Sinn Fein must be congratulated for making history and giving N. Ireland it’s first ever Nationalist “prime minister”.
Last Thursday I gave my Number One vote to Sinn Fein and my other preferences to the Alliance and Green parties.
I’m 44 years in N. Ireland and I saw first hand, the killing and bombing on all sides.
SF / IRA were indeed responsible for a lot of killings and injuries.
As were the Loyalists, British Government, RUC and British Army.
Every side has blood on their hands.
We must think of the FUTURE while not forgetting the PAST.
I have always voted for SF as a protest vote and not a vote for the armed struggle.
Many modern countries were build on blood and death – Ireland, the UK, the USA, South Africa, Germany, etc.
It seems that tyranny will never give into reason but only to force
Just look at Putin and Russia today.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE CURRENT UNIONISTS
The Unionists have run N. Ireland, badly for 100 years.
In recent years SF have, in the interests of democracy, played second fiddle to the DUP.
It’s now up to the DUP to show us whether they are DEMOCRATS or FACISTS.
And the PROTOCOL is no excuse for default.
PICS FROM VIENNA
BISHOP PAT BUCKLEY 
168 replies on “N. IRELAND ELECTIONS”
What a beautiful city to visit. I’d love to try all the lovely cakes they have there.
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You’re conflicted, Pat. On the one hand, you say that you did not support terrorism, and yet, you voted, repeatedly, for the political wing of the IRA, while excusing this on the dubious ground that it wasn’t really a vote for violence. But this is exactly how Sinn Fein/IRA would have interpreted your vote: as endorsement of terrorism, regardless of what you thought. And it would have encouraged them to believe that they were on the right track with their terror campaign. Morally, you have blood on your hands.
And then, just last week, you published a blog in which you advised nationalists against voting for a so-called ‘united Ireland’ at the present time, and yet, you yourself voted again for an extreme nationalist party, Sinn Fein, in the recent election. Conflicted, indeed.
I’m afraid that Sinn Fein has not given Northern Ireland its first nationalist prime minister; not without Jeffrey Donaldson’s permission. And this isn’t likely to come any time soon. It must be galling for a Shinner to be beholden to a Dupper.
As for describing the DUP as ‘fascists’ if they don’t go into government with Sinn Fein, did you describe Sinn Fein in this way when they collapsed the Executive, for three years, in a hissy fit over failing to get their way with an Irish language act?
There won’t be an Executive until the Protocol stumbling block is removed. The DUP made this absolutely clear before the election, so footstamping now over this is pointless.
Political power sharing, if properly exercised, involves a mutuality that concerns not just compromise and agreement, but all-party engagement when one of them has a difficulty in moving forward. This isn’t happening with the Protocol.
Excoriating the DUP for this stumbling block isn’t going to resolve the difficulty. Calling them names might make the taunters feel good about themselves, but its just silly, ineffective, playground- level politics.
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@11.53pm What a load of tosh. Try convincing people on waiting lists and struggling to make ends meet with your protocol/dup nonsense argument. This unionist excuse that’s used about the protocolis is not an issue with the vast majority of people, a majority who did not vote for brexit in the province. The DUP do not speak for the majority of people and should stop claiming that they do. Someone once said that the problem with old man paisley was he had a dictionary without the word yes in it. A loyalist was interviewed on the shankill road last week and was asked what was the protocol? After much hesitation came the reply, “I think it’s something to do with Larne”.
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Me ? 😀
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7.31 am. The Shinners brought down the Executive for three years. Were you raging about that? The Brexit vote was a UK-wide vote. We only have the protocol because the Benn Act tied the UK Government’s hands (remember “no deal” is off the table?) and remainiacs, the EU Shinners and the Irish Government conspired to lie about the Good Friday Agreement and threatened violence to achieve their goals of an economically united Ireland and to punish the UK for having the impertinence to leave the EU.
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Perceptive Paddy, I hope the South is looking in on today’s blog, because the level of intense hatred and division on it is what they are gonna inherit from the Brits if ever there is a United Ireland. Britain will make mugs of them, gladly leaving behind a lethally poisoned chalice.
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@11:49: The level of insight, understanding and realism you show is, ….revealing.
It goes to show that change here in Norn Iron is for future generations, and not for those of us with such diametrically opposed perceptions.
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11.53
But, calling “them” names is what you do best.
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The attitude you express @ 11.53 has similarities with the Putin mentality: “I get what I want by force, being unreasonable, obdurate, ….and blaming those who opposed me”.
But then that’s the mantra of what has been described elsewhere on the blog, as “Cromwell’s spawn.”
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9.15
I’m the poster at 11.53.
Did you read your comment, carefully, before posting it? I doubt it.
Those words you quoted describe SFIRA… to a tee:
‘I get what I want by force, being unreasonable, obdurate… and by blaming those who opposed me.’
Thank you. It’s rare to find an Irish nationalist/republican with such self-insight.
