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NOW THAT THE clocks have gone back, summer is well and truly over and the long hours of darkness are here to stay, until March at least.
Familiar routes can pose totally different challenges in the dark and you really do need to be extra vigilant.
Even during the day, darker conditions bring poor visibility and higher risk of collisions, simply because it can be harder to spot hazards.
Here are some things that you can do to stay that little bit safer on the road when driving in the dark:
Why didn’t they allow their members to vote if they didn’t have an official party policy, they criticise the party whip system but use it when it suits them
Don’t care what their policy is. Won’t vote for SF. Wouldn’t vote for them if they were the only party.
Whip system abolition only works when the full house votes with conciounce not just Sinn Fein, they also have to respect their members equal vote.
I remember Claire Daly on TV defending the right to life of the minx cat in relation to fur farming .
and I agree with her on that ,
but it twists my brain how she will defend the right to life of the minx cat while at the same time call for the right to life of the unborn to be abolished .
Do you understand what a Fatal Foetal Abnormality is?
If so do you respect the democratic wishes of 81% of the population?
Kevin, the Democratic wishes of 81% of the population?
The minx cat is an independently alive creature while a fetus isn’t? Not really something to be twisting your brain about.
Yes it is true that women should have sovereignty to their wombs , but what about the embryo having a father ?
Would it not be fair to explore the area of freezing embryos or offering the father a chance to get a surrogate –
Life is life after all !
And yes I know that many fathers may not care but for those that do and for those who believe that life begins at conception etc. etc.
Can you peeps look up “Fatal” in the dictionary please.
Question surely is – do SF actually have a policy on anything ? Do any political parties actally have a POLICY on anthing or do they merely have temporary opinions that they feel might just get them elected?
It wont be long before Panti is heading up Sinn Fein .
My advice to Sinn Fein is to split in two .
the communists on one side , and the nationalists on the other .
I see the FG/LAB trolls are up bright and early this morning,
Peter , why do you think that . I dont support any political party .
FG , Lab , SF , FF all the same to me , all media conformist parties .
Peter grimes: Because someone is opposed to Sinn Fein doesn’t mean they are FG/Labour supporters nor does it make them trolls. Feel free to debate the topics rather than resorting to insult at the first opportunity.
The lack of the usual shinnerbots commenting on this sf article suggests they are unable to carry a personal opinion on the subject of abortion. Far better to wait for guidance and moral clarity from the great bearded saviour of the universe. ‘St gerry of the blessed murph’ they cry. ‘Bring us the light of your populism to guide us through the dark night of our moral ambivalence’
With you lot, you can’t be serious you wouldn’t know your ar*e from your elbow. I haven’t seen much debate here yet, all I can see is smart ar*e comments. As a matter of fact I haven’t seen a decent comment on here that could lead to a debate. Kenny is delusional,to the point of madness. The srart of Hitler’s downfall came when he created the russian front, most of his troops froze to death, he hadn’t the foresight to take the harsh russian winter into consideration, and equip his troops accordingly. Kenny is taking the same path, I think his party would have survived the austerity war, reasonably intact, until he decided to create a second front on austerity, the water charge, he wasn’t prepared for the rise of the Irish people. A quote from Isoroku Yamamoto after the attack on Pearl Harbour sums it up. “I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill him with a terrible resolve,
Sorry, what?
Maybe it’s because we’re in work Charles, that we don’t have time to comment ad nauseum. You on the other hand and all the other endabots are no doubt civil servants and have plenty of time to comment in between scratching your arses.
Here sniper on patrol, I look forward to you outlining your position when gerry has squared away your beliefs for you. Puppets and sheep.
Sinn Fein do have policies, they’ll tell you right after you tell them what you’re really, really, really like to happen.
actually , I should have said split in three .
within Sinn Fein , there seems to be 3 different groups .
communists , nationalists and judging from their EU Manifesto Europhiles ,
dont you just hate the way europhiles try to get their feet into every political party so people in ireland will have no alternative than to kneel before the kaiser
Charles Rex: Sniper needs to check out his statement with P O Neill first
But, Brian, are you saying that PIR is P O’ Neill? Well, I’m astonished, particularly considering he’s one the many Shinnerbots who accuses the rest of us as having fake accounts/names – what a surprise!
Excellent assessment Dave – you left out the loyalist element as well – if the I.R.A. were infiltrated by the british you can be damn sure Sinn Fein are as well !
Peter, FGLAB FF and all others are as entitled to troll their opinions and to express them as you are to troll yours.
Your snide trolling against them is boring
We may support it if it populist.
