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Topics - Jim_Murphy_74

#1
Can you just do it by surname or do you need more detailed insight ?

#2
Jeffrey is on the case:

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/ms-leaves-northern-ireland-logo-off-best-of-the-british-isles-cake-34231877.html

Coming after the Ashers case this just puts the icing on the cake......

/Jim.
#3
General discussion / Maginnis quits UUP
August 28, 2012, 03:14:52 PM
The former Ulster Unionist MP Ken Maginnis has quit the party, he announced today.

He has been a member for 50 years, but announced his decision to resign his membership after the leadership distanced themselves when he referred to gay marriage as "unnatural and deviant behaviour".


No tolerance for "deviants" and their "unnatural physical acts"

/Jim
#5
http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/gaa-event-cancelled-over-psni-involvement-16150873.html

A GAA road safety event had to be cancelled when members objected to the involvement of the police.

The 'Live to Play' event in Co Tyrone was called off when some host club members threatened to hold a picket when the PSNI was due to take part in the Ulster Council Scheme.

The scheme was set up following the deaths of a number of road deaths involving GAA members and aims to encourage young players to drive safely.

The road safety drive involves the Fire and Rescue Service and the PSNI and was to take place at the grounds of the Derrydresk GAC near Coalisland on Monday.

The decision to cancel the event comes amid a unprecedented period of close links between the GAA and the police.

The former arch enemies came together publicly last year for the funeral of murdered PSNI officer Ronan Kerr, a member of the Beragh Red Knights.

His coffin had been carried through his home town by a joint cortege of GAA and PSNI members.

A senior GAA officer, Ryan Feeney, is now also an independent member of the Policing Board after being appointed last May.

Derrytresk chairman Barney Campbell confirmed some local people were opposed to the police's involvement at the event.

"As it turned out, the PSNI were coming to it and we were never informed about that and there were a few people in the club not very happy about that we just called it off," he told the Irish News.

Tyrone county board spokesman Damien Harvey said the GAA's decision should be respected: "At the end of the day it's not something Tyrone GAA are forcing on clubs and if clubs take it on then that's good and if they decide it's not for them we have to respect that decision.

"We don't want it make into a political issue," added Mr Harvey.

A spokesman for the Ulster Council said it organises road safety events "in partnership with the NI Fire service, An Garda Siochana, the PSNI and the relevent county committee".

"The club in question request to host a Live to Play education event but have cancelled and are reviewing arrangements."


/Jim.
#6
General discussion / I just don't get it............
November 04, 2010, 10:27:47 AM
House of Commons debated the Saville report yesterday and we had to usual DUP bleating about focus on one incident.  Also as per norm, Gregory Campbell led the complaining.

Gregory and co. want to know why Bloody Sunday was different from Enniskillen, La Mon, Darkley.

Is it not obvious that one incident fits 2 criteria:

  • Was carried out by government forces
  • Was not subject to proper investigation at the time

I just don't get it.......is Gregory besmirching the good name of the Royal Ulster Constabulary by suggesting that they did not investigate La Mon, Enniskillen and Darkley to the best of their abilities?  Because if they did, what further information will an new inquiry find?

From Irish Times:

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2010/1104/1224282634332.html

/Jim.

#8
General discussion / Who grassed up on OWC?
May 28, 2010, 10:36:27 AM
Ulick do you still have an account there?   ;D ;D

SF man slammed over attempt to 'demonise' NI fans

Published Date: 27 May 2010

NORTHERN Ireland football fans have hit back after being accused of "gloating" over an injury sustained by a young Republic of Ireland player.

Sinn Fein's Paul Butler released a statement last weekend slamming comments which were posted on the NI fans' website Our Wee Country (OWC).

The Lagan Valley MLA said the messages, directed at 18-year-old Everton defender Shane Duffy and two other injured players, were "absolutely sickening" and added: "Comments gloating over a life-threatening injury and wishing a similar fate for fellow northern-born Republic of Ireland players are absolutely disgusting.

"The incident appears to be yet another unfortunate consequence of the Irish Football Association's ill-informed campaign aimed at preventing Irish citizens born in the north of Ireland from representing the Republic of Ireland at international level."

The teenager, who played for Northern Ireland's under-21 side before switching allegiance to the Republic, was playing in a practice match when he suffered a freak, life-threatening injury to his liver.

Shortly after the news of Duffy's injury broke, one fan on the OWC site posted the comment: "What goes round comes round. Hell slap it up them."

The posting was met with a string of responses from genuine fans who were supportive of the injured player.

One typical response said: "I hope your family never have to suffer such torment, you sad individual."

Even '"grahamer" — the author of the original line — saw the error of his ways and added: "My comment was over the top... I presumed a laceration was a simple tear and nothing major."

