General Election and Government Formation Megathread (see post #1)

Imreoir2

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Charlie Flanagan who at the time was still Minister for Justice was there.

This 'it's different' is exactly what I am talking about, there is a clear lack of social distancing at Garda Horken's funeral.
Going to a large funeral is the point being used to jab at SF - the Irish State held a large funeral for a Garda who was killed on duty. There was a large uniformed Garda presence including the Commissioner and high ranking officers. Where are the calls for Drew Harris to stand down? He was present as social distance rules were being broken.

There was also a large civilian and press presence.

The photos of both funerals are available on-line so that is all I can go by - indeed that is all most of us can go by unless we were physically present. https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0621/1148696-garda-funeral/
https://www.thejournal.ie/detective-garda-colm-horkan-funeral-2-5128699-Jun2020/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/in-pictures-the-funeral-of-det-gda-colm-horkan-1.4284818
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/gallery/garda-colm-horkan-funeral-22229438
https://cdn.extra.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/21121855/colm-horkan-funeral-1.jpg

There are many many reasons to criticise SF but to pick this when the Garda Siochana were part of in a large funeral with no social distancing strikes me as disingenuous and very much different rules apply.

At least it was a funeral in Garda Horkan's case. SF just held a rally in a Graveyard and used a mans death as cover for it. There was no burial in the graveyard that day.

Bannasidhe

Imreoir2 wrote: »

At least it was a funeral in Garda Horkan's case. SF just held a rally in a Graveyard and used a mans death as cover for it. There was no burial in the graveyard that day.

Again utterly missing the point I am making while trying to justify why one large gathering of not socially distanced people was acceprtable but another wasn't.

I don't think either were during a pandemic when we were still under clear restrictions.

I don't even think they are now tbh. I think they are a surge waiting to happen.

Imreoir2

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Again utterly missing the point I am making while trying to justify why one large gathering of not socially distanced people was acceprtable but another wasn't.

I don't think either were during a pandemic when we were still under clear restrictions.

I don't even think they are now tbh. I think they are a surge waiting to happen.

Sure, breaking public health guidelines is not acceptable. SF using a funeral to cover holding a political rally, and then trying to point to other breaches to excuse their own shows a huge lack of responsibility and integrity. Holding them to account should not be dependant on every other breach being addressed first.

BonnieSituation

Hermy wrote: »

As you said in a previous comment it really shouldn't matter but...

Exactly. So all the rubbish spouted about not having a minister from Limerick to Donegal is only because they won't be able to eat from the trough.

Between O'Dea, Moynihan, Cowen and this Foley nonsense, it's been quite an inauspicious week for FF. Keep it up lads.

Hermy

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Exactly. So all the rubbish spouted about not having a minister from Limerick to Donegal is only because they won't be able to eat from the trough.

I take your point.

eagle eye

BonnieSituation wrote:

Exactly. So all the rubbish spouted about not having a minister from Limerick to Donegal is only because they won't be able to eat from the trough.

What does eat from the trough mean?

beggars_bush

eagle eye wrote: »

What does eat from the trough mean?

Ministers salary
Expenses
Funding for their constituency
Pension

eagle eye

beggars_bush wrote:

Ministers salary Expenses Funding for their constituency Pension

Every politician wants that. Why would you be criticising particular TDs for wanting the big bucks?

jacool

BonnieSituation wrote: »

Exactly. So all the rubbish spouted about not having a minister from Limerick to Donegal is only because they won't be able to eat from the trough.

Between O'Dea, Moynihan, Cowen and this Foley nonsense, it's been quite an inauspicious week for FF. Keep it up lads.

Add in Kelleher and you have a nap hand there!

jmayo

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Charlie Flanagan who at the time was still Minister for Justice was there.

This 'it's different' is exactly what I am talking about, there is a clear lack of social distancing at Garda Horken's funeral.
Going to a large funeral is the point being used to jab at SF - the Irish State held a large funeral for a Garda who was killed on duty. There was a large uniformed Garda presence including the Commissioner and high ranking officers. Where are the calls for Drew Harris to stand down? He was present as social distance rules were being broken.

There was also a large civilian and press presence.

The photos of both funerals are available on-line so that is all I can go by - indeed that is all most of us can go by unless we were physically present. https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0621/1148696-garda-funeral/
https://www.thejournal.ie/detective-garda-colm-horkan-funeral-2-5128699-Jun2020/
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/in-pictures-the-funeral-of-det-gda-colm-horkan-1.4284818
https://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/gallery/garda-colm-horkan-funeral-22229438
https://cdn.extra.ie/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/21121855/colm-horkan-funeral-1.jpg

There are many many reasons to criticise SF but to pick this when the Garda Siochana were part of in a large funeral with no social distancing strikes me as disingenuous and very much different rules apply.

