Joe Brolly

[yellowcard]

The article appears to have been pulled down alright. The longer that Brolly does not respond to the article then the more likely it is that some form of legal action has been directed at Conlon.

[Jinxy]

Going by his Twitter, Joe is in Boston living it up with Bernie Flynn.
It was brought to his attention by one of his followers though.

https://twitter.com/JoeBrolly1993/status/808031429380739072

[Main Street]

We'll have to agree to disagree, somewhat.
The last thing I'll say is that Adams brought it up in the Dail himself on December 7th when he said he had emailed the names of 4 people to the Garda Commissioner, and those names had been given to him by Austin Stack.
Austin Stack disputes this, and said he never gave any names to Adams, which means one of them is lying.
He also stated the last time he and his brother met with Adams was November 2013, but Adams said he sent the names to the Garda Commissioner in an email on 22nd February 2016 'in the immediate aftermath' of a meeting with him and his brother.
That's newsworthy to me.
Now, this isn't really the appropriate forum to continue this discussion, but I know where you stand, and I think you know where I stand so lets leave it at that.
Conlon's article was nonsense in the context of Brolly's response to the flag/anthem issue, and I feel this isn't the last we've heard of it.

It isn't the appropriate forum to discuss it, but you couldn't resist to start it  and somehow connect the attack on "our Joe" to a political event and not just content with making that connection you go on expanding upon your strident opinions about that external political event.  You have no restraint Jinxy.
And not content with that discharge, you can't resist going on and and on about it, you feel you have to justify your high horse moral stance by selectively repeating a combination of nonsense to explain your selective subjective interpretation of an external  political  event, which others see as a blatant political propaganda event.
But hey, let's not diverse, that's the last we will write about it, we'll say no more about it,
respect and all that 

[Croí na hÉireann]

We'll have to agree to disagree, somewhat.
The last thing I'll say is that Adams brought it up in the Dail himself on December 7th when he said he had emailed the names of 4 people to the Garda Commissioner, and those names had been given to him by Austin Stack.
Austin Stack disputes this, and said he never gave any names to Adams, which means one of them is lying.
He also stated the last time he and his brother met with Adams was November 2013, but Adams said he sent the names to the Garda Commissioner in an email on 22nd February 2016 'in the immediate aftermath' of a meeting with him and his brother.
That's newsworthy to me.
Now, this isn't really the appropriate forum to continue this discussion, but I know where you stand, and I think you know where I stand so lets leave it at that.
Conlon's article was nonsense in the context of Brolly's response to the flag/anthem issue, and I feel this isn't the last we've heard of it.

Of course it's newsworthy, but its not deserving of the wall to wall coverage it's got while the issue that has defined our generation and probably the next is f**king buried after taking near 10 years to make its way into the mainstream media.

[Jinxy]

We'll have to agree to disagree, somewhat.
The last thing I'll say is that Adams brought it up in the Dail himself on December 7th when he said he had emailed the names of 4 people to the Garda Commissioner, and those names had been given to him by Austin Stack.
Austin Stack disputes this, and said he never gave any names to Adams, which means one of them is lying.
He also stated the last time he and his brother met with Adams was November 2013, but Adams said he sent the names to the Garda Commissioner in an email on 22nd February 2016 'in the immediate aftermath' of a meeting with him and his brother.
That's newsworthy to me.
Now, this isn't really the appropriate forum to continue this discussion, but I know where you stand, and I think you know where I stand so lets leave it at that.
Conlon's article was nonsense in the context of Brolly's response to the flag/anthem issue, and I feel this isn't the last we've heard of it.

It isn't the appropriate forum to discuss it, but you couldn't resist to start it  and somehow connect the attack on "our Joe" to a political event and not just content with making that connection you go on expanding upon your strident opinions about that external political event.  You have no restraint Jinxy.
And not content with that discharge, you can't resist going on and and on about it, you feel you have to justify your high horse moral stance by selectively repeating a combination of nonsense to explain your selective subjective interpretation of an external  political  event, which others see as a blatant political propaganda event.
But hey, let's not diverse, that's the last we will write about it, we'll say no more about it,
respect and all that 

Again, does anyone have any panadol?

[Hound]

We'll have to agree to disagree, somewhat.
The last thing I'll say is that Adams brought it up in the Dail himself on December 7th when he said he had emailed the names of 4 people to the Garda Commissioner, and those names had been given to him by Austin Stack.
Austin Stack disputes this, and said he never gave any names to Adams, which means one of them is lying.
He also stated the last time he and his brother met with Adams was November 2013, but Adams said he sent the names to the Garda Commissioner in an email on 22nd February 2016 'in the immediate aftermath' of a meeting with him and his brother.
That's newsworthy to me.
Now, this isn't really the appropriate forum to continue this discussion, but I know where you stand, and I think you know where I stand so lets leave it at that.
Conlon's article was nonsense in the context of Brolly's response to the flag/anthem issue, and I feel this isn't the last we've heard of it.

