Derry – Slugger O'Toole

Derry’s university grievance

Paul Gosling on February 5, 2024, 9:03 am | Readers 1761

Derry has been campaigning for a full sized university campus for the last 60 years. The city still holds a grievance over the Lockwood report from 1965, which chose Coleraine for the location of the new university, rather than Derry’s existing Magee College, then a Presbyterian theological college. I once interviewed Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, the former head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service, who told me that some of the unionist politicians of the time wanted to close Magee completely, …

The other waiting list crisis

Paul Gosling on October 23, 2023, 9:03 am | Readers 2750

When waiting lists are discussed and shouted about in Northern Ireland, we are usually talking about our disintegrating healthcare system. But there is a second waiting list crisis – that of households seeking social housing. As at March of last year, there were 44,426 applicants on the social housing waiting list. Of these, over 10,000 were regarded as homeless and more than 31,000 were in housing stress. Nor is the situation improving. There was a 20% jump in applicants for …

A tale of one city and two regeneration sites

Paul Gosling on October 9, 2023, 9:22 am | Readers 3827

Derry is a frustrated city. Too often promises of improvement either come to nothing, or happen too slowly. Anyone who doubts this can consider the regeneration of two major development sites – Ebrington and Fort George. One is now partially occupied, the other largely vacant. This is two decades after the fanfare of their transfer from the Ministry of Defence for the benefit of the city. The former Ebrington Barracks, also known at one time as HMS Sea Eagle, were …

Why do we still have ‘peace walls’?

Paul Gosling on September 11, 2023, 9:02 am | Readers 2466

Why, a quarter of a century after the Good Friday Agreement, do we still have peace walls and interface barriers? The truth, of course, is that the peace deal ended the conflict, but failed to end division and embed reconciliation. Murdered journalist Lyra McKee famously wrote that more ‘peace walls’ have gone up since the GFA than have come down. This is despite a strategy from the The Executive Office containing the target to remove them all by 2023. Yet …

Connecting the North West

Paul Gosling on August 14, 2023, 9:02 am | Readers 4774

Derry and Donegal are not only marginalised by their geographic position on the periphery of the island of Ireland, but they are also very badly served by the transport infrastructure. They are not alone in this: there are similar complaints from Sligo, Fermanagh and elsewhere in the West. After a long campaign, parts of the A6 road between Derry and Belfast have been upgraded – though it is still not a dual carriageway between Dungiven and Castledawson. It was back …

Why do elements of ABOD supporters go out of their way to insult and offend?

Soapbox on August 2, 2023, 4:54 pm | Readers 5868

brown and blue concrete building

Hughie Beag is a West Belfast native and recovering legal scholar who spends lots of time in his spouse’s native Basque Country We’re coming up to the Apprentice Boys of Derry Relief of Derry parade, held annually on the second Saturday in August in the old walled city of Derry on the West Bank of the Foyle. The ABOD march was previously contested when, as a result of the 1994 ceasefires, the city walls became fully accessible to the public and …

Where is the Peace Dividend?

Paul Gosling on June 5, 2023, 9:01 am | Readers 5664

A few days ago the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of the House of Commons was told that for some communities here, the expected peace dividend from the Good Friday Agreement never arrived. Tim Attwood of the John and Pat Hume Foundation reported on its recent ‘Peace Summit’. “One of the young people said, ‘The conflict was not the problem; the peace is’, because, in so many places, they do not see the dividend. Some working-class people in parts of Belfast …

Foyle Constituency Profile – Assembly Elections 2022…

Michael Hehir on April 23, 2022, 9:14 am | Readers 3118

Looking across the River Foyle to the cityside from the waterside, with The Peace Bridge framed by The Guild Hall (left) and St. Eugene's Cathedral (right) (May, 2021).

I’ve just finished reading the entrails in Foyle, and my brain hurts. Quite frankly I wouldn’t blame you if you stopped reading right now and just left it to the Almighty in his ineffable wisdom to reveal the final results sometime on May 7th. To those of you who refuse to heed the warnings, I salute your courage. We start with the designation shares bearing the, by now familiar, marks of tactical voting in Westminster. And as usual, these marks …

Time to demand more for Derry?

David McCann on August 20, 2021, 12:27 pm | Readers 2455

Chris Donnelly was writing in Monday’s Irish News about the need to address the economic situation in the city of Derry. He outlined the major issues. Derry needs an injection not just of cash but of people. It should be the Galway of the north, itself a city in which 1 in 5 residents are students. Derry has the lowest Higher Education provision of the fifteen largest towns and cities with degree-granting institutions across the island. Sligo has a similar …

For those who wish to see Derry city prosper, I recommend a trip to the South Holland city of Gorinchem…

Am Ghobsmacht on June 6, 2021, 12:46 pm | Readers 4430

There are two types of people in this world; those who wish to see Derry city prosper and those who wish to see it fail. I’m in the former camp and as such I’m unimpressed with those in the latter camp, whether their M.O. be by means of bombs or political sabotage (just covering all the incoming whataboutery bases). For those firmly in the prosper camp then might I recommend a trip to the South Holland city of Gorinchem? (Somehow …

