Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 3118

855193 roundball

John Bruton wasn't called John Unionist, especially by media people, for nothing. Fine Gael had a detrimentally negative affect on the Peace Process with their constant attacks on Sinn Fein which were ALWAYS pounced on and used by Unionists in the North to oppose progress. Bruton's fawning embarrassing antics with Charlie Windsor in Dublin were cringing in the extreme. Fine Gael have said that they are neutral when it comes to the North when in effect they are pro-partitionist and very anti-Northern Nationalist.

Ulsterman I'm not a Fine Gael supporter (although I do think Kenny would be a better Taoiseach than Cowen has been) so I'm really just playing devils advocate here, but if Fine Gael are so Unionist why wasn't it they and not The Soldiers of Destiny, the Republican Party (to give them their full title) that removed Articles 2 and 3 claiming ownership of the 6 counties? Bruton hit it off with some harmless ould windbag of a monarch but Bertie was all Palsy with Ian Paisley at the end of it all. So why do Northerners seem to feel a greater affinity towards Fianna Fail when really all they did was use ye to convince moderate republicans in the south that they were sympathetic to the cause.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 29/01/2011 12:30:47    856266

hill16no1man
County: Dublin
Posts: 295

856055
bertie is the best taoiseach ireland ever had put a statue of him outside leinster house

__________________

How are ya Bertie ? Good to see you are keeping yourself busy these days.

artisan (Down) - Posts: 1794 - 29/01/2011 13:08:09    856280

Getting back on track, my brother in Dundalk says that the selection of Peter Fitzpatrick for Fine Gael could ruin their chances in the town. Many grassroots supporters are peeved that someone who never served as a councillor is now chosen just because he is well known as a football manager. He is a very poor speaker and has no history in politics at all !!

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 29/01/2011 13:15:09    856282

artisan
County: Down
Posts: 474

856280
hill16no1man
County: Dublin
Posts: 295

856055
bertie is the best taoiseach ireland ever had put a statue of him outside leinster house

__________________

How are ya Bertie ? Good to see you are keeping yourself busy these days.


Theres no way thats Ahern artisan, if it was he would have said "b b b bertie is de de de b b b best taoiseach ireland h h h has........." and so forth.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 29/01/2011 15:10:23    856339

Lads this is shockin, 90% of ye are talkin absolute rubbish, anything but factual. cant believe the lack of knowledge being displayed by ye

shlapya (Galway) - Posts: 27 - 29/01/2011 15:53:31    856357

fg are a nationalist party,they are the united ireland party.Collins and O Duffy fought and won our freedom.FG under costello declared the republic in 1949.Cosgrave led the sunnungdale agreement which is what the hillsborough accord is. Garret brought anglo-irish agreement,first ever southern involvement in north. FG are as nationalist as other parties but they are tolerant and respect other views. A lot of GAA folk are FG men as are FF and Lab.

laflour (Cavan) - Posts: 528 - 29/01/2011 17:30:19    856399

FG and GAA are polar opposites???? that is like sayong FG and FF and LAB and everyone else is!! sure they are all the same type of politcal parties! some might have a less than repeatable name for them!

Spoddgy (Mayo) - Posts: 660 - 29/01/2011 21:01:25    856525

Fine Gael did a LOT of damage to the Peace Process over the past 15 years. The naysayers of Unionism took great advantage from the Blueshirts constant attacks on Sinn Fein and this held up progress for about 5/6 years. There is nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and listening to other opinions but the fact is that Fine Gael will NEVER move on, or more precise, will never Republicans to move on and this has left a lot of bitterness and anger towards them amongst Northern Nationalists. The fact is that Fine Gael and Unionism played off each other in their antipathy towards Sinn Fein and their constituency.

Ulsterman (Antrim) - Posts: 9818 - 29/01/2011 21:04:17    856527

Ulsterman
County: Antrim
Posts: 3130

856527 Fine Gael did a LOT of damage to the Peace Process over the past 15 years. The naysayers of Unionism took great advantage from the Blueshirts constant attacks on Sinn Fein and this held up progress for about 5/6 years. There is nothing wrong with keeping an open mind and listening to other opinions but the fact is that Fine Gael will NEVER move on, or more precise, will never Republicans to move on and this has left a lot of bitterness and anger towards them amongst Northern Nationalists. The fact is that Fine Gael and Unionism played off each other in their antipathy towards Sinn Fein and their constituency.

