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Jack Chambers, the new Fianna Fáil Minister for Finance, receiving his seal of office from President Michael D Higgins in Áras an Uachtaráin. RollingNews.ie

Jack Chambers appointed Finance Minister by President after being approved by Dáil vote

The Dublin West TD received his seal of office from President Michael D Higgins this evening.

JACK CHAMBERS HAS been appointed as Ireland’s new Minister for Finance. 

The Dáil voted to formally nominate the Fianna Fáil TD to take over the position from Michael McGrath by a margin of 86 to 60 this afternoon. 

Chambers then received his seal of office from President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin this evening. 

The Dublin West TD moves up the ranks after outgoing Finance Minister McGrath was nominated as the country’s next European Commissioner yesterday.

During a session of the Dail today, the leaders of the three governing coalition parties praised the outgoing McGrath and congratulated Chambers on his new appointment. 

Taoiseach Simon Harris congratulated Chambers and said he looks forward to working closely with him in his role as Finance Minister.

Harris said McGrath had “worked tirelessly to improve the lives of our citizens, through careful management of our public finances” and that he had “skillfully found compromises in a three party coalition in the most challenging of circumstances”.

Táinaiste Micheál Martin said Chambers is “always completely on top of his brief” and “a constructive and focused contributor to deliberations”. 

“He has distinguished himself as a committed and tireless servant of the Irish people as government chief whip during the Covid pandemic,” the Fianna Fail leader said.

“While he will indeed be the youngest person nominated to serve as Minister for Finance since Eamon de Valera nominated Michael Collins to the post in April 1919, his experience is already well beyond that of many who have held the post in the past.”

Martin also paid tribute to McGrath, who he said had, along with Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe, “helped ensure that Ireland limited the economic damage of the pandemic and recovered fast and more comprehensively than most countries”.

Martin said McGrath had “ensured a balanced approach, helping to fund sustainable increases in public services and also encouraging the economic activity essential for job creation and government revenue,” in his time as Minister for Finance. 

Green Party leader and Transport Minister Eamon Ryan praised Chambers and welcomed his appointment, noting that they have had their differences while working on transport issues.

“We have had our differences,” Ryan said. “But I think that makes him really qualified for what’s to come, because we were able to overcome differences and still get on. And as Minister for Finance, more than anything else, you need to be able to say no to people.”

Ryan was also full of praise of McGrath.

“We will miss Michael McGrath dearly,” Ryan said, praising his “calm authority”. 

“We will miss him, but our whole union will benefit him being in Brussels.”

Opposition reaction

It wasn’t all praise and congratulations on the other side of the Dáil chamber today though.

Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said it was “a big day” for both Chambers and McGrath but swiftly turned to policy issues.

In the context of McGrath’s move to the EU Commission, she said Ireland must “confront and condemn” the actions of its President Ursula von der Leyen, making specific reference to her support for Israel.

In terms of Chambers’ appointment, “Everything will remain exactly the same,” she said.

“The country has had enough of Fine Gael in power and Fianna Fáil propping them up.”

She said a General Election “cannot come soon enough”, which prompted some heckles from the other side of the house.

Labour’s Ged Nash wished Chambers well and also voiced opposition to Ursula von der Leyen.

He said some of the commentary around Chambers’ age had been “patronising” but challenged him to deliver for his generation.

“You owe it to your generation to be much more radical than your predecessors,” he said.

“Don’t be a conservative, be a reformer,” he said, calling on Chambers to “dump the reckless fiscal gimmickry” of Michael McGrath’s Department of Finance and to “stop reinforcing unearned privilege”.

Social Democrat leader Holly Cairns said today was “undoubtedly a really proud day” for Chambers and his family and she empathised with him over the criticism he receives due to his age, saying she has experienced something similar.

But she then asked about the change in personnel in the Cabinet, “Will anyone outside of here notice the difference?”

She challenged Chambers to make use of the Government’s substantial budget surplus, arguing it presented him with an opportunity to bring about changes for ordinary people’s lives.

“The question is, will you take it?”

She said there is a disconnect between strong Government finances and the reality of people struggling with rent and other costs. This is making people “disillusioned”, she said, urging Chambers not to go for a “giveaway” budget in October.

People Before Profit’s Richard Boyd Barrett said he was worried by the discourse around McGrath’s nomination referring to “horse-trading” around re-electing von der Leyen as Commission President, who he said is “complicit in genocide”. 

He also criticised the Government’s handling of the RTÉ financial crisis, saying that the burden had fallen on ordinary workers.

“They’re asking workers in RTE to pay the bill,” Boyd Barrett said.

PBP’s Mick Barry said: “Jack Chambers is cut from the same political cloth. He will deliver the same old, same old.”

First day on the job

Chambers, the TD for Dublin West, is to travel to Arás an Uachtaráin where he will receive his seal of office from President Michael D Higgins.