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Athletic supporter at 9:15:
I think you’ll find you’re describing the MO of the church of Rome.
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I am not responsible for other people’s interpretations of my actions.
ie: I go into a brothel to give the Last Rites to a punter who died on the job 😀
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That’s a facetious, moral cop-out, Pat; it does you no credit.
You have accused, here on this blog, Catholics who remain loyal to their church, and who continue to support it financially, as being complicit in that church’s evil behaviour, especially towards children.
By the same token (yours), you also were/are complicit in the evil behaviour of SFIRA through your history of supporting it. You can’t have it both ways.
We shall all be judged by the moral standards we set others.
As for that hypothetical brothel, visiting it once to administer the ‘Last Rites’ would be fine; visiting it, repeatedly for the same reason, would raise eyebrows.
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‘You have accused, here on this blog, Catholics who remain loyal to their church, and who continue to support it financially, as being complicit in that church’s evil behaviour, especially towards children.’
And those Roman Catholics don’t hesitate to tell him to butt out. Exactly what he is saying to you.
Mirrors are tricky things when you bang your lengthy nose into one.
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The protocol gives the North’s citizens access to the EU single market. A substantial percentage of Unionists don’t want to lose that.
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It’s laughable when last week it was revealed that the majority of passports issued in the North were Irish not British. Lots of Irish applications from places like Bangor, Royal Hillsborough, Carrickfergus and Newtownards. The DUP throughout history are wreckers of most things, Sunningdale, Anglo Irish Agreement, Stormont. This was all caused not just by brexit but a hard brexit that the DUP pushed for and in the end it was they that got pushed, under a bus to be precise by the Tory buffoon they keep putting their trust in.
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Why is it ‘laughable’, 8.08? I’d have thought an Irish nationalist or republican would be delighted at such news.
Maybe you’re having an ‘off-day’.
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The North? Of course you would expect to see Irish passport applications from people in Donegal.
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11.51
I’m talking about the North. Donegal, as NE is only part of that.
For those in doubt, the term is a perfect example of a shibboleth in your mind.
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12.08
And a confusion in yours.
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Pat,
Have a good time in Vienna.
Been there before. Vienna cafes especially old ones were divine with chocolates and pure green tea.
You should visit Royal Palace there that will open your eyes re no of rooms and huge vast space in sheer opulent at that time. It’s habsburg empire at that time.
Its a very nostalgic city with most of their historical features. A throwback to 1800s or very early 1900s.
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Rest well in Vienna Pat. Don’t worry about Ger, Ryan McAleer or Stephen Wilson we will maintain surveillance on them.👍
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@2:09 Agree with you 100%! In light of the fact that Fr. Ger is still collecting a pay check from the Diocese of Killaloe, he is a legitimate target for surveillance and is being monitored.
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8.52am you say he is” being monitored” you really mean being stalked. dont you!!
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8:52am. How on earth could anyone stalk high profile Fitzgerald & his possey of “followers” permanently in attendance. They like Dads Army, you’d spot them a mile off.
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@12:10 God forbid! Stalking is a crime. We don’t engage in criminal activity 😇. The only one who is allegedly involved in criminal activities is Fr. Ger.
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12:41pm Don’t forget school Chaplin Fr Jerry Carey in Killaloe who is an actual convicted sex offender but had his sentence suspended just because his secondary girls school wanted to avoid negative publicity – child safety or transparency of no consequence to Catholic run schools – the church comes first, they never learn. Crooks & Criminals Incorporated
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8:52am How are the ladies who fell foul of Greasy Spoon Fitzgerald. Did Carole find the recent therapy & counselling that Fintan & Cleo arranged of help? Wishing Yvonne & Carole all the best.
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12:10 you’re a fan of krazyk are you? We vaguely remember that Ger Fitz is very good at singing rap songs. he could make a lot of money busking…or maybe he could rap while he’s driving the party bus? Is Ger’s close buddy from the co. council going to get a free ride on his bus? You know the one; herself that was called out by rte for alleged expenses contraventions.
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3:49 Everything is ok except for what is not ok 😜. Thanks very much.
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@12:10 Krazy minions who think they can win are da ones who are full of sin. Krazy ain’t gonna make us sore. Krazy just gonna make us reveal more.
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8:52pm Their dirty dozen should pay their wages, those 2 certainly did enough for them & others over the years. They just milking it now.
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4:13pm don’t forget when Fr Ger Fitzgerald’s Councillor “friend” who featured on RTE also featured herself on social media in Defence & denial on behalf of Roman Catholic run private nursing home in Ennis – during COVID Complaints from relatives she stated “there is nothing going on”. Blamed others for spreading false rumours Yeah, Right. We are supposed the RTE investigators got it wrong about her as well for her convenience!
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5:03 I wonder does she have any family members who work for the RC “Firm”? Take a close look at Fitzgerald’s inner circle and you will see what kind of people he surrounds himself with.
