednesday the 5th of January, 2011.
With apologies, and with many thanks again to all who have supported this.
Scotlyn Sabean
A final thank you to everyone who signed this petition.
As you can see here the petition was duly delivered to the Aras on Wednesday as promised.
I learned a lot from this exercise, and hopefully, should I attempt such a thing again I will be able to apply what I learned. For one thing, you need more people to launch such a thing. And for another, you need a lot of publicity.
Hopefully, though, the mood for taking protest and resistance actions to the government is strengthening throughout the country.