With the leader of the main Unionist party applauding speeches calling the GFA 'iniquitous' and 'deceit' are the upcoming elections a test for the seminal agreement?
It's hard to know what will happen if the DUP manage to get their vote out and maintain the majority vote.
the weasel
If anyone called MoN or MLMD a "weasel", you would be straight to the mods complaining, or making a big thing about it for weeks, probably with someone else alongside claiming it was misogynistic.
Where is your proof that he hasn't congratulated her? Maybe he congratulated her in an interview you didn't hear? Maybe he is waiting for her to be actually elected First Minister before congratulating her? You have acted as judge and jury in declaring him a "weasel" without any evidence at all. Where are your standards of demanding proof?
As usual, you have made a complete fool of yourself by pretending to have standards, pretending to give people the benefit of the doubt. It is low-level debating, pretty pathetic.
I heard on radio yesterday morning that Arlene Foster and someone else (i think from Wales) congratulated Michele... MM was aguest on the prog and no mention of him... Also interesting talk of Joe Biden visit in October... isn't the timing of that interesting... GFA 2 ??...
Wilfully misunderstanding the distinction between the duties of a head of government and political party rivalry.
Anyone can see what you are doing.
P.S. Michael was tripping over himself to congratulate US president ‘elect’.
It was clear to everyone what she had achieved and the weasel couldn’t even mention her name.
In the extract I posted from the Dail election of Micheal Martin as Taoiseach, your dear and great leader Mary-Lou barely wasted any breath congratulating him before lambasting and excorciating him. By her standards, I have been generous and magnaminous.
However, and this is something you have missed, Michelle is not First Minister yet. If and when she assumes that position, I am quite sure that Martin will congratulate her, and will certainly not indulge in the low-life tactics practiced by Mary-Lou when he was elected Taoiseach.
Look, congratulating and then spending your time trying to diminish what it was you congratulated them for speaks for itself.
Michael Martin as Minister for FA congratulated both Ian Paisley and MMcG on becoming First Ministers. He couldn't even bring himself to mention her name when speaking about events in the north. An insult to the vast majority of Irish people who chose her.
Weasels.
Both points are factually inaccurate.
(1) I congratulated Sinn Fein on their electoral success in my first post since the result on this thread, I think. That I have criticised them since is no different to Sinn Fein's own behaviour in the Dail. Your hypocrisy on that is blatant.
(2) I am critical of the government when they deserve it. For example, I have recently been very critical of the government for not moving faster to reform the defamation laws to prevent SLAPPs actions by prominent public figures. I have seen you give them a free pass for this.
(3) Given that you describe the Northern Assembly as a talking shop without powers (well, you did, to explain away the horrific Covid figures and the lack of action by SF on Covid), it hardly is anything much. Or have you once again changed with the wind like Sinn Fein, and now that they are in charge, Stormont is the most important parliament of all time. Get over yourself. Your adoration at the altar of Sinn Fein blinds you to everything. Nobody bothered congratulating Ian Paisley or Peter Robinson, it is only the victim-shrouded Sinn Fein who need that security blanket.
You have been flat out with negativity about the shinners since the result. As expected, no surprise there.
As usual you cannot being yourself to be critical of the government. As expected, no surprise there.
This, as has been pointed out by others, is not a normal event. It's just another sign of the fear and mealymouthedness of the power swap. No biggie, that is to be expected also.
QED what? I have already congratulated them.
The crying and whinging over the lack of congratulations is pathetic, and I have called that out. I have also shown that Sinn Fein are not quick to congratulate, in fact the opposite, they get the kick in ASAP. Get over yourself, Francie, this is a normal change in a democracy,
QED
The poor victims of Sinn Fein, nobody wants to congratulate them, the poor dears, hope they are not too upset.
Eh, the north still doesn't have a nationalist/republican majority party, it is just the biggest of a lot of minority parties.
You clearly don't understand the GFA which was literally designed and set up to ensure that it was possible to have a nationalist/republican take the post if First Minister, it was part of the price for the indefinite postponement of a united Ireland.
Yet most people in the North seem happy with the status quo. Hence a UI wont get over the line.
Them the facts.
One suspects it sticks in the craw of the power swap to give any credit or congratulations because the people there might vote for the Shinners.
As was the combined vote share of FF and FG in the southern election in 2020.
Both points equally irrelevant to my post about the north being set up, literally to prevent happening, what has just happened.
Nationalist vote is actually down since last time though.
The north of the island, a partitioned state, literally designed and set up to ensure it would never have a nationalist/republican majority party, returned something that was supposed to never happen. A republican party with the highest number of seats.
