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Sinn Féin has come within touching distance of polling the most first preference votes in the Northern Ireland Assembly election.
The Democratic Unionists maintained the top spot, despite their vote share falling as the Sinn Féin share surged.
The DUP notched 225,413 first preferences, down 1.11 percentage points on last year, to Sinn Féin’s 224,245 – an increase of 3.89 percentage points.
In terms of the overall picture, the DUP secured 28.06% of first preferences to Sinn Féin’s 27.91%.
The final break-down of seats may not be as close, as results in the proportional representation contest rely on transfers from other parties, but the republicans were nevertheless buoyed by the result.
FIGHT!
Live A third of seats filled in Northern Ireland election (RTÉ)
Earlier: Could Be A First
Illustration: BBC
Update:
There you go now.
Severed Connections
All those bones.
All those bodies.
All those secrets.
And where are the daddies?
Who split the thighs,
spilt the seed
who hid and ran
still running
as the missus carries the load.
Where are those daddies?
Those fine upstanding pillars.
Come from good stock.
Respectable families.
Well known. Well regarded.
Where daddy and grand daddy
split thighs and spilt seeds.
Where do they go to my lovies?
Underground?
Overground?
Flight of the fucking pillars.
And you – Mother Ireland – believe
those days are gone.
What of the bent and twisted spines,
crushed livers, spleens and ribcages.
Flooded lungs drowning day by day.
Your children.
Ireland’s vision of the best place for children in the world.
And still you line your pockets, your coffers,
while the crush goes on.
Rotten mouths and crumbling teeth.
Dentists on their knees upon a
suppliant child while doctor takes pliers
and pulls, tugs, the sawing of tender gums
and bone until the socket lets go with a wet
suckling.
The clink as it lands in the stainless steel bowl.
This year’s allotment funded. The one beside
must wait – give the toxins time to rot gum, tooth and bone.
No matter the pain.
And still Vera walks. arthritic knees, tonsillitis,
driving March rains, sleet and dank cold.
260km, a second time.
Cork to Dublin.
To fling herself prostrate at the Dail
Masters’ feet
who’d wish you gave them more time.
Time your wee ones don’t have.
Time that no one gave the bones
and bone-dust settled on the Tuam grasses,
where wildflowers refuse to grow.
And Ireland, Mother Fucking Ireland –
your people wail, rage and still you line your
pockets, your coffers.
While your people sleep the streets,
the alleyways,
tent cities and cardboard mattresses.
Just a space to call home.
And Maurice who was good, of fine standing and
integrity you bent and bowed
and urged him break
And his wife
His children
You whipped over and over
And still he did not break
Yet still you pushed your lies home.
And the people who flee these shores
don’t only abandon country and kin –
with suicide the only other option –
They leave in droves, and sure why
wouldn’t they?
There is nothing here but rank waste.
And the good ones?
The thousands, millions who stay
because they believe in
Mother Fucking Ireland?
It’s time – time to untie these binds.
Mari Maxwell
Mari writes:
I wrote this in reaction to today’s Commission report on the Tuam burial site
Illustration: ‘800’ by Annie West
Earlier: Our Worst Fears
Never mind.
Yay!
A warm and loving thank you to, clockwise from top left: Neil Curran, Olga Cronin, Caroline McEvoy, Mike McGrath Bryan, Johnny Keenan and Conor McKeogh. – last night’s panel on Broadsheet on the Telly,
You can watch the show in its entirety above.
Subjects tackled included cannabis, Noonan, Irexit and giving up soft drinks for Lent.
Please leave any thoughts on improving the show below.
If you would like to take part in future shows please send a short bio to broadsheet@broadsheet.ie marked ‘Broadsheet on the Telly. All ages, politics, etc.
Dublin Digital Radio continues to innovate on their self-created online airwaves, playing host to dozens of new shows from all over the country. It’s a big weekend for the station, with more shows debuting.
Collective member Aoife Davis writes:
Heading into March, we’ve got an even wider selection of shows at Dublin Digital Radio, with newcomers joining to airwaves weekly, including “Morning Gardening with Jenn“, “Digital Garden” and “Little L Records”.
Our highlights of the week include Gash Collective’s ELLLL, bringing you a selection of witch house, noise and left field bass, Sonntags Radio’s upbeat disco, house and funk and ambient, down tempo and soulful sounds from Underneath the Orange Tree, with James Rogers and Ruaidhri Finnegan.
This weekend is shaping up to be an exciting one, welcoming new show “Beautiful Swimmers” on Saturday at 7pm, while also looking out for Repeater with Eomac and our regular, Eoin Ryan with Shivers Radio on Sunday.
This Wednesday, the station will also be running twenty-four hours of female voices for International Women’s Day, in solidarity with Strike4Repeal.
Writes Cathy Flynn:
The aim of 24 Hours of Women’s Voices is to make you feel inspired and excited this International Women’s Day/Strike4Repeal Day. We want to be the soundtrack to your day, whether you are at home, in work, or out on the streets. If you cannot strike and want to feel like you are part of the day, stick on Dublin Digital Radio, and feel the Girl Power through the air waves. Also, women’s voices make up only about 28% of broadcasting on Irish airwaves. 24 Hours of Women’s Voices is an example of the breadth of female creativity there is out there. We are taking this opportunity to have one day of 100% women’s voices!
Every Friday, we offer a chance to win a Golden Discs voucher worth 25 big ones on the open market.
In return, we usually request a tune from you to be played at an unspecified time.
It’s that simple.
