59 thoughts on “De Friday Papers

  1. GiggidyGoo

    By the sounds of it, the proposed backstop will be removed from the proposed agreement. Leo and the lads starting to start ploughing rough.
    Varadkar has had a whole years training in ploughing. Here he is at last years championships. https://www.alamy.com/an-taoiseach-leo-varadkar-takes-the-reins-as-he-tries-his-hand-at-ploughing-during-a-visit-to-the-irish-2018-national-ploughing-championship-in-tullamore-co-offaly-ireland-image219831704.html
    He must like ploughing, as he did the same photo shoot, furrow by furrow this year. You’d miss the back room boys to come up with new ideas for photo shoots though.

    1. MaryLou's ArmaLite

      By the sounds out of it the backstop will be removed if the UK propose solutions or alternatives that negate the necessity for the backstop.

    2. eoin

      On Monday this weej, Jean Claude Juncker said he didn’t have “an emotional relationship” with the backstop in the draft Withdrawal Agreement. Yesterday he said he didn’t have “an erotic relationship” with the backstop.
      Does Jean Claude get progressively sozzled as the week progresses. What will he be like on Saturday night?

  2. eoin

    What a complete poo-hole, the medieval Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. According to the FT front page above “Many of the families targeted [to buy shares in Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, Aramco] had members previously imprisoned in Riyadh’s Ritz-Carlton hotel in 2017 and 2018, in what the government billed as a crackdown on corruption. Some of the detainees said they were tortured, according to people aware of the matter. Most were later freed after they reached financial settlements with the state.”

    Here’s a question for you. Will any of the €14bn Apple escrow account be invested in Aramco? Maybe someone should ask Goldman Sachs which is expected to be one of the lead investors when Aramco floats.

    1. MaryLou's ArmaLite

      That would depend on whether the administrators of the accounts are allowed to invest the money or if it must remain in the accounts.

      But you already knew that, you just wanted to fling some filth around

  3. eoin

    The Irish Times has new deets about the attack on the Quinn employee

    “The dozen-strong gang had prepared a horsebox as a mobile torture chamber before the attack. Some of the 50-year-old’s fingernails were pulled out during the assault, his face and neck were slashed with a Stanley knife and his right leg was badly broken twice below the knee.”

    I don’t think Sean Quinn is going to be very happy with reporting on RTE. It was alleged on RTE that Sean Quinn made “defamatory statements” about Kevin Lunney at a rally. I really don’t think Sean will be happy with that allegation at all.

          1. Catherine costelloe

            Apologies for late reply . No – Mr Quinn was reported to have been dismissed as a consultant after two years and was very annoyed. He was apparently interfering too much in how company was run. But it was very profitable with profits of 10 million. Mr Quinn apparently then had a meeting of 500 and vowed to get the company back. (Reported by Ian Kehoe).

          2. B9 Again FTW

            I know Catherine I saw that myself
            I’d really like to hear audio or see video of the event that Kehoe referred to.

  4. eoin

    They haven’t gone away you know. The BelTel reports today.

    “In his wide-ranging memoirs, he [David Cameron] recalled how during negotiations in Belfast [in 2014], which eventually led to the formation of the Stormont House Agreement, “a group of men turned up in the middle of the night”. “They blew in talking loudly, wearing football scarves and leather jackets, and disappeared upstairs,” he said. When he asked who they were, he was told, ‘Ah, that’ll be the IRA to give their view on the deal’. Mr Cameron wrote: “Everyone else seemed to be willing to accept this, and so was I if it meant peace and progress.”

    Of course, it was October 2015 when the PSNI said the IRA Army Council was still intact, though it was completely focussed on peaceful action.”The police assessment is the Provisional IRA remains committed to politics and is not engaged in terrorism”. A joint PSNI report stated ““PIRA members believe that the PAC [army council] oversees both PIRA and Sinn Féin with an overarching strategy.””

