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Updated at 4pm
GERRY ADAMS INSISTED his party’s programme of 2016 commemorations shouldn’t be seen as a “counter event” to the Government’s plan, as Sinn Féin launched a wide ranging schedule of parades, re-enactments and exhibitions.
‘It’s not counter to anything,” he told reporters after the event.
The Government aren’t doing anything.
This morning’s launch by the party president — who was accompanied by fellow heavy-hitters Martin McGuinness and Mary Lou McDonald — follows widespread criticism of the Government’s official programme of events.
A number of relatives of 1916 participants also attended the announcement, in a function room at Wynn’s Hotel, just off O’Connell Street.
James Connolly Heron — the great grandson of James Connolly — said many of the relatives were happy to support Sinn Féin’s programme. He noted that they welcomed events being organised by anybody.
The flagship event in the party’s plans will be a long-running exhibition at the Ambassador Theatre, at the top of O’Connell Street.
‘Revolution 2016′ opens at the end of February next year, and will run for 33 weeks.
The party’s promotional material describes it as a “Visitor Attraction standard exhibition featuring the background, day by day account and legacy of the 1916 Rising through different mediums and artefacts”.
Elsewhere, images will be projected onto the GPO as part of a 3D ‘visual arts project’ that will run nightly over 24 to 29 April next year (the actual dates of the Rising).
From their brochure, again:
Watch as the GPO comes under shell fire and catches fire, see the rebels escape and their last stand. Witness the trials and experience the executions before the grand finale interpreting the events that followed the Rising.
There’ll also be a re-enactment of O’Donovan Rossa’s funeral at Glasnevin in August, parades on Easter Sunday itself, in March next, and a special event to remember the ‘Women of the Revolution’
The Government’s main planned parade next year is for Easter Sunday on March 27. A mass will be held at Arbour Hill on 24 April.
Launching its official programme late last year, the coalition pledged that events would be inclusive, and asked for individuals and groups to give their input on what should happen via the 2016 website.
Special Guest
Meanwhile, at the start of today’s proceedings, Mary Lou McDonald introduced a ‘special guest’ to officially kick things off.
In a slightly surreal sequence of events, an actor dressed as a 1916 rebel introduced his colleague ‘Padraig Pearse’ to read from the Proclamation (Jim Roche — you may recognise him if you’ve ever done the Glasnevin Cemetery tour).
The party’s centenary co-ordinator Bartle D’Arcy then rattled through the schedule of planned events (it took a while) before introducing a promotional video.
Unlike the much-criticised official promo (since deleted from the Government’s website) — he stressed that it featured none of the heroes of modern Ireland, like, for instance, Bob Geldof.
Speaking later, Gerry Adams said the Government’s official launch last November at the GPO had been “like a scene out of Sean O’Casey play”.
The great and the good were on the platform, but their voices were drowned out periodically by the anti-austerity, anti-water charge protesters banging the doors and windows. That I thought [was] very much a metaphor for our times.
He described the controversial video as a “joke… a bad joke” and said it was reflective of the Government’s “shambolic attitude” towards 1916 and the Proclamation.
Wrapping up proceedings, South Dublin Mayor Fintan Warfield took to the podium with an acoustic guitar, as the invited guests — including the ambassadors of Cuba and Palestine — stood for a rendition of ‘Amhrán na Bhfiann’.
In a statement later this afternoon, a spokesperson for Arts & Heritage Minister Heather Humphreys — who is heading-up the Government’s 2016 initiative — said plans were progressing “extremely well”.
The Minister updated the Taoiseach and other ministers on progress this week, including a schools programme, which is being finalised with the Department of Education.
“Minister Humphreys believes the commemorations belong to everyone, and her Department is partnering with local authorities to develop community events so as many people as possible can get involved.”
Further elements of ‘Ireland 2016′ will be unveiled in due course, the spokesperson said.
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Photo-journalism isn’t for everyone, but you’re a fine writer.
The auld photos could be better
Congrats to Sinn Fein, the only true Republic party, the rest are a bunch of feather yer own pocket cronies, Erin go brath…..
It’s funny that you think they are any different. THEY ARE ALL THE SAME!
@The Doctor..they are not all the same..other current party leaders have not condoned/explained/justified the slaughter of innocents in the pursuit of a cause.
@johnny boy: I literally have nothing in common with you.
Looks like you still don’t know how to use the F(g)-stop.
2016 Sinn Féin is exactly the same as 1916 Sinn Féin, as they have the same name.
Sinn Féins video is much much better than the previous one presented by the government! http://youtu.be/ojw8KQmvE1U
@journalstasi only a few months back when innocent men women and children were been slaughtered in Gaza our Government stood idly by and kept their mouths shut..
