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WHILE PEOPLE CONTINUED to pay their respects today to Martin McGuinness, in Stormont a unionist politician drew attention to his violent past.
Jim Allister of the Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) said during a special sitting of the Northern Ireland Assembly, that every death brings grief and sorrow to the family and friends.
Despite this, he believed that McGuinness’s death was different, as ”he himself bears responsibility for many violent and needless deaths in our community”.
As an IRA terrorist and commander, his hands drip with the blood of the innocent.
He goes to his grave having shown no remorse, no regret, no apology for the terror he brought to our streets, rather continuing to justify that bloodthirsty wickedness that was the IRA campaign.
He went on to compare McGuinness’s death to the murder of Constable Clive Graham in 1988, who died on 21 March – the same date as McGuinness. He said Graham was shot at a checkpoint by the IRA, and “never got the chance to live to 66″.
“So, today my primary thoughts are with the many victims of the IRA who never reached the age of 66… of children stolen from their parents and grandparents by the organisation in which McGuinness was a commander.”
Foster’s softer approach
DUP leader Arlene Foster, who gave a measured response to McGuinness’s death yesterday, was more emotive today, saying it was doubtful Northern Ireland would “ever see his like again”.
“…I do recognise also that there are many republicans and nationalists who look to Martin as a leader, friend or mentor who will be feeling a very real sense of loss that he has died in this way at the relatively young age of 66.”
She ended her remarks by quoting McGuinness’s favourite poet, Seamus Heaney.
“So hope for a great sea-change/ On the far side of revenge./ Believe that further shore/ Is reachable from here.”
The former first minister is undecided as to whether she will attend McGuinness’s funeral, which will be held tomorrow at 2pm in Saint Columba’s Church in Derry City.
According to RTÉ News, former US President Bill Clinton, and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, who worked with McGuinness to bring peace to Northern Ireland, will attend his funeral tomorrow.
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Banned on the Tube and buses in London, Paris. Rome.
Not just Ireland. Scooter batteries are very dangerous. No business having them in an enclosed space.
@Alan OConnor: rental scooters
@John Rock: haven’t they already introduced rental scooters here
These scooters badly need to be regulated I have had several near misses driving in and out of the local train station, they are a danger. No doubt drivers will take the blame for collisions.
@Laura Mulcahy: How do you cope, fair play
@Laura Mulcahy: The laws are actually in place. The problem in the situation you are describing is that they are not being enforced. I’ve the same problem around here. Young lad only 8 yo on one of them constantly, constantly going up and down the foot path on the bloody thing
Gardai are doing nothing about it, even after he knocked one of the elderly neighbours down.
There is a horrific video of a man bringing a e scooter battery into a lift. As soon as the doors close the battery combusts. Wish I hasn’t viewed the video, absolute nightmare fuel, but I can understand the ban a bit more.
@John K: is there? How many times would say this has happened?, Or was it a freak accident…? Cause to ban scooters altogether from public transport? What’s your view on motor bikes in general, safe? Ot cars for that matter?
@damien leen: maybe save up for a car instead of depending on these lethal menace machines
@damien leen: here now, you promoting bringing motorbikes and cars onto the bus??
@damien leen: my view is that people should be free to take risks, be it riding bikes, e-bikes or driving cars. My issue is when that risk is imposed on other people.
@Buster Lawless: 184 people died in car crashes last year… time to ban cars then.. bus, train and tram only..
@damien leen: in the UK in 2023 there were 199 fires caused by e bikes/ scooters. Look up a video of one going on fire and tell me you want to be sitting on the same carriage as that.
@Buster Lawless: what are talking about a gun!
@John K: what you’ve left out of that stat is that it was 143 ebikes and just 36 e-scooters. Yet ebikes still allowed on public transport. See the hypocrisy yet?
@Smelly Head: I mentioned ebikes/scooters. I’m not going to provide a complete breakdown of the study? I agree both should probably be banned from public transport. I wouldn’t want to be stuck on a bus or train with either.
@John K: I was pointing out the hypocrisy of banning one and not the other if they’re going to cite fire risk as a reason. Anyway, I’ve now bought an e-bike because of this ban, so they’d better not ban them. It’s CE marked, as per the regs. So was my scooter, but such is the tunnel vision of the NTA that they’ve blanket banned them anyway.
Good old Ireland just banning something yet again instead of trying to accommodate its citizens. Horrible little nanny state.
@Lewis Armstrong: don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
@Lewis Armstrong: ramblings of a mad man
@Lewis Armstrong: Tbh mate, I’ve seen loads of videos of these things spontaneously exploding and causing devastating damage from LiPo battery fires. It’s not worth the risk. I know it’s only a small handful of them that do explode, but I would rather have them outright banned on the trains than risk causing catastrophic damage that could cost thousands.
