He really is! It he could be doing a father jacks- I’m so so sorry !

Lol, not to be confused with a totally different look, known as ‘Magnum’

There’s a bit of an Eamonn Dunphy pout in there as well.

He always tries too hard in making a “I’m concerned for you, empathy” face. He has as bout as much natural empathy with ordinary people as a bucket of coal. So we are forced to see the caring grimace every time he appears on TV. Its like Monty Burns smiling.

I agree. The more that politician speaks, its another political point scoring by FF.

Basically what he is trying to deflect from the fact that he gave them short shrift when he was Minister for Health, that his Govt. agreed to protect the church about a decade ago against fair costs being awarded against them, that his party had no problem with these laundries for decades lest going against the church cost them the faithful.

His apology is insincere and worth less than a thimble of piss.

p.capoore1. “His apology is insincere and worth less than a thimble of piss”

Christ all mighty, people were fuming that Enda Kenny didnt apologise yesterday and now you are fuming that Martin did.

Just goes to prove what I already thought yesterday. They are damned if they do and damned if they dont, and I am a supporter of neither Kenny or Martin.

An apology is only worth while when you are in a position to make it an action. Martin had little concern for these women as Minister, why believe a word of his now. If Kenny acts, same as he did against the Church before, in giving a speech, then all Kudos to him. He has it in him.

Thats a fair point. And I have no doubt he has it in him. But he is probably under instruction from his PR men and advisors be careful what he says.. Whether you like it nor not, that is a very likely scenario.

And just in case you think I am trolling, of course they deserve an apology, at the very least.

But when he does apologise (which I am certain he will) there will be many comments saying “too little, too late” because he didnt say it yesterday.

Ben. I’m not going to accuse anyone of trolling. People in Glass Houses etc lol.

26% is not the only thing that we need to look at, as Mary Lou pointed out, it wasn’t just that they sent them their but they had involvement with the running of the whole thing and would instruct the state guarda force to go pick up these women and bring then back by force. Now there was TOTAL state involvement! FF In government at time had the power to stop this no one did, FG in opposition had power to stop this no one did.

Paul,

Which is it? FF now oppose abortion per M.M’s recent speech. Now FF are “sorry” they screwed-up the Residential Institutions Redress Scheme. How can Fianna Fail support the bible-rashers whilst go against them? It doesn’t make any sense. If anything, it sounds like more bluff.

He cannot address my question after four hours, lol.

The weighed the no. of votes likely from helping the laundry victims and the no. of votes lost by going to war with the Church. Mickey Martin signed off on this like the rest of his colleagues in FF’s last Govt. Crocodile tears, he showed no concern for them when in power and they haven’t forgotten his attitude to them.

Martin / F/F are Poison to the Core. A Parasite Is a Parasite No Matter What Colour Shirt He Wears.

Did you see Leaders Questions this morning,,, it was awful trying to pull political party points at the expense of these poor women..

There was very little party political point scoring from the opposition. An Taoiseach had political jabs at all three leaders and they had very reasonable concerns – Why wont you apologize today? Are these women going to recieve redress?

And he didnt answer. The biggest worry people have is that no apology or financial compensation will come – and thats a form of stress these women did not need.

Sean , all of the point scoring was from the Opposition. They can say what they like , without financial reprecussions. The Taoiseach cannot.

Rory, its disgusting… The former slaves are owed money. The state sanctioned these slave camps. The State and the Church owe the surviving women and their children wages & pensions for all the years they were forced to work there. There is no getting away from that.
FFG were more than happy to use the slaves as political footballs when in opposition, like they use other names in the Dail today. They must face up to their and our responsibility. Saying an unconditional sorry on behalf of all the people of Ireland would be a good start. The compensation claims can be dealt with at a later date.
None of the victims are going to be claiming money back that they are not due.
How can Enda Kenny in good conscience, pay himself a compensation package of 500,000 euro per year and Gilmore over 300,000, Miceal Martin 140,000 per year (excluding his deferred ministerial pension), while many of the survivors are living in sub standard accommodation, unable to pay for basic living expenses like heating etc?
You say he is worried about the impact of saying sorry etc … while these women have never had a fighting chance, due to the States treatment of women.
I for one am sorry. I am sorry that my countrys Governments, since the foundation of the state, saw fit to dehumanise innocent victims, make slaves of them, put them in sub standard accommodation. They made the children of the slaves victims in their own rights, denying them access to their mothers.
I am sorry. I am sorry that the Gardai, under the Governments direction, saw fit to recapture slaves and return them to the penitentiarys they tried to escape from. I am sorry.
I know that my taxes might have to go up as a result of this statement, and that the wages paid to the gate-keepers of the prisons (Politicians) will need to be addressed, in order to cover the short-fall … I dont care. Pay the victims what they are owned.
No money will ever repay them their dignity, or loss of freedom. But it will be a comfort to the remaining survivors that the Irish people are genuinely sorry for having repeatedly voted in criminals into the office of Government, who supported child slave labour, and slave labour in general.

