Mc Creesh Park Newry.Will it no longer exist after tonight?

[seafoid]

The problem with Irish is it's left too late to start teaching it. If it were taught in primary school from the age of about 5 the language would be in much better shape. Starting to learn a language after the age of ten is a hundred times harder, so it's no wonder most people pack it in at the first opportunity.

This isn't the problem.

The problem with Irish is that there is not one single human being on earth who speaks Irish, who doesn't also speak English equally well or better.

Therefore doing anything - website, road sign, leaflet, minutes - in both languages is an unnecessary duplication, and a thorough waste of money.

By all means our Gaielegors are entitled to enjoy their cupla focal. But for the 99.9991% of us who will always read a sign in English first, stop wasting our effing money on this duplication.

It's about identity. Northern Irish road signs are shite- as if all the names came from English.
Bilingual signs carry more information and the cost is negligible .
If you want to save real money cut pensions.

2 unsustainable trends in UK spending are health and pensions

Which party is going to take that on? Never going to happen wholesale but bound to be reductions in various areas of Health and a reduction in pensions, most companies have to have a scheme of sorts for their employees. It will end up in happening but very stealthy

There are graphs here on the trend in social security and health spending by the UK Government and the trend is only going one way.
I think you can look at 3 articles a month by just registering. 40% of social security is pensions

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7a81db82-89f9-11e4-8daa-00144feabdc0.html

[Milltown Row2]

Interesting

[foxcommander]

Going by the unionists logic anything named after the royal family would have to be removed. State sponsored acts of terror would fall under the same category surely.

[seafoid]

Interesting

Scary

there won't be anything left by the time we retire at age 77

[give her dixie]

Live stream of the debate in Stormont now:

http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/assembly-business/live-coverage/video-live-stream-1/

[armaghniac]

There are graphs here on the trend in social security and health spending by the UK Government and the trend is only going one way.
I think you can look at 3 articles a month by just registering. 40% of social security is pensions

http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/7a81db82-89f9-11e4-8daa-00144feabdc0.html

And NI is not in great shape, with 50% more in public employment than Britain or the Republic.
http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/a40aa234-c0f6-11e4-88ca-00144feab7de.html?siteedition=intl

[Maguire01]

The only thing you need to know about this contrived controversy, the UDR memorial in the middle of Lisburn erected by Unionist councillors and paid for by all ratepayers in the area.

You're right. And SF had no problem with that, given that the majority of people in Lisburn didn't. Oh no, wait...

UDR monument sends out clear message nationalists not welcome in Lisburn

23 August, 2006

Sinn Féin Group leader on Lisburn Council Paul Butler today described the proposed memorial for the UDR in Lisburn City centre as deeply insulting to the many victims of this unionist militia.

Cllr. Butler said:

"It is high time that Lisburn Council stopped pedalling the myth that Lisburn is a City for All,. The council excludes nationalists and republicans from the top positions, it insists on breaking equality law by flying the Union Jack 365 days every year and has now decided to place a monument to the UDR militia in the city centre.

"The UDR was involved in the murder of many nationalists and it has been acknowledged by the British government as being the source for much of the loyalist death squads, weaponry. If monuments are to be erected to the UDR then it should be in non contentious areas or indeed within the military bases from where they operated. A city centre is no such place for such a memorial of this kind. A clear message is being sent out that Catholics and nationalists, the victims of this force, are not welcome in Lisburn, a fact which will have to be acknowledged by any potential future investors in the area.

"Tonight within the Lisburn Borough a local family will hold a vigil to remember their son killed 20 years ago. It is widely accepted that the UDR are involved in this murder, yet UUP, DUP and Alliance Councillors think that it is appropriate that a monument to the killers of Michael Power be erected in the centre of the Council area in which he lived."

http://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/7394

If it's not right in Lisburn, it's not right in Newry. The hypocrisy is ridiculous.

[foxcommander]

I'm sure the SDLP have no issue with having a UDR monument anywhere. Same lot who jumped in with the unionists to remove the word 'Derry' from a plaque at the Guildhall last year.

[armaghniac]

If it's not right in Lisburn, it's not right in Newry. The hypocrisy is ridiculous.

The Shinners are ahead you Maguire, it is not right in the city centre, but is OK as an expression of the "local community".

