Bertie Ahern to address joint parliments in the UK

darkman2

OK, before I begin - if there is a thread on this ongoing elsewhere - Sorry but I have not seen it!;)


Our leader is off to Westminister on May 15 for the first ever address to Britains Parliment by an Irish Taoiseach. Amazingly this will be a hat trick for him with Paisley at the Boyne and the new assembley on the North of the Island coming up. Convieniently ahead of the election:rolleyes: .

Soooooo what do you all think? Is this the ultimate chance (in coded language of course or Bertie speak) to tell them to get stuffed;) or an orgy at Westminister after the 'love in' with Paisley? Hope they have plenty of Bass on tap;)

Any thoughts on yet another 'historic day' (its been used so often I dont know if it means anything any more:rolleyes: ) to come?

mike65

Why the fupp would Bertie tell 'them' (whoever 'they' are) to get stuffed?

Mike.

darkman2

mike65 wrote:

Why the fupp would Bertie tell 'them' (whoever 'they' are) to get stuffed?

Mike.

I never really liked the Conservatives;)

LordSutch

I personally think its a great Honour for Bertie to address both Houses in Westminster ~ coming hot on the heels of the Paisley handshake & their joint visit to the Battle of the Boyne site, this is yet another old wound healed between these Great islands of ours, and hopefully the Main Event will be the visit of QE2 to these shores in the not too distant future (maybe next year)?

murphaph

Hope he keeps the elocution lessons up. He'll love all that smoozing.

Liam Byrne

Any chance he's stop off in Manchester on the way over to get a couple more thousand quid for his back pocket ?

darkman2

So this speech is tomorrow. Anyone know what time its at? Will it be on live anywhere does anyone know? Would be interesting to see it:)

Fratton Fred

I know, he's heard about the cash for honours scandal and he's after a knighthood like Bono's.

Arise Sir Bertie:D

InFront

Will it be on live anywhere does anyone know? Would be interesting to see it

Yes it will be live on RTE Radio 1 at 1pm also shown on RTE TV according to the end of this article. It is a very symbolic day for Irish people when you think about Ireland's long and troubled history within the British legislature.

darkman2

I saw it. Very impressed with Bertie's speech for once. Looked a bit surreal seeing him there tbh.:)

One member of the UK Parliment was not there though. Lord Laird said:

"I don't attend meetings with heads of state where there are appalling human rights records."


LOL! Like communist China he is comparing us too I suppose? What planet do these guys live on?:rolleyes:

Dave!

I think that's just an excuse, he's really gone to the pub!

I didn't see it but heard bits of it on the radio. Sounded like a good speech to me! But Tony Blair and Bertie have been verbally fellating each other over the past few weeks in a bid to salvage a half decent legacy for Tony and a 3rd term for Bertrude. It's getting annoying!!!

There was a fair few references to FF's supposed Republicanism during the speech. I suppose that's just another example of FF trying to wrestle the Republican support from Sinn Féin, added to the revival of the 1916 parade, the passing references to wanting a united Ireland from various ministers. Bertie's probably hoping people will be thinking "woah, he's got some gall saying that in the middle of the British parliament! :eek:"

Still, a good occasion and seemed like a good speech! I just wish it wasn't used as fuel for the election.

Mick86

darkman2 wrote:

One member of the UK Parliment was not there though. Lord Laird said:

"I don't attend meetings with heads of state where there are appalling human rights records."

Birmingham Six, Guildford Four, anyone?:D

Who is Lord Laird? Why was Bertie invited to address the Houses of Parliament? I would have thought that an honour for a Head of State. Did anyone understand what he said? Should we care?

Dave!

Mick86 wrote:

Who is Lord Laird?

Some random Lord. It's irrelevent.

Mick86 wrote:

Why was Bertie invited to address the Houses of Parliament?

As a symbolic gesture (one of many TBH) signalling the end of the problems in NI. To draw attention to the NI Assembly coming up to Tony Blair's last days in office. To get Bertie some votes.

Mick86 wrote:

I would have thought that an honour for a Head of State.

It is. (The President is the head of state BTW)

Mick86 wrote:

Did anyone understand what he said?

ehh..... Yeah.... Oh do you mean did any of the Brits understand it? I imagine so since they manage to understand thick Scottish accents just fine.

Mick86 wrote:

Should we care?

That's up to you really... It was pretty much just a symbolic gesture but it obviously has the weight of centuries of violence behind it. Bertie was the first Taoiseach to speak to the joint houses of parliament.

gandalf

Did they have a whiparound for him after it ?

mike65

Jasus you lot! Lord Laird is er this fella.

No I have'nt a clue either!

Mike.

smashey

Lord Laird of Artigarvan. A complete w****r and bigot of the highest order.

