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Everyone’s talking about…
Same-sex marriage.
There’s not many things politicians of all parties and none agree on, but same-sex marriage seems like it has most people on board.
Sinn Féin is to launch a ‘yes’ campaign today, with the party due to lay out its plans in Dublin this morning.
Equality spokesperson Padraig Mac Lochlainn said Sinn Féin will “campaign vigorously for a ‘yes’ vote”.
Mac Lochlainn told TheJournal.ie the party wants to “send a message to our gay and lesbian citizens that they are equal and they have the right to marry the person that they love”.
He said bullying of gay people will only be comprehensively dealt with by extending full rights, including marriage, to gay and lesbian couples.
All of the main parties and several independents have said they will be campaigning for a ‘yes’ vote on 22 May.
Yesterday, former president Mary McAleese became the latest high-profile figure to speak out in favour of same-sex marriage.
Mac Lochlainn said all public representatives need to encourage constituents to get out and vote as “there’s no room for complacency” – despite what opinion polls say.
Not everyone agrees with the Donegal TD, however. Independent Senator Rónán Mullen previously told us he thinks most politicians will vote ‘no’.
There were amicable scenes when representatives from both sides met yesterday.
How long will that last?
The agenda
Inside Leinster House
A Fine Gael TD suggested independents want to join the party because they are “powerless” and “frustrated”. In response, Michael Healy-Rae accused some backbenchers of ‘waking up from comas’ because the general election is around the corner.
What the others are saying
In case you missed it
On the Twitter machine
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Really important that there is a vigorous campaign to get people to actually vote on May 22nd.
Opinion polls might show 75/25 to the Yes side but if turnout is below 50% the result could be very close.
The No voters will vote.
So what if people vote no? People can vote anyway they like, its a personal and private matter, i.e none of your business. Why should we get brow beaten into voting for one particular way.
Both sides are doing the same. People are passionate about this particular issue and want the right outcome. You don’t have to read the pleas nor do you have to follow them.
To be fair Séamus didn’t tell you which way to vote. He just said it’s important to go and exercise your right to vote whichever way you’re voting.
A Yes vote will be a resounding victory for Sinn Féin, the largest party in Ireland.
Official Shinnerbot i can see that you are trolling if u add all the seats together and our projected seats we shall be the only party in Ireland.
^^^^
Please ignore. Another troll pretending to be my account, like the one banned last weekend
^^^^
I suspect one of the Comrades Jammin above is an impostor, but I can’t tell the difference.
Can the real Comrade Jammin please meet me now at the SFHQ water cooler?
Imitation is the highest form of flattery, Jammin!
Although it is a bit sad.
Breda O’Brien (Patron of Iona) had an absolutely disastrous interview on NewsTalk this morning.
She was repeatedly called out for misrepresentation and challenged several times for her inaccurate quoting of ex-President McAleese.
Worth a listen for the car-crash radio that it was. Kudos to Chris Donoghue for some great interviewing.
Audio of Breda O’Brien here:
Audio of Mary McAleese here:
http://www.newstalk.com/Mary-McAleese:-Samesex-referendum-is-about-children–gay-children
Thanks for posting winding_down. Just listening to it now, cringeworthy performance from iona.
Well, ironically hasn’t Breda O’Brien given the Yes Camapign a great slogan. Genderless Marriage. Finally, a phrase that sums it up: no more discrimination on the basis of gender. In fact, she may be pointing to a future in which gender identity no longer plays any signficant part. Who could complain about that?
It descended into farce when Breda/Iona criticised ex-President McAleese for expressing a personal opinion — does she not know that Presidents don’t have opinions?!
What Breda/Iona left out was that CURRENT Presidents shouldn’t have opinions, NOT ex-Presidents. Hardly a persuasive way to challenge Mary McAleese’s well-thought out comment.
(Why did Breda/Iona keep referring to Mary as “Iar Uachtarán” when in that very interview she said she doesn’t like being referred to ask that?)
*do WE not know..
Were Jammin
Iona who say they are NOT campaigning !
Deletes his old twitter history so that he can be Were Jammin’s ‘doppelganger’ on the journal ..What a pathetic and sad individual :)
@live long- you say its a personal, private matter what way someone votes, and nobody else’s business. I say it’s a personal, private matter who someone chooses to marry, and nobody else’s business!
She got owned in that interview. Sure if any of the ‘No’ side are properly interviewed they come out looking like clowns.
So if a mother wants to marry her son Laura, do you think that is their business alone?
@TheoWolfe you realise how ridiculous and desperate you sound by comparing incest to same sex relationships? Get a grip will ya.