    It was July 2019, two months ago, when Doug Beatty of the UUP states he was given a similar up-to-date assessment by the PSNI in a meeting attended by four other UUP politicians.

    Any comment Mary Lou, or do you need to ring a number in west Belfast before you can say anything?

    1. italia'90

      Cameron’s wide ranging memoirs must be a hoot to read.
      That’s not how it happened at all.
      He’s after supplanting himself into a scenario which happened many years before he was even elected.

      For those that didn’t know, negotiations, proposals and conditions between the IRA/UVF for the eventual peace agreement were conducted in Windsor Park during Lingfield games.
      Hence the leather jackets and football scarves comment.
      What an absolute porkie pie spewing pork screwing waste of sperm.

      1. V

        This

        And even today
        Lads from Casement Park to Windsor Park would easily confirm
        This is how those early temporary ceasefires ie. Christmas break etc, were shook on
        They’d even agree who’s turn it was to make the coded announcement

        1. italia'90

          I only heard about the negotiations in Windsor Park and Cliftonville.
          I was under the impression the loyalists refused to meet in Andytown due to obvious security reasons and history in the vascinity of Casement Park?

          The topics the UVF were hung up on were surprising ones.
          One was H&W, jobs there and future contracts.
          The negotiator who gave me the limited information thought these lads were in cloud cuckooland but he humoured them all the same.
          That lead me to inquire about possible sphere’s of influence agreements that I hadn’t considered before.
          Without answering my questions directly, he confirmed a couple of suspicions I had about the economic factors involved and few more besides. Unbelievable amounts of bureaucratic fraud at all levels. Years later now, we’ve all seen some examples hit the news headlines. But not the biggest ones. They would bring the whole lot down and the contagion would spread to Dublin and London.
          The issues behind Stormont’s current impasse are not what are being reported in MSM. Surprise! Surprise!

        2. martco

          I’m off sick today dose of the manflu fs

          anyway

          in line with this type of poohawkery in general can I highly recommend a little movie called “In The Loop” just watched for 1st time now on the iplayer – Iannucci – well worth a watch

  5. eoin

    The cheek of Leo, “the Taoiseach will open Ireland’s Digital Summit 2019” just days after the long-delayed publication of the report which states his government has conducted illegal mass surveillance on citizens.

  6. eoin

    Despite there being beef protests and pickets outside at least 20 beef processing plants around the country, the news has completely disappeared from RTE. Don’t give them the oxygen of publicity, eh RTE. Even though the core grievance hasn’t been addressed, there is immense pressure for farmers to lift blockades so the cartel [“cartel-like” say the Shinners carefully] of billionaire processors can add to their wealth while farmers are forced to sell below cost.

    This is what the beef processors are up against. This is how deep the cartel go in Irish society.

    1. B9 Again FTW

      Total gibberish as usual

      Central bank figures show beef farming makes no profit in Ireland or the U.K. and most farmers live off the welfare cheques. Mercosur won’t make any difference.
      Why should we all subsidize a loss making unfairly regulated industry that literally destroys the planet?

    2. Pip

      But why are the farmers’ other payments never mentioned?
      It’s like talking about your base income without disclosing any allowances, expenses and overtime.

    3. eoin

      Four out of “dozens” of blockades at the cartel of billionaire meat processors have stood down according to RTE’s Midlands correspondent this lunchtime, but that’s it. Contrast that reporting with the Agriculture correspondent, Fran McNulty who has disappeared from RTE’s screens or perhaps has been stood down, today. Fran McNulty was “feeling” things, referring to those leaving pickets as “moderates” and was just propagandising for the cartel.

  7. some old queen

    So Johnson says he will defy the supreme court and not recall parliament even if ruled to do so. At which point the speaker of HP and Lords can order it instead- but what happens then? The HP is recalled but the government refuse to attend?

    If they rule that he lied to the Queen- how on earth can he continue?