Yeah they will be ruined if they ever get into power and have to make actual decisions. I have never seen such raw blatant populism. ‘We registered to pay water charges but now we see so many marching we won’t pay either’.
Aye sinn fein norn Iron gibba jabba. Still better than Enda ( never worked a day in his life ) Kenny
Charles I could not have said it better myself.
By Populist, do you mean bowing to the will of the people? Then we need more populist politicians.
@Francis Devenney
We the people demand Christmas every day!
We SF promise to deliver Christmas every day!
That’s because you are Charles
Yawn.
Populist as in everything to GET elected and then realising whoops in a spot of bother here.
That’s why labour are finished they took a stance they could not keep up and we’ll paying price. To be fair to fg they did not go into office to kick out ECB or lower taxes they were elected to short the mess out.
It’s largely sorted to be fair.
We had rakes of populist politicians (all parties) during Celtic Tiger era: buying property with easy credit was very popular. See where it got us.
Populist parents allow their children watch tv all day and eat sweets for fear of being unpopular.
Doesn’t bode well for SF making tough decisions on anything that might lose a voter.
Huge crowd of FG/Lab Trolls on in response to a Hugh O’Connell “Special” Article this morning !!!
By golly – Huge panic has set in since the last weekend disastrous Labour Party Conference tiny turnout ?
Deckchairs spinning around the deck of The Titanic at this point !
Well done Hugh – At least you are gathering these people in the one spot moaning , groaning and spilling their anguish .
Can’t wait for The Upcoming General Election – Good times ahead .
Im looking forward to continued prosperity under FG for the foreseeable future. i wish them well in their second term
Fine Gael are toast Pat – the names of the H.S.B.C. 350 and the Ansbacher politicians are going to come into the public domain and when they do then Fine Gael are in big doo-doo !
oh that tumbleweed story – I’m sure everyone is terrified haha
….The answer my friend is blowing in the wind….
First of all I’m not a SF member but have voted for them (and other parties) in the past. This constant charge of populism is pure silliness and detracts from any meaningful debate. Populism means that the support the masses against the interests of the elites. what is so bad about that? Is that really something to be ashamed of? All opposition parties could be called populist at any time because they strive to appeal to the middle ground voter and the fringes of the parties in governments. People would do well to address actual issues instead of these constant and childish accusations of populism.
Dieu7 : you’re definition of populism is wrong. It means having absolutely no views or opinions of you’re own and doing whatever is most popular in each instance. Even when the popular action directly contradicts previous actions.
If you stand for nothing you will allow anything.
Populism is whatever spin the media put on a story to annoy the sheep that lap it up. Everything is a crisis or biggest scandal ever…until tomorrow’s headline.
Keep Laughing Pat – that’s how they find you – Fingers only thinks he has gotten away with it !
FG – the law and order party my rear !
The question really is what is Sinn Fein’s policy on anything apart from the North… they’re great at jumping on bandwagons, but never hear a whole load of sense from them in so far as wider policy is concerned.
Here’s a mad idea John … Watch the Ard Fheis this weekend and find out .. Just a thought !
whatever is the populist stance thats the SF stance
They seem to have Fine Gael and Fianna Fail Labour disease on that front !
So Hermes you think introducing property tax and water charges was populist?
Yes in Germany for their coffers – of course it was – the bundestag and the Troika have been writing the economic script in Ireland for some time now …That is why Ireland will be the first to leave the E.U. we are the empire breakers when they try to break us !
Enda is only the window dressing and for that he will have a terrible price to pay !
Hermes when you’re in a hole stop digging
Sinn Fein don’t have an obvious policy on abortion other than to: ‘hear no evil, see no evil and to speak no evil’.
They need to run the numbers and figure out what position would be most popular with voters.
Give them time; rest assured it will be a popular position when they calculate what it should be.
Don’t all parties do that?
No, some have positions on moral or economic policy issues as a fundamental value – rather than sourced from marketing focus group.
The ‘Republican Movement’ was always essentially a one-issue (‘Brits Out’) organization comprising strange ideological bedfellows. At some point it decided arbitrarily that it was actually ‘left-wing’ (read ‘fuzzily populist’), but it has always looked foolish when attempting to venture beyond its simplistic take on ‘the national question’.
Hugh, how much are FG paying you per week ?
A lot of money invested privately in this Government – the rich need Enda more than Ireland does and Enda goes and impoverishes irish Families with Bundestag Budgets…….. !
He reminds me of the Vichy Government in France under Germany in the 40s …. and all the loot pouring into Switzerland – Free the H.S.B.C 350 !
Enda has known about the HSBC 350 since 2010 and so has the Irish media – that’s all you need to know actually .