Chambers, who has never led a ministry, will be straight into budget planning, with the summer economic statement due to be published shortly. 

Work begins straight away for the new minister, with Chambers due to meet with Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe later today. 

Donohoe told the minister that he is going to have a “great working relationship” with Chambers, stating that they will deliver the final budget.

It is understood that Chambers replacement in the super junior ministerial role in the Department of Transport and at the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications could be announced tomorrow. 

A number of names in the mix include Dara Calleary, Thomas Byrne and Mary Butler. A vacancy will then be available in a junior ministry, allowing someone from the backbenches to move up the ladder.

James Lawless and Niamh Smyth have been mentioned as possibilities. 

McGrath will sit in the backbenches until his new position becomes clear in Europe and the Commission sits in the autumn.  

With reporting from David Mac Redmond

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    Mute David Giles
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    May 28th 2014, 9:35 PM

    This is an excellent idea as it will remind people of the great achievement of John Redmond and his colleagues in the Irish Parliamentary Party in securing Home Rule for Ireland in 1914 just before the outbreak of the First World War. The Implementation of the Act was suspended because of the war but nevertheless it was a great achievement for Redmond and his predecessors as leaders of constitutional democratic Irish nationalism such as Charles Stewart Parnell and Daniel O’Connell “The Liberator” . But then two years later, the Easter Riding occurred and the tragedies of the Troubles and the Civil War followed. ” All changed utterly and a terrible beauty was born”.

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    Mute David Giles
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    May 28th 2014, 9:36 PM

    I meant to say Easter Rising of course.

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    Mute Trealoch O Loinsigh
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    May 28th 2014, 9:40 PM

    The Easter rising must be seen in context against the backdrop of the home rule efforts. A terrible beauty indeed!!

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    Mute Paul Roche
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    May 28th 2014, 9:40 PM

    The Easter Riding is going to attract a few chuckles… Sadly, this will take away from your otherwise excellent post.
    If only we could correct the spelling errors which we suffer as a result of auto-correct features…

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    Mute PaoloFreire
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    May 28th 2014, 9:56 PM

    It was an achievement but a few observations (in the light of the Rising comments):

    1. If Redmond was so sure that Home Rule would be granted, why did he feel the need to encourage thousands of Irish men to fight and die in WW1 to prove our loyalty and guarantee HR?
    2. I’m not 100% sure that we can say that people preferred HR to a Republic e.g. women didn’t have a vote for starters; I assume there weren’t Republican candidates in many constituencies and people often vote for what they imagine is possible in the short term, as opposed to what they may feel is utopian.
    3. The Rising took place in the context of European nationalism, jingoism and militarism and as there had been a Irish Parliamentary Party majority in Ireland for years- on what basis did the British deny self-determination in this context.
    At what point can one legitimately resist the refusal to respect democratic wishes. For some it came down to if they trusted them to implement this Act or not.

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    Mute crankyrider
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    May 28th 2014, 10:24 PM

    Yeah as the old saying goes ” auto correct I’m sick of your shirt”

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    Mute Diarmuid
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    May 28th 2014, 10:36 PM

    Could Home Rule have been implemented without a civil war and/or partition?

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    Mute Trealoch O Loinsigh
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    May 28th 2014, 10:48 PM

    Probably not. The UVF were already arming themselves against the prospect of home rule and Redmond has already agreed to partition. What was different in 1914 is that the British establishment were behind home rule and were willing to use force against the UVF to ensure its implementation.

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    Mute T Beckett
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    May 28th 2014, 11:33 PM

    @David

    Do you have a reason as to why the British refused to introduce Home Rule after WW1?

    Do you think the War of Independence had something to do with the British aversion to leaving other peoples’ countries or their aversion to democracy when it doesn’t suit them?

    Also, I think you meant to say War of Independence, not “Troubles”.

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    Mute T Beckett
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    May 28th 2014, 11:46 PM

    ” it was a great achievement for Redmond and his predecessors as leaders of constitutional democratic Irish nationalism”

    I hate to break it to you but the 1st Dáil Éireann WAS democratic Irish nationalism.

    Such a shame, those British nationalists weren’t too democratic in recognising that.

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    Mute Oisín Ó Cuilleanáin
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    May 28th 2014, 11:57 PM

    The tragedies of the troubles? How condensending, In 1918 Sinn Fein won 73 out of 105 seats in the election, that gave a mandate for an irish republic, the British establishment refused to recognise the democratic will of the irish people by deaming Dail Eireann illegal, the war of independence had democratic backing, it is insulting and ignorant to say it was merely a troubled period. We also must remember that john redmond convince thousands of irish men to be slaughtered in a imperialist war between two cousins which culled a whole generation of young Europeans, but to be fair to him, he did come close to getting home rule.