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7:57 I assume the hairdresser is someone mentioned in the anonymous letter that circulated around Ennis last year? A blight on society indeed! I salute the parishioners who had the courage to write that letter. Knowledge = power
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5:59pm it’s no secret in Ennis – family fingers in every pie for decades. No prizes for guessing who the hairdresser is. Often still seen out & about with the local funeral thug brigade.
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Stephen Wilson is easily monitored slips up each time while on Captain Morgan’s and Coke. Even though Stephen Wilson has altered his Facebook security settings to a high privacy level, his gossiping traits of who slept with who in the Diocese let’s him down. Stephen is awfully found of mentiong senior clerical figures like Ryan McAleer, Emlyn McGinn, Richard Purcell and strangely Paul Prior.
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Is Vienna like everywhere else? Buildings from an Imperial past and every waiter, shop assistant and hotel worker is from the Third World?
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In Vienna, so far, the waiters are mainly Austrian in the places I’ve been. There was one Croatian, in one place.
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@5.19am What an ignorant, nasty comment.
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I’ve heard tourists say they’ve travelled the length and breadth of the 26 Counties and all the hospitality staff they met were new to the parish.
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5:19am Father just doesn’t like the hardworking immigrants because they don’t have anything to spare for his big basket because their families at home are relying on them to send home money for essentials. Not ideal for these poor people but a safer option than sending abusive missionaries to Third World countries. Didn’t RCC have some front sending Bishop Casey to The Phillipines. No prizes for guessing why. Brazil, Phillipines & Peru top of their perverse menu.
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Shallow but true:
Sean Finn: v pretty, eloquent and media savvy female politicians.
DUP: Arlene Foster.
Sinn Finn: They seem normal and happy people.
DUP: Jesus, do they ever smile – they look like their constantly pissed off by minutia.
Sinn Finn: cost of living priority.
DUP: The Protocol
Sinn Finn: Bloody history – IRA.
DUP: Bloody history – collision with the State and paramilitary.
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Hope you enjoy yourself in Vienna, I was their in 1977, we went to Cafe Central the coffee and tortes were to die for.
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I wonder does Dublin realise what it would get if ever the British Government transferred sovereignty over Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic.
Bright times ahead, said Mary Lou McDonald? Only a fool would think such a thing.
Britain would be handing the Republic a massive white elephant, one it simply hasn’t the resources to deal with.
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Remember, parties in the south will not enter into a coalition with Sinn Féin, so it is hard to imagine parties in the north cooperating with them either.
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Fianna Fail and Fine Gael were born out of violence
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8.59
You’re being evasive, Pat.
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Protocol is out of Stormonts remit. The health service and spirally costa of basic living are not. While Bishop Buckley can afford to holiday in Vienna, MBE is never out of the Yumbo centre and Bishop Bling Balls on all these golfing trips, the parishioners starve and can not keep warm. Good old Catholicism for you.
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Am I doing wrong by having a week’s holiday on my 70 th birthday ?
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No, you are not doing wrong.
But, erm, who’s the blonde beside you on the transport? We think we should know.
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Lovely lady from Waterford.
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@9:25pm
Of course your not wrong, you deserve it. Disregard the begrudger at 8:12am what a bowsie he is. Enjoy a well deserved break and belated birthday greetings.
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Ignore the begrudgers Pat. Enjoy your holiday. You certainly deserve it and come back refreshed and ready to continue the good fight
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I see that Michelle O’Neill continues to throw her rattle out of the pram by warning that the DUP and the Government won’t be allowed to hold the Northern Ireland Executive to ransom.
Is this the same political leader whose party held the Executive to ransom for three long years over its demand for an Irish language act?
The DUP is just borrowing your tactics, Michelle.
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Stormont was pulled down for three years over the DUP’s arrogance and the RHI scandal. The DUP’s arrogance is still alive and kicking.
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Wrong. SF wouldn’t re-enter the Executive without progress on an Irish language act.
SF kept the Executive from functioning during this period.
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10.03 The irony is that Irish is now about the 10th most used language on the island. We are more in need of a Polish Language Act in “the North”.
LOL
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I am afraid Jeffrey Donaldson does not want to be deputy to any Republican. Equality and sharing are still dirty words.
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Nonsense. The DUP has made it clear that it will nominate ministers once the Protocol stumbling block has been removed.
If SF is serious about wanting a functioning Executive, then it should eagerly and earnestly work with the DUP and others to clear the way. Standing on the sidelines hurling invective is not just unproductive, it’s counterproductive.
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Do you and Eddie ever face homophobia when booking a double room? Genuine question.
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Peter
It is 2022 and most place would not be allowed to discriminate against people.
Homophobia is a Criminal offence and part of most hate crime legislation.
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Well Maynooth has a booking policy that would appear to prevent Pat from booking a double room. It would make an interesting test case. Note the reference to the seminary in the booking policy.
https://www.maynoothcampus.com/policy/
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2:31pm what would you expect from Gaynooth predators. They don’t like the fact that there is safety in numbers. You’d want to be simple to book into a single room there – you’d have to sleep like a dog, with one eye open & the dressing table lodged under the door knob!
