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Dom Martin's Savages Paul Dubbelman

'We need a plan': Live events are happening in Ireland - but it's not all plain sailing

We speak to promoters and venues putting on gigs in the new era of live performance.

THE ONSET OF the Covid-19 pandemic meant huge changes for Irish society, some of which are already starting, in a small way, to roll back.

But for the live entertainment industry, things are only barely getting back to normal. Earlier this month, DJ and promoter Niall Byrne (aka Nialler9), made a direct appeal to the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht Sport and Media Catherine Martin TD for an urgent roadmap for the live events sector. 

“Like many involved in the Irish music industry, I have been waiting with bated breath for over 500 days, 16-plus months, to get back to live events, to putting on gigs and club nights – to make a normal income,” said Byrne.

Minister Martin had said she was working closely with Government colleagues towards developing a re-opening plan for the sector, but Byrne said that he and his peers need that plan now. While pilot events have taken place, watching how quickly other countries have progressed from pilot to live events has led some in the industry to question how far behind Ireland is. 

Still, it was recently clarified (amid controversy over an event organised by former minister Katherine Zappone) that venues are able to hold live music events outdoors under specific restrictions. So how have the organisers of events fared so far? 

‘We’re conscious the artists have been hit badly’

Aislinn OhEocha Executive Artistic Director Baboro International Arts Festival for Children Photo Andrew Downes Aislinn Ó hEocha, Executive Artistic Director Baboro International Arts Festival for Children Andrew Downes: Andrew Downes:

Aislinn Ó hEocha is the Executive Artistic Director of Baboró International Arts Festival for Children. Over the past two years, things have changed massively in how Baboró has been able to bring its festival to audiences. But despite the constraints, it’s gearing up for this year’s event in October. The fact that this is the 25th anniversary of the festival only serves to highlight how much has changed in so short a time. 

“This year was maybe more difficult [than 2020] in some ways. The uncertainty has been around for so long now and I guess we were very hopeful at the end of 2020 about what the end of 2021 would look like,” said Ó hEocha. “And then we were hit with new year 2021 [and another lockdown], so from that stage forward we’ve been planning as much as possible to meet the audience in person because during our 2020 festival, the country went into lockdown three.”

They had a blended programme last year, but ended up having to pull out of the venues due to the lockdown. She said that artists and audiences were “really understanding” as they moved online. But this experience only encouraged them to meet their audience this year.

That’s not least because of the positive impact the creative arts and expression have on our wellbeing, especially children’s, she said.

Ó hEocha believes that there’s a “real fatigue around digital consumption at the moment”, and so Baboró is really keen that children can share in live performances. 

But due to the fact there is still uncertainty around it, Baboró has to plan for reduced capacity theatre performances. It’s also bringing work out into the community, with a festival in a van and Little John Nee going out to meet people in rural communities in Galway. 

The festival has a very broad reach – in 2019 it engaged with 24,000 people over seven days. About half the audience is usually ticket-buyers, and the other comes through schools. This is a really important area for Baboró, but one that is affected by Covid-19 restrictions. While some schools are set up for outdoor events, others aren’t. 

“We’re thinking about different ways of being able to fully deliver and engage with children in the classroom,” said Ó hEocha. 

Usually, the festival’s artists are mostly from abroad (about two thirds of them are international). But this year they have a mostly Irish-based contingent, apart from one artist from the UK.

Aobhlín Flynn (age 9) and Mícheál Barceló (age 12) flying the flag for Baboró at 25 Photo Andrew Downes 3

It’s “just too uncertain” to bring people in from abroad in the same numbers, plus they are “very conscious of all of the fantastic artists [in Ireland] who have been really badly hit as well [by the pandemic]“. 

A further challenge, though, is how long it takes to get the programme together. Usually planning is done very far in advance, but these days they have to be very agile and have plenty of backup plans and different scenarios, “for when things change as they almost certainly will at some point”, said Ó hEocha. They know, too, that it’s “very challenging for artists as well”.

The layers to this new way of working includes team training, needing to sanitise the venues after use, and setting up clear signage. Plus, on the practical end the festival needs extra time for venues to be set up. 

