The Race for the ARAS.....

[Sea The Stars]

Sea The Stars you really should tune into Vincent Browne - very serious questions being asked about Gallagher's loans from ailing companies.

Ulick can you summarise what the problem is with Gallagher's accounts?

[Tony Baloney]

Seriously I'm sick about all this now . . . it's turned into Big Brother/The X Factor. A big song and dance with publicity stunts, lies, claim and counter claim. The bottom line is not one of those candidates is fit to shine the shoes of the previous 2 Presidents and that's a fact. The job has no real purpose other than as a figurehead to represent Ireland with pride, honour and dignity. All candidates have shown that they are nowhere near capable of doing this!!!

They should keep McAleese on for another 7 years until somebody with the proper credentials can fulfill the post or else just scrap it!!

+1

[Ulick]

Ulick can you summarise what the problem is with Gallagher's accounts?

Gallagher and his partner tooks large sums of cash from two companies which were in receipt of state grant aid. Companies subsequently went bust and other investors lost their money, while Gallagher and other lad walked off with fat wallets.

[cicfada]

You would think that Fionnan Sheehan would have done his research as a journo, he kept refering to Morgan as Ormond and secondly Gallagher gave an explanation on Today fm  for his €5k fee to GAA clubs. he said that it was business plans he was preparing for  them as part of their application process for these grants! Sheehan of course  did not mention this at all!!  Yes, €5k is a lot but what GAA club would not do it if they thought they would get 200 or 300 thousand in return? Gallagher has a lot of grey areas to colour up all right  but is it too late for him to drop 20 points?? In any case I will be voting for Michael D, good night folks!!

[Sea The Stars]

Ulick can you summarise what the problem is with Gallagher's accounts?

Gallagher and his partner tooks large sums of cash from two companies which were in receipt of state grant aid. Companies subsequently went bust and other investors lost their money, while Gallagher and other lad walked off with fat wallets.

Was it stated as fact on Vincent Browne that "companies subsequent went bust", that "investors lost their money" and that "Gallagher walked off with with a fat wallet". Answer = No.

Can we take any post you post on here as being truth any more? You fell from the same tree as Mr. McGuinness !!

[Nally Stand]

I'd rather have a man with a dodgy £5k in his background than a man involved in the murder and maiming of men, women and children.

Michael Collins? 

[Pangurban]

Whoever should win this election, should consider what has been lost in the process. The Irish media industry stand exposed as partisan, untruthful and incompetent. Irish society has been exposed as devoid of vision, and an inability to learn from past mistakes. Northern Nationalists have seen their aspirations trampled upon and are now totally abandoned. When your colonial masters treat you with more respect than your fellow countryman, the time has come to consider your position. Michael D has behaved with presidential decorum and dignity and will probably succeed to the presidency. Sadly he will preside over a bankrupt,fractured state, that has turned its back on its history and culture, and has no future other than a pleasant playground for rich european elites

[lawnseed]

I'd rather have a man with a dodgy £5k in his background than a man involved in the murder and maiming of men, women and children.

Michael Collins? 

dont you know nally all of the operations carried out by the freedom fighters of 1916 went perfectly! not one civilian death

[highorlow]

What does a person of the people actually mean?

If Gallagher and Higgin's were in a room together at a social function it would be Gallagher that the majority of people would approach and talk to.

That is my definition of it.

[Applesisapples]

The public are not stupid. The biggest lie of the campaign is that Martin McGuinness had no further involvement with the IRA after 1974. The other one has bells on it Marty!

I wouldn't be too sure this is a lie. Around that time McGuinness and Adams started talking to the Brits and the political strategy was being formulated. Whilst as senior Republicans they may well have been on the Army Council of the IRA it would have been risky for them to continue as active members given their high profile. I know this is splitting hairs slightly but there is a distinct difference.

[Tubberman]

Whoever should win this election, should consider what has been lost in the process. The Irish media industry stand exposed as partisan, untruthful and incompetent. Irish society has been exposed as devoid of vision, and an inability to learn from past mistakes. Northern Nationalists have seen their aspirations trampled upon and are now totally abandoned. When your colonial masters treat you with more respect than your fellow countryman, the time has come to consider your position. Michael D has behaved with presidential decorum and dignity and will probably succeed to the presidency. Sadly he will preside over a bankrupt,fractured state, that has turned its back on its history and culture, and has no future other than a pleasant playground for rich european elites

Sadly, I was expecting shite like this to be trotted out. If you don't vote SF, the insults start. Irish people (is this just southern or are you including northern irish pangurban? I hope you're not being partitionist) are devoid of vision and haven't learned from mistakes.

