Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[Kidder81]

Can you get odds on McGuinness getting a knighthood/MBE in the next few years ?

[AQMP]

Can you get odds on McGuinness getting a knighthood/MBE in the next few years ?

Aye, long ones.  I notice it seems to have slipped by that our First Minister said he would not meet the Pope if he came to NI.

[Kidder81]

Can you get odds on McGuinness getting a knighthood/MBE in the next few years ?

Aye, long ones.  I notice it seems to have slipped by that our First Minister said he would not meet the Pope if he came to NI.

As big a c••t as Robbo is at least he is consistent

[give her dixie]

Can you get odds on McGuinness getting a knighthood/MBE in the next few years ?

He has already been knighted

[seafoid]

So one of Roisin's sons is off to England to see the Queen. Is the sky falling down yet ?

[orangeman]

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has praised the Queen for her "leadership role" in the Irish peace process.

He made the remarks days ahead of an unprecedented state visit to Britain by Irish President Michael D Higgins.

Speaking to the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ on Sunday, Mr McGuinness said the Queen was a "staunch supporter" of the Irish peace process.

"I think she played a leadership role and is playing a leadership role in the whole context of the need for reconciliation," he said.


Mr McGuinness told RTÉ that he had been moved by words and deeds during her visit to the Republic of Ireland, the first by a British monarch in the history of the state.

"I was tremendously impressed by the very solemn way that she commemorated those Irish republicans who lost their lives in the struggle for independence, how she acknowledged the importance of the Irish language and, probably most important of all, when she acknowledged that she had wished that things had been done differently or not at all," he said.

"That was very, very impressive and I think that it is quite clear that this is a woman that is playing a leadership role."

In a party statement, Mr McGuinness said he had accepted the invitation "in the context of conflict resolution and of building reconciliation among the people of Ireland, and between the people of Ireland and the people of Britain".

"I am conscious that this decision is significant and involves political and symbolic challenges for Irish republicans.

"However, my presence alongside Peter Robinson brings an all-island dimension to this historic event which, it is worth noting, has taken all of 93 years to happen," he added.

[lawnseed]

Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has praised the Queen for her "leadership role" in the Irish peace process.

He made the remarks days ahead of an unprecedented state visit to Britain by Irish President Michael D Higgins.

Speaking to the Irish state broadcaster RTÉ on Sunday, Mr McGuinness said the Queen was a "staunch supporter" of the Irish peace process.

"I think she played a leadership role and is playing a leadership role in the whole context of the need for reconciliation," he said.


Mr McGuinness told RTÉ that he had been moved by words and deeds during her visit to the Republic of Ireland, the first by a British monarch in the history of the state.

"I was tremendously impressed by the very solemn way that she commemorated those Irish republicans who lost their lives in the struggle for independence, how she acknowledged the importance of the Irish language and, probably most important of all, when she acknowledged that she had wished that things had been done differently or not at all," he said.

"That was very, very impressive and I think that it is quite clear that this is a woman that is playing a leadership role."

In a party statement, Mr McGuinness said he had accepted the invitation "in the context of conflict resolution and of building reconciliation among the people of Ireland, and between the people of Ireland and the people of Britain".

"I am conscious that this decision is significant and involves political and symbolic challenges for Irish republicans.

"However, my presence alongside Peter Robinson brings an all-island dimension to this historic event which, it is worth noting, has taken all of 93 years to happen," he added.
[/quote
I'd go with that the queens just back from rome in advance of a papal visit here, smoothing the way  and also negating the need for her to be here to welcome the pope here so the rome visit was nicely timed to avoid putting the queen between her fleg waving loyalusts and an official state visit.. Well planned.

[AQMP]

So Peter Robinson has "no need nor desire to meet the Pope" on the basis that he (Robbo) is not a Catholic.  That's how you reach out to the middle class Fenians required to keep NI in the UK, Pete!  Keep up the good work!!

[orangeman]

The SF supporters must have arrived early for the big bash.

A Queen's Guard pointed his rifle at a member of the public outside Buckingham Palace when an argument erupted with a police officer, it has emerged.