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    Mute Diarmuid
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    May 29th 2014, 1:08 AM

    It was called “The Troubles” in the 1920s.. “The War of Independence” was a later creation and is now the accepted name… The 1918 Dáil, though “democratic”, was illegal under UK law.. A partitioned version of Home Rule was legislated for in the Government of Ireland Act 1920.. “Northern Ireland” ran with its parliament until 1972, the “Southern Ireland” parliament had one meeting, was suspended indefinitely, then abolished under the Treaty.

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    Mute Kevin Kaa
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    May 29th 2014, 8:15 AM

    Wasn’t it the other way around…? I believe the North met once and opted out of a union with the south and instead chose to be reabsorbed into the UK.

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    Mute PaoloFreire
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    May 28th 2014, 9:37 PM

    That headline makes it look like Carson was a Home Rule leader.

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    Mute T Beckett
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    May 28th 2014, 11:30 PM

    The stamp forgets to mention that Carson was a sectarian bigot, who used to fan the flames of orange bigotry.

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    Mute John Michael
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    May 29th 2014, 12:09 AM

    Carson was a unionist who feared for his community if it were to become part of an Irish free state ruled by a catholic majority. Sectarianism was around for years before he came to power. He didn’t invent it. He just played by the same rules of both sides. You should read up on him before castigating his heritage. P.s. I’m an Irish catholic.

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    Mute T Beckett
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    May 29th 2014, 1:06 AM

    Carson used to have his stage lined with Protestant clergymen. Google image it if you like.

    He also supported gun running to stop democracy.

    (This was not the same with Redmond and Catholic clergymen).

    The first few years of Carson ruled NI resulted in thousands of Catholics being forced out of their homes, usually to Dublin.

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    Mute Sean Montgomery
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    May 29th 2014, 6:35 AM

    Well said.

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    Mute Inigo Montoya
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    May 29th 2014, 8:50 AM

    Carson was not sectarian – he believed in a United Ireland under British rule… read a book rather than relying on google images – how many ‘catholic’ leaders used clergy to further their aims? and campaign with them… Carson for example was one of the original people to set rules to hurling and played it in Trinity before the formation of GAA. He was a unionist and a protestant… he was also against partition until it became clear the rest of the country was going to push for sovereignty.

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    Mute Inigo Montoya
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    May 29th 2014, 8:52 AM

    Also Redmond was responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands of Irish men for calling on them to swell the ranks of the British army to fight in the wrong war.

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    Mute Doc
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    May 29th 2014, 9:31 AM

    You say fight in the wrong war Inigo, which was the right war ? please tell me.

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    Mute Inigo Montoya
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    May 29th 2014, 9:57 AM

    The war for Irish freedom.

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    Mute Tommy Whelan
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    May 29th 2014, 10:31 AM

    Inigo Redmond could not have known that ww1 was to last upto 1918 with 50000 Irish dead . It was predicted the war would have been over by Xmas . No one believe the war would have turn into the slaughter that it became .

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    Mute Tommy Whelan
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    May 29th 2014, 11:28 AM

    The right war is when Irish men fight for the wish of the Irish people . During Redmands time there was more support for homerule then there was for independence . The view of the Irish people that live in Ireland at the beginning of the century is very much different then the views of the people that live in Ireland today .

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    Mute T Beckett
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    May 29th 2014, 2:26 PM

    @Inigo

    I have read books on this, and they all reach the same conclusion.

    Carson stoked the fires of sectarianism when it suited him to ignore democracy and use violence to stop his beloved Westminster.

    It is generally accepted the Home Rulers gave scant regard to the unionists and did not engage in the same fear mongering.

    Fear mongering and idiocy that the nutter loyalists still peddle today.

    Regarding Redmond, I agree.

    But to put it another way, the anti-war nationalists i.e. Trade unions, IRB, Sinn Féin. – all were proved right that Redmond was wrong to tell young Irishmen to go to war.

    He was betrayed aswell.

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    Mute Denise Friary
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    May 28th 2014, 9:42 PM

    It should be John Hume and Gerry Adams on that stamp and in my opinion Carson was a traitor he was born a Catholic from Dublin

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    Mute Jamesy Boy
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    May 28th 2014, 10:08 PM

    Why Gerry Adams?

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    Mute alwaysrightokay
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    May 28th 2014, 10:12 PM

    Actually Denise it should be john Hume and David Trimble. Adams is a murdering toerag.

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    Mute Trealoch O Loinsigh
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    May 28th 2014, 10:13 PM

    And Wolftone was a Protestant; the relationship between Ireland and Britain are far more complex than the narrow sectarian view.