When it comes to financial support, Ó hEocha said that the Arts Council has been “very responsive”.

I think the whole sector generally has felt very supported which has been great, not to have to worry so much about that aspect of things. Although anything during a pandemic is more expensive than it would be normally. 

She added that when it comes to the future, the “sooner that we know what we can work with the better”, but acknowledged it is better to be cautious before opening any further. 

“At the moment I’m hopeful that we will be able to meet small audience numbers, and then we’ll hopefully be planning for next year dealing with a different  scenario. Clearly this is something that isn’t going away, and we have to find a way of living with it in some shape or form in the next number of years.”

As for why a children’s festival like Baboró is important, Ó hEocha said it’s because “their lives have been so disruptive in missing school and all that comes with that, socially and creatively, and their wider life experience. You are only five for only 365 days, you don’t get that back, so I think it’s really important that children aren’t forgotten in the planning and in life outside of school as well. They’ve been so resilient and they’ve dealt with so much.”

Because of that, she said it is important that teachers and artists are supported too, so that children get “the chance to not only enjoy the arts for art’s sake but also find that expression to be able to reflect on what they’ve lived through”.

And, she added: “The sector is incredibly resilient. It’s been really notable how the arts have really stepped up to the plate in any way that they can.”

Live gigs

Moving from festivals to live music events, Cork promoter the Good Room has been able to put on small live gigs in the county. But like with Baboró, it’s not without its challenges. 

It has been able to plan the shows thanks to government funding, and knowing that indoors might be an issue, has only planned for outdoor gigs. Last week, it announced Magic Nights By The Lee, a live programme that includes gigs outdoor in Cork city parks – like John Spillane and Lorraine Nash at Ballinlough Park, and The Frank and Walters at Fitzgerald’s Park. 

That series is funded by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Cork City Council and the council’s Arts Office. Without this sort of funding, it’s arguable that such events – live gigs across seven nights – just couldn’t take place. 

The Good Room is even putting on a festival, It Takes A Village, in September thanks in part to funding.

But it had bad news earlier this year when it closed the Kino venue, as its landlord wants to sell it. That meant one less live venue for the city.

Ed O’Leary, concert promoter with the Good Room, said that though they’ve been able to do some planning and organising, “there is no roadmap” for the next few months and into 2022. 

“We were hoping that by September we would be back with a small indoor capacity, or at least have that option,” he said. “It was very hard to plan after 30 September. I 100% agree [with Niall Byrne], we are flying blind, we can’t plan for next year.”

The Good Room runs the Live at St Luke’s gigs (it held a Lankum gig in the impressive city church venue in early 2020, just before lockdown), and has had to postpone a number of gigs there. 

“All were sold to capacity, so we can only run them if they’re full capacity. At the moment I can’t see that happening before the end of the year,” said O’Leary.

We’ll probably have to reschedule all those shows again. It doesn’t make sense really as well, the way the vaccinations take-up is so good. Why aren’t [the Government] starting to look at full capacity in gigs? Why aren’t they talking about getting rid of all restrictions [for live events]?

He pointed to shows in places like Portugal and Northern Ireland as proof that full capacity shows can happen (under certain rules). “[Ireland is] again the last to the party in that respect.”

He said that smaller independent venues, promoters and nightclubs are in the dark: ”It is very hard to look at next year or even know what we will or won’t be able to do. Even by Christmas we would have been hoping to be back to some form of normality.”

Applying for funding is an art in itself, and O’Leary pointed out that it can be a new area for some people. “Most of the people in our situation have never applied for Arts Council funding or any funding,” he said. “It’s a private industry sector really, it’s all for profit but we’ve always been able to stand on our own two feet. It’s a whole new world for most of us. It’s a challenge and it’s time consuming.”

He said that in general Minister Martin’s department has funded the sector very well, though he acknowledged that one or two things can fall through the cracks.

“It’s just the message and roadmap from here on in that is lacking for me. 

“We need to have a plan – we need to know when we can have full capacity gigs with no restrictions. Doing your 50 capacity gigs, it doesn’t pay the bills.”