Financial repercussion should not have even been an issue what the FF government did to these women, a lot of them have lost their whole lives and it not just these women as we seen on Vincent brown last night is also their children suffering. This was torture, enslavement and cruelty they deserve every penny they get. Each TD take a reduction to 100,000 and get rid of some allowances and give that money to the victims. These women have nothing they were deprived of an education they don’t even have a pension. FF are so corrupt it is hard to believe, they let this go on with full knowledge and SUPPORT! Shane on them they had the power to stop it.

Well said Cal1 I agree with you in everything you say, and I, as an Irish citizen, am terribly sorry for the destruction of these women’s lives.
When Micheal Martin speaks, there is an echo filling this void that has been ripped into the heart of this country by himself and his party colleagues it is difficult to tolerate their presence and their awful corruption.
The 3 main political parties should all hang their heads in shame, they had many opportunities to deal with this and failed to do anything. They disgust me.

Here Here Very Well Said.

Hear hear. Maybe Batt would give up his pension as an act of contrition.

The leader of the government is a teacher, the president is a poet, a host a of publicans, some solicitors, professional politicians and a tv repair man. Fairly representative of the population?

Kenny is not a teacher, he’s been a politician for forty years. Probably worse!!

Not to go too far off topic, but he is a teacher in the sense that if he resigned from the dail, they would have to give him his job back, so the person doing the job must have been temporary for forty years.

Kenny gave up that option some years ago. Are there now guidelines in place on how long someone can keep their teaching once they have become a politician? Perhaps someone in the know can advise.

I hadn’t heard that, can anybody in the journal clarify?

Career break is five years then you lose your position. He’s not a teacher. They are all politicians and snakes.

Oh My God only in this Rotten To The Core Country.

Look at the point scoring fest that they went on over the poor Guard being shot. They couldn’t care less what happened as long as a few votes can be gathered.

or the three thousand a night hotel that he stayed in while a Minister on a visit to Geneva. Mr. Martin would consider himself perched on a higher level than the mere Irish.

Hah! Johann, I was thinking the exact same thing!!

@ Frank, you speak the truth.

ha ha good one Jim! This is Ireland! Does’nt happen unless you’re a pleb taxpayer with no powerful cronies.

Jerry are you suggesting the payer shouldnt pay. I fthe tax payer got to pay more for government f##k ups we would not have these cover ups & politics would be a lot more accountable. Thats the issue in this country. If as a citizen I f##k up I pay but if the state f##ks up there is no punishment or responsibility. Pay these women because the state commited crimes against them & whoever was involved in this bring them before the courts.

That’s a fairly warped point of view Jerry.

I would bet that his pained and sorrowful expression is an act, because Micheal is shrewd and sly and capable of going through you for a short cut, I met him on one occasion to discus a particular matter. As soon as he realised I didn’t agree with his policy he became quite toxic in his approach to my point of view, he really couldn’t give a **** about anyone except himself.
I for one hope this hawk retires soon from Irish politics.

@William

I completely agree. He’s like your typical politician which is sociopathic in nature. They just mimic the feelings and empathy that normal people display in order for us to perceive them as human like. Unfortunately most of us fall for this big act and thats all it is!
People don’t not go into politics to make a difference. This is the BS they tell you. People with certain personality traits such as the ability to lie, cheat and have no conscience whatsoever when they screw people under them are attracted to politics like moths are to a naked flame and this is the truth. It’s where their desire to rule over others and have the fate of others in their hands while they make big money is fulfilled. You an me just want to make an honest living and get by.