It may sound ridiculous to you but what I am trying to establish is whether you believe the state and society can interfere in personal and family relations. If you accept that the state has a legitimate right in one area you cannot argue then that it is none of its business elsewhere.
*SCRAPE SCRAPE SCRAPE*
That auld bigot barrel bottom you’re clawing at must be pretty thin at this stage, Theo.
Incest is potentially dangerous to both parties and is therefore illegal. It is Not the same case in same sex marriage so there is no comparison.
It’s a pathetic argument really but not surprising considering how desperate the no side is.
Is not male homosexual acts potentially dangerous to both parties? Is not sodomy dangerous to a female?
AND:
Laura said;
“I say it’s a personal, private matter who someone chooses to marry, and nobody else’s business!”
That is unequivocal. So the state does not have the right to interfere no matter who someone chooses to marry.
“A Yes vote will be a resounding victory for Sinn Féin, the largest party in Ireland.” Official Shinnerbot.
Would that not be seen more as one for the eejit government parties???
Was at a gay wedding in France last year, unreal craic, so please vote YES, for the equality as well like.
Why should we? and why are you telling people what way to vote? This is the problem I have with voting Yes, its the fact it’s almost a demand that we vote yes
Don’t worry Gonzo.
I’ll be voting NO to ensure that you can enjoy plenty more foreign SS weddings.
Live Long. It’s a referendum. There’s a ‘yes’ side and a ‘no’ side. And both sides are campaigning, as one would expect. But the question is simple: ‘Marriage may be contracted in accordance with law by two persons without distinction as to their sex’. If you agree, vote ‘yes’. If you don’t, ‘vote ‘no’. End of story. There’s campaigners behind everything in life, always have been, always will be. Just vote on the question in hand, as you see fit.
Gonzo, it’d be a shame if it’s a ‘no’. Weddings are big money, as you know. Would be bad to see € leaving the country for places that offer marriage equality instead of € coming in because we offer marriage equality.
Live Long,
Gonzo didn’t tell you how to vote. He asked those who read it to vote yes. Asked.
Note the use of the word ‘please’. It’s not a word used for a demand is it?
At first it was funny but now it’s just annoying how the no side are resorting to flat out lies now about being bullied into voting yes.
You are an adult, vote how you want. If you vote based on the comment section of an Internet site you shouldn’t be allowed to vote. Yes or no. Grow up.
@TheDoctor Are you born a cabbage or do you have to earn it?
Just noticed you passed by all them posts with people telling other people to vote no. And yet you didn’t comment on them.
But the first post you see asking people to vote yes and start complaining about being told how to vote.
It’s funny how it only annoys you when it’s a different view than your own.
Where you born with a closed mind or was it bred into you?
There will be many SS weddings of non Irish who want to live here then?
Really looking forward to the day when same sex marriage will simply be referred to as ‘marriage’. Hopefully not too far away…
You want a constitutional referendum on the ownership of Irish Water, on the same day as the marriage equality referendum. Why would you support something that would take attention/debate away from this crucial equality issue?
Well theres also a vote on lowering the age for presidential candidates on the same day dermo, I don’t remember you claiming ‘ that would take attention/debate away from this crucial equality issue’.
Mind you don’t get a friction burn clutching at those straws.
Slightly more complicated issue to debate though “Were Jammin”, especially for disingenuous shinner trolls like your good self.
May 23rd, Jammin’.
SF won’t be fooled anymore, no they wait until everyone else decides and then they pick the populist stance. they don’t want another u turn like the water charges :D
Still repeating the lie kenneth/realgael/patjoejoe/mrgilhooley?
SF have been against water charges from day one and have successfully blocked them up north for the last 8 years.
It astonishes me the popularity of SF. By all means, vote the current government out if you don’t agree with their policies but to vote for a party that has been linked to some of the worst atrocities this country has ever seen, has openly turned a blind eye to the murdering and beating of innocent people, not to mention the sexual abuse cover ups. If that’s the sort of party people want leading the country then God help us all
Still able to post from a suspended twitter account !!!!.
I think all political parties evolved from the original SF.
Werejammin – didn’t Gerry Adams say he would pay the water charges until he say the wind changing and then reverse his decision? – Would you not define that as populism…. a political strategy based on a calculated appeal to the interests or prejudices of ordinary people?
Original SF and 1970′s SF are two completley different parties
definition of populism can change depending on who is doing it. When Gerry does it is intelligent perception, if anyone else does it is hypcrisy. simples.
^^^^
Here we go again.
