Matt TreacyWhen The Irish Times is being attacked by elements of the NGO liberal left then you tend to sit up and pay attention.


It is not so much really the call by the Trans Writers Union for a boycott of the People’s Daily of the Nice People that is noteworthy, as is the fact that it is being promoted by Uplift Ireland who do carry a bit of clout among the mainstream, as opposed to the Craggy Island faction, of the Woke.

The Trans Writers Union are calling on their “trans comrades, our allies, and anyone disenfranchised with the recent Irish Times editorial decisions” to boycott the Party organ until their demands are met. The demands being that 1) the Times withdraw and apologises for a “conversion therapy” piece; and, 2) that the newspaper adopt a “trans-inclusive editorial line.”

Uplift host all manner of mad petitions so this one is not out of place but it also claims to be “a people powered community of over 340,000.” How they make that out I am not certain as they say they have 773 members. It may be to do with the fact that their niche in the leftie NGO sphere appears to be – apart from using the bulk of their funding to pay their own staff – to collect money from others in NGO land to promote marginal stuff.

They got almost €50,000 from the Soros account according to their last published financial statement, along with another €30,000 from Neo Philanthropy which seems to be a conduit for larger liberal foundations such as Atlantic, Open Society and Ford, and whose main function in the United States is to support the Democratic Party with election funding.

Uplift claims to have received over €214,625 in “member donations” in 2020. That appears very high compared to the paltry amount of membership funding that even the large NGOs claim to receive, so it is possible that some of that is donations from other organisations including other NGOs.

I don’t know because Uplift don’t say other than the amount included donations from 773 members in 2020. That would amount to €277.65 a year for an individual and I doubt there are many similar organisations which have that sort of prosperous or committed individual membership base.

Perhaps some of the members are other organisations, perhaps other NGOs who are recycling monies they themselves receive from the taxpayer? All that really ought to be made clear in the accounts of all such bodies.

All of that is by way of a segue – love that word – into a rather unseemly squabble among certain elements of the liberal left following the horrendous murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee. One part of it seems to be driven by the sort of absurd attack by UCD Professor McAuliffe on the alleged complicity of mainstream feminists in creating the atmosphere that she and other gender ideologues claim contributed to the murders.

None of this is new. Anyone familiar with the history of the totalitarian left from the Jacobins to the Khmer Rouge will know that the terrorists eventually get around to taking down their own. “The wolves devour one another” – usually, unfortunately, not until after they have done the same to their more immediate enemies. So, if the purges are starting now, all the better you might say.

Which brings me to another point. These people are thriving in a mainstream that has encouraged their lunacy.

The Irish Times boycott is one example. More pertinent, however, is that elected politicians including government ministers are contributing to this by their statements which endorse much of the shoddy and malevolent thinking that lies behind it.

One prime example is Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s statement in the wake of the murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in which she referred to “incidents that we thought were behind us.”

Really? And the last time anyone was tortured to death and beheaded by someone in Ireland because of their sexuality was when exactly Minister?

This nonsense has now been taken up by others and become the go-to-phrase by some on social media who mindlessly – and yes, that is the right description – repeat McEntee’s claim as though it embodies some sort of unquestioned truth about this country: that there was a time when such horrors were commonplace.

It beggars belief that this needs to be clarified, and for the Minister for Justice no less, but at no time in the history of the Irish state were men beheaded because they were gay. This is not something that happened in the past – but it seems it may be something that is part of our present, yet the policies that are enabling it seem to be escaping scrutiny. Her remark also feeds into the sort of nonsense I have seen where some were criticising the homily given by the priest at the funeral of Aidan Moffitt. Fr. Michael McManus referred to the grief felt by the family and friends of a man who was clearly much loved and much a part of his community, right down to a Roscommon GAA flag being one of the offerings, his participation in local politics as a member of Fine Gael, and his involvement in horse racing.

