Eighth Days A Week

at

Saturday.

The Alexander Hotel, Dublin 2

Minister for Health Simon Harris TD at the Doctors Together For Yes National Summit ahead of the 8th Amendment Referendum on May 25.

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Saturday.

Merrion Square, Dublin 2

Thousands of supporters assemble for a rally of  Love Both Campaign which is asking people to vote No in the 8th referendum.

Rollingnews

Sponsored Link

51 thoughts on “Eighth Days A Week

  1. rotide

    Let the guesstimation of numbers commence.

    Don’t forget to savage anyone elses guesstimation

    1. Shane Duffy

      And also assume that they’re all raving mad practising Catholics, that’s always a good, misinformed, reliable one.

      1. SOQ

        All No ≠ Catholic but all Catholic = No surely? You don’t need to be ‘raving mad practising’ but, it helps.

        1. Cloud

          Absolutely not. My mother-in-law is heavily religious, and also a committed Yes voter.

    2. Cian

      Well Catholics can’t tell the difference between 3 gods and 1 god; so their numbers will be suspect.

    3. Daisy Chainsaw

      No need for a guesstimation. There was less than 2k there according to accepted methods of crowd counting. The podium was a third up the street, huge gap in front, crowd kept on the road because there was no need to spread onto the paths, balloons used in abundance to pad out the crowd too.

      All that money spent for a few hundred, eh?

      1. rotide

        In all the years of demonstrations posted on broadsheet, there has never been an accepted method of crowd counting. It is entirely dependant on whether you agree with the march or not.

        For example, as you so ably demonstrated:
        >There was less than 2k there
        >a few hundred

      2. Topsy

        Daisy. Enlighten me on ‘the accepted methods’ of counting crowds.
        You seem to have a enlightened intellectual opinion on every article posted here.

    4. ReproBertie (SCU)

      Workers Solidarity (@WSMIreland) were in Merrion Square for the counting. They reckon, being generous, 1,500 to 2,000. The LoveBoats people claim tens of thousands but they also said Noel was a nurse.

  2. mildred st. meadowlark

    I’m hoping the yanks enjoyed the fine weather for their march, and that they’ll kindly bugger off once the referendum is done.

    We don’t need their meddling here thank you.

    1. dav

      unfortunately we’ll be seeing them hanging around our maternity hospitals with their pictures and harassing pregnant women trying to access medical care.

      1. Daisy Chainsaw

        Don’t blame that solely on the Yanks. There’s a lot of Irish involvement with ICBR that the antichoice groups are trying to downplay to make it look like they’re interfering foreigners, but ICBR has been heavily linked with the PLC, styling itself as “Love Both” for SIPO purposes.

        1. dav

          it’s American tactics, though. We can expect medical staff to be threatened and abused as they do in the USA.

      1. mildred st. meadowlark

        I’m sure they’d just love it if non-Americans took it upon themselves to interfere in THEIR democratic proces…

        Hmmmm…

  3. JeRepeal

    I had one of these “save the 8th” men at my door last night telling me that a lot of women who have abortions after rape have found the abortion worse than the rape. I was so shocked by his statement I didn’t have the presence of mind to ask him, from his clearly extensive experience of such things,if the abortion was worse than carrying your rapists child for 9 months before going through the agony and trauma of childbirth.

    1. Nigel

      Feck’s sake as if any part of being raped then being forced to choose to carry the baby or terminate the pregnancy then having to go through with that choice is going to he anything other than utterly bloody awful.

      1. JeRepeal

        Yup. I had remained calm up to that point (“yes, I’m pro-life, that’s pro the life of a living breathing women. Are you telling me you know better than the college of obstetricians and gynaecologists? ) up to that point. When this came out the swearing started and the woman accompanying him suggested they leave. He told me everyone has a right to an opinion, I said they do, but the problem here was that his right to an opinion (and vote) infringes on my right to healthcare

  4. toll bridge assistant

    Vote No is going to win and it’ll be down to fund raisers on the yes side not using those funds for the campaign.

    1. Grace

      “Vote No is going to win and it’ll be down to fund raisers on the yes side not using those funds for the campaign.”

      And your source for that outlandish claim is…?

      1. toll bridge assistant

        my source is my experience as a person walking around in the world. i’ve been to fund raiser gigs, shows, quizes, i’ve donated, i’ve gotten a jumper, stickers, as have 1000s of other people. Yet the only visible thing you can see supporting ‘Yes’ out in the world is a few posters. Some of which are party posters which wouldn’t have come from the funds. There’s a lot of money to be accounted for, and with 11 days left, it doesn’t look like it’s going to be rolled out in the form of digital ads, billboards, and however else. People clearly made money off this, which is a shame, and will be an extra shame should the vote go the no direction.