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Never, as of yet.
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Good to know.
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Ultimately, any true Catholic, that actually follows the preachings; will be a DUP supporter.
The DUP lost the election. Liberal Protestantism won the majority of seats.
Oh how the tides have turned.
Roe V Wade will have world repercussions.
Bring it on.
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I can’t think of any time I have heard a Catholic referring to following the ‘preachings’ or even used the word preach much at all.
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7.31
If nationalists /republicans cared one jot about people on hospital waiting lists, they would work with the DUP to resolve the Protocol stumbling block, but they have no intention of doing so meaningfully.
The blame for this lies squarely with this grouping. No point wagging a finger at others.
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@8:51. Kindly refer to what I’ve just posted to Anon 11.53. You may well be @11:53, but if not, it seems to apply to you too.
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Why, Sammy? You scored an own-goal there.
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It’s not Stormont’s responsibility to resolve a protocol hammered out between the UK and the EU. On this issue Stormont lacks jurisdiction.
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9.43
Jurisdiction isn’t the issue: interest is.
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9.15
Jurisdiction is the issue:
The protocol is a matter for the parties who set it up and who alone have been given that authority by a majority of UK citizens (like Brexit) on one side and of the EU on the other.
Whether Stormont agrees or not the North’s Executive does is not one of the sides in what is s bilateral agreement.
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The Northern Ireland Protocol is NOT the product of agreement solely between the Government, and the EU; this is self-deceiving, fantasyland nonsense. The Protocol came about solely under duress from Irish nationalists/republicans (including those recently elected in Northern Ireland), with dire warnings from the Republic of Ireland Government itself (acting as a mouthpiece for SFIRA) that a customs barrier logically between Northern Ireland and the nearest EU country, the Republic, could cause a resumption of IRA terrorism.
If Irish nationalists and republicans can, and did, wield that kind of political influence, do you really think that unionist MLAs are going to heed your self-serving nonsense and remain silent?
Do one.
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11.56
Dear Frank, your comment doesn’t refute the assertion that the protocol is part of a bi-lateral agreement by sovereign representatives who enjoyed the majority support of their respective electorates.
It attempts, badly in my view, to explain how one party to that agreement got there. That is irrelevant. The relevant detail is that that one party signed.
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Dear Humpty Dumpty, situations, like words, cannot always mean what you wish them to mean, neither more nor less; and there really is no point in crying over it.
There were more than two hands on the pen of that so-called ‘bi-lateral agreement’. Sure, the hands of the Government and the EU, but also the hand of Irish nationalists/republicans, the hand of the Republic of Ireland Government, and the hand of Joe ‘Sleepy’ Biden.
You can keep denying truth here, Humpty (and we know how much you love to deny truth), but these political fault lines will continue to threaten, and widen, until you find within yourself the moral integrity to admit the facts.
An agreement signed under duress is not an agreement, but a loaded gun held to someone’s head.
Don’t fall off that wall from shock, Humpty.
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2 23
By definition, bilateral means two sided.
Two false arguments here:
1. The route the UK government travelled to the Brexit agreement is relevant.
2. Hypothetical pressure exerted on the UK party to the agreement invalidates it.
On the contrary, the agreement has the force of international law precisely because it was signed by sovereign plenipotentaries on either side. Therefore, Stormont, or any other extraneous institution has the status of a third-party onlooker.
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8:51, what planet do you live on? The majority showed that they have absolutely no issue with the Protocol and see it’s benefits, that’s why they voted SF, Alliance and the other parties that are in favour of the Protocol. Votes don’t lie, if people were against the Protocol they’d have voted for parties who were against it.
You and the DUP’s real issue is that you wanted a hard border in Ireland and didn’t get one. I have no doubt that you certainly aren’t moronic and know precisely that there was no other way with the Brexit you pushed for.
The Sky News reporters gave the DUP’s game away when they said that the North was created to be a unionist dominated state that would never have a nationalist in the top job. The offices of FM and DFM may be equal in power, but the former has the symbolism and prestige, that’s why the Orange Lodge stated that they are sickened that Michelle is in that position.
The DUP don’t care about the issues that mean most to the electorate, the cost of living crisis and the need for reform in the NHS, they want to retain a protestant state for a protestant people. Ironically the unionist majority don’t think like that anymore and are jumping ship to the much more centrist and progressive Alliance Party.
With the exception of Jamie ‘binman’ Bryson, the DUP, Jim Allister and the very vocal minority they gather to their sectarian banner, people don’t want rid of the Protocol and can see that it is being used as a cover for the DUP’s antidemocratic agenda. So hurry up and enter the 21st century, this country’s civil war is over, no matter how desperately the minority long for that not to be the case.
