Why won’t Sinn Fein talk to journalists?
Is that Shane Ross’s book?
In fairness, Irish print media especially has been sucking the toes off FF/FG and blackening the name of Sinn Fein at any opportunity when their electoral threat became evident.
A friend of mine, who was apolitical attended a local Sinn Fein rep’s meeting with locals in a disadvantaged Dublin suburb a decade ago to discuss a local issue. They were interrupted by an undercover journalist trying to hand the politician an envelope of cash and asked for a favour which wasn’t above board so that they could print the encounter and expose them. The politician shooed them away and claimed to my friend that it was an incessant practice from the media to try and entrap them. I highly doubt that journalists were going at FF/FG with the same vigour, or they’d be in the papers for it every second week.
Surely you’d object to anyone shunning the Gript or that other Russian funded one that prints truths about varadkar? Can’t be too careful who you talk to these days
No. Aoife Moore. Not exactly Shane Ross, is she, yet still black listed by Sinn Fein.
Sinn Fein have a lot more skeletons in the cupboard than the others. Their primary modus operandi is still to justify to the three decades long campaign of terrorism the PIRA waged, and to obfuscate about crimes that happened since the Troubles ended . When you do that, you’re entirely fair game and you can have no legitimate complaint if the media go after you. They’re right to.
No, because they’re not journalists, they’re naked propaganda organisations. Gript is Youth Defence. Cosgrave is a chaos agent for despotic regimes. They work as a cartel. The aim of both is to bring down liberal democracy.
Watch how Aoife Moore will suddenly get branded as a “West Brit” now.
This is true, especially in recent history. Let’s not forget that Fianna Fail are a breakaway group from Sinn Fein and had a lot of support within their ranks for the provisional movement, and that Fine Gael were glorified fascists in their beginnings at least. The three parties don’t come out of the history books, very clean.
Keep in mind, that the three decade long campaign of terror was an anti-colonialist uprising, with sectarian attitudes within the six counties fostering a second class citizen status to catholics when it came to work and civil rights, and faced with an often brutal militarised force doleing out ‘justice’ unhindered and without accountability. There was a lot of support for this during this period, for good reason.
Countless amount of political parties enter the mainstream around the world from the vacuum of war and oftentimes oppression, from South Africa, Nicaragua, Colombia, Palestine and so on with the blood still wet on their hands. What’s the alternative? More war? If there wasn’t a large swathe of voters who feel that they represented them, they would quickly falter and fade away. The truth is, that many people believe that the IRA and by proxy, Sinn Fein best stood up for their beliefs when no other party did and that is showing in the polls amongst the older voters, with a lot of their younger voters most likely sick of the inaction and chronically poor representation throughout the years from Labour, the Greens, FF and FG.
Absolutely, the road between the Good Friday Agreement and recent times have not been spotless, with I have no doubt some of the actions being sanctioned by the army council of which sitting parliament members of SF still occupied. The Colombia 3, the murder of Denis Donaldson and Kevin McGuigan and the Northern Bank Robbery come to mind. The transition out of the old way of working was not smooth. Then, there was the unsanctioned by former operatives, but still involved the traditional omerta which gave them an air of operating outside of the law, like the murders of Robert McCartney and Paul Quinn, as well as the money making rackets with fuel and whatever else along the border.
I agree, the media have an obligation and duty to report to their readers the unveiled truth. I suppose my point was, the national media coverage was and is definitely biased towards FF/FG and anti Sinn Fein, with perhaps Denis O Brien for a long time seeing himself as a Murdoch-esque kingmaker before his sale of Independent News & Media.
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And their record is not good. The ANC in South Africa appear to be irredeemably corrupt, so too Ortega in Nicaragua.
The deluded and genuine belief far too many people in Sinn Fein and who support Sinn Fein have is that because they’re no longer bombing and murdering, they should be treated with kids gloves.
That’s not how it works, I’m afraid.
People are entitled to believe what they want but it doesn’t mean it’s true.
John Hume and the SDLP stood up far more and achieved far more for ordinary Catholics in Northern Ireland than anybody in Sinn Fein or the PIRA ever did.
The Provos killed more Catholics than any other group in the Troubles, 338 in all. Some way to stick up for your own community.
When you think of the long running stigma (correctly) attached to the Catholic Church in this country due to historical sex abuse and mother and baby homes etc., the stench of hypocrisy from those who vilify the Catholic Church (again, correctly), yet give Sinn Fein a free pass is laughable.
