Messages

The amount of people defending SF's stance on the Paul Quinn case is really disgusting. Brainwashed.

The amount of people using him for political point scoring is disgusting. And it's typically from people who neither know about, nor want to know about the victims of the conflict unless there's an election campaign happening. Then they'll always pick a useful one. And when the campaign is over, there won't be a word about Paul from the same people. Because that's how much they really care about him and his case. People who a fortnight ago probably never heard of Paul Quinn, but weirdly are taking an interest these days. Nothing like digging up the IRA or things that happened 15 years ago to distract simpletons from the homelessness & health crises that are the real clear & present danger to people today.

We have been here before. SF poll well but on the day it doesn't materialise.

Not entirely true, it would seem. On Newstalk the other day, an analyst of some description was on talking about previous elections, and noted that Sinn Féin only finish well below early campaign polls, but that the most accurate polls tend to be those done in the final week of an election, and that in the last few elections, the 'final week' polls were very close to getting SF's actual % correct, with the party typically only ending up around 1% below the predictions.

A bad week for Colum Eastwood. First off he failed to live up to his election promise to "Stop Brexit", and now two of his MLA's have been busy making a mockery of his big FF link up.

Claire Hanna, who opposed the FF link up and who shortly afterwards appeared at the Labour Party Conference, and who has in the past been pictured on the canvass trail for Labour, and regularly speaks of her support for Labour, was out canvassing this week for...you guessed it....Neale Richmond and Emer Currie of the blueshirts.

And then we have Pat Catney MLA who has been busy tweeting about his canvassing efforts on behalf of Aodhan O'Riordan of Labour.

Lest we forget that not long after his big FF link up was announced, his former party leader actually stood in the European elections for FG.

Laughable.

[SF will be central to that along with others]

Reunification is coming (even if Leo and FG don't like it) - SF will be central to that along with others - they deserve their place on the debate.

The Island will prosper in the long run - sure there will be some possible economic downside in the short term - however EU and UK money could offset some of this. So anyone with children - if you want the best for them and their children reunification is what that looks like and with that goes accepting the fact that SF are a main political party north and south.

SF nothing more than a protest vote. Fringe party at best. Left wing communists who if we're let anywhere near the fiscal leavers would bankrupt the country for years.

Who's the SDLP canvassing for this election?

Eastwood's Fine Failure or Durkan's Fine Gael?  Both are two sides of the same coin!!

Ironic people talking about the economy and running the country when the children's hospital will be approx. £200 million, maybe more when completed, after what was the original cost - someone fill that figure in for me.

Oh yeah, they are great at economics alright.

Don't get me started on rolling out the broadband across the country - sure best way would be to tender for it.  Oh no, we'll just offer it to one company for a bankload of money...no tendering required.  Great economic sense alright.

No lectures please on the economic ability of the big two.

Whatever. At least you can guarantee it will be electable and accountable politicians taking decisions. Not a bundle of provisionals in the Felons club.
SF don't operate like any normal political party. Those who are elected in SF aren't allowed to take decisions. That's not democracy.

No answer to who the SDLP is backing this election then?

Is it F Failure's Durkan of FF's Michael 'sit on the fence' Martin?

By the way, how's Colum getting on with Brexit? - has he stopped it yet? I'm tired waiting on the update.

He's running Stormont from London after giving out to previous leaders that this shouldn't be the case.

Is he?

Who's running SF now? Ted Howell?

All joking aside, Trailer. Who do you vote for in the six counties, since you believe that voting for anyone other than the 'big two' parties in an election is just a waste and "a protest vote"?

[Don't get me started on rolling out the broadband across the country - sure best way would be to tender for it.  Oh no, we'll just offer it to one company for a bankload of money...no tendering required.  Great economic sense alright.

They did tender for it, only one company remained in the tender process.
Mind you, what they were trying to do was bollix.

It's bad when Varadkar is more republican than Martin.

Martin is a bit slithery, but you know rightly that he would love  to the FF leader who united  the country.

