The Fine Gael thread

[Hound]

Remember when the media/twitterati said Sinn Fein wasn't a democratic party because Mary Lou was elected unopposed?

    

Nope. Not in any media I read. But I try to avoid the crazies on 'social' media.

[RedHand88]

Remember when the media/twitterati said Sinn Fein wasn't a democratic party because Mary Lou was elected unopposed?

    

Nope. Not in any media I read. But I try to avoid the crazies on 'social' media.

https://www.irishexaminer.com/opinion/arid-20465629.html

https://www.michaelmcdowell.ie/sinn-f%C3%A9in-is-an-undemocratic-movement.html

How about the Irish Examiner, or former Tánaiste Michael McDowell, just for starters?

[Itchy]

Decent first speech by Harris:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0324/1439725-harris-speech/

I don't find him a likeable character, would have much preferred Coveney or Donohue, but let's see what his policies and actions are.

I heard he wants to take FG back to their roots, is that to fascism or does he not intend to go quite that far back?

[Itchy]

Another rat abandons ship. I'm sure it has nothing to do at all with the Ditch making enquiries into her dodgy mileage expenses.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2024/0322/1439426-josepha-madigan/

She's no loss to national politics, but I wouldn't be using The Ditch as a reference for anything - Paddy Cosgrave is unhinged...

Didn't realise Paddy Cosgrave was a reporter for the ditch.

Funds it.

So nobody should refer to any of the multiple cases of political corruption The Ditch has uncovered purely because you don't like who provides their funding? Free pass for the politicians involved?

I would want it verified by another source before I'd give it any credence

Can you outline a couple of examples of reports by the Ditch that you've found to be untrustworthy or false?

Well I don't read it, so I can't comment on most of their output.
But it's founded by Paddy Cosgrave and Chay Bowes, who now works for Russia Today. So I would have serious questions over their motives, aims and impartiality.

I see. Are you saying you are seeing the finger prints of Russian interference in the Ditch reports? For example false mileage claims being "stolen" from the taxpayer or favours been done for buddies/family in planning applications when a lot of people are not allowed build on their own farms. In my opinion the Ditch are doing an important service for the Irish people while the "mainstream" media are so in bed with government parties for funding and stories that they are turning a blind eye to all sorts of stuff (maybe a little bit like Russia)

[Hound]

Thanks for that RH. I see the odd McDowell piece in the paper, i don't frequent his website.

McDowell's claim that SF was undemocratic wasn't because she was elected unopposed though.

If you believe some puppet master told Coveney, Donohue, Humohries, McEntee etc that they were not permitted to contest the election then that would be equivalent alright. Personally I don't think Harris is controlled by shawdowy puppet master figures. I think he really wants it and will make decisions (whether good or bad) himself and for his personal agenda of what he thinks would be successful. And he has persuaded most of his elected parliamentary colleagues to side with him. The other potential contenders were either not interested (SC and PD) or knew they would lose (everyone else).

Here's some of what McDowell said about SF (from the 2019 article that was linked):

I think Sinn Féin is still an undemocratic, marxist movement masquerading as a conventional political party. Most of its members are probably unaware of its true nature.

Let me pose two questions.

Why did Sinn Féin recently spend a large sum sending a delegation to the inauguration of the undemocratic marxist, Nicolas Maduro, as president of Venezuela?

How precisely was Michelle O'Neill chosen to succeed Martin McGuinness as leader of Sinn Féin in the North?

In the case of Maduro, the Provisional movement have long backed communist movements in that region. They sold their weapons technology to the Farc communists in neighbouring Colombia in exchange for millions of narco-dollars. They had, despite denials, a permanent representative in Castro's Cuba. The common thread was a belief that they were and are a revolutionary movement with a marxist orientation. Readers of An Phoblacht over the years will remember the constant stream of supportive articles for marxist revolutionary groups internationally.

It should come as absolutely no surprise that the party sent a delegation to Caracas to celebrate the subversion of democracy in what used to be one to Latin America's most liberal states.

This may not lie easily with the polished, bourgeois professional image which the Party seeks to create using Mary Lou McDonald and, until recently, the urbane Peadar Tóibín.

But the truth is that Sinn Féin is rigidly controlled by a small clique of Provo veterans who are puppet-masters in what appears to be a normal democratic party.

It was they who chose Michelle O'Neill. It is they who secured the unopposed election of Mary Lou as the party's Uachtarán. It is their network of commissars who impose order and discipline on the party's members. It is they who decide on strategy. It is they who will decide if and when the party resumes participation in the NI executive.

In true marxist style, the entire party is subject to what Lenin described as "democratic centralism".

Sinn Féin members of the Oireachtas do not choose their advisors, interns or secretaries. The party commissars make those decisions. By this means all vestiges of political privacy and autonomy are absent.

We are still somewhat in the dark as to whether the party confiscates its public representatives' earnings and allowances over certain average industrial wage thresholds to apply them to party purposes under the guise of a voluntary contribution to the support of the party.

Most Sinn Féin members, elected and un-elected, are outside the loop of decision-making. I do not believe for one minute that Mary Lou or Michelle is in charge of the party rather than the old gang in the backroom of the Felons' Club on the Andersonstown Road.

If the party does not make sufficient progress at the polls, either or both of them will receive a tap on the shoulder from the Felons' Club – not from the ordinary members.

Sinn Féin is not a democratic or republican party. It remains a carefully constructed façade for a small, manipulative and undemocratic clique with very different values.

