Did anyone see Simon Harris's treatment of the carer who approached him in Co. Cork today? Despicable, condescending behaviour.

[Imperiallanger]

I'll try link. It's on RTEs Facebook page & the comments match his behaviour. The poor woman was visibly upset.

Aontú twice in the past 6 months put forward a motion to abolish the means testing of carers before the budget & both times the motion was refused by Simon & government. Unforgivable & unforgettable. Roll on Friday!

How dare Simon & government refuse Aontú's motion to abolish means testing for carers. Good man Peadar Toibín condemning Simon Harris's behaviour 👏

@Imperiallanger Antou are extremely socially conservative and do not support a woman's right to choose. They would never get my vote. I do not wish to return to the 20th century.

https://aontu.ie/aontu-calls-for-the-hate-speech-bill-to-be-binned

Aontú are also the only ones who spoke out about the Hate Speech Bill & are absolutely opposed to it's implementation. Peadar Toibín did not sign the hate crime bill in October.
The hate speech Bill Helen McEntee & Simon Harris want passed all costs is frightening. Vote Aontú if you do not want the hate speech bill

Look at how poor Charlotte Fallon who tried to speak out against the government was treated.. No wonder they want to police our speech as they do not want any criticism.

Aontú have been so strong in the fight against the Hate speech bill. Let's all remember that on Friday!

Are you talking about the hate crime bill?

The hate speech element of this was dropped after concern from many quarters including from Sinn Fein and with FG itself that the definition of hate could not be clearly defined.

For the moment it's put on ice but it can be revisited . The hate speech bill has been put off because of it's unpopularity in the lead up to the election. However Peadar was very instrumental in getting that part of the bill removed, he spoke so strongly & eloquently about the dangers the hate speech bill posed to society.. Sure look at how that poor carer was treated for daring to speak her views to Simon Harris who along with Fine Gael wanted it passed at all costs. He demonstrated why in Kanturk Co. Cork.

Yes I said in my post Peadar Toibín did not sign the hate crime element of the bill last month. He is protecting our democracy at all costs.

Aontu only exist to deny women's right to bodily autonomy. I wouldn't vote for them in a million years.

Sinn Féin backtracked quickly after the referendum when they realised how out of touch they are with the electorate. They absolutely wanted the hate speech bill initially.

Remember Mary Lou pledged to rerun the family & care referendum if Aontú & the No/No side won! She really seems to want mothers & women eradicated from the constitution. So if Sinn Féin get into power she will rerun the election ignoring the electorate. Democracy🤔
How much will it even cost the state to rerun the referendum?!!!

https://www.irishexaminer.com/news/politics/arid-41335918.html

Peadar is it yourself?

In the interests of truth. The hate speech legislation would have no impact on what that lady was saying even under the ill defined terms of the legislation-

It would have introduced a ban on “incitement to violence or hatred against a person or a group of persons on account of certain characteristics such as race etc...
It would have also introduced an offence of “condoning, denying or grossly trivialising genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes against peace”

Sinn Fein, members of Fine Gael themselves and many other politicians did not support this element as hate was poorly defined.

No it wouldn't but by design it's there to silence the public... Why do you think it was dropped? Anyone with a shread of common sense knew how dangerous it was. But Labour, Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, the Greens, Sinn Féin (who flip flopped as usual) all wanted it in the worst way.
Putin has a similar style legislation in Russia.

@mollyfolk please read this article. It clearly says "Sinn Féin originally supported the Hate Speech Bill!!!!

m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/hate-crime-bill-passes-as-peadar-toibin-accuses-sinn-fein-of-stealing-my-clothes/a112581665.html

@mollyfolk@mollyfolk you are absolutely incorrect here. Please refer to this article. It's says very clearly "Sinn Féin originally supported the Hate Speech Bill & changed their opinion rapidly after the care referendum "..

This is the care referendum that Sinn Féin are planning to rerun if they get into power . They promised to rerun it if Aontú's No/No side won😲

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/hate-crime-bill-passes-as-peadar-toibin-accuses-sinn-fein-of-stealing-my-clothes/a112581665.html

That is an opinion piece. There was a lot of misinformation around the bill. Sinn Fein flipped flopped because of this - or so FG say.

How ever many raised issue with that legislation- including the council of civil liberties etc..

