THE IRISH OBSERVER: Irelands Future, 3Arena, Dublin, October 2022, Review

Irelands Future, 3Arena, Dublin, October 2022, Review

Empirical Evidence

The 3Arena in Dublin with which this writer is very familiar, has a seating capacity of 8,000 and a standing capacity of 13,000. For the Irelands Future event over 3,000 empty seats were hidden behind a wall of grey curtains. Many of the seats that were ‘sold’ remained empty throughout the event, this is proven by the pictures and live streaming of the event from those present.

Irelands Future Promotion and Marketing

In the weeks leading up to the Irelands Future Event at the 3Arena in Dublin, advocates for the event and very polished social media marketing campaigns were advising the public that this would be an “Historic” event. Many journalists Zooming (Zoombies) from their bedrooms repeated without any analysis that this would in deed be a seismic moment in Ireland’s history.

Those championing the cause of ‘Irish Unity’ attacked and abused anyone on-line who dared challenge the prevailing Irelands Future narrative being put forward by paid actors such as James Nesbitt and Colm Meaney, or Human Rights Professors such as Colin Harvey.

I was personally subject to hundreds of abusive messages and threats on-line simply because I asked questions about exclusion and perception relating to the event, as some of those advocating for the event had made many statements that made the event unpalatable for those with a view that was at variance with those advocates.

My View of Irelands Future

In the early 1990s, I began the public discussion about Irelands Future, and I was supported in that endeavor by some of Irelands greatest protagonists who were prepared to give ‘peace’ a chance. My inspiration was and remains, John Hume MEP. My view of Irelands Future did not exclude anyone, it did not marginalize anyone, I did not have to pay professional actors, I did not have to get people bused to my events, I did not have to exaggerate the numbers in my audiences.

So, in effect, Professor Colin Harvey, is continuing at Queens University Belfast, the work that I and others began in the early 1990s, work that excluded no one, but offered an open and warm house to everyone, and yet difficult decisions were made and difficult topics openly and honestly discussed.

In this picture I am with William Smyth PUP/UVF (a true friend of peace) and Barry McElduff Sinn Fein/PIRA at QUB, 1995.

Irelands Future

The marketed campaign leading up to the Irelands Future event on October 1, 2022, stated that this was an “Historic” event, a “Seismic” event, but where did this “Historic” event originate?

When the group Irelands Future was formed in 2017, Professor Colin Harvey and others wrote to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, setting forward a number of propositions for the Future of the Constitutional position of Northern Ireland within the Island of Ireland.

Brandon Lewis them Secretary of State for Northern Ireland responded as follows:

“The secretary of state must have regard to reasonable factors and make a judgement based on objective, reliable and empirical evidence”.

This prerequisite of “Empirical Evidence” is not alien to Professor Colin Harvey, in fact it is the bread and butter of academia, a Phd or Professorship would quickly be withdrawn if it was found that anyone being granted or awarded such title had used flawed methodology to state a non-truth as fact.

On Saturday 1 October, 2022, as Professor Colin Harvey stood in the 3Arena in Dublin, he declared on Twitter @cjhumanrights to the world “Full House”. Those of us who were observing proceedings, and who know the 3Arena exceptionally well, having attended the venue many times for many events, were taken aback by this declaration of “Full house”, as we could see that seats in which I and others had previously occupied were not even in public view, they were in fact along with over 3,000 other empty seats hidden behind a wall of grey curtains.

Having communicated with several people who were in the main body of the hall, it was confirmed for me that there were in fact over 3,000 empty seats hidden behind a wall of grey curtains. I then communicated with Prof Colin Harvey and others on Twitter to establish what ‘empirical’ evidence had been used to make the bold declaration of “Full House”.

Having asked these very basic questions about ‘empirical’ evidence, I was subject to a torrent of abuse, for trying to undermine the event and its theme, in fact I was simply trying to establish facts so that I could write a review of the event. It was then stated on various postings that tickets had only been offered for 5,000 of the 8,000-seat capacity 3Arena, the 3Arena can also offer 13,000 standing capacities.

