YOUNG GAA PLAYERS ATTACKED

[boojangles]

Cornafean has lost his tongue.That kind of attitude sickens me.RTE and the Irish Governments attitude to Sinn Fein at the height of the troubles was a disgrace IMO.Purely hypocrititcal.the British establishment had as much to answer to as Sinn Fein had, yet RTE and some people in the Dail could only see one side,and that was the British side.

No I haven't, I just kept getting the following message when I tried to post:

"Session verification failed. Please try logging out and back in again, and then try again. "

Anyway, the reasons why Section 31 was introduced in the 1970s are well known, as were the reasons why it was scrapped in the 1990s. I don't think it was unreasonable for spokesmen of certain organisations to be denied access to the State airwaves at a time when the same organisations (of all shades) were engaged in various campaigns of terror one of the aims of which was to subvert the State. How exactly letting the likes of Owen Carron, Caoimhghin O'Caolain or John McMichael onto RTE would have protected the victims of neanderthals like Billy Wright or Lenny Murphy is a bit beyond me. Anyway, thankfully, that's in the realms of history now.

I dunno what your point is there Cornafean.but my point is that it was total hypocrisy on the State and the State broadcasters behalf that was banning its fellow country men from Sinn Fein and its type on to the airwaves but at the same time when the British establishment was involved as much terrorist activity in Northern Ireland and the Republic(Dublin and Monaghan Bombings) but there was never an airwave ban put on them.Do you see my point?

[cornafean]

I dunno what your point is there Cornafean.but my point is that it was total hypocrisy on the State and the State broadcasters behalf that was banning its fellow country men from Sinn Fein and its type on to the airwaves but at the same time when the British establishment was involved as much terrorist activity in Northern Ireland and the Republic(Dublin and Monaghan Bombings) but there was never an airwave ban put on them.Do you see my point?

I do see your point and there certainly was an element of hypocrisy involved. That said, I don't think there was ever much danger of the likes of Jack Hermon successfully using RTE as a tool to tempt gullible youngsters in the South to enlist for the RUC or MI5. The authorities in the South did feel that the presence of Sinn Fein on RTE would attract new recruits to the IRA, so in those respects there were good reasons for the ban, and the hypocrisy. Whether at this stage the benefit of hindsight justifies or undermines those reasons is really a matter for historians to ponder.

[aroundincircles]

A west brit that boy is.