[Hound]

Decent first speech by Harris:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0324/1439725-harris-speech/

I don't find him a likeable character, would have much preferred Coveney or Donohue, but let's see what his policies and actions are.

I heard he wants to take FG back to their roots, is that to fascism or does he not intend to go quite that far back?

Nope, you heard wrong.

Key bullet points for FG values / agenda.

Hope. Enterprise. Equality of Opportunity. Integrity. Security. An immediate ceasefire in Gaza. And I want this party to fight against populism and deliberate polarisation.

[bennydorano]

Watched a brief clip of Harris's acceptance speech on the BBCNI news last night and as edited as I'm sure it was, he went straight into flag shagger mode, never a great sign.

[seafoid]

John McGuinness and Willie O'Dea are on Claire Byrne dumping on the hate crime bill.  WOD said that people who vote FF in the next election need to know what they are voting for.

[seafoid]

Decent first speech by Harris:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0324/1439725-harris-speech/

I don't find him a likeable character, would have much preferred Coveney or Donohue, but let's see what his policies and actions are.

They are going to dump the trans agenda

I heard he wants to take FG back to their roots, is that to fascism or does he not intend to go quite that far back?

[Itchy]

Decent first speech by Harris:

https://www.rte.ie/news/ireland/2024/0324/1439725-harris-speech/

I don't find him a likeable character, would have much preferred Coveney or Donohue, but let's see what his policies and actions are.

I heard he wants to take FG back to their roots, is that to fascism or does he not intend to go quite that far back?

Nope, you heard wrong.

Key bullet points for FG values / agenda.

Hope. Enterprise. Equality of Opportunity. Integrity. Security. An immediate ceasefire in Gaza. And I want this party to fight against populism and deliberate polarisation.

Simon Harris fighting Populism, thats a good one. Will he publish the fight on tiktok?

[Rossfan]

O'Dea, McGuinness and Ring chasing the fascist vote!

[clarshack]

Thanks for that RH. I see the odd McDowell piece in the paper, i don't frequent his website.

McDowell's claim that SF was undemocratic wasn't because she was elected unopposed though.

If you believe some puppet master told Coveney, Donohue, Humohries, McEntee etc that they were not permitted to contest the election then that would be equivalent alright. Personally I don't think Harris is controlled by shawdowy puppet master figures. I think he really wants it and will make decisions (whether good or bad) himself and for his personal agenda of what he thinks would be successful. And he has persuaded most of his elected parliamentary colleagues to side with him. The other potential contenders were either not interested (SC and PD) or knew they would lose (everyone else).

Here's some of what McDowell said about SF (from the 2019 article that was linked):

I think Sinn Féin is still an undemocratic, marxist movement masquerading as a conventional political party. Most of its members are probably unaware of its true nature.

Let me pose two questions.

Why did Sinn Féin recently spend a large sum sending a delegation to the inauguration of the undemocratic marxist, Nicolas Maduro, as president of Venezuela?

How precisely was Michelle O'Neill chosen to succeed Martin McGuinness as leader of Sinn Féin in the North?

In the case of Maduro, the Provisional movement have long backed communist movements in that region. They sold their weapons technology to the Farc communists in neighbouring Colombia in exchange for millions of narco-dollars. They had, despite denials, a permanent representative in Castro's Cuba. The common thread was a belief that they were and are a revolutionary movement with a marxist orientation. Readers of An Phoblacht over the years will remember the constant stream of supportive articles for marxist revolutionary groups internationally.

It should come as absolutely no surprise that the party sent a delegation to Caracas to celebrate the subversion of democracy in what used to be one to Latin America's most liberal states.

This may not lie easily with the polished, bourgeois professional image which the Party seeks to create using Mary Lou McDonald and, until recently, the urbane Peadar Tóibín.

But the truth is that Sinn Féin is rigidly controlled by a small clique of Provo veterans who are puppet-masters in what appears to be a normal democratic party.

It was they who chose Michelle O'Neill. It is they who secured the unopposed election of Mary Lou as the party's Uachtarán. It is their network of commissars who impose order and discipline on the party's members. It is they who decide on strategy. It is they who will decide if and when the party resumes participation in the NI executive.

In true marxist style, the entire party is subject to what Lenin described as "democratic centralism".

Sinn Féin members of the Oireachtas do not choose their advisors, interns or secretaries. The party commissars make those decisions. By this means all vestiges of political privacy and autonomy are absent.

We are still somewhat in the dark as to whether the party confiscates its public representatives' earnings and allowances over certain average industrial wage thresholds to apply them to party purposes under the guise of a voluntary contribution to the support of the party.

Most Sinn Féin members, elected and un-elected, are outside the loop of decision-making. I do not believe for one minute that Mary Lou or Michelle is in charge of the party rather than the old gang in the backroom of the Felons' Club on the Andersonstown Road.

If the party does not make sufficient progress at the polls, either or both of them will receive a tap on the shoulder from the Felons' Club – not from the ordinary members.

Sinn Féin is not a democratic or republican party. It remains a carefully constructed façade for a small, manipulative and undemocratic clique with very different values.

He pretty much nailed it.

[marty34]

And who's this lad Mc Dowell?

[Armagh18]

Jesus that Harris fella is hard to listen to. Something about him, actually worse than Leo.

[Itchy]

And who's this lad Mc Dowell?

A FG w**ker that was rejected by the voters and got a comfy number in the senate as his buddies look after their cronies.