The wondrous adventures of Sinn Fein (part 3) Mod Notes and Threadbanned List in OP

The rigorous vetting probably requires a level of organised crime involvement to get a seat

Why are you making up things that I didn't say?

Shane Ross has raised questions over how she afforded her family home. There might well be good answers - maybe she won the Prize Bonds - but they are interesting legitimate questions.

Dowdall was friends with Hutch from childhood, we have learned, he is also friends with MLMD, did their paths cross? An interesting legitimate question as well.

In the early 1980s, diehard FFers had the same response as you when questioned about how Haughey afforded his house. We didn't get answers then either, but it certainly makes interesting reading to see the same tactics deployed nearly forty years later in defence of MLMD.

It’s all coming to a head now and sheds light on SFs opposition to the SPC.

If Jonners sings who knows what will be exposed.

There is a certainly a fair it of concern running through SF ranks now, it would appear.

Interesting times.

Isn't it funny how upset some people get when asked to back up thier claims.

And the same poster demanded that I give them the details of one of SF's policies, as though they expect me to do their research for them.

As SF moves to take over the space held by FF from 1932 to 2007, they carefully avoid antagonising anyone who might vote for them. Their primary policy is and has always been a united Ireland. Everything else is secondary to that aim, and they want power in the south in furtherance of that aim. IMO they will carefully consider the effect of any policy change in relation to votes likely to be won or lost as a result.

MLMcD seems very astute in this regard: look at how Gerry Adams has been completely sidelined since his retirement. Two women now run the party (or they are its public face at the very least) and the party has gone from strength to strength under this new leadership.

It's possible that other people wield influence in the background - but this is surely true of other parties too. I certainly wonder who really pulls the strings in FF, because the current leader has been a disaster for it. Is he really in charge? And ditto for Varadkar, who has lost FG a serious number of seats in the Dáil and can hardly point out a single success during his tenure.

My concerns about SF omerta and control of media through the use of SLAPPs have been echoed by Sean O'Rourke.

I was villified by SF supporters for raising these questions in these threads, but the concerns are now mainstream.

I'd completely agree with this, they have been very astute, even on the likes of abortion, they just weren't relevant enough at the time of the referendum for their official stance to really hurt them and all this works well until they get into power (where we can already see their shortcomings in NI) and while I think SF in power will be the shortest route to having a UI referendum, conversely, their inability to compromise with others (as shown multiple times but tellingly their inability to form a government after the last election, bringing down stormont over irish was also manna for the DUP who can make any excuse for it now) makes it least likely that they would be able to actually win such a referendum as they would put off most of the non-nationalist/catholic vote in NI (and it's a referendum that would be exceedingly hard to re-run even a couple of decades later, it could finish them as a party as it would destroy their one aim entirely, the SNP have been able to swing back due to brexit).

The astuteness also runs out when you actually have to govern and pick a side and live with the consequences of decisions (as truss is finding out rapidly in England).

(not actually) Abe Lincoln: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt

am I doing it right?

Abortion, UI referendum due to numbers of Catholics and church as a charity would all be Catholic policies that SF had or have.

Unless you want to weasel behind "well it applies to all religions" when in SF's case their roots were Catholic.

Are SF going to drop their "Catholic majority = UI vote" policy now or in the future? Or is this the thread where we can pretend it doesn't exist?

Mary Lou McDonald: Time to plan for border poll on Irish unity (breakingnews.ie)

Abortion: A Catholic policy?

UI Referendum: A Catholic policy?

Abe Lincoln: Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt

A very good question for RTe, why did they drop the interview?

 self-censorship is not the answer. Very true.

Don't agree with this at all. IMO a reasonably close result, somewhere around 45% yes, would render the border poll a worthwhile exercise for SF. The issue of Irish unity would remain live ( as the Scottish independence has since a result of that scale in their referendum), and there would be a strong case for a rerun in a decade or so...

I think the opposite. I would welcome a border poll, expect it to be 60:40 against, and the responsibility afterwards would be to put the constitutional issue aside and get on with making Northern Ireland work.

The threat to democracy from Sinn Fein remains.

RTE are now claiming that it is an editorial issue preventing them from broadcasting the interview. The only editorial issue I can think of is that they didn't think people would listen to it. Given the growing concern, I am sure that people would listen now, so we should expect to hear it in the next day or two.

I must put this up for satirical post of the year.

The censorship on show here is self-censorship from RTE who have been intimidated by SLAPPs cases into complete deference to Sinn Fein. This story will run.

Hopefully the Oireachtas Committee will get to the bottom of this.