Get ready to wave them flegs - Lily Windsor's coming

[Eamonnca1]

And if I were a devotee of Irish (and I greatly respect those who study and speak it for genuine reasons), I expect I would be dismayed to see my Language hijacked, exploited and (apparently) often spoken badly by the Shinners, for purely petty, partisan and political reasons.

I'm actually with you on that point, it shouldn't be used as a means of sticking it to the unionists. But the fact that some republicans use the language should not be any reason for your crowd to block all attempts to promote the language, particularly since HM doesn't have a problem speaking it, wouldn't you say?

You clearly don't see the irony in the fact that the Queen can visit Croke Park, but the GAA's Ulster Counties can't (Down excepted)!

There you go again. Never mind the 27 counties who attended. Never mind the fact that she was there at the invitation of the GAA leadership. Never mind that the GAA's official "party line" is that she was very warmly welcome.  Never mind that representatives from London and New York attended. Never mind the Ulster Council's unionist outreach initiatives. Never mind Knock Presbyterian church and their hurling team. Never mind the protestant children playing hurling all over the north in the various CuChullain programs. Just dig in there deeply enough to find something you can pick holes in and focus on that. Ignore the vast majority of the GAA and the positive work they do. Your hatred of the GAA just blinds you to the positives and your hate-filled mind is just incapable of processing anything that would indicate that this is a positive development.

Only you and your ilk could interpret this historic diplomatic breakthrough as the GAA "snubbing" the Queen when in fact it is the exact opposite.

[Eamonnca1]

The other half is, of course, that the Queen went to Croke, to meet the GAA.

...at the GAA's invitation.

And in the spirit in which it was made, the Queen had the courtesy to accept the invitation.

Meanwhile, 5 (8?) of the Ulster Reps did not have the same courtesy to accept their  Invitation...

Read my lips, EG. Listen very carefully because this bears repeating.

The Queen visited Croke Park at the GAA's invitation.

The Queen visited Croke Park at the GAA's invitation.

The Queen visited Croke Park at the GAA's invitation.

The Queen visited Croke Park at the GAA's invitation.

The Queen visited Croke Park at the GAA's invitation.

Am I getting through here or am I talking to the wall?

[Eamonnca1]

You know what this is like? This is like the Rule 21 issue.  Most normal people would have interpreted the abolition of Rule 21 as a breakthrough.  But critics of the GAA were only interested in the minority of counties which voted to retain the rule.  Never mind that they were in the minority and the organisation overwhelmingly supported the abolition of the rule.  Just focus on the ones who disagreed and use that as proof that the GAA is some sort of sectarian organisation even though such views are in the minority in the association.

[Eamonnca1]

The Irish Times - Thursday, May 19, 2011
GAA playing some lovely hurling in NI peace game

The association is not simply keeping pace with the peace process but is now driving it forward, writes DAVID ADAMS

IN ITS impressive statement confirming this week's visit by Queen Elizabeth to Croke Park, the GAA said: "We are confident that this historic visit to Croke Park will be welcomed by those who play, administer and support our games, at home and abroad, including of course throughout Britain. We hope also that it will encourage a greater interest and participation in our games by our fellow Irishmen and women of the unionist tradition."

Fellow unionists of mine who, in reciprocal spirit, want to witness the GAA at its sporting best should do as I did last week and attend a hurling match.

My friend Terry, a Dublin man, was emphatic when I mooted the idea of going to a GAA game, "Don't bother with the football. The hurling is where the real skill is."

When I mentioned this to another friend, Dave – a Wexford native, who just happened at the time to be celebrating the county's U21 football side winning the Leinster championship – he set about scanning the fixture list for a suitable game. And so it was a week ago that Dave and I, along with a hundred or so other spectators, were leaning on a rail at Pairc Uí Mhurchú in south Dublin, watching Ballyboden St Enda's playing Cuala in the Dublin senior hurling championship.

Ranged along the touchline was a variety of men, women, children and young adults, many of the last two categories carrying their own hurleys.

At half-time they swarmed on to the pitch to practise their skills, creating an interval-long staccato sound of ash cracking on leather. Cliched or not, one couldn't help thinking that youngsters could be doing an awful lot worse things with their free time than supporting their local GAA club.

Similarly, unionists could do an awful lot worse than support the GAA's outreach efforts, and reciprocate the hand of friendship that it is extending.

For far too long on this island, particularly in Northern Ireland, we have lived as much of our lives as possible in hermetically sealed, tribal boxes. Such social interaction as exists between the two main traditions comes in the main from necessity rather than choice.

In the past, organisations rooted in one camp or the other have played it safe, careful not to offend the loudmouth, lowest common denominators in their midst. Is it any wonder that neither tradition knows much about its opposite number, relying instead on exaggerated stereotypes?

Recently I read a report of a political meeting in this newspaper in which – wholly innocently – the reporter remarked on how struck a student audience in Dublin had been by the affability and good humour of a Northern unionist panellist. I cringed to think what they expected a unionist to be like – Jim Allister maybe, or a pre-Damascene Rev Ian Paisley?