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    Mute Ben Smith
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    May 28th 2014, 10:49 PM

    Carson was a Protestant, although I don’t see how someone being a Catholic or Protestant makes them more or less of a “traitor”. He was a patriot who thought Ireland’s best interest lay within the union. Ironically, despite the statue of him outside Stormont, he saw partition as a bitter defeat.

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    Mute Denise Friary
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    May 28th 2014, 10:51 PM

    OK I will agree on Trimble instead of Adams

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    Mute Trealoch O Loinsigh
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    May 28th 2014, 10:53 PM

    And Carson was very vocal against the execution of the leaders of the rising.

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    Mute Denise Friary
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    May 28th 2014, 10:56 PM

    Ben, Carson was born a Catholic and became a protestant and you omitted to agree that he was born in Dublin.

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    Mute Ben Smith
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    May 28th 2014, 11:22 PM

    He was not “born a Catholic”, his family were Anglicans and Carson himself was even a member of the Orange Order, so I don’t know where you got that idea from? And I omitted to agree that he was born in Dublin because it’s irrelevant.

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    Mute Stuart Broomfield
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    May 28th 2014, 11:31 PM

    Really can’t see why being born a Catholic (don’t think he was btw) or being from Dublin, would mean that he was a traitor for having unionist politics. For example, Scotland are debating independence at the moment, good people will disagree on what road they should take, but would it be fair to say that a catholic no-voter from Edinburgh must be a traitor, and a Protestant yes-voter from Glasgow a patriot.
    Surely Carson did what was right by his lights, and Redmond the same

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    Mute Sean Montgomery
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    May 29th 2014, 6:42 AM

    Carson was not a Catholic!

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    Mute Bobby
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    May 28th 2014, 9:38 PM

    Angela Merkel will be next. Ireland’s saviour.

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    Mute Pickart Solny
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    May 28th 2014, 9:41 PM

    ‘The Act emerged after Catholic Emancipation’ The Home Rule Act was passed in 1914 but the Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed in 1829. That is a gap of 85 years.

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    Mute Neal Ireland Hello
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    May 28th 2014, 9:26 PM

    History ‘n’ shit.

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    Mute Tony
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    May 28th 2014, 10:20 PM

    A great comment Neal. ( Hope you don’t think I’m patronising you)

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    Mute Seamus O'ceadagain
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    May 28th 2014, 11:17 PM

    wasn’t Redmond a west brit?….he was looking for cannon fodder for the brits

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    Mute Seamus O'ceadagain
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    May 28th 2014, 11:26 PM

    Wolftone was a true Irish Hero….Adams well….he can disappear into the night before the next free state elections….

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    Mute Seamus O'ceadagain
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    May 28th 2014, 11:48 PM

    I personally believe after the hungerstrikes and Loughgall etc that adams himself told a story or 2 to mi5

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    Mute Stephen O'Sullivan
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    May 29th 2014, 4:34 AM

    If that was true, I suspect that it would have been leaked by now

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    Mute RiobairdOMaingain
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    May 29th 2014, 4:41 AM

    They should put Paisley on a stamp if only to wind up the loyalists

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    Mute Seamus O'ceadagain
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    May 28th 2014, 11:22 PM

    ….suddenly….everyone is claiming the ground that sinn fein once claimed….weird

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    Mute Rodger 5
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    May 29th 2014, 9:32 AM

    Perhaps no need for a bloody failed rising or war of ‘Independence’ or civil war…has the country been run by the descendants of these unnecessary terrorists??

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    Mute Sean Montgomery
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    May 29th 2014, 6:49 AM

    To be honest I enjoyed reading these comments and auto correct fails. Some of you do need to learn more about your Irish history but overall very good. Would love to see if there is a group out there that you can debate the same topics. Anyone know of any?

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    Mute David Giles
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    May 29th 2014, 9:29 AM

    Edward Carson was a Dubliner, born at No 4 Harcourt Street. His family were members of the Church of Ireland. He was educated at Wesley College, then in St Stephen’s Green, and at Trinity College, Dublin. He became a barrister and a King’s Counsel (equivalent to a Senior Counsel). He was never a member of the Orange Order, he opposed the executions of the leaders of the 1916 Rising and he refused to become Prime Minister of Northern Ireland in the formation of the government of Northern Ireland He was an Irish Unionist rather than an Ulster Unionist and therefore opposed the separation of Ireland from Britain. John Redmond on the other hand believed in Home Rule for all of Ireland.

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    Mute ragnar daneskold
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    May 29th 2014, 6:32 PM

    He also led the prosecution case against Oscar Wilde for being an alleged homosexual.
    After the trial and non stop public villification of Wilde he stated .”Have you not tortured the poor man enough by now”

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    Mute Sheila Kelly
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    May 29th 2014, 7:48 PM

    Sir Edward Carson had a cat that sat upon a stool, and every time he caught a rat he shouted no Home Rule. At least that is what they taught in History classes.

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