That’s a stupid comment, Felicia.
Explain why it is stupid. All Hugh spouts is anti Sinn Fein lies time after time. An impartial journalist should not be bias. So Hugh is either a dishonest, poor or compromised journalist. Take your pick Dermot
The article is fair, balanced and in no way is anti Sinn Fein. If anyone has an agenda here it’s you. I’d say you haven’t even read the article.
Ha! That’s Sinn Feins answer to everything; “how much are you paid?”.
Ironic seeing as their economics are so clueless!
I suggest you read it again Dermot. All the sly digs in there. This is an article penned by an author with alternative motives
Don Juan, it was me that posed the question and I am not a member of Sinn Fein so I don’t see the revelance of your comment. Was it meant for another thread or something ???
Good answer Felicia!
I’ve read it again and I can see anything that’s not an accurate statement of the party’s position. If the writer has a hidden agenda it’s not obvious to me from this piece. Can you quote me an example?
@ Felicia – you’re right in what you say about the author and just ignore the blueshirt trolls on here – a lot of them are feeling sensitive about losing their place and getting their asses handed to them in the next election.
Dermot, you should know by now that anything that makes Sinn Fein supporters feel a little bit uncomfortable is blatent propaganda written by FG and Labour trolls. Criticism of Dear Leader is not allowed!
I’m still waiting for someone to point out the bias/anti SF agenda in this article, and yet by simply asking for this I’m a government troll?
Not everyone who criticises or questions SF is a govt supporter. As a political party aiming to lead the country, and with big support in the opinion polls, SF supporters need to realise that they and their policies will be subject to close scrutiny from now on. Get used to it.
Arguing with a Shinner is like arguing with a turnip. What you see is what you get – a turnip. Would you admit to having a conversation or debating with a turnip?
Says the soggy tea bag!
Mr Lyons – Discussing or debating with you is like talking to Goebbels about reforming and speaking other then a continuous load of FG porky pies!
Their position is anything that will get votes, much like the other parties. All will debate and again leave it till after the GE
Adams mind must be melted thinking about what he should advise as leader of Sinn Fein on this matter! After all he has to think carefully if he should support the “pro life” side considering the IRAs history of murder and violence.
He is also well acquainted with lies, rape, child abuse and incest in his immediate circle.
Would he not find it very hypocritical to vote against allowing women to have a termination when she has been told that her baby has no chance of life outside the womb!!
Two horses and a foot on each saddle…
They had no problem with the aborting of thousands of lives as a result of a fanatical hatred of the ‘others’.
Defending your community against illegal occupation is no crime. #heroesIRA
if it was illegal you should go to the police :D
Their stance will be whatever is the popular with the people.
Remember Adams said he was paying his water bill on his second home in Donegal, then suddenly when public opinion changed, he changed as well and suddenly wasn’t paying it
It depends on what public opinion is on the issue – like every other SF policy.
A divisive issue? No way Sinn Fein are weighing in on that!
A real example of Sinn Fein leadership, clarity and conciseness of policy and ability to make tough decisions for the good of the country.
child protection is literally a very touchy subject for SF
Who said that? Was it (a) Kenneth, (b) realgael, (c) Gillhouley or (d) all of the above?
They have to see which way the bandwagon is parked first.
Shinners ask yourselves this -
Who will lead you when Gerry Adams has passed away ?
Or jailed…
Adams will hopefully be around for another while- but who ever is voted as Sinn Fein leader at the Ard Fheis will lead us- simples-
There will be no talk of replacing Dear Leader, he is leader for life!
I might have to apply for the position – it being an open and democratic organisation with no links to MI5 – Denis Donaldson and all that !
SF are total cowards and hypocrites on this issue. They don’t have a policy on it (even though abortion is not new) because they don’t want to lose all those soft FF voters who are currently supporting them, or they don’t want to make themselves less attractive to transfers from similar voters.
Even if they have a policy on fatal foetal abnormalities after their Árd fhéis, this would just raise the question of what their stance is on abortion in cases of rape, when the mother’s health as distinct from her life is at risk etc. etc. etc. They need a clear policy once and for all.
They are waiting for Paul Murphy to point the way is my guess – Murphy is more republican with his stand on Irish Water then many within Sinn Fein and that is a fact !
I like Sinn Fein though – I know their grassroots and they are not men to be fooled for too long and not men to be double-crossed either !
SF are fooling a lot of the electorate with the populist policies.
Maybe the electorate have had enough of FG unpopulist policies.
Like Enda did in the last election Prionsias – that is why Independents must be to the fore – they have the internal mental capacity to think outside the groupthink mentality !