To the GAA's great credit, it has kept pace with the peace process, deliberately breaking a hermetic seal to reach out to its unionist neighbours – not least by gradually introducing itself to the state school system in Northern Ireland.

It gave unequivocal support to the Belfast Agreement, dropped the Rule 21 ban on Northern police and British military members, opened Croke Park up to other sporting disciplines, and encouraged and supported its members in joining the PSNI.

As Noel Whelan intimated in a column here last month, few photographs have been as symbolically powerful as that of GAA and PSNI members forming a joint guard of honour at the funeral of Constable Ronan Kerr, while senior police officers and GAA officials together carried the coffin.

As further evidenced by its wholehearted welcome to the Queen, and the warmth of its invite to "fellow Irishmen and women of the unionist tradition", the GAA is no longer just keeping pace with the peace process, it is driving it forward. The association's near equivalent (minus the sporting element) within unionism should take note – we cannot forever allow tails to wag dogs.

As for the match, Terry was right of course. Hurling is not, as I had always vaguely imagined it to be (in my own stereotyping ignorance), a sort of hockey-like free-for-all with a bit of legalised violence thrown in. Although not a game for the faint hearted, it is strictly refereed and indeed highly skilful.

I witnessed ground shots that would put most golfers to shame, aerial catches of feline grace, passes and shots of sublime accuracy, excellent player movement and a display of hurley and sliotar co-ordination that left me – admittedly someone with the hand-eye co-ordination of a newborn – hugely impressed.

At one point in the second half, the Cuala 'keeper dived full-length to save a shot driven from so close a range that he had no right to see the sliotar, never mind catch it. A tight match, Ballyboden eventually won 1-20 to Cuala's 0-14.

I have been informed by Terry and Dave that there is no greater spectacle than a hurling final at Croke Park. So that'll be the next of it: following (almost) in the footsteps of the Queen and her entourage.

[AQMP]

The least Davy could have done would have been to go to the Antrim Laois game...or is he a Down man??

[Maguire01]

Lads, on this board and on all the tv reports we are being fed the line that those protesting are vandals and unemployed lowlifes. There were many many peaceful protests across dublin which have been roundly ignored. Better to portray opponants to the visit as the minset of neatderthal thugs isn't it?

Surely with 'new media' someone has covered at least some of these many many peaceful protests?

The days when mainstream media was the only channel of communication are long gone.

Can you give some details on these peaceful protests?

[Maguire01]

This was sublime


   Madam, – Now that "Éirigí" members have staged a sitdown protest in O'Connell Street, should the group be referred to as "Suígí"? Éirigí féin, b'fhéidir. – Yours, etc,
ALAN DOYLE,
Bóthar Belgrave,
An Charraig Dubh,
Baile Átha Cliath

[Lar Naparka]

See - what chance had it got?

Ah, willl ya get away to f**k outa that! 
Sure, if Paid O'Donoghue and his mates hadn't got pissed on that Protestant whiskey on Tara Hill, the capital would have been right there, up behind them., 

[Maguire01]

Yer man on vincent brown who reviews the tweets made the point that there seems to have been a general acceptance of how the people are expected to view this visit and that and anyone who deviates from that is put down and told they are backward and that this is an oppressive idea of political maturity. How true. It's typified by a couple of recent posts here which suggest that the only apparent reason anyone could disagree with this visit is because such people.are just incapable of moving on. It's an arrogant and condescending argument.

Can't get TV3 myself, but O'Snodaigh has Sinn Fein trending on Twitter. And not for the right reasons.

O'Snodaigh was embarrassing last night. Bumbling his words... couldnt look anyone in the eye.... and managed to stray past the point so much that Brown tied him up in knots.

He was also noticable that he was the only panel member who was challenged on his opinion, which backs up the point in my last post that in the 26 counties, there is no room/tolerance for anyone who voices an opinion which strays from a certain viewpoint on this visit.

Being the only one challenged should have given him a chance to make his point clearly instead of wandering in to GFA where Browne nailed him. I actually agree with him that she didnt go far enough in her statement but he was a pathetic representative of that side of the argument.

How well he performed is one aspect but I think he was clearly under most pressure as he was the only panel member who it seemed acceptable to challenge. It was reminiscent of Inda's plea for people not to protest and embarass the country, and of Christy Cooney's instruction for no discussion on his Croke Park invitation. No room or tolerance for anyone who might dare to feel uncomfortable about or opposed to the visit, and who are opposed to this seemingly agreed version of how this visit should be viewed.

I just watched it back. He was pretty bad. Surely with the number of TDs now available SF can put up someone who's a bit more articulate than that? And David CamerOON? What was all that about?

Agree with you on the protest issue though. I think everyone should be entitled to peaceful protest and that right shouldn't be gagged. The NUI guy on the panel spoke well and was much more articulate than O'Snodaigh.

[muppet]

Should a minority have the right to do as they please?

IMHO yes, unless it impedes on the wishes of the majority in which case the principles of democracy should apply. In this case I would argue that peaceful protests are fine, the rest should be locked up.

