Sinn Fein absence from royal events (mod warning: stay on topic!)

dienbienphu · 18-05-2011 07:24PM

Clareboy wrote: »

I have great respect for Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, but I was dissapointed to see that Sinn Fein were not represented at any of the events to do with the visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to Ireland. Sinn Fein can sit down with Unionists in the North and do business with them and still they cannot meet Her Majesty and forget the past. What is their problem?

i think its a sign of immaturity. look at how far they've come and they refuse to attend. i think they're trying to hang onto one last bit of credibility that they've left

Sunnyisland · 18-05-2011 07:26PM

The Waltzing Consumer wrote: »

Keith, when a large portion of their "protesters" are made up of junkies, their attention span does wane when they need more heroin. Plus, social welfare is paid on a wednesday so that would explain the rest of the scumbags not turning up for more trouble. Heroin and living off the state are far more important to these people.

Without going in to defend the protesters but to say all of them are the above is some what generalising to put it mildly,and for your information social welfare is paid mon-friday inclusive.

caseyann · 18-05-2011 07:29PM

dienbienphu wrote: »

i think its a sign of immaturity. look at how far they've come and they refuse to attend. i think they're trying to hang onto one last bit of credibility that they've left

Its a sign of standing up for what they believe in and a lot of us believe in.;)

dienbienphu · 18-05-2011 07:34PM

caseyann wrote: »

Its a sign of standing up for what they believe in and a lot of us believe in.;)

hypocrisy is what it is. sinn fein have gone as far as they can get. its time they accept that the GFA was the best deal they could get and they should stop trying to paint themselves as republicans because accepting the GFA shows that they were nothing but civl rights protesters using the name of the IRA for their cause

Sunnyisland · 18-05-2011 07:35PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

They most likely did miss out. Even my dad who is a loyalist and who used to be in the orange order had a tear in the eye as he believes in moving forward towards peace. Probably has put a few Unionists fears to rest too that many people in the Irish Republic don't hate our traditions or our monarch.

irishh_bob wrote: »

a very significant post Kieth if you dont mind me saying so

While it is to be welcomed I wouldn't have my hopes up to high as the loyalist community have there own very significant ;protesters: who would make the current Dublin ones cringe with embarrassment.

The Waltzing Consumer · 18-05-2011 07:53PM

realies wrote: »

Without going in to defend the protesters but to say all of them are the above is some what generalising to put it mildly,and for your information social welfare is paid mon-friday inclusive.

Not generalising for the people there yesterday.

Dirk Gently · 18-05-2011 07:55PM

dlofnep wrote: »

Sinn Féin doesn't wish to meet with the Queen of England? Shocker! There's no keeping anyone happy.

wouldn't normally comment in a SF thread (they are car crash threads, not necessarily because of SF supporters either) but the above is true, there is no keeping anti SF people happy. I think they've taken a mature stance by not protesting and in doing so letting the event take place in as much dignity as possible.

Some people wont be happy until SF are out on the street waving union jacks and supporting partition. Just stand back for a second and have the maturity to recognise a significant gesture by them in butting out of the visit. If they decided to organise protests it would be a lot more than a handful of eirigi supporting junkies we'd have to police and it would be much more significant numbers and more newsworthy. They chose not to do that. I say fair play to them for that.

Happyman42 · 18-05-2011 08:07PM

dienbienphu wrote: »

hypocrisy is what it is. sinn fein have gone as far as they can get. its time they accept that the GFA was the best deal they could get and they should stop trying to paint themselves as republicans because accepting the GFA shows that they were nothing but civl rights protesters using the name of the IRA for their cause

That is an extraordinary political analysis. :eek:

sollar · 18-05-2011 09:11PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

I honestly thought eirigi or some other Republican group was going to create absolute havoc in Dublin. Seems they have not had a chance to riot.

I think this visit has been a very significant defeat for the likes of eirigi. This was their time to bring their support out on the street for a show of numbers. They could only manage between 50 and 100. This just shows that whatever future this country has the militant republicans have no support anymore.

murphaph · 18-05-2011 09:55PM

I doubt Her Majesty gives two fcuks about Gerry Adams not being there.

The Waltzing Consumer · 18-05-2011 09:59PM

murphaph wrote: »

I doubt Her Majesty gives two fcuks about Gerry Adams not being there.

For someone who has no interest in meeting the Queen, wherever the Queen went, along went Gerry in the background to talk to the media.

Jaap · 18-05-2011 10:05PM

I think we should concentrate on who was there and who wasn't!
Although if Sinn Fein claim to be a party interested in developing a shared society in Northern Ireland...why are they turning their backs on an invite to dine with a lady who is idolised by the majority of Northern Ireland.
This majority have accepted ex-terrorists from Sinn Fein in to government...is trying to move forward and just meeting an important figurehead for the other side of the community that hard?

