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Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani Musadeq Sadeq/AP/Press Association Images

Suicide bomber kills head of Afghan peace council

Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed when a militant detonated explosives at his home in Kabul.

A SUICIDE BOMBER posing as a Taliban peace envoy assassinated a former Afghan president who for the past year headed a government council trying to negotiate a political settlement with the insurgents.

Tuesday’s attack, carried out in former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani’s Kabul home by a militant who detonated explosives hidden in his turban, dealt a harsh blow to efforts at ending a decade of war.

President Hamid Karzai cut short a visit to the US, calling on Afghans to remain unified in the face of Rabbani’s “martyrdom”. Rabbani’s death came days after a daytime assault by insurgents on the US Embassy and NATO headquarters, deepening a sense of insecurity in the capital.

NATO said in a statement that two suicide bombers were involved in the attack on Rabbani, both of them men who had feigned a desire to reconcile with the government. It was unclear if a second bomber was able to detonate his explosives.

Afghan officials, however, insisted there was only one attacker. Four of Rabbani’s bodyguards also died and a key presidential adviser was wounded in the bombing, they said.

Fazel Karim Aimaq, a former lawmaker from Kunduz province and a friend of Rabbani’s, told reporters outside the former president’s home that Rabbani had come back from a trip to Iran in order to meet with a man who had been described as a high-ranking Taliban contact. The visitor was shown into the house but not fully searched, Aimaq said. When Rabbani appeared, the man shook the former president’s hand and bowed as a sign of respect, Aimaq said.

“Then his turban exploded,” he said. Police confirmed that the bomb had been hidden in the turban.

Rabbani’s death will dent efforts to keep in check the regional and ethnic rivalries that partly feed the insurgency. As one of the wise old men of Afghan politics and the leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, Rabbani’s role in the attempts to seek a political deal with the Taliban – with US blessing – will be hard to replace soon. His death could unleash a well of resentment among some senior Northern Alliance members, who accuse Karzai of colluding with the Taliban.

Killing will not deter US help – Obama

Already Afghanistan’s ethnic minorities have begun to rearm in the face of negotiations with the Taliban. Rabbani’s death is likely to accelerate that process and lay the foundation for a possible civil war once US combat troops leave the country or take on support roles by the end of 2014.

President Barack Obama said the killing will not deter the US and Afghanistan from helping that country’s people live freely. He said the former president’s death is tragic because he was a man who cared deeply about Afghanistan. Obama commented at the start of a meeting in New York with Karzai.

Shukria Barakzai, a lawmaker from Kabul, was visibly shaken as she stood outside Rabbani’s house in the Wazir Akbar Khan area of the city, near the US Embassy and NATO headquarters.

“We don’t want the whole peace process to get stuck,” she said. “We have to continue, we have to.”

Rabbani, who was about 70 years old, headed the country’s High Peace Council, set up by the Afghan government to work toward a political solution to the decade-long war. It had made little headway since it was formed a year ago, but it was backed by many in the international community as an important first step toward a settlement.

Former President continued as a leader

Rabbani was president from 1992-1996, heading the Afghan government that preceded the Taliban rule. After he was driven from Kabul in 1996, he became the nominal head of the Northern Alliance, mostly minority Tajiks and Uzbeks, who swept to power in Kabul as a US-led invasion toppled the Taliban regime in late 2001. Rabbani, an ethnic Tajik, headed the Jamiat-e-Islami political party.

“We lost our leader. We lost our leader,” Habibullah, a close friend of Rabbani’s, said as he stood crying outside a hospital.

Recent kililngs have prompted Karzai to urge Afghan religious leaders to condemn the use of turban bombs.

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18 Comments
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    Mute Michael OKelly
    Favourite Michael OKelly
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    May 11th 2023, 3:40 PM

    “thriving economic entity that is the Republic of Ireland”- When you look at our economy from the outside it’s hard to disagree with this assessment. However despite the fact that our GDP continually grows at one of the fastest rates in Europe year on year I for one don’t feel any better off than I did ten years ago. Housing is more expensive, childcare is more expensive, filling my car up is more expensive, hospitals are still overcrowded, public transport is still poor I could go on. Ireland may be a richer country on paper but the majority of its citizens don’t seem to be any better off.

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    Mute Patrick Robinson
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    May 11th 2023, 5:32 PM

    @Michael OKelly: it’s a rich country in reality but the purse strings are held shut by the current shower of monkeys. They haven’t got a clue.

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    Mute Liam
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    May 11th 2023, 6:03 PM

    @Michael OKelly: sounds like a leaving cert business essay.

