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Replying To combo: "Its crazy Ireland let the coach take a year out. With Changing rules and falling behind on current trends you need to stay on top of things not take a year out." There is a lot in what you say. Freethinker (Wicklow) - Posts: 2080 - 18/02/2026 17:43:21 2657203 Link
Leinster have won one European Cup in 13 years, during which Johnny Sexton played a major part in Leinster's and indeed Irelands ratings through that time, but even he as a Leinster and Ireland legend playing that pivotal roll as an extraordinary and gifted out half could he on his own bring any more than one European cup to Leinster's display cabinet. It's a God's send that no finger was left pointing at any other player for Leinster's failure to bag a few extra bits of silver over those 13 years, or for that matter for the failure of our Ireland team to perform as expected, per usual, excluding triple crowns and grand slams. We all knew that J C'c retirement was imminent however life went on apparently, then when it happened no stone was left unturned to find as near as dammit a replacement for J S. In no time we had R B, C F, H B, and S P, at the same time coincidently we had J C keeping in mind that J C was a munster player with no one seriously challenging for his position. The mathematics are simple and straight forward as to where the advantages lie. The formulae / method used to select one of four to fill the role of fly half for an upcoming game was always going to leave a sour taste in three mouths, at least, and so R B thought it better if he left for greener pastures, and so he did unfortunately, personally I thought he had as much to offer the game as the other four, however because he left to play abroad by doing this he has ruled himself out of any chance of playing for Ireland, that must have been a tough decision for him to make. C F ended up in no man's land, he was damned if he stayed as he was unlikely to get the # 10 shirt soon and time was not on his side, so he is about to start wearing the # 10 shirt with Connaught, he has made the right decision imo. So now we have two left, S P, and H B. on one side and J C on the opposing side, for what it's worth public opinion was always going to row in behind J C for Saturdays match but how will A F react ??? Listening to how S P was treated coming off the pitch last week was nothing short of disgusting, saturated with s##t. How would those boo boys / girls like if it their parents or family was exposed to that level of muck. Four players from the same province vying for the same team position was / is too big of an ask, in fact there was always going to be one or two sporting casualties that could have been avoided. supersub15 (Carlow) - Posts: 3366 - 18/02/2026 23:02:29 2657232 Link
Anyone else here think/agree that the Irish Legal system needs a massive overhaul? Its archaic, ineffective and inefficient, I believe a completely new system is required. Following a series of different legal cases in the past 2-3 years, I have been increasingly left scratching my head at how this current system is allowed to continue. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1620 - 19/02/2026 08:22:32 2657255 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Anyone else here think/agree that the Irish Legal system needs a massive overhaul? Its archaic, ineffective and inefficient, I believe a completely new system is required. Following a series of different legal cases in the past 2-3 years, I have been increasingly left scratching my head at how this current system is allowed to continue." Not sure what cases you're referring to but I agree, it needs a radical overhaul. We need more prisons and longer sentences. Some of the sentences being handed out by judges for serious crime is laughable. The legal system is a revolving door joke where the legal eagles make serious cash while the multiple Offenders are let off to re offend. yew_tree (Mayo) - Posts: 11911 - 19/02/2026 10:31:40 2657277 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Anyone else here think/agree that the Irish Legal system needs a massive overhaul? Its archaic, ineffective and inefficient, I believe a completely new system is required. Following a series of different legal cases in the past 2-3 years, I have been increasingly left scratching my head at how this current system is allowed to continue." Gravy train. Seanfan (Roscommon) - Posts: 372 - 19/02/2026 10:51:08 2657279 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Anyone else here think/agree that the Irish Legal system needs a massive overhaul? Its archaic, ineffective and inefficient, I believe a completely new system is required. Following a series of different legal cases in the past 2-3 years, I have been increasingly left scratching my head at how this current system is allowed to continue." Turkeys don't vote for Christmas in fairness. You only need to look at conveyancing & the cost of it to see how much of a scam the legal profession is. AI is coming and it will definitely shake the profession up and not before time. Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1823 - 19/02/2026 11:48:07 2657293 Link
Andrew might finally break into a sweat :P Lockjaw (Donegal) - Posts: 10240 - 19/02/2026 12:18:14 2657300 Link