Gary McAllister, of the Amalgamation of Official Northern Ireland Supporters' Clubs, said: "It's very unfortunate that Paul Butler has seized on a small number of posts on an internet forum in order to attempt to demonise both the Irish FA and Northern Ireland fans in general."

Mr McAllister said he accepted there were some "very uncharitable" comments but added: "The majority of posters on the thread in question expressed their good wishes to the player and indeed one poster later retracted his earlier remarks upon realising how serious the injury was."

IFA president, Raymond Kennedy, said: "Everyone at the Irish Football Association would like to wish Shane Duffy a speedy recovery from his life-threatening injury.

"I also intend to contact the Duffy family to pass on the best wishes of the association to Shane."

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/SF-man-sl...empt.6322145.jp

/Jim.
#9
General discussion / Eurovision......
May 26, 2010, 02:49:07 PM
.....well not really.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIyeNRbbKBw

For all "confused" DUP'ers out there!

/Jim
#11
What do we think?
#12
..................we exist!

Irish unity is inevitable by Seamus Milne, The Guardian

In addition to the political will for unification, there is a strong economic case that can no longer be ignored


It's not hard to see why Sinn Féin wants to turn up the volume on Irish unity – or why the party threw its weight behind a packed London conference at the weekend aimed at driving the issue up the political agenda.

This month's police and justice devolution deal set the seal on a 15-year process that has brought the republican leadership into the heart of the power structure in Northern Ireland. It's already delivered far-reaching reforms of that structure, the withdrawal of troops and once unthinkable advances in civil rights and equality.

But to many of Sinn Féin's natural supporters, the central goal of Irish republicanism – the end of British rule in the north and the reunification of Ireland – looks as far away as ever. That fuels the armed dissident republican campaign, however politically marginal it looks likely to remain.

And as the Sinn Féin leader, Pat Doherty, put it to the London conference (Gerry Adams pulled out for family reasons and Martin McGuinness was grounded by Aer Lingus engineering problems), the Good Friday agreement was an "accommodation, not a settlement" and "the underlying cause of conflict persists".

Meanwhile, the collapse of the south's once-lauded Celtic tiger economy and the savage cuts imposed by the Dublin government have been seized on by unionists and others to deride the prospect of any move towards Irish unity.

Why, they ask, would northerners now want to link up with the basket case in the south, or the south take on responsibility for Britain's taxpayer subsidies to the de-industrialised north? The idea is a nonsense, Andy Pollak, director of the Centre for Cross Border Studies, told the Sinn Féin-sponsored event on Saturday

But as former City economist Michael Burke argued, the economic case for reunification and independence is in fact stronger than ever. Dependence and control by Britain have been disastrous for the Northern Ireland economy, where living standards were comparable to Britain's at the time of partition and far higher than in the south. Now they are well below the British average and far less than in the south, where independence allowed trade diversification and economic development impossible under British rule. Even after the implosion of the speculative boom, median weekly earnings were still £532 in the south late last year, compared with £357 in the north and £397 in Britain.

Ireland is more than wealthy enough to fund a national health service, Burke pointed out, if only its politicians could be convinced to make their friends pay tax. And any process leading to unity would clearly require far-reaching social and economic reform on both sides of the border.

The dysfunctionality of that externally imposed partition for a modern economy, and the demographic trend towards a nationalist majority in the north were of course recurrent themes at the London gathering, along with the historic democratic and national case for independence and self-determination.

But so was Sinn Féin's insistence on the necessity of "reconciliation between Orange and Green" and the need to persuade unionists that Irish unity is in their own economic and social interest. Even after more than a decade of the peace process, it was startling to hear Doherty insist that the Orange Order, sectarian scourge of northern Catholics and nationalists for decades, is "part of who we are as a people" (did that mean we were wrong to oppose the unionist veto in the past, one republican veteran wanted to know).

Irish unity will no doubt have a different meaning in a 21st-century global economy, Ken Livingstone speculated, than when he first campaigned for dialogue with republicans at the height of the armed conflict a generation ago – let alone in the context of a possible breakup of the rest of the United Kingdom, as others suggested from the floor.

But the conviction voiced by Sinn Féin leaders and SDLP assembly member Conall McDevitt at the London conference that Irish reunification is inevitable is surely right. The crucial question on this side of the Irish sea is whether Britain will help that process or hinder it.
#13
General discussion / Wilson called to the Dark Side
February 22, 2010, 12:02:09 PM
He's going to be popular in some quarters..................

Trapattoni names squad ahead of Brazil game
Soccer – Squad news: Giovanni Trapattoni today named a 23-man squad ahead of the Republic of Ireland's international friendly against Brazil at the Emirates Stadium in London on Tuesday, March 2nd.

