Race for the ARAS 2025

[Rossfan]

€20m of 26 Cos taxpayers in grants to Companies in Tyrone.

[DaleCooper]

€20m of 26 Cos taxpayers in grants to Companies in Tyrone.

LMAO

Pittance. We are owed BILLIONS

[seafoid]

€20m of 26 Cos taxpayers in grants to Companies in Tyrone.

LMAO

Pittance. We are owed BILLIONS

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2025/10/31/justine-mccarthy-catherine-connollys-win-will-bring-irish-unity-closer-and-jim-ocallaghan-is-the-reason-why/
The current Programme for Government allocates €1 billion to the capital fund for North-South projects. Some of the most notable are the construction of the Narrow Water Bridge connecting the Cooley Peninsula to the Mourne Mountains, the cross-Border Ulster Canal, hourly trains between Dublin and Belfast and the preparation of an application for Unesco world heritage status for the astrological observatories in Birr, Dunsink and Armagh.
The fund's support for artistic, cultural, educational, tourism and infrastructural initiatives has, literally, been bringing people together. After all, a referendum in the Republic approving unification will be ineffective if the corresponding poll in the North rejects it.
Martin, with typical circumspection, has rubbished suggestions that the Shared Island initiative is a Trojan horse for Irish unity but its effectiveness in deepening cross-Border collaboration is undeniable

[Rossfan]

€20m of 26 Cos taxpayers in grants to Companies in Tyrone.

LMAO

Pittance. We are owed BILLIONS

Who's "we"?

[Snapchap]

From Brian Feeney is the Irish News last week. Hitting the nail squarely on the head as he generally tends to:

"You'll notice something is missing in all this. At no stage in the last century has any Irish government made any proposals for reunification.
Leo Varadkar has been the most influential in this aspect by recommending the Irish government should state that reunification is its objective instead of a mere aspiration.
As any good officer will tell you, if you have an objective, you must have a plan to achieve it. No such plan exists because there's no objective. In that respect, under Micheál Martin the Irish government is going backwards.
Martin's line is appeasement of unionists by resurrecting the unionist veto which the Good Friday Agreement removed, not only on constitutional change, but on any progress whatsoever.
There might have been some arguable excuse for that in the past when the wishes of a majority were to be honoured, but not now when unionists are no longer a majority or ever will be again.
If you can divine any rationale in Martin's appeasement policy, in which he refuses to utter the phrase 'united Ireland', it is to try to develop two viable parts of a shared island, separate but equal.
In this he flies in the face of Bunreacht na hÉireann and the will of the Irish people reinforced by repeated polling.
He is truly the lineal political descendant of WT Cosgrave. Unionists should be delighted with him."

[Sonny Joe]

Agreed, as he generally does!!

[Hand of God]

Martin fairly snapping at reporters today for pressing him on this report.

He is badly rattled.

[Rossfan]

Didn't the High or Supreme Court declared that reunification was an Aspiration not an imperative?
A case taken by McGimpsey?

Must look it up when I've time.


https://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&client=ms-android-samsung-rvo1&source=android-browser&q=mcgimpsey+v+ireland+summary

[seafoid]

https://www.irishtimes.com/politics/2025/12/16/fianna-fail-presidential-election-report-party-told-jim-gavin-past-disputes-would-be-uncovered/

Fianna Fáil presidential election report: Party told Jim Gavin past disputes would be uncovered
Document does not appear to contain any previously unknown 'smoking gun' about party's disastrous campaign

Taoiseach Micheál Martin and Fianna Fáil's presidential candidate Jim Gavin speaking to members of the media at the Ploughing Championships. Photograph: Ronan McGreevy
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is likely to face sharp criticism at a meeting of his parliamentary party over his handling of the presidential campaign with candidate Jim Gavin (right). Photograph: Ronan McGreevy
Pat Leahy
Tue Dec 16 2025 - 18:12
•
4 MIN READ


Jim Gavin was told before he became the Fianna Fáil candidate for the presidency that any disputes with former tenants would come to light, but he repeatedly told the party that he had no recollection of any issue, according to an internal review of the doomed campaign.