Of course it's newsworthy, but its not deserving of the wall to wall coverage it's got while the issue that has defined our generation and probably the next is f**king buried after taking near 10 years to make its way into the mainstream media.

Do you honestly believe the Sugarman story would have got more media coverage had the Stack story only come to light in a month's time?

You are giving FF / FG a ridiculous amount of credit if you think this is something they were sitting on and awaiting a right time to release!

I will say the business / finance media in the mainstream papers are largely incompetent.

[seafoid]

Why is the Stack thing in the news? Didn't Grizzly meet the sons in 2013?
I thought the GFA moved on from all the dead. It's a massive Pandora Box  .
Everyone knows the Shinners have a murky past.

[Croí na hÉireann]

We'll have to agree to disagree, somewhat.
The last thing I'll say is that Adams brought it up in the Dail himself on December 7th when he said he had emailed the names of 4 people to the Garda Commissioner, and those names had been given to him by Austin Stack.
Austin Stack disputes this, and said he never gave any names to Adams, which means one of them is lying.
He also stated the last time he and his brother met with Adams was November 2013, but Adams said he sent the names to the Garda Commissioner in an email on 22nd February 2016 'in the immediate aftermath' of a meeting with him and his brother.
That's newsworthy to me.
Now, this isn't really the appropriate forum to continue this discussion, but I know where you stand, and I think you know where I stand so lets leave it at that.
Conlon's article was nonsense in the context of Brolly's response to the flag/anthem issue, and I feel this isn't the last we've heard of it.

Of course it's newsworthy, but its not deserving of the wall to wall coverage it's got while the issue that has defined our generation and probably the next is f**king buried after taking near 10 years to make its way into the mainstream media.

Do you honestly believe the Sugarman story would have got more media coverage had the Stack story only come to light in a month's time?

You are giving FF / FG a ridiculous amount of credit if you think this is something they were sitting on and awaiting a right time to release!

I will say the business / finance media in the mainstream papers are largely incompetent.

Good question. The media have purposely ignored this story for the guts of 10 years so why would they start to cover it now! The only reason VinB interviewed him is because he launched an ebook about the affair. And the only reason rte had a brief interview with him on drivetime was word was out that VinB was interviewing him. Since then nothing. Stack is a very handy emotive issue that has taken the spotlight away and that itself will fade into the background again shortly. Worth stating that Austin Stack has very strong FF connections.

[muppet]

Sugarman is demanding an enquiry into something that would probably bring down our economy.

He has the moral high ground, certainly, but since McCreevy and Harney, our 'best little country to do business in' model is based on light touch regulation. And light touch means DON'T TOUCH.

We would lose most of our banking industry (and a few other sectors) overnight if we start having real investigations.



A nice little catch 22 there, isn't it?

[Croí na hÉireann]

Indeed muppet. So we can have light touch regulation with the banks but when it comes to the independent (everyone, not just INM) media we can ensure no real investigative journalism goes on there at all! How does that work?

Didn't see much discussion on The Atlantic, which was broadcast last week either.

[muppet]

Indeed muppet. So we can have light touch regulation with the banks but when it comes to the independent (everyone, not just INM) media we can ensure no real investigative journalism goes on there at all! How does that work?

Didn't see much discussion on The Atlantic, which was broadcast last week either.

Light touch regulation and no real investigative journalism compliment each other nicely, don't you think?

Banking isn't the only light touch regulation industry either.

When it comes to shipping, Irish-owned vessels are registered in places like Bahamas, Bermuda, Cambodia, Cyprus, France, Malta, Marshall Islands, Panama (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flags_of_convenience)

Dirty rotten flags of convenience b'stards.

But when it comes to aviation: http://www.thejournal.ie/aircraft-leasing-ireland-640059-Oct2012/ Half of the world's aviation fleet now managed from Ireland

This of course is great news and is all down to our genius, our tax regime and etc......

[Croí na hÉireann]

Indeed muppet. So we can have light touch regulation with the banks but when it comes to the independent (everyone, not just INM) media we can ensure no real investigative journalism goes on there at all! How does that work?

Didn't see much discussion on The Atlantic, which was broadcast last week either.

Light touch regulation and no real investigative journalism compliment each other nicely, don't you think?

Banking isn't the only light touch regulation industry either.

When it comes to shipping, Irish-owned vessels are registered in places like Bahamas, Bermuda, Cambodia, Cyprus, France, Malta, Marshall Islands, Panama (source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_flags_of_convenience)

Dirty rotten flags of convenience b'stards.

But when it comes to aviation: http://www.thejournal.ie/aircraft-leasing-ireland-640059-Oct2012/ Half of the world's aviation fleet now managed from Ireland

This of course is great news and is all down to our genius, our tax regime and etc......

Absolutely. We have a fair idea how the light touch regulation directives filter down from government and we can see how a shit storm like the Brian Stack case can be fanned to bury more significant news but how do they manage to quell these stories time after time after time? I remember Brian Lenihan Junior picking up the phone to Joe Duffy back in the bank run days to tell him to stop fanning the flames but it's the back channels I'd be interested in hearing about. If only we encouraged and rewarded whistle-blowers in this country...