Marching down o Connell St, with the starry plough on high, there goes the citizen army with their fists raised to the sky. Leading them is a mighty man with a mad rage in his eye, my name is James Connelly I didn’t come here to die, but to fight for the rights of the working class, the small farmer too
Real Shinnerbot – The FG Faker Troll Eegit – why do you continue to make such a fake ass of yourself ?
Disagree Brendan, Sinn Féin’s video had nothing about Google or Facebook in it, and no whiny hipster singing in Irish.
Hope the owners accept ink cartridges, laundered or stretched diesel, far eastern ciggies and ulster bank sterling as payment.
The SF video has “Bloody Sunday”, a song about an event 56 years later.
Sadly, you’re not some man for one man
“Feather your own pocket” I love it. An apple a day is worth two in the bush!
They may be the only true republican party, but after that they make it up as they go along, constantly changing their policies to suit whatever is unpopular at the time. Don’t like water charges, guaranteed Sinn Fein are against them, don’t like the USC, guess what neither do Sinn Fein, don’t like austerity, surprise surprise there would be no need for it under Sinn Fein, who would tax all of our alleged millionaires and billionaires to death, and there would be no need for USC, Property Tax, water tax etc. The fact of the matter is that Sinn Fein are a fascist party dressed up in sheep’s clothes, however scratch beneath the surface and you won’t have to look very far to find the Brit hating, war warmongering views that are sacrosanct amongst Sinn Fein, and woe betide anyone who doesn’t hold these views, or toe the party line. It’s not often I agree with Alan Shatter, but I agree with his assertion that Sinn Fein are more of a cult than a party, and they pose an enormous threat to this country should they ever gain power.
Comment of the day aging lothario
You got a green thumb from mise Juninho
SF are a shower of cowards, constantly lying and making false claims that they want to be at peace with unionists etc Gerry showed his true colours when he said we were all b*******, he thought it wasn’t being recorded but it was. SF/IRA didn’t change their views in 94 when they set about a ceasefire, their views were changed for them by increasing militant activity against them, they were forced into their current position, they still hate us but they can’t shoot or bomb us anymore.
In recent times we have had SF members/councillors etc –
Mocking the Queen on facebook/twitter
Mocking the death of Maggie Thatcher
Their leader calling us b*******
The Belfast SF Lord mayor refusing to present an award to an army cadet in city hall
Trying to permanently remove the Union Jack on city hall
A shower of vermin that are no different now and 20 years ago when they were murdering innocent people.
They were burning effigies of MT all over the impoverished uk except in lushes london.
Antrim … Adams was calling Bigots bast–ds …. Are you a bigot ??
So Antrim is a bigot now Cillian 32, just because he’s from a different political persuasion to you, seriously do you not see the irony in your statement, and makes you the biggest bigot of all.
Sinn Fein won’t take part in the Official 1916 state commemorations. Seems right. They didn’t take part in the 1916 Rising either! ” Hijacked by SF” !
Brendan it’s only SF that could afford such an outgoing – the party of the poor!
In the eyes of deluded republicans I’m a bigot simply because I’m a Unionist. If their leader thinks we are b******* then how are the grassroots supposed to think.
an ciarrioch = FG Troll
Real David Brent moment the guy with the guitar.
They wernt burning effigies of Thatcher all over the UK either, it was done by a few gatherings of people here and there. People who are elected to public office should know better than to engage is such nonsense anyway, it showed SF’s anti-Britishness once again, it’s at the very core of their existence so how they can claim to live in harmony with a million British citizens in NI is beyond me. A shower of vermin that are speaking out of both sides of their mouths as usual, more faces than big Ben.
This SF stuff reminds me of Germany in the 1930′s… lots of beer hall-esque speeches on the way no doubt for 1916 from the shinners. Great news for Ireland and for democracy pure Machiavellian stuff “Never attempt to win by force what can be won by deception”
Well done on living in the past and continuing to dish up dirt on Sinn Féin from yester-year. If you bothered to enquire, I think you’d find that Sinn Féin are the most progressive political party on the island of Ireland.
It’s OK saying that but their actions don’t seem to back up your claim. They detest unionists, they detest Britain, they detest those Irish folk who are prepared to reach out the hand of friendship to either or receive the hand of friendship from either.
No they’re not.
And people are entitled to remember their recent role in thousands of terrorist murders.
Antrim my friend. I think you’ll find most Englishmen along with most Scots and Welsh mock the Queen. That’s what happens when you’re the head of a hereditary institution.
I’m sure you watched the news about Thatchers death. Therefore you’d have seen the thousands of people across the UK who held Thatcher’s dead parties and who turned up to her funeral just to turn their backs.
The Lord Mayor of Belfast does not have to award a British soldier if he or she does not wish to. It’s not written into their contracts.
The Alliance Party are the party most verbal in their wish to remove the union flag from government buildings.
How many times have unionist leaders verbally attacked Sinn Féin, nationalists, Catholics?
Your faux outrage and calling of Sinn Féin a shower of vermin, puts you in the same league.