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    Mute Paul Crowley
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    May 11th 2023, 6:26 PM

    @Michael OKelly: the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Property speculators who produce nothing are thriving and the hard working middle class are screwed.

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    Mute Conchubhair MacLochlainn
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    May 11th 2023, 3:29 PM

    I think it was Marx who first noted in the 19th century, that paradise can be easily quantified by levels of cross-border fast food price parity.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    May 11th 2023, 6:53 PM

    @Conchubhair MacLochlainn: £2 is a lot tho. same island why the difference, when you cook it down, it’s us, Irish people elect farmers and chancers to look after us like livestock. We should join Britain

    72
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    Mute Paul Brierley
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    May 11th 2023, 7:45 PM

    @Conchubhair MacLochlainn: was that Karl or Groucho?

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    Mute Patrick Lynch
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    May 12th 2023, 9:23 AM

    @thesaltyurchin: NEVER, NEVER.

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    Mute Fifty Shades of Sé
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    May 12th 2023, 9:33 AM

    @thesaltyurchin: It would be a huge disparity if it were true, a quick internet search reveals the difference is more like 30c. The amount of factuality in that fact is wee indeed.

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    Mute Dave Harris
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    May 11th 2023, 3:40 PM

    Well its definitely not paradise in Northern Ireland when the people are being denied their democratic representation by the DUP

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    Mute James Beattie
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    May 11th 2023, 4:00 PM

    If there ever was a reason not to unite our Country, it is the price difference in Big Macs. The DUP have there finger on the pulse once again.

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    Mute Tom Kelly
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    May 11th 2023, 3:46 PM

    I work for a British company and we in the South are paid about €10k more than our counterparts in N.Ireland.

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    Mute Pat Barry
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    May 11th 2023, 4:46 PM

    @Tom Kelly: You’d need that and more to cover the difference.

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    Mute thesaltyurchin
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    May 11th 2023, 6:52 PM

    @Pat Barry: to cover the self-inflicted taxes. Inflated like everything here.

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    Mute Gary Kearney
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    May 11th 2023, 8:55 PM

    @Tom Kelly: That covers a lot of Big Macs and probably sone Whoopers as welL!

    19
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    Mute Louis Jacob
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    May 11th 2023, 3:26 PM

    I pray that I live to see the day. Would be the biggest day of our lives.

    240
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    Mute Dan Looney
    Favourite Dan Looney
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    May 11th 2023, 5:09 PM

    The DUP MP, Jin Shannon Should Get his “wee facts” straight before he goes scare mongering regarding costs in Southern Ireland compared to Northern Ireland. His bench mark of cost of Big Mac is interesting. In Southern Ireland cost of Big Mac is €4.50, while in Northern Ireland ((UK) is 3.69 Stg, equates to €4.30.
    A difference of 20 cent NOT Stg 2. 00.
    Also, cost of entry to A&E is a once off per annum ( and will soon be removed)
    Whíle there is a charge for GP visit at least there isn’t an extensive waiting time for an appointment, and in most cases you will see your own doctor, not one of a panel.
    If you are in need of a joint replacement, and if you don’t have private health insurance, you will have to wait many years in UK.

    Dan Looney

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    Mute Gerard Hayden
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    May 12th 2023, 8:24 AM

    @Dan Looney: And its only €3.00 on offer with the McDonalds App…

    15
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    Mute Niall Chandler
    Favourite Niall Chandler
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    May 12th 2023, 11:15 AM

    @Dan Looney: there is no such place as Southern Ireland – unless you’re talking parts of Kerry, Cork, Waterford and maybe Wexford.

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    Mute Michael Flanagan
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    May 11th 2023, 3:32 PM

    Im lovin it!

    199
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    Mute William Tallon
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    May 11th 2023, 4:01 PM

    Where are all the ‘Big Mac’ smugglers when you need them?

    213
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    Mute Ordinary Bloke
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    May 11th 2023, 3:29 PM

    Jim, according to statista.com, Venezuela is home to the world’s most affordable Big Mac: at just $1.76 per sandwich. Maybe, we should all move there? Junk food, junk politics.

    329
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    Mute Larry Betts
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    May 11th 2023, 4:41 PM

    That man has a French Fry on his shoulder

    178
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    Mute Emmet Murphy
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    May 12th 2023, 9:47 AM

    @Larry Betts: Cheesed off, you might say?

