Presidential Election 2025

Surely though, there are so few left in the Labour Party from 2006 that they would prefer to be associated with winning that they would not care.

Gilmore is a property developer now.

Bacik was not even a member.

Apologies, I only recall seeing Bacik guzzling champagne around elites and appearing on RTÉ clueless about some item or other, before she became leader ( and apparently a "Socialist" in Dublin Bay).

Ivana Bacik was a well respected academic and barrister and was Reid Professor of Criminal Law in Trinity, the same role that was previously held by both Mary McAleese and Mary Robinson.

You can disagree with her politics all you want, but to describe her as clueless is fundamentally wrong and unfair.

And just because somebody has earned money in their career doesn't mean they can't be a socialist any more.

This is what she said in the Dáil in 2017.
Now if you can show me that her concern was not ultimately for those suffering, work away.

I am not here to defend the Assad regime. I have read the Amnesty International reports. The most appalling war crimes have been carried out by the Syrian Government and ISIS but also by US-led forces. The latter have been cited by Amnesty in regard to the killing of hundreds of civilians. Ultimately, Bashar al-Assad is more firmly in place than he has ever been. We have trotted out the figures here tonight. Some 4.8 million people have fled. Some 6.6 million are internally displaced. Significantly, half of the 6.6 million are children. Some 300,000 are dead and millions have been injured and maimed.

Give me somebody brave enough to call out all concerned everyday of the week, rather than someone who takes a side for fear of offending or retaliation from one of those sides.
Like our own conflict/war there is a hierarchy of blame, but all sides in those conflicts/wars have a share of the blame.

Simon Coveney played it well I thought.

Anyone who says holding the Irish line throughout Brexit, and keep the big European powers on our side, was an easy job, knows NOTHING.

As an achievement, it was nothing less than the most successful bit of statecraft and diplomacy by a small country anywhere in the world in the post-war era.

Especially after our financial and structural collapse of 2008-11.

In retrospect, it verged on the miraculous.

It was relatively easy because it was right.

Plenty of pressure, but saying the 'right' thing was easy.

So Bacik was a barrister and lecturer - well-moneyed spoofer jobs, she has never contributed anything to make Ireland or Irish people better.

The Missions are always looking for volunteers.

Ivory tower stuff.

Everyone I have heard has including the atrocities carried out by Hamas. Including the government in fairness.
What will help that situation is not for discussion here as it is off topic.

Take a side? Exactly. And why not? Yes, we're well aware of the fact that in our human world there are no cases of angels versus devils because every person is fallible. But the fact is that in many cases, there are clear cases of right versus wrong and, if not good versus bad, clear cases of bad versus better. The fact that sometimes the best of people also commit crimes doesn't change that one whit. Equivocating and both-siding and throwing shade on the party that has right on its side is equivalent to giving succour to some very bad people. The Syrian Democratic forces and the Kurds were the least guilty of war crimes of anybody-Assad, Russians, IS, Turks- involved in this struggle and I suspect that certain people would be happy to support them without reservations in other circumstances if not for the fact they commited the dreadful error and crime of cooperating with US and accepting US aid.Let's run this weasel-worded statement again using some other examples to see how it sounds….

"I am not here to defend the Nationalist rebels. I have read the Amnesty report. The most appalling war crimes have been carried out by the Nationalist forces and the Anarchists but also by Soviet-supported forces. The latter have been cited by Amnesty in regard to the killing of hundreds of civilians. Ultimately, Franco is more firmly in place than he has ever been. We have trotted out the figures here tonight. Some half a million people have fled. Some 200 000 are internally displaced. Significantly, half of the refugees are children. Some 500,000 are dead and millions have been injured and maimed."

"I am not here to defend the Nazi regime. I have read the Amnesty International reports. The most appalling war crimes have been carried out by the German Government but also by US and Allied forces. The latter have been cited by Amnesty in regard to the killing of thousands of civilians. Ultimately, Hitler is more firmly in place than he has ever been. We have trotted out the figures here tonight. etc etc etc."

"I am not here to defend the Confederate regime. I have read the Amnesty International reports. The most appalling war crimes have been carried out by the Confederate armies and irregular forces but also by the Union forces. The latter have been cited by Amnesty in regard to the destruction of the homes of hundreds of civilians. Ultimately, Jefferson Davis is more firmly in place than he has ever been. We have trotted out the figures here tonight. etc etc "

"I am not here to defend the Hutu regime. I have read the Amnesty International reports. The most appalling war crimes have been carried out by the Interhamwe but also by Tutsi rebel forces. The latter have been cited by Amnesty in regard to the killing of hundreds of civilians. Ultimately, the Hutu regime is more firmly in place than it has ever been. We have trotted out the figures here tonight. Some 2 million people have fled…. Some 900 000 are dead… etc etc ". I could come up with other examples very easily.

So when Connolly was in Syria this was the kind of people she was legitimising.

Claire Daly who Connolly supports wanted to give them a visa.

"The Irish tour group was also shown around Aleppo by the pro-Assad commentator Fares Al-Shehabi, who was described as the head of the city’s chamber of commerce. Al-Shehabi, who appears in photos with Connolly, had been put under sanctions by the EU for supporting the Assad regime. The year before the Irish delegation’s visit, he posted on social media that a seven-year-old who said Assad was committing a Holocaust should die. He would later go on to say that anti-Assad journalists should be raped."

This is not the conduct of a person concerned for the victims.

https://www.thejournal.ie/factfind-catherine-connollys-visit-to-syria-with-clare-daly-and-mick-wallace-6764427-Jul2025/

And when she came back she condemned what she saw.

'All' of what she saw.

Where is her condemnation of Fares Al-Shehabi?

She did the usual weasel words both sides cop out.

The Assad regime wanted the sanctions lifted, she was shown around by their stooges and puppets and she came back and was their useful idiot.

What she saw was stage managed by the regime and she went along with it.