McDowell: IRA charged Farc $25 million for Colombian expedition..
Rough stuff in the first session of the party leader’s debate. In an often unruly four way debate, the Justice Minister and leader of the Progressive Democrats Michael McDowell dropped a bit of a bomb shell when he accused Gerry Adams of grandstanding on drugs, and alleged that the IRA had charged the narco-funded Farc guerillas in Colombia $25 million for its services. Adams’ response: ‘That remark is proof that you’re not worthy to be Minister of Justice’. We’ll see how it plays tomorrow’s papers…
Hmmmm so thats the US. Only 6.5 billion more people to speak and the issue is solved.
Who was in charge of Belfast PIRA when La Mon was bombed? Who died in a killing of a shopkeeper and his wife on the Falls Road in the start of the “War against Prods”?Can you remember their names? Three men were present -the woman got killed because she saw who killed her husband.Who were the three men? Who masterminded Bloody Friday in Belfast when the IRA indiscriminately set out to terrorise everyone? Does anyone really believe Gerry was not in the IRA?
T.Ruth
$25million – I knew they took narco money but not such a large amount. Stated by the Justice Minister, someone in a position to know and Minister in a respected government. What does shaking down FARC have to do with Freedom in Ireland? Fellow Americans do not see the connection. Can any of the SF posters explain? I’m sure the Justice Minister’s statement is not lost on the relevant people in Washington, DC. They won’t be getting off the US terrorist list anytime soon.
Circles
‘Like it or not the man is internationally known and recognised’
Did I say he wasn’t? Read my post again and you’ll see that I said ‘Gerry Adams is quite possibly the most famous ‘politician’ in these islands’ – still that doesn’t mean he is in the same league as Mandela, not even close. In any event, my experience is similar to DJK. Of the people I have met ‘outside modern Western society’, some (but by no means all) would have some vague recognition of the troubles in Northern Ireland but few could name any of the protagonists. Most, quite frankly, have got more important things to worry about. This self-centric viewpoint that the world is watching avidly is a classic Northern Ireland trait – this might be true of the cognoscenti even outside the Western world but most countries, and their inhabitants, have their own troubles to deal with. Again, just my experience, but most know little and care even less.
I have no doubt that you have discussed Gerry Adams in great length with different people in various countries and have no reason to doubt the positive viewpoint (particularly if they have spent 5 minutes in your company) but let’s revisit Oilibhear’s grand statement again – ‘Adams is regarded as a world statesman on the scale of Mandela’. Such a comment is either ludicrous delusion or crass arrogance. If you believe that people in various African countries either know Gerry Adams to the same scale or believe him to be on the same pedestal as Nelson Mandela then you need to get out of the Irish pubs a bit more. As for having discussed Gerry Adams in a bar in the Black Forest, so what? Go to enough bars in Baden-Baden and you are bound to meet someone who knows Adams, Paisley, Ahern et al. Go to every bar and you’d be hard-pressed to find someone who didn’t know who Nelson Mandela is.
macswiney,
Apologies, I apparently missed the class where Mick Fealty was elected the global moderator on who won/lost debates.
If this is the case, then why do we bother watching them at all? Surely it would be more efficient to spend our time doing something else and just asking Mick who won the following day.
Red Haze,
I wasnt citing Mick as being the Global Moderator. I was simply being lambasted on the thread and decided to point out that not everyone thought that Adams had performed poorly.
For what it’s worth I never actually said myself that Adams won the debate. I though that he, Trevor Sergeant and Pat Rabitte performed roughly equally. They all had occasional shaky moments, but each of the three also scored points in different areas.
macswiney,
I’ll accept that as a round about withdrawal of your citing mMick as a proof that what I said about Adams lack lustre performance, was incorrect.
Your reference to Mick was strange, and furthermore, I find it strange you played the Mick card as you were being ‘simply lambasted on the thread’ against me as I obviously was not lambasting you nor was I even in debate with you until you pulled this one.
Poor…pretty poor considering that even Mick has started another thread in acknowledgement that he is was in a minority in thinking Adams had done well.
Being a teachers pet doesn’t always pay.