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AN TAOISEACH LEO Varadkar made headlines over the weekend when he said that Ireland has a low level of homelessness when compared with other countries.
Varadkar came in for criticism from homelessness NGOs and opposition politicians for stating that homelessness was low here when compared to Ireland’s “peer countries”.
But what is Ireland’s actual homelessness rate and how do we measure up internationally?
Claim: Ireland has a low level of homelessness when compared to other nations within the EU or OECD*
*TheJournal.ie narrowed the claim to these countries for reasons explained below.
Verdict: UNPROVEN
We will be presenting an overview of this FactCheck on the Pat Kenny Show tonight, TV3, 10pm
What was said
Speaking to reporters at the Fine Gael conference over the weekend, Leo Varadkar responded to a question from TheJournal.ie about Ireland’s rising homelessness numbers: “We are actually a country by international standards compared with our peers that has a low level of homelessness,” the Taoiseach said.
They’re the stats and we can provide them for you and that of course is a good thing. It’s a good thing that in Ireland, we’ve a low level of homelessness compared to our peer countries.
Varadkar later tweeted that he had been asked a question about Ireland “having one of the highest homelessness levels”.
“We don’t by international comparison. That’s a fact,” the Taoiseach said.
TheJournal.ie had been investigating the claim as it had been made previously by Varadkar and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy.
Announcing the housing budget on 10 October, Murphy said Ireland’s rate of homelessness was “low by international standards, which is a good thing”. He and Taoiseach Varadkar have repeated the claim a number of times since.
In October, Varadkar said in a speech that homelessness in Ireland is “low by international standards”. Murphy made a similar statement last week at the launch of the Peter McVerry Trust’s annual report. He also repeated the claim on RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live on RTÉ1 on Monday.
Junior Minister at the Department of Housing, Damien English, referenced the claim again in the Dáil yesterday, adding that media coverage of the homelessness crisis is “damaging to Ireland’s international reputation”.
The facts
FactCheck contacted the Housing Department and the Government Press Office for the figures they used to back up the statements made by their public representatives.
One report was provided by the Housing Department which looked at homelessness across the European Union. The department also provided links to individual data for a number of EU countries.
(You can view a brief analysis from TheJournal.ie of this data in an additional post here)
A second report was provided by the Government Press Office – this report looked at levels of homelessness within the population of 30 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. For the purpose of this FactCheck, we will regard “peer countries” as those within the EU and the OECD, as set out in the two reports supplied by government.
A spokesperson from the Housing Department said: “The prevalence of homelessness can be difficult to compare at international level because of the wide ranging variations in availability, categorisation and quality of data.
However it is clear from even the most perfunctory examination that Ireland’s rate of homelessness (i.e. number of persons sleeping rough or residing in emergency accommodation) is low by international standards, including within the EU.”
FactCheck will first look at figures for homeless people in Ireland, before going on to compare it to data from other countries, using the reports as a road map.
Homelessness in Ireland
When media, politicians and commentators refer to the number of homeless people living in Ireland, they are usually referring to the number of people (adults and children) staying in State-funded emergency accommodation (hotels, hostels, etc) on a specific week every month.
These figures are released each month by the Housing Department. Under Section 10 of the Housing Act (1988), the department provides various charities with the funding to house homeless people. The numbers provided by the department, then, are all the people who are listed as staying in this state-funded accommodation (as well as in privately-run hotels and B&Bs).
So the latest figures for the week of 18-24 September show that there were 5,250 adults and 3,124 children staying in this type of accommodation – giving a total of 8,374.
As well as this figure, a twice-yearly count of the number of people sleeping rough on the streets of Dublin is also carried out. The latest count for spring found 138 people sleeping rough in Dublin in April (another count is due this month).
There are a number of people who sleep rough in other towns and cities across the country. The numbers are relatively low compared to Dublin and are not measured regularly. Census 2016 found 21 people sleeping rough in cities and towns outside of Dublin – however, for the purpose of this FactCheck we will only use the latest Dublin figure, as that is the number counted by the government.
That bring us to a combined total of 8,512 – this is the figure that the government is working off when it refers to homelessness.
