General Election

[justfrank44]

Agreed I have fought.

" there has to come a time when the past is put firmly in the past "

Agreed again.

The Agreement is made up of two inter-related documents, both agreed in Belfast on Good Friday, 10 April 1998.

But eighteen years later.................... how long are those mofo's going to play that card?

I'm personally sick of the bulshit from these people.

Not quite sure what exactly you are referring to here.
I have no problem with people paying their respects to victims or to those from all sides who lost their lives engaging in violence. As long as it does not impact on events today. If Mary lou wants to remember the canary wharf bomber, I couldn't care less, just so long as any political decisions she makes today or tomorrow are not influenced by her personal feelings. And the same goes for politicians of all hues. If everyone were to have the same moral point of view, there would be no peace process and people would still be living under the shadow of gun and bomb attacks etc.

[justfrank44]

Who had declared war on whom?
Was Canaty Wharf a military target?
If the IRA was at war, then this and many acts were war crimes?
Was Loughall, a isolated police station staffed (usually) with old burned out cops, a military target?
And if that military target turns out to be more military than you thought, how can you complain?

Murder is murder, and it should not be condoned.

I am not complaining. If you think it was not a war then fine, but then you have criminal activitiy which was dealt with outside the rules of normal law and policing, which is illegal. A whole new can of worms. You have completly missed my point though. I am not defending any actions or statements here, what I am saying is , the past has to be left in the past. No good is coming from raking over the coals, all you get are these circular arguments. let people remember what they want as long as this does not impact negatively on the rest of society.

[justfrank44]

"Terrible things happen in all wars".
Terrible things do happen in wars. But there there are rules and conventions to try to limit them.

And how often are these rules and conventions ignored?

[SteveB]

And how often are these rules and conventions ignored?

Frequently. Especially with dealing with terrorists or irregular forces. ISIS being a good example.
But this still does not justify the ignoring of common accepted standards of human behaviour that still apply in both war and peacetime.

People also ignore other laws, for example, regarding robbery. This can't be used to justify theft. Because someone breaks a law, cannot justify everyone doing it.

[SteveB]

I am not complaining. If you think it was not a war then fine, but then you have criminal activitiy which was dealt with outside the rules of normal law and policing, which is illegal. A whole new can of worms. You have completly missed my point though. I am not defending any actions or statements here, what I am saying is , the past has to be left in the past. No good is coming from raking over the coals, all you get are these circular arguments. let people remember what they want as long as this does not impact negatively on the rest of society.

No good raking over coals indeed. If you express support for someone, you by implication, express support for their deeds.
Sinn Féin is actually Provisional Sinn Féin. Official Sinn Féin is now the Workers Party. The name Sinn Féin has far too much polictical baggage, would be best they drew a line under it and simply joined another party (too many parties at the moment) or called themselves something else.

[justfrank44]

Frequently. Especially with dealing with terrorists or irregular forces. ISIS being a good example.
But this still does not justify the ignoring of common accepted standards of human behaviour that still apply in both war and peacetime.

People also ignore other laws, for example, regarding robbery. This can't be used to justify theft. Because someone breaks a law, cannot justify everyone doing it.

there is no such thing as acceptable standards during a conflict,every action will be used to justify another action, just look at ww 2 and dresden as one small example in a "just war" The rape of berlin women by russian soldiers as another.Every single human conflict leads to the abandonment of normal behaviour.

No good raking over coals indeed. If you express support for someone, you by implication, express support for their deeds.
Sinn Féin is actually Provisional Sinn Féin. Official Sinn Féin is now the Workers Party. The name Sinn Féin has far too much polictical baggage, would be best they drew a line under it and simply joined another party (too many parties at the moment) or called themselves something else.

This is just nonsense, the next thing will be, any member who had any connection with the Ira should be put out of the party, and then any member who has shown any kind of support for a united Ireland should also be ejected, and the they will be able to call themselves ff or fg. What you seem to be ignoring that while you think the name/party has too much baggage, their supporters/voters do not agree. And like it or not their support is growing, albeit slowly, that kind of sloww growth is the kind that can remain loyal for generations, you only need to see the support ff has after what they did to the country for proof of this type of loyalty. The best thing to do is to embrace sinn fein into normal politics and the party will normalise itself over time as already happening.

[blue rebel]

First debate with the leaders of the 4 main parties is on tv3 tonight at 9.00. Also speculation that joan burton may struggle to get re elected.

Of course she will struggle to hold her seat after all the promises she made and broke, they cant have it both ways. but the sad part is that people are beginning to vote for FF again , very short memories.

[philipkntz]

I hate elections.
You get all sort of wierdos knocking on doors.

[tony1]

It look like FG/FF government.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/polit...lled-1.2535934

[blue rebel]

It look like FG/FF government.

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/polit...lled-1.2535934

https://www.escort-ireland.com/board...57#post1710757

I gave ye that news 2 weeks ago.