Godge · 18-05-2011 10:08PM

Edward Carson wrote: »

It certainly is time for truth for innocent victims on all sides of the conflict. I can only imagine Sinn Fein will cooperate fully with any future investigations into the murder of innocent people by the IRA (if only in the interests of truth).

Agree fully with these sentiments. And what better time than this for Sinn Fein or the IRA to offer up the man who pressed the button to kill Lord Mountbatten and the innocents on his boat? The Queen was right when she said all of us have been affected by the events of the last 40 years and her family as much as any.

Bottle_of_Smoke · 18-05-2011 10:20PM

I was surprised at which unionist politicians showed up. Tom Elliot in particular. On stephen nolan show yesterday a lot of unionist callers were annoyed about the wreathlaying and the visit in general.

KeithAFC · 18-05-2011 10:22PM

Edward Carson wrote: »

It certainly is time for truth for innocent victims on all sides of the conflict. I can only imagine Sinn Fein will cooperate fully with any future investigations into the murder of innocent people by the IRA (if only in the interests of truth).

Welcome to the forum.

KeithAFC · 18-05-2011 10:24PM

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

I was surprised at which unionist politicians showed up. Tom Elliot in particular. On stephen nolan show yesterday a lot of unionist callers were annoyed about the wreathlaying and the visit in general.

Wasn't it the World war wreath laying? It was in remembrance to the brave volunteers of 16th Irish division and the 36th Ulster division which is remembered in Ulster every year.

Bottle_of_Smoke · 18-05-2011 10:28PM

KeithAFC wrote: »

Wasn't it the World war wreath laying? It was in remembrance to the brave volunteers of 16th Irish division and the 36th Ulster division which is remembered in Ulster every year.

I thought they meant the one she laid for the men and women of 1916

I think there is also offense taken at the croke park visit because its considered by some unionists to be a republican organisation

hmmm · 18-05-2011 10:30PM

The people of the Republic agreed to let murderers out of jail to try and rehabilitate ex terrorists into our politics, the people of the UK have sent their Head of State here to brave possible injury to prostrate herself before us, the least SF and Republicans could do is try and show some level of maturity by acknowledging those events with grace. Instead the country is forced to spend tens of millions protecting the Queen & Irish people from neanderthal elements of Republicanism, and we have to listen to SF endlessly lecturing us on how we should "move on" yet at the same time showing an inability to do so when it doesn't suit them.

SF are clearly showing that they lack maturity, and worse, they lack any sense of dignity or comprehension of the sacrifices that everyone on these two islands have been making to try and accommodate their inclusion in democratic politics.

KeithAFC · 18-05-2011 10:34PM

Bottle_of_Smoke wrote: »

I thought they meant the one she laid for the men and women of 1916

I think there is also offense taken at the croke park visit because its considered by some unionists to be a republican organisation

Some do view it like that. And the GAA has got a dodgy past in that regard Peter and co went to the World war ceremonies.

fergpie · 18-05-2011 10:37PM

hmmm wrote: »

The people of the Republic agreed to let murderers out of jail to try and rehabilitate ex terrorists into our politics, the people of the UK have sent their Head of State here to brave possible injury to prostrate herself before us, the least SF and Republicans could do is try and show some level of maturity by acknowledging those events with grace. Instead the country is forced to spend tens of millions protecting the Queen & Irish people from neanderthal elements of Republicanism, and we have to listen to SF endlessly lecturing us on how we should "move on" yet at the same time showing an inability to do so when it doesn't suit them.

SF are clearly showing that they lack maturity, and worse, they lack any sense of dignity or comprehension of the sacrifices that everyone on these two islands have been making to try and accommodate their inclusion in democratic politics.

Spot on. Couldnt have said it better myself.

sceptre · 19-05-2011 02:46AM

Clareboy wrote: »

Sell outs! I did not think that the Sinn Fein position in the North was so precarious that they would be afraid to shake the hand of the head of state of our nearest neighbour.

They're sort of stuck between two stools on this one. On the one hand they might well love to be out there as the chiefs of the anti-side. On the other hand, they've realised what appears to be the general view that most Irish people have of the visit (which judging by polls seems to be a strong view in favour).

They're terrified of losing votes. They can't come out in favour of the visit as they've been pretty dismissive of it for so long. They don't want to continue strongly against as it'll cost them with the moveable vote from which they gained in the general election. So they're holed up in their own territory, making specific statements about specific past events and releasing balloons. BBC News mentioned early this morning that they couldn't get any senior figures from Sinn Fein to participate in an on-camera discussion on the visit (even to speak against it and they've had quite a few people who are against the visit on camera, including some of the more narky protesters, some of the less narky protesters and Boyd-Barrett) or even to make a statement on it in the past few days. And they're also of the opinion that they just want to keep quiet, given the prevailing winds of public opinion (said on BBC News Breakfast this morning).

