Stoops support SPADS, Sinn Fein sad and mad.

[ranch]

naming playparks that cause controversy

Ignoring the fact that those from that area support the naming of the park after Raymond McCreesh.

Did someone go around the doors asking peoples opinions about the name?

If some IRA/ Community leaders came to my door and said do you mind if we name the park after R. McCreesh? Would i or most others say, yes i do?

Don't really think so.

There was a proper consultation done in the immediate area at the time and there was only one objection.
I live in the area and have no problem with the park being named after Raymond McCreesh.

[Hardy]

The "reaching out to unionists" policy continues to deliver.

[muppet]

It's another creeping revisionism of the Good Friday Agreement.

I have a lot of sympathy for Ann Travers but anyone who has looked at her twitter account would be able to see the kind of reactionary, contradictory human being that she is. I don't blame her for it - rather I blame those who killed her sister in a senseless act of violence - but when it comes to her being given a voice which she uses to vilify other victims like the Finucane family, I draw the line. As has been said above she is being utilised for political aims, an ironic and awfully sad twist given that her sister's death was justified by the perpetrators as a political act.

However, this is the uneasy peace that a majority of people on this island voted for, and this is the platform from which we have to move forward. Few at the time were prepared to consider the logical and illogical consequences of that document, and while it was agreed on the basis that no more victims would be created, the end result was that many of the more traumatised victims like Ann were completely ignored. Sadly, that's what happened, but it shouldn't be used as an excuse to rip up the basis upon which our present peace is built.

Good post.

[Maguire01]

naming playparks that cause controversy

Ignoring the fact that those from that area support the naming of the park after Raymond McCreesh.

Did someone go around the doors asking peoples opinions about the name?

If some IRA/ Community leaders came to my door and said do you mind if we name the park after R. McCreesh? Would i or most others say, yes i do?

Don't really think so.

There was a proper consultation done in the immediate area at the time and there was only one objection.
I live in the area and have no problem with the park being named after Raymond McCreesh.

I don't think it is an appropriate name for a play park. In fact, I don't see why a play park would be named after any 'political' figure.

[lawnseed]

naming playparks that cause controversy

Ignoring the fact that those from that area support the naming of the park after Raymond McCreesh.

Did someone go around the doors asking peoples opinions about the name?

If some IRA/ Community leaders came to my door and said do you mind if we name the park after R. McCreesh? Would i or most others say, yes i do?

Don't really think so.

There was a proper consultation done in the immediate area at the time and there was only one objection.
I live in the area and have no problem with the park being named after Raymond McCreesh.

I don't think it is an appropriate name for a play park. In fact, I don't see why a play park would be named after any 'political' figure.

anyone think of a new name for casement park? or pearse stadium?

[Maguire01]

naming playparks that cause controversy

Ignoring the fact that those from that area support the naming of the park after Raymond McCreesh.

Did someone go around the doors asking peoples opinions about the name?

If some IRA/ Community leaders came to my door and said do you mind if we name the park after R. McCreesh? Would i or most others say, yes i do?

Don't really think so.

There was a proper consultation done in the immediate area at the time and there was only one objection.
I live in the area and have no problem with the park being named after Raymond McCreesh.

I don't think it is an appropriate name for a play park. In fact, I don't see why a play park would be named after any 'political' figure.

anyone think of a new name for casement park? or pearse stadium?

Are they play parks?

[lynchbhoy]

naming playparks that cause controversy

Ignoring the fact that those from that area support the naming of the park after Raymond McCreesh.

Did someone go around the doors asking peoples opinions about the name?

If some IRA/ Community leaders came to my door and said do you mind if we name the park after R. McCreesh? Would i or most others say, yes i do?

Don't really think so.

There was a proper consultation done in the immediate area at the time and there was only one objection.
I live in the area and have no problem with the park being named after Raymond McCreesh.

I don't think it is an appropriate name for a play park. In fact, I don't see why a play park would be named after any 'political' figure.

anyone think of a new name for casement park? or pearse stadium?

Ahhh ya can't be giving sensible examples to this daft non argument - especially since you haven't lifted your info straight out of google !!

[Maguire01]

naming playparks that cause controversy

Ignoring the fact that those from that area support the naming of the park after Raymond McCreesh.