Bertie's speech was very good and good to see him in Westminster.

InFront

I just heard parts of it on the radio, it was a very impressive speech.

Unlike the case in some other countries, where the neighbouring leaders exchange pleasantries as the respective populations still gnarl aggressively at one another, Ahern's speech was excellently delivered in that it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time.

I don't mean that in terms of the General Election, but with regard to where Ireland and the UK stand as neighbours. The mutual friendship is genuine, and this was reflected in the speech.

The politics of friendship between the two countries seems to be led by the popular mood, as opposed to the politicians trying to grapple with popular mood and lead by example - which is a far less fruitful and less natural process.
It was a very significant speech, as The Minister said is certainly one of historical significance, no doubt it will be recounted and requoted many times.

A Dub in Glasgo

Have yet to see this as it appears not to be news over here

Mick86

InFront wrote:

I just heard parts of it on the radio, it was a very impressive speech......Ahern's speech was excellently delivered in that it couldn't have come at a more appropriate time. ......It was a very significant speech, as The Minister said is certainly one of historical significance, no doubt it will be recounted and requoted many times.

Maybe he should be invited to address the Oireachtas then. He doesn't say anything impressive, excellently delivered, significant or quotable in the Dáil. When he botehrs to attend that is.

darkman2

You can watch all the speeches here:

http://www.rte.ie/news/elections2007/thehub_programmes_campaigndaily_av.html?2248125,null,230


Tony Balir's comments are interesting. There was the odd hiccup in Bertie's speech but a nice day out for him none the less:)

A Dub in Glasgo

Thanks for that

I am surprised at how good Bertie was today, I particularly liked the following

our two Island Nations, yours and mine

over 100,000 British citizens in Ireland now

Confused a few of the audience with his 'native' tongue and it sounded a bit like a mutual back scratching exercise for Blair & Bertie

Sir Oxman

smashey wrote:

Lord Laird of Artigarvan. A complete w****r and bigot of the highest order.

Bertie's speech was very good and good to see him in Westminster.

Indeed.
And a very wasteful-of-taxes-loony too.
http://atangledweb.typepad.com/weblog/2005/02/lord_lairds_ind.html

Erin Go Brath

Surprising good speech by Bertie I thought! Not usually a fan, but was impressed by the speech.

He could have spoken more of it, in fact all of in Irish though. Would be interesting to see how all the Lords would react to that

Maybe Gerry Adams will get to speak there next. That would definitely be worth paying in to see He wouldn't hold back with the cúpla focail anyway!

Heinrich

gandalf wrote:

Did they have a whiparound for him after it ?

Probably but he left the suitcase at home. Celia will go and collect it later.

Fine speech written by two script writers and only the odd stutter from the Queen of Drummer. I wonder was he wearing the l'Oreal because he is worth it?

Will Bertie be inviting Blair over to address the new Dail when he gets bac in on the landslide? After all it is "his" island not "OURS".

Only Taoiseach who had "his" own island was CJH. Now I wonder...

odonnell

Heinrich wrote:

Probably but he left the suitcase at home. Celia will go and collect it later.

Fine speech written by two script writers and only the odd stutter from the Queen of Drummer. I wonder was he wearing the l'Oreal because he is worth it?

Will Bertie be inviting Blair over to address the new Dail when he gets bac in on the landslide? After all it is "his" island not "OURS".

Only Taoiseach who had "his" own island was CJH. Now I wonder...

only if its in the next 7 weeks... otherwise itll be big gordon brown.

Heinrich

odonnell wrote:

only if its in the next 7 weeks... otherwise itll be big gordon brown.

Can't you do something?

Gordon Brown, sure he has no experience in Prime Ministership. Bring back Blair.

odonnell

Heinrich wrote:

Can't you do something?

Gordon Brown, sure he has no experience in Prime Ministership. Bring back Blair.

Theres nothing that CAN be done but on your point of experience mate - nobody has experience of being prime minister until theyre actually prime minister - gordon brown has the advantage of having been chancellor of the exchequer for the past god knows how many years and some say he was pulling the strings long before this - he'll do just fine in terms of coping with the job id say and hes a far more intelligent man than Blair by most accounts - blair being charisma, brown being the school geek, but very sharp.

Fratton Fred

Erin Go Brath wrote:

Surprising good speech by Bertie I thought! Not usually a fan, but was impressed by the speech.

He could have spoken more of it, in fact all of in Irish though. Would be interesting to see how all the Lords would react to that

If any of them actually woke up that is

Erin Go Brath wrote:

Maybe Gerry Adams will get to speak there next. That would definitely be worth paying in to see He wouldn't hold back with the cúpla focail anyway!

MPs are welcome to address the house of commons any time they like