Guys, thats not me posting. There was one fake account blocked over the weekend pretending to be me, now another one is doing the same. I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this is lowlife trolling at its worst.
^^^^
Here we go again.
Guys, this is not me posting. There was one fake account blocked over the weekend pretending to be me, now another one is doing the same. I know they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but this is lowlife trolling at its worst.
^^^^
One of you is a stakeknife undercover MI5 operative, but I can’t tell #shinnerbotmalfunction
I thought you were making too much sense Werejammin!
Beano,
Are you saying that Fianna Fail, Fine Gael and Irish Labour have no history of violent insurrection?
patjoe any jobs trolling??
WJ, the North exists on handouts from Westminster. It takes a brave government to implement such an unpopular charge and Sinn Fein ain’t capable of that.
Were Jammin
Looks like SF will jump on any ould passing band wagon, I think they have sealed their doom by proving they are just establishment lackeys looking for their turn at the trough.
How many times have we heard “people should not use this referendum to punish the government”
Looks like Enda the school teacher has taught Gerry to be a good little boy, so much for SF, just another paid for party, Jerry likes his wages too much to challenge the status quo.
Same sex marriage is wrong. Were sacrificing the childrens right to real parents. Vote NO
Children are not a prerequisite for marriage and vice versa….this is a referendum about marriage!
The irony of that comment with the gayest selfie as your profile pic.
Come on, get out of that closet and be fabulous..don’t be hatin!!
You don’t understand the referendum. You are a moron. Please go away and preferably stay at home taking topless selfies on 22nd May.
Says Peter with one of the gayest looking profile pics I’ve ever seen. Lol
That might be a relevant point if we didn’t already have a relativity high instance of single parents and non traditional families.
It’s such a weak argument and most people don’t buy it.
You can go back to not having anything to do with gay marriage after the election.
Same sex marriage has got nothing to do with children, people may want to get married because they love each other. Furthermore, if you had a modicum of intelligence you would realise this is not about children, this is about equity for gay people in terms of legal rights and taxes etc.
Don’t feed the Troll. He only signed up to Twitter a few days ago.
Awwww Peter… I knew the person in that pic when he was in college and confirm he is indeed very very gay. He also lives in Texas, is a Starbucks manager/fitness trainer and I’m 100% confident he’s not you.
Spot on Peter.
Please excuse the personal jibes and dispersions from my fellow commentors.
Coming from the gayest photo of the day!!
Never thought I’d see the day when politicians would be knocking each over to give support to a referendum on same sex marriage. It seems this little country is growing up.
Their all chasing the vote that’s why. Same sex marriage is the new “right on!” thing to do in Europe.
No politician will dare advocate a ‘No’ vote – They may vote ‘No’ themselves privately however.
Any politician speaking up for traditional marriage, risks their career being destroyed, and being labelled ‘homophobe’ ‘fundamentalist’ ‘bigot’ etc.
They would also be torn to ribbons in the media.
What politician would dare risk that, or take on the power of the media. Most on them will be falling over themselves to ‘jump on the bandwagon’ between now and May.
You’re a simple minded person live long. It seems like you really chose quantity over quality with your messages on this board… You spam the message of “don’t tell me how to vote”, probably because you don’t like being told what to do. In the very same way, that the people affected by this vote, don’t like being told what they can or cannot do. So get a grip buddy, and save your childish rants for somewhere else because this is a movement in the right direction ad far as society is concerned.
In your opinion Lawd …
@Lawd What rant? It was a one line comment. But your right, I don’t like being told what to do or how to vote.You come across as a bully, YOU think a yes vote is important and thus everyone should get on the bandwagon or shout at them until they do.
There you go again, only complaining about those with a different opinion than your own. And ignoring the exact same behaviour of those who agree with you.
Hypocrite springs to mind.
A yes vote will not effect me, or my parents, or anyone else I know who’s not gay, but will absolutely increase the quality of life of my gay friends, so yeah you’re right in that I fail to see merit in voting no.
Just don’t mention kids Lawd. The elephant in the room.
The imaginary elephant in a room that doesn’t exist.
HA again I didn’t think there was anything to discuss here. What makes them any less fit to take on a child? I’ve read plenty of stories on this site alone, of traditional families and the miserable circumstances the children were in due to neglect. The goal shouldn’t be don’t let the gays in, but to work on the whole system and attempt to block bad parents from messing their kid up full stop.
I forecast that the leader of the Navan Branch of Legion of Mary and the Knights of Columbas Peadar Tóibin will not be out canvassing for a yes vote!
