SIDELINES...

Tory councillor tells Asian woman to ‘go back to where you came from’

A CONSERVATIVE PARTY councillor in England has been told to take part in equality and diversity training after she tweeted in support of the far-right English Defence League and told an Asian woman: “If you don’t like it here, go back to where you came from.”

Bournemouth Councillor Sue Anderson posted on Twitter: “Nobody else except the EDL stick up for the English.”

The far-right EDL is notorious for violent and provocative anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim demonstrations across England. Many of its members and supporters have been jailed for racially motivated attacks.

The Tory councillor later apologised at a council meeting for her comments.

Fine Gael minister ‘moronic’ – says Fine Gael TD

A FINE GAEL TD has described a party colleague’s comments on the dole as “moronic”.

Waterford TD John Deasy said comments by junior Agriculture Minister Shane McEntee that young people are being “handed the dole” and then spending it on drink were “dangerous” as they were “pitting people who work and don’t work against each other”.

“I think a lot of people in Fine Gael were upset by the comments,” Deasy said. “Personally, I regard them as moronic.”

 Sinn Féin tops Facebook ‘pols’

FACEBOOK may have been going through a few problems since its flotation on the New York Stock Exchange but Sinn Féin has been celebrating the fact that the party has maintained its dominant position as Ireland’s most popular political party on the social network site.

On Tuesday 12 June, ‘Mansuetus Fabricae’ became the 10,000th person to ‘like’ the party’s Facebook page.

The closest to Sinn Féin in terms of popularity on Facebook is Labour with some 7,000 ‘likes’, followed closely by Fine Gael on 6,900, and then by Fianna Fáil on 4,000 and the ULA on 1,800.

An Phoblacht’s Facebook page (2,000-plus) has a bit of catching up to do since the launch of its new website in May so if you’re reading this then make sure you follow us on the web, Twitter and Facebook too.