Looking back in history, as you have, the leaders of Ulster openly claimed that Ulster was a Protestant State for a Protestant People. Are you really that surprised that Sinn Féin are doing all they can to reclaim Ulster as a part of the greater island of Ireland’s Irish Republic?
@Aindi does putting your name as gaelige make you more Irish you think? – In my experience it is usually people trying to prove something who change the names on their birth certs usually… like that legendary quote from Michael Collins about Childers.. what you think?
Sadly that’s the way they think Antrim, all Unionists in Sinn Fein’s eyes are bigots, and should be immediately either eradicated or expatriated. A bit of a case really of the pot calling the kettle black.
I know what SF are trying to advocate, I know what republicanism is. They can’t be what they are at the minute and claim to be at peace with us. Can they not just admit that they hate us and they want to remove us, I’d have more respect for them if they did.
I can admit that I hate them and I can also admit that I’d love it if the British army had wiped them off the face of the earth when the chance was there. Im not running around speaking from both sides of my mouth, SF are vermin in my eyes and as stated on here on a daily basis they don’t or never have represented the Irish people. If they really respected the unionists they wouldn’t be running around plotting all types of anti-unionist nonsense behind closed doors. It wasn’t alliance either, alliance brought the motion for designated days, SF and SDLP wanted it removed completely. Get your facts straight.
And a party of comedians by the sounds of things, seriously if Sinn Fein are the most progressive party on this Island, god love us all and especially their deluded supporters.
Antrim there you go agaon painting yourself a bigoted sectarian ba#*ard…. you keep going out of your way to include yourself into that very defined group Adams spoke of.. then you report any comment which defines you as part of that group within unionism..
Of course its nothing to do with treating people as second class citizens, if you keep beating on a dog eventually he will bite ye only to be blamed then for been dangerous by the hypocrite who beat on him.
I
“their views were changed for them by increasing militant activity against them, they were forced into their current position”
Ah, the mask slips!
The old myth that the loyalist sectarian murder campaign on catholic civilians(or whoever else happened to be in a bar/bookies/council depot when the loyal sons of ulster walked in and opened up with automatic weapons) was responsible.
I totally understand unionist dislike/hatred of Sinn Fein but you have exposed yourself as a hypocritical, sectarian bigot with your above comments. You rightly rail against political violence and in the same breath justify the sectarian murder of innocents.
poor shiners relegated to the sidelines, as well who cares
I have a perfectly simple reason for providing my name as Gaeilge. To save you from psycho-analysing my use of Gaeilge. I’m a primary teacher and therefore use my name as Gaeilge on the internet to save me from potentially being found by children that I teach or have taught. Obviously I have strong privacy settings on FB, which includes not showing up in searches. However, anything else to reduce being looked up by my students is helpful.
However, I have to take you to task over your presumptions. The Irish language belongs to anyone and everyone who wishes to learn it and use it. Of course those who have greatest ownership of the language are those who speak it everyday in their home environment. Do you therefore presume that people born and bred in the nation’s gaeltachts have something to prove by using their name in Irish? And what about the unionists in Belfast who are learning the Irish language under the encouragement of Linda Irvine? Does their use of the Irish Language make them any more Irish, or less British, as the case may be?
There really isn’t much hope for this country then if there are teachers such as yourself, who are passing on their naked hatred of Unionists and Brits to their pupils in catholic dominated schools. I often wondered how it could be possible that so many young people in this country could be Sinn Fein supporters as well as Anglophobes, now I know.
Gerry is claiming responsibility for 1916! But denying everything else!!!!
Antrim, na beidh ag caoinneadh, beidh tu ceart go leor at an oilean seo
Mr adolescent cretin gillhoully, you will fimd if you read a little that britian/ unionist havs tried for past 90 odd years to sideline Republicans. They didnt succeed and neither will the FG / lab frapperoom..
Colin I never justified sectarian murder in my life, typical republican nonsense trying to twist my words.
Sergeant Yates – Presumably what Germany in the 1930′s reminds one of , would be “General” Owen O’Duffy and his bunch of Blueshirt Fascist Scoundrels playing at being Nazi’s, in Ireland !
Your FG Party have a very colourful “History” , haven’t they ?
If people brand me something I’m not I’ll report the comment, of course I will. Im not gonna stand for people calling me a bigot when it’s not true, why should I?
Anti SF/IRA doesn’t mean anti-Irish, you constantly mix the two up to suit your own agendas though.
Aindi.. All you’d have to do is adjust privacy settings on facebook.. As for the gaeltacht comments i dont follow.. If your birthcert says one thing fine if not then whats the reason for changing?
Ciarrioch.. The only FG supporter here is you.. Only someone with the lack of mental fortitude like you display frequently on these threads could be but anything else.. Pretending to be stupid by being an overt SF supporter.. You’re fooling no one.. You’re a Blueshirt.. Displaying typical blueshirt misdirection.
