'GAA Athletes for a No Vote'

[Itchy]

There's no way the NO side will win.

Posters up on poles doesn't equal votes

There's a huge undecided vote and most of them will stay away from the polls.

And Mickey should keep his opinions to himself considering he doesn't have a vote in this contest

What do you base that on? I will probably be voting yes but there is part of me uneasy about it to be honest and I not in anyway a religious person. I live in a rural part of Ireland but i imagine it is not dissimilar to many parts of Ireland outside the big cities. If I were to make a guess I think there are currently more people voting No than voting yes in my area and these are people who do turn up at poll stations. I am not in the cities to often these days so maybe it is totally the opposite there. However, as someone said above this is a totally different vote than the Gay Marriage one. It boils down to this for me and I think the same for a lot of people. Is a baby in the womb to be considered a person or not in the time period abortion is permitted. If it is to considered a person then you should not be allowed to kill it. I think a lot of people are debating this and while you can scoff at the No side posters, they show a child in the womb (I have no idea of what the time is) and imply "look this is a child and you are going to kill it" - This is a powerful message. Quite frankly I have seen no one from the Yes side out arguing the opposite - no posters, no leaflets, no canvas and no information. I can only guess the main parties, like they always have, are running a mile from this issue and the No side will continue to make hay. That's how I see it at the moment.

[Jinxy]

The older demographic generally holds the balance of power in local/general elections but that gets turned on its head for referendums on perceived social justice/human rights issues.
I feel the 'Yes' side will win, but not by as much as people think.
It will be a comfortable margin, not a landslide.

[Itchy]

The older demographic generally holds the balance of power in local/general elections but that gets turned on its head for referendums on perceived social justice/human rights issues.
I feel the 'Yes' side will win, but not by as much as people think.
It will be a comfortable margin, not a landslide.

I'm not so sure its all older people, but sure we are only guessing both of us.

[Jinxy]

You don't have to be older and/or religious to vote 'No', but I'd imagine the bulk of that vote will be drawn from one or both of those categories.
It's a numbers game and if there is a relatively high turn-out, I can only see it going one way.

[tippabu]

There seems to be alot more no posters down this way so far, even the ads on YouTube and Facebook are mostly no ones. I hope the yes side aren't taking things for granted. You'd always expected the no side to be much more in you're face and stronger in their campaign though

[redhandefender]

I'm from Tyrone and a Mickey Harte fan however I cringed when I see this. I wish he would stay out of stuff like this. A man in his 50's from outside the jurisdiction getting involved in this is absurd.

Whatever your views he should not be forcing his religious views on anyone.

I also think its very sneaky to use the GAA name. I bet he'll have noo problem speaking to RTE if it means ramming his religious views down someones throat!

[haranguerer]

There seems to be alot more no posters down this way so far, even the ads on YouTube and Facebook are mostly no ones. I hope the yes side aren't taking things for granted. You'd always expected the no side to be much more in you're face and stronger in their campaign though

Really? I'm in the north but all I've seen on social media etc are 'yes' advocates. Wouldn't like to see what would happen anyone who made a 'no' post, on my feed anyway!

[thewobbler]

Mickey Harte is completely out of order here.

I don't care how many all Irelands he was won, he has no right to present his merry band as in any way representative of the GAA.

[seafoid]

Mickey Harte is completely out of order here.

I don't care how many all Irelands he was won, he has no right to present his merry band as in any way representative of the GAA.

I'd say it is a sign of how well the No side are going.
At least part of Ulster says no .

I would think that a lot of people have thought a lot about this particular issue and might be less amenable to celebrity intervention.

[haranguerer]

He definitely doesn't. I see GAA to write to secretaries to tell them shouldn't have any involvement - they should have done this long before now.

[Rossfan]

Nobody was trying to hijack the GAA to their side before Saturday.

[Lar Naparka]

I think it should be remembered that when the votes are cast and the controversy dies down, there will be little if any change to the current state of affairs.
Women who want abortions can still travel openly to Britain or any other country where abortion is legal or else abortion pills may be ordered by post.
We will still have an Irish solution to an Irish problem as Charlie Haughey might put it.

This is not a solution, women taking dodgy pills without medical supervision, women getting procedures with no aftercare. Women not being in a position to travel and essentially being forced to continue with an unwanted pregnancy.

This is not an Irish solution to an Irish problem. That's a damaging phrase that suggests that the current status quo is any sort of 'solution'.

Mickey Harte seems to have more compassion for lads accused of sexual assault and murder than he does for vulnerable young women.

He's a dinosaur, needs to take his hard line catholic shite and get it away from anything related to the GAA.

I think you may have taken Lar up the wrong way.

I'm afraid he has. I guess SYF is too young to remember what Charlie said and the context in which he said it.
I was being sarcastic when I paraphrased him.

But at least he is back on speaking terms again so we must be grateful for small mercies. 

Christ. Don't pretend like your first two lines were sarcasm just because you got savaged for not thinking about the implications of aftercare or the other problems caused by palming off our societal blind spots on other countries. Own up to your mistake and move on.

?? 
WTF is this all about?

[Jinxy]

Writing to the county secretaries is largely a PR exercise.
The GAA have to be seen to do something about this and yet it is not clear if any rules have been broken.
I'd imagine most people at county board level would be well aware of their responsibilities re the associations non-political stance.
Croke Park has had to engage in a certain amount of 'both sides-ism' in response to this issue, but in terms of GAA personalities advocating for a 'Yes' vote, the most high-profile of those is Eamon McGee but I have not seen or heard him even reference the GAA thus far.
He's involved in the campaign as a private citizen of this country and he is fully entitled to be.

[blewuporstuffed]

A few fellas spouting contradictions including syferus. Not a week ago half the people in ROI were passing comment and opinion on the Ulster rugby rape trial including at least half of the TD's and senators in the Dail. The affair was broached in the Dail and very publicly covered on social media by the same public representatives. There were demonstrations in cork, Dublin, galway etc and 300 odd pages of comment on here by mostly ROI commentators. This is despite the trial being held under the laws of a different jurisdiction.

Next to no-one in the north attempted to deny the right of people south of the border to pass comment or publicly lobby for one side of the rape trial. I think it's a bit cheap to now state that harte, Cassidy or gallagher are "blatantly meddling in another country's legislative process". Where the Labour Party or solidarity blantantly meddling in another countries legal process when their representatives passed slanderous comment against the defendants in an NI rape trial?

The group shouldn't be using the GAA acronym in it's title I agree and it's not defendable but it's contradictory, cynical and myopic to think people north of the border don't have a right to support, or object, to repealing the 8th amendment.

Well said.

100%

[haranguerer]

Writing to the county secretaries is largely a PR exercise.
The GAA have to be seen to do something about this and yet it is not clear if any rules have been broken.
I'd imagine most people at county board level would be well aware of their responsibilities re the associations non-political stance.
Croke Park has had to engage in a certain amount of 'both sides-ism' in response to this issue, but in terms of GAA personalities advocating for a 'Yes' vote, the most high-profile of those is Eamon McGee but I have not seen or heard him even reference the GAA thus far.
He's involved in the campaign as a private citizen of this country and he is fully entitled to be.

Completely, the issue here, for me anyway, is those who are referencing the GAA. I'd have exactly the same issue with 'yes' side doing it