It's a falling between two stools of their own doing of course.

kelko1916 · 19-05-2011 08:46AM

hmmm wrote: »

The people of the Republic agreed to let murderers out of jail to try and rehabilitate ex terrorists into our politics, the people of the UK have sent their Head of State here to brave possible injury to prostrate herself before us, the least SF and Republicans could do is try and show some level of maturity by acknowledging those events with grace. Instead the country is forced to spend tens of millions protecting the Queen & Irish people from neanderthal elements of Republicanism, and we have to listen to SF endlessly lecturing us on how we should "move on" yet at the same time showing an inability to do so when it doesn't suit them.

SF are clearly showing that they lack maturity, and worse, they lack any sense of dignity or comprehension of the sacrifices that everyone on these two islands have been making to try and accommodate their inclusion in democratic politics.

sacrifices that everyone on these two islands

people within sinn fein especally at leadership level know a hell of a lot more about sacrafice than people who just look for any oportunity to attack sinn fein . it is wonderful that the people in the republic let people out of jail ,most of who were jailed for fighting to obtain the same freedoms as those who established the so called republic in the first place . the people of the republic have as much or more to appoligise to nationalists in northern ireland as unionests or the british queen , somebody who stands by and watches while his friends are beaten , deprived , denied human rights for 50 years is hardly a good friend or a good neighbour .

Liam Byrne · 19-05-2011 06:38PM

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

Dublin Sinn Féin activists unveil a banner at the Sinn Féin bookshop in Parnell Square calling on the British Government, during the visit to Ireland by Elizabeth Windsor, to release all the documentation it has in relation to the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 1974.

I wonder will SF call for full public co-operation and the release to Gardaí and the public of the full details of those who were planning to bomb both of those two places and murder Irish people this week ?

Liam Byrne · 19-05-2011 06:41PM

It is wonderfula massive sacrifice that the people in the republic let people out of jail ,most of who were jailed for fightingmurdering innocent people and causing criminal damage

somebody who stands by and watches while his friends are beaten , deprived , denied human rights for 50 years is hardly a good friend or a good neighbour .

If the neighbour is a violent thug who murders kids and other innocents, he's not getting my assistance!

RandomName2 · 19-05-2011 06:45PM

PatsytheNazi wrote: »

As Republicans they are anti monarchy.

Simples.

The Queen is pro-monarchy. Thus she refuses to meet with the presidents of republics.

Err....

celtictiger32 · 19-05-2011 06:53PM

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

yep look where thats got us

Liam Byrne · 19-05-2011 06:59PM

celtictiger32 wrote: »

yep look where thats got us

It got us to today, where over 80% of people are in support of the visit and those objecting can only get 50-100 people to attend, despite (as reported here on boards) handing out free cigarettes to coax the usual suspects into swelling their numbers.

later12 · 19-05-2011 07:00PM

celtictiger32 wrote: »

yep look where thats got us

Oh dear. Probably the most often repeated fallacy of false cause throughout this economic crisis. The people who got us into this mess were aligned with capitalists or mainstream parties, therefore mainstream parties or capitalists are the problem. Rarely does the face so readily greet the palm.

celtictiger32 · 19-05-2011 07:28PM

Liam Byrne wrote: »

It got us to today, where over 80% of people are in support of the visit and those objecting can only get 50-100 people to attend, despite (as reported here on boards) handing out free cigarettes to coax the usual suspects into swelling their numbers.

ah sure isnt that great it doesnt matter that they got us into a mess of a state but once 80% (and dont kid yourself, seriously) are happy to spend even more unneccesary money to bring the english queen over ah we'll be grand if fg dont get us out of it we'll go back to ff and have a tennis match between them for government until one of them do. that is today

Happyman42 · 19-05-2011 07:38PM

Liam Byrne wrote: »

It got us to today, where over 80% of people

I would really love to see a copy of this poll that everyone is quoting. Can you link me to it? Was it carried out by an independent polling company, a newspaper or a website? Or was there a referendum while I was in the little boys room?

Liam Byrne wrote: »

handing out free cigarettes to coax the usual suspects into swelling their numbers.

Sure, give a source for that ^ ^ too while you're at it? Or is that another urban myth like .....'that fella over there is homeless.... he must have fleas and be mentally deficient'?

Sinn Fein absence from royal events (mod warning: stay on topic!)

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