However, there are a number of people in other unsure housing situations that need to be considered, especially when looking at the figures in an international context.
Women and children living in domestic violence refuges are not counted in Ireland’s housing figures (but are in many other countries), as they fall under the remit of Tusla the Child and Family Agency (rather than the Housing Department). A Tusla report found that in 2015, 1,736 women and 2,621 children were accommodated at some stage in domestic violence specialist accommodation such as refuges, safe houses or supported/transitional accommodation.
Ireland’s figures also don’t include the number of people living in Direct Provision centres awaiting a decision on their asylum applications. Latest figures from the Reception and Integration Agency (which is under the remit of the Department of Justice) show that there were 4,873 people living in Direct Provision centres across the state.
Ireland also doesn’t include people staying in institutions (hospitals and prisons, for example) with no home to go to when they leave. There are no national figures for this cohort.
Finally, Ireland’s homelessness figures do not take into account the number of people living in unstable and unsuitable housing situations – for example, couchsurfing with their friends or families, or doubled up in bedrooms.
Commonly referred to as the “hidden homeless” here, it is hard to get even a rough figure of how many people are in this situation across the country.
It is important to include these metrics as some or all of them are used when measuring homelessness in different countries, so it’s important to keep that in mind when comparing figures from different countries.
If Ireland was to include all the above when measuring homelessness – there would be closer to a rough figure of 17,700 homeless people in the country, as well as an unknown number of “hidden homeless”.
Measuring homelessness internationally
As we already stated, it is notoriously difficult to measure homelessness across different countries – even at EU level. This is because different countries use different definitions of homelessness, measure it differently and report on it differently.
One of the reports referenced by government as backing up its claim is the 2014 report from Feantsa – the European homelessness NGO. The report is titled Extent and Profile of Homelessness in European Member States, and looks at homelessness across 15 EU countries.
The second report – referenced by the Government Press Office – is the OECD Homeless Population report, which attempts to track levels of homelessness across OECD nations. Both reports reference a standardised approach to measuring homelessness known as the European Typology of Homelessness (ETHOS) Light system.
The ETHOS Light system was developed by Feantsa as a way of standardising homelessness data from different countries for the basis of research. Under ETHOS Light, there are six categories used to define homelessness, but not all categories apply in each country.
The categories are:
Ireland only uses categories 1-3 in its definitions and measuring of homelessness.
The Feantsa report
The Feantsa report was compiled by getting experts across 15 EU member states to complete a questionnaire exploring the extent of statistical data on homelessness in their countries. The report finds that Ireland and Spain appeared to have the lowest levels of homelessness overall, but it notes that “their definitions did not include some ETHOS Light categories of homelessness”.
For this reason, it would be inaccurate to directly compare their rate of homelessness to other countries which may use other categories of measurement.
All countries typically apply categories 1-3 when counting homelessness (with some exceptions in how they are measured). Ireland is one of the countries that only uses these definitions.
Denmark, Finland and Sweden apply all six categories when counting the number of homeless people.
Meanwhile, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Spain all include in some form people living temporarily in conventional housing with family and friends due to a lack of housing (Ireland does not).
It is clear, then, that comparing homelessness across EU countries is difficult from the off. The data used for Ireland in the Feantsa report comes from April 2014, and lists 2,478 people in emergency accommodation and 127 sleeping rough – giving a total of 2,605 (children are not included in this figure).
As already shown, the number of homeless adults has doubled since then. Homeless children are not included in the report, but the number has at least quadrupled since the time of the Feantsa report (according to the official government count).
The Feantsa report attempts to compare EU countries across the six different Ethos Light categories.
However, it states that Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands cannot be included in this comparison as “numbers were collected following a completely different system”.
Of the remaining 10 countries, TheJournal.ie measured the number of homeless people only using categories 1-3 (as used by Ireland), and set it against the current population of the country to get a rough percentage of homelessness.
But as the report notes, even among these categories the data collection and methods used were highly variable from country to country – so they do not provide a comparable look across the countries.