The Italian has called-up James McCarthy, Greg Cunningham and Marc Wilson for the first time.

The Irish squad will face a full strength Brazil side as Dunga and his players prepare for this summer's World Cup finals in South Africa.

"I look forward to working with my squad again after the disappointment of Paris," said Trapattoni at today's announcement. "The priority now is to build on the progress made during the last campaign and prepare ourselves over the coming months mentally and tactically for an important Euro campaign."

Kick-off at Arsenal's Emirates stadium is 8.05pm

Further details to follow

Republic of Ireland squad (v Brazil)

Goalkeepers : Shay Given, Keiren Westwood, Joe Murphy

Defenders : Richard Dunne, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Kilbane, Kevin Foley, Sean St. Ledger, Paul McShane, Marc Wilson, Greg Cunningham

Midfielders : Aiden McGeady, Damien Duff, Darron Gibson, Glenn Whelan, Keith Andrews, Stephen Hunt, Liam Lawrence, James McCarthy

Forwards : Kevin Doyle, Robbie Keane, Shane Long, Leon Best
#14
General discussion / Brian Kerr brings Faroes to Belfast
February 08, 2010, 10:21:34 AM
Seems like Mr Kerr is looking forward to bringing his charges to Belfast:

Quote"If we weren't to play Ireland, I'm happy to be playing Northern Ireland. Friends have been on to say that the bus for Belfast is ready," he added.

I wonder if his friends have been talking to the boys over on OWC, especially MD_HNISC:


QuoteI already cannot wait to give this complete and utter c**t the most vile and disgusting abuse ever at both games.

Football for All!

/Jim.
#15
General discussion / Worst conspiracy theory ever!
February 02, 2010, 05:25:29 PM
OWC finest (and most well rounded) supporter "Golden Boy" on David Healy's transfer to Ipswich:

Quote"Surely it can't be that oul fcuk-face is simply buying SDH to keep him on the bench and therefore damaging his NI chances? 

He's such a twisted anti-NI bsatard I wouldn't put it past him"

Even Fearon couldn't match that one!!!!

/Jim
#16
Unionists at odds over cause of Troubles
GERRY MORIARTY, Northern Editor

UNIONIST POLITICIANS clashed over the causes of the Troubles during a debate on a proposed bill of rights for Northern Ireland in the Northern Assembly yesterday.

Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) leader Dawn Purvis accused the former unionist establishment of denying that discrimination existed, "mostly" against Catholics, while Ulster Unionist MLA Basil McCrea said the conflict was caused by republican attempts to achieve a united Ireland.

The two politicians engaged in their historical argument during discussion of an Ulster Unionist Party motion, supported by the DUP, calling on Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward not to proceed with a bill of rights for Northern Ireland.

UUP deputy leader Danny Kennedy said that if Mr Woodward proceeded with the bill of rights as supported by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission it would be "to reject the democratically expressed will of the majority in this Assembly".

Sinn Féin, the SDLP, Alliance and Ms Purvis, leader of the PUP, which is linked to the UVF, support the bill of rights proposals.

The DUP and UUP oppose the proposal and have concerns that regardless of their opposition Mr Woodward could enact a bill of rights for the North at Westminster.

The Assembly rejected the UUP motion and supported an amendment by Ms Purvis calling on Mr Woodward to publish a consultation document on the Bill, as a prelude to the introduction of the Bill.

During the debate Ms Purvis raised the issue of how the Troubles started.

She asked, "What came first: stinking, polluted politics or bloody awful violence?" She accused mainstream unionism of having a "particularly blinkered view" of the causes of the conflict.

"They deny discrimination existed. They deny that all working-class people, but mostly Catholics, endured in slums, squalor, poverty, and unemployment in order to preserve the power of the political elite," she said.

"You continue to deny working-class children, Protestants, the right to a decent education by holding on and wanting to hold on to academic selection," added Ms Purvis.

"I have to say to you, you have to stop living in denial, you have to start looking at what happened here, what caused the conflict here, because you are doing a great disservice to working-class people, in particular Protestant working-class people, and the most vulnerable in our society," she said.

Lagan Valley MLA Mr McCrea said the issue simply was whether it was right to put the bill of rights proposals out for public consultation when two of the major parties opposed them. Such a move would contradict the cross-community consensus essence of the Belfast Agreement.

He rejected Ms Purvis's analysis of how the conflict started. "We argue as a party for the social justice that is demanded by all the people of Northern Ireland and we will not be browbeaten by people from whatever side of the house who wish to rewrite history," he said.