Sinn Fein are the ones living in the past and hijacking it while they are at it. They helped to destroy this country economically between the 1970s and 1990s with their brutal war. They didn’t recognise this State until recently and now they want to hijack the celebrations of the rebellion which led to its foundation. Pure and utter hypocrites.
the ambassador reflects their popularity- its tiny :D
No they are NOT all the same!
Black 47! Way to go lad!
Context Diarmuid! It’s all part of the same struggle!! Use Yer mind!
Aged Lothario with a Faded mind!
Dipstick, pardon me but who is “we”?
Bananas! SF cowards?? What about you lying Blueshirts afraid of honoring your history? Adams and McGuiness have given more to this country than all you hoors combined!
God forbid Weill the Queen Ya dope!! Go
Back threading the Telegraph!
Aged, you’re sound desperate lad!
Is this Ivan Yates! Double Blueshirt Warner!
Ivan that was a really stupid comment! What has it to do with anything if his name is in Itish or Polish? Wise up lad!!
Most of them are, fact of life!
As I said , go back to reading the Telegraph ye bigot!
Wow. 12 Sinn Fein comments in a row. The quintessential shinner bot.
Sinnféin the Abortion party, the same sex maridige party, Any thing that is against the Law of god party.
Should that not be Éirinn go Brách?
The ironing is delicious.
SF have condoned/explained/justified the slaughter of innocents, including children, in the pursuit of their cause.
Gaza has nothing to do with that.
The best way to commemorate 1916 is to have another Rising, but this time we make sure that we remove the parasites that have brought the country to its knees.
Grey squirrels?
Killing our red squirrels the b*****ds
You start then with your Rising. All talk. Just like SF.
Not sure why SF are so mad into gate crashing 1916. This Sf party traces it’s lineage back to the 1970s and has no links to the original SF set up by Arthur Griffith.
Publicity.
SF have always held Easter commemorations unlike FF the so called republican party who are only “republican” when their looking for votes.
So by your logic only if you can trace your links directly back to an event you can commemorate it. So can only those who can prove they had family members effected by the famine commemorate it, or those who had family members in WW1, or what about Americans from the Democratic Party, seeing as it was founded in 1828 but America declared independence in 1776. Does this mean that Democrats can’t celebrate their Declaration of Independence because the party wasn’t around when it happened? Seriously what a ridiculous and puzzling outlook to have!
Niall K – History is obviously not a strong subject in your house – no doubt?
We’ll help him re-write history Comrade Ciarraíoch.
labour are more closely related to the original Sinn Fein than adams mob.
everyone is delighted the shiners won’t ruin the main events. the shiners belong in the sidelines where they remain irrelevant
Ah bless,this topic should keep yfg/ff and labour youth fairly busy spouting their official party line and official party views from the anonymity of pseudonyms.
You should move to Cuba mike.
Now why would I do that whateverbyourvname is
* what ever your name is *
It’s starting to piss me off that party’s are using this as a party celebration!!!!
Get your bloody act together,this is a celebration for all irish people,put the party flags to rest for one event,
Yes you are correct, but leaving it to this government, there would be no celebrations/commemorations. We are now a year away from the hundredth anniversary and yet what have they planned? Sinn Féin have got off their arses and put together a programme of events for anyone and everyone. Isn’t that what we all want?
shinnerfest will get the attention it deserves :D
Yea it is,but I’m sure SF will have their banners hanging all over the place.
SF are as self serving as the rest of them
I was spot on the shinnerphobes are in their elements as they blurt out their partyline tripe and bile.
Small wonder they will be totally destroyed at the next election.
I honestly reckon these people have actually done more damage to their parties than shatter,oreilly or any of them could have done.
I really do hope SF get in to power.
Then we will see that they are the same as every politician on this island!!
“We only take the average industrial wage”.
But don’t tell anyone that we top the rest up with expenses and ink cartridges!
shiners are like a joke that just keeps on giving :D
This whole 1916 “Commemoration” thingy is descending into a farce….
Padraig Pearse was never in the IRB.
The Northern Bank money is being put to good use I see
What was the Anglo bank money spent on?…
What has Anglo got to do with the shinners robbing a bank for party funds?
Just a comparison is all, by your logic if an ex member of the Irish army commits a crime that means it had to have been government sanctioned.
what has the Army got to do with terrorist bank robber?
Typical Shinner deflection, never deal with the point at hand. I suppose Adams was never in the IRA, never protected child abusers and of course its all the Brits fault too
And please dont compare our proud Irish army to the murderous garda killers and cowardly bombers of the PIRA
“Deflection” and “point at hand” you are the one who mentioned the NB robbery on an article about the Easter commemorations and then go on to contradict your own logic.
Well they had to pay for it somehow. Adams could hardly afford it himself seeing as hes only on the minimum wage
And what does he do with the rest of his wages David. Thats right, they go back to SF, thats roughly a million euro each year they get from their 14 TDs alone, without even adding in MLAs and MEPs.