FF and FG entering coalition together doesn't even come close to what happened in the north.
'Head of the Government of the Irish people' who reached a fairly historic (in the opinion of most of the world) point in their history.
Mealy mouthed bitterness of the kind displayed here and in Unionist circles.
I will comment that it shows a huge level of insecurity on Sinn Fein's part to be craving that kind of recognition from Micheal Martin.
Mary Lou is NOT and was NOT the head of government.
Again, that you misunderstand the difference is either willful or your standard handwaving away defensiveness.
FF and FG entering coalition was a moment in history of this island for people who designate as Irish citizens. I showed you Mary-Lou's words on that, do you want something similar for Michelle?
This crying and whinging about being congratulated is further signs of the victim mentality that pervades Sinn Fein, always someone else to blame for something.
It's slightly more than just congratulating First Ministers.
This is a moment in the history of this island for people who designate as Irish citizens.
If they hadn't decamped en-masse to try and bolster a political party there, it might be possible to see it as something other than mealy mouthed partisanship and bitterness.
This is not how the Protocol works though — it does not cover services, only goods. NI’s relationship with the rest of the EU as regards services is governed by the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, so in other words the exact same terms as the rest of the UK. The Protocol does nothing that would facilitate a Belfast version of the IFSC.
We really have to get it into our heads that the Protocol is designed and viewed by both the UK and the EU as a compromise to mitigate the particularly damaging effects of Brexit for NI. That is its purpose and nothing more. It is not an arrangement which is designed to be an economic development policy for NI under which the two key parties (Brussels and Westminster — not NI itself) will strive to boost NI’s offering to the world.
I support the Protocol because it is the only logical way forward in reconciling the Brexiteer’s demands with the protection of Ireland. I support all the parties working together constructively to ensure that it works to the optimum level, but we have to be realistic about what the Protocol is designed to do and what the UK and EU will tolerate from it.
They say give them the rope they hang themselves... i am not really political but i love a good yarn...
Yeah, and I know lots of people in the north viewed it that way too, that they weren't actually campaigning on behalf of SDLP, they were merely trying to sway votes away from Sinn Fein.
Next time, maybe if they want to split the vote they'll consider running candidates themselves. I believe they got their answer regardless.
Basically it seems that our politicians did not want SF to have first minister... well they have despite their foolish efforts...
I heard comments just yesterday about politics in NI from MM... thats what i was talking about...
It's all a load of rubbish, there's an industry in political bigotry up there. Alot of money to be made from trying to get one up/not backing down from the other side.
Always amazed me why the hard-line unionists don't campaign for a border poll as well, as much as a vote on a UI, it's a vote on staying in UK aswell, a vote they would comfortably win too. So why not call the bluff and put it to bed?
Because it's better to keep their usual voter base uninformed, if people are no longer afraid then they are no use to them, their no surrender rhetoric becomes redundant.
In the year 2022, how in the name of Christ are Sinn Fein and the DUP still the main vote getters in the country? It's a sad indictment on the general electorate. You would have thought the majority care about issues rather than identity at this stage and even a woefully functioning SDLP/Alliance/UUP (seemingly the most moderate of unionists) would seize control to ensure society functions.
Maybe you can point to effusive congratulations of Ian Paisley and Peter Robinson in contrast.
Wow, how to totally misunderstand the difference between the role of a government and political party rivalry.
I would think that they would be waiting for it to formally happen. If I recall correctly, here is Mary-Lou when Micheal Martin became Taoiseach:
"The century-old impulse to grab power, to maintain the old political order, to push back against the instinct and energy for change so powerfully demonstrated at the ballot box, drew Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael together. The truth is they have coalesced and colluded in frustrating the voice of change. A Cheann Comhairle, excluding the representatives of more than half a million citizens is nothing to be proud of in my book. I do not think it is something any democrat should boast about. Indeed, succeeding in stalling or stopping necessary change is really no success at all. It is the mark of narrow, failed politics of the past.
That narrow kind of thinking is reflected in the unambitious programme for Government. This will be a Government of more of the same. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael in government is no historical departure. However, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael forced into a loveless embrace by the hopeful vote of the people; that now is the historical point of departure for their Government."
Are you looking for similar praise for Michelle?
As usual, the protestations of the victim culture of Sinn Fein are easily exposed.
Fine Gael, Fianna Fail, and Labour representatives out canvassing on the streets in the north trying to split the nationalist vote.
That's a long way off commenting on what's going on in a different country. Eastwood was an idiot for allowing them to "help".