He is the most repulsive snake of free state partitionism.

Do they still call themselves the Republican Party? Micheal Martin is more partitionist than most in FG and that takes some doing.

Is it not a bit obscene that Pat Kenny provided both Leo and Micheal with an opportunity to tear into Sinn Féin when SF weren't allowed to be there to defend themselves? Surely this is fundamentally wrong?

Dromore won the Division 1 reserve league by playing 7 SEVEN games.

That's Division 1.

When you look some of the so-called 'small' clubs that managed to field in most/all their reserve games, then perhaps it's worth considering the notion that it's not the system/format that needs changed, but the attitude of the clubs who don't bother their hole putting effort or emphasis on their reserve structures and haven't the foresight to consider how a strong reserve panel can be of benefit to the senior team when they are training as one unit under one management.

SF nothing more than a protest vote. Fringe party at best.

So basically it's a waste of time voting for anyone other than the main two parties, because it amounts to "just a protest vote"?

An interesting, if a tad ironic, theory to hear coming from an SDLP fanboy.

[Roscommon 7.4%]

I said MOST Western and Midlands.
Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan are not West or Midlands.
Including Leitrim and Laois gives you around 7%.
Excluding those 2 double figures percentages gives you around 6%.
We Connacht people usually speak in broad indicative terms and leave the narrow literal interpretations to Northerners and Solicitors

Wow. That's some mental gymnastics! So basically you were right so long as everyone else accepts that:

1. Donegal (a county on the west coast) is not in the west, so must be excluded
2. Cavan and Monaghan (both landlocked counties) are not midland counties, so must be excluded
3. Leitrim & Laois can be excluded solely because SF's results there are far higher than suits your argument

Any other straws you can clutch to or is that it?

I said MOST Western and Midlands.

Indeed you did. And even if we indulged your staggering mental gymnastics above and removed all the constituencies you asked us to remove, then most of the rest STILL had SF at over 5% going by the 2019 figures:

Roscommon 7.4%
Galway Co 4.8%
Galway City 5.4%
Mayo 7.4%
Sligo 8.2%
Longford 4.6%
Westmeath 5.8%
Offaly 4.6%


Wouldn't it just be easier to say, 'ok fair enough, I was wrong'?

Any more hairs to split?
Still a long way off the 20% being bandied about from opinion polls.

The problem there is that "the 20% being bandied about" (or to reword that for you: the 20-21% findings from the two most recent opinion polls), was a 26 county figure and not a figure restricted to "Western or Midland constituencies" as you were basing your remarks on. You said they would struggle to reach 5% in in "most of" those western & midland constituencies.

The evidence posted directly and comprehensively discredits your claim. That isn't a matter of discussion or debate. The figures are there. When you're wrong and the evidence to show it is presented for everyone to see, ffs have it in you to admit it lol

The RTE decesion is playing into SF hands.

Let them on, they will crumble the more exposure they get. The RIC scandal was a joke, and a disgrace to even suggest it, but if SF gain based on this and the RTE debate rather than policy well people deserve what they get

It's silly to suggest that the RIC debacle is the only explanation for SFs high polling figures. Éoin Ó'Broin has been outstanding on the housing issue, while Pearse Doherty has impressed on the insurance rip off. His campaigning on pension ages seems to be striking a chord too. There are crises in housing and homelessness that people are angry about, and on top of that, for the first time FG and FG have been jointly responsible for this as partners in power and there is an anger there. So as you say, if people vote again for FF or FG, maybe they do deserve what they get.

This is the real world. And I've already stayed that polls are rarely accurate, but when two polls show a tight contest between three parties that are far and away ahead of the rest, then rightly or wrongly, RTÉ leave themselves wide open to the charge facing them by excluding one of them.

I personally don't agree with debates that exclude any party leaders by a broadcaster that claims to impose a rule of strict impartiality upon itself, but if they are going to have such debates, and the latest research shows three parties are way ahead of the rest, then they should surely reflect that.

