So, The EUCHR arent the only ones

[bazwillrun]

http://www.belfasttel...le_editors_picks=true

unbefrikkinleivable !

[NOX]

The problem is under the Good Friday Agreement regarding the release of paramilitary personel it was to be expected that convictions for sectarian issues would be disregarded in civilian life afterwards, and in this situation that was not the case. It does well for the law to clarify things one way or the other which has now been done, so hopefully that's an end to expensive court cases on the subject.

[jake-the-peg]

Sounds the right decision provided he only had terrorist convictions under rge Good Friday agreement.

If he had other unrelated criminal ones then that would be different.

You may not like the GFA but it brought peace to Northern Ireland when too many politicians would rather continue to see people getting killed than compromise and "do deals with terrorists"

[d9f1c7]

So an employer must be forced to employ a muderer because this particular murder is covered by the conditions a cowardly deal done by our treacherous government to appease terrorists, terrific!

[NOX]

the problem was not with an employer not being willing to employ him, it was with him being automatically excluded from holding a licence because of his previous convictions. As to your opinions about the GFA, it's often better not to express an opinion about things you don't understand fully, than to wade in and leave people with no doubt as to your capacity in that area.

[d9f1c7]

I have a full understanding of the GFA, and my opinion is based on that and my own core values. No doubt yours is too so don't try and denigrate my views because they differ from your own.

[NOX]

I just fail to see how anyone 'understanding all the facts' can possibly think the GFA was not a good idea- or would you prefer that we all continued to blow each other up and shoot each other in the face?

[d9f1c7]

The GFA was a good idea in the same way that shopkeepers in 20s Chicago thought it was a good idea rather than get blown up and murdered. Yes it stopped a lot of the violence but at what cost? No one prefers war to peace but peace at any price? mmm. Should we have surrendered in WW2 to avoid violence?

[d9f1c7]

insert "to pay protection money" "after shopkeepers in 20s Chicago thought it was a good idea"

[NOX]

If you seriously think that everyone on the Republican side is jumping up and down with glee, you are sorely mistaken. I have heard almost the exact same insults used against Jerry Adams and Martin McGuinness by discontented republicans as you have used about your government, and if it was all this one sided jamboree then you'd hardly be getting an increasing rise in sectarian violence again would you? The situation is that neither side is truly happy but an accord has been struck by right minded men of both sides to stop the killing and stop the spread of hatred to another generation. In my perfect world Ireland would be united but I would rather compromise and end the violence than have my children live my experiences all over again and their children after them, and I imagine most people would prefer not to lose their sons to a civil war they wanted no part of. In my opinion the GFA is the best thing to have happened to the north in a very long time, and so what if we all had to compromise, it beats killing each other.