I certainly think nobody could disagree that incitement to violence should be a crime etc... esp after the riots. But it's clear this legislation was not well laid out and needs further debate,

Sinn Féin also pledge to rerun the referendum if they get into power. They don't seem to want a democracy.. Also determined to wipe mothers & women out of the constitution. It's really very worrying.
Sinn Féin were very pro hate speech legislation before the referendum then they flipped flopped & said the opposite 😂 Mighty stuff from Peadar Toibín & Aontú calling them out immediately 👏

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/roderic-ogorman-raids-funds-to-push-11m-to-lgbtq-projects/42370318.html

Never forget it was Peadar Toibín & Aontú who revealed that Roderic O Gorman had taken funds & reallocated them to lgbtq projects.
Peadar got the proof through the freedom of information act. Again proving real leadership & the only opposition in the Dáil.

@Imperiallanger yet again you have turned another thread into an advertisement for Aontu.
You have said they are the only opposition in the Dail. They are clearly not with 1TD and antiquated policies.
You started this thread to criticise Simon Harris treatment of Charlotte Fallon and have been promoting Aontu as an alternative to Fine Gael throughout. However you cannot mention 1 thing that Aontu will do to help people like Charlotte Fallon. Aontu have not mentioned helping people with disabilities once on their manifesto. This is in clear contrast to other parties including Fine Gael who have their disabilty objectives set out as a clear priority in their manifesto.
Like Aontu you can do well jumping at any opportunity to criticise people but have zero substance behind it.
You support Aontu because you think they know the definition of a woman. Let me tell you they are no friend of women, they do not support a woman's right to choose and want to rid us of that choice that women have fought so hard for. Think back to poor Savita, we cannot go back to that.
Cop on and stop starting these threads with an ulterior motive.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/hate-speech-decision-not-a-complete-u-turn-and-laws-could-be-introduced-by-next-government-micheal-martin-says/a228082272.html

@Brownwitch I'm just leaving this link here for you. Michael Martin has clearly stated that the hate speech bill decision is not a complete u turn & could be introduced in the next government!! On the back of this people need to be very careful how they vote. Fine Gael, Labour & the Greens want the hate speech bill at all costs.

You'd have to have a hole in your head to vote for socially conservative groups who've decided to co-opt gender issues as a way of getting votes. They don't give two hoots about this stuff. It's cynical bull from them.
Voting for a party that is anti-abortion is anti-woman. End of.

@mollyfolk he would make sure that any money allocated to them would actually reach them! Remember Peadar Toibín & Aontú were the ones that uncovered that Roderic O Gorman had taking funds allocated for vulnerable groups & giving the funds to lgbtq groups.
Peadar Toibín & Aontú obtained the evidence under the Freedom of Information Act. Again Aontú showing leadership & principles.

https://m.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/roderic-ogorman-raids-funds-to-push-11m-to-lgbtq-projects/42370318.html

Lovely write up from the Independent this morning😍
Like it or not @FancyRedRobin there is a massive wave of conservatism sweeping the world from the USA to the Netherlands. The pendelum has swung too far to the left & people want centered political parties with common sense.
This current government tried to put a hate speech bill in our legislation which really is the last straw. People clearly want change & the opposite of what we have in government.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crr9vvnd4x1o

The UK media now covering the story. Awful optics from our Taoiseach on a International scale.

I think that's a fair account of the incident @Imperiallanger . Thank you for sharing. I had not read about their phone call and it sounds like they had a good chat. She was happy with the outcome and it's fantastic how Simon will take the time to visit her workplace and help her as best he can. Good to see him being proactive rather than just criticising everybody else!

Interesting how this article states

Harris's political rivals have been quick to capitalise on the incident

They have seen exactly what's happening here!

Now I think we can put ths to bed and please stop spamming us with irrelevant Aontu opinion pieces.

I think it's unfortunate that this news has gone international, it does not show our country in good light.
You keep criticising Aontú & Peadar so I'm just linking a few examples to show you are incorrect (it's called debate!)
I did start this thread by the way, so I'm entitled to post what I like as is every other poster who is on here..
You do not get to police what people post or their opinions (this is why the hate speech bill was scrapped for the time being remember.. Even though Michael Martin has firmly said the next govt may bring it in, I have linked the article upthread for you😉)

You'd better hurry to change your name again so you can get back on another thread
😃 😃 😉 😉

Yes. To be fair to Simon, he’s grown up with a brother with autism, a mother who’s a carer/SNA and now his wife works as a nurse in paediatric palliative care. I genuinely think that experience will have given him a more in-depth appreciation of disability and the work of a carer than most politicians. He handed the situation in the supermarket in Kanturk badly but I do believe him when he says he’s very supportive of disabled people and carers (and I’m a family carer myself).
Much more needs to be done however.