Taking that all into account, the rough percentage of the population in each country that is homeless (using categories 1-3) in the Feantsa report is:
Poland, Sweden and Slovenia all include women’s refuges in their figures (which are not included in Ireland’s figures).
Finland and Poland include non-conventional dwellings like caravans (which are not included in Ireland’s figures).
Still, with this revised list, using old figures from Ireland (including children, homelessness has more than tripled since then, according to government figures), Ireland comes in at number six out of 10.
Even using measurements that are not fully comparable, this calls into question any statement that refers to homelessness here as “low by international standards”.
The OECD report
The exact same issues arise when comparing Ireland against other OECD countries in the homelessness report. The data are taken mostly from the 2016 OECD Questionnaire on Affordable and Social Housing.
In total, 29 out of 35 reporting countries provided data on the number of homeless. The table below shows the number of homeless people and the percentage of the population that is homeless:
As you can see, 3,625 people listed as homeless in Ireland. The figures come from December 2015, and once again, children are not counted.
Ireland’s percentage of the population that is homeless is put at 0.08%, one of the lowest on the list. In the OECD report we see all the same issues applying as above in the Feantsa report.
For example, Australia’s homelessness percentage is put at 0.47% and New Zealand’s is put at 0.94% – both of which are very high when compared with Ireland.
However, people are considered homeless if they have “no other options to acquire safe and secure housing, are without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation with a household or living in uninhabitable housing”.
In New Zealand homelessness is defined as “living situations where people with no other options to acquire safe and secure housing: are without shelter, in temporary accommodation, sharing accommodation with a household or living in uninhabitable housing”.
Both countries employ a much broader definition than Ireland does, making direct comparison meaningless. On top of this, the report relies on unchecked data submitted by countries at different years, ranging from 2006 to 2016 – making comparison difficult.
It is worth noting also that Ireland’s current rate of homelessness as a percentage of the population is closer to 0.18% including children. This would put Ireland 10th on the list out of 30 countries (but, as already stated, it is impossible to directly compare countries).
Where we can compare
It is clear then, that any comparisons of homelessness levels across countries is very difficult.
The Housing Department provided TheJournal.ie with links to homeless figures across different countries, but the same issues apply with not being able to compare like with like. Countries like the USA and France, for example, both have high rates of homelessness when compared to Ireland. But in the absence of a standardised method for measuring, it is difficult to directly compare.
(You can view a brief analysis of the figures provided here)
A recent presentation does give us some basis of comparing Ireland with countries of a similar population using similar definitions of homelessness.
A presentation by Trinity College Dublin professor Eoin O’Sullivan looked at homelessness in Ireland as compared to Finland, Denmark and Sweden.
The presentation measured homelessness as defined by Ireland (so excluding living with friends, on couches, for example) and compared it directly with like for like figures from the three other countries.
It found that Ireland has significantly higher number of homeless people when compared to Norway and Finland as well as more than Denmark.
The verdict
It is clear from the above data that any measure of homelessness across different countries brings up a whole host of problems. Across the EU and OECD there is simply not enough comparable data to make any claim around how Ireland’s homelessness numbers measure up internationally.
For that reason, we rate this claim UNPROVEN. As per our verdict guide, this means: The evidence available is insufficient to support or refute the claim, but it is logically possible.
TheJournal.ie’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
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Tíocfaidh Allah
Thanks for the laugh.
Looking forward to the kneecapping video after they kidnap Vincent Browne.
Here’s another good laugh while we are all in the Friday spirit…..wait for it……….
“Gerry was never a member of any such organisation”!
ISIS targets innocent civilians indiscriminately, based on self-righteous fanaticism, taking no account of democracy, human rights or common decency. PIRA/SF on the other hand… eh…
Gerry is a peaceful man.
The only beheading that he does is when he heads out to his local..
If he wasn’t in the PIRA then why wasn’t he in it, he was persuading others his age to join them and constantly making excuses for their actions. He was no ordinary civilian.
Jaysus Adrian if he was in it you give out and if he wasn’t in it you give out! Which is it/
Ha. That awkward moment when you realise you are now extreme left wing, a vehement water protester, and suddenly a born again liar or active denier of anything bad Gerry Adams….