Throw in all the money they earn from bank robberies, money laundering, extortion, fuel smuggling, donations from idiotic Americans supporting the ’cause’ and all the money they take from the British government for not taking their seats in Westminster and it turns out theyre quite a wealthy party after all
I give up, the anti SF agenda has been getting more desperate and lamer by the day, the arguments against any decisions they make have disintegrated into baseless rants about anything other than the “point at hand”
Mr Phil Officer – Why are you giving up? Is it because you can’t handle a few tough truths about that mob led by GA who you follow?
There are no arguments against decisions SF make as they don’t know how to make a decision. They only ever bleat the populist crap the blind followers and naive fools will swallow.
I look forward to having GA and co ruin Ireland. You’ll be begging for water charges when there is no water coming out of the taps!
What had the Palestinians, South Africa and Cuba got to do with anything?
Why isn’t the US Ambassador there considering De De Valera was a Yank…
Is it true Venezuela have sent a tracksuit to Wynns Hotel as a representative in place of Hugo Chavez….
To give us a glimpse of what life could be like under Sinn Fein of course.
Similar struggles you muppets
Similar struggles? How little you know.
Shinners trying to act without a mandate. nothing unusual there.
Huh?
Try explaining the mandate part before red thumbing, I’m intrigued to read the explanation.
“Tumbleweed”
Diarmuid?
When I typed Diarmuid my phone auto corrected to Eisenhower and cowenwatch to codename.
Are you steak knife?
Sorry Diarmuid, Unlike you I have other things to be doing as opposed to waiting for people to answer their inane comments on a website.
Have you ever heard of another country where an opposition party has basically tried to hijack the commemoration of the state’s founding moment?
And surely as true Republicans there is little to celebrate. After all the leaders of 1916 wanted a thirty two county republic. Their dream was sold down the river by the Shinners when they hawked the Good Friday Agreement. They’ve some cheek. And who is this James Connolly Heron anyway? Being related to one of the rebels does not give you the right to say how the Rising should be commemorated. This is a national event, not a family one.
This is politicking at its finest. The Shinners can no longer harp on the economy as virtually every single indicator is positive. Have to find some other way of winning votes.
Your inane comment?
Yeah I questioned why you think they’re acting without mandate, maybe you should have answered without going on a long rant, I’ll wait until you can take more time out of your busy schedule.
Alan, did Pearse and Connolly have a mandate?
Why are SF/IRA doing all this a year early?
Numbers aren’t their forte.
The economy is taking off again so sf have to change the narrative and pretend they are the successors to the 1916 insurgents .
Did the government not hold their Easter 2016 press conference in 2014? Anyway what difference does the timing of such an announcement make?
@gravel. Why did fg/lab do it a year and a half early?
I guess you didnt read the article word for word then gravel? As it explains why it starts in august of this year.
2015
To give other 1916 committees time to organise as well.
Gravel Pitt – Why ? Has the Good Friday Agreement collapsed ?
I listened to the 1pm News and there was no mention of it !!!
Have you been asleep, for Twenty Years ?
Three questions from a shinner….
If FG and Lab had of handled this correctly from the start, SF wouldn’t have had a look in. F*cking ejits can’t get anything right.
What are you planning for the celebration of becoming a mere vassal state to an empire Gravel pit?
Europe day is only a few months away.
Gravel Pitt / Will Derbylight .
Everyone who disagrees with FG Fascist Speak , is a SF Member ?
You Blueshirts ,are getting truly very nervous , as we move closer and closer to Judgement / General Election , Day ?
Kerry – I have never voted for FG.
But keep on making an idiot of yourself.
You are clearly unable to debate, just insult at random…..
Well done. You can count to three.
Gravel Pitt – FG – Labour – both identical Conservative / Unionist Parties.
You obviously support them ???
Kerry – why are you unable to read?
like everything SF remain a slideshow :D
NI costs the UK over £1,000,000,000 (a billion) every MONTH. If they could get rid of it, there’d be a party in every British town.
Yet SF/IRA want it – but have NO IDEA how it could be paid for. Perhaps their most laughable ‘policy’……
They receive £10 billion bloc grant each year which will be cut by £1 billion. Much of that £10 billion goes on Police and security.
A £10 billion grant? NO way.
Who provides it?
How come in Scotland the concensus is that the UK are leeching off them but the concensus in NI is that they are leeching off the UK.
How did NI end up in this position and why do people only blame Sinn Fein ?
Yeah Mike. Where does the £10 billion grant to NI come from?
The GAA or the UN?
Will perhaps they could take back all those horrible dinosaurs that they planted here in the first place, you know those Union flag waving, sectarian, anti everything conservative bigots that are the root cause of the mess up the North.