All things he shared with huge numbers of people in Irish society, yet some people – many of whom loathe probably all of those central parts of Aidan Moffitt’s life – attempt to attribute some of the responsibility for his murder to society in general. We saw the same following the murder of Aisling Murphy.

Did anyone try to stop Aidan Moffitt from taking part in any of those things because he was a gay man? Much less, did anyone in his own community, any Irish person, ever attempt to murder him because of it?

And let’s be frank, the person who carried out his murder and the murder of Michael Snee is no part of our community. Not because of his race or his religion, but because he chose not to be. Which is anyone’s own business except when they become violent enemies of that community.

Perhaps the Minister might reflect then on some of the factors that are contributing to current patterns of violence and social dysfunction, rather than engaging in a mythical ideologization of a past that involved the torture and beheading of gay men by Irish men. It never happened.

If she wishes to lessen the chances of it happening again in the future, then she might take steps that are in her power to prevent it.

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of 
the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland. 

Minister McEntee Is Wrong ✑ Irish Society Did Not Behead Men Because They Are Gay

Matt TreacyWhen The Irish Times is being attacked by elements of the NGO liberal left then you tend to sit up and pay attention.


It is not so much really the call by the Trans Writers Union for a boycott of the People’s Daily of the Nice People that is noteworthy, as is the fact that it is being promoted by Uplift Ireland who do carry a bit of clout among the mainstream, as opposed to the Craggy Island faction, of the Woke.

The Trans Writers Union are calling on their “trans comrades, our allies, and anyone disenfranchised with the recent Irish Times editorial decisions” to boycott the Party organ until their demands are met. The demands being that 1) the Times withdraw and apologises for a “conversion therapy” piece; and, 2) that the newspaper adopt a “trans-inclusive editorial line.”

Uplift host all manner of mad petitions so this one is not out of place but it also claims to be “a people powered community of over 340,000.” How they make that out I am not certain as they say they have 773 members. It may be to do with the fact that their niche in the leftie NGO sphere appears to be – apart from using the bulk of their funding to pay their own staff – to collect money from others in NGO land to promote marginal stuff.

They got almost €50,000 from the Soros account according to their last published financial statement, along with another €30,000 from Neo Philanthropy which seems to be a conduit for larger liberal foundations such as Atlantic, Open Society and Ford, and whose main function in the United States is to support the Democratic Party with election funding.

Uplift claims to have received over €214,625 in “member donations” in 2020. That appears very high compared to the paltry amount of membership funding that even the large NGOs claim to receive, so it is possible that some of that is donations from other organisations including other NGOs.

I don’t know because Uplift don’t say other than the amount included donations from 773 members in 2020. That would amount to €277.65 a year for an individual and I doubt there are many similar organisations which have that sort of prosperous or committed individual membership base.

Perhaps some of the members are other organisations, perhaps other NGOs who are recycling monies they themselves receive from the taxpayer? All that really ought to be made clear in the accounts of all such bodies.

All of that is by way of a segue – love that word – into a rather unseemly squabble among certain elements of the liberal left following the horrendous murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee. One part of it seems to be driven by the sort of absurd attack by UCD Professor McAuliffe on the alleged complicity of mainstream feminists in creating the atmosphere that she and other gender ideologues claim contributed to the murders.

None of this is new. Anyone familiar with the history of the totalitarian left from the Jacobins to the Khmer Rouge will know that the terrorists eventually get around to taking down their own. “The wolves devour one another” – usually, unfortunately, not until after they have done the same to their more immediate enemies. So, if the purges are starting now, all the better you might say.

Which brings me to another point. These people are thriving in a mainstream that has encouraged their lunacy.

The Irish Times boycott is one example. More pertinent, however, is that elected politicians including government ministers are contributing to this by their statements which endorse much of the shoddy and malevolent thinking that lies behind it.

One prime example is Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s statement in the wake of the murders of Aidan Moffitt and Michael Snee in which she referred to “incidents that we thought were behind us.”

