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Artist impression of the 40-plus storey building Ronan Group

Johnny Ronan fails to get planning permission for his 40-plus storey tower in Dublin's docklands

The 1,005 unit apartment scheme was refused planning permission by An Bord Pleanala.

LAST UPDATE | 21 May 2021

AN BORD PLEANALA has refused Johnny Ronan planning permission for his planned 40-plus storey tower scheme for Dublin’s docklands.

The appeals board has refused planning permission for Ronan’s 1,005 unit apartment Waterfront South Central scheme after concluding that it is precluded from granting permission after a High Court ruling last November.

The appeals board found that as a result of the High Court ruling by Justice Richard Humphreys, the board does not have jurisdiction to materially contravene the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock Planning Scheme under Strategic Housing Development legislative provisions.

Ronan’s Waterfront South Central scheme is planned for a site within the North Lotts scheme. The scheme imposes strict height limits and the 44 storey and 45 storey heights proposed were well in excess of what is allowed in the area.

The High Court decision concerned a case between Dublin City Council and the appeals board and another Johnny Ronan company, Spencer Place Development Company.

The appeals board stated that it agreed with its senior planning inspector, Rónán  O’Connor stating that an oral hearing was required to address outstanding issues in the Johnny Ronan Waterfront South Central proposal.

In a strident objection, Dublin City Council planners told An Bord Pleanala that the tower scheme should be refused on a number of grounds.

As part of a 63-page planning report lodged with An Bord Pleanala, the planners stated Ronan’s scheme represents overdevelopment and is “an inadequate design response to this sensitive site, would be of insufficient architectural quality, and if permitted would result in a poor placemaking outcome”.

The Council planners told An Bord Pleanala that the scheme if permitted “would negatively impact the receiving environment, in terms of daylight, sunlight and wind, and resulting in a poor standard of residential amenity for future residents”.

The Council has also recommended refusal as the proposed development would not be consistent with the North Lotts and Grand Canal Dock SDZ Planning Scheme, which sets out specific height limits for the application site. 

In its objection against the scheme, An Taisce’s Kevin Duff told the appeals board that the impulse to construct two 40-plus storey towers “simply because Dublin does not have such buildings or because it does not look ‘international’ without them is ludicrous and is unsupportable environmentally”.

Duff stated that the type of housing proposed in the scheme “is rarely affordable and most likely to end up as corporate letting with little or no contribution to the housing supply or the housing crisis”.

However, the Docklands Business Forum stated that labelling Ronan as a ‘Manhattan style project’ is extraordinarily ill-informed.

In the forum’s submission, CEO Alan Robinson stated that the scheme would be only half the height of the ‘Shard’, London’s tallest building and would not even make the list for London’s top ten structures.

Robinson told the appeals board that Ronan’s planned 45 and 44 storey tower scheme “is modest in height” and should be given the green light.

Reaction

In a statement today, Ronan Group Real Estate said: “Ronan Group Real Estate welcomes An Bord Pleanála’s recognition that our proposed Strategic Housing Development at Waterfront South Central is the correct one for the site and would support Government policy on housing and development.

“We are therefore deeply disappointed that it felt legally obliged to refuse planning permission due to DCC’s legal action seeking to uphold the SDZ at the expense of the Government’s Strategic Housing Development policy. Unfortunately DCC’s continued efforts to frustrate Government policy are impeding much needed development in this area of Dublin.

“The current SDZ for the area is nearly 10 years old and is entirely incompatible with what is now required for the area. Our ambition for Waterfront South Central is to create a landmark new development for Dublin that sets the standard for responsible and integrated development as the greenest city quarter in Ireland. At a time of much-needed housing, Waterfront South Central would deliver more than 1,000 apartments, including 100 social housing units. We will review this decision carefully and consider our options.”

A spokeswoman for Dublin City Council stated that the Council noted the decision of An Bord Pleanala to refuse the application “and will give full consideration to the decision and the implications for its review of height policy in the docklands”.

She added: “However, Dublin City Council remains concerned that it is being presented in the media and general discourse that it is opposed to tall buildings in the Docklands. It must be stated categorically that the City Council is fully supportive of taller buildings in the right locations in the Docklands and elsewhere, which contribute to sustainable development of the city.”

She pointed out that the SDZ “provides for taller buildings, a number of which have been built, such as Capital Dock (25 storeys), Bolands Mills (15-16 storeys) and the EXO Building at the Point (17 commercial storeys)”.

The City Council spokeswoman stated that the North Lotts Grand Canal Docks SDZ Planning Scheme “has been extremely successful to date in delivering its objective of 366,000m2 of commercial development and 2,600 new residential units”.