That still doesn't explain why Northern Nationalists seemingly have more time for Fianna Fail than Fine Gael.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 30/01/2011 12:45:19    856646

Re roundball,
If you care to read Ulsterman's post again, that will answer your question I hope that's if you grasp it

Mulligan Eamonn (None) - Posts: 896 - 30/01/2011 14:04:00    856692

can understand ulstermans perception but its inaccurate.Most FG folk are as nationalist as anyone else,many GAA presidents and leaders in GAA are strongly nationalist and also support FG. Must understand that disagreement with adams and SF doesnt mean you are not nationalist? SF are good people,but not the only keepers of republican/nationalist ideals. Most FG people are very loyal to Collins and work practically for united ireland. GAA outlook fits very well with FG outlook,and with all other parties in South

gaelsarebest (Cavan) - Posts: 39 - 30/01/2011 18:49:11    856905

can understand ulstermans perception but its inaccurate.Most FG folk are as nationalist as anyone else,many GAA presidents and leaders in GAA are strongly nationalist and also support FG. Must understand that disagreement with adams and SF doesnt mean you are not nationalist? SF are good people,but not the only keepers of republican/nationalist ideals. Most FG people are very loyal to Collins and work practically for united ireland. GAA outlook fits very well with FG outlook,and with all other parties in South

gaelsarebest (Cavan) - Posts: 39 - 30/01/2011 18:49:37    856906

Mulligan Eamonn
County: All
Posts: 570

856692 Re roundball,
If you care to read Ulsterman's post again, that will answer your question I hope that's if you grasp it

He has very clearly outlined why he does not like Fine Gael, which is fair enough. He hasn't said anything about Fianna Fail, who I'm suggesting were also culpable in alienating Northern Nationalists and are also partionist yet bill themselves as "The Republican Party".

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 30/01/2011 18:49:49    856907

roundball

I agree with you in that I believe the hierarchy of FF play the green card when it suits and have ceased to hold true to their roots for quite sometime now. However Ulsterman is correct when he states the majority of nationalists in the north have very little time for FG. John Bruton played party politics with the peace process, undoing all the good work of Albert Reynold's. I have little affection for Bertie, but he helped secure the peace in the north, Bruton did not give a flying monkey. We won't forget that in a hurry.

artisan (Down) - Posts: 1794 - 30/01/2011 19:22:35    856939

to galsearebest, with all due respect but if you had to live up here and put up with the tripe, from certain ''politicians'' on both sides of the border that we have had to put up with you would be singing a different tune. We have long held the belief that Fine Gael would sell us down the river, AGAIN

8596 (Armagh) - Posts: 30 - 31/01/2011 21:04:29    857799

8596
County: Armagh
Posts: 5

857799 to galsearebest, with all due respect but if you had to live up here and put up with the tripe, from certain ''politicians'' on both sides of the border that we have had to put up with you would be singing a different tune. We have long held the belief that Fine Gael would sell us down the river, AGAIN

S.F. have done it already. F.G., or FF never sat in stormont

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 31/01/2011 21:43:26    857858

to armagh; your understandable anger at being on the wrong side of the border is clouding reality. No nationalist party,FF,FG or Lab sold you out.The majority unionist group in north east successfully bullied the english into partition.nobody,on any side,in the south wanted it,but were powerless against the well armed unionist/british statelet. nobody in the south sold out the north,we never had it. The british would only give up 26,not what we wanted then or now . Attacking what is a well respected party in the south wont help your cause.GAA clubs are full of FG and FF men.In fact I would say ,currently, most chairmen in counties and provinces are FG but strongly nationalist.So do please temper your view and talk to GAA men in South. PS. Our current and former ard stiurthoirs come from FG backgrounds as do 4 of last 6 GAA presidents. These men are all good Irish nationalists,solid GAA men and FG voters.So ,with respect,perception and reality here are often different.Up the GAA and here`s to an all-Ireland of 32. Mick Collins forever.

gaelsarebest (Cavan) - Posts: 39 - 31/01/2011 21:57:20    857877

couple of good posts there gaelsarebest

Tom1916 (Armagh) - Posts: 2001 - 01/02/2011 09:08:51    857893

Look Mick Collins was never in or part of FG - he died many years before thier formation - eoin O'Duffey was a very controversial figure, aliged to both the extreme Catholic church and ultra fascism - reality

cuchulainn35 (Armagh) - Posts: 1688 - 01/02/2011 12:44:56    858014

Fine Gael was formed as a direct result of cumann na ngaedhael which was the side Mick Collins was on, De valera was on the side of ff. And I've seen the 'people who don't know any better making comments that we should change with the times' well the only person I have heard say that is a poster from Antrim.

tipptothetop (Tipperary) - Posts: 531 - 01/02/2011 19:49:27    858348