As I say, it's not RTÉ's job to decide who will be the next Taoiseach, but there will only ever be a choice of two when the main media outlets persist in embedding the notion in peoples head that that is the reality.

Yesterday I listened to a podcast from Today FM from the day the election was called. Their political correspondent outlined that peoples choices were FF or FG, and to use his exact words "or then you have this weird grouping of centre left parties, the Social Democrats, the Greens, Labour". Not a single mention of SF at any stage in the discussion, and the other parties outside of FF/FG  described as "weird". Thats the message that is being subliminally/overtly delivered to people; 'Your choice is FF or FG. Don't be thinking of anything else.'

The fact that FF and FG have been in bed together for the past four years I suspect means more people are now accepting that policy wise, you couldn't get a cigarette paper between them, and a real and useful and democratic debate cannot happen when SF as the next biggest party, are barred from participation.

Interestingly, a former head of TV at RTÉ tweeted last night "As a former Director of TV at RTÉ, I would expect, given the party's showing in these 2 polls, that Sinn Féin would be added to the Leaders' Debates." And followed it up by saying "I believe that a party with a 20% poll should be included. Let them all be questioned on a public platform together. Fair."

It's hardly a big ask and more importantly, hardly an undemocratic one.

They'll always come up with ways to justify their decision but when two polls indicate that three parties are closely tied, then the decision to exclude one of them will appear to many people to be another example of the state funded, public service broadcaster, breaching it's own rules on impartiality. It isn't for RTÉ to decide who will be the next taoiseach, but they leave themselves wide open to the charge of trying to unduly influence who it will be.

Latest Poll out tonight:

Fianna Fáil 25 (~)
Fine Gael 23 (-6)
Sinn Fein 21 (+7)
Green Party 8 (~)
Labour 5 (-1)
Ind/Other 18 (~)

Polls are rarely accurate but two in a row now show a significant surge for SF. When the latest poll shows just four 8 points separating the top 3 parties, and a 13 point gap between the top 3 and the best of the rest, it makes the decisions by RTÉ and Virgin to exclude SF from their first debates all the more ridiculous and hard to justify.

Apparently the rumours are true. I seen the pics.

I'm sure you have 

So much for your defence that you were only reporting that the rumour existed but weren't commenting on the extent of truth of it.

Go away and get yourself a hobby.

Wasn't many Tyrone men talking about the pics of Mickey harte and the new woman.

Hearing this, Early 30's I have been told. Talk of the building site this last week or more

Also heard the rumour. But as with most such rumours, there's most likely absolutely nothing too it. But at least when you hear it on the building site, who know who's telling you the story. It takes a very special type of w**ker to hide behind a false name and post damaging and most likely bulls**t rumours online about someone purely because they don't like their style of football management. STG is that w**ker.

You might not like Harte (you've polluted this site for long enough with nasty abuse about him), but spreading rumours like this from behind your cloak if anonymity, takes it to a disgraceful new low that probably just hurts Harte's family more than it does Harte himself. Grow the fck up.

hang on a minute, a few Tyrone posters were having digs a Jim Gavin so I merely pointed out that there are similar rumours about our own manager. Never said they were true and couldn't care less if they are. What a pontificating gobshite you are.

What a f**king pathetic attempt at a justification. People discuss a b.s. runour about Jim Gavin so that somehow justifies you posting a likely b.s. rumour about Mickey Harte and presenting the rumours as fact? Two wrongs make a right yeah?

And like the little coward you are, you now pretend you weren't making any comment about whether the rumours are true. Firstly, you still posted the rumour to a public forum and secondly,  did you say "the alleged pics" or "his alleged new woman"? No. You presented it as fact. You spoke of "the pics of Mickey Harte and the new woman".

At some stage do you ever sit back and think about the damage you can do by anonymously posting rumours about someone's personal life online?

It's nothing to do with pontificating. FFS you might not like Harte but have a bit of f**king thought about the effect it can have on his family to be anonymously posting B.S. rumours about him. You're a complete f**ing low life.