Out Of The Mouth Of Babs

at


Tonight.

“This account was set up in February 2020 under the name of Barbara J Pym, mostly posting tweets about aspects of Irish politics.

“Many of the views expressed – such as opposition to ‘Sinn Féin pressure for a united Ireland’ are in keeping with those articulated by Eoghan Harris in his Sunday Independent column.

“Eoghan has accepted that he was one of the founders of the account. He has also stated to me that he was ‘one of a group of people that contributed to a Barbara Pym entity’.

“Having reviewed the account this week I found it frequently went far beyond what I would describe as fair and reasonable comment. Under no circumstances would such material have been published in our newspaper or on Independent.ie.

“We regard Eoghan Harris’s involvement with this account as a betrayal of trust and as such his contract has been terminated.

“Eoghan has been synonymous with the Sunday Independent for two decades and has been one of its sharpest and most distinctive opinion writers. While we have sometimes had our differences, I have also enjoyed working with one of the most unique voices in Irish public discourse.”

Alan English , editor of The Sunday Independent this evening.

Absurdly harsh.

Or not harsh enough?

YOU must decide.

Eoghan Harris dropped as Sunday Independent columnist over fake Twitter account (Independent.ie)

Meanwhile…

Update:

This morning.

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55 thoughts on “Out Of The Mouth Of Babs

  1. ce

    Can’t wait to find out who the other 19 are…

    All I can say is hahahahahahahahahaha… muppets gonna muppet

    Shinners will be delighted and on the high horse for the next few days – can we play a drinking game (soft drinks for those who do not partake) based on how many times somebody says they are ‘outraged’ by this?

  2. Kingfisher

    Seems a bit extreme to sack someone for trolling on Twitter. A slap on the wrist and a “Naughty boy! Don’t do that again!” would seem more appropriate.

    1. ce

      Working for a mostly extremely Pro FG and extremely anti-SF newspaper … what did he think would happen!

      Basically gives the Lou-natics one of their biggest “the medja’s against us” wins.

      If they kept him on, the indo – and the center and center right in Irish politics in general – would just be beaten over the head with it… and frankly the center and center right are not looking too good over the last few days… things are opening up, people might feel like taking to the streets about housing, it’s a political fiasco that’s only just at the beginning… so he had to go

      It’s not a person trolling on twitter, it’s a collection of people -one a prominent journalist and commentator – pretending to be something they are not, and if your a journalist, it’s not a good look at the moment.

      Ultimately, if you take the moral high ground you have a lot further to fall…. senior hurling and all that…

    2. Paul

      Wonder if you would take the same stance with those who troll others – including children – to the point of suicide?

  3. Diddy

    What a week for the shinners! Virtual zoom party on Friday night to celebrate. Wearing balaclavas naturally..

    1. GiggigyGoo

      I wonder if the hate speech legislation has any avenues for her the pursue him.

    2. Janet, dreams of an alternate universe

      sure what would you expect from a dog but a bark

  4. GiggigyGoo

    Goes to show you that our continental media friends won’t be happy with the standards that have been embedded in Irish media once they buy them.

    On another note – do we all now let Gene Kerrigan know what we think of his newspaper, and the one angle it took over the many years he’s been working there? We cannot in the same fashion of course, as they closed their comment section a few years ago.
    Same as he saw fit to complain about here last week? Come in Gene.

  5. GiggigyGoo

    For his employer to find out, it must have common knowledge within the newspaper as to what he was at. Would it be a surprise then, if other hacks get outed?

    1. Crumbsandbiscuits

      I don’t know if the younger journalists would be as cocky to create sock puppets. The older generation might try it, believing they’re too smart to be rumbled.

  6. DM

    Barbara J Pym logic is the start of Trump styled politic in this country, We should all disagree with members of different parties, but openly , if SF had been involved in this we would be reading the same comments from other partys.
    Politic should be about the direction of our country, not insults and underhand tactic

  7. Paul

    I am aligned to no political party, have zero time for the shenanigans of Sinn Fein, and am absolutely not a fan of Unionism either. However, it occurred to me, when I read in Eoghan Harris’ column a few weeks ago that he had been writing the same column for almost 30 years, that he was telling the truth; it’s been the same pro-unionist rhetoric, almost verbatim, week in week out, for all that time. I’m surprised that the Sindo didn’t cop on to this repetitive horse-manure years ago. Certainly, in recent times, phrases such as ‘allegedly’ ‘reputedly’ ‘as (someone) stated’ show that Harris relied more on assertions and his own twisted narrative than on cold hard facts. Good riddance.