Do you fooking know how big a state funeral for a Garda normally is ?
Well East Mayo has sadly had three of these now in 11 years.
Ok one was in Blackrock in Co Louth, but it was for Ballina man, coincidentally slaughter by a so called republican.
The other was for Robbie McCallion in Swinford.

The funeral for Garda Horkan was totally scaled down precisely because of Covid Lockdown.
Thousands of Gardai formed guard of honour at local stations throughout the country as a mark of respect rather than travel to Charlestown, Co. Mayo.

And a lot of the people at that funeral were locals, people from his local town and surrounding towns where he had served as a Garda, coming out to show their respect to the slain man and his family.
You had guard of honour both by local gardai and members of GAA since Colm Horkan had life long involvement in the association.

Yes the commissioner and some high ranking gardai were present.

Should he and other ranking officers in the divison not have bothered showing up to the funeral of a murdered colleague ?

How many members of the Gardai travelled from throughout the country, unlike the shinners who did?

So stop the equivalency shyte talk.

It is bad enough you are equating the funerals of a guy linked to numerous murders and a garda that helped put criminals in jail, including child rapists for your information.
Then again shinners are in the business of hiding child rapists.

FrancieBrady

jmayo wrote: »

Do you fooking know how big a state funeral for a Garda normally is ?
Well East Mayo has sadly had three of these now in 11 years.
Ok one was in Blackrock in Co Louth, but it was for Ballina man, coincidentally slaughter by a so called republican.
The other was for Robbie McCallion in Swinford.

The funeral for Garda Horkan was totally scaled down precisely because of Covid Lockdown.
Thousands of Gardai formed guard of honour at local stations throughout the country as a mark of respect rather than travel to Charlestown, Co. Mayo.

And a lot of the people at that funeral were locals, people from his local town and surrounding towns where he had served as a Garda, coming out to show their respect to the slain man and his family.
You had guard of honour both by local gardai and members of GAA since Colm Horkan had life long involvement in the association.

Yes the commissioner and some high ranking gardai were present.

Should he and other ranking officers in the divison not have bothered showing up to the funeral of a murdered colleague ?

How many members of the Gardai travelled from throughout the country, unlike the shinners who did?

So stop the equivalency shyte talk.

It is bad enough you are equating the funerals of a guy linked to numerous murders and a garda that helped put criminals in jail, including child rapists for your information.
Then again shinners are in the business of hiding child rapists.

Storey's funeral would have come near to McGuinness's funeral in size in 'normal situations'

Arghus

Lots of footage on the news there from the 40th anniversary commerations of two Gardai killed in the line of duty.

Whole lot of handshaking going on, zero masks and people up close and personal with each other. Not an eyelid batted in the media or any political voice.

I know it's a different jurisdiction, and it's not the actions of a political party and I think SF were completely in the wrong last week, but I found it interesting that a very similar situation was treated completely differently by RTE this week.

blanch152

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Storey's funeral would have come near to McGuinness's funeral in size in 'normal situations'

Storey was a common criminal thug and bully.

The account in the Sindo of Mairia Cahill's 80-year old granny staring him down showed what a nasty piece of work he was. Not a single person from outside the Sinn Fein/IRA community went anywhere near his funeral or paid a single tribute to him. That says it all.

There will be families all over West Belfast with loved ones lost to punishment killings or crippled by kneecapping who are still secretly celebrating his demise. The world is a much better and nicer place without him.

markodaly

blanch152 wrote: »

Storey was a common criminal thug and bully.

The account in the Sindo of Mairia Cahill's 80-year old granny staring him down showed what a nasty piece of work he was. Not a single person from outside the Sinn Fein/IRA community went anywhere near his funeral or paid a single tribute to him. That says it all.

There will be families all over West Belfast with loved ones lost to punishment killings or crippled by kneecapping who are still secretly celebrating his demise. The world is a much better and nicer place without him.

The bigging up of Storey by SF is an odd one. The Provo supporters on here love him and no doubt would rank him as a 'good' Republican. But then he was an enforcer who bullied women and journalists and of course did worse and ordered worse to be carried out in his name.

He is also the guy who carried out the Northern Bank raid. But that is the confusing part. Was he a common criminal who robbed money from banks and lifted tobacco from containers, or was he a good Republican fighting for Ireland's freedom?

mariaalice

Back to the government, anyone hears the interview with Eamon Ryan yesterday, he sounded totally fed up with what is happening with the Barry Cowen incident i.e FF carry on again I would say he is getting a lof of rumbling from his party at the moment saying 'I told you so' regarding FF

Sam Russell

mariaalice wrote: »

Back to the government, anyone hears the interview with Eamon Ryan yesterday, he sounded totally fed up with what is happening with the Barry Cowen incident i.e FF carry on again I would say he is getting a lof of rumbling from his party at the moment saying 'I told you so' regarding FF

As Minister for Transport, he should move to close the loophole of people not taking the test and getting a new Lerner Permit. An easy win.

