Gerry Adams and his slow removal from Sinn Fein 2014 Election Leaflets May 15, 2014
Posted by irishelectionliterature in Irish Politics.trackback
Remember this from 2004? an image that was plastered all over Dublin and on the Litir Um Thoghchán below
Someone kindly sent me Liadh Ní Riada’s Litir Um Thoghchán and who was on the back with the candidate only Mary Lou McDonald. I started looking through a variety of Sinn Fein leaflets from this years European and Local Elections in the Republic and noticed that as the campaign has gone on Gerry Adams has been gradually been removed.
The initial leaflets from the campaign had a message from Gerry Adams on the back
For South Dublin County Council prior to that a similar sized leaflet appeared but with the candidate on the front and no sign of Gerry Adams on the back.
Some of the later ones came with an endorsement from a local TD instead
The local Newsletters came next and some would have had a casual picture of the candidate with Gerry Adams but that was it.
The next batch which were the big trifold leaflets, they were unusual in that they had no Message from Gerry Adams at all, previous leaflets of that style from Sinn Fein would have messages from Gerry Adams in his role as president of the Party.
And finally the Litir Um Thoghchán appeared
I’ve looked back to 1997 and Gerry Adams has appeared either with a message or a picture of him on every Sinn Fein Litir Um Thoghchán back to at least then. 1994 was the last European Elections where he wasn’t on a Sinn Fein Litir Um Thoghchán.
As it happens Eamon Gilmore or Micheál Martin aren’t exactly plastered over Labour or Fianna Fail leaflets either.
Copyright Irishelectionliterature (Alan Kinsella) / Cedar Lounge Revolution 15th May 2014
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
Well spotted. And very interesting.
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Thanks, it was actually the prominence of Mary Lou in various leaflets that made me notice who was missing.
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You’d want to copyright this because some lazy journalist will run with it as their own in a few days.
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Do I just write copyright with my name at the end of it? or is there more to it?
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Copyright actually exists in the mere fact of publication (a professionally qualified librarian writes). However, although no statement is necessary it can help to make one. No more action than that is required.
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Thanks, just added a note there.
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However, you cannot copyright the idea for an article. If they re-write everything you said and add facts they researched themselves, they are not breaking the copyright laws.
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And if you’re the chess correspondent of the Times and Spectator, you can ignore all of the above.
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+1, full marks for observation!.I hear it said that SF is “the new FF” (Fianna Fail Nua ?). Maybe Mary Lou didn’t make such a big jump. And Barry Andrews was a junior Minister, not a “minor role “.
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How about
Litir um thoghchain
Cogadh dearmadtha
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Without an Irish Election Literature (C) archive, nobody would ever have noticed this. This is why IEL is doing an enormous service.
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Spotted this first thing when Liadh Ní Riada’s Litir Um Thoghchán arrived in the post the other day. “Where’s Gerry?” I said to the missus, “he’s been disappeared”.
Trouble-free Mary Lou’s image is the perfect antidote to recent events. The worst that can be said about her is that she used to be member of Fianna Fáil, and she doesn’t deny it either.
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SP’s Harry Hutchinson used to be a member of Alliance which is even to the right of FF economically.Dont hear that mentioned much .Other unusual political moves include Kieran Mulvey -WP to FF , similarily Rabittes right hand man WP to DLto Labour to FF.Sexton PD to Labour ,Conway Labour to PD.Harris from some obscure right wing grouping to WP and then to neo con.Bew from WP to UUP and Airey Neave trust.It all puts Mary Lou’s brief and minor role in FF in the halfpenny place does it not?Harry was an Alliance party election candidate on several occasions by the way.
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“Harris from some obscure right wing grouping to WP”-? So obscure it doesn’t have a name?
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Poblacht Chríostúil
I’ve a bit about them here
http://irishelectionliterature.wordpress.com/2012/10/22/ads-for-an-poblacht-criostuil-christian-republic-1960-le-waterford-and-1965-ge-cork/
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Poblacht Chriostuil? I’m expecting Sligo Rovers to draw them in the Europa League.
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Thanks.
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Isn’t this all nothing more really than using their best assets in particular circumstances, especially given Mary Lou McDonald’s high profile from her PAC performances?
Don’t see Eamon McCann on the PBPA flyers at all!