He said that the financial supports will have to stay in place until promoters are able to run gigs back at full capacity. 

As for the audiences, he said that everything the Good Room has put on so far has sold out.

The demand shows people are starved for shows, starved for entertainment. They are really, really appreciative and delighted these things are going ahead.

Online meaning new audiences

Over in Naul, Co Dublin the Séamus Ennis Arts Centre (which is 20 years open this year) is gearing up for four live gigs this month at the Piper’s Garden, its outdoor venue. Aoife Scott, Mick Flannery, Lisa Canny, and Dom Martin’s Savages are all booked in to play this month.

During lockdown, the venue pivoted to online gigs, and Deirdre Roche, Director of the centre, said that this brought in a whole new audience from across the world. 

She described the small arts venue as “nearly like a best-kept secret”, but the Zoom sessions it started to hold last year “took away the geographical barriers”.

It soon realised that 20% of the audience was coming from abroad, countries like South Korea and Sierra Leone. The same went for the online music lessons. 

During live streams, it would regularly see 38 countries represented among the viewers. “A little arts centre in a rural town could never have this reach, and suddenly we had that global reach.”

But Roche said that “with online events you don’t get the same sort of electricity you get from live events”.

When the venue got the go-ahead to hold outdoor gigs, it booked in artists for the Piper’s Garden. “That particular space holds about 500 people normally, but with current restrictions and social distancing we are down to 80/100,” said Roche. 

The first time the team got together after 16 months “was so brilliant, so exciting”. “Seeing people coming through the door with happy faces, they were so enthusiastic about getting back to live events, it really boosted our confidence for the upcoming season of events in August.”

The venue was able to gain capital supports to buy safety equipment, and engaged with a health and safety consultant. “For artists as well it’s down to little things like labelling water bottles so they are not swapping them,” Roche said of the safety measures. “We have separate labelled mics which then go into sanitising units. All the things you [in pre-Covid times] don’t think about.”

As for the artists themselves, Roche said “they were all a bit concerned, they hadn’t played in front of audiences in a few months – some artists were pacing around behind the scenes nervously waiting to go on. But then once they went on it’s like riding a bike”.

“And our audiences are very appreciative and friendly.”

Though she is delighted to have the Piper’s Garden open again, Roche said that realistically an outdoor space like that would only work until the weather shifts to colder temperatures in the winter.

Its indoor venue, with social distancing guidelines, would only be able to fit a small number of its total capacity of 95 people, which Roche said wouldn’t be a “meaningful audience” for performer and visitors. So the centre has to think about potentially pivoting back to digital.

“If things continue as they are we will be back into live streaming again and to be honest, going forward anyway our plan is to go with a hybrid model – a live audience and another level of tickets where people can access the gig on a live stream. Then the new audience we have gained globally will still be able to participate in events and our music classes. We don’t want to lose our new audience we’ve gained.”

But like the other promoters, she noted:

“There is still uncertainty; none of us knows what the future is going to bring.

We’re just very hopeful the vaccine rollout will bring us to a semblance of normality.

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 12:59 PM

    INCREDIBLE acknowledgement of the efforts of these women, and Together For Yes as a whole. Access to safe, supervised, abortion should be a cornerstone of womens healthcare in any modern society.

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    Mute Jonathan Moloney
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:02 PM

    @The Risen: All women were once a foetus. Protect all life. Abortion when the mother’s life is not in danger is barbaric, and evil.

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    Mute Patrick Nolan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:04 PM

    @The Risen:
    Agreed, and it should be said, even though we might completely disagree on fiscal policies, you did a lot of good work here on the same referendum.

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:13 PM

    @Jonathan Moloney: You’re entitled to your opinion.

    My opinion of your opinion is that it’s BS.

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:30 PM

    @Jonathan Moloney: So you think a 14 year old child pregnant following a rape should not be allowed an abortion?

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    Mute NickyVera
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:33 PM

    @Jonathan Moloney: I’m of the opinion that forcing women to continue unwanted pregnancies is evil.

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    Mute Orla Smith
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:59 PM

    @Jonathan Moloney: There was a referendum last May, you lost.