    6
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    Mute plavin
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    May 11th 2023, 6:23 PM

    The welfare rates are £80 a week in north €220 a week in south. Average wage in north is £22k whilst in south it €35k. The medical card is available to those who earn less then €350 a week so its a myth that everyone will have to pay GP fees. The recent GDP of north resident was £22k while it is €52k or roughly that in south. Also that €100 charge for hospital I think is being abolished. Whatever has to be said about cost living being higher in south the wages and welfare rates are higher to offset that.DUP just cannot handle that unification is on the cards in the future.

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    Mute Owen G Mc Ginley
    Favourite Owen G Mc Ginley
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    May 11th 2023, 4:31 PM

    That’s typical of the D.U.P. always blame someone else, was the Irish Government meant to sit back and not attract Investment, if our Government did do that, Mr Girvan would then claim how great the Unionist State of N.I. was, and how much a basket case the Republic was. If Mr Girvan’s Party went back into Government they might be able to help formulate a better Fiscal Policy for N.I. Let’s not forget they were responsible for that Policy all the Years they were in Power. Finally would some Politician please invite Mr Shannon down South and him see how different things are down here, while it’s not perfect it’s strange how he quotes from the extreme all the time. I wonder does he know his former Party Leader Mr Paisley RIP and his Colleague Mr Campbell came to Donegal for their Clothes.

    154
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    Mute John McAlester
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    May 11th 2023, 4:52 PM

    It’s about time this discrimination against Burger King stopped, is it not the 21st century ?

    143
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    Mute Anthony Ross
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    May 11th 2023, 4:48 PM

    Well if we want a united ireland and it is voted the DUP need to make up their minds are they irish British or only British if the want to be only British best place for them is UK

    131
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    Mute Paulco
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    May 11th 2023, 4:27 PM

    I remember the song, “Irish ways and Irish laws” by Moving Hearts. I thought I’d see a United Ireland but with mass immigration to the island, that song has really lost its meaning. Romantic Ireland is dead and gone, it’s with O Leary, in the grave.

    105
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    Mute Anna Carr
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    May 11th 2023, 5:31 PM

    What I want to know, is if there WAS a huge referendum and a united Ireland was decided, would it take as long or longer than Brexit. I mean that’s going on for 7 years now and it’s STILL not fixed.

    68
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    Mute Orchard Groovey
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    May 11th 2023, 4:28 PM

    A wee mac’ll do ya!

    59
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    Mute alan
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    May 11th 2023, 4:53 PM

    Problem is that SF can’t argue with his basic point. They never shut up about how badly run and how expensive this place is

    54
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    Mute M Bowe
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    May 11th 2023, 5:29 PM

    @alan: you mean you actually saw a basic point in those ramblings. 15 medical centers have returned their contacts in past year or so in north. Entire communities are being left without GP services at all.

    52
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    Mute alan
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    May 11th 2023, 9:34 PM

    @M Bowe: what have sf done about it, before and now?

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    Mute Alex Marquis
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    May 11th 2023, 4:44 PM

    Ronald McDonald, isn’t he related to that wee Fenian leader? The food of the devil. Seriously though, Jim Shannon has a point about price disparity but he might want to mention wage disparity too in order to have the full picture. As for Paul Givan, if he really believes what he says, he suffers from acute delusion.

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    Mute Nigel Baldock
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    May 11th 2023, 4:02 PM

    DUP, Big Slack.

    52
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    Mute Pat Barry
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    May 11th 2023, 5:44 PM

    He’s talking through his posterior, a Big Mac costs £5.09 (€5.83) in NI and €5.70 down here.

    54
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    Mute Keith Gibbons
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    May 11th 2023, 8:00 PM

    This is an incorrect statement by MP Jim Shannon. According to McDonalds Prices UK 2023 a Big Mac is £3.69 which according to xe.com is roughly €4.22. On McDonalds Prices Ireland it is €4.33, therefore only 11 cents more expensive

    43
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    Mute Noel Donohue
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    May 11th 2023, 4:48 PM

    I personally prefer a Big Whopper

    43
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    Mute Paddy
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    May 11th 2023, 5:58 PM

    Looking for a Transit van Must be able to load two pallets of Big Macs…

    38
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    Mute Irish big fellow
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    May 11th 2023, 8:42 PM

    Mr Shannon
    Old age pension OAP( Basic)in NI is £ 185 while the OAP in the Republic is €253 (£ 220) The weekly gap is £35. You could nearly buy 10 Big Macs with that and have some change legt over.

    33
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    Mute Emmet Murphy
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    May 11th 2023, 4:50 PM

    Don’t tell Trump, he loves Cheeseburgers!

    34
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    Mute Larry Betts
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    May 11th 2023, 8:56 PM

    @Emmet Murphy: Make America Grate Again

    13
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    Mute Stuart Stu
    Favourite Stuart Stu
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    May 11th 2023, 9:14 PM

    That’s the DUP price for uniting the country?? Complimentary Big Macs? Do you think they know about Supermacs?

