Sorry Paul for not hovvering over my keyboard waiting for you to reply (Didn't think you would honestly). What you think is justifiable and what I think are two different things. There was a press conference in Belfast last Thursday that got some publicity where young lads whose houses were raided made statements to reporters. I have also heard from people who were around in Craigavon at the time of the raids (I used to live there some years ago but no I did not actually see the raids first hand myself). No one I heard from took any comfort in the fact that the raids were carried out by a force which is now one quarter catholic.

Inded Moogie
And in Sth Armagh, a few months back when the PSNI were arresting people for questioning over the provo murder of Paul Quinn Sinn Féin were complaining bitterly about the way the raids were conducted so even their buddies in the provos are not too happy with the PSNI. Be especially carefull of them Catholic ones wandering round Newry stone drunk with their pistols in hand like Martin Gerard Agnew. What a wonderful force of blackguards we have.

That is terrible. Why would this be drbob1972? In Donegal the number would surely be higher. I certainly know at least 5 Gardai who are protestant from various denominations.

Thank you for replying. What I think is "justifiable" is that the Police, in the course of investigations and enquiries into some of the most serious offences to take place in NI for some years, have quite properly and I am sure, perfectly legally, conducted a series of house searches, acting no doubt on information received, intelligence, and evidence acquired by questioning.I would expect no less frankly.
Now then, by your own admission above, you don't actually have any first hand, independently verified and recorded factual evidence for what you alleged in your OP? These "young lads" gave accounts to reporters and you have taken them at face value, why? As for whatever allegations they may have made, have you sought a police response at all? Do you know what the Police version of events is at all? Is their version completely unworthy of consideration as opposed to being taken uncritically at face value?

This is as I suspected and I find it wholly unjustifiable. By making such ill-informed allegations, and no doubt repeating them to others, you are doing nothing more than aiding and abetting those who carried out the murders.
You are contributing to a climate of sympathy for them and encouraging a feeling of grevance and victimhood amongst that large section of the community too easily-influenced, gullible and thick to question you or think for themselves. In fairness though, you are not alone. There have been numerous similar posts on this forum over the past few weeks and although I have queried many of them and asked for evidence I have in most cases not even had the courtesy of a reply. Except for Cael of course who, caught out by a truly moronic post, resorted to Racist abuse.

Please establish the full facts before you say things like this in future.

Your claiming you know 5 of the 14 Protestant guards in the whole of the republic out of a force of 12,000 ?

Garda Employ Just 14 Protestants In A Force Of 12,000. (26-FEB-04) Europe Intelligence Wire


THE Irish police employ just 14 Protestants in a force of around 12,000 officers, sources have told to the News Letter.

As the 50:50 recruitment policy continues to ensure a greater representation for Roman Catholics in the PSNI, it has been claimed that only 0.1 per cent of the Garda is Protestant.

A Garda source said: "I have it on very good authority that there are just 14 Protestants in the Irish police force.

More vague, unsubstantiated, uncorroborated one-sided crap masquerading as fact. Just because SF (predictably)were whinging about something does not mean said whinges were justified, they do have an agenda you know! Do we know what the police's version of events were? Not that you care of course.
Incidentally, the fact that one Constable has made a fool of himself means nothing, in any walk of life or profession one will always get individuals who misbehave, only a fool would read anything more into it.

you must be jealous cause he's got a big social circle

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"Our culture is so individualistic that even the word 'we' is spelt with two I's"

LOL

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firstly i'm not certain the information is one hundred percent accurate, though it is a widely bandied figure and was reported in the IT in 2005 (if i remember obtained under the FOI act) as 14 out of 12000 which would be 0.11% of the force at the time, given that there is a relatively large protestent population in Donegal, Cavan, etc i'd not be surprised if the majority of the 14 (or what ever the number is) are in that area.

as for why its such a low number, not sure to be honest, i'd guess its from a number of things with people from the protestent community since the foundation of the state keeping a relatively low profile, keeping within their own community (you should see it here in wicklow its almost a community within a community) as well as the language and cultural differences between your average garda (esp the rural types) and the average protestent of similar age and socio economic background. there is also the fact that a lot of peopl whom have enter the force over the years have had a father, uncle, brother, cousin, etc in same, which your average protestant would not have had, which whilst not a barrier to entry would have reduced the likelihood of considering same as a career option considerably

Obliviously much of that has changed now and there are as many oppertunities for people of all religions and backgrounds and over time one would expect the percentage of protestants in the gardai to increase in relative terms like it will for other communities in ireland

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Enda Kenny on FF government: “We’re in this mess, not because Fianna Fáil policies have failed, but because they have succeeded.”

I really wouldn't read anything into this disparity. Firstly, the old RIC were overwhelmingly Catholic,the lower ranks in particular, and no one complained about that. I shouldn't be surprised in fact if a fair number of the Garda have fore-fathers who served in the RIC, as policing is one of those professions which tends to stay in the family. Another point of course is that Protestants will no doubt be somewhat over-represented in other professions such as the Law, Medicine, Dentistry and Architecture in the same way that in England, Jews are very prominent in the Law, Banking and the theatre. This is what happens with minorities, look at the Police and Fire Service in New York, huge Irish contributions to both.
I don't believe the Garda discriminate against Protestants nowaday's, though I think the emphasis placed on the Irish Language in previous decades might now be considered a form of "institutional sectarianism".

Glad to see that the Psni is becoming more representative of the community - people need a police force in the event of a crime being committed

This is not how justice is done in a democracy

Schoolgirl rapist shot in home
BBC NEWS | Northern Ireland | Foyle and West | Schoolgirl's rapist shot in home

__________________
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"Our culture is so individualistic that even the word 'we' is spelt with two I's"

LOL

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