[Jinxy]

So anyway, Tommy Conlon has deleted all references to the article from his Twitter profile.
Even the balls.ie piece about the article is gone!

[EastTyrone]

Managed to copy and paste this.


Joe Brolly
One day the GAA president is talking about a hypothetical future in which the tricolour and national anthem might be stood down as conspicuous symbols of the association.

The next day Joe Brolly is talking about a vicious past and citing it as good reason for proudly retaining the same rag and dirge.
His piece in last week's Sunday Independent was a tour de force of historical prejudice, tribal tub-thumping and emotional blackmail. His former Belfast neighbour, the late Rev Ian Paisley, would surely have been proud.

Aogán Ó Fearghail had merely floated a notional prospect that in some sort of distant "agreed Ireland", the GAA would be "open-minded about things like flags and emblems". Of necessity, his thinking on the matter was entirely speculative. It was interlaced with all sorts of caveats and qualifications.

Yet it was a red rag, a Danish cartoon to Abu Hamza al-Brolly. He spent the day slapping his head with both hands and whacking a picture of Ó Fearghail with his shoe. Later that evening he was spotted on top of the Sperrin mountains chanting "Padraig Pearse Akbar! Padraig Pearse Akbar!"

Then he calmed down and the self-pity flowed out in torrents. Somehow from the president's gentle comments, the Dungiven Wahhabi made a psychic leap back to the sectarian massacre in January 1976 of three South Armagh brothers.

Sez you, what has that got to do with the GAA and the flag and anthem? Well you might ask. But seeing as he dragged the debate back into that rancid swamp, it would be remiss not to acknowledge another few terrible spectres from that barbaric time and place.

Ten Protestant workmen were subsequently murdered by the IRA at Kingsmills in South Armagh. They were taken out of their van and mowed down by machine guns where they stood. This atrocity happened within 24 hours of the murder of the Reavey brothers. Joe somehow forgot to mention it.

In July 1972 our heroes planted bombs outside three Protestant businesses in the village of Claudy, then fled to Dungiven, 10 miles away. A mere nine people were murdered on this occasion: four Catholics, five Protestants, including Kathryn Eakin, aged eight. Joe's buddy, Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, was deputy leader of the IRA in Derry at the time.

Kevin Lynch played underage hurling for Dungiven before he moved on to greater things. He decided to do a bit of killing for Ireland and, after that, a bit of dying for Ireland. He didn't join the IRA, on the grounds presumably that they were a bit slack in the depravity department. Instead he joined the INLA, which happily had an even more bestial disposition. Lynch died by suicide in 1981. He hadn't eaten any grub in Long Kesh for a few months.

Dungiven GAA subsequently named their hurling club after him. Abu Hamza al-Brolly thinks it's a great idea altogether to name his hurling club after a chap who had no problem with the killing of men, women and children. Sure he was one of our own, after all, and a "good Gael" to boot.

Croke Park should have stepped in long ago and banned this practice.

What's to stop a club from naming itself after Dominic McGlinchey, the psychopath from south Derry who founded the INLA and boasted of his involvement in 30 murders? Maybe Brolly's football club could be re-named the Dungiven Mad Dogs, in fond memory of McGlinchey. Or maybe he was a soccer man, in which case it would be unthinkable.

Unfortunately the GAA at national level was too deferential for too long when it came to Ulster nationalism during the Troubles. Admittedly the Association was placed in an almost impossible position during that era.

These were the years when it didn't know whether it was primarily a sporting or cultural organisation. It claimed to be both. But its cultural identity was the anchor that pulled it down into the morass of atavistic conflict. It never set solid boundaries. It allowed itself to be hijacked by forces that cared little for the GAA's wider mission in Irish society. Like any sports body it should have been all-inclusive: non-tribal, non-sectarian, non-political.

A prime example was Rule 21, the law which prohibited Northern Ireland and British security forces from joining the Association. Rule 21 made bigots of the entire GAA membership. But time and again the Association's leaders deferred to the Ulster hardliners. They abdicated their responsibility to the organisation nationwide. The tail wagged the dog.

Nowadays the GAA is a lot clearer about its remit. It is a sporting organisation doing magnificent service for the community. But it will take generations to shake off its tribal baggage.

Ó Fearghail's comments should be seen as the beginning of that journey. Or maybe it began with Jarlath Burns' civil and decent intervention last year. The former Armagh captain is a GAA man to his core. He grew up in the tradition – all "the sacramentals" of flag and anthem and culture.

"It wouldn't cost me a thought," said Burns, when asked if he would contemplate getting rid of the old emblems. "They are divisive. All they say is, this is me, this is what I am. It's not about reaching out to anybody else. People are more important than flags and anthems and all those things."

You would think that this much, at least, should be obvious, after all the damage done. But no: we'll damn well cling to the rag and dirge, even if it kills us.

[OgraAnDun]

Didn't want to give the Indo the page views by reading it on their site so missed it until now, that is a disgraceful article.