    29
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    Mute SquideyeMagpie
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    May 11th 2023, 5:24 PM

    I wonder what a Big Mac costs in Burnundi? And thats exactly the point.

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    Mute Fifty Shades of Sé
    Favourite Fifty Shades of Sé
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    May 12th 2023, 9:49 AM

    @SquideyeMagpie: They only have McDonald’s in three countries in Africa. US journalist Thomas Friedman had a “Golden Arches theory of conflict prevention” which argued that no two countries with a McDonald’s had ever been to war, though NATO attacked Serbia shortly after he came up with it and the locals responded by thrashing a McDonald’s.

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    Mute Donal Sweeney
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    May 13th 2023, 2:43 PM

    @SquideyeMagpie: Burundi even!!!

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    Mute Jb Walshe
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    May 11th 2023, 6:32 PM

    Would you like sour cream or onions on that Jim

    30
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    Mute Alan Kelly
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    May 11th 2023, 6:49 PM

    Do you know what they call a 1/4pounder & chips in Paris?

    24
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    Mute Fifty Shades of Sé
    Favourite Fifty Shades of Sé
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    May 12th 2023, 9:50 AM

    @Alan Kelly: Une Royale Avec frites.

    3
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    Mute Gerry Kelly
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    May 11th 2023, 8:25 PM

    The very fact that an Ulster unionist is even making such a comment is a sign of just how much the ground has shifted since Brexit – their inability to foresee this shows their not exactly the sharpest tools in the box.
    Meantime – when Storming is actually operating SF argues that the folk up north would be better off ruled from Dublin.
    Meantime in the Dail the same party argues that Ireland a terrible place of poverty injustice and inequality.
    Ya gotta love modern politics

    25
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    Mute Edd
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    May 11th 2023, 10:20 PM

    Every morning, hundreds of workers coming south to work – great to see

    18
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    Mute Michael James Brennan
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    May 11th 2023, 5:48 PM

    use the app big mac 3 euro

    17
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    Mute bernard berry
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    May 11th 2023, 6:21 PM

    I am not of fan of the DUP but they have a point.

    15
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    Mute Stuart Stu
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    May 11th 2023, 9:16 PM

    @bernard berry: Sorry, but when it comes to the DUP, there is no point. And I suggest an overweight middle-aged man should have long abandoned his interest in Big Macs.

    33
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    Mute John Moore
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    May 12th 2023, 1:14 AM

    These DUP guys are clowns. Big Mac’s. My God. The latest studies show that the average household has 12% more disposable income in Ireland than the equivalent in the north. Salaries are higher here. Almost a third of people have a medical card which is in effect free healthcare and there is free GP visits for under 6’s and now anyone on an income of under €46k net with further expansion of this on the way. The average life expectancy in Ireland is 1.4 years more than in the north. That takes account of the general quality of life and healthcare. That is the real acid test. Thee are huge waiting lists on the NHS. I don’t know what we are even talking about here. NI is an economic backwater surviving on handouts from London. It is basically on the dole. The economic output in Ireland couldn’t be more contrasted. We are near the top of the league in the world never mind Europe. It’s farcical. Yes the government badly need to get their finger out on housing but everywhere has some sort of problem that needs to be fixed. The bottom line is that Ireland is a dynamic business friendly economy that is the European destination of choice for countless companies. These clowns in the DUP pushed a hard brexit in what was already an economic wasteland. Go figure how that will continue to pan out.

    28
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    Mute MEMORYLOSSIRELAND
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    May 11th 2023, 7:25 PM

    He is right, it is a rip off k i p the Irish republic and McDonalds are only doing what all business’ here do..offer no value for money and the Irish say ‘sure that’s grand’..Baaaa

    15
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    Mute Emmet Murphy
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    May 12th 2023, 9:50 AM

    @MEMORYLOSSIRELAND: They should join and sort it out then, they’d get a lot of votes down here for kicking ass in the Dail.

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    Mute Conor Buckley
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    May 12th 2023, 10:58 AM

    Big Mac price comparison? How about (i) people in RoI have a life expectancy 1.5 years longer (on the same island!) (ii) people in the North are at 50% greater risk of poverty (iii) the impact of your social class on your educational attainment is 3x higher in the North.

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    Mute Donal Sweeney
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    May 13th 2023, 2:39 PM

    Are we not in the middle of a cost of living crisis? We are one of the most expensive countries to live in. I must say I empathise with the unionist take on this, at least economically

    1
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