Diarmuid, using the tag “PIRA/SF” just shows that you seem to be stuck in the same time warp as ISIS. If you ever get back (or even move forward for that matter) to the 21st century let us know.
thats his answer to everything, I am/was not a member.
“he was persuading other his age to join”? Really, that would have been a crime and he would have been arrested for it. He has never been arrested for that or anything else!
That’s right Adrian, he was a political activist, he grew up in what was virtually an apartheid state and struggled against injustice for most of his life, he could have just rolled over and accepted it but he didn’t!
That’s right Adrian, he was a political activist, he grew up in what was virtually an apartheid state and struggled against injustice for most of his life, he could have just rolled over and accepted it but he didn’t!
The fact that Adams is incapable of telling the truth makes him illegible to become leader of this nation.
Was Rabbite right?
Do we, like gullible virgins, want to be lied to by saavy political alpha males? Do we want to believe their lies and let them use us as they will?
Or are we grown ups? Do we respect straight speaking, honesty and integrity.
It would seem by popular polls and the fabricated accounts of Gerry Adams, Kenny and Aherne that we are a nation of gullible juveniles – incapable of making grown up decisions for ourselves.
Only the people can decide that despite dark influences in the guise of the brindependent.
First class, Séamus!
I think most of you have forgotten if you ever knew what it was to live in the north when practically the first question on any job application was “what religion are you” and if you answered Catholic most of the decent well paid jobs were closed to you.
To add insult to injury the B-Specials (if you don’t know who they are, google them) would come round every so often and break every window in the house and terrorise the occupants. If they were really cracking down those going 60 work sometimes weren’t sure when they left the house that they’d get back in one piece. I know because relatives of mine were refugees from Antrim in the 60s.
The one time Captain O’Neil even mentioned power sharing the Unionists went on strike and made all sorts of threats till power sharing was taken off the table. Then there was the Civil Rights March to Burntollet Bridge and the rest, as they say, is history.
On the other hand Diarmuid the IRA were fighting against an apartheid state where one side of the community were brutalized and other side was supported by the British government and eventually by fine gael and the independent newspaper group. Catholics need not apply, Catholics cannot vote and if you protested your house was broken into by the authorities and you were arrested without charge, just like it was in South Africa and the way it is today where the Palestinian people are being abused by the jewish state of israel. History is obviously not required when you make a comment Diarmuid
Adams is not the only one with copyright on inability yo speak the truth in Dáil Éireann. “Not a red cent”, “it is immoral to tax a man (or woman’s) home” etc, etc.
Brian Ward, you’re has hilarious as Gerry. PIRA and SF were two sides of the same coin. Armalite and ballotbox. You take up historical revisionism as a hobby?
@Paul Lane. There was huge inequality, which was generally resolved by the ’80s in NI. It didn’t need two more decades of PIRA/SF murdering innocent men, women and children with zero mandate from the nationalist people.
In between hiding sex offenders in the south!!!
He grew up in a state where he could have done whatever he wanted, go wherever he wanted. Blacks in SA didn’t have those rights so how it can be described as an Apartheid state is beyond me. Adams and people like him made the nationalist communities more deprived than the unionists or the British ever could have.
Mick
You left out the usual advice that if we have any evidence that Gerra was in the IRA we should report it to the Gardai!
Hiding under the bed maybe. Let others do the dirty work.
In similar circumstances, others have been called either liers or cowards.
Wouldn’t apply to the brave Jarry of course
Jopmarsy
Adams grew up in an environment that allowed thugs to obtain weapons and develop functional IEDs and wage war against people of the Protestant faith in a sectarian conflict that resulted in thousands of deaths and many more maimings.
Young Protestant males were murdered along the Border for no other reason other than to see their lands move into Catholic hands.
The economic damage caused by this sectarian conflict was so enormous it makes the current National debt look puny by comparison.
And all for what……..with the Union more firmly established than ever before with Adams supporting it and Sinn Fein with its Military Wing now helping Her Majesty to administer the Privince.
PS I don’t have anything complimentary to say about the Loyalist side either.
Or he could have joined the SDLP
That Seamus, is genius, pure and simple.