The English taxpayer! No point exaggerating the facts by adding on a few billion. The bloc grant will be cut to £9 billion a year. Like i said a lot of that is spent on Police and security.
OK Mike. Let’s say its £9 billion!
Where do SF/IRA think we’ll get that?
Rob a few banks, maybe….
Most of the 10 billion goes on its civil service which employs 40 percent of the workforce .
They do pay over £20/€27 billion in all taxes combined each year. A larger population of 6.3 million people will be a much stronger Ireland for all.
Will the fact that the North needs so much money makes it clear that it is a failed state that can’t stand on its own, if the money wasn’t available to the unionists who governed the six counties they would have resembled a third world country with an apartheid regime in charge. Its very clear now that a British\unionist ran six counties had one of the worst human rights records and living conditions in the modern world. Its not the people who were looking for equality that is holding the north back.
,@higgin. Because in Scotland they have oil …
Yes – but the NET annual cost to the UK is £9b +
And we are already in hoc to the IMF, ECB and EU for billions and billions!
Nobody would lend us any money – so HOW do SF/IRA plan to fund NI?
A bit of restructuring/reorganisation isn’t going to go much – bearing in mind NI’s nonexistent industrial/commercial base.
Together with the zero experience of SF/IRA.
People like you Mike, should wake up!!!
Wow Will thanks for yr rabid and ranting contribution. Really adds to the debate. Not.
Sean, do you dispute any of his (Will) facts and figures? I don’t/can’t – but its so easy to type a meaningless post like yours. Just to insult – because of your inability to argue/debate.
Seems this is the last place to get an honest answer.
2008 is long gone Will or Bill or whatever name you choose to call yourself. Ireland can borrow on the markets today for a slightly higher interest rate than what the Germans pay. Ireland United is the best future for everyone on this island. You need to Wake up mate!!
Gravel attacking someone for posting a “meaningless comment”. Good God 99% of what you post on this site is meaningless rubbish, the other 1% is you trying to argue/debate, which you fail miserably at!
Mike maybe you can tell me why NI is in a situation where they are financially dependent on Britain
Mike, if you are serious – its no wonder the country is virtually bankrupt, with citizens like you. If the country went to the World Bank, IMF, UN (or anywhere) – looking to the money to fund NI – it would be laughed at.
Where have you been for the last few years? Do you not remember we guaranteed our banks – without any idea of the figure we were guaranteeing? International financiers won’t have forgotten.
Where do you start Kevin, 30 years of troubles fuelled even more by the British army, the IRA destroying much of the infrastructure. Decades of little to no investment from the private sector. An economy dependent on the public sector for decades. They received money over the years to survive.
Here we go again.
The WHOLE of UK devolved departmental expenditure, including capital expenditure, to Northern Ireland is £10.8Bn. There are 1.8M people in NI. There are 64.1M people in the UK. The UK budget (Departmental Expenditure Limits) £362.9Bn. You can remove from that the expenditure and capital budgets for Defence, International Development and the Foreign Office if you like and the UK expenditure for those departments devolved to Northern Ireland is £317.7Bn. Pro-rating that for the NI population give expenditure of £8.9.Bn So the whole of our over-allocation, on a purely per-head basis if that’s what you want to call it is £1.89Bn – about £1,000 per head per year.
So we get about 17% more than the UK average spend per head (at present) but it’s nothing like “a billion a month”. On a purely per head basis our extra bit is £157M a month – about £2.45 per UK citizen.
Not quite as exiting or as stark as the post-apocalyptic wasteland conjured up in your febrile imaginations I’m afraid.
Yea so not solely Sinn Feins faults by any means. I see Scotland are reaching energy independence by 2050 and then I think, why not ireland?
If a country is a financial basket case they need new laws and systems. At least Sinn Fein are trying to being about solutions
It wouldn’t be to fund N.I it would be money for a United Ireland. Like i said Ireland can borrow on todays markets at slightly higher interests rates than what the Germans pay. The UK is in debt of over £1.3 trillion rising by £50 million a day.
Because Scotland has a well established oil industry and a huge number of distilleries. NI has one distillery and their oil industry is laundering diesel.
The UK figure you quote is its National Debt – which is c90% of GDP. Our National Debt is €225 billion – 125% of GDP.
We are much worse off – and could not afford to take on more debt. No world financial institution would provide it – because of these percentages.
And why would we want to take on NI, which you accurately describe I your last post – it would be economic suicide. With more grief for years….
Mike the troubles destroy NI economy . Before the troubles the biggest employer was in manufacturing . That was brought to a end when thousands where lay off and people began to move into security . RUC , UDR , prison service . When the troubles came to a end these organisations where disbanded but police officers and soldiers where paid extremely large payouts and generous monthly pensions . Soldiers between the ages of 20 and 40 receive pensions for the rest of there lives . The cost of funding such a big civil service and those receiving pensions from it would cripple this country .