The spokeswoman said: “The success of the Scheme is largely due to the fact that the taller buildings sit well within a coherent street pattern, comparable with the best European City traditions as seen in cities like Barcelona and Copenhagen. The scheme is achieving the highest densities in Ireland to date, (255 units per hectare).”

The spokeswoman stated that the NLGCD SDZ Planning Scheme “is based on a coherent urban structure including height. It has been very successful to date in transforming the Docklands area, largely due to buy-in from all stakeholders, in return for a fast-track system which avoids ad-hoc development”.

She added: “The Council, as designated Development Agency, has carried out a Height Review as required under the Government’s Height Guidelines. The Council, in safeguarding the integrity of the SDZ both itself and for future application in other strategic land banks, has had no other option in the circumstances but to defend its position in the cour

She concluded: “In all of this, the Council is keen to facilitate additional height in the SDZ area in line with the Guidelines, but this can only be done by amendment to the SDZ Planning Scheme, a position endorsed by the courts.”

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    Mute Barbara Coleman
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:11 AM

    20 years in solitary confinement and confined to your cell 23 hours a day – completely barbaric I and 15 minutes to die
    by lethal injection- again barbaric !

    458
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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:19 AM

    @Barbara Coleman: shooting death a police officer on a traffic stop and sexually abusing a minor, that’s barbaric

    891
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    Mute Derek Moran
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:22 AM

    @Barbara Coleman: just think of the lives it saved keeping him there. Wish we could have done the same with that famous Irish crim / serial kilerr. that only served 10 years of a 15 year sentence.

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    Mute Colleen
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:46 AM

    @Barbara Coleman: don’t really agree with the death penalty but not too concerned about him spending years in solitary confinement. He murdered someone and it’s not supposed to be a holiday camp. Maybe if this happened here, it might act as some kind of deterrent. If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.

    163
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    Mute Dan Moran
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:21 AM

    @Garreth mc mahon: All of the acts are barbaric. The point being one of them is state sponsored barbarism administered to shown how wrong barbarism is. Its a bit of a contradiction in terms, apart from that it’s an easy way out for animals like that.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:19 AM

    @Colleen:if the death penalty acted as a deterrent then the US wouldn’t have such a high rate of violent death and nor would it have the highest rate of incarceration in the entire world.

    71
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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:20 AM

    @Derek Moran: incarceration without solitary confinement would have had the same outcome for society.

    26
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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:38 AM

    @EillieEs: You are put in solitary confinement for a reason, either you are a danger to other inmates/staff or for your own protection. Remember, this was not a nice guy, that is a fact, you think the day he got locked up he became a complete pacifist?

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    Mute Sean
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 12:39 AM

    @Alan Wright: Texas keeps all death-row prisoners in solitary confinement.

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    Mute Colette Byrne
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    Apr 24th 2022, 8:00 AM

    @Alan Wright: 20 years come on, most corrupt police force, its nothing to do with protecting one of their own. I DON’T CONDONE his crimes. But how many innocent people have been out to death in the states. How many convictions over turned years later, esp against black people. Maybe if they dealth with gun laws, they might not have a need for death penalty. Two wrongs don’t make a right.

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    Mute Larry O Reilly
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:42 AM

    Great job fair play to the authorities, he was on death row for years then they carried out the rule of court executed him, he had it coming unlike his victim who was just doing his job.
    Why do so many forget that there is a victim and a family involved here, when they decide that this is wrong and break out the hankies

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:18 AM

    Capital punishment is WRONG.

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    Mute Maurice O Neill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:46 AM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: It does not matter what you are I think. Texas has that law in place for a reason so its up to them to change it. I notice how there is no mention of the US President who is apparently against the death penalty. If they wanted to grant him clemency they could have but he was rejected by the parole board.

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 11:25 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: Why does what I am have ANY bearing on this?

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    Mute Felix O' Mahoney
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:27 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: Not for people who abuse children it’s not. They should ALL meet the same fate.

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    john
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    Mute john
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 3:16 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: no its not we should have it in Ireland you kill he and out in. 5 years joke

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    Mute Maurice O Neill
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:50 AM

    Imagine for one minute if President Trump was still in office. The Irish media would be all over this and would really be laying into him today. But yet not a peep from any of the Major news outlets here about this. I suppose they have a friend in the White House now so it wouldn’t be seen as conforming to upset the current administration.

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    Mute Paul Clancy
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:56 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: you’ve mentioned the Presidency twice. I don’t get what you mean, what has the President got to do with this?

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    Mute Míchael Búrké
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:59 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: awww the bub bub bub, you okay hun?

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:05 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: former president and he (still) deserves all the criticism been thrown at him. A completely awful human being.