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Sensible Voice: thank you for an objective realistic comment on the current position. I hope those “digging their heels in”, soon realise that they are “digging the grave” for their out of touch aspirations” and that they reflect on this after considering your comment.
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I think your constitution should stop being carved into “blocs” and should have people figure out how to fit together on pragmatic grounds. I didn’t find NI a drain thus far and we shouldn’t be asked to provide the fake “Conservatives” with any warrant for their skulduggery. It was noticeable at the time that we weren’t told what bent kind of Brexit we were “voting for” or how maliciously it was going to be bodged, while our grocery supplies go pear shaped. Brexit should have been designed around NI, from 2016. The Commission should keep its fat nose out. Since Alliance object to blocs, the obvious is to make Alliance First Minister with UUP assisting.
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9.44
I live on the same planet as you, but my feet are on the ground.
Whether or not a majority of the Northern Ireland electorate has no issue with the Protocol is a strawman, an irrelevant point: it IS an issue for all the unionist platforms, and this is what really matters.
Maybe you don’t understand the nature of power sharing here: it’s about cross-community progress, not about simple majority rule.
Catch up, and keep up.
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@9.14am Can you not cope with someone having an opposing view? You are the type that wants to ram your view down throats and don’t want debate or discussion. I bet you are a bully on the quiet God help you. The tone of your comment says it all. It’s my way or no way basically Learn to chill out Mr know it all grumpy.
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Would those who oppose the protocol be prepared to forego access to the EU single market in order to eliminate it?
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9.45
Logical fallacy. Removing the Protocol does not translate as ‘foregoing the EU single market’. Honestly, where do you get your ideas?
Back to school for you.
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1.03
The poster at 9.45 asked ‘would those who oppose the protocol be prepared to forego ACCESS to the EU single market … ?’. If you are this poster, then you didn’t heed my advice about schooling. Pity, because then your subsequent post might have shown that you had learned a logical lesson.
Yes, Northern Ireland businesses would still have access to the EU single market (just as drivers do in the rest of the UK), were the customs border logically and rightfully where it ought to be: between Northern Ireland and the Republic.
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But not acceptable to SF SDLP or Irish Government
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9.30
I’m afraid the failure to think things through logically is yours. Forgoing the protocol removes the border from where it currently is to the island of Ireland. That would ipso fact exclude the North from the EU single market, even though that’s not what a majority in the North voted for at Brexit.
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1.53
So, it must ALL go their way? Because they object and sabre-rattle?
That’s a selfish point of view, allowing for no middle ground. Hence the governmental hiatus at Stormont.
If you insist on things going your way, don’t be surprised when others object. And don’t complain about it either.
Peace and justice on this island means compromise AND sacrifice. No gain without pain, as much for nationalists and republicans as unionists.
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Honestly people don’t think things through. Like the Brexit voters who are surprised they can’t now just go and live in Spain. My favourite is a trans woman whose blog I read. She was talking about a particular brand of hormone patches being the ones that were best for her – looking at the box they were obviously made in Spain. She then voted leave and couldn’t get her preferred brand, so has to have ones that give her skin trouble. Oh the bitter irony.
The past five years I’ve honestly got to the point of thinking some people shouldn’t have the vote.
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10.08
Or the Brits living in the Canaries who voted leave and you now have to leave themselves after 180 days until another 180 days have elapsed before returning.
I’m inclined to agree.
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The Brits in Spain lol. Welcome to Brexit my friends especially the idiot ex pats who voted for Brexit out there. The 180 day residency scenario, the present uk driving licence fiasco out there, not getting their 100% benefits. They queue at passport control in Alicante and Malaga in the very long non EU lanes with their Uk passports and scratch their heads as to why the long queue. You couldn’t make it up. If you want a real laugh at these goms watch ‘ Bargain Loving Brits in the Sun’ each day on Channel 5 at 4pm. Cringe tv.
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None of these scenarios is as good as the ones who voted leave because of all those foreigners coming here and taking our jobs lol.
Only to find the foreigners now coming here are from India so it kicks off their racism as well as their jingoism because they’re not even white.
Wait till they all start getting dysentery because EU food standards don’t apply any more.
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Looks like you are having a great time Pat. It is a beautiful city and Austria in general is gorgeous. I was fortunate enough to attend Easter mass at St Stephens in 2019. It is fabulous.
Hope you have a great holiday there!
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Thank you. I am going to St Stephens today
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Enjoy your trip Bishop Pat, well earned.
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@12.26 pm
It is actually the 90/180 rule. You can for example stay in Spain for 90 days only out of every 180 days.
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Have a great time in Vienna Pat and belated happy birthday – I loved Vienna for its strudel and the quality of its v hot women – made having a coffee and strudel a great pleasure in more ways than one.
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Great to see the Alliance party doing so well. Would be nice to see them, perhaps with other non-sectarian parties being in a position one day to break free from the nationalist/unionist dynamic and be in a position of power.
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Sorry to remove the pea from your whistle, but the overwhelming majority of Alliance members and voters are unionist; liberal unionists, yes, but unionists, all the same.
