Ouch. Thats got to sting. Our politicians should now be coming up with a scheme whereby ALL paramilitaries can give up their arms transparently. AT THE SAME TIME as all other groups.

By their owm admission the Mc Cartneys were SF voters. I wonder what their attitude was after the killing of Andrew Kearney or say Joe O Connor? Did they believe the IRA disappeared Gareth O Connor before they went to vote SF before the last Assembly elections?

Maybe those questions are a bit trite in the circumstances, but an article in Daily Ireland indicates that some people in the S Strand area while having the greatest sympathy for the family do believe the situation is being manipulated.

There is no doubt that the murder may affect the SF vote in Pottinger, even a drop of 100 votes would cost SF their council seat.

I would venture that most SF voters would adopt the same attitude that the Mc Cartneys themselves showed during past controversies.

It would be nice to see somone asking for loyalist paramilitaries to commit suicide as well.
(Caveat: I make no connection between SF and loyalist paramilitaries, just saying it would be nice if the whole house got swept clean.)

Beowulf- not if the suicide involves another horrible murder.

Excellent comment Davros, well worth your time.

I agree with Pat McLarnon. The Provo vote will more or less hold. There'll be a slight drop in Pottinger. He's quite right to point out that the McCartneys happily voted for the Provos while they were murdering other poor victims elsewhere.

Pat,

That sort of response is nothing short of disgraceul and speaks more about the kind of manipulation that SF gets up to.

Beowulf - even if SF are utterly destroyed by that murder, it still won't come close to having been a price worth paying. That's the point I was trying to make.

Pat's response is not disgraceful. It is wholly accurate. PSF's vote has risen and risen while the PIRA have continued to rule local communities through fear, murder, exile and beat people.

Joc,

the truth can be painful, political reality more than most. Outside of the Strand this doesn't register and even within the Strand, as I pointed out, don't associate sympathy for the family with anti republicanism. That is what journalists are doing.

Pat is correct. Short Strand has been a Provo strong-hold for donkeys-years, don't expect one little murder to change that!

Maybe community solidarity can be achieved in the area by unleashing Hell on the residents of Cluan Place again? It seems to be what the local republicans in there do best?

Christopher,

more than one murder made it the area it is today, that is the legacy some are loathe to face.

As for Cluan Place I hope the DUP aren't planning anything. The pupils at Tower St should also be warned, we know what happened the last time Sammy Wilson was in the area.

"Maybe those questions are a bit trite in the circumstances..."

Trite isn't the word I'd use for it Pat.

As for quoting an article from the Daily Ireland as evidence. Either you're an eejit or you think all of us are. The former I think.

Ouch - cartoon from Brian Mór

But Will Anyone Object

Jacko,

believe it or not some are intimating that the publicity of recents weeks will impact on the SF vote. It is believed to be a serious subject.

By all means reject my analysis but at least have the nous to explain why. Making innane statements is the sole preserve of ATW.

"By their owm admission the Mc Cartneys were SF voters. I wonder what their attitude was after the killing of Andrew Kearney or say Joe O Connor? Did they believe the IRA disappeared Gareth O Connor before they went to vote SF before the last Assembly elections?"

The comments of a heartless gutter snipe, trying to infer that the bereaved family are hypocites.

"believe it or not some are intimating that the publicity of recents weeks will impact on the SF vote. It is believed to be a serious subject."

A serious subject on which you put forward the "on the ground reports" of a heavily biased Sinn Fein supporting newspaper as grounds for your "analysis".

That serious enough for you Pat?

Jacko,

it is clear that rational debate is beyond you, your slide into personal attacks and other lame attempts at humour on other threads are an indication that you should probably be on another site.
Some family members are indicating, encouraged by elements of the media, that there is some groundswell of anti SF sentiment in nationalist areas. I believe this is false and am using the past behaviour of the family as an example.

The Daily ireland unlike virtually other media outlet has at least used a named source for their report.

Pat
Now, now, you're starting to get angry and nasty again.
Don't take it out on me just because the aul party is in a bit of diffs.
Settle yourself down, if things really go belly up you can always join the SDLP or the Ulster Unionists.

Any substantive analysis to make, it is apparently the purpose of the site?

Pat

Whatever your argument about the Sinn Fein vote I don't think it is strengthened by using Daily Ireland as a source for what the people of Short Strand really think right now. The Daily Provo most definitely has an axe to grind on this and other issues.

Pat

Whatever your argument about the Sinn Fein vote I don't think it is strengthened by using Daily Ireland as a source for what the people of Short Strand really think right now. The Daily Provo most definitely has an axe to grind on this and other issues.

fair_deal,

your reference to the paper as the Daily Provo is perhaps an indicator that you are not neutral on the subject or open to persuasion on my analysis one way or the other.

Pat

LOL. The level of republcian evasion on here is becoming comical.

The Daily Ireland makes no bones about being a pro-republican paper, I am not peddling some sort of conspiracy theory here. Hence it will support the spin republicans are trying to put on to the situation in Short Strand.

Find a source from a non-Andersonstown News group paper that supports your argument then I'll reassess.

Sinn Fein and the IRA are entering uncharted waters, for the past decade they could count on the support of the authorities in Dublin even if it was limited to turning a blind eye, that is no longer the case, as for the implications of Mr McCartney's murder, while he may have voted for Sinn Fein he clearly wasn't involved in the activities of the republician movement, that could explain the disgust at his slaying.

Not so much 'death by suicide' as 'death by a thousand cuts', the investigation into the Provo's money laundering will run for years!