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    Mute Francis Sally
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:56 PM

    @Orla Smith: NO one can argue it still results in the death of the foetus, wouldn’t you agree. Dress it up all you like to justify it, and appease your conscience, but it’s still barbaric. This we won you lose mentality is a bit infantile.

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    Mute Orla Smith
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    Apr 17th 2019, 3:18 PM

    @Francis Sally: That’s just, like, your opinion man, and it’s an irrelevant one. Let me explain – Anti-Choice people do crocodile tears about foetuses / embryos, but what they really care about is following the Catholic Church teaching and oppressing women, consciously or subconsciously. Pro-Choice people respect women’s private, personal decisions, end of story. A mammoth landslide in the Referendum shows that the compassion of the latter, trumped the subordinated mindset of the former. By all means keep squealing about BAYYBIES and not being religious, no one cares.

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    Mute Francis Sally
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:59 PM

    @Orla Smith: where in my comment did I mention the Catholic church??? it’s my own conscience I go by and I make up my own mind. Personally I think it’s wrong but it’s people like you I despise most because you treat it in such a flippant and childish way by deriding anyone’s opinion different to yours. You really need to get that enormous chip off your shoulder. Yes they are babies and the way you refere to them as “BAYYBIES” is just as I said, infantile.

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    Mute Thunder Snowman
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    Apr 17th 2019, 5:30 PM

    @Orla Smith: Well said Orla. I don’t care what anti choice people say, anti abortion is always about religion.

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    Mute Francis Sally
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    Apr 17th 2019, 6:02 PM

    @Thunder Snowman: nonsense, it’s about conscience.

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    Mute mark d
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    Apr 17th 2019, 6:06 PM

    @Jonathan Moloney: so’s your face

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    Apr 17th 2019, 6:14 PM

    @The Risen: are the other abortions wrong then?

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    Mute Gerard Smith
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    Apr 17th 2019, 11:31 PM

    @Francis Sally: as you said in your previous post it’s your own conscience. Therefore it’s a matter of opinion. My opinion is that a woman must have the right to make decisions for her own life regarding her body. You don’t like it? No problem! Don’t avail of the service! No one person is a moral paragon. The people voted and had their say and it was emphaptic. You’re going to have to accept it’s here to stay.

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:35 AM

    @The Risen: The Risen is still harping on about all women being raped. Obviously finds it hard to get some in his world.
    According to you 1500 women have been raped in Ireland already this year as that how many babies have been slaughtered since the legislation was passed.
    Safe, free and rare and legal quickly became just safe, free and legal it seems.
    Putting these blood thirsty women on this list is ridiculous, may as well put Ted Bundy and Jack the Ripper on it too, although they haven’t murdered as many as these bandwagoners have.
    So stomp your feet and shout about the church all you like, but in 3 and a half months you’ve murdered more babies than the church has been credited with murdering. Does it make you feel better?

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    Mute Francis Sally
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:36 AM

    @Gerard Smith: so what about the fathers opinion ????

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:50 AM

    @Gerard Smith: a woman having an abortion isn’t making a decision about her own life, as you’ve stated above. Pregnancy is not an illness, the only person dying as a result of an abortion is a baby. Texas are looking to legislate for death penalty sentences for women who have had abortions. Absolutely nothing to do with the Catholic Church either.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:52 PM

    @The Risen: Please stop abusing the image of Pádraid Mac Piarais, who was an Irish Patriot and a devout Catholic. You have more in common with the Black and Tans, who wanted to murder as many Irish children as possible.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:53 PM

    @Gerard Smith: I find that the only men who support abortion are those who abuse women for their own private pleasure.

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    Mute Barry Somers
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    Apr 17th 2019, 12:55 PM

    Well deserved!

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    Mute Ismise Máire
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:03 PM

    Well i suplose Hitler was an extremely influential person too. He exterminated the disabled the unwanted and of course hundreds of thousands of babies too.

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:31 PM

    @Ismise Máire: Hitler stated he was doing Gods work and had a concordat with your beloved catholic church.