  8. Gabby

    The true believing Stickies who stayed with 30 Gardiner Place after the Democratic Left departure will enjoy eating their breakfast eggs sunny side up this morning.

  9. Lilly

    Anyone remember when Patsy McGarry used a fake Twitter account to troll John Waters? More mischief than personal abuse as I recall.

  10. eamonn

    he didn’t see anything untoward about a little sexual Harrisment ?
    I already have my coat…

  11. GiggidyGoo

    Car crash interview by Eoghan Harris. What an utter utter prat. Outed as one of today’s biggest cowards.

  12. ce

    Harris just claimed Twitter are under pressure from SF and this led to them cancelling other accounts which Twitter claim are linked to him – although this is denied by Harris… classy stuff on Drive Time… Did I hear Sarah McInerney say “ah, would you stop Eoghan”?

    To Harris: The only thing enabling SF is the complete cluster-you-know-what that has been FF FG led governments over the last 25-30 years. Lab and the Greens have their share of blame too (the PDs are gone so can’t get much blood out of that stone)… and independents only get you so far… so not may other choices in terms of a party that could make up a significant proportion of a coalition…

    Shinners must be loving this – Harris has given them a big bag of Seagull proof chips and a 99…

    1. GiggigyGoo

      Sarah McInerney seemingly was also a victim of Harris’ twitter forays. The twitter was one of just 12 she blocked in her lifetime.

      And Harris was complimenting himself on that Twitter account regularly. Twittering in the third person. Narcissist and Gaslighting were proof positive after that interview with McInerney.

        1. GiggigyGoo

          I heard that from him in the interview. There are 9 more accounts now suspended. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if they were all his.

          1. goldenbrown

            that behaviour sound familiar? at all? to an utter dose whom up until very recently filled out column inches worth of bile on here every single day? from down Cark direction? ring any bells?

  13. Lilly

    Lots of tweets calling his Drivetime interview a car crash but I thought he did okay in the circumstances. For instance, saying Aoife Moore’s ‘SF backside was sticking out’ was not a comment on the size of her arse in my opinion.

      1. Lilly

        In what way? I don’t read his column but he came across as passionate, if misguided. Concern for the Unionist community is a fairly niche cause in west Cork, I would have thought.

        However, when Sarah McInerney tackled him about abusive tweets aimed at her, he said something like, ‘you’re well able for it,’ which struck me as off. That’s no excuse for dishing out abuse.

        Also (unrelated to the interview), he is apparently a big fan of Fionnan Sheehan, which in my view shows poor taste.

          1. Lilly

            Haha, living in harmony with the McWaffles, I hope. (Babs’ nickname for Mary Lou).

    1. goldenbrown

      disagree Lilly, he’s toast

      to my ears he completely skewered himself (and additionally whomever he’s been allegedly colluding with) and into the bargain came across as an utter bonkers raving looney

      imho a top drawer interview from Sarah McInerney this time, she played him like an expert bream fisherman

      now all I’m left wondering about is who these others are…

      1. Lilly

        Maybe. Arguably, he was skewered to begin with. He didn’t make the situation any worse. He certainly painted the arse comment in a different light. He sounded a bit short of breath; is he an ex-smoker or is he dealing with Covid, I wonder.

    2. ce

      Saying things like Twitter are under pressure from SF and this led to them cancelling other accounts which Twitter claim are linked to him – although this is denied by Harris – is unhinged… he implied similar about RTE

      Other than that it was self aggrandizing with the zeal of a convert…. which has been his political life, jumping from one thing to another and calling everything/everybody else a sham… granted he’s always hated the Shinners, so that’s the only constant…

      I do agree that the comment from the account are not ‘sexist, etc.’ Although some of them, in the context of the current Northern violence/Brexit might be construed as incendiary… and he should know better

  14. goldenbrown

    hey Bodger

    any truth in the rumour that Harris = Charger?

    asking for a friend like

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