Gravel Pitt = Will Derbylight
The same FG Blueshirt Unionist Conservative Schill Troll .
Kerry = SF/IRA daily lapdog….
Irelands National debt today is 111% of GDP not 125%. This will drop to 108% this year. Not as bad as you thought. The UK debt will rise to 93% of GDP this year. One of the reasons why they are bringing in major cuts in the economy over the next 5 years. Bleak times ahead for many across the UK. The north will be worse hit with its bloated public sector.
Gravel Pitt / Will Derbylight – Are FG employing underage children to Schill Troll Journal.ie ?
I think you’ll find that my figure for our National Debt is more accurate – it was 111% in 2012. And 25% in 2007/2008!
Don’t let the facts blind you dear. Irelands national debt in February 2015 is 111% of GDP.
You’re about a year out with your stats, Irelands national debt today is €203 billion, 111% of GDP. A quick Google search will confirm this for you. Bring you a bit more up to date with the Facts!!
Dear? Sorry – its just that my Google said different. But still more than GDP and up 86% in 7 years.
Not what a banker wants to see – when we want to over NI!!
Which, apart from requiring regular (monthly) cash injections just to keep going – also needs massive investment with retraining and restructure programs.
Do you feel stupid now ? You should! Keep up to date dear…… most countries in the western world borrow to run the country.
Yes Mike, most countries require working capital – but not funds to finance serious mistakes which were made much worse by the provision of an unlimited guarantee. Unheard of in the civilized world.
Any aspirations to annex NI are long gone. We simply could not afford it – and chaps like you waste too much time even talking about it. If we were to take on NI, it would require another unlimited guarantee of funds!
Let’s agree to disagree, i have a flight to catch. Have a great weekend all.
And the nationalists of Northern Ireland are such a peace loving lot who would never dream of been sectarian, anti everything bigots like all the Unionists are according to you? Is it any wonder that there will never be peace in the North when attitudes like yours exist, when you only ever see one opinion, and everyone else is wrong.
We wont give them anything, they’ll just be like us… pennyless and taxed to the hilt
Aging it isn’t just my opinion but rather the opinion of most people on this island and in Britain. The orange order and their loyalist chums the fleg protestors are the furthest thing you get from your everyday English or Welsh person. Every British person I know see the loyalists as an embarrassment and stain on modern British society. The only place you find large numbers of similar people is in the West coast of Scotland and parts of Glasgow, who are also renowned for their horrible sectarian attitudes. There is no denying what they are, and they seem to be proud of their 17th century attitudes.
Fair enough PJM, but you can’t tar all Unionists/Loyalists/Protestants etc with the same brush, I’m sure not every loyalist is a PUP supporter, Orange Order member who despises nationalists, no more than not every nationalist is a Sinn Fein supporter, who hates unionists and protestants in equal measure. Whether we like it or not, Unionists are part of the problem, and there will be no lasting solution in the North without their agreement.
the shinnerbots seem angry :D
Ambassadors from 3 very corrupt country’s. Is this where SF takes it’s drawing it’s inspiration from. That worries me
Name a country that isn’t corrupt?
SFs only friends- pathetic really
How much will FG spend on celebrating their servility to an empire on Europe day this May?
The Journal- the place where SF like to sprout & backslap each other but the tide….is turning !
The tide always turns.
I see you learned how to spell democracy…well done.
It’d be pretty damn ironic if you’re out waving your foreign starry flag on Europe day.
Dermot LOL Sado….
Sinn Fein must have s lot of cash to do this. Couldn’t be cheap. What’s the going rate for new ink jet cartridges nowadays?
I don’t get the connection….how would ink cartridges fund this?
The Northern Bank are funding the Shinners party.
Who would be best to play the part of Pearse – Gary Glitter or Rolf Harris?
Darby O’Gill….The definition of a true Gael…
@Tap, seems there is a lot of our history that you would like to alter
Tap…so brave to hide behind a cowardly pseudonym…you f@#kwit.
Ah Sean, do ye not remember Tony Lyons, he was a witty f@#k
I was walking down Abbey st half an hour ago was wondering who the bird in the army gear was.
Twink?
IPhone Joan
Jordan!?!
Topics like this just shows the divide in this country and hatred towards others views!
Yeah it’s great isn’t it, fills the day in with a few laughs, best bit is when it boils down to name calling.
A Backwards thinking party will do just that for the country, drag it backwards.
Drag it backwards?
You do realise that our constitution says we all pledge allegiance to a supernatural deity and a virgin woman invented by primitive shepherds from the deserts of bronze age Palestine and it’s a crime punishable by jail and/or a massive multi thousand euro fine for criticising this fairytale?
I’m sorry to break it to you but this is a backward country where political affiliation is based on something that happened a near century ago and where it’s still acceptable to restrict rights to women and couples of the same sex.
Shinnerbots out in force I see
How original, make sure you write that down in case it’s lost.
