I am not going to get into the speculation or conspiracy theories, because I just don’t know the guilt, or otherwise involvement of Mr. Adams regarding the murder of Mrs. McConville. What is fairly clear though is that the PSNI were compelled to act and investigate all accusations leveled against Mr. Adams, and failing to follow up all leads in a murder inquiry would be inexcusable.

It’s the timing of the interview and arrest of Mr. Adams which brings a greater political significance and questions of double standards into what should be normal police practice. Only days before Mr. Adams arrest, Secretary of State Theresa Villers, ruled out an investigation in to the 1971 killing of eleven people in Ballymurphy by members of the British Army. What sort of message does this send out to the world? a single killing is rightfully investigated, while multiple killings are ignored, because its not in the public interest.

One thing is now certain regardless of whether Mr. Adams is charged or released, Sinn Fein will now have a field day, and will take full political advantage of what would seem to be double standards. I would not be surprised to see a surge in support for Sinn Fein, and it would be ironic if this happened because of the investigation into the callous murder of Mrs. Jean McConville.

A very good synopsis of the situation TJ, the PSNI has an unenviable job to perform in trying to contain hate fueled sectarian mob violence. In hindsight we all can do things better.

ribtickler, I totally agree, and Indians obviously feel safe in Australia they were the second highest intake of migrants in the last year. There were some sections of the Indian media who distorted the facts regarding attacks on Indian students and its good to see that the Indian Government investigation, showed that a relatively small number of students suffered racial attacks.

turquoise, here is a piece from wiki regarding Indian students in Australia . May help to answer your question.
Australia is a popular destination for students from India. During 2009, some media in Australia and India publicised reports of crimes and robberies against Indians in Australia and alleged that they were racially motivated crimes. There were 120,913 Indian students enrolled to undertake an Australian qualification in 2009 and India was the second top-source country for Australia’s international education industry.[29] A subsequent Indian Government investigation concluded that out of 152 reported assaults against Indian students in Australia that year, 23 such incidents involved "racial overtones".[30] in 2011, the Australian Institute of Criminology released a study entitled Crimes Against International Students:2005-2009.[31] This found that over the period 2005-2009, international students were statistically less likely to be assaulted than the average person in Australia. Indian students experienced an average assault rate in some jurisdictions, but overall they experienced lower assault rates than the Australian average. They did, however, experience higher rates of robbery, overall.[32] Additionally, multiple surveys of international students over the period of 2009-10 found a majority of Indian students felt safe.[33]

Pierce, there was never anything liberal or democratic about British rule in Ireland. The creation of Northern Ireland, against the wishes of the vast majority Irish people is a testimony to that. The resulting decades of marginalization and discrimination carried out against the Nationalist people while Britain turned a blind eye to this abuse of democracy is fresh in the memory of many Irish people. In 2016, Ireland will be rightly honoring those men and women who paved the way for an independent Irish Nation.

The decline in support for a republic in Australia is more than likely down to apathy. Last time around Australians were given a choice of retaining the monarchy or having a president appointed by parliament. It was the option with the least support amongst republicans and many refused to vote for a system that was similar to the current one, namely a leader unelected by the people.

The Australian Labor Party have it as part of their policy yet the last two Labor leaders Mr. Rudd and Ms Gillard said it was not a pressing issue, and did not want to pursue it at this time. There is also support among some republicans of doing nothing while Queen Elizabeth remains monarch.
In general, the whole issue of whether Australia should become a republic is more important to the monarchists and they tend to live in a constant state of vigilance. There is nothing surer as the demography in Australia changes there is less and less attachment to the United Kingdom.

The recent return to imperial honours, system of knights and dames by the current government only has a 35% support, and has been the subject of ridicule and laughter by the majority of Australians.

So let the monarchists have their day in the sun where they can greet and welcome the royal couple and their baby and momentarily breathe the same air. The rest of us plebs are just happy to say welcome to Australia Will and Kate and enjoy your stay.

Wrecked Hum take it easy now, the Pope if he does visit will be seeing the new emerging Catholic state of Northern Ireland, and you should be delighted to witness a new dawning. Peter Robinson will be able to tell him how things use to be, and promise not to be a sectarian bigot anymore.

The reality is that Northern Ireland is about to become Unionism’s worst nightmare, namely a Catholic majority with Sinn Fein the dominant party and no amount of wishful thinking is going to change what is about to happen. They have been politically out maneuvered by a better educated and a more politically astute opposition

Bigchief, having read pages 4and 5 of the GAA official guide, I would agree that it is Irish Nationalist in its ethos; however I do not see it as being political. There is nowhere that I could see that it supports any particular party. In fact on page 7 of the document it states
"Non-Party Political
The Association shall be non-party political. Party political
questions shall not be discussed at its meetings, and no
Committee, Club, Council or representative thereof
shall take part, as such, in any party political movement.
A penalty of up to twenty four weeks suspension may be
Imposed "

I would imagine that there are members of the GAA that support a variety of political parties. The PSNI have a Gaelic Football team and here in Australia the GAA have clubs in most states and territories .Here is an extract from their website.

"Whether you're out from Ireland for a year or two, here to stay or whatever your ethnic background -Aboriginal, Maori, Papuan, Anglo, European, Asian, Afro, Nth or South American, Aussie or Kiwi you are welcome to come and play the all-round game of Gaelic football or even try your hand at the ancient art of Hurling or Camogie. If you just want to come and have a pint of Guinness or your favourite brew and watch or join in the "craic" (good fun and socializing) then check out the nearest venues and clubs on this site. " http://www.gaelicfootball.com.au/

The problem with accepting the GAA as a sporting and cultural body only exists in Northern Ireland where some sections of the community find anything Irish offensive, the refusal to introduce an Irish Language Act is proof of the bigotry which exists towards anything that could be seen as culturally Irish. Many of the Unionist population do not even identify as Irish, and are proud of their British identity and culture which of course is their right to do so. It is also the right of the GAA to promote Irish Nationalism through sport and language.

Kid, you say the people of Northern Ireland need to be united before there is a United Ireland, and I would tend to agree that that would be the better option, however they are not united and Northern Ireland is still part of the United Kingdom.

The reality is that it takes only a voting majority in Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic for unification to succeed. In a major constitutional change there would be a long negotiation period and the arguments for and against would be put to both electorates. Whatever the result, there would be those who would not like the outcome; but they would still have to accept the democratic will of the people.

The Northern Ireland conflict arose because the partition of Ireland was established along sectarian lines with the threat of an all out war against the people of Ireland. The democratic process was totally ignored and continuous Unionist Governments abused the power that they were handed. We live in different times now and if ever an all Ireland state were to be established any threats of violence by those opposed to the democratic process would be dealt with by both the Irish and the British governments.

The new understanding between Britain and Ireland will not be subjected to the whim of those who wish to operate outside the democratic process whether their views are Unionist or Republican.