It Must be Marching Season

[red hander]

He'll be forever known as Jim  'The Sanitiser' Allister

[David McKeown]

Cheers David. Insightful as always. Last question for the day on this - given the above why are people on 3-figure convictions given "one last chance" by magistrates? Given your above answer surely a line has to be drawn somewhere.

When I read the Armagh Gazette it's the same names every few weeks (you'll no doubt be familiar with some of the characters!) and numbers like 109 previous convictions are not unusual.

What's the answer for these people as jail obviously isnt a deterrent and support services arent working or available? Im sure they are all a combination of mental health/substance abuse cases but something is very wrong and the taxpayer continues to fund the bill for these people. If you know the answer I'll vote for you 😑

There is no answer unfortunately and it's a judgement call. I don't know the statistics but I'd be sure that a huge majority of cases that appear in court are not the only case that defendant faced in their life time. So how do you deal with that?  Hard to know. It costs about £80k a year to house a prisoner. It costs nearly £1k to see whether probation would be suitable and/or useful for a person.

The evidence is that short sentences don't work. In fact there's legislation going through in England at the minute that the presumption will now be if the sentence is 12 months or less it should be suspended.

To answer your question each case is judged individually 109 convictions could be someone with a record for doing the same thing and no disposal works or it could be someone with 80 road traffic infractions which in reality may be 10 cases. So it's impossible to say why Judges give one final chance because it will come down to a wide variety things.

Severity of the offence, impact on other family members, genuine sympathy to the defendants circumstances, shortness of custodial sentence available etc etc. 

[Rossfan]

Judge to rule on latest case "next week"
Meanwhile the OO who are so concerned about the law are holding un notified (illegal) parades all over the place

You couldn't make it up.

[Armagh18]

Seamie caught using AI again!

The pricks are just proving the point for us, they can march away to their hearts content in their own areas and not a word said, just stay off the Garvaghy road

[marty34]

I think they got the message. March where you're accepted.

This question should be raised in every interview now.

[imtommygunn]

They didn't get the message for twenty eight years. Why would they start now?

[AustinPowers]

I was up an hour  early (forgot about the time)  so watched Nolan from last week (I know I know!)

Anyway ,  Gavin Robinson said "he believes the police believes there  were guns on the Garvaghy Road".

Was this actually confirmed by the police last week? (I haven't  seen much news)

I can't believe the BBC and Nolan allowed this shit to  go unchallenged.  And a whole show ensued where this  was deemed the truth

I could have said I believed  Elvis  was going  ride up the Garvaghy Road on Shergar in support  of the residents. It wouldn't have been any more  outrageous than what  Robinson claimed. Christ almighty

[Deerstalker]

Read this article this morning from Sam McBride in the Belfast Telegraph - fairly start the dereliction of duty of our politicians in the last 10/15 years.

Not that it's new to any of us. Those waiting list figures are fairly eye watering.

Fixing our crippled NHS is a life-and-death issue, yet politicians pay it lip service and then make a beeline for Drumcree

Sam McBride 25 October 2026


A decade ago, a senior Stormont figure issued a grim warning about the crisis faced by Northern Ireland's health system.

It was "at breaking point" and without change it would in 10 years be consuming 90pc of the devolved budget without delivering better outcomes.

That message came from the then health minister, Michelle O'Neill. She promised to lead sweeping reforms. She said these would take 10 years to fully implement and promised to update the Assembly every six months.

She never did. Instead, her party walked out of government three months later. Covid followed, as did a DUP-led government collapse. Today, she is first minister.

Plenty of southerners look at the NHS with envy. The ethos of Sláintecare is about moving the sprawling Irish system closer to the UK model.

Yet while the concept of the NHS is majestically egalitarian, the way it works in Northern Ireland is increasingly a warning to others.

Despite knowing that health reform is a life-and-death issue, most politicians have given in to populism. They know their constituents stand a better chance of survival if some services are moved out of small local hospitals into larger specialist centres.

But this is unpopular, so politicians will campaign to save this or that service, in contradiction of the reforms to which they pledged themselves.

Politicians claim to be working urgently to fix health, but the recent Drumcree parade dispute shows what real urgency looks like: Sinn Féin ministers dropping everything to stand in pouring rain on a road in defiance of a court order because they believe it's the right thing to do. There has simply never been anything approaching this level of urgency over the health crisis.

