I'm not a big supporter of the death penalty-though I despise the hypocrisy of the 'pro-lifers' within the Labour Party when it comes to THIS issue-but I certainly believe that anyone who commits an especially horrific crime, eg, killing of a child, Garda, judge, etc, should be given a mandatory sentence of life without parole. And any judge who refuses to hand down mandatory sentences should be dismissed automatically. Killers should never be given the chance to commit a second crime. Ever.
______________________

Fair enough seamus, agree with most of what you said. But why should the sentence for murder be different from one person to another? a life is a life. Should people who show repentance after 30 years in prison not get a second chance? you cannot give the same sentence for every case. Some murderors deserve life in prison where as some don't. Each case should be treated individually.

''Killers should never be given the chance to commit a second crime. Ever.'' - in this case should we keep rapists, thieves. etc in prison for life just so they never will get a chance to do it again. Some criminals actually show remorse for the crimes they have committed, few to be fair.

patmcgee (Longford) - Posts: 520 - 13/01/2011 18:47:22    845805

Fair points Pat, fair points. But think of that guy in Galway who raped and killed that Swiss girl, after being given parole from killing someone else. He'll probably be paroled again, and that is a situation that I despise. All lives are sacred, but some crimes, such as the killing of a child, or a Garda, are so repugnant that the only way to punish them is by ensuring that the murderer never breathes free air again. A life sentence without parole.

I believe in redemption, and I support a parole system, but parole has to be earned. It's not a right. I repeat, it's NOT a right. It should be earned through good behaviour, and through a criminal admitting their guilt, and showing genuine remorse.

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 13/01/2011 19:36:31    845845

Greengrass

All you need to know about my politics, economic, national, social and so on...is that I'm a conservative. My political heroes are people like Ronald Reagan, John Howard in Australia, De Gaulle in France, Adenauer in Germany.

As for the Euroscepticism...look, I'm a democrat before I'm anything else. Look at Tony Benn. Good old fashioned socialist, and unapologetic about it. Good for him, and I respect him for his honesty and eloquence, though I disagree with him on many things. But when it comes to the EU(SSR), Tony Benn and I are on the same page.

It's a basic principle...the EU's undemocratic. People who haven't been elected by me should not make laws that affect me. If legislators make laws I don't agree with, I can use my vote to try and get them out of office at the next election. But with the EU, I can't do this. That's undemocratic, and that's the reason I'm a proud Eurosceptic.

As for Powell and Thatcher, those imperialists never believed in democracy to begin with.

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 13/01/2011 19:53:34    845855

Under pressure at the moment Seamus. Will get back to you in more detail later. Enoch Powell and Margaret Thatcher were both Conservatives.

Greengrass (Louth) - Posts: 6178 - 14/01/2011 16:04:51    846348

In politics it is necessary either to betray one's country or the electorate. I prefer to betray the electorate.
Charles de Gaulle

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 14/01/2011 16:32:45    846373

Seamus,

Is one of the directors not a Fianna Fail man or has he left them ? Chris OToole is his name ?

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 14/01/2011 17:29:54    846430

I don't know about that Slasher. I do know that both David Quinn and Marc Coleman have both sharply criticised FF policy over the last decade whilst writing for the Independent and Times respectively. There are several hundred members in the organisation already, and it's growing rapidly, so I'd imagine that there will be a few people involved who have some involvement with Fianna Fail. I myself voted FF in 2007, as did many people on this forum I'm sure. Does that mean I'm not entitled to take part in political discourse?

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 14/01/2011 18:07:51    846461

Seamus,

I voted for them in the past myself but never again !! I just found his name on one of the website links and it does say he did a lot of work for F.F. Its just that i no longer trust that party and would be wary of anyone associated with them being involved in any new party. But we do need a new party which puts the nation first for a change and which is free of corruption, if such an animal exists !!

Will they have candidates in all constituencies ?