Not alone that, people are planning to actually vote as they wish (there's a word for that...) and won't necessarily be voting as SF supporters want us to.
And worst of all, we have yet again trampled all over the northern nationalists and abandoned them in their hour of need. We are now worse than the Brits and northern nationalists are considering their position!
What does this mean I wonder? Will they start a bombing campaign to kick the southern irish renegades off this island?
Will they northern nationalists be joining the 12th July marches next year with their new found comrades in the UK?
Truly historic times....

[Applesisapples]

First Jarlath and now Hughie, what next Paddy Og in exposed as a RIRA volunteer!!

[Applesisapples]

Whoever should win this election, should consider what has been lost in the process. The Irish media industry stand exposed as partisan, untruthful and incompetent. Irish society has been exposed as devoid of vision, and an inability to learn from past mistakes. Northern Nationalists have seen their aspirations trampled upon and are now totally abandoned. When your colonial masters treat you with more respect than your fellow countryman, the time has come to consider your position. Michael D has behaved with presidential decorum and dignity and will probably succeed to the presidency. Sadly he will preside over a bankrupt,fractured state, that has turned its back on its history and culture, and has no future other than a pleasant playground for rich european elites

Sadly, I was expecting shite like this to be trotted out. If you don't vote SF, the insults start. Irish people (is this just southern or are you including northern irish pangurban? I hope you're not being partitionist) are devoid of vision and haven't learned from mistakes.

Not alone that, people are planning to actually vote as they wish (there's a word for that...) and won't necessarily be voting as SF supporters want us to.
And worst of all, we have yet again trampled all over the northern nationalists and abandoned them in their hour of need. We are now worse than the Brits and northern nationalists are considering their position!
What does this mean I wonder? Will they start a bombing campaign to kick the southern irish renegades off this island?
Will they northern nationalists be joining the 12th July marches next year with their new found comrades in the UK?
Truly historic times....

Tubberman you and some others here seem to take the posts of a few Northern Posters on this site as representative of all. This is not the case no more than some of the views expressed on here by you and others represent the views of all southerners. Yes it is true that some southerners on here have displayed a lack of understanding of the northern situation and the experiences of Nationalists since partition and the feeling of isolation we felt. But not all. Some northern posters have also shown a lack of understanding both of the politics and the experiences of the south since partition. But there is more that unites us than divides us. We should however know from the experiences of German reunification that to wake up in a United Ireland one day would be a complete disaster for all. When it happens unity will come dropping slowly and will require patience, understanding and compromise on all sides.
As to the election, I voted for Gallagher in the poll above, if I had to vote again I would probably vote for McGuinness, mainly because I think he has been shabbily treated by the media. But also he has done the south a favour by exposing Gallagher for what he is.

[sheamy]

The Irish media industry stand exposed as partisan, untruthful and incompetent.

True but nothing new. People need to understand the background of the current state of the Irish media. I think we in the north sometimes over-react to the media treatment of Sinn Fein and northerners in general on RTE/TV3 etc. This can result in sweeping statements about Irish people in general (the type Tubberman just got offended by), and can come across as offensive to ordinary irish citizens looking in. I think if we can all see the media in the correct context, understand that they are not without agenda, then we might all understand each other a bit better.

'Eoghan Harris was a secret member of the Workers Party (previously Official Sinn Fein, then Sinn Fein the Workers Party) from the early 1970's. For most of the period during which he was a secret member he threatened media organisations and journalists (including this journalist) with libel actions if they asserted what was in fact true – ie his membership of the party. In addition, he was instrumental in establishing a secret branch of the party within the Workers Union of Ireland (WUI) membership at RTE and this branch attempted and succeeded in slanting RTE current affairs programmers on radio and television through the judicious placement of its members and associates in key roles. In doing so they gravely damaged the credibility of RTE's current affairs output especially in relation to northern coverage, on which it sought to exclude any voice that it considered sympathetic to Provisional Sinn Fein (not just members of Sinn Fein).

The current President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, worked as a reporter on RTE television's flagship current affairs programme at the time, Today Tonight, and came into conflict with others on the programme who either were secret members of the Workers Party or associates of those. She was accused of being a Provo and ridiculed because of her northern nationalist background. She was personally witness to an extraordinary episode which illustrated the bias that had infected RTE current affairs at the time.'

http://politico.ie/politics/4442-eoghan-harris-and-the-workers-party.html

When you hear Charlie Bird or Marian Finucane witter on on some rant, remember Harris hired all them and schooled them in the same agenda as above. When you establish a culture in an organisation then it tends to get passed down to younger members of that organisation.

Now, 2 days ago bbc ni reported the re-opening of a case of the shooting of an RUC man in 1974 by the Official IRA at a time when Harris was developing his project as part of Official Sinn Fein. Compare and contrast the silence on this with similar cases in which the provisional movement were involved.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-15423091

[Bingo]

I'd rather have a man with a dodgy £5k in his background than a man involved in the murder and maiming of men, women and children.

Michael Collins? 

Michael Collins never lied or hid what he done.