Really? And the last time anyone was tortured to death and beheaded by someone in Ireland because of their sexuality was when exactly Minister?

This nonsense has now been taken up by others and become the go-to-phrase by some on social media who mindlessly – and yes, that is the right description – repeat McEntee’s claim as though it embodies some sort of unquestioned truth about this country: that there was a time when such horrors were commonplace.

It beggars belief that this needs to be clarified, and for the Minister for Justice no less, but at no time in the history of the Irish state were men beheaded because they were gay. This is not something that happened in the past – but it seems it may be something that is part of our present, yet the policies that are enabling it seem to be escaping scrutiny. Her remark also feeds into the sort of nonsense I have seen where some were criticising the homily given by the priest at the funeral of Aidan Moffitt. Fr. Michael McManus referred to the grief felt by the family and friends of a man who was clearly much loved and much a part of his community, right down to a Roscommon GAA flag being one of the offerings, his participation in local politics as a member of Fine Gael, and his involvement in horse racing.

All things he shared with huge numbers of people in Irish society, yet some people – many of whom loathe probably all of those central parts of Aidan Moffitt’s life – attempt to attribute some of the responsibility for his murder to society in general. We saw the same following the murder of Aisling Murphy.

Did anyone try to stop Aidan Moffitt from taking part in any of those things because he was a gay man? Much less, did anyone in his own community, any Irish person, ever attempt to murder him because of it?

And let’s be frank, the person who carried out his murder and the murder of Michael Snee is no part of our community. Not because of his race or his religion, but because he chose not to be. Which is anyone’s own business except when they become violent enemies of that community.

Perhaps the Minister might reflect then on some of the factors that are contributing to current patterns of violence and social dysfunction, rather than engaging in a mythical ideologization of a past that involved the torture and beheading of gay men by Irish men. It never happened.

If she wishes to lessen the chances of it happening again in the future, then she might take steps that are in her power to prevent it.

Matt Treacy has published a number of books including histories of 
the Republican Movement and of the Communist Party of Ireland. 

7 comments:

  1. Nice to see threats against press freedom conducted by the Left in the guise of wokeness.

    And I'm only now finding out about those horrible murders, flabbergasted and bewildered that could happen in Ireland. Those poor fellas and their loved ones. Awful stuff.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Matt's piece is a very poor analysis.

    Matt disingenuously claims Minister McEntee said people in Ireland were tortured to death and beheaded in the past: "And the last time anyone was tortured to death and beheaded by someone in Ireland because of their sexuality was when exactly Minister?" The minister was obviously talking about violent homophobic hate crime in general and not beheadings. How do we know this? We know this because the minister referred to other recent incidents when she said that she thought such violent hate crime was behind us. A young gay man was violently beaten in Dublin for example. This is commonplace. Minister McEntee's statement was a press release about anti-hate crime legislation not an anti-beheading and torture bill. If you don't understand something as straightforward as this Matt maybe you should reconsider your ability to write opinion pieces. I am not trying to silence you just afraid someone might take you seriously.

    In Ireland many homophobic murders in the past were not described as such because of the stigma of homosexuality. Unfortunately the practice itself reinforced the stigma by hiding the reality of people's homosexuality.

    We do know homophobic murders were previously carried out in Ireland, just like in any other country, and Matt's disingenuous arguments just diminish the importance or significance of that and add to a feeling of apathy or disinterest.

    Understating the problem of people who in the past were indeed tortured to death by repeatedly being stabbed or people beaten in the streets for being gay doesn't tackle hate crime it contributes to a mood in which it is more likely to happen.

    There is a need for more robust anti-hate crime laws, education and a zero tolerance approach to homophobia in society. This is not rocket-science.

    Name calling and bullying is part of a spectrum of abuse that includes murder and to tackle it we need to tackle society's mindset and that includes challenging people who understate or rubbish concerns about the problem of hate crime.