[Nally Stand]

Lads, on this board and on all the tv reports we are being fed the line that those protesting are vandals and unemployed lowlifes. There were many many peaceful protests across dublin which have been roundly ignored. Better to portray opponants to the visit as the minset of neatderthal thugs isn't it?

Surely with 'new media' someone has covered at least some of these many many peaceful protests?

The days when mainstream media was the only channel of communication are long gone.

Can you give some details on these peaceful protests?

I haven't much details because as I say, there has been very little coverage so I can only report on the protests I have heard about, which include numerous ones from Sinn Féin, one by The Anti-War Movement and by the Irish Communist Party, though from speaking to a relation in Dublin, there were many more than that engaged in peaceful protest. My initial point is that coverage of protests (at least in mainstream media, and seemingly on forums like this one), would give you the impression that the only people protesting were violent thugs, and as yer man last night on Vincent Brown implied, there seems to be some sort of class based snobbery when referring to protesters going about. As far as new media goes, facebook is as far as I venture into it. Twitter holds no attraction to me and I don't pretend to understand the lingo of it! As an interesting aside, the one group which is being linked to most of the trouble, Éirígí, according to The Irish Examiner, was the best behaved out of the "dissident" republican groups, and seemed to have praise for Éirígí chairman Brian Leeson, saying:

"Repeatedly, when there were any signs of control loosening, Mr Leeson and the stewards got people to sit down.

This even happened when some of the crowd tried to stand up and sing the national anthem.

There were occasions when the stewards appeared to remove some protestors.

There was only one brief moment, at 3.30pm, that the tension got edgy and a solitary wooden pole was thrown into the air towards gardaí manning the barricades. This was followed by a couple of plastic bottles which landed harmlessly.

Mr Leeson could be seen remonstrating with a number of protestors while stewards returned some control."

[Nally Stand]

Yer man on vincent brown who reviews the tweets made the point that there seems to have been a general acceptance of how the people are expected to view this visit and that and anyone who deviates from that is put down and told they are backward and that this is an oppressive idea of political maturity. How true. It's typified by a couple of recent posts here which suggest that the only apparent reason anyone could disagree with this visit is because such people.are just incapable of moving on. It's an arrogant and condescending argument.

Can't get TV3 myself, but O'Snodaigh has Sinn Fein trending on Twitter. And not for the right reasons.

O'Snodaigh was embarrassing last night. Bumbling his words... couldnt look anyone in the eye.... and managed to stray past the point so much that Brown tied him up in knots.

He was also noticable that he was the only panel member who was challenged on his opinion, which backs up the point in my last post that in the 26 counties, there is no room/tolerance for anyone who voices an opinion which strays from a certain viewpoint on this visit.

Being the only one challenged should have given him a chance to make his point clearly instead of wandering in to GFA where Browne nailed him. I actually agree with him that she didnt go far enough in her statement but he was a pathetic representative of that side of the argument.

How well he performed is one aspect but I think he was clearly under most pressure as he was the only panel member who it seemed acceptable to challenge. It was reminiscent of Inda's plea for people not to protest and embarass the country, and of Christy Cooney's instruction for no discussion on his Croke Park invitation. No room or tolerance for anyone who might dare to feel uncomfortable about or opposed to the visit, and who are opposed to this seemingly agreed version of how this visit should be viewed.

I just watched it back. He was pretty bad. Surely with the number of TDs now available SF can put up someone who's a bit more articulate than that? And David CamerOON? What was all that about?

Agree with you on the protest issue though. I think everyone should be entitled to peaceful protest and that right shouldn't be gagged. The NUI guy on the panel spoke well and was much more articulate than O'Snodaigh.

I suspect that Mary Lou has been given plenty of airtime on the issue from SF and they put forward another high profile Dublin TD for the show. As for the Cameroon bit, I noticed that myself! Though I still maintain that it was typical of the way this visit is being treated that O'Snodaigh was seemingly the only person who it was acceptable to challenge in the studio and was therefor under the most pressure.

As for the NUI fella, there could be no doubt he was the stand out contributor. A voice of reason and logic more than anybody else there.

[midLouth]

Should a minority have the right to do as they please?

IMHO yes, unless it impedes on the wishes of the majority in which case the principles of democracy should apply. In this case I would argue that peaceful protests are fine, the rest should be locked up.

No, I disagree. They should have their social allowances taken off them. There is no reason they should be allowed riot on the streets and expect to receive allowances from the state. Peaceful protests I've nothing against.

[The Watcher Pat]

First time I've logged on in months...basically to see what people thought of the Queens visit. Personally I have no problem with it....I see EG'S still spouting the same crap....Would put me right off...See you again when the Pope visits to see what he thinks of that...And what sort of reception he get's in the North...Wonder will Tom Elliott shake his hand!!

[muppet]

First time I've logged on in months...basically to see what people thought of the Queens visit. Personally I have no problem with it....I see EG'S still spouting the same crap....Would put me right off...See you again when the Pope visits to see what he thinks of that...And what sort of reception he get's in the North...Wonder will Tom Elliott shake his hand!!

Having read that I reckon that's what will be next!