Sinn Fein and how do they form a government dilemma

'Our' Ireland?

That sounds very like the bombast Irish people have to listen to up north.

It's 'Our' wee country.

If you are silencing people who wish to speak your own native language in their own country or supporting those who would silence, because others might be offended, then you have a problem with your own self worth.

Colonisnised peoples the world over would be familiar with this self censorship and involuntary kow towing. It takes confident movements, like Conradh na Gaeilge, to rebuild pride in who we are.

The majority of the Irish people are done apologising.

We really need to take a step back and think how it would look to the rest of the world if SF were elected into power, they have so many skeletons in their closet that international media will love when they come out and will damage Ireland's reputation long term, especially with the UK.

So many of SF's younger supporters really don't know what they have supported and been tied to in the past.

The issue here is that people like Gerry Kelly still hold very prominent positions within the party. Why Sinn Fein haven't asked him to resign from the policing board following the court's depiction of him is illustrative of the power that he holds.

There is a big question over Sinn Fein's suitability for government, this will be the problem that FF will have after the general election. The constant SLAPPs litigation is only one facet of their subversion of democracy. The governance of the party by the Army Council cabal in Belfast is another.

There will be idiots who dismiss the significance of the effect on the UK (and we can ignore them), but it isn't so much what the UK public think, but what the UK government can and will do with the information. Attracting FDI will become much more difficult under a SF government that has a bad profile internationally. Look at Greece and Syriza and the way that the economy collapsed under them.

I missed the reporting of the Lappin case when it happened.

"Six weeks ago, the High Court in Dublin dismissed a defamation action against the Sunday Life which had been taken by schoolteacher and Sinn Féin constituency organiser Liam Lappin.

Mr Lappin claimed that a photograph of him and 13 others at a Sinn Féin Christmas party — which the newspaper highlighted contained Frank McCabe, an IRA commander whose gang was implicated in the notorious murder of Paul Quinn — had defamed him, even though McCabe was circled in the photo to identify him.

The judge said the claim “stretches credulity”.

There is now a significant pattern of courts summarily dismissing SLAPPs cases taken by Sinn Fein and their members.

However, what is most worrying for the formation of government is the presence of one of the alleged killers of Paul Quinn at a Sinn Fein Christmas party. This is not something from the distant past, this is not something from the pre-ceasefire days, this is a horrific crime of which senior members of Sinn Fein have claimed a lack of knowledge.

Also, like Dowdall, the infamous SF criminal, Lappin appears to live in MLMD's constituency.

Well, that worked out well, given that Syriza is now run by a Goldman Sachs trader.

No (more pointing out the irony), but good to see the excuses are coming in early for if and when SF get into power and fluff it.

Your American corporation theories on Greece are probably best for another thread.

Unfortunately, can't read it as it's behind a paywall.

I did see that Michelle O'Neill was asked about their 3-0 defeats on libel cases and she said that it was a matter for individuals to take libel cases not Sinn Fein as a party. Four things struck me after the interview - party meetings must be awful polite as people must be in real fear of being sued for anything they say, who was the man on her shoulder making sure she said everything correctly, she didn't answer the question directly about paying for Gerry Kelly's legal bills, and finally, nobody asked her about the rumour that Gerry Kelly got a 150k bonus this year for services to the party (the last one is satire and tongue in cheek before I am sued).

That doesn't tally with the inordinate and noticeable amount of stories attacking SF. Often stories that go nowhere. Remember Regina Doherty trumpeting the 40 or more abuse cases before the last GE?

Story never went anywhere. Was Regina pursued by the media about it as she should have been? Nope.

How did Gerry get on 'trying to shut down the media'? Miserably it would seem.

Still waiting for someone to layout what they wish to do about this.

Remove everybody's right to defend themselves or just some?

Personally I will defend everyone's right to re-dress, unambiguously.

Since MoN has stated that the Gerry Kelly ruling is a personal one, I wonder how will he pay the legal costs?

No doubt some money will be 'donated' to him by someone.

Yes, SF have been at it for years now. Brave women like Mairia Cahill and Aoife Moore who speak out against Sinn Fein are subject to hate speech online, incredible misogynistic stuff, even some of it on here from the usual suspects.

quite ironic how people used to say that if, for example, gerry adams didnt want people saying he was in the ira then he could always take them to court. now when SF do take people to court, the whingefest begins

And isn't it even more enlightening that when Sinn Fein take people to court, they lose, 3-0 in recent months.

It means that if someone says that Gerry Kelly is a murdering terrorist, it isn't defamation anymore. Now if only those other cases would hurry up so we could be clear on some other things.