Now Martin McGuinness Attacks The Vatican On The Child Abuse Issue!

[Philtaz]

It looks as though Cardinal Brady will have the rug pulled very shortly, this can't go on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...hern-ireland-17992242

McGuinness appears determined on this matter, he obviously won't rest until the Primate is gone.

[jno]

churchmen are in an anomalous position - they're not responsible to an electorate who can boot them out, they're responsible to God, who has so far shown no signs of sending plagues of locusts to speed them on their way. It's possible the Vatican could lean on Brady to go, but attacking the Vatican, as McGuinness is now doing, probably isn't the shortest way to achieve this.

[douglas9401]

Ah, the re-invented Mr McGuinness. Pass the sickbag.

[NOX]

Would you have preferred him not to ' re-invent' himself Douglas?

[emmie]

he shouldn't be lecturing anyone on anything, as douglas says pass the sickbag. Reinvent himself no, but go to jail, for the heinous crimes he and his cohorts committed.

[ichkeria]

Republicans have always had a 'difficult' relationship with the Catholic Church. Nor do I believe that Mr McGuinness has ever spoken out in favour of child abuse. So I don't see any 'reinvention' here

[emmie]

I don't suppose Gerry Adams brother will be too thrilled with Martin Mcguinness's comments.

[joggerjayne]

I don't think Martin McGuinness has ever abused children

(unless blowing them up counts as being a bit abusive)

[Brenden]

The old Mcguinness is still there, just a better facade for the public.

[naomi24]

Regardless of background, I wouldn't condemn anyone for speaking up with regard to this shameful case. The more publicity it gets the better.

[mrs_overall]

That is a bit rich coming from him. Let he who is without sin etc etc

Even if he wasn't responsible for IRA atrocities he is still a shifty looking bugger

[naomi24]

//Let he who is without sin etc etc //

There are one or two in the Roman Catholic church who aren't.

[emmie]

No sorry this man shouldn't be expounding on the rights and wrongs of the church or any matter, he has more than just blood on his hands. I would rather it were ordinary people, those who have been harmed physically and mentally by this long term abuse. They are the ones who should have their say, and make the church ashamed and accountable.

[naomi24]

I'm happy for anyone to speak out against child abuse.

[emmie]

even those who had a hand in killing men, women and children. Not proven of course, but he and Gerry Adams i would happily see behind bars.

[naomi24]

I'd be happy for him to speak out against child abuse even if he were behind bars.

[emmie]

point taken. But he's not, more's the pity.

[piggynose]

come on naomi 24 you cant argue with sun readers

[emmie]

piggynose, don't you think that people can evaluate, listen, understand as to what is right and what is wrong, as to reading the Sun, nope.
Enough evidence is there about both McGuinness and Adams, not least from their own people, but the peace accord came in the way.

[jake-the-peg]

The Peace accord was largely reliant on McGuinness and Adams selling it to the IRA.

There was a great deal of scarifice on all sides to get that in place.

The "troubles" would never have happened in the first place if Britain had given Ireland its full freedom in 1921 instead of continuing to occupy a part of it so laying the full blame at the their door is overly simplistic.

Remember without the IRB and IRA fighting and killing British Soldiers the Irish republic would never have become a nation

[emmie]

sorry i have plagarised this, but perhaps it can meet some of your points.
so no totally right and no totally wrong. I would have been against sending British troops at any point.

In 1920, the British Government agreed to let Ireland leave, because of the protests and unrest in the country. However, there were more protests among the large Protestant population who wanted to remain part of the United Kingdom. As a compromise, Ireland was divided. The majority of Ireland became a new country, and Northern Ireland was kept as part of the United Kingdom, even though it had a sizeable Catholic population who opposed this.

Northern Ireland was given a large amount of autonomy and had its own Parliament and Prime Minister. However, since there were a slightly larger number of Protestants than Catholics, the unionists always held a majority in the Parliament, and the "majority rules" nature of it meant the republicans were frequently excluded. Neverthertheless, Northern Ireland was relatively stable up until the 1960s.

The growth of unrest in Northern Ireland led to more British troops being sent in to help the police deal with The Troubles, as they became to be known. This didn't always work out, especially at Bloody Sunday in 1972. Soon afterwards, the British Government abolished the government of Northern Ireland and placed it under direct control (although Northern Ireland was still represented in the British Parliament). The Northern Ireland government was recently restored, with the unionists and republicans sharing power.