Why doesn’t Gerry tie the knot with Alex Maskey or McElduff then and lead by example.
top of SF priorities is to get a gay candidate now, they feel there is populism that they are missing out on…
They’d try and promote the devil himself if it meant an extra vote or two.
Antrim & PatPatJoe, you guys need to get a room…
Gerry knows the gay vote is the “right on!” thing to do get behind, anything for a vote. He’d ship in half the third world if they promised to vote SF.
It’s a pity the shinners are not quite so eager to weight into some other discussions such as abuse and the disappeared.
Vote NO!
To save the family and vulnerable children/babies.
SF have plenty of gay elected officials already-give over with this popular rubbish and argue against their policies and principles head on if you disagree with their politics.
Because they are not gay.
would you not trail for it?
Wilde had sexual relations with underage boys , rent boys and servants, and that’s not applying today’s morals on a bygone age: they were under the age of consent at the time. He was a predator
Did you use your DeLorean time machine to nip back and prove those accusations? Wilde was prosecuted and his name driven through muck, everything you’ve accused him of could likely be malicious rumour.
I’m basing my comments on evidence in a court case, sworn by some of his victims
Maybe he’s hoping it’ll be Teddy Bears next?
Breda O’Brien (Patron of Iona) had an absolutely disastrous interview on NewsTalk this morning.
She was repeatedly called out for misrepresentation of statements made by the Referendum Commission and challenged several times for her inaccurate quoting of ex-President McAleese.
Worth a listen for the car-crash radio that it was.
Kudos to Chris Donoghue for some great interviewing.
Audio of Breda O’Brien here:
Audio of Mary McAleese here:
http://www.newstalk.com/Mary-McAleese:-Samesex-referendum-is-about-children–gay-children
I’m in favour of SSM so can’t be too critical of SF here, but it would be nice if just once they could do something not populist, even if only once. Any issue will do really, it’s just hard to trust the sincerity of people who are clearly just telling us what we want to hear.
They abstained from the FFA vote pending a decision from their ard feis, when the populist move would have been to support the bill.
Highly questionable if that would have been the “populist” move. Just sitting on the fence like the other mainstream parties, refusing to show a backbone
Were Jammin
Stop fooling yourself, most people don’t have a clue what the FFA is.
Its time to admit we need a new system, not a new party and SF is just part of the old bollixology.
“There’s not many things politicians of all parties and none agree on, but same-sex marriage seems like it has most people on board.”
That is because homosexual marriage has been the fastest formed orthodoxy, probably in political history. Politicians and political have abandoned the traditionalists and left them without a voice so that the only people giving voice to its opposition is the religious fundamentalists organisations and CC.
If only them “traditionalists” could put forward a politician to represent them in these matters.
Nah, much easier to play woe is me card isn’t it?
I don’t know Doctor, is it easier to play woe is me. The point I was making however is that political parties in particular and politicians in general have abandoned representing views that must be held by some of their constituencies, parties and ‘electoral constituencies’.
Imposing a particular orthodoxy in the authoritarian way that is happening throughout the western world is not good for democracy.
There is an election next year. You can remove any politicians you feel are not representing their constitutes.
It really is that simple. Everything else is just conspiracy nonsense.
Is there not a responsibility on politicians and political to represent all of their constituencies Doctor?
I can’t remember any referendum where a particular view was given a clear run by all the parties.
Is this democracy, where one view is accepted as valid and another treated as heresy?
I realise that Christopher Caldwell is of the fundamentalist right but he has a point when he says:
“Public opinion does not change this fast in free societies. Either opinion is not changing as fast as it appears to be, or society is not as free.”
In this case, all the parties agree on the same thing. I don’t understand your problem with that.
You seem angry that none of them agree with you.
“In this case, all the parties agree on the same thing. I don’t understand your problem with that.”
In a referendum do you not think it is incumbent on political leaders to put both points of view? Or has Ireland become a Maoist type state?
Angry?
How do you know they don’t agree with me? What is my opinion Doctor?
Ah good ould Sinn Feinn, they make sure they sit firmly on the fence and wait until they are absolutely certain what the outcome will be, then go with the populous opinion.
As much as I dislike Sinn Fein, they seem to be going about the marriage equality campaign well.
Credit where credit’s due.
Vote no and force a GE,guaranteed. Enda loses 4 referendums, water nonpayment, the press and opposition will crucify him,plus varadkar will know its because of enda and make a move for leader of the party,he said that’s his ambition. Government in mayhem,GE guaranteed, better days ahead.
We have every thing in englamd
England just give the keys back your years behide
So he is supporting what the majority of people want.
Doesn’t make him some LGBT champion or any less abhorrent IMO
have your say