On the one hand Sinn Fein love to bring up everybody else’s past but when their past and their current modus operandi - which remains the retrospective justification of a three decades long campaign of terrorism and murder - is brought up, they suddenly stonewall.
It’s not a credible modus operandi at all. It’s another version the Big Lie we see in other countries and that never ends well.
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One of Sinn Fein’s chief propaganda trolls lets the mask slip.
Sure I mean why stop with big houses. Why not bulldoze literally everything built under the British? We could bulldoze Christchurch cathedral and build the extra two bunkers Sam Stephenson wanted. It would so improve Dublin’s skyline. And the entirety of Georgian Dublin, to make way for Ballymun style blocks. They might be shite but they’d be Irish, they’d be OUR shite.
There’s a lot to be said expropriation.
Sinn Féin nearly proposed Troubles amnesty ten years ago that is identical to British government plan, Aoife Grace Moore’s book claims
Sinn Féin, in common with all Northern parties, is now vehemently opposed to the British Government’s amnesty proposals that would end Troubles-era investigations and prosecutions across the board
Former Sinn Féin chief Martin McGuinness wanted to propose a general amnesty in the North that is exactly like the UK’s legacy legislation — until blocked by Gerry Adams, a new book reveals.
Sinn Féin, in common with all Northern parties, is now vehemently opposed to the British Government’s amnesty proposals that would end Troubles-era investigations and prosecutions across the board.
The legislation is due to pass at Westminster today.
It would apply to the British Army, IRA, UDR, RUC and all Loyalist and Republican paramilitary groups.
But a new book by journalist Aoife Grace Moore, to be launched in Dublin tonight, reveals that Sinn Féin was ready to initiate such a blanket amnesty ten years ago.
In 2013, Sinn Féin organised a conference aimed at reaching out to unionists, loyalists and those whose family members had been murdered by the IRA, says Moore in The Long Game, published by Penguin.
The conference, to be held at the Europa Hotel in Belfast, included a keynote address was to be given by Martin McGuinness. The chair was Brian Rowan, formerly BBC Northern Ireland’s security correspondent. He was tipped off that McGuinness would be making a landmark speech.
Among those to attending the conference were relatives of those killed in IRA bombings, Rev Harold Good, moderator of the Methodist Church, and Matt Baggott, chief constable of the PSNI.
But Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams “was peeved as… that Martin was speaking as keynote”, the book claims, quoting an organiser.
“It had been made clear to Adams that he could not front any effort to speak to unionist people or victims of IRA violence. There was a sense that because McGuinness had admitted IRA membership and some of his crimes, he was capable of making an honest attempt at reconciliation,” the book says.
“No victim of IRA violence would be prepared to listen to anything Adams had to say on the matter, given that he couldn’t even be honest about being a member of the IRA, let alone his role in causing death and destruction.”
Party staff told McGuinness that he would have to say something new at the conference as “the same old platitudes wouldn’t cut it”. Whatever McGuinness said would have to be about the legacy of the violence.
According to the book, one adviser asked: “What would you think about saying: ‘I don’t think anyone should go to prison for any conflict-related offences, whether it’s a Brit or IRA?’ McGuinness replied: ‘Well, that is my position. Write the speech.’”
The draft speech noted the tragedy of violence on all sides and the imprint it had left on the North. “The call for a general amnesty would put all victims on a level footing. More importantly, perhaps, it would put IRA violence on an equal footing with that carried out by state forces,” Moore says.
This was despite the fact that, along with families and victims’ groups, Sinn Féin had long pushed for prosecutions of British soldiers, intelligence operatives and RUC men who had committed crimes during the Troubles.
At the time, only four British military personnel had been convicted of murder for their duties during the Troubles. Families trying to fight for justice for those killed had run up against long delays and legal obstruction.
“The speech McGuinness planned to make would involve the abandonment of those campaigns (involving killings by the British Army, UDR and RUC) in favour of an amnesty that would also apply to paramilitaries,” says Moore in ‘The Long Game.’
Four days before the event, however, as a press release went out to the newsrooms, Adams travelled north “in a fluster” to meet Republican activists, Moore claims.
“He told the group in no uncertain terms that McGuinness could not call for an amnesty.
“‘It’s not our position,’ he said. ‘We’ll be crucified by the victims’ groups.’”