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Got a canvass card in Dublin Bay North/Kilbarrack Saturday morning from Cllr Mícheál Mac Donncha with a pic of Adams and Mary Lou McDonald together.
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I wonder if Sinn Féin had polling data similar to that published by the Independent this morning.
http://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/half-of-voters-believe-adams-was-involved-in-mcconville-murder-30281592.html
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I am sure they do. I gather their canvassers have retreated into their core areas with the hope of adding a lot of second seats gone. Will Nessa Childers and Eamon Ryan leap over Ms. Boylan and leave Mr Grecian 2000 with even more questions to answer?
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Mr wishful thinking
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The problem with that poll is that it doesn’t actually tease out the basic question – did the arrest and subsequent release of GA alter their intention to vote for Sinn Féin? And that’s the core one, not whether people believe that or not let alone what the nature of his supposed ‘involvement’ was, because that might suggest to us what political effect all this might have on the SF vote. It’s odd in a way that the Independent didn’t bother to ask it. Or perhaps they did and they didn’t like the answer. Personally I think that many people have internalised these issues by in a sense accepting (for want of a better word) that terrible crimes were committed (on all sides too) but also accepting that genuine efforts were made to shift from armed conflict to full political activity and that the benefit of the latter outweighs the former.
As to the idea that SF is retreating into core areas, like Bob I think that’s wide of the mark.
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Still its good to see various commentators such as Fionnan Sheahan, Eoghan Harris, Noel Whelan, and Stephen Collins and others concerned about Sinn Fein’s prospects and advising the party that it would do even better without Adams.
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playing fair I suppose.
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There’s a couple of things going on there I think.
1. Pure mischief in the sense that they probably think the opposite is the case
but also
2. It’s becoming obvious that SF are here to stay as political force and that they will be the big winners in the Euro and Local elections. The guys mentioned are not in the business of being on the losing side in anything, a couple of them at least would like the idea of cosying up to SF. How to do this without losing face?
Well you can always pretend that the departure of Adams would make the party a completely different entity and that shafting him would show that the party is receptive to the blandishments of the mainstream political pundits. They’d like the scalp so they could normalise relations.
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SF getting rid of Adams would make them a lot more acceptable for FG/FF to go into Government with after the next GE. This is a big reason why so many want him gone and possibly a reason why he’s still hanging around. It’s likely that without SF the only possible Government will be FG/FF with SF as the leading opposition party. Kenny and Martin would be exposed as hypocrites if they welcome GA into a coalition but they need SF to be their mudguard.
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Is it 55 %don’t or don’t know .
Has this changed for you following his arrest.
Will it affect your decision to vote or not vote for your local sinn fein candidate ?
Without dem questions its not very enlightening.
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+1
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23% no, 32% DK. Which is almost a two-thirds split amongst those with an opinion. Also:
“Asked about the likelihood of voting for SF if he stepped down, 22pc of voters said they would be more likely to vote for the party, 16pc said they would be less likely and 58pc say it would make no difference.
Surprisingly, one in three Sinn Fein supporters would like Mr Adams to resign. Among young voters in the 18-24 category, 29pc would be more likely to support the party if Mr Adams stood down, while in Dublin the figure is 26pc.”
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That last par doesn’t make a huge amount of sense. They’re Sinn Fein supporters apparently so they’re already voting for the party with Adams as leader. It’s not like they can cast an extra vote if he goes.
And saying you’d be more likely to support the party with a different leader doesn’t necessarily equate to wishing for his resignation.
And in the main story they could equally have run with ‘less than half of voters believe Gerry Adams was involved in the death of Jean McConville,’ which would actually have been more striking, if less politically palatable.
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18-24 year olds who said they;d like Gwrry to go might have totalled what in the whole sample.
Maybe less than the fingers on one hand ? Who knows?
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Poll in this morning’s I.Times asks the questions posed by Que above:
68% of those polled think Adams was in the IRA, 9% don’t, 23% don’t know
Then asked what impact, if any, his arrest would have on their voting intentions:
7% more likely to vote SF, 22% less likely, 65% no impact, 7% don’t know
Margin of error is +/-3%, but in relation to the numbers that are in the 60%+ territory, that’s pretty academic.
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Sorry to disappoint that shower of shysters but the big lad will be around for a day or two yet.
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