    57
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    Mute Bríann O Connor
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:59 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: jeez that’s some hard on for trump you have.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:33 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: not a peep from any major Irish news outlet? Wow that is absolutely untrue, it’s reported in everything from RTE to the Irish Independent to the Mirror and you’re commenting on an article on it here on the Journal. Why lie about something so easily debunked? It just makes you look untrustworthy

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    Mute Colette Byrne
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    Apr 24th 2022, 8:02 AM

    @Maurice O Neill: It’s not major news.

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    Mute Eamonn O'Hanrahan
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:18 AM

    Nothing is more evil than a legally sanctioned killing of this kind.

    118
    RJ
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    Mute RJ
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:28 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: not sure the victims of these perpetrators or their families would agree.

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:29 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: Nothing? Man, your sense of perception of what “evil” is, is very very wrong.

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    Mute Roy Dowling
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:53 AM

    @Eamonn O’Hanrahan: So in your opinion the people who gave carried out the legally sanctioned injection are more evil than a man who sexually assaulted a minor and killed a police offer? Seriously?

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    Mute Geoff Bateman
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:30 AM

    The sentence is correct, but the years of waiting for the sentence to be carried out is Barbaric

    45
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    Mute Felix O' Mahoney
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:28 PM

    @Geoff Bateman: almost as barbaric as the poor innocent child having to live their entire life with the knowledge that they had been sexually abused by a monster.
    Monsters deserved to d i e. Slowly.

    54
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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:02 AM

    I’m always torn by this. My head tells me it’s wrong, but my heart always pipes up as to why tax payers should contribute to the upkeep of these people in prison. Plus an eye for an eye and all that. Grateful I don’t actually have to make the decision.

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    Mute EillieEs
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:34 AM

    @Anna Carr: an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind

    35
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    Mute Felix O' Mahoney
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:29 PM

    @EillieEs: no it doesn’t, it leaves everyone with one eye

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 12:42 PM

    @Felix O’ Mahoney: lol

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    Mute The Ghost of Micheal Collins
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:28 AM

    I disagree with capital punishment because I think the prisoners should be forced to serve the full duration of their sentences.

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    Mute John Martin
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 8:18 AM

    Hardly breaking news, 78 year old dies

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    Mute Shane Kennedy
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 11:59 AM

    Two wrongs don’t make a right. Nobody has the right to kill another person. The USA’s correctional system isn’t working.

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    Mute Paul Flynn
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 9:32 AM

    The only cruel part of this was making him wait twenty years. He should have been hanged after one tril and one appeal.

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    Mute Barry Evans
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 1:44 PM

    @Paul Flynn: I’m sure there are quite a number of people who were acquitted years later with the dawning of new forensic technology who would disagree with you………

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    Mute Conor Furlong
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:09 AM

    Barbaric. Utterly barbaric. This is murder.

    24
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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:45 AM

    @Conor Furlong: Where is your condemnation for the vile crimínal that put himself in this position for murdèring and innocent cop and abuse of a child. Your concern for criminals really shows your character. You could’ve condemned both in your post, but sided with the evil criminal.

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    Mute Marty Quish
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:22 AM

    Uff. What a way to go . 20 years solitary confinement is a death sentence in itself.

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    Mute Alan Wright
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:45 AM

    @Marty Quish: Its not. He didn’t die in his cell.

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    Mute Marty Quish
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:33 PM

    @Alan Wright: aren’t you a bright one .

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    Mute Declan Carr
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 11:45 AM

    They would have been better off killing him 20 years ago, think of all that TAX payer’s money they would have saved. After 20 years locked away from everyone, and being old, death would be a doddle. Saying I’m ready to go, rather than begging for forgiveness, takes the good out of it for his family.

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    Mute Tony Harris
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 1:06 PM

    @Declan Carr: What you say I’d true, but remember, in the U.S. prisons are a money making racket for private enterprise!

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    Paul
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    Mute Paul
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:00 AM

    Given that his health and medical conditions were going to end him soon anyway I think it was more a case of execution by euthanasia

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    Mute O'connor Joanne
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    Apr 22nd 2022, 10:46 PM

    Justifying one murder by committing another

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    Mute Ciaran Leonard
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 1:15 AM

    The United States and it’s people must be very proud to be able to keep someone in solitary confinement for 20 years and then execute an old age pensioner. Torture followed by execution. How can they be allowed to lecture the rest of the world? It is a very sick society but unfortunately they are not even aware of it.

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    Mute Seamus Quaide
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 5:54 AM

    And Trump walks around free…..

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    Mute Seamus Quaide
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    Apr 23rd 2022, 5:54 AM

    Any Trump walks around free….and will probably be elected president again.

    America is deeply lost.

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    Mute John Nolan
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    Jan 1st 2024, 2:07 PM

    Why after 30 years do this?

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    Mute Anne Feerick
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    Apr 24th 2022, 5:43 PM

    @Barbara Coleman if he was in general population he would been a target for attack.

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