'GAA Athletes for a No Vote'

[Syferus]

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.

And I think you may have taken up the implications of what he said the wrong way to say that, Jinxy.

[Syferus]

A bit uneducated here on this matter. Will removing the 8th lead to abortion on demand or just in cases for the likes of rape, abnormalities etc.?

'Abortion on demand' is a very loaded No side term, so I'd be careful phrasing it as such if you don't want to give the wrong impression.

Repealing the 8th will mean a new law that allows abortions up to 12 weeks will be ratified by the Dail. This is entirely to be the woman's choice, as it should be. Anything else would just lead to women and doctors fudging the law to use the loopholes to get an abortion so if we are going to repeal the 8th we have to install something that legislates for the actual reality and not some idealised version where situational limits on abortion actually work.

[Jinxy]

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.

And I think you may have taken up the implications of what he said the wrong way to say that, Jinxy.

That is also a possibility.

[Itchy]

I think there will be a big no vote from rural Ireland. It's just a hunch I have. The no campaign to me seem to be out of blocks fast and the FF and FG parties are afraid to look actively for a yes at local level. I also think both sides are descending into auld shite of shouting down the other instead of making their case. Harte I don't like his uber religious talk but he is an Irish citizen and entitled to an opinion  (he should have GAA out of it) yet today Twitter full of trendy lefties saying he's from north so should mind his business. The yes side need to get their act together quick as those no posters are very simple & effective and should not be under estimated.

[longballin]

I think there will be a big no vote from rural Ireland. It's just a hunch I have. The no campaign to me seem to be out of blocks fast and the FF and FG parties are afraid to look actively for a yes at local level. I also think both sides are descending into auld shite of shouting down the other instead of making their case. Harte I don't like his uber religious talk but he is an Irish citizen and entitled to an opinion  (he should have GAA out of it) yet today Twitter full of trendy lefties saying he's from north so should mind his business. The yes side need to get their act together quick as those no posters are very simple & effective and should not be under estimated.

I would describe them as partitionists not 'trendy lefties'

[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. 

[whitey]

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. 

I think the Repeal campaign might be lulled into a false sense of security by the size of the victory in the Marriage Equality vote.  There seems to be assumption that those who voted for marriage equality will automatically vote to Repeal. Based on my Facebook feed nothing could be further from the truth

[Syferus]

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.

[manfromdelmonte]

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

[seafoid]

Around 64% of the population is urban.
This is not going to help the no side

[Tyrone Dreamer]

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

So as an Irish citizen you aren't allowed an opinion on something so important that will effect your neighbours 10 minutes away? I don't know why people who are on the yes side are so scared of people on the no sides opinions. All sides should be heard, it's an important debate.

By your logic I'm assuming Mary McAleese shouldn't have been the president of Ireland?

[Owenmoresider]

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.

[Owenmoresider]

https://twitter.com/EDDIEBARRETT/status/987815661094277120

Probably going to see a lot of this type of thing over the next couple of days if the GAA don't act quickly to distance themselves from this specific incident and also to clarify their 'non-political' stance in general.
Social media is full of self-righteous clowns who expect those they disagree with to be punished simply for holding an opposing viewpoint.
My understanding is that they are not in breach of any of the association's rules, therefore to suggest they be 'suspended' is absurd.

Most of the things that SF hack has to say for himself on social media are absurd.

[LooseCannon]

https://twitter.com/EDDIEBARRETT/status/987815661094277120

Probably going to see a lot of this type of thing over the next couple of days if the GAA don't act quickly to distance themselves from this specific incident and also to clarify their 'non-political' stance in general.
Social media is full of self-righteous clowns who expect those they disagree with to be punished simply for holding an opposing viewpoint.
My understanding is that they are not in breach of any of the association's rules, therefore to suggest they be 'suspended' is absurd.

Most of the things that SF hack has to say for himself on social media are absurd.

Don't talk to me. He's a raving eejit.

[Jinxy]

Harte entitled to his views but not entitled to speak for the GAA

'In an association the size of the GAA, there will be Yes people and there will be No people. Nobody with even a passing knowledge of Irish sport will have been surprised at Harte's position on the repeal question. Similarly, if you've followed his career at any level over the past 15 years since he took charge of Tyrone, you know he's not likely to duck any issue about which he has strong feelings. In many respects, there is no news here.
That is, until you get to the statement put out behalf of Harte and co.

"The GAA's vision," it begins, "is that everyone be welcome to participate fully in our games and culture, that they thrive and develop their potential, and be inspired to keep a lifelong engagement with our association." It goes on to includes lines such as: "We are an inclusive organisation. There is space for everybody at our table."

All the way through, the statement is littered with 'we' and 'our' – in reference to the GAA as a whole. When it gets to the meat of the statement, it reads: "In keeping with those principles, we are coming together today to ask the Irish people to vote No on May 25th."

There is no gear change, no line separating their own personal views from that of the association, nothing like that. To anyone reading the statement, it looks like a declaration of the position of the GAA on the matter.

Which, of course, it is not.'

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/harte-entitled-to-his-views-but-not-entitled-to-speak-for-the-gaa-1.3470268?mode=amp

Malachy Clerkin nails the point I'm trying to make.