Slugger O'Toole

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Latest comments from Erasmus (see all)

Erasmus has commented 84 times (0 in the last month).

1. Comment on “What happened to them was vindictive and not only a stain on their honour but on the honour of Ireland”
   on 30 December 2011 at 12:15 pm

   I wonder what would have happened had 5000 English conscripts deserted and joined the Irish Army during WW2?:

   http://www.sligochampion.ie/news/sligo-mourns-the-loss-of-the-master-of-puppetry-2080224.html
   – about half way down.

   With respect to the group of individuals who are the subject of this thread, my guess that any survivors reading it would be downright embarrassed by some of the posters who are taking up the cudgels on their behalf.

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2. Comment on “What happened to them was vindictive and not only a stain on their honour but on the honour of Ireland”
   on 30 December 2011 at 3:41 am

   Sorry, the above should read as follows:

   This would be the one comparing Ireland’s period in the UK with the occupation of Europe under the Third Reich?

   What would his worst one be?

   I wonder if you could quote the part of DeValera’s 1945 speech where this comparison was made.

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3. Comment on “What happened to them was vindictive and not only a stain on their honour but on the honour of Ireland”
   on 30 December 2011 at 3:39 am

   This would be the one comparing Ireland’s period in the UK with the occupation of Europe under the Third Reich?

   What would his worst one be?

   I wonder if you could quote the part of DeValera’s 1945 speech where this comparison was made.

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4. Comment on “What happened to them was vindictive and not only a stain on their honour but on the honour of Ireland”
   on 30 December 2011 at 3:33 am

   Some words of wisdom from that nortorious Irish republican propagandist Kevin Myers pointing out that Southern Ireland was ‘neutral on the side of the Allies’.
   For Ireland has never been a neutral country.
   It has used the language of neutralese to make us appear what we are not, but these are the assurances of a find-the-lady trickster outside the Curragh on derby day.
   But the underlying, indisputable truth is that Ireland is not neutral.
   Ireland actively assisted the allies during the Second World War — not as much as the allies wanted, and not as much as it might: but ours was a vastly more pro-allied policy than that followed by Sweden or Switzerland.
   The latter shot down allied bombers which entered its airspace: Ireland allowed British aircraft access to the Atlantic’s vital north-western approaches through the Donegal corridor. Ireland allowed thousands of its citizens to join the British armed forces (my insert: those who had not already joined the Southern forces). Ireland gave vital weather reports to the British.
   Our Defence Forces handed over U-boat parts and German mines washed ashore on our coasts to the British.,

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5. Comment on “What happened to them was vindictive and not only a stain on their honour but on the honour of Ireland”
   on 30 December 2011 at 3:26 am

   There is one point that people have ignored: these guys could conceivably have ended up turning their arms on their esrtwhile comrades a la the Battle of Friedricksburg in the American Civil War.
   You swear an oath before Almighty God when you join an army — this was broken.
   Those who are quick to condemn Southern neutrality during World War 2 should bear in mind that the seismic event that was the Irish Famine was still within living memory.
   As Cecil Woodham Smith opined in the early sixties:
   The famine left hatred behind. Between Ireland and England the memory of what was done and endured has lain like a sword. Other famines followed, as other famines had gone before, but it is the terrible years of the Great Hunger which are remembered, and only just beginning to be forgiven.
   Time brought retribution. By the outbreak of the second world war, Ireland was independent, and she would not fight on England’s side. Liberty and England did not appear to the Irish to be synonymous, and Eire remained neutral. Many thousands of Irishmen from Eire volunteered, but the famous regiments of southern Ireland had ceased to exist, and the ‘inexhaustible nursery of the finest soldiers’ was no longer at England’s service.
   There was also a more direct payment. Along the west coast of Ireland, in Mayo especially, on remote Clare Island, and in the dunes above the Six Mile Strand are a number of graves of petty officers and able seamen of the British Navy and Merchant Service, representatives of many hundreds who were drowned off the coast of Ireland, because the Irish harbours were not open to British ships. From these innocents, in all probability ignorant of the past, who had never heard of failures of the potato, evictions, fever and starvation, was exacted part of the price for the famine.

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6. Comment on Sinn Fein in the south: Slowly, slowly catchie monkey?
   on 9 November 2011 at 10:58 pm

   I personally resent the insinuation, which has become common currency since the election, that *not* voting for Sinn Féin somehow implies disaffection from NI nationalism and hostility to the concept of a UI.
   Another general point: party political strengths cannot be inferred from this election which was largely a personality concept. Nobody would seriously suggest, for example , that Labour are seven times as strong on the ground as FG. Michael D. Higgins, a fluent Irish speaker and a republican socialist, is bound to have attracted support from many who would ordinarily vote Sinn Féin. I am not a Sinn Féin supporter by the way.

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7. Comment on Sinn Fein’s increase was “an average of a mere 37 votes a constituency”
   on 2 November 2011 at 3:12 am

   Malachi O’Doherty (and much of the commentariat) don’t really understand southern politics. There is a large ‘X Factor’ element in presidential elections and party political strengths cannot be extrapolated; nobody could seriously claim, for example, that Labour are 7 times as strong on the ground as FG. In short it was a solid if not spectacular performance by SF. I’m not a SF supporter BTW.

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8. Comment on #Aras11: Nordies need not apply, the party’s over…
   on 21 October 2011 at 12:10 am

   This article is pure tosh. It is a rare example where someone does not actually *want* to be liked. David Adams is trying to drive a wedge between north and south.
   People down here do not generally warm to religious fundies and ex-IRA men. The lack of enthusiasm for Scallon and McGuinness has nothing to do with their northernness per se: viz. Austin Currie, Mary McAleese, and the former Alliance leader John Cushnahan who was comfortably elected in my own Munster constituency over and over again.

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9. Comment on Eoghan Harris in meltdown mode
   on 10 October 2011 at 12:22 am

   Has the Devlin article been covered in any radio or TV discussion?

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10. Comment on IRFU urged to play RoI National Anthem at Rugby World Cup
    on 4 September 2011 at 9:43 pm

    A case could be made for playing IC and ‘Danny Boy’ (the unofficial NI anthem) at Ravenhill.

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