Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[lawnseed]

Gerry grates on me too. But I have to say some of the small minded anti northern attitudes displayed here in answers are sad. I don't think he has a great personality, but I would concede that he is an astute and clever politician. Any doubts I have as to his ability to lead SF are all predicated on how he is portrayed in the media, his position on the IRA and his role there in and the knock on effect it has on his credability. Kenny's answer doesn't surprise me an intellectual pygmy he was on his way out as FG leader before FF's implosion handed him a life line.

You haven't noticed all the anti-ROI/26 threads and posts on this board, they appear regularly, "the Rotten Republic" is the latest abuse from the north. O and there was Fuzzmans ranting thread that came and went like the wind.

I notice you declined to defend the actions of the fukr refered to in the rotten thread just tried to deflect the light that was pointed in your direction. Because you cant defend it. No matter when we take over we'll fix it for you and then you might be able to come home

[deiseach]

Enda Kenny has made a total arse of himself with his what-about-Jean-McConville routine. It's embarrassing to see the holder of the office of Tasoiseach react in such a childish way.

However, his behaviour tells us everything about Enda Kenny and nothing about Gerry Adams. There's no doubt (not in my mind anyway) that the manner in which Gerry Adams held the Shinners together in the agonisingly long transition from the Long War to the current situation was a sign of great leadership and took no little political skill. However, I feel the skills that were useful then are no longer useful now. To bring the movement along took a high degree of democratic centralism where decisions were made at the highest level by Adams and his closest colleagues and the rest of the party were expected to toe the line. Great when dealing with the weighty constitutional issues of the time, not so great when confronted with the trivia of everyday politics. Faced with a situation where a Sinn Féin figure makes an arse of themselves, the default reaction of just about every Shinner is not to say the person is making an arse of themselves but that it hardly reflects on the party as a whole (note that you won't have any problem finding a member of Fine Gael who would be irritated by Enda's juvenile behaviour). Even though this would be a perfectly reasonable reaction, instead we get a mantra about how The Party will no doubt investigate and dispense Justice accordingly, and/or to shoot the messenger. The inability of Shinners to think outside the box is downright creepy at times, and is going to hold back the party from making any further electoral inroads. NB having one in five of the voters after the economic troubles of recent years and the implosion of Fianna Fáil is not something to brag about.

[Applesisapples]

Gerry grates on me too. But I have to say some of the small minded anti northern attitudes displayed here in answers are sad. I don't think he has a great personality, but I would concede that he is an astute and clever politician. Any doubts I have as to his ability to lead SF are all predicated on how he is portrayed in the media, his position on the IRA and his role there in and the knock on effect it has on his credability. Kenny's answer doesn't surprise me an intellectual pygmy he was on his way out as FG leader before FF's implosion handed him a life line.

You haven't noticed all the anti-ROI/26 threads and posts on this board, they appear regularly, "the Rotten Republic" is the latest abuse from the north. O and there was Fuzzmans ranting thread that came and went like the wind.

I notice you declined to defend the actions of the fukr refered to in the rotten thread just tried to deflect the light that was pointed in your direction. Because you cant defend it. No matter when we take over we'll fix it for you and then you might be able to come home

Not sure of the point you are making here. But I challenge you to show me one thread where I have posted Anti-Southern sentiment. To be clear I am anti partition, whether that comes from North or South and I will challenge accordingly. I don't hold with any "rotten republic" nonsense. The treatment of Adams by some especially politicians is in stark consequence to the Southern people we have had in politics in the north, Farren, Rodgers, De Brun, McDevitt and even Dev. The comment from so called nationalists chimes with the DUP's referral to Conal as the "mouth from the south"...good company for Enda & Co.

[deiseach]

Not sure of the point you are making here. But I challenge you to show me one thread where I have posted Anti-Southern sentiment. To be clear I am anti partition, whether that comes from North or South and I will challenge accordingly. I don't hold with any "rotten republic" nonsense. The treatment of Adams by some especially politicians is in stark consequence to the Southern people we have had in politics in the north, Farren, Rodgers, De Brun, McDevitt and even Dev. The comment from so called nationalists chimes with the DUP's referral to Conal as the "mouth from the south"...good company for Enda & Co.

Well said. I'm sure on an individual level it is not to be taken too seriously, but the race to the bottom to see who can lay claim to the true spirit of Erin that takes place here on a regular basis became tiresome a long time ago.

[muppet]

Not sure of the point you are making here. But I challenge you to show me one thread where I have posted Anti-Southern sentiment. To be clear I am anti partition, whether that comes from North or South and I will challenge accordingly. I don't hold with any "rotten republic" nonsense. The treatment of Adams by some especially politicians is in stark consequence to the Southern people we have had in politics in the north, Farren, Rodgers, De Brun, McDevitt and even Dev. The comment from so called nationalists chimes with the DUP's referral to Conal as the "mouth from the south"...good company for Enda & Co.

Well said. I'm sure on an individual level it is not to be taken too seriously, but the race to the bottom to see who can lay claim to the true spirit of Erin that takes place here on a regular basis became tiresome a long time ago.