So now at least some of those involved in promoting the event over the previous weeks, were moving away from their early public pronouncements about possibly needing Croke Park (Capacity over 80,000) to host the Irelands Future Event due to real time demand. Also, the daily mantra by those promoting the event that the youth of Ireland were “Rallying” to the call of the Irelands Future Event, began to ring hollow as those occupying the seats 'some gifted' and many paid for, were being filled by people such as Gerry Adams and many hundreds of ‘silver surfers.

I then made a number of phone calls to old comrades within the ranks of Sinn Fein/PIRA to establish exactly what role they (Sinn Fein/PIRA) were playing in the Irelands Future Event, as up until Saturday I had genuinely believed (although I had not thought that much about it) that the Irelands Future Event was to be non-partisan and funded by sponsorship and ticket sales. Then the penny finally dropped, a former Sinn Fein/PIRA comrade told me that they (Sinn Fein) were running upwards of 50 buses to the Irelands Future Event and they had bought tickets on a corporate scale at 10 Euro each and which they can claim back in expenses.

In this picture 60-year-old, Sinn Fein MP, Michelle Gildernew joins a bus load of older people on their way to 3Arena for the Irelands Future Event

To confirm what my former comrade had told me, pictures of bus loads of Sinn Fein/PIRA supporters began to appear on my Twitter newsfeed showing senior members of Sinn Fein/PIRA taking selfies as they made their way to the Irelands Future Event on their hired buses. Yet with all of this empirical evidence, those journalists attending the event, presented a standing ovation for Mary Lou McDonald, as something of a spontaneous surprise.

Mary Lou McDonald being the person who recently stated that the Campaign of Murder and Rape by Sinn Fein/PIRA was “Justified”, journalists forgot to include Mary Lou’s biograph.

As the Irelands Future Event began to take shape it was clear, that Professor Colin Harvey and others had not used ‘empirical evidence’ (as required by Brandon Lewis) to make the bold claim “Full House”, in fact the house was only at 50% capacity and Professor Colin Harvey was standing right there in the middle of it. Let us hope that Professor Colin Harvey’s work as a Human Rights academic is not such a blind experiment.

Professor Colin Harvey @cjhumanrights used Flawed Methodology when he said, “Full house here in Dublin” to describe the audience at 3Arena for Ireland’s Future Event, in fact, 3,000 empty seats were hidden behind a curtain and seats visible were never filled.

Irelands Future in Perspective

In September, 2022, Gareth Brooks sold-out five concerts at Dublin’s Croke Park, Gareth Brooks brought 400,000 people into a single space. While many could dismiss this phenomenon as nothing more than a gig on steroids, it was much more, because, Gareth Brooks managed to place senior members of The DUP and Sinn Fein/PIRA on the same benches. The latter I witnessed with my own eyes at close quarter.

Irelands Future brought paid actors, with prepared scripts, such as James Nesbitt to declare themselves ‘representative’ of the Protestant community, in fact, those of us who have taken the time to know the Protestant community, know that, no one person, no one group of people represent Protestantism in all of its historical, cultural and political complexities. Still, for an audience, filled with bus loads of Sinn Fein/PIRA supporters, tokenism was greatly appreciated.

In the end, the Irelands Future Event, was not what it was advertised to be. Yes, 5,000 tickets may have been sold at 10 Euro each, however, at least 50% of those tickets were bought on a corporate scale by Sinn Fein/PIRA supporters, this was also supported by the booing of Leo Varadakar TD who made a contribution about inclusion and the ‘surprise’ standing-ovation for Mary Lou McDonald.

It is not unfair to say, that based on the empirical evidence presented in this review, that the Irelands Future Event, while not necessarily intending to be, was nothing more than a further attempt by Sinn Fein/PIRA to legitimize Sinn Fein/PIRAs Campaign of Murder and Rape.

If Irelands Future wants to make a genuine contribution, then they need reach beyond the sectarianism and hate that is Sinn Fein/PIRA. Gareth Brooks had no support acts, just the correct mood music to make everyone feel included.

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