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    Mute DJ François
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:33 PM

    @Ismise Máire: ***Godwin klaxon***

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    Mute Sean O' Donovan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 3:11 PM

    @The Risen: Hitler hated Christianity and sought to remove all traces. It was only that its removal was demoralizing the German people, that he reversed that move.
    https://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/13/weekinreview/word-for-word-case-against-nazis-hitler-s-forces-planned-destroy-german.html

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    Mute Orla Smith
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    Apr 17th 2019, 3:20 PM

    @Sean O’ Donovan: Why was the SS motto ‘Mit Gott Uns’ ? (God Be With Us) Hitler was a Roman Catholic, his parents devoutly so.

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    Mute Sean O' Donovan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 3:32 PM

    @Orla Smith: Firstly because it appealed to the German people. Secondly because they were politicians- inevitable lies.

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    Mute Bruce van der Gutschmitzer
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    Apr 17th 2019, 3:35 PM

    @Ismise Máire: hé initially came to power thanks to an alliance with the Catholic party did he not? Mussolini got backing from the Vatican too.

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    Mute Alan Fahy
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:12 PM

    @Orla Smith: Der Führer’s greatest strategic mistake was in sidelining the Christian Churches in favour of some vague Germanic pagan warrior cult. Had he accommodated the Churches, and had they exercised their restraining influence on him, the outcome would have been much more balanced.

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    Mute Rob Cahill
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    Apr 18th 2019, 8:55 AM

    @Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: True. Also the Catholic church had no problem spending millions to help Nazis escape Germany after they lost the war. An awful pity they are not so jealous with their victims.

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    Apr 18th 2019, 9:30 AM

    @Rob Cahill: once again yourself & Bruce tell one side of a story. Nothing about the clergy killed in the death camps or the jews smuggled out of the country by them. Yourself & Bruce would have been brave I’m sure & stood up to the axis powers.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:54 PM

    @The Risen: Pádraig Mac Piarais was a devout Catholic. Take it down from the mast…

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    Mute Kev
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    Apr 17th 2019, 12:52 PM

    Forget about housing, climate change and healthcare… Leo not being on this list is what keeps him awake at night

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    Mute Mushy Peas
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:12 PM

    @Kev: I think you will find Leo jumped on that bandwagon once it was apparent Yes would have a clear win. He will probably claim credit for their achievements in his own mind.

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    Mute Aisling
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:39 PM

    @Kev: first of all, provision to terminate of pregnancies IS healthcare. Secondly, people can care about multiple things at the same time.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:55 PM

    @Aisling: There is no healthcare that requires a dead baby at the end of it. You are thinking of witchcraft.

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    Mute Michelle_Herbert
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:23 PM

    Well deserved. They headed a respectable campaign against unethical “pro lifers” who continue to harass and intimidate women.

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    Mute eric nelligan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:57 PM

    @Michelle_Herbert: they led a campaign of lies, deceit and dodging the issues, ably assistant by the most biased and one sided media campaign ever, funded by hundred of thousands in proxy funding from government agencies and overseas pro abortion groupings.

    However, these three women undoubtably were very influential, unfortunately their influence will result in thousands of ended lives annually.

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:01 PM

    @eric nelligan: What absolute crap. The only result of their ‘influence’ is girls and women who would have an unsafe abortions at home now have access to safe abortions under medical supervision.

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:10 PM

    @eric nelligan: You lost because you ran an appalling campaign and you alienated a lot of people.

    It’s really not that difficult to work out.

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    Mute Seamus Morgan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:25 PM

    @eric nelligan: World’s smallest violin is playing for you somewhere Eric. Maybe move to a country with restrictive abortion laws? I think you’d be happier. We’d all be happier.

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    Mute Steph Ní Dufaigh
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    Apr 17th 2019, 3:20 PM

    @eric nelligan: bullshit Eric, I donated myself to the campaign as did many of my friends & aquaintenaces. Directly from the pockets of regular working class citizens!

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    Mute SidNolan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:04 PM

    @eric nelligan: Haha, you lost. Loser.

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    Mute Michelle_Herbert
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:20 PM

    @eric nelligan: You’re confusing yourself
    There Eric must be all the lies you and your ilk spun. Go back to polishing your rosary beads and leave women in peace.