Wait for the build up to the 100th anniversary of the Easter Rising.

Personally I think all of the parties could do with new leadership.

[johnneycool]

Enda Kenny has made a total arse of himself with his what-about-Jean-McConville routine. It's embarrassing to see the holder of the office of Tasoiseach react in such a childish way.

However, his behaviour tells us everything about Enda Kenny and nothing about Gerry Adams. There's no doubt (not in my mind anyway) that the manner in which Gerry Adams held the Shinners together in the agonisingly long transition from the Long War to the current situation was a sign of great leadership and took no little political skill. However, I feel the skills that were useful then are no longer useful now. To bring the movement along took a high degree of democratic centralism where decisions were made at the highest level by Adams and his closest colleagues and the rest of the party were expected to toe the line. Great when dealing with the weighty constitutional issues of the time, not so great when confronted with the trivia of everyday politics. Faced with a situation where a Sinn Féin figure makes an arse of themselves, the default reaction of just about every Shinner is not to say the person is making an arse of themselves but that it hardly reflects on the party as a whole (note that you won't have any problem finding a member of Fine Gael who would be irritated by Enda's juvenile behaviour). Even though this would be a perfectly reasonable reaction, instead we get a mantra about how The Party will no doubt investigate and dispense Justice accordingly, and/or to shoot the messenger. The inability of Shinners to think outside the box is downright creepy at times, and is going to hold back the party from making any further electoral inroads. NB having one in five of the voters after the economic troubles of recent years and the implosion of Fianna Fáil is not something to brag about.

I'd agree with most of that.

Gerry was a very good leader bringing Sinn Fein in from the cold and some of the crap he had said to him on some talk shows was unreal (Gay Byrne and RTÉ's ambush included). To hold his cool in such times was unreal and showed his ability to rise above the shíte and portray the republican cause in the North in a good light when all and sundry wanted to tarnish them was no mean feat.

That was then and this is now.

He's fed his ego and sits in the Daíl, but now its time to step aside and bring Sinn Fein the next step into normal politics especially in the South, but its hard to see a single true candidate for that role having leverage in the little 6 and 26 at the same time.
Marty might like a go at the big gig, but I think he'd not make any great inroads in the south, similar to Gerry. Mary Lou or Pearse Doherty may garner a few wavering votes in the South but its hard to see what they'd offer the north.

[AQMP]

Enda Kenny has made a total arse of himself with his what-about-Jean-McConville routine. It's embarrassing to see the holder of the office of Tasoiseach react in such a childish way.

However, his behaviour tells us everything about Enda Kenny and nothing about Gerry Adams. There's no doubt (not in my mind anyway) that the manner in which Gerry Adams held the Shinners together in the agonisingly long transition from the Long War to the current situation was a sign of great leadership and took no little political skill. However, I feel the skills that were useful then are no longer useful now. To bring the movement along took a high degree of democratic centralism where decisions were made at the highest level by Adams and his closest colleagues and the rest of the party were expected to toe the line. Great when dealing with the weighty constitutional issues of the time, not so great when confronted with the trivia of everyday politics. Faced with a situation where a Sinn Féin figure makes an arse of themselves, the default reaction of just about every Shinner is not to say the person is making an arse of themselves but that it hardly reflects on the party as a whole (note that you won't have any problem finding a member of Fine Gael who would be irritated by Enda's juvenile behaviour). Even though this would be a perfectly reasonable reaction, instead we get a mantra about how The Party will no doubt investigate and dispense Justice accordingly, and/or to shoot the messenger. The inability of Shinners to think outside the box is downright creepy at times, and is going to hold back the party from making any further electoral inroads. NB having one in five of the voters after the economic troubles of recent years and the implosion of Fianna Fáil is not something to brag about.

This is pretty much spot on deiseach.  Adams is strong on the politics of revolution and to be fair he and McGuinness could not afford the traditional split in republicanism otherwise the Peace Process would have been bolloxed and it would have been portrayed as republicans' fault.  The reason he did well on the LLS and other programmes in the 90s was that he was very comfortable on the subject they were discussing, he knew far more about it than Gaybo or Hugh Leonard!

But as I posted somewhere else on the board I don't see him as a peace time leader.  His grasp of "normal" national politics comes across as weak and ill-informed.  He would probably make a very good local constituency based "back bench" TD.  However I think he'll stick around until 2016. 

2016 and all that should be good craic on the board.  Prepare for threads to self combust!

[armaghniac]

2016 and all that should be good craic on the board.  Prepare for threads to self combust!

Will he deliver All Ireland government by 2016, as suggested? Or even All Ireland phone roaming as a down payment?

[muppet]

Enda Kenny has made a total arse of himself with his what-about-Jean-McConville routine. It's embarrassing to see the holder of the office of Tasoiseach react in such a childish way.