O'Neill's warning followed a seminal report by Rafael Bengoa, a Spanish health policy expert. For decades, Stormont had commissioned many such reports, which recommended something very similar: fewer small hospitals and more centres of excellence.

Professor Bengoa warned of looming collapse, telling Stormont: "The stark options facing the health and social care system are either to resist change and see services deteriorate to the point of collapse over time, or to embrace transformation and work to create a modern, sustainable service..."

Every party signed up to his vision, yet most of this hasn't been implemented. The Alliance Party is the only one to have mostly stood in defence of centralising services.

Politicians have long known the gravity of what is involved. A decade ago, the then first minister Arlene Foster said: "We either try and manage the change or we manage the chaos that would come if we didn't tackle the huge issues that there are."

The then deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, said at that time: "Change has to happen and the only question is whether it will happen in a controlled, planned fashion or unfold out of control. There is only one responsible choice to make."

Stormont has not just crumbled to populist arguments, but has also failed to prepare strategically for what it claims to want.

If someone in Fermanagh or south Down is being told they have a better chance of surviving by getting to a centre of excellence further away, then the roads need to be improved and the ambulance service beefed up.

Instead, both have got worse. Who can blame those in isolated rural communities for being sceptical about the claims being made by politicians in Belfast, whose residents have a plethora of hospitals?

The outcome is grim. Some services are now collapsing. Some unplanned change is precipitated by medics refusing to work where they cannot treat sufficient patients to maintain their professional qualifications, or where they believe the service is unsafe.

Vast sums have been paid to temporary staff to prop up a system Stormont admitted a decade ago was unsustainable. Now even that isn't working.

When Prof Bengoa delivered his report, 226,000 people were waiting for outpatient treatment; that figure has more than doubled to 527,000. And back then about 100,000 people were waiting for diagnostic tests; that figure has also more than doubled.

Many of these people are waiting in agony. When referred for urgent cancer treatment, 95pc of patients should begin treatment within 62 days. A decade ago, 67pc did so; now just 28pc do.

Southerners live on average more than two-and-a-half years longer than northerners. This is incredible, given that we live remarkably similar lifestyles.

Health is not the only factor — education and prosperity are also significant — but it is impossible to believe that an inferior health system could keep people alive that much longer.

A decade ago, O'Neill said: "If we persist with our current models of care... waiting lists will continue to grow, our expertise will continue to be diluted, and the best possible outcomes for patients will not be realised. This is both unsustainable and unacceptable."

It turns out that, for Stormont, this has been both sustainable and acceptable.

Well-paid politicians and senior civil servants will be able to afford private treatment if they so choose. For someone in poverty, they are stuck with a system that in theory treats them for free, but in practice can't do so for years. That is a grotesque inequality.

[LC]

Read this article this morning from Sam McBride in the Belfast Telegraph - fairly start the dereliction of duty of our politicians in the last 10/15 years.

Not that it's new to any of us. Those waiting list figures are fairly eye watering.

Fixing our crippled NHS is a life-and-death issue, yet politicians pay it lip service and then make a beeline for Drumcree

Sam McBride 25 October 2026


A decade ago, a senior Stormont figure issued a grim warning about the crisis faced by Northern Ireland's health system.

It was "at breaking point" and without change it would in 10 years be consuming 90pc of the devolved budget without delivering better outcomes.

That message came from the then health minister, Michelle O'Neill. She promised to lead sweeping reforms. She said these would take 10 years to fully implement and promised to update the Assembly every six months.

She never did. Instead, her party walked out of government three months later. Covid followed, as did a DUP-led government collapse. Today, she is first minister.

Plenty of southerners look at the NHS with envy. The ethos of Sláintecare is about moving the sprawling Irish system closer to the UK model.

Yet while the concept of the NHS is majestically egalitarian, the way it works in Northern Ireland is increasingly a warning to others.

Despite knowing that health reform is a life-and-death issue, most politicians have given in to populism. They know their constituents stand a better chance of survival if some services are moved out of small local hospitals into larger specialist centres.

But this is unpopular, so politicians will campaign to save this or that service, in contradiction of the reforms to which they pledged themselves.

