Great programme on TG4 right now about Dan Breen. To quote the great man "I had no qualms about killing, any man who comes into my house, into my country and tries to take over......I will kill him". Those of you who are trying to differ between then and now are fools. There is nothing romantic about it and Dan Breen said so, he cried his eyes out when Michael Collins died. People died in the War of Independence, the Civil War and the 1968 - 97 conflict and there was nothing pretty about any of it. Events beget events, incidents happen, people die and the spiral begins. Let us ALL hope that the days of killing for causes are over.
Thank you for that I have now ben able to watch the whole interview. I did not see anything that would suggest that Tubridy was "out to get" anybody. The only contraversial moment was when he asked about Gerry Adams membership of the IRA. I think it was a fair question and he is correct in that the people of Ireland are curious.The most noteworthy comment Martin made was that without Gerry Adams there would be no peace process I think that is what we as a nation should now be focused on not whether he was or was not in the IRA
Martin Maguiness is a Statesman and God knows they are in short supply world wide never mind this little Island.
846850 Martin has basically prevented the Republican movement fom totally splitting and has probably been the most important individual in the Peace Process. He has done a 1000 of these interviews and swatted Tubridy away like a fly. Tubridy followed the usual RTE line when interviewing Republicans/Northern Nationalist i.e. be as hostile and unfriendly as possible to placate Unionists, Britain and the D4 crowd. There is real hostility to RTE in the Northern Catholic community which looks on it as weak, cowardly and driven by a total fear of offending Loyalists/Unionism and the West Brit Dublin media. One remembers the Gerry Adams Late Late Show 'interview' and Gay Byrne's refusal to shake his hand in contrast to his interview with the Britisn Northern minister Peter Brooke when Byrne laughed, jocked and played the piano with him. This is also the same media organisation that gave Rhonda Paisley her own chat show with all elements of the DUP in hock. Indeed RTE nauseates many of us in the North.
I have dis-agreed with you in the past Ulsterman, I often find your criticism of all things southern are sensational, over the top and without foundation. However, on the issue of the media, yes you are correct in everything you say here.
846850 Martin has basically prevented the Republican movement fom totally splitting and has probably been the most important individual in the Peace Process. He has done a 1000 of these interviews and swatted Tubridy away like a fly. Tubridy followed the usual RTE line when interviewing Republicans/Northern Nationalist i.e. be as hostile and unfriendly as possible to placate Unionists, Britain and the D4 crowd. There is real hostility to RTE in the Northern Catholic community which looks on it as weak, cowardly and driven by a total fear of offending Loyalists/Unionism and the West Brit Dublin media. One remembers the Gerry Adams Late Late Show 'interview' and Gay Byrne's refusal to shake his hand in contrast to his interview with the Britisn Northern minister Peter Brooke when Byrne laughed, jocked and played the piano with him. This is also the same media organisation that gave Rhonda Paisley her own chat show with all elements of the DUP in hock. Indeed RTE nauseates many of us in the North.
I hear what you're saying....BUT - Brooke had to resign on the back of that appearance - and Byrne well knew it. He was told not to shake Adam's hand, and I agree, that was ridiculous. Rhonda Paisley is a citizen of Ireland and RTE purports to cover all citizens of the island. You and I might not like it, but she is entitled to her soapbox as much as anyone, regardless of how nauseating she is. I agree with you that it was a mistake, but many of us here in the south think that the only way to ever have a united ireland is to have an inclusive society where members of the Unionist community have nothing to fear. And RTE are plenty nationalist when they want to be - any of their programmes focus on Irish independence through the years, and its easy to forget now that in the 70's they were essentially PRO IRA on the news, until the IRA lost sight of their morals.