However, his behaviour tells us everything about Enda Kenny and nothing about Gerry Adams. There's no doubt (not in my mind anyway) that the manner in which Gerry Adams held the Shinners together in the agonisingly long transition from the Long War to the current situation was a sign of great leadership and took no little political skill. However, I feel the skills that were useful then are no longer useful now. To bring the movement along took a high degree of democratic centralism where decisions were made at the highest level by Adams and his closest colleagues and the rest of the party were expected to toe the line. Great when dealing with the weighty constitutional issues of the time, not so great when confronted with the trivia of everyday politics. Faced with a situation where a Sinn Féin figure makes an arse of themselves, the default reaction of just about every Shinner is not to say the person is making an arse of themselves but that it hardly reflects on the party as a whole (note that you won't have any problem finding a member of Fine Gael who would be irritated by Enda's juvenile behaviour). Even though this would be a perfectly reasonable reaction, instead we get a mantra about how The Party will no doubt investigate and dispense Justice accordingly, and/or to shoot the messenger. The inability of Shinners to think outside the box is downright creepy at times, and is going to hold back the party from making any further electoral inroads. NB having one in five of the voters after the economic troubles of recent years and the implosion of Fianna Fáil is not something to brag about.

This is pretty much spot on deiseach.  Adams is strong on the politics of revolution and to be fair he and McGuinness could not afford the traditional split in republicanism otherwise the Peace Process would have been bolloxed and it would have been portrayed as republicans' fault.  The reason he did well on the LLS and other programmes in the 90s was that he was very comfortable on the subject they were discussing, he knew far more about it than Gaybo or Hugh Leonard!

But as I posted somewhere else on the board I don't see him as a peace time leader.  His grasp of "normal" national politics comes across as weak and ill-informed.  He would probably make a very good local constituency based "back bench" TD.  However I think he'll stick around until 2016. 

2016 and all that should be good craic on the board.  Prepare for threads to self combust!

One of the problems is he is the only leader from the pre-GFA days left.

It begins to look like it is all about him, just like we always knew it was all about Paisley.

[lawnseed]

The gimp wont face him in a one to one debate anyhow weak and all as ger is

[muppet]

The gimp wont face him in a one to one debate anyhow weak and all as ger is

You don't debate with anyone either.

You just rant endlessly.

I can see why you admire Paisley.

[lawnseed]

The gimp wont face him in a one to one debate anyhow weak and all as ger is

You don't debate with anyone either.

You just rant endlessly.

I can see why you admire Paisley.

Oh i'm sorry was I ranting about traitors again. You dont find that type of thing topical at the moment?
Im searching for a speck of decency in irish public life something to cling to in a tsunami of shite feel free to highlight that speck should you find it. So far its ming pot head who donates some of his tds salary to good causes.. Hes top of the pile

[Maguire01]

The gimp wont face him in a one to one debate anyhow weak and all as ger is

You don't debate with anyone either.

You just rant endlessly.

I can see why you admire Paisley.

Oh i'm sorry was I ranting about traitors again. You dont find that type of thing topical at the moment?
Im searching for a speck of decency in irish public life something to cling to in a tsunami of shite feel free to highlight that speck should you find it. So far its ming pot head who donates some of his tds salary to good causes.. Hes top of the pile

Brendan Griffin TD (FG) donates half his salary to employ a primary school teacher in Kerry. If that's your measure.

[lawnseed]

The gimp wont face him in a one to one debate anyhow weak and all as ger is

You don't debate with anyone either.

You just rant endlessly.

I can see why you admire Paisley.

Oh i'm sorry was I ranting about traitors again. You dont find that type of thing topical at the moment?
Im searching for a speck of decency in irish public life something to cling to in a tsunami of shite feel free to highlight that speck should you find it. So far its ming pot head who donates some of his tds salary to good causes.. Hes top of the pile

Brendan Griffin TD (FG) donates half his salary to employ a primary school teacher in Kerry. If that's your measure.

why does he have to do that? if he said the teacher was in fact a consultant hey presto. does the teacher work for him or for the education board?? there's something not right there

[Lar Naparka]

The gimp wont face him in a one to one debate anyhow weak and all as ger is

You don't debate with anyone either.

You just rant endlessly.

I can see why you admire Paisley.

Oh i'm sorry was I ranting about traitors again. You dont find that type of thing topical at the moment?
Im searching for a speck of decency in irish public life something to cling to in a tsunami of shite feel free to highlight that speck should you find it. So far its ming pot head who donates some of his tds salary to good causes.. Hes top of the pile

Brendan Griffin TD (FG) donates half his salary to employ a primary school teacher in Kerry. If that's your measure.

It certainly was a noble gesture by any standards but maybe there's more to this story than meets the eye. All serving teachers who get elected to the Dail may continue to to draw their teacher's salary and are only obliged to pay their replacement the going rate for temporary teachers.
There could be a considerable difference there and the teacher can pocket whatever is left after paying the sub. Furthermore, if for any reason the teachers leave Dail Eireann, they can walk back into their old jobs and the sub loses out.
Temps don't get holiday pay or, AFAIK, any allowances for posts of responsibility while teachers continue to move up the incremental pay scale as if they were still employed in the schools they had taught in.
Enda Kenny is the only TD I  know of who gave up his unearned salary and only did this when he became the leader of his party. It wasn't a voluntary gesture either as he was coming under public pressure to do so.
Maybe Griffin did likewise but I think I would have heard of it if he did.