Politicians claim to be working urgently to fix health, but the recent Drumcree parade dispute shows what real urgency looks like: Sinn Féin ministers dropping everything to stand in pouring rain on a road in defiance of a court order because they believe it's the right thing to do. There has simply never been anything approaching this level of urgency over the health crisis.

O'Neill's warning followed a seminal report by Rafael Bengoa, a Spanish health policy expert. For decades, Stormont had commissioned many such reports, which recommended something very similar: fewer small hospitals and more centres of excellence.

Professor Bengoa warned of looming collapse, telling Stormont: "The stark options facing the health and social care system are either to resist change and see services deteriorate to the point of collapse over time, or to embrace transformation and work to create a modern, sustainable service..."

Every party signed up to his vision, yet most of this hasn't been implemented. The Alliance Party is the only one to have mostly stood in defence of centralising services.

Politicians have long known the gravity of what is involved. A decade ago, the then first minister Arlene Foster said: "We either try and manage the change or we manage the chaos that would come if we didn't tackle the huge issues that there are."

The then deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, said at that time: "Change has to happen and the only question is whether it will happen in a controlled, planned fashion or unfold out of control. There is only one responsible choice to make."

Stormont has not just crumbled to populist arguments, but has also failed to prepare strategically for what it claims to want.

If someone in Fermanagh or south Down is being told they have a better chance of surviving by getting to a centre of excellence further away, then the roads need to be improved and the ambulance service beefed up.

Instead, both have got worse. Who can blame those in isolated rural communities for being sceptical about the claims being made by politicians in Belfast, whose residents have a plethora of hospitals?

The outcome is grim. Some services are now collapsing. Some unplanned change is precipitated by medics refusing to work where they cannot treat sufficient patients to maintain their professional qualifications, or where they believe the service is unsafe.

Vast sums have been paid to temporary staff to prop up a system Stormont admitted a decade ago was unsustainable. Now even that isn't working.

When Prof Bengoa delivered his report, 226,000 people were waiting for outpatient treatment; that figure has more than doubled to 527,000. And back then about 100,000 people were waiting for diagnostic tests; that figure has also more than doubled.

Many of these people are waiting in agony. When referred for urgent cancer treatment, 95pc of patients should begin treatment within 62 days. A decade ago, 67pc did so; now just 28pc do.

Southerners live on average more than two-and-a-half years longer than northerners. This is incredible, given that we live remarkably similar lifestyles.

Health is not the only factor — education and prosperity are also significant — but it is impossible to believe that an inferior health system could keep people alive that much longer.

A decade ago, O'Neill said: "If we persist with our current models of care... waiting lists will continue to grow, our expertise will continue to be diluted, and the best possible outcomes for patients will not be realised. This is both unsustainable and unacceptable."

It turns out that, for Stormont, this has been both sustainable and acceptable.

Well-paid politicians and senior civil servants will be able to afford private treatment if they so choose. For someone in poverty, they are stuck with a system that in theory treats them for free, but in practice can't do so for years. That is a grotesque inequality.

Clearly demonstrates the incompetency of our politicians and their inability to prioritise what is really important.

[JPGJOHNNYG]

Sure didn't that twat Burrows go over Nesbitts head hence the fall out and now his replacement butler wants a new report which will just tell them the same thing ffs

[marty34]

Politics is a mess everywhere.

Look at America, UK and France.

[imtommygunn]

Everything is just very polarised these days. That's no change here as it always was but everything classified as far right vs woke left etc etc. middle ground is gone.

[general_lee]

Read this article this morning from Sam McBride in the Belfast Telegraph - fairly start the dereliction of duty of our politicians in the last 10/15 years.

Not that it's new to any of us. Those waiting list figures are fairly eye watering.

Fixing our crippled NHS is a life-and-death issue, yet politicians pay it lip service and then make a beeline for Drumcree

Sam McBride 25 October 2026


A decade ago, a senior Stormont figure issued a grim warning about the crisis faced by Northern Ireland's health system.

It was "at breaking point" and without change it would in 10 years be consuming 90pc of the devolved budget without delivering better outcomes.

That message came from the then health minister, Michelle O'Neill. She promised to lead sweeping reforms. She said these would take 10 years to fully implement and promised to update the Assembly every six months.

She never did. Instead, her party walked out of government three months later. Covid followed, as did a DUP-led government collapse. Today, she is first minister.

