Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[Avondhu star]

Wasn't DeValera anti treaty?

He was from 1921 to 1926 when he started Fianna Fáil and decided to accept the Treaty's and Free State's existence and work within it.

As was Sean Lemass of the "slightly constitutional" Fianna Fail.  A man who didn't like to talk about what he's done during the War of Independence "because people were killed".  Ah well, sure that's OK there, Sean.



...runs for cover!

Free staters don't want to be held to account for the blood shed in their name, they feel only the northern nationalists they abandoned and left to fend for themselves should feel shame in this regard.

Not once has the free state government ever issued any sort of remorse, apology or contrition for their shameful record during the Troubles. Only this week they have further rubbed salt into the wounds of the McAnespie family by refusing to publish the findings of a report they conducted on his murder.

This is the type of attitude that has consistently prevailed down south towards northern nationalists.

Deflect deflect. INCOMING BULLSHIT

[Il Bomber Destro]

Wasn't DeValera anti treaty?

He was from 1921 to 1926 when he started Fianna Fáil and decided to accept the Treaty's and Free State's existence and work within it.

As was Sean Lemass of the "slightly constitutional" Fianna Fail.  A man who didn't like to talk about what he's done during the War of Independence "because people were killed".  Ah well, sure that's OK there, Sean.



...runs for cover!

Free staters don't want to be held to account for the blood shed in their name, they feel only the northern nationalists they abandoned and left to fend for themselves should feel shame in this regard.

Not once has the free state government ever issued any sort of remorse, apology or contrition for their shameful record during the Troubles. Only this week they have further rubbed salt into the wounds of the McAnespie family by refusing to publish the findings of a report they conducted on his murder.

This is the type of attitude that has consistently prevailed down south towards northern nationalists.

Deflect deflect. INCOMING BULLSHIT

You seem ashamed.

[Il Bomber Destro]

What possible reason can there be to withhold a report into the cold blooded murder of an unarmed man on the way to GAA ground. Disgraceful.

The same reason information was withheld in the Dublin/Monaghan bombings. The Irish Free State has had a similar outlook on the North of Ireland and the nationalist community as the British state has had.

[Snapchap]

I don't like to use the 'IRA/SF' thing

[tonto1888]

What possible reason can there be to withhold a report into the cold blooded murder of an unarmed man on the way to GAA ground. Disgraceful.

they said people who took part in it did so on the basis that their confidentiality would be kept

[johnneycool]

I don't like to use the IRA/SF thing but they were the same grouping from 1970 to 2005.
SF are only now beginning to knock the odd Provo atrocity.
I was responding to Bombast's nonsense and all those things I mentioned were visited upon the Nationalists by the Provo IRA.

Why would SF knock any more than the odd one? Whilst mistakes were made, they were all justified. And just to mention Syferus, so nothing can be done to change ''SF'S toxic reputation in Irish society'', but FF or FG along with the banks can leave the country on their knees, thousands of young people leaving the shores, but their role in that wasn't toxic. God one there. We in the North don't ask for you to completely embrace SF, but at least be consistent. We have an affinity with SF in the north that those in the South will never understand.

I'll let this sit here. No commentary needed.

Im really hoping he is referring to something else, and not the likes of Kingsmill/Omagh etc

There's no justification for Omagh. I'll make that clear now. That was completely 100% wrong.

Kingsmill? Enniskillen? Warrington?

Canary Wharf, Manchester?

IMO the big city centre bombs in England brought a new impetus for the British government to find a resolution to the mess they'd created over here. Canary Wharf in particular.

They didn't give a f**k for Enniskillen, bloody Sunday or Kingsmills as it was just dead paddies as they saw it irrespective of the hue.

It's not going to console the Parry's or anyone else caught up in them, but that's the hard facts.

As for the Dublin/Monaghan bombings, the various Irish governments since knew only too well that loyalist didn't have that sort or expertise and it had to be British security services, yet the families have been let down by their own in an attempt not to sling mud at the neighbours. Lack of backbone.

As for balance, FG in Varadker and Coveney to date have played the border/brexit issue well but they need to ensure the final deal meets the criteria they've set out. The Brits have double speak down to a fine art.

[AQMP]

Peter Canavan won't be standing for SF in the by-election.

[Itchy]

What possible reason can there be to withhold a report into the cold blooded murder of an unarmed man on the way to GAA ground. Disgraceful.

they said people who took part in it did so on the basis that their confidentiality would be kept

Sounds like bollox to me. Release the report with the names replaced by Mr X and Mrs Y then if that is the case.

[Applesisapples]

I don't like to use the IRA/SF thing but they were the same grouping from 1970 to 2005.
SF are only now beginning to knock the odd Provo atrocity.
I was responding to Bombast's nonsense and all those things I mentioned were visited upon the Nationalists by the Provo IRA.

You are missing the point, the troubles up here are not as simple as southerners believe, they like you for the most part accept the Unionist mantra of a one sided affair.