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 14/01/2011 18:27:24    846473

Cavan_Slasher
County: Cavan
Posts: 6913

846473
Seamus,

I voted for them in the past myself but never again !! I just found his name on one of the website links and it does say he did a lot of work for F.F. Its just that i no longer trust that party and would be wary of anyone associated with them being involved in any new party. But we do need a new party which puts the nation first for a change and which is free of corruption, if such an animal exists !!

Will they have candidates in all constituencies ?

If it's the National Forum you refer to then no. I don't think they have plans to run candidates at all as of this time.

roundball (Tipperary) - Posts: 2514 - 14/01/2011 18:44:10    846491

Cavan_Slasher
County: Cavan
Posts: 6913

Whoever the are they are certainly going to set up a lot of task forces.

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 14/01/2011 18:50:56    846502

Slasher...looked that up there. It says he's been active in the FF party for a long time, but doesn't give any more information. Anyway, 1 of 150 or whatever isn't exactly an infestation!

As Roundball said...the National Forum isn't a party, it's an advocacy group that puts forward ideas at to how to solve the mess Ireland is currently in. There obviously won't be any candidates in the next election from the National Forum. It was only founded a few weeks ago, so it's very much in its infancy. I'm strongly considering joining myself, the people involved, especially Quinn, Coleman and McGurk, are excellent people, and Ireland needs a proper centre-right forum.

Seamus89 (Kilkenny) - Posts: 3848 - 14/01/2011 18:54:19    846508

Thanks lads,

Seamus if they are setting up task forces myself and dhorse have a bit of spare time but we're not too cheap !!

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 14/01/2011 19:12:56    846531

Cavan_Slasher
County: Cavan
Posts: 6913

don't worry about having voted FF in the past, we all have stuff to deal with from there, it's good to get it out anyway. I nearly gave a FF head a number 5 one time, just couldn't get the pencil down, even that hint of weakness still induces nightmares.

Is the David Quin mentioned in the National forum the same David Quinn of the Iona institute?

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 14/01/2011 19:15:11    846532

Cavan_Slasher
County: Cavan
Posts: 6914

846531 Thanks lads,

Seamus if they are setting up task forces myself and dhorse have a bit of spare time but we're not too cheap !!

In the present economic climate we can do cash prices.
•A Task Force to assist emigrants in returning home, and also to fully exploit the diaspora as a helpful resource for them while they are away.

I think this one might also have a few trips abroad involved slash. We could do a bit of exploitation of some Diaspora down around Adelaide.

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 14/01/2011 19:23:59    846537

Good idea. Will we use the Govt. jet ?

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 14/01/2011 19:32:25    846549

Slasher

But we do need a new party which puts the nation first for a change and which is free of corruption, if such an animal exists !

If you are talking an all Ireland Nation I could not agree more.

derryman (Derry) - Posts: 3246 - 14/01/2011 19:42:48    846562

Nah, we'll keep a low profile, the FAS credit card would do nicely.

There giving some sort of incentive for women to get into politics also, we might have to lave the partners at home, unfortunately, if you get my drift.

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 14/01/2011 19:46:41    846568

derryman
County: Derry
Posts: 2069

846562 Slasher

But we do need a new party which puts the nation first for a change and which is free of corruption, if such an animal exists !

If you are talking an all Ireland Nation I could not agree more.

Is there any party in the south that doesn't declare they want a united Ireland.

dhorse (Laois) - Posts: 11374 - 14/01/2011 19:53:11    846575

dhorse,

Ok we leave the women at home. We could have a storm in every port !!

Cavan_Slasher (Cavan) - Posts: 10253 - 14/01/2011 20:45:50    846624

Dhorse
There is a major difference between declaring a belief and working for it. The fact none of them have made an attempt to establish themselves in the 6 occupied counties might give you a clue as to their commitment.

derryman (Derry) - Posts: 3246 - 14/01/2011 21:19:53    846655