Plenty of southerners look at the NHS with envy. The ethos of Sláintecare is about moving the sprawling Irish system closer to the UK model.

Yet while the concept of the NHS is majestically egalitarian, the way it works in Northern Ireland is increasingly a warning to others.

Despite knowing that health reform is a life-and-death issue, most politicians have given in to populism. They know their constituents stand a better chance of survival if some services are moved out of small local hospitals into larger specialist centres.

But this is unpopular, so politicians will campaign to save this or that service, in contradiction of the reforms to which they pledged themselves.

Politicians claim to be working urgently to fix health, but the recent Drumcree parade dispute shows what real urgency looks like: Sinn Féin ministers dropping everything to stand in pouring rain on a road in defiance of a court order because they believe it's the right thing to do. There has simply never been anything approaching this level of urgency over the health crisis.

O'Neill's warning followed a seminal report by Rafael Bengoa, a Spanish health policy expert. For decades, Stormont had commissioned many such reports, which recommended something very similar: fewer small hospitals and more centres of excellence.

Professor Bengoa warned of looming collapse, telling Stormont: "The stark options facing the health and social care system are either to resist change and see services deteriorate to the point of collapse over time, or to embrace transformation and work to create a modern, sustainable service..."

Every party signed up to his vision, yet most of this hasn't been implemented. The Alliance Party is the only one to have mostly stood in defence of centralising services.

Politicians have long known the gravity of what is involved. A decade ago, the then first minister Arlene Foster said: "We either try and manage the change or we manage the chaos that would come if we didn't tackle the huge issues that there are."

The then deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, said at that time: "Change has to happen and the only question is whether it will happen in a controlled, planned fashion or unfold out of control. There is only one responsible choice to make."

Stormont has not just crumbled to populist arguments, but has also failed to prepare strategically for what it claims to want.

If someone in Fermanagh or south Down is being told they have a better chance of surviving by getting to a centre of excellence further away, then the roads need to be improved and the ambulance service beefed up.

Instead, both have got worse. Who can blame those in isolated rural communities for being sceptical about the claims being made by politicians in Belfast, whose residents have a plethora of hospitals?

The outcome is grim. Some services are now collapsing. Some unplanned change is precipitated by medics refusing to work where they cannot treat sufficient patients to maintain their professional qualifications, or where they believe the service is unsafe.

Vast sums have been paid to temporary staff to prop up a system Stormont admitted a decade ago was unsustainable. Now even that isn't working.

When Prof Bengoa delivered his report, 226,000 people were waiting for outpatient treatment; that figure has more than doubled to 527,000. And back then about 100,000 people were waiting for diagnostic tests; that figure has also more than doubled.

Many of these people are waiting in agony. When referred for urgent cancer treatment, 95pc of patients should begin treatment within 62 days. A decade ago, 67pc did so; now just 28pc do.

Southerners live on average more than two-and-a-half years longer than northerners. This is incredible, given that we live remarkably similar lifestyles.

Health is not the only factor — education and prosperity are also significant — but it is impossible to believe that an inferior health system could keep people alive that much longer.

A decade ago, O'Neill said: "If we persist with our current models of care... waiting lists will continue to grow, our expertise will continue to be diluted, and the best possible outcomes for patients will not be realised. This is both unsustainable and unacceptable."

It turns out that, for Stormont, this has been both sustainable and acceptable.

Well-paid politicians and senior civil servants will be able to afford private treatment if they so choose. For someone in poverty, they are stuck with a system that in theory treats them for free, but in practice can't do so for years. That is a grotesque inequality.

Clearly demonstrates the incompetency of our politicians and their inability to prioritise what is really important.

It's almost as if Northern Ireland doesn't work!

[Armagh18]

Read this article this morning from Sam McBride in the Belfast Telegraph - fairly start the dereliction of duty of our politicians in the last 10/15 years.

Not that it's new to any of us. Those waiting list figures are fairly eye watering.

Fixing our crippled NHS is a life-and-death issue, yet politicians pay it lip service and then make a beeline for Drumcree

Sam McBride 25 October 2026


A decade ago, a senior Stormont figure issued a grim warning about the crisis faced by Northern Ireland's health system.

It was "at breaking point" and without change it would in 10 years be consuming 90pc of the devolved budget without delivering better outcomes.

