Tag Archives: Sinn Fein

Sinn Féin TDs Chris Andrews and Eoin Ó Broin arrive at Leinster House this morning

Earlier.

Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Meanwhile…

Speaking on Newstalk’s Pat Kenny show, Ms [Mary Lou] McDonald said that the proposed new government would leave Sinn Féin in a very strong political position.

“They may succeed in slowing down the very necessary change that we need in our society but they won’t stop it,” she said.

…Sinn Féin would provide “a very coherent, a very progressive, a very enlightened opposition” throughout the lifetime of the next government. “We will deliver on the mandate for change that we were given,” she said.

Ms McDonald referred to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil as Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee and said that they were determined that “come what may” Sinn Féin would be kept out of government.

McDonald: Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil ‘clubbed together’ to keep Sinn Féin out of government (Irish Examiner)

Rollingnews


Unhappy and happy emojis; Stephen Collins, Irish Times’ former political editor and columnist

This morning.

Put a happy face on….

If Sinn Féin has the energy and the resources to dominate social media and disseminate its message there is nothing wrong with that.

Where it begins to get sinister is the way in which the party’s keyboard warriors seek to intimidate people propounding different views.

For instance the [Dublin City University] study found a marked difference between the emoji icons used to react to posts by the parties.

“Haha”, or “Angry” constituted 94 per cent of emoji reactions for posts by Fine Gael, and 90 per cent for Fianna Fáil, while they only accounted for 7 per cent of these reactions to posts by Sinn Féin.

….The study found that 91 per cent of the emoji reactions to Sinn Féin posts were “Love”.

What it suggests is that the Sinn Féin keyboard army was not just actively pushing its own message but attacking the messages being put out by its political opponents.

…. Whether it is down to poor organisation or fear of intimidation by the “Shinnerbots”, the two parties now negotiating a programme for government appear oblivious to the daily assault they suffer on social media, which is merely a harbinger of what awaits them when the next election comes around.

:(

Also: 😂

Stephen Collins: Big two must take fight to SF on social media (Irish Times)


Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward questioned the funding to Pieta House

Yesterday.

The Dáil, Leinster House.

Sinn Féin TD Mark Ward asked the Minister for Health Simon to explain how the funding of €346,000 per quarter to suicide charity Pieta House – to cover 300 hours of therapy per quarter for high-risk clients – is being spent.

Mark Ward: “I will ask a brief question and the Minister’s response will allow me to ask any further questions I may need to. Last week we had a brief discussion about Pieta House and the additional services that will be provided during and post Covid-19. Will the Minister clarify whether the 300 hours that he stated will be provided for therapy for high-risk clients are per month or per quarter?”

Simon Harris: “According to my note, it is 300 hours per quarter. The funding is being provided to fund an additional 300 hours for high-risk clients and the quarterly review will ensure that any client who commences a programme of support can have reasonable assurance of its completion. The cashflow supports are also contingent on a continuation between the HSE and Pieta House. I will confirm that in writing to the Deputy but that is my understanding.”

Ward: “Last week the Minister stated there was additional funding of more than €343,000 to provide 300 hours of therapy per quarter for high-risk clients. I also have a written response from the Minister that reiterates that.

This works out at €1,146 per hour for therapy sessions. The average cost of a psychotherapy session is in the region of €70 to €120 per hour. If, for example, 300 sessions were charged at the higher end of the average – €120 per hour – that would cost the State €36,000. The State is paying Pieta House more than €343,000 to provide the same service. That is a difference of €307,000 per quarter.

I have also received information from some self-employed therapists who have contacted me and other members of my party and who counsel clients for Pieta House. They charge them only €24 per hour, yet the State is funding Pieta House to the tune of €1,146 per hour.

The Government, as the Minister said, has already invested heavily in Pieta House, to the tune of €2.03 million per year, and Pieta House has also availed of the wage subsidy scheme. Despite this, several staff were let go and others have been offered redundancy.

Will the Minister inform the House exactly where this funding is being directed? Is any of the additional funding being used to pay for the redundancies?

Does the Minister think we are getting value for money at €1,146 per therapy session when it would cost the State €120 per hour, or €24 per hour if a self-employed therapist at Pieta House was hired? The State should provide such services and not rely on a charity to do so. Pieta House provides an essential service but it is essential only due to the lack of investment in mental health by this and previous Governments.

Harris: “I thank the Deputy and note his sincere and strong interest in the issue of mental health. I could outline, although I do not have the time now, what we are doing to beef up the public mental health services but I agree with the Deputy that Pieta House does a really good job. It is very well regarded by people throughout our country, as was seen in recent weeks in terms of how people responded to the fundraising call from Pieta House.

