The President is a Pufta

[ríomhaire]

So the president of Ireland is actually a figurehead with little power who is supposed to act as a politically neutral representative for Ireland. The last two presidents have been women and it is quite possible that the next president will also fancy men. Back in January he topped the opinion polls for the next president (election near the end of this year) and he was born in the Belgian Congo (DCR) which is pretty awesome. He also got the law that made being gay in Ireland illegal repealed by the European courts.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkbQYewk-l4


tl;dr: David Norris is a pretty cool guy, eh legals gays and doesn't afraid of anything.

Thoughts?

 

[ríomhaire]

There's supposed to be more text under the video but it's not displaying for me. What did you do Yorick?

 

[Mr Stabby]

what the **** kind of an accent is that.

 

[ríomhaire]

The accent you get when you're born in the Congo with British parents and then raised in Ireland.

 

[Shakermaker]

It's a FABULOUS accent.

 

[The Monkey]

He also got the law that made being gay in Ireland illegal repealed by the EU courts.

Just a small comment, the verdict was made in the European Court of Human Rights, which is a body of The Council of Europe , and has nothing to do with the European Union.

 

[Mr Stabby]

He's not even a papist, the south has changed quite dramatically in the last twenty years.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Riomhaire, would you say this is big news in Ireland's sexual/political/moral culture? In the UK, Mandelson's homosexuality was the least controversial thing about him.

 

[BabyHeadCrab]

hmm... well, awesome.

 

[<RJMC>]

whats pufta?

I read that as "puta"

 

[CptStern]

well sort of. it's actually poofter


also why is it relevant that he's gay? dotn you have openly gay politicians over there? hell we've had them for decades and no one bats an eyelash.

 

[Mr Stabby]

Ireland was traditionally a staunchly social conservative catholic country

 

[CptStern]

dude. newfoundland

you cant throw a stick without hitting a dozen of them

 

[Mr Stabby]

Well Ireland was the proper gay hating type, abortion is still outlawed in Both parts of Ireland, the catholic church has/did have special rights under the republic's constitution.

Him being a protestant of british descent would also have been an issue 20 years ago. I kind of want him to win purely to irritate Sinn Fein.

Edit: Apperantly he called the clowns of the easter rising, terrorists, I really want him to win now.

 

[ríomhaire]

Stabby, I believe the constitution still has a line about "the special place of the catholic church" but it doesn't give it any legal rights over other religions.

Stern and Dodds, the fact that it doesn't seem to be a big deal that he's gay, a protestant and he's perceived as being British is a big deal. Someone with just one of those qualities wouldn't have even been considered for election two decades ago. That said, Ireland does has it's Alabama. This guy has been in politics for some time and I believe during his campaigns he lead a protest outside a gay man's house basically to drive him out of town. Can't find a source on the internet for the story though.

 

[Eejit]

Edit: Apperantly he called the clowns of the easter rising, terrorists, I really want him to win now.

Eh? But they mostly attacked and occupied government buildings and strategic locations in Dublin. Always seemed much closer to 'freedom fighters' than 'terrorists' on the sliding scale to me. Unlike the provos. The Easter rising was certainly rather clownish of course.

 

[Mr Stabby]

I don't think calling them terrorists is at all accurate, but it would irritate the hell out of Sinn Fein for him to be president in 2016.

 

[ríomhaire]

Instead of taking the seat of government Ireland they took over a biscuit factory. At best they were gobshites.

 

[Mr Stabby]

I would still have thought you could get lynched in much of Ireland for critizing the easter rising, is he popular everywhere or just in cosmopolitan Dublin?

 

[ríomhaire]

I would still have thought you could get lynched in much of Ireland for critizing the easter rising, is he popular everywhere or just in cosmopolitan Dublin?

I live in the South and most of the people I know (college students) who I've talked to about him love him.

 

[Eejit]

Instead of taking the seat of government Ireland they took over a biscuit factory. At best they were gobshites.

Yeah they were clowns, but rebel clowns rather then trrrst clowns.