That message came from the then health minister, Michelle O'Neill. She promised to lead sweeping reforms. She said these would take 10 years to fully implement and promised to update the Assembly every six months.

She never did. Instead, her party walked out of government three months later. Covid followed, as did a DUP-led government collapse. Today, she is first minister.

Plenty of southerners look at the NHS with envy. The ethos of Sláintecare is about moving the sprawling Irish system closer to the UK model.

Yet while the concept of the NHS is majestically egalitarian, the way it works in Northern Ireland is increasingly a warning to others.

Despite knowing that health reform is a life-and-death issue, most politicians have given in to populism. They know their constituents stand a better chance of survival if some services are moved out of small local hospitals into larger specialist centres.

But this is unpopular, so politicians will campaign to save this or that service, in contradiction of the reforms to which they pledged themselves.

Politicians claim to be working urgently to fix health, but the recent Drumcree parade dispute shows what real urgency looks like: Sinn Féin ministers dropping everything to stand in pouring rain on a road in defiance of a court order because they believe it's the right thing to do. There has simply never been anything approaching this level of urgency over the health crisis.

O'Neill's warning followed a seminal report by Rafael Bengoa, a Spanish health policy expert. For decades, Stormont had commissioned many such reports, which recommended something very similar: fewer small hospitals and more centres of excellence.

Professor Bengoa warned of looming collapse, telling Stormont: "The stark options facing the health and social care system are either to resist change and see services deteriorate to the point of collapse over time, or to embrace transformation and work to create a modern, sustainable service..."

Every party signed up to his vision, yet most of this hasn't been implemented. The Alliance Party is the only one to have mostly stood in defence of centralising services.

Politicians have long known the gravity of what is involved. A decade ago, the then first minister Arlene Foster said: "We either try and manage the change or we manage the chaos that would come if we didn't tackle the huge issues that there are."

The then deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, said at that time: "Change has to happen and the only question is whether it will happen in a controlled, planned fashion or unfold out of control. There is only one responsible choice to make."

Stormont has not just crumbled to populist arguments, but has also failed to prepare strategically for what it claims to want.

If someone in Fermanagh or south Down is being told they have a better chance of surviving by getting to a centre of excellence further away, then the roads need to be improved and the ambulance service beefed up.

Instead, both have got worse. Who can blame those in isolated rural communities for being sceptical about the claims being made by politicians in Belfast, whose residents have a plethora of hospitals?

The outcome is grim. Some services are now collapsing. Some unplanned change is precipitated by medics refusing to work where they cannot treat sufficient patients to maintain their professional qualifications, or where they believe the service is unsafe.

Vast sums have been paid to temporary staff to prop up a system Stormont admitted a decade ago was unsustainable. Now even that isn't working.

When Prof Bengoa delivered his report, 226,000 people were waiting for outpatient treatment; that figure has more than doubled to 527,000. And back then about 100,000 people were waiting for diagnostic tests; that figure has also more than doubled.

Many of these people are waiting in agony. When referred for urgent cancer treatment, 95pc of patients should begin treatment within 62 days. A decade ago, 67pc did so; now just 28pc do.

Southerners live on average more than two-and-a-half years longer than northerners. This is incredible, given that we live remarkably similar lifestyles.

Health is not the only factor — education and prosperity are also significant — but it is impossible to believe that an inferior health system could keep people alive that much longer.

A decade ago, O'Neill said: "If we persist with our current models of care... waiting lists will continue to grow, our expertise will continue to be diluted, and the best possible outcomes for patients will not be realised. This is both unsustainable and unacceptable."

It turns out that, for Stormont, this has been both sustainable and acceptable.

Well-paid politicians and senior civil servants will be able to afford private treatment if they so choose. For someone in poverty, they are stuck with a system that in theory treats them for free, but in practice can't do so for years. That is a grotesque inequality.

Clearly demonstrates the incompetency of our politicians and their inability to prioritise what is really important.

There'a plenty to criticise the Shinners on but not on their response round Girvaghy. Been top notch.

[nrico2006]

Read this article this morning from Sam McBride in the Belfast Telegraph - fairly start the dereliction of duty of our politicians in the last 10/15 years.

Not that it's new to any of us. Those waiting list figures are fairly eye watering.