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So the alliance party are sectarian? No. Pragmatic perhaps, mostly unionist leaning voters but is not aligned to either the union or reunification. But at least they are more progressive than the two main parties who are entrenched. They also supported staying in the EU. So I take your point 1:03 but I stand by my observations.
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2.03
Yes. They are unionists who wish to be part of the EU. They’re not now. But hope to be.
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12.46
Run that past me again. Being unionist makes Alliance … sectarian?😕
How?
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@ 2:34. I said they were not sectarian. I asked a rhetorical question based on your reply to my comment. You were the one who brought up the fact the majority of their voters were unionist. Because you hold a certain view does not make you sectarian. I would suggest you read my comments carefully before misrepresenting me. It would be nice to see parties agreeing to disagree with each other without spouting religious / ideological crap all the time. I give the Alliance party credit for their stance on cross community co-operation.
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2:34 I’ve been whistling at you for several years and you haven’t come near me. It’s almost as if you don’t fancy men. 😎
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3.51
You must have mistakenly been using a dog whistle. 😄
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3.33
Rhetorical or not, your question was premised on my post at 1.03, which told the truth about Alliance: overwhelmingly unionist; liberal unionist, but unionist, all the same. You made this the reason for your mention of sectarisnism.
I read your comment very carefully, and I did not misrepresent you: you equated unionism with sectarianism, whether you have the backbone to admit it or not. And you don’t.
Your comment was itself sectarian, but, more than this, it was deeply bigoted, and just plain wrong.
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Naomi Long is blessed with a healthy appetite. In the old days that was considered to be the sign of a vocation. On that basis, Naomi seems set to be our first Alliance Pope.
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Unionism is sectarian. The Stormont years 1922-72 are proof of it. It took the ‘Ra to get rid of it. If it were not for the Civil Rights movement, the SDLP, the Provos and Sinn Fein we’d still be experiencing terrible discrimination.
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6.14
It’s true : that remark about Stormont was made. But do you know why? In response to an equally sectarian remark about the Oreachtas: it was called ‘a Catholic parliament for a Catholic people.’
Not a lot of people know that.
Irish nationalists /republicans always like to imagine themselves free of sectarian bigotry (the operative word being ‘imagine’).
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4.18 totally disagree with you. You seem to have a lot of anger so suspect you are a only interested in trying to shut off a debate by being totally misrepresenting again. I said in my first post I did not believe they were sectarian. You need to be more circumspect in your arguement. Are all SF supporters nationalists? Are all DUP unionists? I suspect Alliance voters are probably interested in a more inclusive society. Movement of opinion takes time. In the end all parties will move to where the votes are. Hence why I believe people will move where their interests are best served, post Brexit it will be towards the EU.
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Bishop Pat, Have a wonderful & very well deserved break for yourself in Vienna. Enjoy the fabulous sights, cuisine and ambience. May it give you renewed energy and strength PG.
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12:36. Yes, Bishop Pat works a lot harder for his flock than the flash wheels in the various parishes that our family members & friends live in. We were browsing the blog on a big screen over drinks on Saturday night & those who hadn’t seen it before were in absolute awe of all that is going on but more so of Pats poor treatment by Church & the workload & commitment that he has at an advanced age as a direct consequence of the injustices served on him & so many others by the Roman Catholic Church. Enjoy your well deserved vacation +Pat
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7.30 Unionists ( of the six county entity of Ireland, perpetrated by Loyd George on a set of sleep deprived plenipotentiaries) are now more Roman Catholic in outlook ( reactionary and of Zealot propensity) than any of us here in the Republic of Ireland ….that is minus our Government and civil service beholden to RCC documents and fiscal accounts……the citizens of the Republic do not subscribe to the antiquity of the outlook of “The Province.” Your prelates….RC and Protestant…to say nothing of the Evangelicals should in law require visas for entrance to my country ( I have two !). I do not include Bishop Buckley…his birth must have immunised him from narrow outlook of The Province.
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8.38 The Londonderry prelate resident in Armagh particularly…in case anyone thinks otherwise!!!! His bereavement on our marriage referendum is the stuff of centuries.
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The Windsors today (they used to have a German surname) at the state opening still make a big display of carrying the cap of maintenance given to Henry VIII as a favoured Royal by the Pope. What a laugh, hypocrisy and contradiction. He was also given the title of ‘Defender of the Faith’. The Catholic Duke of Norfolk (even though they live in Sussex) was there bowing to them forgetting his own recusant past and history. What a rotten lot and Charles showed no emotion talking about the cost of living, hardship etc. The time has come to end the monarchy with these charlatans with great expense and over the top pomp. Devoid as always of reality. The French had the proper solution with the revolution.
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1.01
To be precise and not necessarily pedantic, since Latin has no definite article, Fidei defensor can legitimately be translated, defender of faith.