You’re right ,Niall.I’ve noticed Gravel the pit , Will the shill and the cuppane of sh!t;)
Care to respond to my comment on your ridiculous post about lineage to 1916. Or maybe thats too much to ask to get a response seeing as you have resorted to childish retorts like calling people who disagree with you shinnerbots.
Niall, take that back.
Sinn Fein hijacking this event … No surprise there.
“Hijacking” an event they celebrate every year, more like FF\FG\Lab have jumped on the wagon.
SF celebration led by a Baron- you couldn’t make it up :D
My dad was out in ‘ THE RISING ‘ and I have all his medals to prove it. Down through the years I always had this vision that I would wear these medals proudly for the 100 year celebrations and if I didn’t live to see it that one of my children would proudly wear the medals to represent him. When I see what is now going on with all the groups jumping on the bandwagon and all saying that they are the rightful heirs to 1916 I think that I will leave the medals in the drawer and stay at home.
It will be one long year of total crap
MLMD would have been better off in the Dial where Claire Dalys FFA bill is being discussed. But sf prefer to dodge the real issues as usual
Recent history ie past 7 or 8 year suggest SF are more interested in the Irish language than in jobs, they have changed laws in local councils to promote more Irish signage and more use of Irish in everyday life. It is not a coincidence that historically there were more young fluent Irish speakers in the US and Australia than in Ireland due to unemployment. If they really cared about our young people they would stop wasting money on a language which isolates communities and divert the €4 Billion annually spent on Irish subsidies I to meaningful jobs and a better health system. We are still borrowing Billions to spend on Irish while our children are left in despair. .
I heard Michael Collins is represented by a ceiling fan in a coffin.
.
“I see His blood upon the rose
And in the stars the glory of His eyes.
His body gleams amid eternal snows
His tears fall from the skies.”
If an Al Qaeda or IS fighter wrote these words we’d all say “Crazy fundamentalist looper”.
If a pop singer or tv presenter from the 70s were a suspected paedophile, we’d have a major investigation and apologise to the families.
Why are SF so eager to commemorate a strategically shit uprising by lunatics?
Sssh Tom, blasphemy is an offence in this country punishable by jail time and a massive fine, FG are in no rush to rescind such an archaic law in case they offend the crazy fundamentalist bead rattlers and their right wing christian group in Europe so be quiet.
Not sure where the rest of your comment is heading?????
Good point, but a strategically shit WW I slaughter is also being commemorated . Not exactly for the mass slaughter but for the “Glorious Dead”. Dying in a mud filled, rat infested,trench in the Somme for some abstract concept as a war to end all wars, or the freedom of small nations is not exactly a glorious way to finish up. So take you pick of the lunatics to commemorate.
Ah SF/IRA you gotta feel for them, don’t mention out history that’s in the past, remember our history the bit we like anyway
so, sinn fein are booking the ambassador for 33 weeks and under writting a live action interactive history class, and funding a complex bespoke light show for a week onto the GPO .
wow. where they getting their funding from?
Roughly a million euro a year from their TD’s wages. Fair play to the Sinn Fein TD’s for contributing so much towards the events throughout 2016, you wouldn’t see those weasels from the establishment parties giving their own wages for such an event.
Simon and Conor Dunne – Multiple Troll Accounts !!!
i think the shinnerbot is having a 404 error :D
Think of all the hospital beds and equipments you could buy with that money
but sure the shiners couldn’t care less about that
The revolution will not be photoshopped
so, sinn fein are booking the ambassador for 33 weeks and under writting a live action interactive history class, and funding a complex bespoke light show for a week onto the GPO .
wow. where they getting their funding from?
Conor very strange that you have the exact same comment as Simon, you another one of these oddballs with multiple accounts or else you just a plagiariser.
33 weeks, they have a lot of history to rewrite in fairness, that takes time
Typical s”te comments on tonte fat lazy blue ass blue shirts afraid ter gravy trains will come to a halt well they will soon big shocks for them this year
Why are they afraid to celebrate 1916
The photos don’t do it any justice, a shame really.
I’m sure loads will turn up to shinerfest :D
Meh…
Just in terms of an exhibition and location it doesn’t sound particularly imaginative or 21st century does it?
Not that the Govt effort will be much better (if they even bother).
I’d suggest integrating the exhibition into the streets with nightly light and video projections and triggered audio over the six days of the Rising.
If the journalist had reported the details of the launch rather than saying we “rattled of” events- you would know that the plans include using the GPO as a Giant Canvas for a light display that will re-enact the Rising with high tech laser and light display graphics- and the location is the location of the Rising-
One should live in the present, look to the future and learn from the past, sadly the Irish tend to live in the past
look to the past and learn nothing from the past. We can do nothing about the past, good, bad or indifferent. So maybe we should move on and leave the past to the historians. 2016 matters,1916 is the distant past.
Tacky.
have your say