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Democrats blaming everyone but themselves....if they keep it up they'll get wiped out in the midterms in 2018

Yes.

The people of the US selected their President and no one else. Suck it up Dems.
Outside influence is common and accepted in elections. There were TDs out there working for Clinton. Enda Kenny talked badly about Trum in the Dail. That doesn't mean the Irish rigged the election.

The Russians rigged the election by exposing that the Democrats were rigging the election

You can only rig an election by tampering with vote or the count.

That didn't happen. The election was ligit.

[Why should we respect or even believe any part of their roles now]

What?

This was an Irishman murdered for no obvious reason. Why on earth would I, or any other decent Irish person, ever respect that?

Sinn Féin and the IRA denied involvement for decades, even long after the GFA. The lied all these years. Why should we respect or even believe any part of their roles now?

You shouldn't.
Why would you try to get information from someone who tells that much lies?

This is unmistakable sound of a WUM trying too hard

You are mistaking Wobbbler.
This is the Joe Brolly thread. WUMs are only pretenders here.

I presume the SEVENTH County us Cavan?

Yes, Cavan is included respectively.

The only way RTE will give Ulster a fair crack of the whip is when everyone in Ulster pays them their TV licence fee. With 7 of the 9 Counties not paying towards the running of RTE it's easy to have a go at them. Until then it's open for ridicule. There is no way Dublin are going to get the same raw deal. And when it comes to GAA programming Cork, Kerry, Mayo etc will get more favorable coverage than the leechers in the north.

Even if that stat is true it doesn't mean anything politically.

It means that anyone with an Irish passport benefits from  the advantages of being in the EU
So for example if junior wants to go to university  the Erasmus programme is open to her
while the poor loyalist family down the road will have to go to some uni in England which may not have funding 15 years after Brexit

An Irish passport makes a lot of sense for red white and blue Prods the way things are going.

Yes. I'd advise people to get as many passports as they are entitled to. Not only Irish or UK.

Is it not for political reasons that he's NOT being taken in and questioned about this? i.e. Because he was a pivotal player in the peace process

Is this "public trial" not the same as dozens of similar situations over the years where politicians were judged (in a public opinion sense rather than a legal one) and had to step down as a result?

Perhaps but that was always an internal party decision where they decide for themselves or they got sacked for incompetence.

So are you saying Adams should be taken in and questioned about what he knows? Or charged with witholding information?

No. I'm not saying that.
I still have faith in the Gardaí and their lack of action here (and other things) makes me think that Adams is not a person of interest in the case.

I just think it's worrying that some politicians seem to have lost that faith or else think the Gardaí are incompetent. Either that or they are by passing the Gardaí for other reasons.

I've seen this play out with Jean McConville. Eventually the PSNi took Adams in and held him. They then released him. I questioned if that was police acting under pressure by politicians. If it was it was a terrible day for justice in Ireland. Now the same thing might happen here. If it does then I'll wait to see the next action. If Adams is arrested and released it will make me think the Gardaí are acting under political pressure. Right now they are not which I think is good. However, that only raises more question about the approach of the politicians.

So if he isn't being accused of breaking the law, why would the Gardaí be involved??

I'm surprised you need this explained.

Sometimes when investigating murder the Gardaí might want to talk to someone that might have information they could use in their investigation.
Those people are not guilty of a crime but they might have information relating to the crime.

Who is accusing Adams of breaking the law?

I'm not talking about Adams breaking any laws. I'm talking about the lack of urgency from the Gardaí. If this lack of urgency is genuine then the issue is the politicians and media holding a 20 year public trial. That in itself is a dangerous thing for democracy. If there should be urgency then something much more sinister is at play within our judicial system.

[ex combatants are there it will be exploited by other parties.]

I heard one of the Stack's on GMU this morning. I couldn't make a lot of sense out of what he was saying, nor could I understand what exactly it was that he wanted. In essence the Garda have all the names from various sources but he just wants Adams to tell them? Why? What purpose would it serve? Then we had the Quinn family trying to tie Adams and Conor Murphy into that murder. SF are there own worst enemies at times but I wonder what or who motivates these families to speak out. But as long as ex combatants are there it will be exploited by other parties. That Dunphy piece should be compulsory viewing of other political parties. Get on with the bread and butter stop scoring points on the past. Both jurisdictions on this island were born out of violence and the threat of violence. Kettle, pot, black.

This is key to Irish politics.
Once politicians start deciding who is and who isn't worthy of public office democracy is dead. We have seen this time and time again but thankfully it has never been accepted in Ireland. It's also dangerous when politicians hold public trials while we have a judiciary system in place to deal with these things. I'm a big fan of Dail Privilege and people putting trust in elected reps to highlight causes and injustice but there is a line that can be crossed. There seems to be little or no Gardaí or DPP involvement with Adams in any of these cases. Do we not have faith in the Judiciary system or are we trying to by pass it? That should be the scariest thing about all this.

Adams is a liar about many things, no more or no less than most leading politicians. That is politics, it is accepted. However, when it comes to criminality and justice there is a system in place. The constant trial in public of Adams is threat to democracy. The 20 year trial by mainstream politicians and media without any questions makes me wonder if we have not already passed that point. If Adams or other politicians stand down for these reasons we will have very concentrated types of political figures in power.

I'm not sure what your point is here...

It looks to me like Adams (whether he's guilty of any crime or not) is being tried in the court of public opinion.  If there was a Garda investigation and Adams was charged e.g with withholding information, his first defence is likely to be that he wouldn't be able to get a fair trial.

"The court of public opinion is an alternative system of justice. It's very different from the traditional court system: This court is based on reputation, revenge, public shaming, and the whims of the crowd. Having a good story is more important than having the law on your side. Being a sympathetic underdog is more important than being fair. Facts matter, but there are no standards of accuracy."

It's much worse than that. For some reason Adams and the circus around him is the main focus of our public led by our political leaders.

If there is public and political concern that Adams has information that is important to a murder investigation there is a need for the Gardaí to question him. The politicans and journalists can question whoever they like but the Gardaí must investigate murder. This happened in the last GE when Adams was brought in for Questioning re Jean McConville.

So there are one of two things here. Either the Politicians and the Stacks have reasons other than seeking justice (enter any reason you like) or the Gardaí are choosing to not fully investigate a murder for some reason. The second one is the scary one the first one is expected and most likely.

All heffo's post here start with 'presumably' or 'I'd imagine'.
You do not need to presume or imagine you either know or you don't. If you don't then then should ask and find out.

Adams should have just ignored the Stacks in the first place. Sounds like another Mairia Cahill job to me now Enda and Micheal are getting in on the act.

What are you smoking? How the f**k could he ignore the stacks in the first place he knows who killed there father. He is withholding information and frankly should be fucked in jail for it. There are currently people sitting in jail or on remand for similar incidents where they are impending investigations and he should be no different.
https://www.google.ie/amp/amp.breakingnews.ie/ireland/woman-further-remanded-in-connection-with-withholding-information-from-gareth-hutch-murder-probe-738844.html?client=safari

That's the question. Why are the gardai and DPP less active in this than you?

Even if that stat is true it doesn't mean anything politically.

It does. It means the UK govt has to treat NI differently. Take England out of the EU by all means and strip Nigel and Debs of all those rights but don't f**k with NI.

I don't see why.if it was to be treated different it should not have taken part in the referendum. It did and the result is the result.
Europe is awash with dual and emigrant passports.
The only thing Britain need to do is recognise irish and EU citizenship, which it does.

The responsibility of Irish passport holders lays in Dublin, not London.