"Those that argue that the source of our troubles was some form of social, economic problem, those who say it was all about housing, miss the fact that this terrorist activity that we have had over the last 30 to 40 years was not about social deprivation: it was about a political aim for a united Ireland perpetrated through people that believed that violence was the way forward. That is not the way," said Mr McCrea.

This article appears in the print edition of the Irish Times
#17
General discussion / GAA tree planting for Stormont
November 03, 2009, 12:52:41 PM
The 125th anniversary of the GAA is to be marked with the planting of a tree at Stormont, close to the statue of the unionist Sir Edward Carson.

A mature ash tree will be planted on 12 November during a ceremony attended by GAA President Christy Cooney.

There are also plans to plant 1,000 ash saplings on the Stormont estate.

Ash was chosen because it is used to make hurling sticks, and every Gaelic club in Ulster is being asked to buy five saplings at a cost of £25.

Each tree is expected to produce enough ash to manufacture 25 hurls, representing 125 hurls for every club.

Sinn Fein assembly member Barry McElduff said Sir Edward Carson may be a symbol of unionism, but he played hurling for Trinity College Dublin.

Celebrations

He said the tree-planting was a "helpful" move towards making Stormont a more welcoming place for nationalists and republicans.

"The symbols and emblems throughout the Stormont estate tend to be solely unionist and British in their origin - for example I would drive up the Prince of Wales Avenue, past the Carson and Craigavon statue to get to my office.

"Culture and heritage belong to everyone and as we move forward, people are increasingly curious about each other's cultures.

"The GAA has been making huge efforts to reach out to non-traditional areas."

A series of celebrations have been held this year to mark the founding of the GAA in on 1 November 1884.

The organisation was founded amid a resurgence in Irish language and culture in the late 19th century.



The tree will be planted at Stormont near the statue of Sir Edward Carson, reputed to have played hurling with Cusack while attending TCD.
#18
Given hailed by Northern Ireland counterpart


Northern Ireland keeper Maik Taylor has hailed his Republic of Ireland counterpart Shay Given as one of the world's best and believes he has become even better since his move to Manchester City.

Birmingham number one Taylor has played with and against some of the best goalkeepers around, including Edwin van der Sar during their spell together at Fulham.

However, he feels Given is currently at the peak of his career, as demonstrated during yesterday's goalless draw at St Andrew's.

Given pulled off a series of fine saves, most notably a second-half penalty stop from James McFadden, to earn his team a fortunate point.

Taylor told Press Association Sport: "How good is Given? He was always top quality at Newcastle but, since he has gone to Manchester City, he has almost gone to another level.

"He really is one of the world's best, not just in the Premier League, and he never put a foot wrong against us.

"His kicking and distribution was unbelievable and everything is top drawer about Shay at the moment. He is really on song.

"But he has worked extremely hard to get to the level that he is at now and good luck to him.

"He broke our hearts but it was a fantastic save from the penalty. It was a decent penalty. He definitely earned them a point and we felt a bit deflated.

"Shay rarely makes a mistake. Keepers are judged on mistakes and reliability and he rarely makes them.

"But in addition to that he also comes up with a world-class save when needed as well. He is a very good presence for Man City and I can't praise him highly enough."

City boss Mark Hughes echoed Taylor's sentiments and said: "That is why I brought Shay to the club because I knew he would have that capacity when you need someone to produce something for you to keep you in the game.

"Shay has done that right throughout his career and he was exceptional again at Birmingham to earn us the point."

Read more: http://www.breakingnews.ie/sport/given-hailed-by-northern-ireland-counterpart-432675.html#ixzz0VidsjEDp

/Jim.
#19
General discussion / New GAA channels on SKY
October 09, 2009, 04:57:55 PM
Channel 433 and Channel 437 on Sky (in the Free State) have something called MSK and MSK Extra.

They are showing old GAA games through the night.

Anyone know who MSK are or what these channels are about?

/Jim.
#20
From the Indo:

AS IRISH rugby continues to hoover up new fans, being classless isn't just about class. It's about principles as adhesively tied to fair play as those we expect of our sporting heroes.

Events at the RDS last Saturday night -- behind the white lines as opposed to the well-documented stuff beyond them -- painted a grim picture of how the assimilation of rugby supporters old and new have combined to besmirch the spectating experience.

Aside from the incessant foul language and spiteful personal abuse -- think of the children, you may jest -- it was disheartening to hear Paul O'Connell being sneered at as a "British" captain and Denis Leamy being booed off as he cradled his troubled shoulder for the umpteenth time.

For all that, it was a rocking atmosphere and even if the slagging was as subtle as RTE comedy, the home crowd will be worth more than a penalty kick against London Irish this Friday. A word of advice, though -- leave the personal abuse to the soccer mob and have respect for injured players.

Feckin' soccer hooligans  >:(  >:(

/Jim