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LAST UPDATE | 12 Jul 2024
ELECTION POSTERS BELONGING to nationalist politicians and threats against Catholics were erected on loyalist bonfires which were set alight last night ahead of The Twelfth.
A bonfire in the Village in south Belfast included “ATAT”, which is understood to mean “All taigs are targets”.
Ireland and Palestine flags also topped the bonfire, alongside an election poster of Sinn Féin vice president and First Minister Michelle O’Neill and SDLP MP Claire Hanna.
It also targetted both the unionist newspaper The Belfast Telegraph and the nationalist The Irish News.
SDLP MLA Matthew O’Toole said the incident was “deeply dispiriting and unrepresentative of the decent people of the Village who want to enjoy the Twelfth”.
Deeply dispiriting and unrepresentative of the decent people of the Village who want to enjoy the 12th.
— Matthew O'Toole (@MatthewOToole2) July 11, 2024
There would be so much more goodwill around this holiday if there was enough leadership to celebrat without lurid expressions of hate. https://t.co/14T8zsVTRM
He added: “There would be so much more goodwill around this holiday if there was enough leadership to celebrate without lurid expressions of hate.”
A different bonfire in the Rathcoole area of Newtownabbey featured an effigy alongside a message directed to SDLP leader Colum Eastwood reading “your (sic) next”.
Derry MLA and party colleague Cara Hunter said it was “absolutely despicable behaviour” and added that “unionist leadership needs to come out strong against this nonsense and call it for what it is”.
Absolutely despicable behaviour.
— Cara Hunter MLA 🕊 (@CaraHunterSDLP) July 11, 2024
Unionist leadership needs to come out strong against this nonsense and call it for what it is.
Clearly these people don't know Colum, and he won't be deterred by this backwards sectarian hatred. Solidarity. pic.twitter.com/Mn7J0qUCYu
She added that Eastwood won’t be “deterred by this backwards sectarian hatred”.
The PSNI has said it is “investigating material” place on the bonfire in the Rathcoole area, which included the threat against Colum Eastwood.
A PSNI spokesperson added that this is “being treating as a hate crime”.
The spokesperson said the PSNI will “continue to engage with partners and those who have influence in the local community in order to prevent the commission of offences and keep people safe”.
Meanwhile, a bonfire lit on Wednesday night in Moygashel, near Dungannon in Co Tyrone, was topped by a car mocked up to look like a police vehicle.
Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie described it as “absolutely disgraceful”.
An Ireland flag and a banner reading Saoirse don Phalaistín, meaning Freedom for Palestine, was also placed on the bonfire.
Close to 300 bonfires were set alight last night, including one in Craigyhill in Larne that measures over 62 metres and is said to be the world’s largest bonfire.
While most of the bonfires pass off without incident, some continue to be the source of controversy.
Last year, the PSNI received 68 reported incidents, including 21 alleged hate crimes, involving the burning of election posters or effigies, and 47 alleged hate-related incidents, including the burning of flags.
The fires are traditionally ignited on the eve of 12 July before thousands of members of the Orange Order and accompanying marching bands take to the streets at 18 locations across Northern Ireland to commemorate the Battle of the Boyne in 1690.
At the battle at the Boyne river, King William of Orange defeated Catholic King James II to secure a Protestant line of succession to the British crown.
11-12 July are among the busiest days of the year for the PSNI, who are expecting to deploy 4,000 officers and staff, about two thirds of the force, in a public safety operation.
The cost of the policing operation is expected to be about £4.5 million (€5.35m).
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This is not new news. Employees and people in cork knew that this was coming down the line for the past 18mths. I know plenty that are planning on taking redundancy and are happy to do so as they are earning decent salaries, and many have been in the job a long time and are looking forward to nice fat redundancy cheques. Good luck to them I say.
So, not necessarily hard times you say, it might well be the end of hard times.
So , if as you say ”Employees and people in cork knew that this was coming down the line for the past 18mths.”… Why did the government not ”do ” something to prevent it ,or why was it not announced before the vote last Thursday ?
I will tell you why and that is the same reason Irish Rails job losses were not announce because the government knew it would have effected the way people would have subsequently voted. The same way they announced all the new jobs , which in fairnes will probably not come to anything til 2015.
If those people, in pfizer, get a good redundancy package I would take it too and run…
Susie, please don’t ask sensible questions. The Ffg/Labour auto-bots cannot process sensible questions. Their supreme leader is infallible.
Susie read the article. The patent on one of their main drugs is running out. They can’t afford to keep producing it against rivals who will make it on the cheap. What do you want the government to do exactly ?
Susie, Lipitor came off patent here. It is no longer viable for pfizer to manufacture it, as all the generics can do it now.
This brings the cost of a medicine down, albeit at the cost of those jobs.
Pharma is a huge industry in cork, especially in little island and ringaskiddy. Experienced pharmacutical workers are in demand down here. Those workers will get reducdancy packs, and shouldn’t have much difficulty picking up a new job in one of the many other tabletting plants nearby.
What do you think the govt should “do” in this situation? To me it looks like the timeline of normal pharma business.
Hopefully a new drug will be produced at the plant between now and next year and the jobs could be saved.
Good points Susie yet again.
Vote Yes for Jobs
And a no vote would have preserved the patents on drugs produced in Ireland? This news has absolutely nothing to do with any government or EU change to the business environment in Ireland.
Oh I know that – you see before I made up my mind on which way I was going to vote. Every single job announcement on this website was followed with the Vote yes for jobs when they had nothing to do with “any government or EU change to the business environment in Ireland”, so using the same illogical logic I say “Vote Yes for Jobs” now.
Terrible news…
While I voted no this has nothing to do with treaties just as a previous poster said the patents hav run out and it’s now an open market.
It may mean that with patents expiring the price will go down thus demand may rise in areas where they previously it was not bought.
No sign of Enda Kenny or Richard Bruton! I mean Enda was first to get his face in when a whole 40 new jobs were being announce a couple of weeks ago!
What can he do that’s beyond his power
Peter, according to your logic, its OK for Enda to do photo ops when jobs are announced, and its doubly OK for Enda to scurry away into some hole when Job losses are announced. Damn the FFg/Labour auto-bots are simply sickening. Its solidarity that the people want to see, not some moron who only shows up to get his Photo in the papers and news when job announcements are made, He is a lieing, obnoxious traitor, who wouldnt debate the referendum, but is happy to be seen anywhere that makes him look ‘good’.
Cal, local TD Simon Coveney has been out today to express his regret at the job losses.
The only thing this has to do with the treaty is the timing of the announcement, like with Dublin bus. Openness and transparency alright!
Good luck to all effected.
Generic = cheaper,so every cloud eh
This was always on the cards as the life cycle of Lipitor was coming to an end and as others have said it was known 18 months ago. It is also the reason why the pharma companies are looking towards biopharma as a solution to the problem of patent expiration due to the complexities of producing generic or bio-similar drugs even if the patent has finished.
One thing the health boards can do, is to make sure that the cheaper generic medicines, which will be prescribed, are manufactured in Ireland.
A sad day
Expect more of this, alot more. To all those in the HSE wishing to push down drug prices to ridiculous levels there will be consequences to your actions. Generic substitution and more importantly reference pricing at the dispensing end in no way guarantee that the generics the government pays for are actually manufactured here, probably the contrary in fact. This doesn’t even begin to address drug “shortages” which in actuality are simply manufacturers diverting supply to more profitable larger markets than Ireland.
have your say