This week’s theme: Forgotten Irish gems.
What song by an Irish act has , in your opinion, been criminally overlooked?
To enter, please complete this sentence.
“I regard_______________________________as an absolute forgotten Irish classic because__________________________’
Lines MUST close at 6.15pm MIDNIGHT extended to Midnight Sunday.
‘Imposters’.
A new long-form poem by John Moynes, Ireland’s most read living versemonger.
John is currently crowdfunding his debut collection of poems, written between 2013-106 and offering a darkly funny overview of Ireland’s ‘recovery”.
If you enjoy John’s ‘ricks you will love ‘Scenes Of Moderate Violence’ and you can can help get it published for as little as 10 Euros.
Pledge here
BREAK: Disturbing discovery by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission on the Tuam site @KZapponeTD to comment shortly pic.twitter.com/LzMv2ibdjK
— Páraic Gallagher (@paraicgallagher) March 3, 2017
“This is very sad and disturbing news. It was not unexpected as there were claims about human remains on the site over the last number of years. Up to now we had rumours. Now we have confirmation that the remains are there, and that they date back to the time of the Mother and Baby Home, which operated in Tuam from 1925 to 1961.”
Katherine Zappone (above centre), Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, this morning.
More as we get it.
Human remains found at Tuam former mother-and-baby home (RTÉ)
Previously: ‘It Seems Quite Probable The Babies Are Buried In The Sewage Tanks’
Meanwhile…
A response from Terry Prone (top right) to French documentary maker Saskia Weber (left) concerning the Tuam burial site in 2014.
Ms Prone was on RTÉ’s Radio One’s Today with Sean O’ Rourke show as the story broke.
Sean O’Rourke: “I think, Terry Prone, I see something here from the Journal, you were saying previously, or was it quoting the Sisters of Bon Secours, saying they wouldn’t find a mass grave, or anything like that. What’s your response?”
Terry Prone: “No, no, no. This was – first of all, I don’t speak for the Sisters of Bon Secours, my company deals with the Sisters. But what is important about this is, nobody expected the kind of numbers that are being revealed today, clearly there was extensive burial,
I’m fascinated by the Commission’s use of the term in this way, because it makes it sound like there was a disrespectful mass-burial, rather than proper burial, which, I don’t know what to make of that. I think the questions that are going to be asked in the next while are, how many children, and what was the number of children, because this wasn’t a Famine burial, like the local people tend to talk about. This was between the thirties and the sixties, which would be in the time the home operated. How many children and toddlers were there, and is that disproportionate to the amount of children that were dying in the general population at this time. And the other thing [hushed tones] – what did they die of? Was it malnutrition, was it lack of care, what was it that killed the children?”
O’Rourke: “I’m still trying to process this myself. There was a request from documentary makers from France2 to the Sisters of Bon Secours asking for access, and the response from you was that there would be no mass burials to be found on the grounds, only bones where Famine victims were buried. It looks like there’s a bit more to it than that now.”
Prone: “It looks like there’s a whole lot more to it.”
Listen here
Meanwhile…
Historian Catherine Corless
#tuambabies story by @rositaboland in our view is accurate & fair account from Tuam on aspects of a traumatic story http://t.co/imILAJlTWa
— Kevin O’Sullivan (@KOSullivanIT) June 7, 2014
Oh.
Meanwhile…
“The Survivor Community is not shocked by the latest news that hundreds of bodies of babies and children have been “discovered” at the site of the former Mother and Baby home at Tuam. This is something we have known for many years.
What is shocking is that once again we have to learn of this news via the media. The communications skills of the Minister and the Commission of Inquiry leave a lot to be desired when it comes to informing the Survivor Community of developments.
Tuam must not be seen in isolation. It was the fifth biggest of the 9 so called “Mother and Baby Homes” and it is the tip of the iceberg for deaths which amount to at least 6,000 babies and children across the 9 homes.
There are over 227 confirmed deaths in the notorious Bethany Home in Dublin and recent research has revealed the names of over 200 babies and children buried in the Angel’s Plot at Castlepollard Mother and Baby home ranging from a few hours old to over 2 years.
There were also at least 77 confirmed Stillbirths in Castlepollard above and beyond the 200 registered deaths. There will be hundreds of unregistered Stillbirths discovered in Tuam too above and beyond the 800 registered deaths.
The worst is yet to come as details of the huge behemoths of Saint Patrick’s, Bessboro and Sean Ross Abbey have yet to be revealed but it is likely that the total for these three “homes” alone will be well over 4,000 babies and children buried in shoeboxes and rags.
Our Community is divided about the issue of excavations and exhumations. Many are adamant that all the babies must be exhumed, identified and given proper burials.
Others feel strongly that our former crib mates should be allowed to Rest In Peace. There are no easy answers and some survivors will be horrified no matter what happens. Mutual respect and understanding must guide our community.
The Government, Minister Zappone and the Inquiry must consider living survivors and their needs before any further excavations are pursued behind our backs.
Our community is ageing and has been viciously cut in two by the current official policy of excluding many survivors from the Inquiry.
Survivors need to be heard instead of ignored; consulted instead of insulted; treated with respect instead of learning the latest developments via the media.
May our crib mates in all the Mother and Baby homes and Holding Centers, Rest In Peace.”
Paul Redmond
Chairperson: Coalition of Mother and Baby home Survivors (CMABS)
Rollingnews
A stitched montage of left to right tracking shots from various movies compiled by filmmaker and editor Candice Drouet.
Previously: Scenes That Seem Like Scenes