Proinsias – How are The Labour Party doing ?
Eddie you know as much about the Labour Party as me, so ask yourself!
Proinsias – what’s all the bashing and pro Government Parties mentality so ?
Presumably , being a Foley , your background is Stickie / Workers Party / Democratic Left / Labour and all the other multiplicity of names and splits they had over the years !
But they have truly destroyed The Labour Party , since they took them over , I’m sure you will agree ?
Eddie, unlike many people I never subscribed to the lunacy of voting for a party just because my father or mother did! Regarding my parents my father is a died in the wool FF man and my mother came from a strong Labour supporting family.
I make my mind up at election time based on the best mix of these and other wishes of mine:
I am not swayed by fantasy economics, I want a pro employment party, I detest conservative Christian types, I like a reasonable mix of social and economic liberalism, I want a party that is pro business but looks after the weakest in society. I want a party to tackle lifelong welfare spongers, I want career criminals to be given harsh sentences, I want strict separation of church and state.
Proinsias for Taoiseach!
Pronsious – I think your second paragraph has concisely summed up what most of Ireland want, but sadly unlikely to get. A new party who offered such principles, would in my view do very well.
Sf policy on abortion is whatever policy is most likely to win votes.
SF don’t mind people suffering especially children, they caused so much suffering to children they should hide in shame.
Sinn Féin have a policy?
They’ll support abortion, as long as it involves shooting the mother.
What exactly is Sinn Fein’s position on abortion?
Hugh the answer to that question, as you well know, will be defined this weekend at the party ard fheis.
Whats SFs policy on any issue?? All depends on the day of the week and whether you live in the South or the North..
What’s the Journal’s policy on abortion? Still pretending not to have one?
The fourth Estate should be impartial – unle3ss you believe in manipulation of the masses by crooked media of course !
The planet is blue by the way !
Yes it SHOULD be
Depends which day of the week it is.
I think I have heard it all.
So, apparently, it is bad for Sinn Fein to choose a policy because it will give them votes.
So what is the right course of action for SF. Choose a policy that the people majoritarily doesn’t want?
How does that make any sense?
Anyway, such comments come from those who think SF cannot do anything right, no matter what SF does. They happily go all out against ‘Shinner bots’ by behaving exactly like ‘Anti-shinner bots’ would.
No brain, all bot.
If I could vote in this country I’d vote SF, as long as they came up with a pro-choice policy. No policy and pro-foetus policy would not get my vote.
But apparently if SF chooses to take on *ANY* option about abortion, that will only be with the purpose of gaining them votes. It could not be with the purpose of representing the people, no. That’s reserved to FG and FF.
Give me a break.
Seems that Journal readers are much more comfortable with a Labour-style policy, Al. That is, trade on a pro-choice stance until they actually get into government. Then when they could do something about it, go with their overlords in FG and claim that there is no mandate/ appetite/ bla bla.. I wonder what scares people more at this stage – the likelihood of abortion in certain cases becoming a reality in Ireland or the likelihood of SF being part of the government that will introduce it?
Lord of mercy.
I see the packet of tea bags and dougal reg are up and at it must of got a call from fg HQ.
Total muppets without a brain reg you do no that dougal was not a real person .
Dissapear them
Sinn Fein :’My new love’ :)
If you’re taking your time on this important issue,Ger -then please – don’t take as long as the other populist parties on this . #oggieisprochoice
So this government shouts about cutting taxes while introducing steeper new taxes and charges and all they can talk about is Sinn Fein and Abortion???
It is amusing to see posts here about it being pointless voting for parties as long as there is a whip. Yet if a policy is left open for the TD’s to decide then they are accused of the crime of being populist. Political parties have done nothing to legislate on this thorny subject precisely because it is so divisive among party members and activists. The best way forward is for all parties to back of the ideology and let a free vote take place. That way we will know how TD’s really think and feel on the matter. More importantly we will get to out the hypocrites who want to hide behind party policy and the whip, claiming to be one thing yet voting the other way.
Sadly instead of having an open and honest debate, journalist like Hugh here will party politicise the issue and party trolls will milk it for for everything it is worth. No wonder so many people are disillusioned with politics.
If the government taxed it then it might be another Irish spinner for them… lol.
An Irish Water personnel at every pregnancy so they can charge 188 for when the water breaks lol.
How screwed up is it that this is even a issue. Hard to believe that a modern day European country still does not allow women to control their own lives.
Ruled by an archaic religious creed and doctrine.
.
Night, Tap xxx
They should change there stance after all the stalling once and for all and support a women’s right over her body and be pro choice officially. Like all respectable socialists.
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