[Orior]

Perhaps unionists could get their own house in order before poking their nose into others

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/businesses-flee-uvf-extortion-in-east-belfast-reveals-mp-long-31032332.html

Business owners are leaving east Belfast to set up elsewhere because of the level of control loyalist paramilitaries have in the area, it has been warned.
MP for the area Naomi Long said that jobs and financial investment have been lost because a number of employers felt they had no other choice but to sell up.
Ms Long said that business owners have told her they believed "the neutrality of the area had been compromised" to such a degree that they could "no longer bring a mixed workforce into the neighbourhood".
"Unfortunately the trappings of paramilitarism does drive businesses out of this constituency and has done so," the Alliance MP told the Belfast Telegraph.
She added: "We need to try and communicate the impact that has on day-to-day lives. When these businesses were here they were buying their lunch here, filling their cars in the petrol stations here, they were investing in jobs here. When you remove that business you remove those knock-on effects."
Two years ago the PSNI launched Operation MORS to tackle criminal activity by members of the loyalist paramilitary group, the Ulster Volunteer Force, in the east of the city.
Police have insisted that the paramilitary gang is continually being disrupted. The PSNI said there were 175 drug seizures and 115 related arrests in the area last year.
However, residents living in UVF strongholds in the east have told the Belfast Telegraph how they have to "toe the line or face the consequences".
And they claimed the paramilitary group was taking advantage of foreign nationals, forcing them to pay protection money.
"They say that the foreign nationals, particularly the Polish, are good payers. They're an easy target to make big money.
"I know an Orangeman who was warned off by the UVF after he asked his Polish neighbours to turn their music down. He was told by the UVF they were good payers and to leave them alone. It's now cash before the sash," one resident said.
Another added: "They are thugs but you have to toe the line or face the consequences. They can make your life hell if they want."
A large portion of businesses in the area are forced to pay "protection money" to the terror group. The fee is around £15 a week, but at Christmas and over the July fortnight business owners must pay a £500 bonus. If they refuse they face the risk of having their business burnt to the ground.
A businessman told this paper: "I sold up and got out. I just got fed up constantly battling with them and being ordered to hand over my money."
Ms Long said that the police and other statutory agencies must be challenged to stand up to the paramilitaries.
"If they don't, then the ordinary people on the street will not have the confidence to do it," said Ms Long.
She added: "As an MP I deal a lot with people who have issues with paramilitarism. They come to me because they know I have taken a stand against it.
"We do our best but it is not always easy. There are still parts of this constituency where paramilitaries are able to intimidate local residents where they feel they have no say in their own community. We need to work with police and agencies to try and break the hold they have."

[Maguire01]

If it's not right in Lisburn, it's not right in Newry. The hypocrisy is ridiculous.

The Shinners are ahead you Maguire, it is not right in the city centre, but is OK as an expression of the "local community".

That's dancing on the head of a pin. And I was responding to Ulick, who drew the parallel in the first place.

[give her dixie]

The DUP and the UUP had no problem backing permission for a memorial bench in memory of the notorious
LVF thug Mark "Swinger" Fulton in Craigavon

http://www.irishabroad.com/news/irish-voice/news/OutrageOverMonumenttoKiller031007.aspx

[seafoid]

Armaghniac had a post earlier on the thread about NI public spending being 50% higher than elsewhere but it's linked to the  situation in OWC where sectarianism can explode at any turn, to be followed by its close relative, whataboutery . The Norn Irn statelet will never be normal.  There may be periods of quiet but it'll always "B Special".

[charlieTully]

James connolly park is the next street beside the play park it's a wonder they haven't complained about it. Probably next on the agenda. A lot of fuss over a park that has been named for years.why now?  Not to many people in barcroft would be wanting it changed that's for sure.
Newry is hardly a cold house for unionists. The 12th is held there every few years with no protests or Twadwell type scenarios.

[Ulick]

If it's not right in Lisburn, it's not right in Newry. The hypocrisy is ridiculous.

The Shinners are ahead you Maguire, it is not right in the city centre, but is OK as an expression of the "local community".

That's dancing on the head of a pin. And I was responding to Ulick, who drew the parallel in the first place.

Sorry did I miss the SF legislation proposing to ban all such memorials? Guess I must have if you've mounted the high horse.