The report – which has recently been circulated to Fianna Fáil TDs – does not appear to contain any previously unknown "smoking gun" about the party's disastrous presidential campaign, though TDs may be annoyed that Mr Gavin's candidacy was being considered by the party leadership for months before they found out.

However, the report makes clear that many potential candidates were in the mix over the summer period.

Taoiseach and party leader Micheál Martin is likely to face sharp criticism at a meeting of his parliamentary party on Tuesday evening, with rumours of a motion of no-confidence circulating at Leinster House and some TDs suggesting that party rebels were already seeking signatures for a motion of no confidence.

 
Mr Gavin was asked again about any dispute with a tenant before the parliamentary party meeting which saw him chosen above Billy Kelleher – but again told party officials that he had no recollection of any dispute.

However, the report does not say that Mr Martin or his chief of staff Deirdre Gillane were in possession of any detailed information about the dispute between Mr Gavin and his tenant before they sought support for his candidacy among Fianna Fáil TDs.


The report says that Mr Gavin was subjected to a more intensive due diligence process than any previous candidate for the party in any election, in which it was stressed to him that any past disputes or controversies were likely to come out. Ultimately, party officials accepted Mr Gavin's assurances that he could not recall any disputes.

But once the existence of a dispute with the former tenant was revealed, and that Mr Gavin owed the man €3,300, Mr Martin and deputy leader Jack Chambers told him that they were no longer in a position to ask the parliamentary party to continue its support for him.

Mr Gavin had been suggested to Mr Chambers as a possible candidate by the former Dublin footballer Keith Barr in early June and he was approached soon afterwards, meeting with Mr Chambers later that month. After a series of discussions, including with Mr Martin on July 21st, he confirmed his interest in being the party's candidate to party general secretary Sean Dorgan on August 1st.

However, this information was kept quiet by the party leadership, as they did not want Gavin's candidacy to become public during the August silly season.

The report also reveals that MEP Billy Kelleher urged Mr Martin to stand for the presidency in mid-August in a text message to Mr Martin's chief of staff Deirdre Gillane, in which he said that it was "unimportant to me" as he was now in Brussels. This was just five days before Mr Kelleher requested a special parliamentary party meeting to consider the issue.

[ Inside Fianna Fáil: How grassroots members feel about Micheál Martin amid shambolic presidential campaignOpens in new window ]

Shortly afterwards, in a telephone call between the two men, Mr Kelleher indicated to Mr Martin that he would not seek the nomination if he (Mr Martin) had a preferred candidate, though the two men agreed to discuss the issue again. However, Mr Kelleher would go on to change his mind and declared his candidacy after Mr Martin and Mr Chambers had begun contacting members of the parliamentary party to seek support for Mr Gavin.


The report says that the party was not given details about the tenant dispute and the €3,300 owed to the tenant until October 2nd. The party again put the allegations to Mr Gavin, who again said he had no recollection of any dispute or money owing. The party issued a statement in response to the questions. The following day, seeing the party's denials on Mr Gavin's behalf, the tenant – Sunday World deputy editor Niall Donald – contacted Fianna Fáil.

Following discussions with the party leadership, Mr Gavin pulled out of the race the next day, after Mr Martin and Mr Chambers told him that they could not ask the organisation to continue campaigning for him.

The report says that the botched campaign will cost the party between €350,000 and €400,000.

The report makes a number of recommendations about how presidential candidates should be selected in future, pointing to the absence of any formal rules currently in existence. There is not, it says, and has never been a procedure by which a person can seek to be the Fianna Fáil candidate.

It says the new rules should be drawn up by an internal rules committee and adopted by an ardfheis. It stresses that adequate time should be set aside for the process to take place in advance of a presidential election. It says that the process as carried out this year placed some potential candidates at a disadvantage because they could not officially declare their candidacy until September 2nd.

The report will be discussed at what is expected to be a stormy Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting at Leinster House on Tuesday evening.

[DaleCooper]

€20m of 26 Cos taxpayers in grants to Companies in Tyrone.

LMAO

Pittance. We are owed BILLIONS

Who's "we"?

The Irish state is pissing THREE BILLION up the wall on housing third world chancers. There is obviously plenty of money swishing around , good that some will be used productively.