The soldier left his post to intervene when the man refused to stop shouting at the officer outside the palace gates on Friday.

A photograph published in The Sun on Sunday shows the guard pointing his bayonet-fixed rifle towards the man's face while stood next to the police officer.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were made aware of a disturbance at the North-Centre Gate of Buckingham Palace at approximately 5.50pm on Friday, April 4.

[Kidder81]

Michael, Martin & the Windsor gig - Jude Collins

When he wanted to know what the Irish people were thinking, de Valera is said to have gone off and looked into his own heart.  Not a particularly democratic way of working but sometimes it can unearth truths. Which is why I'm looking into my own heart with regard to the big Irish week coming up in Windsor.

I haven't been following it as closely as perhaps I should but the present Mrs Collins tells me that President Higgins will be bowling along in a carriage with Queen Elizabeth II. And I know that Martin McGuinness will be in attendance at some sort of soirée at Windsor during the week. Like a lot of Irish people I find myself instinctively recoiling from both events so let's see if I can figure out why and if I'm right to do so.

The image of Michael D along with Her Maj  in a carriage/coach I find totally unsurprising and a teensy bit comic. Michael D is the Irish president and a member of the Labour Party.  As president it's his job to meet foreign heads of state so I suppose he's doing his job. Why should I feel in any way uneasy about that? Because it suggests that Ireland and England are as friendly as they could possibly be, with nothing that might impede that friendship. Which patently isn't the case, since so many nationalists/republicans still feel that the six northern counties are part of Ireland and should be governed by Irish people. The obstacle to that is two-fold: Britain and the unionist people in the six counties. So while I know that getting into carriages with queens is part of the president's job, the symbolism of so doing, which suggests a happy no-fly-in-the-ointment harmony, makes me uneasy.

The image of Martin McGuinness attending a soirée at Windsor Castle makes me even more uneasy. A central plank – maybe the central plank – in Sinn Féin's philosophy is the right of the Irish people to govern themselves, free from British interference.  Rubbing shoulders with the head of the state which has for centuries seen to it that Irish people do not govern themselves sends a message to some that all is now forgiven and forgotten, and as I said in yesterday's blog, we've come to the end-point in the quarrel between England and Ireland. This patently isn't the case, so like, I suspect, a lot of other Irish people, I recoil  at the Deputy First Minister's move.

On the other hand, maybe this message is not for me or other Irish nationalists and republicans. Maybe it's directed at those who, like the Dublin taxi-driver I spoke of a few months back, see Sinn Féin as a party that goes around killing people. While that's obviously not the case, it's a notion that the media in the south have managed to lodge firmly in many people's minds. It may be that Sinn Féin figure Martin McGuinness's smiling  attendance at the nosh-up in Windsor Castle will help rebalance the thinking of those in the south who have been taught to view Sinn Féin as wild-eyed psychopaths. There's an election coming up in the south as well as the north and Sinn Féin are determined to emerge with an expanded electoral base. Martin at Windsor is part of that determination.

In the end, we need to ask ourselves " Does attendance  mean that Sinn Féin have changed their stance on reunification, are quietly preparing to saw off the anti-partition plank  in their political philosophy?" Those who are Sinn Féin critics will chorus "You bet!".  Others who see politics as much more than who you have dinner with will say "Sorry guys – wishful thinking again".

[muppet]

So Peter Robinson has "no need nor desire to meet the Pope" on the basis that he (Robbo) is not a Catholic.  That's how you reach out to the middle class Fenians required to keep NI in the UK, Pete!  Keep up the good work!!

Robinson isn't looking for votes from anyone that thinks him meeting The Pope would be a good thing. Like everything else to date, he will only do it when forced to by London.

McGuinness and his party will be looking for votes from people who want to move on. But SF has an interesting leadership structure with Martin the Progressive and Gerry the counter-weight to Robinson. They seem to represent very different faces of SF and yet they seem in perfect harmony doing so.

[Maguire01]

So Peter Robinson has "no need nor desire to meet the Pope" on the basis that he (Robbo) is not a Catholic.  That's how you reach out to the middle class Fenians required to keep NI in the UK, Pete!  Keep up the good work!!