    1. Cian

      If the HP is recalled and the government MPs refuse to attend… surely the opposition are free to pass any legislation they choose.

      1. V

        They could
        But through this whole thing I’ve been wondering and trying to figure out why the Lib Dems haven’t done more for themselves out’ve it

        They’ve had a whole Summer of opportunity to exploit
        And expand

        So I can’t see them having the balls to grap the reins here either

      2. bisted

        …I wish I’d been able to get odds from a bookie years ago that Art50 would be revoked and whose name would be on the revoke letter to the EU…my money then, as now, would be on John Bercow…

          1. B9 Again FTW

            Thanks Cian
            I can’t see that
            AFAIK the Queen has to formally approve a re-opening of a parliamentary session, I can’t see her doing that if there’s only a handful of MPs

    1. Rob_G

      I have never heard of a far-right group in Ireland that could pose any kind of a credible threat.

      Whereas elected representatives from far-left groups have been arrested with machine guns in the boot of their car…

  8. some old queen

    I don’t know if anyone else is following the Oughterard Says No To Inhumane DP Centres‏ @OughterardC twitter account but it is very informative as to what is happening there. They are getting great coverage in the local media and despite claims from the far right- the community really is taking control of their own message.

    It appears that along with Social Dems, SF are now also on board- and whatever legitimate criticisms could be made of SF- racism is not one of them.

      1. some old queen

        OK well I said legitimate criticisms of SF not legitimate concerns of the Oughterard community but anyways- it is that the scale of this center (300 people) is not suitable for a community of that size- and that the facilities (GP, the Gardaí, schools etc) are nowhere near sufficient.

        One thing I have noticed is that the right, left and Oughterard have the same criticisms- that the DOJ are acting in a very secretive and underhand manner and that the hotel owners are gouging it for all they can get.

        It is more than a little dis-ingenious of Leo to say that the plans have not been fleshed out when this hotel owner has clearly been given the go ahead- otherwise he or she is spending a shed load of money for nothing- which is highly unlikely.

        Where has this 300 figure come from anyways?

        1. B9 Com From No

          Well you said it the other day, I didn’t see your reply so sorry if you did.

          Can you blame the DOJ for being secretive? Any time they want to open one of these places it gets burned. I saw a show last week where they interviewed people in Wicklow town who similarly had been “apprehensive” etc. when folks moved into the Grand Hotel. They couldn’t find one person in the vox pop who had a bad word to say about it now.

          These people have to live somewhere. A hotel is a lot better than the shoebox in Athlone DPC.

          1. some old queen

            Yes I blame the DOJ- if they are going to imprison people in a place like that the I blame them 100%. IMO the Oughterard community’s concerns are common sense because the facilities are not in place and the government has no intention of putting them in please either- so something has to give.

            And no, it is not all a bed of roses when the asylum seekers arrive- I know someone who lives beside one very similar- 1 KM out of town along a country road- the community are appalled at how those people are being treated because the hotel owner seems to be able to do whatever the hell he likes.

            They are being treated no better than animals- disgusting.

          2. B9 Again FTW

            soq

            You don’t really address my point

            Either these folks are able to stay in a hotel and wander around a town taking full part in activity as they now do in Wicklow, or they’re in “prison”
            Which is it?

          1. some old queen

            On this point I agree with the right- there is big money being made. And, a full house of residents who out of fear can’t or won’t complain- win win- it is still despicable.

    1. tim

      Its a case of dumping a whole community in the middle of nowhere

      As we must take our fair shares these people are not live stock

      Could it be a case of out of sight out of sight as racism is growing every day as city types vent their prejudices on refugees that are isolated and who have escaped regimes that are vile by nature

      The facilities are in the cities not in bally go backwards

  9. GiggidyGoo

    I see FGs Jim ‘Jump-the-queue’ Daly has got the message and won’t be running for election next time round. So many successes, he will be sorely missed.

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