Posted by fústar in 
Early yesterday morning Рas the wife the daughter, and the husband/father (i.e. myself) strode (and rolled) towards the Milk Market Рwe chanced upon the Sinn F̩in Marine Assault Unit, out on maneuvers.
Their movements were simultaneously furtive and frantic – erratic rowing strokes coupled with hurried anchor-dumping (said movements not done justice by the below image).
As quickly as they arrived, they were gone – leaving this monument to clandestine effort in their wake.
Now while Toiréasa Ferris' head & SF's logo may look impressively large and striking in the above photo, it should be noted that a) this is a close crop of a shot taken at maximum zoom, and, b) the Shannon is a broad and majestic river. From the banks, or a bridge, the naked human eye would struggle to gather much more than a vague impression. Of a giant-headed young woman. Trapped on a small boat.
On to the debaffling. Toiréasa is, we're told, part of "A New Generation". A generation that eschews the corned-beef-faced fugliness of traditional Irish politicking and replaces it with relative-attractiveness. A generation that, let's face it, we're being subtly encouraged to want to ride. If Adams & McGuinness are an “Old Generationâ€? (original series) Kirk & Spock, then Toiréasa is a new/next generation…er…Deanna Troi? Or maybe not. I mean Kirk was pretty hot, and then there's the whole slash fiction thing so…um…
Anyway, location is an important factor here. For if unobtainableness is a significant element of seductive allure then you'd have to consider the above a beguiling success. After all, you'd struggle to make yourself more unobtainable than parking yourself in the middle of a river. Sinn Féin? Masters & mistresses of pop-sexual psychology.
Though unlikely to perform as impressively in the Limerick Leader's (controversial) “Candidates I'd Like to Bang� poll – Maurice Quinlivan (like other local SF hopefuls) still has explosive imagery in his arsenal.
First there's the shiny, eye-catching gold “1â€? – a traditional visual that manages to both rewrite the tricolour's (troublesome orange) symbolism and make the candidate seem that extra bit special. Plain ol' black and white “1sâ€? are hardly likely to sway a bling-obsessed youth (or so the Irish Daily Mail would probably tell me).
Then there's the “cut out and keep� dotted line (Sinn Féin vouchers! Collect 100 for a Wolfe Tones lunch box!) and the slightly puzzling “fast forward� icon.
All at sea or, or rocketing (at a trillion miles an hour) toward a bright, golden future? You decide.
http://www.limerickblogger.ie/blog/2007/05/vote07-day-22-sinn-fein-chasing-the-floating-voter
From 2007.
Something banjaxed with the link, squid (though I presume it’s about a similar watery assault).
Try it now. the site was down earlier and is working now
Furtive? How can you say that anchoring a boat out in the middle of the river, in the middle of day is furtive? LOL
Know it sounds unlikely, Pat, but they managed it (somehow). Overt & covert all at the same time.
Overt and covert at the same time. Y’d swear they’d had some form of quasi-military training.