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@12.35pm Pendantic yes but same difference though. So what else have you to contribute to the whole debate in general? Perhaps you could comment on Charles’ idiotic dream of becoming defender of faiths because after all he has little Christian faith himself.
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1:29 Presumptuous. Y’all don’t like it when people say Romanist clergy obviously don’t believe the religion they profess.
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12.35
A good point, but, given the historical context of the title, I think we can reasonably assume a very definite article here: Papa Leo X meant A faith, one in particular, Roman Catholicism.
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4.24
As a reactionary lapsus, it’s highly unlikely you would have any insight into the mentality of Leo X or be in a position to make a judgement about his intention at any period of his pontificate. The title was conferred a few weeks before his death. It’s also likely he had no knowledge of the event.
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5.51
‘Unlikely’, ‘likely’? 🤔
So much … 🙄 Speculation. 😏
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7.14
“I think we can reasonably assume…”
Four layers of tentative wualifiers combine to produce their own level of speculation.
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Funny y’all don’t like it when you get reminded of the holocaust of clerical sexual abuse by Romanist clergy. Perhaps you could have a go at getting over the Reformation. 🤣
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@2.02pm I thought the holocaust was directed against the Jews and your flippant silly comparision would cause them great offence.
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2:32
1. the Jews don’t call it the holocaust.
2. Try looking the word up in a dictionary.
Oh no, my bad, you’d have to read to do that.
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2.48
The Jews, as you call them, don’t call it anything.
It depends on which language the particular group of Jews is speaking.
Some Jews call it the holocaust (entirely burned). Some call it the Shoah (disaster/destruction). Both words are biblically based, the former from the LXX, the later from the MT.
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6:03 Nice try. 🤣
The world of the cathbot is remarkably insular.
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There ought, therefore, to be in every nation a method of occasionally ascertaining the state of public opinion with respect to government. On this point the old government of France was superior to the present government of England, because, on extraordinary occasions , recourse could be had to what was then called the States-general. But in England there are no such occasional bodies; and as to those who are now called representatives, a great part of them are mere machines of the court, placement, and dependents.
The Rights of Man.
Thomas Paine
Page 159 of the Centenary Edition 1891. PS Macron is by right a Canon of the Lateran.
The more things change…. you can finish it….Bill Mulvihill
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Bill, I wonder how many others, perhaps like me, switch off and don’t read most of your comments. Occasionally, like @ 5.06, which I have read, I see some interesting things therein. But this @ 5.06, like so many other previous ones I have glanced at but ignored, is worded too esoterically with references to other information many of us lack. That’s why your gems may be ignored.
It would be helpful and more instructive for us if you could comment, how can I put it, ……more simply? Do forgive my limitations!
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Let’s not get caught up in propaganda. SF won nothing. They held the same amount of seats. The voters who switched, did so in another direction.
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1.18
You display a dim understanding of mathematics and politics. The number of seats (27) in the previous parliament is identical to the number in this one. The crucial difference is that in the previous dispensation the number was one behind that of another party, and in this it’s two ahead.
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Still, the Shinners didn’t increase their number of seats; that’s telling.
The DUP lost three seats to a protest vote. They can recover from that.
Sinn Fein?
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1.18
Your poverty of judgement dispayed last month in your loyalty and treason comments, continues.
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But they still got the highest number of seats
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They have the highest number of seats, but no increase in seats. The unionists loosing is not the same as nationalists winning. For SF to win they need to gather more votes, and more seats. Keep it objective. In real world politics they would need 46 seats to win a NA election.
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THG you are making a fair point but at the same time, SF did win the most number of seats. That is historic.
The Ulster Unionist Council structured the partition a century ago to try and avoid such a win for the Nationalists.
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3.29
Silly Goat, 27 seats relative to election 2022 is different to 27 relative to 2017. Context is everything.
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@ Seamusviii,
The partition was designed 100 years ago to avoid a 51% majority of nationalists. It did not envisage the Assembly as post Good Friday agreement. It remains true that SF have not increased their number of seats. There has not been a shift in voting preference to SF, there has been a change in how Non-SF voters vote.
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Michelle O’Neill has a cheek to represent West Tyrone when she is shackled up with a married man in West Belfast.
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@ 2:41pm
OMG, I’m shocked even the shinners are at it!
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Would his name be Marty C….e🤔
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Goat @3.29pm silly billy stop kidding yourself and talking shite. Go study the De Honte system and learn something new.
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So have won no greater a representation than they held last week. There is no victory.
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They polled more than 60,000 ahead of their nearest rival. Are you dim by nature or do you have to work at it?
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@5.56
Are you so dim that you cannot see the difference between the highest vote and the majority vote? For a party to “win” and election they need to get one seat more than 50% of the seats. In this case 46 seats. What has happened here is that SF have held the same number of seats. The oppositive have lost seats. This is not the same as SF winning the election.
What SF won is the Northern Taoiseach’s Seat in the assembly… if (and only if) they can get the DUP to stop utilizing the Sinn Fein policy of Abstentionism. If you wish to call someone dim you should first educate yourself on the realities of the topic.