Replying To Commodore: "Anyone else here think/agree that the Irish Legal system needs a massive overhaul? Its archaic, ineffective and inefficient, I believe a completely new system is required. Following a series of different legal cases in the past 2-3 years, I have been increasingly left scratching my head at how this current system is allowed to continue." You get what you vote for. Elect tough on crime politicians and make sure they know that's why they're elected and watch things improve. Boycott the news media that don't cover this kind of thing. I don't see it changing anytime soon. SouthGalway (Galway) - Posts: 207 - 19/02/2026 12:46:29 2657305 Link
Replying To SouthGalway: "You get what you vote for. Elect tough on crime politicians and make sure they know that's why they're elected and watch things improve. Boycott the news media that don't cover this kind of thing. I don't see it changing anytime soon." Crime rates in the US have been falling significantly year on year since 2023. Viking66 (Wexford) - Posts: 18437 - 19/02/2026 14:31:41 2657323 Link
Replying To combo: "Its crazy Ireland let the coach take a year out. With Changing rules and falling behind on current trends you need to stay on top of things not take a year out." Tony Ward has been on about that crazy decision in his column every Monday since day 1. conordee (Galway) - Posts: 463 - 19/02/2026 17:15:27 2657351 Link
Replying To Seanfan: "Gravy train." Elaborate, you have tendency to throw in one liners that don't outline your own opinion. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1620 - 19/02/2026 17:36:30 2657356 Link
Replying To yew_tree: "Not sure what cases you're referring to but I agree, it needs a radical overhaul. We need more prisons and longer sentences. Some of the sentences being handed out by judges for serious crime is laughable. The legal system is a revolving door joke where the legal eagles make serious cash while the multiple Offenders are let off to re offend." Totally agree. I'm not referring to any one case, but rather a large combination of cases, some from watching RTE news or Virgin media news and some from reading various news articles about a large number of different legal cases before the courts or sentencing etc. There is a solicitor who has Facebook reels also, who is quite informative, factual and unbiased in his opinions. A friend of mine who is a member of the Gardai, told me about general frustrations faced by Gardai who are often hampered by technicalities when trying to enforce the law, even in cases where say a perpetrator is caught red handed. Also legal fees that people face if needing to challenge something legally, its basically deters a lot of people, because they a cannot afford to fight a legal dispute. When we see someone with over 130 previous convictions getting a €350 fine for assaulting a Shop manager or causing social problems, we can only wonder how such a person is walking around freely. If there was an automatic 20 year sentence for person exceeding 20 or 30 previous convictions, they might start caring about how they behave a bit more. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1620 - 19/02/2026 17:53:43 2657359 Link
Replying To SouthGalway: "You get what you vote for. Elect tough on crime politicians and make sure they know that's why they're elected and watch things improve. Boycott the news media that don't cover this kind of thing. I don't see it changing anytime soon." The problem is that there is no formal public tracking of Politician performance metrics to see how they actually fare against the promises they made during the election campaign or in a manifesto, so its often difficult to accurately measure how they actually performed in office. In my job, I have clear annual goals, I have statistical metrics that can track current progress versus my goals, and have quarterly reviews of how things are progressing. I'm not looking to have a dig at any particular politicians, I'm not aligned to any political party, I just think a formal public tracking of progress vs goals/targets would make things clearer for the electorate to make performance based decisions. Commodore (Donegal) - Posts: 1620 - 19/02/2026 18:13:50 2657361 Link
Replying To SouthGalway: "You get what you vote for. Elect tough on crime politicians and make sure they know that's why they're elected and watch things improve. Boycott the news media that don't cover this kind of thing. I don't see it changing anytime soon." People voted Trump to release the Epstein files. He's not very tough on wealthy powerful people breaking law mentioned in the files. He is tough on the poor though or people that don't support him. updwell (Limerick) - Posts: 949 - 19/02/2026 18:21:27 2657362 Link
Replying To updwell: "People voted Trump to release the Epstein files. He's not very tough on wealthy powerful people breaking law mentioned in the files. He is tough on the poor though or people that don't support him." Don't be throwing any scrutiny SouthGalway's (aka Trump2020) way about that.... see no evil hear no evil... Square_B (Leitrim) - Posts: 1823 - 20/02/2026 06:51:55 2657395 Link
Replying To conordee: "Tony Ward has been on about that crazy decision in his column every Monday since day 1." Just more deflection, blame it on something or someone else as nothing could be wrong with Irish rugby. 4yrs ago it was all about the pipeline and how good rugby was in Ireland. At the same time anyone looking at it could see some of the most basic problems - front and second rows and long with nobody ready to step in at 10. Now when there are a couple of injuries, suddenly, its because of the Lions or Nienabars fault. Don't get me wrong, as I hope I am wrong as already got tickets for tge RWC but these lads need to stop blaming everyone or thing but themselves. zinny (Wexford) - Posts: 2172 - 20/02/2026 08:20:50 2657397 Link