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There will be a lot of happy Scousers in the dole office tomorrow

Bombast obviously never read any of my many posts of how I see the future All Ireland political identity.
People might engage with him when he stops using the term "freestate" and generalising 4.5 million of his fellow Irish people into his warped idea of what a "freestater" is.
Also stops mentioning some unprpven allegations and saying "Why aren't ye all as disgusted with this as I am?"
Meanwhile in the real world I have a match to go to.

You mean that you prefer to hit for Kiltoom on a cold January night than stay in and be bamboozled by that gobshite

RIP Tommy Lawrence

https://youtu.be/0U_PUbQGA4U

Genuinely lovely moment.

Saw that before. He had a little laugh to himself as soon as the reporter asked the question.
Good goalkeeper but capped only three times for Scotland, one versus the Republic.
Stalwart under Shankly with Ian St John and  Roger Hunt etc

Are all of the massacres publicly remembered or just the big ones ?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Massacres_in_Northern_Ireland

Only some.  As with all conflicts, there's a hierarchy of massacres.

Unless you live in the 26 where they airbursh all massacres carried out by Republicans to win their freedom.

Goldfish have better memories than the free staters.

Obviously the excess turps consumption has hit your memory

I can't help but think Barry's been caught by a bit of bad luck, if he'd done this in the middle of August no one would have batted an eyelid other than think he's a bin lid.

Trying to reduce the damage by saying he's so stupid that he didn't know the context of what he was doing is a truly incredible defence.

It's great fun watching the Shinners squirm and try to defend the muttonhead. Just shows that putting on a suit and trying to play serious politics is hard going when you have nothing between the ears like so many of the cult

At the last UK election the 18 NI seats were divvied up between the DUP and SF. The SDLP was wiped out.
The politics in NI are completely polarised. It is more or less geographical as well.

SF have to prove that they are capable of delivering change that benefits voters. Otherwise voters will shaft them. 
Maybe the most interesting comment on this whole clusterfuck came regarding SF's respect equality and sectarianism agenda. It looks like plamas.

SF remind me a bit of the Tyrone footballers 2018 version. Very disciplined but no marquee forwards.

The All Ireland that SF are playing for is a United Ireland. They need to have the right people in place to take advantage of the UK's weakness. They need to be strategic. They need to think ahead. Maybe they can't. 

This has nothing to do with the Stardust. This is senior hurling.

I have been thinking about this for a while.  If you look at the long game then all Sinn Féin have to do here is not drop the ball.   Demographics are taking care of things.  In reality in a stalemate situation, it's the DUP that have to make a move.  Playing keep ball will only cost them as they need to widen their support base.  So really the onus is on them to broaden their appeal.  I see zero evidence of that or even an understanding of that from their utterances. 

I don't know the McElduff chap from Adam but I think that Shinners have mishandled things.  If he has done nothing wrong, then they should say so and back him.  By punishing him they are suggesting he did something wrong but by giving such a light punishment it seems like a fudge.  This halfway house effort will be grist to their critics' mills.

/Jim.

It's called running with the hare and hunting with the hounds, a SF speciality

I have little time for SF in the 26 and will have even less when the awful Marylou is crowned.
I know where they're coming from in the 6 and where their sidekicks the Provo IRA were coming from.
The lads who shot the Kingsmill workers certainly deserve to be called terrorists anyway.

Just read into why the Kingsmill incident happened. And identify those that died. That's all I'm saying.

That's part of the problem with looking back at the past. All incidents are related in one way or another. Dealing with each in isolation leads to a narrative that my victims are more important than your victims.

Then you have to ask about how much the british knew about every attack - they had quite a number of spies and agents working for them on both sides.

I remember in the 1970's, it seemed that each murder was bringing us closer and closer to outright civil war and only one more would tip us over the edge.

Y

It's war, these were ordinary people doing things they would not do in the normal course of their lives.

What is more important to look at were those who could have intervened before things spiraled out of control but chose not to - The Free State and British Governments.

That defence wouldn't fly at the Hague

How did ye get away with Dunmanway so?

This is from someone who couldn't find his way to Dundonald never mind Dunmanway. Your friend got a three month suspension so he has plenty time to work on hisc comedy act for Britain's got talent

He doesn't take his seat in a British parliament. He's unlikely to participate in a British talent show. Well, not with that kind of "act" anyway.