[seafoid]

This is very good

https://thebrokenelbow.com/2018/01/15/barry-mcelduffs-resignation-the-two-questions-that-follow/

Barry McElduff's Resignation: The Two Questions That Follow

Posted on January 15, 2018 | 2 comments


Barry McElduff's decision to resign was probably less than voluntary. It is more likely he was told to quit and had no choice.

It followed what is being widely described as a powerful interview with one of the Kingsmill survivors by Miriam O'Callaghan on her RTE Radio One programme yesterday, 'Sunday With Miriam'.

That gives a clue about the source of pressure on McElduff to quit, i.e. from the Southern section of SF and in particular the party's leader-in-waiting Mary Lou McDonald who must have been painfully aware of a) the damage McElduff could do to SF's electoral prospects in the South, and b) that otherwise she would soon meet the same fate as Gerry Adams, pursued in every media interview by endless questions about the IRA's bloody past.

If this was the case then the significance cannot be understated for it marks the beginning of a process in which Sinn Fein's political interests in the South leads it to increasingly separate itself not just from the IRA but from Sinn Fein in the North.

The IRA's place in the Northern Nationalist psyche is deeply embedded and always will be as long as there is a political conflict with Unionism and as long as security policy is riddled with contradictions. The South may find it easy and straightforward to leave the IRA behind; the Northerners not so much.

Here's an example: if Judge McCloskey had been allowed last Friday to confirm his dismissal of the Police Ombudsman's report claiming police collusion with the Loughinisland killers, Barry McElduff's idiocy would have mattered a lot less to Nationalists, notwithstanding O'Callaghan's interview. He may return to court to do just that this week and if he gets his way, the fallout will be interesting.

And in a comment sent to this blog last week, Eamonn McCann, as shrewd an observer of Northern matters as can be found, spoke for many Nationalists with this remark:


'.....when it comes to giggling and gloating about the killing of people of a different religion, the Provos have never been a match for the Loyalist paramilitaries. That doesn't excuse McElduff or SF. But it points up the fact some of the Loyalists, including members of the DUP, who have been caterwauling about McElduff's sectarian stupidity are liars, frauds and abject hypocrites.'

So the two question that follow McElduff's resignation are these:
1.Did Mary Lou McDonald demand his resignation? and,
2.Are we witnessing the start of a North-South schism in Sinn Fein?

[Il Bomber Destro]

What possible reason can there be to withhold a report into the cold blooded murder of an unarmed man on the way to GAA ground. Disgraceful.

they said people who took part in it did so on the basis that their confidentiality would be kept

Sounds like bollox to me. Release the report with the names replaced by Mr X and Mrs Y then if that is the case.

Of course it's bollix. The Free State have been carrying out clean up jobs for the British State throughout the troubles and don't want this exposed.

It's amazing how the Roscommon Brownshirts can be so vocal on republican acts during the troubles but have no comment to make on their government's role in obstructing justice for victims and their families in tragic and calculated fatalities.

[Rossfan]

I don't like to use the IRA/SF thing but they were the same grouping from 1970 to 2005.
SF are only now beginning to knock the odd Provo atrocity.
I was responding to Bombast's nonsense and all those things I mentioned were visited upon the Nationalists by the Provo IRA.

You are missing the point, the troubles up here are not as simple as southerners believe, they like you for the most part accept the Unionist mantra of a one sided affair.

I've never believed the "Troubles" were a 1 sided affair.
Just because I post critically of SF and Provo atrocities doesn't mean I agree with blinkered Unionists who say all was grand until the Provo IRA for some unknown reason started violence in 1970 or 71.
Still no justification for Kingsmill Enniskillen etc.

And I with the above piece that head office in Dublin told Barry to fall on his sword to help SF's chances in the next GE in the 26 which they obviously think isn't that far away.

[Avondhu star]

Of course there is a split in SF.  Take a look at the representatives in the Republic. Theres a lot of bandwagon jumpers there who would be perfectly happy in the Labour Party, FF or some of the left parties.

[Applesisapples]

I don't like to use the IRA/SF thing but they were the same grouping from 1970 to 2005.
SF are only now beginning to knock the odd Provo atrocity.
I was responding to Bombast's nonsense and all those things I mentioned were visited upon the Nationalists by the Provo IRA.

You are missing the point, the troubles up here are not as simple as southerners believe, they like you for the most part accept the Unionist mantra of a one sided affair.

I've never believed the "Troubles" were a 1 sided affair.
Just because I post critically of SF and Provo atrocities doesn't mean I agree with blinkered Unionists who say all was grand until the Provo IRA for some unknown reason started violence in 1970 or 71.
Still no justification for Kingsmill Enniskillen etc.

And I with the above piece that head office in Dublin told Barry to fall on his sword to help SF's chances in the next GE in the 26 which they obviously think isn't that far away.

There you go again, SF and the Provos!!!!

[armaghniac]

Of course there is a split in SF.  Take a look at the representatives in the Republic. Theres a lot of bandwagon jumpers there who would be perfectly happy in the Labour Party, FF or some of the left parties.

Most of them more talented than any representatives in the 6 counties.