    Regarding the organisations Matt referred to with his statement "All that really ought to be made clear in the accounts of all such bodies." It ought and most likely is. All NGOs have to have detailed accounts. Otherwise they would be easy fronts for money laundering.

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    Replies
    1. I too felt that Matt's take missed a beat on what Helen McEntee had actually said.
      I think the term homophobic is just as limited as Matt's characterisation of McEntee's comments. Perhaps even more importantly than pathologising dissent (as Brendan O'Neill rightly, in my view, claims it does), it simply fails to capture the hatred at the heart of what is seeks to label. Phobia to my mind is a fear not a hatred and I don't think fear explains the animosity towards gay people. I believe people can come to hate what they fear but in this instance the gay haters don't even have that cover. They hate without fear.
      The zero tolerance approach to anything needs to be handled cautiously. To my ear it invariably sounds perfectionist which, as Henry Joy, pointed out to me is the enemy of the good. It simply become all too easy to accuse someone of whatever it is we wish zero tolerance applied to. SF supporters have been labelled fascists. Similarly, looking at the discourse around Ukraine and how the Leftoids label people opposed to the Russian onslaught as Nazi supporters to whom zero tolerance must be shown.
      From a results based perspective it seems vital to criminalise actions and equally vital not to criminalise opinion because others feel they might lead to the actions that are criminalised. People like Jim Wells should not have the cops arrive at his door because he thinks being gay is wrong.
      Education is a good way so long as it is not indoctrination: we should be encouraging people to think rather than prescribe how they think.

      Delete
    2. Matt Tracey Comments

      Two points:

      1) McEntee said exactly what I quoted her as saying in a face to face with the press. It is not from a press release.

      2) You have obviously either not read any NGO financial statements if you believe that they all are "detailed" statements of income and spending. Or perhaps you like much of the Irish left is on an NGO/state/corporate foundation tab?

      I wouldn't have bothered responding to you other than to correct the misleading information, and maybe allow you to perhaps pause on this before you start to accuse others of slovenly habits you clearly are no stranger to. And that's to give you the benefit of the doubt.

      Long Live the Trotskyist/Blueshirt Alliance :-)

      Delete
  3. Matt, To address your first point- Whether a statement to the press or a press release, I am not denying the minister from her own mouth said "incidents that we thought were behind us.” which is the only thing you quoted.

    What I am denying, and I shouldn't really have to, is that the minister was referring to the modus operandum of the recent murders. It is obvious to anyone, except sensationalist writers maybe who deliberately choose to misinterpret, that she was speaking in more general terms. The type of crime not how it was done.

    Second point, NGOs Financial Statements are mere summaries of their financial position. They can be audited at any time by various agencies of government in which case they will need to look at detailed accounts. To stop money laundering and fraud and also of course to prevent incompetency and malpractice.

    As Groucho Marx once said a five year old child could understand this. Go and get me a five year old as Matt can't understand head nor tails of it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Matt Treacy Comments

      This is what you said:

      "Minister McEntee's statement was a press release about anti-hate crime legislation."

      Unlike you, I've read dozens of NGO financial statements. Not once in three years has a single one of them contested anything myself or Gript have published regarding this.

      And these are people with the full power of the state and the legal racket behind them.

      I've had a life time of dealing with people like you. Mind you, at least there was some substance to them. Consider yourself to be Southern Conference relegation zone to their Liverpool.

      Delete
  4. Matt you said "Not once in three years has a single one of them contested anything myself or Gript have published regarding this."

    You say they haven't contested anything you or Gript have published over three years. How many have accepted anything you said? Not contesting something isn't the same as accepting it. There may be a number of reasons why they haven't. Further to that, how many have accepted any allegations of wrong doing?

    You also say "And these are people with the full power of the state and the legal racket behind them." Surely you know NGOs are non-governmental organisations, the clue is in the name. How can a non-governmental organisation have the "full power of the state behind them"?

    I have already addressed your press release point- it doesn't alter the substance of my argument.

    ReplyDelete