Mary, it’s funny, every time Adams alleged IRA membership comes up, people try to explain why young men in the north might have felt the need to join up and why it might have been justified. I have no issue with that, in fact I do understand why people joined up at the time.
That’s not the point when it comes to Adams though. The point is that Adams denies he was ever in the IRA. So the question for everyone is, do you believe him?
Comment of the century!!!! I made my OH jump when I saw this :-)
Sean, was this the same Pat Rabbitte who admitted to lying during election campaigns? Are you seriously using him as a role model?
He couldn’t do anything he wanted, couldn’t get proper housing or jobs, gerrymandering was rife, Catholics were second class citizens in their own country, it was a Protestant state for a Protestant people, but not anymore!
Where were you hiding Brendan?
Wouldn’t have been any war if there had been no discrimination, a lot of Catholics were murdered by Protestant thugs, just thought I would mention that as you forgot to, the Catholics will be the majority within the next 3 years and they will decide if Northern Ireland remains in the UK.
@Jopsmarshy. Indeed. The SDLP did a great job achieving equality by democratic means, while SF/PIRA, with no mandate, murdered innocent men, women and children.
@mary. It may surprise you to learn Mary that most of us in ROI do not come from Norniron. In fact the biggest irritant in our lives is having to put up with the consequences of your community’s “pot calling the kettle black bullshit”
Just to be clear, most people really don’t give a s**t about the North.
Speak for yourself there Mr. Palmer. Out of interest I hope you have no plans to celebrate the 1916 centenary because the signatories would turn in their grave if they heard your attitude towards the North.
A lot of Catholics were murdered by Protestant thugs, fair enough. A lot of Catholics were also murdered by Catholic thugs, a lot of protestants were murdered by Catholic thugs too.
Catholics will be the majority in the next 3 years?? If you think this comes down to a simple sectarian headcount then you are naive beyond words. Clutching at straws in typical republican fashion.
I think Gerry’s comment shows the frustration that many people feel after being labeled a terrorist for opposing Irish Water.
In all fairness, there were definitely members of the Tallaght Band at that protest in Jobstown last saturday.
Justin
You should of read the short article.
He said he was not a member of ISIS.
@Justin have you proof Gerry was leader of the IRA?why didn’t you go to the RUC or PSNI because they’ve been looking for proof since the 70′s
Yes Glen, I get that, do you not get that he’s making a joke on his other claim not to have been in the IRA. I know the subtleties would be lost on you glen!
Oh Norman, you are letting yourself down now, stick to the water will you cause you’re only going to look daft if you start defending Adams.
Glen you beggar believe!
Justin I’m not defending Gerry I’m just curious to what proof you had of Gerry’s leadership of the IRA.Also why didn’t you inform the northern police?
The PIRA has probably killed more people than ISIS at this point.
Do you have proof he wasnt?
Sarge I think you’ll find the burden of proof is on the accuser.
Yes Norman, the British negotiated with him in the 70′s because of his vast experience as a “barman” now don’t be annoying me with trite nonsense about Adams not been a senior IRA commander.
Justin so no proof then just your own opinion , okay so.
Justin btw i never said he was or wasn’t a member.You really should read a comment before you reply,helps to prevent silly responses.
Justin
I have never voted SF but I’m going to in the next election just to annoy you.
SF logic = Adams is innocent because he was never convicted in a court of law (which we never recognised) in a state (we never recognised).
Norman in your opinion, why do you think the British negotiated with him in the 70′s when he wasn’t even a leading figure in SF at the time? Simple question, what do you think, can you answer without going off on a tangent.
Justin for whatever reason , he had the ear of the IRA and that helped bring about peace.As to his membership he has denied it and despite the best efforts of British and Irish law enforcement it at the moment remains unproven.
Now as I said if you have proof give it to those that require it .
Awe, good for you Glen! great way to decide how to vote, you make this a better world.
“for whatever reason” ’nuff said.
Lance Armstrong was never convicted of doping.
@ Justin: “why do you think the British negotiated with him in the 70′s when he wasn’t even a leading figure in SF at the time? ”
Justin, Adams became vice president of SF ‘in the 70s’, can you link to evidence that the british were negotiating with him prior to this?