        Two examples: (1) repeal jumpers. very little of that money went back in to the campaign. that was a personal project for anna cosgrave, who in turn made a lot of money which she held on to. if you look it up it doesnt say money is used for donation, it says that its to ‘raise awareness’ of the campaign to repeal.
        (2) Una Mullaly’s book. She’s never said any of that goes towards the campaign. She’s been hawking the book hard. Putting on talks on it, retweeting the life out of it and anyone who buys it. One person said 50% goes to the yes campaign.. which if is the case, is a lie, she’s still selling the book right now, and as someone who has released books in the past, she’ll probably get money for it from the publisher around November.

        that’s just two examples.
        without ‘together for yes’ there would actually be no posters up. I personally think posters dont work anyway, but at least theyre doing something, unlike others who have used the whole thing to push their own trades and profiteer from a very serious referendum, of which we will get one chance at.

        1. Frill the 8th

          Here
          Troll Bridge Ass
          you just gave examples of a pair of self employed ladies going about their own business

          were they engaged by the any of the official Repeal Groups to generate income, like say a sales rep for an insurance company?

          if they were, and they didn’t remit the funds as per a commercial engagement/ commission basis
          then you might have sum’ting

          otherwise you’re just talking bullspit
          and should apologise to Una and Anna

          to be honest I’d say most of that fundraising, quizzes n’the like, is local stuff
          getting their own vote out, outreach and advice groups etc

          if anyone is making money its the No side,
          Iona and the gangs
          with their memberships, and grants,

        2. Nigel

          You’re offering literally no proof for any of these allegations. Even in the two examples you give not only can you not show that money did not go to the campaign, you can’t show whether or not money was SUPPOSED to go to the campaign.

          1. Cian

            I have to agree slightly. I’ve no evidence – but there are fupp-all posters around my way. Together for Yes raised over €500,000 on ‘tinternet (for posters) – but I don’t see all that many.
            They are also doing a load of stickers, barges and jumpers – its a lot of cash – and I’m not seeing all that much in the way of spending.

            Even including all the other ‘Yes’ posters, on my commute there are about 4:1 No:Yes, so either the NO side are pumping 1.5-3.0 millions into posters, or Together for Yes aren’t postering my area. (granted they may be going elsewhere)

            Anyway – how about everyone counts the number of No posters they see tonight, the number of T4Y and other YEs and we’ll compare numbers – not very scientific… but worth it??

          2. Nigel

            Is that down to the way money is being spent and/or No side voters taking the posters down and/or a huge disparity in financial resources rather than some sort of vague impropriety in terms of fundraising? We raised money for sixty posters last week, which is the level the Yes campaign is working at, but if they’re put up one night and ripped down the next morning, all that money’s gone like it was never there.

          3. Cian

            I want to roll back what I said about Together for Yes.
            In the town there are a load of (new?) T4Y posters. further out none – so it may be a location thing.
            I also got home to a T4Y leaflet in the door. So my apologies to them.

        3. ReproBertie (SCU)

          “without ‘together for yes’ there would actually be no posters up”
          I pass posters by Sinn Féín, The Green Party, Rosa, Amnesty and other groups on my way to and from work so that’s clearly nonsense.

          I’ve also seen Repealers going door to door handing out leaflets and standing in the street handing out leaflets. Do you think those leaflets, being distributed nationwide, were donated to them?

          Repeal meetings, launches and road shows are covered in #TogetherForYes branding. Do you think that was all donated to them?

          1. toll bridge assistant

            ReproBertie: I said in my comment a lot of the posters are from political parties. So money raised didn’t go towards them. They were paid for by those parties. Leaflets cost very little. especially when you order thousands. Any print stuff isn’t expensive. There’s a lot of money gone unnaccounted for.

            Nigel: Yea, everytime i bring this up i get hit with “you have no proof” .. What I’m saying, is walking around, living in the world, I see hardly anything for yes campaign. The repeal jumpers site says that proceeds go to the campaign. Mullally said 50% of profits from her book go to the campaign, but she wouldn’t get paid from that until about novemeber/december.

            Frill he 8th: yes. the repeal website says proceeds go to the campaign. and Una said 50% .. fuppin hell, repeating myself over n over .. said 50% of of profits from her book go to the campaign, but she wouldn’t get paid from that until about novemeber/december.

            my point is there is little to no presence of Yes campaign other than door to door canvassing, which i think is immensely brave and honourable thing that people are doing. but If a no vote passes, will people Una and Anna regret not using the money for some digital content? billboards? I know i would.