According to past and present party members, Adams’ view in 2013 was that Republicans could not stomach letting British soldiers and loyalist gangs off the hook.
“‘Take that paragraph out,’ Adams said curtly. McGuinness’ eyes darted from Adams to the adviser who had written the speech, who sighed loudly. The order had come down. The paragraph was out,” the book relates.
The conference went ahead with little fanfare. The news stories of the day focused on loyalist protests outside.
When the conference came to an end, BBC man Brian Rowan approached the senior Sinn Féin member who had written McGuinness’s address.
“I thought Martin was gonna make a big speech?” Rowan asked.
“He was.”
Adams has always denied being a member of the IRA.
A spokesperson for the former Sinn Féin leader said: “The extracts of this book are filled with totally inaccurate and indeed offensive claims, including about victims’ groups and relatives, and Martin McGuinness, and Mr Adams does not intend to comment on them.
“For the record, Sinn Féin has consistently opposed an amnesty. We rejected it in 2006 when Peter Hain brought forward legislation, again at St Andrew’s and again during the Haass talks in 2013 and again throughout the latest attempt by the British Government to introduce such a measure in their latest Legacy Bill.
"This is all a matter of public record.”
The Long Game by Aoife Moore is published by Penguin
Incorrect. Provisional Sinn Féin do not have a legal connection to the Monarchist party that Arthur Griffiths founded.
As for the rest of this gibberish. This 3 decade campaign was apparently anti colonial yet here are PSF as the party now administering British Rule in Ireland, unlike the other two party’s who they accuse of being West Brits.
Support wise- bullshit. The vast majority of Catholics at the “end” of Troubles said the campaign was in no way justified. The South African comparisons are embarrassing.
As PSF figured out in the culture wars environment that we operate in that they can take competing positions and win a %.
It’s all about “moving on” when it is PIRA atrocities, not the same for British Army ones.
When PSF themselves bring up some moronic coward who managed to blow himself up trying to blow up a fish and chip shop, they use it as an opportunity to line their whole campaign up to the War of Independence.
As I’ve always said, PSF’s number one goal of the peace process and politics is not a United Ireland. It was about getting a pension for the tired and ageing volunteers and their actions since have been mostly about normalising their campaign so they can go to their graves with a bit less self loathing.
The SDLP are calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador. Sinn Fein is not.
Donegal is the Tora Bora of SinnFeinWorld.
WED, 08 NOV, 2023 - 14:54
PAUL HOSFORD POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT
Legal action by a TD against a journalist is “frightening” and “wrong”, the Taoiseach has told the Dáil.
Leo Varadkar was speaking after it emerged Sinn Féin TD Chris Andrews is suing both The Irish Times and its Political Correspondent Harry McGee personally over an article published last month.
The article in question included comments made by Mr Andrews on social media about the events in Israel, including his responses to a post on X, formerly Twitter, by Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission.
In the Dáil on Wednesday, Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns raised the issue of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPS). She said that those with “deep pockets can shut down debate and silence public interest journalism”.
“As you know these lawsuits involve public figures, powerful individuals, or rich corporations taking vexatious cases against media, activists, or indeed members of the public in an effort to muzzle their critics.”
In response, Mr Varadkar said that “people are entitled to sue the media if they so wish, but they don’t have to."
“There are other ways to seek redress and one is a complaint to the Press Council and I think that’s the appropriate course that people should follow and to see a member of this House, not just suing a major newspaper but also personally suing a journalist, that’s only designed to do one thing — it’s designed to make journalists afraid, it’s designed to make them think twice about what they write, and I think it’s wrong.
“There’s other ways to get redress and get corrections and clarifications and at the very least, the first step should be the Press Council and not suing a news organisation, particularly not suing a journalist individually, I think that is frightening actually.”
Mr Varadkar told Ms Cairns that Justice Minister Helen McEntee is working on heads of a bill that would reform Ireland’s defamation legislation, which he hoped would be enacted in the new year.
Varadkar/Martin terrified that the Irish Times and the Irish Independent take a step back in being biased mouthpieces for them. If the shoe was ever on the other foot, which it hasn’t been, I’m sure they’d be fairly quick to consider legal action themselves. Irish print media have blatantly and relentlessly vilified Sinn Fein since it’s most recent foray into southern politics, much to the delight of FF/FG as they’d all probably be back in their primary school teaching roles if we hadn’t a dysfunctional and biased media shooting the lights out on the opposition.
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