‘For whatever reason ‘is all I can say unlike you I don’t make assumptions. I’m not privy to the decision making process of the British authorities or their reasons for dealing with Adams.
Were jamming, no interest in arguing with a dyed in the wool shinner like your self. Blinded by the light of Gerry.
Sorry Justin, this isn’t RTE or the indo. If you’re going to pull statements out of your h0le that you can’t back up, you’ll be called on it.
So it’s Friday, which is always great, best part of the weekend, in a great mood, and then I see the the bitter crywank sad acts frothing over a joke, and I’m like, this is gonna be a great weekend! Diarmuid, Justin and Sarge, I owe yee one.
#diarmuid
and you know this or just more spouting b/s?
He’s being labelled a terrorist for being a terrorist. It’s quite simple.
How did you type that with your cock in your hand?
Sarge, you don’t prove a negative, back to school lad!!
@Mick. Yeah I know Lance Armstrong was never convicted of doping. And I know Gerry Adams was never convicted of being a PIRA leader.
Green thumb for you Glen. First for me!
But he Lance Armstrong has admitted to doping.
Yep, after he denied the accusations of his friends and people he worked with for years. Sound familiar?
In Northern Ireland there are countless examples of innocent people being shot indiscriminately by the British Army – but they are not terrorists – they’re the “army” …
And Jarry never tells a fib. Squeaky clean boy that he is….
@Norman. When you are in bed with GSOC Whitehall makes certain that you have the best quality teflon….
ISIS have killed 5,500 civilians in Iraq alone in the last year; the IRA killed 621 civilians in almost twenty five years. Hardly comparable.
Do you also find grammatical accuracy as a “nonsense”?
Just started to read article and it was already finished
He’s telling the truth. ISIS don’t turn a blind eye to rape within their ranks.
How do you know that?.Have you got a direct line to ISIS where they tell you the ins and outs of their daily activities.
I’d say rape is pretty common among their ranks. Only difference is that the victim would be stoned to death for her part in the act.
ISIS don’t do blinding just beheading.
Comparing Water protesters with a blood thirsty religious group was appalling. The TD in question ,if he had any morals would realise the honourable thing to do would be to resign.But I referred to a TD so no honour,no resignation.
Rónán Duffy, would you please explain exactly what you mean by your comment….
“That clears that up, anything else we should know Gerry?”
Because to me it seems like a very poor attempt at humor, or just plain simple sh.it stirring by someone that is intellectually unable to come up with a viable a story..
Yes! But shhhh! Don’t tell the infidels!
Niall have you seen what they do to women that they capture? The sell them as slaves. They encourage sexual violence as a weapon of war. You on the other hand seem to think that it is a viable weapon of politics.
BTW….What are ye Fine Gaelers doing for the 1916 terrorist commemorations in Dublin – are ye all going to it – to stand an salute an all?
Oh wait – sorry- that was in black n white an therefore ‘good’ terrorism!
@padraic probably stay in (or under) the bed just like “he who was never a member of the IRA” obviously did when his community was being attacked . Because if he wasn’t a member, what was he doing? Perhaps GCHQ knows….
Adams does be as cool as a cucumber! I’d say yer man Kenny has many a sleepless night over Gerry.Not long now Kenny,the people are awake.
What a silly comment Brendan. I think you forgetting the fact that Adams and his party were instrumental in bringing peace to the North.
What a childish comment – recycling the auld Fine Gael nonsense.
Wuhooooo Scooter, we are so lucky to have Jarry bringing us peace. What would we have done without him and his ilk? Give me a bucket….
To answer your question, we’d have done what we did for decades before: abandoned nationalists in a two tiered, gerrymandered, sectarian society.
In the same way Fine Gael turned a blind eye to rape in industrial schools for 50 years.
No Niall, they actively encourage sectarian acts of brutal rape and violence against women. You’re an idiot.
Nìl aon Jihaid mar do Jhihaid féin.