Cowen should have resigned, and if he did not, he should have been sacked. He should have told MM about it (well all of it), and for that reason he should go. MM has lost a lot of respect and credibility over this, as has FF. Bad week for him and it is only his first.

oceanman

Sam Russell wrote: »

As Minister for Transport, he should move to close the loophole of people not taking the test and getting a new Lerner Permit. An easy win.

Cowen should have resigned, and if he did not, he should have been sacked. He should have told MM about it (well all of it), and for that reason he should go. MM has lost a lot of respect and credibility over this, as has FF. Bad week for him and it is only his first.

i dont think mm had much respect or credibility to start with...even within his own party..

Good loser

On the 1 o'clock news today Pearse Doherty badly mauled by Brian Hayes.
Doherty talks so quickly it's hard to know what he's saying and, when he's spoofing, which is most of the time, he talks all the faster.
Practically all the 'facts' he bases his arguments on are false.
SF may think he's a genius but does anyone else? Seems to me arithmetic is beyond him, not to mention maths!

aw

Good loser wrote: »

On the 1 o'clock news today Pearse Doherty badly mauled by Brian Hayes.
Doherty talks so quickly it's hard to know what he's saying and, when he's spoofing, which is most of the time, he talks all the faster.
Practically all the 'facts' he bases his arguments on are false.
SF may think he's a genius but does anyone else? Seems to me arithmetic is beyond him, not to mention maths!

A good summation.

He follows the SF playbook to a tee... Constant outrage, loud, repeats the same talking points, even if proved wrong.

Depressingly, this is exactly what some of the electorate lap up.

Mossie1975

Anyone watching Mark McSherry on The Tonight Show? Kept having to remind myself he was in FF as he was distancing himself so much from the party. New party is going to be called Backbench FF

Bellview

aw wrote: »

A good summation.

He follows the SF playbook to a tee... Constant outrage, loud, repeats the same talking points, even if proved wrong...

Depressingly, this is exactly what some of the electorate lap up.

his maths are also really weak as for some reason he thought he was minister for finance with 25% of the vote..

like all in SF they are great at putting a point in context of ie minimum wage etc... but when they are asked for a solution they never have one

if SF were serious about government why didn't they spend time talking to parties and not the show boating tat we have all witnessed ie Pearse going into Dept of finance to meet officials etc.. at least Covid helped us having to put up with the whinging hustlings on why they should be the government despite having 25% of the vote

blanch152

markodaly wrote: »

The bigging up of Storey by SF is an odd one. The Provo supporters on here love him and no doubt would rank him as a 'good' Republican. But then he was an enforcer who bullied women and journalists and of course did worse and ordered worse to be carried out in his name.

He is also the guy who carried out the Northern Bank raid. But that is the confusing part. Was he a common criminal who robbed money from banks and lifted tobacco from containers, or was he a good Republican fighting for Ireland's freedom?

He is also the man who emailed Sinn Fein members to blacken Mairia Cahill's name on social media.

blackwhite

L1011 wrote: »

Cowen sacked.

Quickest reshuffle ever?

Jim McDaid still holds the record

L1011

blackwhite wrote: »

Jim McDaid still holds the record

I'm not sure McDaid ever got his seal to count as a Minister (that time around); but it would be the quickest reshuffle yes. Forgot about that considering he had other scandals later on!

awec

Calleary gets agriculture. That's surely one of those "only viable candidate left" selections.

BonnieSituation

awec wrote: »

Calleary gets agriculture. That's surely one of those "only viable candidate left" selections.

And a choice that further underlines just how brutal MM is at this leadership lark.

hardybuck

Mossie1975 wrote: »

Anyone watching Mark McSherry on The Tonight Show? Kept having to remind myself he was in FF as he was distancing himself so much from the party. New party is going to be called Backbench FF

What about Neasa Hourigan as Green Party Finance Spokesperson, who yesterday wondered about the point of appealing the Apple case should Ireland lose it today, and today announcing disappointment that Ireland won the case?

You'd nearly feel sorry for Eamon Ryan having to keep someone like that around for fear it'd boost Catherine Martin's leadership push. Hourigan is a complete liability - imagine having someone like that in Cabinet!

WishUWereHere

Saw this yesterday:

https://www.thejournal.ie/opinion-poll-politics-2-5166225-Aug2020/

I am conscious that it's early days and it is only an opinion poll, but wow, my old #1 ( labour) are really in the doldrums. New 'leader' ought to have meant a climb in the ratings, but nah, just the same old rubbish from the party trhat once was representative of the working human.

Chips Lovell

Mod Note

Split out the Golfgate threads into a new thread