Did someone go around the doors asking peoples opinions about the name?

If some IRA/ Community leaders came to my door and said do you mind if we name the park after R. McCreesh? Would i or most others say, yes i do?

Don't really think so.

There was a proper consultation done in the immediate area at the time and there was only one objection.
I live in the area and have no problem with the park being named after Raymond McCreesh.

I don't think it is an appropriate name for a play park. In fact, I don't see why a play park would be named after any 'political' figure.

anyone think of a new name for casement park? or pearse stadium?

Ahhh ya can't be giving sensible examples to this daft non argument - especially since you haven't lifted your info straight out of google !!

What are you talking about? Are either of those children's play parks?

[glens abu]

Compassion - that's what Alex Attwood stressed in that rather stressful encounter with the BBC's Gareth Gordon yesterday. Alex was feeling more than a little tetchy at the time. He'd come from a  meeting with Ann Travers, the woman whose sister was shot dead by the IRA  29 years ago as it attempted to kill her father Tom Travers, a judge. As you probably know, Ann is on a mission, now that Mary McArdle is no longer a special adviser in Stormont, to have anyone who's served five years or more barred from acting as a special adviser in Stormont. The SDLP has said it will not support a bill to this effect; Ann Travers has said that means they are "putting up two fingers to victims". Hence her meeting to get them to change their minds.



Compassion. Who could not feel compassion for a woman who has clearly suffered deeply since the day and hour that her sister was killed in 1984? However, compassion is one thing and judgement is another. The SDLP has already made a judgement not to support a bill precluding from special adviser office all those who've served five years or more. Ann McArdle is intent on changing that judgement by drawing on the SDLP's compassion.


A dangerous mix. It is never wise to allow victims to make decisions about punishment, for the  good reason that they are victims. A victim feels the pain of loss and anger against those who have inflicted that loss; a judge is one who can detach him or herself from that pain and make a dispassionate decision on fitting punishment. If Alex Attwood or the SDLP allow Ann Travers to decide what the party's views on this matter should be, they will have allowed compassion to over-rule judgement.


A final and important point on this. Twice yesterday in her TV interview, Ann Travers declared she was speaking on behalf of all victims, in her pursuit of this matter.  She's wrong. There are literally thousands of people who are victims of the conflict here.  Not all of them feel that their pain calls for the barring from office of anyone who has served five years or more. Some of them feel the very opposite. Ann Travers has every right to speak for herself. She has no right to say she speaks for all victims.

[Rossfan]

Excellent post Glens Jude.
Seems Ms Travers is not  ready for "moving on".
What next - anyone who didn't condemn e.g Enniskillen at the time can't serve in Stormont??

[T Fearon]

Alex didnt show much "compassion" for the BBC reporter who stuck a microphone in his face after the meeting. He's our answer to John Prescott

[Saffrongael]

Excellent post Glens.
Seems Ms Travers is not  ready for "moving on".
What next - anyone who didn't condemn e.g Enniskillen at the time can't serve in Stormont??

It isn't Glens post, it is Jude Collins.

[Applesisapples]

Ann Travers is angry and has not come to terms with her loss. Yes McArdle was jailed for her part in it but the actual killers remain at large. Her reactions are understandable but no more or less relevant than those of the Cairns and Reavy families or any other victims. She is being used by media and politicians for their own ends. My objection to some spads and McArdle in particular is a lack of actual expertise in the area to which they are appointed. SF in particular share the jobs out to the boys and girls, it's like a military pension.

[Hardy]

Excellent post Glens.
Seems Ms Travers is not  ready for "moving on".
What next - anyone who didn't condemn e.g Enniskillen at the time can't serve in Stormont??

It isn't Glens post, it is Jude Collins.

Yes - it's not on to be posting stuff without attributing it.

[glens abu]

Excellent post Glens.
Seems Ms Travers is not  ready for "moving on".
What next - anyone who didn't condemn e.g Enniskillen at the time can't serve in Stormont??

It isn't Glens post, it is Jude Collins.

Yes - it's not on to be posting stuff without attributing it.

Sorry about that just copied and pasted this morning and as Saff said its Jude Collins blog