If he grew the beard a bit longer, lost the glasses and got himself one of those fancy head scarfs then I’d be be a tad suspicious, but for now he’s just plain ould Gerry.
Can we believe him?
ISIS may be genocidal lunatics, but they have standards in fairness.
He has the beard for it !
Seriously? What have you been taking this morning?
He doesn’t have to be, but could probably do a bit of consulting for them?
When ISIS make there way over here.Ye will be all looking for Gerrys help
Why David? If ISIS make there way over here will he negotiate a peace deal with them.
Why David? Cause he’s got form with the gun?
Gerry will share power with them and call it a victory?
Sorry Gerry, but Paul Murphy has already taken that role! I’ve a suspicion that the tweet maybe an attempt at humour
So does that mean the massive irish movement on the streets are all members of an extremist group? The attempt to divide the largest mass movement of irish people in a generation who are opposed to the selling off to private interest and direct taxation of our water supply by painting us as murders and rapist will not work in fact it is acting as a rallying call. If irish water is not abolished there will be further civil unrest and if Kenny and the boys in the dail bar refuse to listen to the people they represent they will directly cause huge damage to our society.
Big push on the 10th to show it’s more then am extremist Muslim group that has an issue with the monstrosity that is the quango irish water !
I feel like Mrs Doyle when the sarcastic priest is staying on craggy island with them…
What about the IRA then Gerry???..
What has the IRA got to do with ISIS.
Please explain more tom
We don’t like ISIS, we don’t like the IRA and we don’t like SINN FEIN.
And we don’t trust Gerry Adams or any of them for that matter.
Get in the bin all four of you. You belong together.
Who this we pale face ?.. Speak for yourself…. Love ya big G
Kevin – When you say we don’t like Sinn Féin. Who’s we?
We?
Kevins a Fianna Fail man. So, although the ‘we’ in his comment don’t like or trust the IRA, his former party leader was happy enough to try supply them with weapons back in the 70s.
Kevin who is the ” we” in your post, have you a big white rabbit called Harvey sat beside you???
@Martin Byrne. The 90.1 percent of the people who didn’t vote for SF in 2011 don’t like you. You are not the biggest party in Ireland, you got 9.9% of the vote where it matters and no amount of RTE supported spin can change that fact
Brendan – Let’s see in the next election :)
@Martin Looking forward to it…..
Kevin, I see that you are having some problems with pronouns. For future reference, the first-person, personal pronoun is ‘I’.
Troll,s are all over this story like a rash it seems to have unleashed the anti G.Adams wing of the troll army. If your masters spent as much time trying to run the country as you lot do on Shinner bashing maybe we wouldn’t be in this mess. Wishing you all the best in your retirement from the troll army.
What’s the definition of a Troll Alan? Someone who disagrees with you?
People like you Brendan who comment on any comment you don’t agree with. It’s like a carpet bombing of the comments section sometimes with the anti-SF lot.
ChArle Rex thank god I never had the problem that Gerry Adams had over his brother or many other families and I take from your disgusting comment neither have u but I know one thing family bond is a very strong thing and not one of us know what we would do in their shoes I would hope I’d do the right thing and report them but this is the point not one of us know till it happen now go away and try to score point on something less hurtful to a lot of people
Why did he cover up for his child abuser brother?
Because he was his brother.
Oh sorry, that’s okay then.
Why did members of the current government cover up for the rape and abuse of thousands of children by the Catholic Church ? Got any proof that Gerry knew about his brother? I’ve got plenty to prove my accusations Now back in your box troll.
Charles, why muddy the waters with such an emotive subject, please refrain from using cheap shots to make a point.
Oh bless. I hurt the shinners feelings. Cheer up love.
So everyone who challenges you for using the child abuse attack is a shinner? Grow TFU
Kool, I’d rather gerry addressed the issues maryloo deflected skillfully then read his ‘hilarious’ tweets. Any other leader of a party would be out of a job now. Luckily shinners are very forgiving of their deified leader.
It’s a valid question. If you prefer to consider it an attack, that’s on you. The man has questions to answer. Simples
Please leave child abuse remarks out of your comments as it’s not clever and demeans those who may have experienced such things
The Catholic Church, the IRA, UDA, Sinn Fein etc. are all the dirty fcukers who represent our little society and in the centre is Gerry – tweeting sh%te.