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    Apr 17th 2019, 8:30 PM

    @The Risen: no abortion can be deemed safe tony as it results in the loss of a human life.

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    Mute Seamus Mac
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    Apr 17th 2019, 9:51 PM

    @Bob Earner: Fianna Fail let the pro life side down. A majority of representatives were pro life but Micheal decided to go his own way. We had not one political party in the country with the courage to represent the pro life side which is sad really. Not saying it would have affected the outcome but it might have made for a more civilised campaign.

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:47 AM

    @eric nelligan: well said Eric, don’t mind the stupid comments about being funded by tax payers, it’s already been published that donations came directly from a Soros owned organisation, one that also donated directly to shAmnesty, a donation which resulted in Colm O’Gorman going to court. All of this of course was forgotten because everyone was blinded by hatred for the Catholic Church and accusations that all women wanting abortions were raped.
    The fact that the majority of comments on here mention the old “I won” chant directly from the Catholic school playground tells me all I need to know about the mentality of commenters.
    In any case most countries are reversing their barbaric abortion laws. In Ireland they’d rather save a rare earth worm than an innocent baby.

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    Mute JaneWest
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    Apr 18th 2019, 4:29 PM

    @eric nelligan: Funding, together4yes raised 500K in donations in five days!

    The other side has some dollars poring in https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/why-american-pro-life-dollars-are-pouring-into-ireland/266981/

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:56 PM

    @Michelle_Herbert: Your gang continues to kill women by abortion. Indeed, abortion is mostly a weapon for killing females.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:57 PM

    @Seamus Mac: Fianna Fáil have added infanticide to their long list of crimes.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 11:51 PM

    @The Risen: There are no safe abortion. A child is murdered, and very often the mother is seriously injured or dies too. Many women have died from abortion in the USA and the UK. Marie Stopes carried out 400 botched abortions in just a two month period. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4783694/Nearly-400-botched-abortions-two-months-Marie-Stopes.html

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    Mute Seán Ó Breasláin
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:50 PM

    Stalin and Hitler were very influential too.

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:11 PM

    @Seán Ó Breasláin: Ismise Máire already beat you to the “Godwin’s Law” prize.

    You came second (just like your Referendum result)

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    Mute DJ François
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:30 PM

    @Bob Earner: lol, touché!

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:56 AM

    @Bob Earner: you’re still shouting about having won. There were no winners here, only 1500 babies killed in the first three and a half months of 2019. You’ve already advocated killing more babies than you can wrongly credit the Catholic Church with killing.
    You’ve definitely won that title. More to come…..

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    Mute Orla Smith
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:02 PM

    Amazing women who helped cast off the shackles of Ultra-Conservative Ireland and the curtain twitchers.

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 2:01 AM

    @Orla Smith: if there were so many curtain twitchers in Ireland why did they not see pregnant girls going into homes yet no babies coming out.
    Could it be that the church were dumped with daughters that families didn’t want?
    Would it have been better in your opinion if the Catholic Church had provided abortions for all those years and kill the people we now call survivors.
    Would Ireland be a better place?
    Your hatred for the church is obvious, but who will you blame when women start to come out with stories about being forced to have an abortion by parents or partners? Will it be your fault because you voted for it?
    What about the young man who has already committed suicide this year because his partner aborted his baby without telling him? Who do we blame for that?

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:59 PM

    @Orla Smith: Only to take on the shackles of being sex slaves for abusive men who will ride them and then pack them off to the abattoir.

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    Mute Mr Bojangles
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:08 PM

    Delighted for these ladies. So well deserved for the monumental effort they put into the campaign.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:59 PM

    @Mr Bojangles: Whatever they are, they are not ladies.

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    Mute Rochelle
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:15 PM

    A very proud moment for our country!

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Apr 17th 2019, 9:53 PM

    @Rochelle: Some saw this as killing babies and it is.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:49 PM

    @Rochelle: Any nation that eats its own young has nothing to be proud of. It is a dead nation.

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    Mute jamesdecay
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:05 PM

    There’ll be a helpline available for anyone who’s upset by this news. Coz, ya know, even alt rights can be snowflakes too.

