Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[muppet]

Yes, there is conjecture on my part, but the neocons in Brussels, Berlin, Strasbourg (and the Dáil) do not instil confidence, not in the least.

The RAS tenants debacle

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald, who had a copy of a letter from Wicklow County Council, said the Government was presiding over an absolute shambles in terms of the establishment of Irish Water.

Ms McDonald said that thousands of families do not have the money to pay for water.

She asked Tánaiste how she had authorised such a threatening letter and asked her to make it clear to those people that they would not be evicted.

In response, Ms Burton said Sinn Féin and Independents had control of Wicklow County Council.



Aside from the above, those letters shouldn't have been sent. They are quickly losing any credibility which will not help them out of their self-dug holes.

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Yes, there is conjecture on my part, but the neocons in Brussels, Berlin, Strasbourg (and the Dáil) do not instil confidence, not in the least.

The RAS tenants debacle

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald, who had a copy of a letter from Wicklow County Council, said the Government was presiding over an absolute shambles in terms of the establishment of Irish Water.

Ms McDonald said that thousands of families do not have the money to pay for water.

She asked Tánaiste how she had authorised such a threatening letter and asked her to make it clear to those people that they would not be evicted.

In response, Ms Burton said Sinn Féin and Independents had control of Wicklow County Council.



Aside from the above, those letters shouldn't have been sent. They are quickly losing any credibility which will not help them out of their self-dug holes.

I saw that Dáil exchange, and Burton came across as one smug, condescending git. She was wrong, however, in that the (Wicklow) council had no choice but to execute the orders of her (Burton's) department.

[muppet]

Yes, there is conjecture on my part, but the neocons in Brussels, Berlin, Strasbourg (and the Dáil) do not instil confidence, not in the least.

The RAS tenants debacle

Sinn Féin Deputy Leader Mary Lou McDonald, who had a copy of a letter from Wicklow County Council, said the Government was presiding over an absolute shambles in terms of the establishment of Irish Water.

Ms McDonald said that thousands of families do not have the money to pay for water.

She asked Tánaiste how she had authorised such a threatening letter and asked her to make it clear to those people that they would not be evicted.

In response, Ms Burton said Sinn Féin and Independents had control of Wicklow County Council.



Aside from the above, those letters shouldn't have been sent. They are quickly losing any credibility which will not help them out of their self-dug holes.

I saw that Dáil exchange, and Burton came across as one smug, condescending git. She was wrong, however, in that the (Wicklow) council had no choice but to execute the orders of her (Burton's) department.

A year before the issue arose?

[Saffrongael]

Could someone please explain to Gerry Adams what "refute" actually means

[muppet]

Could someone please explain to Gerry Adams what "refute" actually means

And 'member' while he is at it. 

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

A year before the issue arose?

Yes, apparently so.

[muppet]

A year before the issue arose?

Yes, apparently so.

Were they instructed to write the letters?

[Fear ón Srath Bán]

Were they instructed to write the letters?

It looks like Wicklow Council were being proactively pre-emptive, and it looks like they shouldn't have become involved at all.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/irish-water-councils-to-stay-out-of-tenants-billing-disputes-1.1966840

[muppet]

Were they instructed to write the letters?

It looks like Wicklow Council were being proactively pre-emptive, and it looks like they shouldn't have become involved at all.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/irish-water-councils-to-stay-out-of-tenants-billing-disputes-1.1966840

A local blunder then. I often wonder whether these are solo runs by individual idiots or does a gang of fools gee themselves up for a spectacular failure.

[Hound]

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/this-was-not-leaders-questions-as-we-know-it-it-was-an-unprecedented-situation-in-the-d%C3%A1il-1.1973438

Not so long ago, in a troubled place they called the Six County Statelet, decent IRA volunteers indiscriminately murdered in a futile attempt to unite the country they love. But their hearts were in the right place. And that's good enough for Gerry Adams, who is sad to see their revered names being sullied now by people who don't understand.

These IRA volunteers had so much love for Ireland they shunted their favoured perverts and paedophiles across the North's border to the rest of the country they claim to love. Oh, and they shot the ones they didn't need to protect.

Decent people. Adams – the IRA's Boswell – says he wasn't a member, yet is remarkably intimate with the organisation's inner workings; he won't hear a bad word uttered against them. As he said yesterday, these volunteers "were acting, in my opinion, in good faith" when seeking "to deal with some cases of abuse when asked to do so by families and victims".

Good faith is not how Maíria Cahill would see it. Yesterday's extraordinary session of Leaders' Questions took place right after the Taoiseach met the Belfast woman who says she was raped by an IRA man and then sworn to secrecy by senior members of that organisation who took it upon themselves to "interrogate" her over a number of months to test the validity of her claims. At one point, three of them also forced her to meet her rapist during a "kangaroo court". She says she met Gerry Adams in his office in west Belfast and told him her story. Adams, his deputy leader Mary Lou McDonald and the rest of the Sinn Féin parliamentary party accept that she was raped, but not the rest of her testimony.

Maíria Cahill hasn't deviated one bit from her version of events. The Gerry Adams/Sinn Féin version has subtly shifted from almost blanket denial to a revised state of knowledge.

...

[Rossfan]

Amazing how little comment on this harrowing subject has appeared on this thread 

[armaghniac]

Amazing how little comment on this harrowing subject has appeared on this thread 

Harrowing? You are on the wrong thread, you need the pitch grass thread.

[Maguire01]

One thing I can't get straight - SF has been pushing the point that the people being accused were "found innocent", yet at the same time saying they believed Ms Cahill was raped, and I understand now also accepting that she was subject to a "kangaroo court".

How do you square that circle? Are they saying that the judicial process failed to reach the right conclusion, or just that they had the wrong individuals?

[LeoMc]

One thing I can't get straight - SF has been pushing the point that the people being accused were "found innocent", yet at the same time saying they believed Ms Cahill was raped, and I understand now also accepting that she was subject to a "kangaroo court".

How do you square that circle? Are they saying that the judicial process failed to reach the right conclusion, or just that they had the wrong individuals?

They were found innocent because she refused to testify.

[johnneycool]

One thing I can't get straight - SF has been pushing the point that the people being accused were "found innocent", yet at the same time saying they believed Ms Cahill was raped, and I understand now also accepting that she was subject to a "kangaroo court".

How do you square that circle? Are they saying that the judicial process failed to reach the right conclusion, or just that they had the wrong individuals?

They were found innocent because she refused to testify.

Did she ever give a reason why she refused to testify?