I bet he takes the Queen's shilling. Of course all the Shinners do, some of them in cash from their handlers

My tuppence worth on this ramshackle 'debate'.

If that's the calibre of elected politicians then I pity the people of West Tyrone. I've never seen clowns on fb putting a loaf of bread on their head, and by Christ there's plenty of them too. I'm not to judge whether or not he meant offence? But it seems like it.

Apparently he's a great lad for putting things on his head. It distracts from the absence of brains

First and foremost....is she one of us or one of them?

Ha ha.

Are we gonna have too many women squabbling at the negotiating table vis-a-viz
- Karen,
- Snarlene,
- Michelle,
- Leo,
- Naomi

Whoops. There might be a doubt about one of the above.

Throw in Mini skirt Martina while at it

I have little time for SF in the 26 and will have even less when the awful Marylou is crowned.
I know where they're coming from in the 6 and where their sidekicks the Provo IRA were coming from.
The lads who shot the Kingsmill workers certainly deserve to be called terrorists anyway.

Just read into why the Kingsmill incident happened. And identify those that died. That's all I'm saying.

That's part of the problem with looking back at the past. All incidents are related in one way or another. Dealing with each in isolation leads to a narrative that my victims are more important than your victims.

Then you have to ask about how much the british knew about every attack - they had quite a number of spies and agents working for them on both sides.

I remember in the 1970's, it seemed that each murder was bringing us closer and closer to outright civil war and only one more would tip us over the edge.

It's war, these were ordinary people doing things they would not do in the normal course of their lives.

What is more important to look at were those who could have intervened before things spiraled out of control but chose not to - The Free State and British Governments.

That defence wouldn't fly at the Hague

How did ye get away with Dunmanway so?

This is from someone who couldn't find his way to Dundonald never mind Dunmanway. Your friend got a three month suspension so he has plenty time to work on hisc comedy act for Britain's got talent

One thing this thread has thought me us that the DUP supporters unfortunately don't have a monopoly on whataboutery, ignorance and stupidity.

No comment on the involvement of FF councillor Sean McEniff in obstructing an investigation into the disappearance of a 6 year old girl?

Is that because you don't want to be drawn on having go through the list of mud FF have.

DUP aren't guilty of whataboutery, they are guilty of looking at a conflict through one lens, just like FF and FG.

And there won't be any comment either because you are spouting bullshit to divert attention away from the clown. You don't give a shite about Mary Boyle

Let me tell you defenders of this crap something else. There will be no united Ireland without a proportion of current day unionists supporting it. We have that opportunity now due to the calamity of Brexit. United Ireland might make some financial/economic sense to middle ground unionists. The old guard in Republican circles are put out to pasture which makes it a bit easier to do for them too. Things are moving into place. And then you have a total f**king moron like this guy doing this. Unionists need to see that there losses will be respected in any new republic. Anyone who calls themselves a republican should understand that.

Sinn Fein leadership need to toss this fool out on his hole and show that while Arlene and her cronies have no shame, republicans will deal with this stuff. I am ashamed to see so many republicans defending this and reverting to "whataboutery" as a defense. Anyone who questions it is a free stater etc etc. Cop the f**k on.

What is important is balance and I think it's very relevant that those Free Staters who come on to express their outrage here are usually the same ones mentioned when it comes to commenting on the disgusting behaviour and obstruction of justice of the establishment parties in their own state.

Play the ball not the man

I've made my comments on this matter. I'm just pointing out the selective outrage from free staters, but there seems to be an agenda to quell this being pointed out.

You know what outrages all free staters? Tell me have I selective outrage too. Curious as to your assessment of this free stater.

I find it odd that a SF MLA making a crass social media post about the Kingsmill massacre, intended or unintended, is something that draws more outrage from the Free Staters than the injustices that have the fingerpints of the Free State establishement parties all over them of late. These are also topical issues such as the Mary Boyle case and the Stardust families. Yet none of those posters could muster any disgust about the role of the parties in that thread.

None of them? Are you sure about that or is it that just another wild generalisation?