Robinson isn't looking for votes from anyone that thinks him meeting The Pope would be a good thing. Like everything else to date, he will only do it when forced to by London.

McGuinness and his party will be looking for votes from people who want to move on. But SF has an interesting leadership structure with Martin the Progressive and Gerry the counter-weight to Robinson. They seem to represent very different faces of SF and yet they seem in perfect harmony doing so.

It would be naive to think that this decision didn't go through Adams too.

[muppet]

So Peter Robinson has "no need nor desire to meet the Pope" on the basis that he (Robbo) is not a Catholic.  That's how you reach out to the middle class Fenians required to keep NI in the UK, Pete!  Keep up the good work!!

Robinson isn't looking for votes from anyone that thinks him meeting The Pope would be a good thing. Like everything else to date, he will only do it when forced to by London.

McGuinness and his party will be looking for votes from people who want to move on. But SF has an interesting leadership structure with Martin the Progressive and Gerry the counter-weight to Robinson. They seem to represent very different faces of SF and yet they seem in perfect harmony doing so.

It would be naive to think that this decision didn't go through Adams too.

Like I said - perfect harmony.

[Minder]

Former hunger striker and senior Sinn Féin adviser sues party

Irish Times - Gerry Moriarty

An ex-IRA hunger striker and formerly one of Sinn Féin's most senior advisers is taking a discrimination and unfair dismissal case against the party.

Leo Green, who surprisingly left his post as Sinn Féin's political director at Stormont in February is suing his party on a number of grounds, the North's Fair Employment Tribunal has confirmed.
Mr Green, who spent 83 days fasting in the 1980 hunger strike, is claiming discrimination for holding a political opinion, unfair dismissal and breach of contract.

He is taking the case through the Fair Employment Tribunal and the Industrial Tribunal. A tribunal spokesman said proceedings were at an early stage and the case is yet to be listed.
A Sinn Féin spokesman also confirmed the claims have been lodged to the tribunals.
"Sinn Féin will be contesting this. I do not want to say anything that will prejudice this case," he added.

Leo Green was arrested in 1977 and jailed for the murder of an RUC officer, spending more than 17 years in prison.
His "on-the-run" brother John Francis, a senior IRA member, was shot dead by the UVF near Castleblayney, Co Monaghan in 1975.
Leo Green was viewed as one of Sinn Féin's most senior strategists and advisors. His leaving his political director post and the discrimination case has caused great surprise in political circles.
A Sinn Féin spokesman said Mr Green was the first member to take such a case against the party.
Rumours of some internal discord first came to notice at the Sinn Féin ardfheis in February where Mr Green was noticeable by his absence. As well as leaving his post as director of political affairs at Stormont there was also speculation he had quit the party.

He personally dampened speculation by telling UTV and the BBC that he remained a Sinn Féin member, a fact confirmed at the Wexford ardfheis by the party. A party spokesman said this information was accurate and that Mr Green remains a Sinn Féin member.
It is very seldom that Sinn Féin washes its dirty linen in public and the fact that Mr Green is taking this discrimination case prompted further speculation about internal quarrels within the party.
In February the DUP social development Minister Nelson McCausland noting that he hadn't seen Mr Green "in the corridors at Stormont for the past few weeks" claimed that "behind that polished façade Sinn Féin is a party in disarray".

Notwithstanding his paramilitary past Mr Green was described as a Sinn Féin "progressive" at Stormont willing to make pragmatic decisions to keep politics moving forward. His disagreement with Sinn Féin is also being linked to claims by First Minister Peter Robinson last week that Sinn Féin was placing its electoral ambitions in the South ahead of its interests in the North.

[Nally Stand]

McGuinness and his party will be looking for votes from people who want to move on.

They will be looking for votes from the south in particular, and it will doubtless work with some of them. But if the treatment of Martin McGuinness, (a man who literally made peace many years ago), during the presidential election proved anything, it's that where republicans are concerned, there is a large chunk of the population in the south who are about as ready and willing to "move on" from the past as the average Twadell Avenue flegger.