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:39 AM

    @jamesdecay: I’m not sure you know what alt right actually means. This isn’t an article about racism!

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    Mute LUCY Thomas
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:43 PM

    Together for mass murder.

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:45 PM

    @LUCY Thomas: You guys never learn do you?

    It’s this type of hyperbole that drives away all but the most fervent “Pro-lifer”.

    By all means, keep it up. Why not throw in a “Pro-Abort” while you’re at it just so I can get a full House.

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    Mute LUCY Thomas
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:49 PM

    @Bob Earner: sorry i don’t subscribe to on tap abortion. Sorry if that offends you. In two months this year 400 abortions carried out. How many of these babies where healthy? See where I’m going with this..

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 1:56 PM

    @LUCY Thomas: What babies? Ever tried breast feeding an embryo?

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    Mute eric nelligan
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:03 PM

    @The Risen: what a silly uneducated response. Next time you’re in the company of a pregnant woman, congratulate her on her embryo, ask her what she’s going to name her foetus or maybe enquire as to when her zygote is due…. tell me her answer.

    You’re hardly going to be breast fed today are you, you’re a human just as a much those who you advocate killing. Life is life

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:06 PM

    @LUCY Thomas: I don’t care where you’re going with this, that wasn’t my point.

    My point was your ridiculous rhetoric and how it alienates all but the most fervent follower.

    You’d have thought that you would have learned from the way the country reacted to the “No” Campaign but I guess being self-aware just isn’t your strong suit.

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:08 PM

    @eric nelligan: I assume you mean a pregnant woman that WANTS to be pregnant, right? A wanted pregnancy versus an unwanted one are vastly different things to the woman carrying them.

    But you really don’t care about those women so why would you respect their words and feelings. Instead you pontificate on their behalf without their consent.

    I’m not surprised.

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    Mute madabot
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:09 PM

    @The Risen: You’re a tool! Nobody who values life before its born could ever reconcile their views with the likes of you. Yes you might value life once it’s emerged from the uterus, but your quip about this here unmasks the true intent behind your earlier remarks on this thread.

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    Mute Bob Earner
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:13 PM

    @madabot: Everyone has the right to life but they don’t have the right to use another person’s body to facilitate their right to life.

    If you think it should be permitted you should support forced organ / bone marrow and blood donations. Because surely we all have a “right to life”? And if I need one of your kidneys to survive should I not be able to compel you to provide it?

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:25 PM

    @madabot: Your ire sustains me. Oh, and I most certainly value life in utero, I just value the rights of the woman carrying said embryo/foetus to bodily autonomy more.

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    Mute madabot
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    Apr 17th 2019, 5:18 PM

    @The Risen: Your relativism sustains my values. ;-)

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    Mute Red Hen
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    Apr 18th 2019, 1:54 AM

    @Bob Earner: could you speak to The Risen there please? He thinks that everyone having an abortion has been raped but your point here acknowledges that it is in fact a selfish decision. I’m glad to see that you’re on the pro life side here!

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:44 PM

    @The Risen: Do you think Pádraig Mac Piarais would support slaughtering our nation’s Future Generations in abortion abattoirs? Take it down from the mast…

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 10:13 PM

    @eric nelligan: How strange that the Fake News media insists that the unborn babies of ordinary mothers are just “clumps of cells” or “embryos.” But, in the case of the British Royal family – every baby is a Royal Baby from the moment of conception.

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    Mute Alan Fahy
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:20 PM

    Remember the Three Graces of Greek mythology, Aglaea, Euphrosyne and Thalia? Here the three disGraces of contemporary Ireland, Virago, Harridan and Termagant.

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    Mute Mr Bojangles
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    Apr 17th 2019, 4:57 PM

    @Alan Fahy: are your knuckles sore Alan? Put some Germolene on them and stop dragging them along the ground.

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    Mute Alan Fahy
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    Apr 17th 2019, 5:07 PM

    @Mr Bojangles: Yes, my knuckles are very sore from boxing sense into SJWs. Thanks for the tip.

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    Mute The Risen
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    Apr 17th 2019, 6:15 PM

    @Alan Fahy: The little hard man act is SO adorable, thanks for the laugh.