My understanding is that the HSE and Pieta House have formally agreed to that additional funding, as the Deputy rightly noted, of €114,608 per month, or €343,824 per quarter, and that will be provided once the current Government staffing cost schemes, which Pieta House has availed of, have ceased. It is to help keep staff.

The HSE has also committed to providing cashflow support on a monthly basis, with the position to be reviewed after each quarter. The funding is being provided to fund an additional 300 hours of high-risk clients and a quarterly review will ensure anybody who commences a programme can complete it.

As I said when we spoke last week, the cashflow support is contingent on the continuation of that engagement between the HSE and Pieta House on a more sustainable funding model for the organisation.

Work has been ongoing between the HSE and Pieta for some time on how to ensure that the funding will be sustainable into the future. That ongoing engagement is required in return for the cashflow support.”

Hmm.

Anyone?

Previously: I Pieta The Fool

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

This afternoon.

Leinster House, Dublin 2.

Fianna Fáil’s Eamon O’Cuiv (above left) and Sinn Féin’s David Cullinane TD (above centre) with unidentified gent (since identified – see comments).

Plotting or merely sharing a joke?

We may never know.

Sam Boal/Rollingnews

Of course you are.

Tonight at 7pm.

Sinn Féin president Mary Lou McDonald (above), Sinn Féin’s vice president and First Minister of Northern Ireland Michelle O’Neill and Sinn Féin TDs Louise O’Reilly, Pearse Doherty and Matt Carthy will hold a live online meeting.

The meeting can be watched live here, here or here.

Fianna Fáil party leader Micheál Martin (left), Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Sinn Féin party leader Mary Lou McDonald TD, before the final live television leaders’ debate of Election 2020

 

This afternoon.

Further to Fine Gael agreeing “seven tests” (above) that any future coalition must pass to form a Government and Fine Gael highlighting ten policy priorities…

Um.

Sinn Féin TD Eoin O’Broin tweetz:

“Am I seeing things? Is this a joke?

“Not a single mention of housing or homelessness in Fine Gael’s seven policy tests and ten specific policies they want a new government to achieve.”

Related: Government formation: Fine Gael agrees ‘seven tests’ before joining coalition (Jennifer Bray, The Irish Times)

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RENJR8tM9VM

Of course you are.

Tonight at 8pm.

Sinn Féin will hold an online public meeting with the party’s president Mary Lou McDonald, Michelle O’Neill, Matt Carthy and Pearse Doherty, during which they will discuss “tackling the covid-19 crisis”.

The meeting will be broadcast live on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Previously: The Revoloution Will Be Televised

This evening.

From 7pm.

Further to public meetings held in Cork, Dublin and Newry, Sinn Féin are holding an “online public meeting”, on account of the coronavirus.

Sinn Féin’s president Mary Lou McDonald and TDs Eoin Ó Broin, Matt Carthy, Pearse Doherty and Louise O’Reilly are taking part in the meeting.

The party is broadcasting from its head office at Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

RevoLOUtion?

Related: Sinn Fein to hold next public meeting online after rallies planned for Cavan and Galway axed over Covid-19 outbreak (Harry Manning, The Irish Sun)

Earlier: Meanwhile, At Leinster House

“Coronavirus Is Not A Mandate For Long-Term Government” [Updated]

Previously:  Meanwhile In Cork

Liberty Belle

Meanwhile In Newry

This afternoon.

Leinster House, Dublin 2

The mother and father of murdered Paul Quinn, Steven and Breege Quinn after attending the Dail today as TDs return to the chamber for the first time in two weeks.

In 2007, Mr Quinn (21) from Cullyhanna in south Armagh was beaten to death by a gang of around a dozen men in a farm shed on the border near Castleblayney, County Monaghan.

Mr and Mrs Quinn blame the IRA, but Sinn Féin has long denied republican involvement.

Via RTÉ

Mr Quinn’s mother, Breege Quinn, said she wanted Sinn Féin’s Finance Minister in Northern Ireland, Conor Murphy, “to say the simple words that Paul Quinn was not a criminal”.

At the time of the murder, Mr Murphy alleged that Mr Quinn was involved in criminality before he was killed.

Ms Quinn said she was not satisfied with what she termed “obscure apologies” to date, and alleged that “the slur’ that her son had been a criminal is being ‘actively promoted by Sinn Fein.’

Ms McDonald has also spoken to the Quinn family on the phone.

“He (Conor) has made an apology. It’s sincerely made and I hope and trust that the Quinn family will get some level of comfort from that,” Ms McDonald said last month.

Family of murdered Paul Quinn renew call for Murphy clarification (RTÉ)

Rollingnews