Kool – nicely deflected. As I explained to a different shinner recently, it’s happened in my wider family but we didn’t find out till after the monster had died. I’d have dragged him to a garda station in a heartbeat. So yes, to answer a poster below this, I do know how I’d react on this situation. If you are happy to call important questions ‘point scoring’ that’s on you and your faux hurt. I’m not.
Have you ever heard the word ‘denial’ being used when it comes to abuse cases ?
@Paddy. Amazing how any conversation about GA or NI always ends up with the apologists doing the Northern Ireland “Whataboutery” mantra
Now now. He’s the one who brought up the cover up of abuse on a completly unrelated subject in an effort to play the what aboutery card.If he wants all cover up allegations investigated lets start with the ones we actually have evidence for not the ones we wish we had evidence for.
Gerry not a member of
Isis -tick..Gerry not a member of the IRA – tick
I’m sorry I asked him this yesterday on Twitter :-)
I think is a absolute disgrace the lack of respect a lot of people have for Mr Adams. Yet ye fools have voted in fool after fool to run our country. Ye may think ye are smart and clever but ye are actually brain washed sheep. I can’t guarantee ye will see the light someday because ye probably come from a long line of sheep. But the light is coming
Was Gerry involved with some other terrorist organisation? He denies that too…
Wasn’t Gaddafi one of his best mate .
Wasn’t Pinochet Thatcher’s BFF?!!!
Isis haven’t gone away you know.
Terrorist banter is great craic. The PIRA has probably killed more people than ISIS.
Not even close. At most, the PIRA killed 2000 in 31 years. ISIS have killed over 8000 civilians in Iraq in the first eight months of this year. Stop spouting random bullcrud…
A former terrorist leader cracking terrorist jokes is bullcrud..
In what parts of our country, did SF/IRA facilitate the placement of paedophiles?
You can tweet them if you want.
Between Sinn Fein, the RCC and an accommodating/pimping political class this country has ended up a paedophiles paradise – second only to Thailand.
Sean, you forgot to mention that successive FG and FF governments also facilitated paedophilia. Stones in glasshouses and all that.
The fact Gerry Adams was an IRA member doesn’t make him ISIS. Different types of terrorism and ideologies. Please respect our terrorists
It really gets me when people spell freedom fighter wrong :(
Ah but it’s really hard to believe anything that man says.
Now that he has denied it, I sorta believe he is.
Course he wasn’t in the IRA he just became pen pals with the convicted IRA killers of Garda Jerry McCabe while they were in prison then decided he’d go visit them in prison as you do…
He could teach ISIS a thing or two
I’m beginning to warm to this Mr Adams :-D
Why you no post my comments? :(
It’s your broken English mate, fix that and come back sometime in the future.
He was never in the IRA either. Marie Cahill showed him up.
They haven’t gone away you know
He’s never denied being in the IRA
I think he has actually, repeatedly. Not sure if you saw Fintan O’Toole’s recent article summarising numerous examples of Gerry’s struggles with accuracy? One of those examples was his denials about being in the IRA. Interestingly, Gerry wrote to the IT about this article but didn’t try to contradict anything Fintan said. http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/never-mind-the-evidence-feel-the-truthiness-of-what-gerry-adams-says-1.1978855
PS here’s an stuck with a direct quote from Adams saying “I have not been and am not a member of the IRA”. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/oct/01/northernireland.northernireland
The question is, do his supporters believe he’s telling the truth about that? If not, then how can anyone believe anything he says?
“an stuck”?! Weird! Was meant to say “an article”!
I love how you share an article by Fintan O’Toole as if he were a real journalist rather than an establishment hack.
Wow great article
Oh yes he IS!
What a wonderful sense of humour he has.
I don’t believe him.
Shave the beard jerry there onto you…..Allah akhbar jerry lol
Wow news
Noel coonan should be more concerned about what group he is in. You know noel your talking shit.
Why you no post my reply journal??
Perhaps they no like it
Ya that was some apology alright
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