Safety at last. A ticking time bomb with these scooters about to explode everywhere on the buses. No ban them everywhere!!!
@Buster Lawless: at least on a bus you’d some chance of surviving….. But on an intercity train….when that grenade goes boom it’ll take a few carriages with it, well done NTA on this
@Kevvy kerrr: exactly everyone will be blown to smithereens
@Buster Lawless: “ticking time bomb”,” explode everywhere”!! Make sure to wear your high vis, to be safe, to be seen, and ask yourself if it’s safe.
@Kevvy kerrr: grenade? Exaggerating much? It’s people like you what cause unrest.
@Buster Lawless: “smithereens” “ticking time bomb” “grenade” My God, and they say women are hysterical? Are you all sure you’re not v@g!na-owners?
Bicycles should also be banned on Dart. Total madness when you see about 4/5 people get in one carriage with bicycles blocking everything for everyone. Dart security should throw them out on the nearest stop.
@Sergej Simonov: I agree with you. In fact they are not allowed on the DART at certain times. Plenty of posters and leaflets informing the customers about it but nobody cares. People with bikes looks the other way, same as staff who don’t enforce it to avoid the more than likely discussion with the customer.
At the end we get bikes bikes everywhere, blocking doors and compromising the safety of the passengers.
And don’t even think of saying sthg to the bike owner. They feel they are entitle to do as they please despite the ban.
Same is gonna happen with the e-scooters, enforcing the ban for a week or two, if we are lucky and then back to square one.
Wait and see. Leeway country all the way.
If only the owners had to learn the road regulations!
@anne marie le flohic: same for cyclists
Scooter batteries are more dangerous because they are lower to the ground than ebike batteries…by what, a couple I’d feet, if that. Jesys wept!
@damien leen: ??I knew a guy fell off stepladder,broke 2 ribs & wrist…….. Then this other fella fell off roof of high rise apartment building…..had to have closed coffin… So??
@Kevvy kerrr: quick! Ban stepladders! Ban high rise apartments!
Taking away people’s way to get to work. Good old Ireland now I’m fecked. I wonder what the stats are for journeys with E- scooters on public transport exploding in Ireland are …never.
@John Rock: you might want to take the “gamble”…….. I shouldn’t be at risk of being blown to Kingdom come by your choices
@Kevvy kerrr: it’s not a bomb.Be careful of your TV, phone, computer etc. then.
@Kevvy kerrr: “blown to kingdom come” you absolute drama queen. It’s not an IRA scooter, you know.
ban the cycles in the Luas too or reinstate the e-scooter. you basically condemn people for the choice they made
@Dominic Leleu: tell me how does e scooters or bicycles work on a busy train, bus, or dart ?Do they not take up a lot of room ?Do less people get on the train because of them ?
I wish too that E-Scooters were not used on footpaths. A footpath is for a pedestrian, not bikes or E-Scooters. Such a danger to elderly, wheelchair user, visually impaired, children. It’s a joke.
@Veronica Elliott: I see it regularly on footpaths what are they doing about it
Vapes, mobile phones and laptops all have lithium batteries in them……………
Cant beat a bit of banning Ted.
Fireman Sam must be on the board of the NTA
If only there was a way of making batteries removable…
Been working on scooters about 4 or 5 years now and I can tell you that the batteries going on fire are homemade or modified. Particularly uber and deliveroo drivers in the city center who need 10 batteries to ensure they can drive all day so they make their own as 10 batteries new could cost you up to 3000, its very appealing to try make them yourself. You’ll know them when you see them, usually wrapped in a load of tape.
BMW anyone.
I think ive seen more cars gone on fire than scooters. Maybe we should ban cars then too??
@Stephen Purcell: where are all the cars going on fire that u see?
It took Eamon Ryan about 6 to 7 years to pass them through the government and he couldn’t even do that right. He should have put in helmets hi_vis and gloves to go along with them which would make them a lot safer. Thank god he will never get in again. As for them going on fire that’s b—l sh- – e. You only have to travel any day on the M50 to see what e cars are on fire and people running away from them.
@Noel: helmets and hi-vis are part of the legislation. The problem is, nobody is enforcing it
@Smelly Head: shocking (no pun intended) that no one is enforcing legislation in Ireland. It’s just one of many things that are unenforced until something happens. To be fair, though, we are still awaiting other safety measures to reduce road deaths we were promised would be in place before last Christmas so a review of this ebike/scooter legislation is a decade off at least
A very stupid thing to do. Horse riding is far more dangerous.
They’ll have to ban smartphones and laptops aswell…they also have a lithium ion battery.
Took me 90 min to get from lucan to the pigeon house. I’d have done that on a Escooter in 45 min. Why would you want to bring a scooter on a bus? That like putting your car on the Dublin to Galway train.
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