Fixing our crippled NHS is a life-and-death issue, yet politicians pay it lip service and then make a beeline for Drumcree

Sam McBride 25 October 2026


A decade ago, a senior Stormont figure issued a grim warning about the crisis faced by Northern Ireland's health system.

It was "at breaking point" and without change it would in 10 years be consuming 90pc of the devolved budget without delivering better outcomes.

That message came from the then health minister, Michelle O'Neill. She promised to lead sweeping reforms. She said these would take 10 years to fully implement and promised to update the Assembly every six months.

She never did. Instead, her party walked out of government three months later. Covid followed, as did a DUP-led government collapse. Today, she is first minister.

Plenty of southerners look at the NHS with envy. The ethos of Sláintecare is about moving the sprawling Irish system closer to the UK model.

Yet while the concept of the NHS is majestically egalitarian, the way it works in Northern Ireland is increasingly a warning to others.

Despite knowing that health reform is a life-and-death issue, most politicians have given in to populism. They know their constituents stand a better chance of survival if some services are moved out of small local hospitals into larger specialist centres.

But this is unpopular, so politicians will campaign to save this or that service, in contradiction of the reforms to which they pledged themselves.

Politicians claim to be working urgently to fix health, but the recent Drumcree parade dispute shows what real urgency looks like: Sinn Féin ministers dropping everything to stand in pouring rain on a road in defiance of a court order because they believe it's the right thing to do. There has simply never been anything approaching this level of urgency over the health crisis.

O'Neill's warning followed a seminal report by Rafael Bengoa, a Spanish health policy expert. For decades, Stormont had commissioned many such reports, which recommended something very similar: fewer small hospitals and more centres of excellence.

Professor Bengoa warned of looming collapse, telling Stormont: "The stark options facing the health and social care system are either to resist change and see services deteriorate to the point of collapse over time, or to embrace transformation and work to create a modern, sustainable service..."

Every party signed up to his vision, yet most of this hasn't been implemented. The Alliance Party is the only one to have mostly stood in defence of centralising services.

Politicians have long known the gravity of what is involved. A decade ago, the then first minister Arlene Foster said: "We either try and manage the change or we manage the chaos that would come if we didn't tackle the huge issues that there are."

The then deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness, said at that time: "Change has to happen and the only question is whether it will happen in a controlled, planned fashion or unfold out of control. There is only one responsible choice to make."

Stormont has not just crumbled to populist arguments, but has also failed to prepare strategically for what it claims to want.

If someone in Fermanagh or south Down is being told they have a better chance of surviving by getting to a centre of excellence further away, then the roads need to be improved and the ambulance service beefed up.

Instead, both have got worse. Who can blame those in isolated rural communities for being sceptical about the claims being made by politicians in Belfast, whose residents have a plethora of hospitals?

The outcome is grim. Some services are now collapsing. Some unplanned change is precipitated by medics refusing to work where they cannot treat sufficient patients to maintain their professional qualifications, or where they believe the service is unsafe.

Vast sums have been paid to temporary staff to prop up a system Stormont admitted a decade ago was unsustainable. Now even that isn't working.

When Prof Bengoa delivered his report, 226,000 people were waiting for outpatient treatment; that figure has more than doubled to 527,000. And back then about 100,000 people were waiting for diagnostic tests; that figure has also more than doubled.

Many of these people are waiting in agony. When referred for urgent cancer treatment, 95pc of patients should begin treatment within 62 days. A decade ago, 67pc did so; now just 28pc do.

Southerners live on average more than two-and-a-half years longer than northerners. This is incredible, given that we live remarkably similar lifestyles.

Health is not the only factor — education and prosperity are also significant — but it is impossible to believe that an inferior health system could keep people alive that much longer.

A decade ago, O'Neill said: "If we persist with our current models of care... waiting lists will continue to grow, our expertise will continue to be diluted, and the best possible outcomes for patients will not be realised. This is both unsustainable and unacceptable."

It turns out that, for Stormont, this has been both sustainable and acceptable.

Well-paid politicians and senior civil servants will be able to afford private treatment if they so choose. For someone in poverty, they are stuck with a system that in theory treats them for free, but in practice can't do so for years. That is a grotesque inequality.

Clearly demonstrates the incompetency of our politicians and their inability to prioritise what is really important.

There'a plenty to criticise the Shinners on but not on their response round Girvaghy. Been top notch.

Nowhere near a top priority though.