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10.35
The answer is both and then: dim by nature and dimmer by nurture. Your comments on treason and loyalty had already confirmed that.
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2.41pm
How so? You clearly know something we don’t?
And just to be clear – she’s a politician not a moral guardian unlike your parish priest and local ordinary.
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When a nation changes its opinion a d habits of thinking it is no longer to be governed as before : but it would not only be wrong but bad policy , to attempt by force what ought to be accomplished by reason.
Thomas Paine ( as cited above in my earlier contribution)
No better place than Vienna and its own biography where the Bishop walks at the moment to see the sence of that statement!!! An Imperial Palace ( the biggest in the world) where the President now resides!!!!
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……and habits….. error ( not intentional. Just a revisit.) Congratulations to the oldest political party on the island… the way forward is back to the roots and the wonderful thinking that went on…. as the inbetween however forced was a disappointment….. Sin Fein are the only party or entity to stick with and support ordinary people in The North all the while through….. an indictment of the RCC and such as the SDLP….that lot threatened me at the door in Newry for not being registered… they and Sean Brady made me account for my sleeping arrangements…. I would leave about 23.00 and back by 8.00am…. sleeping in the bed of the house of my doubly ill parents….. very I’ll…. I was sleeping in the South and registered to vote There…. the SDLP at the door told me I was breaking the law….. delighted they got their comeuppance!!!! Delighted. Bill Mulvihill
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Provisional Sinn Fein (the party of Gerry Adams, Gerry Kelly and Mary Lou) was founded in 1970, Bill.
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2.41pm
I think you mean shacked – if she’s shackled that’s an entirely different proposition and if I may say so rather a kinky one.
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9.38 Mary Lou….though enjoying the ” benevolence” of the tablecloth on the table is not of the same cloth at all at all. At All At All. Take it as a Truth. I’d say she’s keeping them awake at night….and that shower has not done that before !!!! Count her years…..
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9.38 If I was a betting person which I am not; Id hazard one on Denis Donaldson having a lot in common with the du Plantier “occurrence” ( the entire story and murder) and what attaches to it…..le non dit.
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On days like this on the blog I always go straight to contributions by William and the Goat for something interesting.
Incidentally if the two of you want to form a band you can have the name with my love.
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6.15 HelmetofAntlers. How does that sound😂😂😂😂😂as an improvisation on Billygoat!!!!!!! Thank you for the cheerful contribution Blogger !!!!!
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The Silly Billy Goat has displayed dim-witted understanding and even dimmer judgement on a few occasions. Bill’s lateral thinking, on the other hand, is always worth hearing.
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@7.16 – that’s the sort of comment I get from SF voters who have short memories and forget the Gardaí killed by IRA and tge Good Catholics forced to flee Ireland for not partaking in terrorism. And plenty were forced out.
I like that William. Also open to “Tge Two Billys”… as a play on The Two Ronnie’s.
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Cheers!
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10.14 Two Billies in Australia has a lovely meaning….a Billie being a pot on the boil, whether a fire of natural materials or by gas or petroleum derivative….either way if you are sitting by a billie….you are outdoors in enjoyable solitary or convivial company . Heres to a Billie or two of them!!!! Nothing like the Aussie Bush ( the outdoors before a variance on meaning sets in.).
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10.14 You have amnesia on the overlap between those two organisations…..in fact any atrocities were most probably facilitated by a dualism…..thankfully Commissioner Drew Harris can go some way in reforming the depravity of that dysfunction…insofar such an impenetrable citadel ( of hell) can be accessed. Never forget Mc Quaid and his priests ( countrywide) together with the Gardai ( countrywide) kept all dissent and progress at bay for half a century together with that Rogue De Valera ( the highest bauble the Vatican could give him…and he on bended knee to Roncalli). Its all very slow in this neck of the woods…..the French had the Enlightenment behind them…..all we have is the necessity of the repeal of the 1832 Education Act….almoct 200 years on the statutes!!!!!!
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Beautiful !!
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Having listened to the 21.00 news on RTE this evening….the Minister for Justice Mc Entee whom I hold to be very honourable…..I am now of the mind that The Irish Government on the subject of the Maternity Hospital WANT the RCC to wind rings around them; 299 circles for the next three centuries. The complicity in fooling we the people is reprehensible !!! A Disgrace.
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8.13 The Blog is on Austrian time……refreshing!!!!
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What an eye opener it has been to read what these 2 ladies have endured in an Irish Catholic parish. Hopefully Justice will be served. Shocking disregard for their dignity & well being.
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Kildare pervert priests club….. Emo, Athy and Moore Abbey….. Closing in……
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Prince Charles is the royal I referred to on this Blog twice before without referencing him….a two word conjunction …..I wonder did Charles say to ” Them”….I won’t read it unless……whether he did or not….I believe what he read was from his heart….on that matter.
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