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Updated 23.28
JUSTICE MINISTER ALAN Shatter caused a stir on Twitter earlier today when he referred to the city of Derry as Londonderry during a Dáil debate.
Discussing legislation to extend anti-terrorist powers under the Offences Against the State Act, Shatter listed a number of recent attacks on PSNI officers and other security personnel in the North when he made the reference to Londonderry.
The dispute over the city’s name has been a longstanding issue going back to the days of the Troubles. Traditionally, nationalists refer to it as Derry and unionists use Londonderry.
Shatter was outlining reasons why powers initiated in the wake of the Omagh bombings should continue to apply when he named one example of a recent attack: “Two pipe bombs set off in Londonderry on January 19, 2012.”
Later during the debate he explained his rationale behind the use of the name: “I would use either the term Derry or Londonderry interchangeably.
“It’s used by the two different communities in Northern Ireland; the Catholic community refers to Derry, the Protestant community refers to Londonderry. It’s a place that I want to see live in peace and I don’t have hang-ups about which name you attach to it.”
Legally, the city and county are called Londonderry while the local government district is called Derry. Road signs in the Republic of Ireland refer to the city as Derry while those in the North use Londonderry.
Reactions on Twitter varied from those who were outraged to those who reckoned Shatter had won the ‘West Brit of the Year award’:
Poll: Do you think Alan Shatter’s reference to Londonderry is a big deal or not?
What a great world we live in,those animals need culling,not court
This is vile and a sad reality of wars. Maybe we can get a write up about the rapes happening across Europe, that are liked to migrants?
@Ladude: linked
Are these the very illegal migrants that O Gorman is so concerned about ?
@Mike Cantwell:
If you mean the victims of such atrocities, yes they would have been exactly the kind of people to whom we have a legal obligation to offer protection at the time of this conflict and when they, on the basis of their religion (mostly Muslim) and ethnicity were being subjected to grave human rights violations and war crimes.
As always, we continue to campaign for justice and reparations for victims of such atrocities and for the perpetrators to be brought to justice.
And when anyone even mentions that migrants are causing a string of sexual assaults in Europe, we are called racist, bigots and what ever else. And women should not be oppressed, but mention anything about Islam oppressing their women and we are called bigots, trump lovers, racists… It’s mind boggling
Good man Colm you have a lot of work ahead of you as the mostly Muslim illegal immigrants cause havoc throughout Europe , in a generation our little Island will have the same problems we see throughout Britain and Europe as the number of Muslims continue to grow here so when we have ” calls ” for Sharia , forced marriages , segregated classes for boys and girls etc etc we can thank people like yourself , everyone in Ireland who is concerned about what’s coming down the tracks needs to read Infidel by Aayn Hirsi Ali otherwise we will end up with our own Dewsbury , Molenbeek or Malmö
@Mike Cantwell: my other comment was deleted for what ever reason. These sjw are actually happy to see the west fall into chaos.
Telling the truth can get you into bother Lad , the looney left have no arguments / facts to justify their idiocy but rely on ” feelings ” , so as Islam gets a foothold in Ireland we will instances of FGM , forced marriages , demands for segregated swimming lessons etc etc , the left will ignore all this and talk about ” understanding ” , diversity and the usual excuses meanwhile Ireland will be divided into ” communities ” that have ruined Britain with every community fighting their corner , Ireland as we know it with its faults will change for the worse and all because those in power did not take sensible decisions re immigration
@Mike Cantwell: we both know the right is without its faults, but the left kept pushing and Proding the right. The right started questioning their logic and pushing and Prodding them self’s, and finding many holes and contradiction in their arguments. Actually many people who were not political at all have become political because of the left dogged determination to show why they should not be in charge of a country.
Yeah the majority of the rapists left and probably came to the UK and Ireland and got away with it.
I hope they’re reading this.
LIved next door to a survivor of the Bosnian war in Western Australia. He used to tell me about his and his wife’s experiences a lot. He ended up being rescued from a camp where the Bosnian Muslims were being held. To his credit, he told me they managed to be at peace and not hold on to any anger but he said he’ll never erase the cruelty he witnessed. All for what?
Colm O’Gorman – the very definition of irrelevance.
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