          2. Nigel

            ‘Being out in the world’ doesn’t constitute a single iota of proof for any of the allegations or insinuations you’re making. You are certainly not in a position to state whether money has gone unaccounted for, not without access to the actual accounting. You’re also veering between accusing them of some sort of financial malfeasance with accusing them of not spending the money to your liking. Since you elected to not get involved in making decisions in the allocation of resources and campaign tactics, perhaps you should leave worrying about future regrets for other people until after there’s something to regret? As it is you’re hurling from the ditch.

          3. toll bridge assistant

            nigel. no, i do not have hard proof. but if the idea is to reach people with a message.. i am a person.. walking around in the world.. who has not been met with the message. i just think that every facet of irish life is susceptible to coruption, and that i fear even this noble cause isn’t exempt. I have donated, and I have friends who have sold their art/writings/possessions and donated it all, and i dont like to see them nobly give that money away, and not see it going to use for the campaign. i dont want to just see posters, the money raised is far more than the cost of a few posters and leaflets which cost very little. especially in bulk. i dont want this whole thing to pass by without people using every penny raised to try get yes over the line. and if that offends you or angers you then i dont care about your opinion on anything

          4. Nigel

            So you hae not been met with the message while out for walks about the exact disposition of Yes campaign finances? Maybe they should take time off from campaigning to provide you with an audit? You’ll be out for a walk and someone will run up and hand you the results or maybe perform them as an interpretive dance.

            I do love that along with all the corruption in Irish society you also have these passive agressive insinuations of corruption repeated over and over again with no real grounds for them, particularly when the grievance is as shifting and poorly defined as it is here.

          5. toll bridge assistant

            “So you hae not been met with the message while out for walks about the exact disposition of Yes campaign finances?” .. you were right up until ‘finances’ .. its really simple what im saying but you keep looking for other things. if the goal is to reach people with valubale informtaion about voting yes. now try real hard to follow me here. if that is the goal, im not seeing that message being relayed to me as i walk around like anyone else walks around. so once more from the top, i am walking around, i absorb the world around me. i happen to be voting for yes, but someone else, who does not know which way to vote, or is voting no because of misinformation, sees and doesnt see the same things i see and dont see. therefore, money is not being used to reach people as it should.

            as for the corruption part, if you don’t see how corrupt this country is and has been over the eyars then you are an absolute dullard.

          6. Nigel

            So as I said you’re conflating vague accusations about finances and funding with money not being used in ways you approve of. The possibility that the Yes campaign simply cannot match the financing of the No campaign despite selling a few jumpers and badges and have to marshal their resources sparingly doesn’t seem to have occurred to you, so you smear then with insinuations of corruption. Good one. That really helps get the message out.

          7. toll bridge assistant

            ok. still not getting it, Nigel. Posters and leaflets are cheap. “a few jumpers” was literally thousands. and it seems none of that went back in to the campaign. they simply say its to create conversation around repealing. so there ya go, making a buck off the back of an immensely important issue. 500k was raised, thats outside of what the jumpers made, and what una mullalys book will make. there is no way that was all spent on a few posters and leaflets. they arent that dear, i work in printing. i dont know why you wouldnt be inquisitive about where the money is going. sure, i dont have proof, other than i can see it hasnt been used anywhere. im not smearing the campaign, by asking to see where my and others money has gone. i want to see it used. you dont seem to mind so much, but i want all these funds used to get a yes vote secured. that is not smearing.

        4. Toe Up

          If anyone is going to have their vote swayed by the presence or not of posters, then they’d probably be better off not voting,

          1. Nigel

            I’m inclined to agree, but there seems to be a vocal contingent for whom the presence of posters is the only sure-fire guarantee of victory.

          2. SOQ

            Oh there is that word again… ‘morality’. Which infers that women who have abortions are somehow immoral of course.

            Why don’t we just lock em up in a wash house again or maybe some Irish version of The Handmaid’s Tale eh?

  5. dylad.

    I ran into a load of these no-wonks at apple green. Four bus loads of them going back to the god fearing hinterlands.

  6. Grace

    Picture one: a large group of medical professionals who deal with the horrible realities of the 8th on a regular basis.

    Picture two: a bunch of kids, old people, and shipped in Americans to swell the No side numbers.

    I know which one I would be swayed by.

Comments are closed.

Sponsored Link
Broadsheet.ie