I had two threads on here recently on topical issues in the Mary Boyle and Stardust cases. There was no uptake from the usual Free Staters who will be hand wringing and giving their usual Screaming Mary impressions when a spec of dirt lands of FF.

You won't have to go back to far on the General Discussion forum to find them and offer your opinion, that's if you want to?

To be honest I am not overly familiar with either case. I try not to comment on stories I know nothing about. Now you will see plenty of occasions where I have criticized FF, FG and Southern Government on a number of issues. I have no love for either of those parties and wouldn't vote for either if they were the only two in Ireland.

But that is all totally irrelevant to this case.

I don't think it's irrelevant to point that most of the Free Staters throwing mud in these type of threads are the ones who can't bring themselves to comment on the disgraceful actions of their own establishment parties. I think it's important in terms of balance.

That is nonsense

Nonsense to point out that the usual Free State suspects slinging mud at SF are nowhere to be seen when the establishment parties of their own parties are alleged to have been involved in obstructing justice in the disappearance of a 6 year old, the obstruction of justice in bringing the responsible parties of a nightclub fire that killed 39 people to account, the smear campaign of a Garda whistleblower falsely making campaigns that he was a child molester.

Very little condemnation from those usual suspects there. And as much as you might like to quell spotlight on double standards, it won't work with me. The usual suspects were nowhere to be seen on the Stardust and Mary Boyle thread and I think we can see their faux outrage for all it is. A SF MLA who makes a crass and insensitive post about the murders of the family in a state outside theirs is apparently more worthy of outrage than a FF councillor obstructing Gardai from questioning the prime suspect in the disappearance of a 6 year old girl in their own state.

It seems to me they find the latter acceptable.

Your diversionary tactics aren't working.
There's probably more brains in the loaf of bread than between your man's ears

Barry is to meet SF leaders tomorrow.Here's hoping he doesn't turn up in an O'Neills jersey eating a McDonald's takeaway

He is gone past his sell by date now so all that is needed is some way to move him offside

I have no issue with a certain tax band of say 15-20% for all inter-county lads. The player's grant would have to be taken off the table if it came in mind. That would be key. Then that money from the Govt could be used in other aspects of the GAA. It would sit better with me tbh than lads getting money for being a county player.
That is worse in my mind. Lads are getting money in their account for being a county player. The tax break way means they are keeping more of what they earn.

If you look at the amount of money the big matches bring to Dublin over the summer. If you look at the fact most villages have a defacto community centre in the form of a GAA clubhouse then why not?

NB
I would want the player's grant gone if that came in.

Playing for your county should not be about the money you can make from it and that is what it say.

Intercounty players have to make a lot of sacrifices but not really any more than any amateur sportsman. That they get preferential treatment does not sit well with me at all. I think it would be more apt for them to be taxed on their earnings, those lads with the sponsored cars should be paying tax on them, if you had it in a job it'd be taxed as a BIK. This myth that intercounty players, particularly with the big counties, are not well looked after is a bunch of nonsense.

It isn't, it's just a recognition of the value they have to the economy.

If GAA county games stopped it wouldn't just be a GAA issue it would be a national government issue as it would damage businesses and hence harm the economy.

Good man, you managed to contradict yourself there in a few words.

If it's not about earning money, it shouldn't be about earning money and that's exactly what tax breaks for players is about.  When the free state has such huge social issues in health and housing then it really does baffle the minfd that they are calling for lads in their early-mid 20s with free cars, university scolarships, no-show jobs, loads of untaxed earnings and freebies to get even more tax breaks.

What about the value club players bring to the economy or volunteers who ensure that games go ahead, what about the value the people who give up their own time free of charge to make sure underage teams and competitions can run their course, what about their value to the economy? The GAA would not exist without these people, neither would grassroots in other sports like football etc.

Why don't they evict working class families out of their homes and give them free houses while they're at it?

Tax breaks are about incentives to areas that can improve the economy. Typically done if their is a return on investment. I've personally no propen with this.

How does giving intercounty players tax breaks boost the economy?

Exactly. If people didnt spend money going to GAA matches they will spend it elsewhere.

I went to school with Bernard O'Shea. Don't really find him all that funny if I'm honest but he's a decent enough chap.

Not funny at all. How he's on tv I'll never know.

Of course you know. This is R.T.E. we are talking about.