The 1998 Good Friday Agreement - Paddy O'Hanlon

[Agent Orange]

What is the difference in the SDLP supporting whatever they did back in the day and Sinn Fein supporting big pay offs for the same RUC men. Werent those same RUC men re-employed recently by the PSNI.
Now we have the first minister campaigning for similar pay offs for prison officers, the same prison officers who locked the doors on a lot of shinners at night. Will Sinn Fein oppose these pay offs? Arent Sinn Fein always telling us that the office of the First and Deputy First Minister are one and the same?

Although it is nice to see Sinn Feins Raymond McCartney refering to "our prisons" in a recent interview.

[sheamy]

[orangeman]

I thought this was going to be a tribute to Paddy O'Hanlon ?

This thread has taken a very quick detour  ( 7 posts or so ) to the usual often heard arguments.

[Agent Orange]

It was themmuns so it was.

[sheamy]

I thought this was going to be a tribute to Paddy O'Hanlon ?

This thread has taken a very quick detour  ( 7 posts or so ) to the usual often heard arguments.

Focus people, focus...!

[Maguire01]

While Paddy O'Hanlon's contribution should be recognised for it's part in the Peace Process, It will not come close to the Irish people who gave their lives in pursuit of the same

Who are you referring to? Did republicans give their lives in pursuit of a peace process? Because if that was their goal, they could have had it a lot sooner.

And surely if someone played a significant part in shaping a peace agreement, their contribution is every bit as significant, if not moreso, than those who 'gave their lives'. They played their part in making sure others didn't lose their lives.

[Maguire01]

We should not forget that Bobby Sands "convicted terrorist" won the Fermanagh South Tyrone by-election beating the Unionist Leader Harry West.

Since then nationalist voters have voted in greater numbers than before and usually for the party that represents the legacy of Bobby Sands.

Assuming SF is the party that represents the legacy of Bobby Sands, a majority of nationalist voters have voted for them only since 2001. That's 20 years later. And only after they abandoned the 'armalite and ballot box strategy'.

[Agent Orange]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nally's_law
Nally's law (also known as Nally's Rule of Republican Analogies or Nally's Law of Republican Analogies)[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Nally Stand in 2010[2] that has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Republicans or the IRA approaches 1."[2][3] In other words, Nally observed that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope—someone inevitably criticizes some point made in the discussion by comparing it to beliefs held by Republican's and the IRA. etc, etc, etc.

[Nally Stand]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nally's_law
Nally's law (also known as Nally's Rule of Republican Analogies or Nally's Law of Republican Analogies)[1][2] is a humorous observation made by Nally Stand in 2010[2] that has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Republicans or the IRA approaches 1."[2][3] In other words, Nally observed that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope—someone inevitably criticizes some point made in the discussion by comparing it to beliefs held by Republican's and the IRA. etc, etc, etc.

If you look back through the thread, I brought up neither the topics of "Republicans or the IRA", but that was in fact you who did so. In fact the first appearance of the term "Sinn Féin" from either of us came from one of your posts; and the first (and only) mention of IRA" in the thread was one of your posts. Maybe we should call that "Agent Orange's Law". Oops!

[TransitVanMan]

What is the difference in the SDLP supporting whatever they did back in the day and Sinn Fein supporting big pay offs for the same RUC men. Werent those same RUC men re-employed recently by the PSNI.
Now we have the first minister campaigning for similar pay offs for prison officers, the same prison officers who locked the doors on a lot of shinners at night. Will Sinn Fein oppose these pay offs? Arent Sinn Fein always telling us that the office of the First and Deputy First Minister are one and the same?

Although it is nice to see Sinn Feins Raymond McCartney refering to "our prisons" in a recent interview.

[DuffleKing]

We should all be aware by now that the shinners own the peace process and are the only crowd allowed to call themselves republicans

[Windmill abu]

Who are you referring to? Did republicans give their lives in pursuit of a peace process? Because if that was their goal, they could have had it a lot sooner.

The peace process is more than a ceasefire. It is also about equality for the people living here and plenty of republicans did give their lives for that.

While the unionist politicians rejected attempts to start a peace process such as The Sunningdale Agreement and the Anglo Irish Agreement it seems hard to envisage the peace process coming sooner.

It was the success of Bobby Sands in the Fermanagh South Tyrone by-election that led republicans to believe that they could have a strong mandate in political discussions here.

Since then the successes in Westminster elections of Gerry Adams, Martin McGuinness and Pat Doherty have shown all sides the growing power of republican voters and has made unionist politicans sit down with them and make a deal with the Nationalist community before its too late.

[ballela-angel]

I'm sorry this tread degenerated so quickly into a slagging match about the IRA/Sinn Fein verses the SDLP as the thread was meant as a tribute to Paddy and the fact that a GAA man had such an important role in the peace process and the enhancement of the lives of generations of Nordies, both  present and future – If Paddy was still alive he'd be chuckling about how the tread has gone as Paddy came from a very strong Republican/IRA family, some of whom had active time in the IRA  - As a young man he made the decision that brains and negotiation would serve the Catholic cause better in the North than violence, hence his journey into Civil Rights and the SDLP – However, Paddy had a physic and an attitude (especially when drink was taken) that made even the likes for Francie Bellew seem girlish, and didn't always practice non-violence in his drinking days – One of his best friends growing up in South Armagh took the IRA route and Paddy stayed very friendly with him, even when the friend took a leadership role in the organization -  One evening they were together in a pub in South Armagh and some IRA members who were below his friend in the organization started being mouthy with Paddy and taunted his choice of taking the peaceful Civil Rights/SDLP route instead of the violent route – The level of taunting got to such a pitch that Paddy's friend gave Paddy the green light to do as he thought fit with the two boyos, so Paddy took the pair of them "up the yard", and he was the only one to return and finish his pint that night!

[mayogodhelpus@gmail.com]

We should all be aware by now that the shinners own the peace process and are the only crowd allowed to call themselves republicans

But is that a little R or a big R. I wonder could Jonathan Swift answer that one.