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    Mute Mr Bojangles
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    Apr 17th 2019, 6:42 PM

    @The Risen: I was thinking the same. I’d say he could box eggs, but after that……

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    Mute DJ François
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    Apr 17th 2019, 7:10 PM

    @Alan Fahy: “this page isn’t available”

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:43 PM

    @Alan Fahy: Very true, Alan, they are a disgrace to all of humanity. A case of the strong butchering the weak and vulnerable – and then looking for awards for the cowardly deed.

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    Mute Stephen Scofield
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    Apr 17th 2019, 12:54 PM

    Damn was hoping glitter hole were gonna get it ah well maybe next year!

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    Mute Dell
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    Apr 17th 2019, 5:56 PM

    They were dignified throughout and took all sorts of abuse and ridicule from the very beginning. Well done to them and Im delighted their hard work and persistence has been acknowledged.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:41 PM

    @Dell: There is no dignity in dehumanizing and killing a person who can’t defend themselves.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:11 PM

    Hitler Times man of the year 1938.
    Stalin, Times man of the year 1939, 1942.
    Churchill Times man of the year 1940, 1949.
    Khrushchev Times Man of the year 1957.
    Nixon Times man of the year 1971/2.
    King Faisal Times man of the year 1974.
    Khomeini Times man of the year 1979.
    Reagan Times man of the year 1983.
    Bush Times man of the year 1990.
    Clinton Times Man of the year 1992/98.
    G.W. Bush Times Man of the year 2000/04.
    Giuliani, Times man of the year 2001.
    Putin, Times Man of the year 2007.
    Mark Zuckerberg Times man of the year 2010.
    Merkel Times woman of the year 2015.
    Trump, Times man of the year 2016.

    And there you have it about Time magazines awards?

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    Mute On the Up
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    Apr 17th 2019, 9:09 PM

    Well done ! An intelligent and very impressive campaign.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Apr 17th 2019, 10:11 PM

    @On the Up: Just like the Catholic church looking after babies…

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:40 PM

    @On the Up: There’s nothing impressive about slaughtering the most vulnerable in society for the comfort and profit of the rich and powerful.

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    Mute TamuMassif2019
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    Apr 17th 2019, 9:52 PM

    But the fact is people aren’t influenced at all in most debates, these people just seem influential with those who agree with them. People normally have their minds made up along time before the debates and people will accept what they already believe or reject what they already don’t believe. People don’t change peoples minds unless they grew up with these people surrounding them.
    Anyone else finds it incredible how now they say babies being killed and dumped in sewage holes is awful and yet they support abortion really strange?
    But who says those children were buried but were sold on the side to rich Americans instead???
    But debates don’t changes minds they just make many angry…

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    Mute madabot
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    Apr 17th 2019, 2:12 PM

    Smyth is a fine person but the other two and this accolade are enough to make one vomit. :-)

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:39 PM

    @madabot: There’s nothing fine about the geriatric baby hater, Ailbhe Smith. She has rejected sexual reproduction in her own life for a life of inversion, and hates the very idea of life.

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:37 PM

    These vile Abortionists join fellow Abortionist, Adolf Hitler, who was named as Time Magazine Person of the Year, 1938.

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    Mute thecelticking80
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    Apr 24th 2019, 11:22 AM

    Most of the comments on here seem fake and probably are fake

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    Mute thecelticking80
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    Apr 24th 2019, 11:20 AM

    It’s a shame abortion was painted as a women’s issue

    It’s also bad that male opinion especially dissident male opinion is pushed out of the narrative to isolate it

    If this wasn’t the case more people would know about the male pill

    Most importantly more males and men would know about the male pill

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    Mute JaneWest
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    Apr 18th 2019, 4:35 PM

    @eric nelligan: Funding, together4yes raised 500K in donations in five days!

    The other side has some dollars poring in https://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/why-american-pro-life-dollars-are-pouring-into-ireland/266981/

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    Mute Denis Patrick Gill
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    Apr 19th 2019, 9:39 PM

    @JaneWest: Most of it coming from George Soros.

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