Sinn Fein continue their Derry shake up

David McCann on April 28, 2021, 7:25 pm | Readers 6871

The Irish Examiners political correspondent, Aoife Moore has another scoop on the latest developments in Derry Sinn Fein as she reveals the two sitting MLAs have been asked to consider their positions. Moore reports: Martina Anderson and Karen Mullan were told last week that as part of a long investigation into the Derry Comhairle Ceantair launched before Christmas, that they should reconsider their positions as elected representatives, as the party attempted to “rebuild” in the city. It’s understood both women …

#TheReset Podcast – Steve Bradley on the future of Derry…

Brian O'Neill on September 20, 2020, 9:13 am | Readers 2614

Steve Bradley is a regeneration consultant, you can follow him on Twitter. Steve is a very popular writer on Slugger with some of his posts getting over 40k readers, you can view an archive of his posts here. In this podcast, we discuss the future of Derry and the Northwest. In particular, we discuss: The future of Ulster University in Derry or lack thereof The potential for an independent University How Covid-19 will affect Derry, in particular, fewer people having …

Putting a trans-border university at the heart of the Shared Island agenda – The regenerative role of a local university

Peter Doran on August 28, 2020, 9:00 am | Readers 2161

With plans to form a Shared Island unit in the Taoiseach’s Office there will be opportunities for Dublin’s new coalition government to select a number of flagship projects that can form part of a transformative legacy. One that can contribute significantly to the re-imagination of our island is a trans-border university in the North West. The region could lead the way in both pedagogical and ecological innovation as we prepare to ‘Build Back Better’ to address the impacts of both …

The Forgotten Troubles 1920-1922: The Derry Riots 1920…

Patrick Concannon on August 7, 2020, 8:47 am | Readers 5659

On 12th August 1969 Derry City exploded into violence and running battles that would eventually become known as the Battle of The Bogside after the Annual Relief of the City Parade held by the Apprentice Boys. This rioting lasted for three days and is widely seen as the start of the Troubles or Northern Ireland conflict. What is less well known, however, is that almost fifty years previously, in June 1920 Derry saw a far bloodier spate of communal rioting …

Seamus Heaney and the dullness of “Grey Cement”…

Terry Maguire on June 13, 2020, 7:10 am | Readers 2639

seamus heaney

One wintery evening in the early 1970s, a RTE film crew arrived at my boarding school, St Columb’s College on Bishop Street in Derry, to make a TV documentary. It was rare excitement in the boredom and routine that defined the boarders’ lives. The subject of the documentary was an ex-boarder, the poet Seamus Heaney. One scene involved an actor – or perhaps it was the poet himself –sneaking down the wrought-iron fire-escape attached to the grey-stoned gable of Senior …

Will the City Deal provide a “fresh start” for Derry?

Steve Bradley on May 19, 2020, 3:00 pm | Readers 4250

The current global pandemic has put Northern Ireland’s long-standing problems firmly into context – with Coronavirus claiming more lives across the UK in a few days last month than thirty years of the Troubles did. Fortunately post-conflict NI is a very different place these days, with change perhaps nowhere more prevalent than in our economy. Current pandemic woes aside, NI entered the current decade in a much better economic condition than it has any other decade since at least the …

Busting the Historical Myths – The Siege of Derry…

Patrick Concannon on March 31, 2020, 10:38 am | Readers 6303

As Coronavirus dominates the airwaves I thought it may be interesting to explore a few historical myths as a means to divert our attention from the pandemic sweeping the Word. In Northern Ireland there is a tendency for Unionists and Nationalists to view certain historical events in a partisan and inaccurate way often driven by erroneous historical interpretations which have become main-stream, but which are based primarily on propaganda. As every historian knows the complexity and nuances of human nature …

Video: Northern Ireland’s Generation Peace…

Brian O'Neill on February 7, 2020, 11:39 am | Readers 1061

The Face Magazine has produced a short film about the young people who have grown up in Derry since the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. From the article: Generation Peace talks to those who have grown up in Derry since the 1998 Good Friday agreement, which brought The Troubles to an end after three decades of violent conflict. Brexit and the possibility of the reintroduction of a border in Ireland, however, jeopardise that uneasy peace. In Derry we met brilliant young …

You Are Now Entering Free Derry…

Brian O'Neill on January 13, 2020, 3:25 pm | Readers 1434

"It just shows you the change that's happened over the last few years, from it being a dream to a reality". Derry women Danielle & Emma got married in Donegal last year. Today their marriage is legally recognised in the city they call home. Interview coming up on @BBCRadioFoyle pic.twitter.com/sfR44DGxD2 — Gráinne Morrison (@grengrain) January 13, 2020 Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in …

The landslide on the Foyle

Jay Burbank on December 19, 2019, 11:27 am | Readers 4691

Colum Eastwood’s victory in Foyle was a momentous occasion in the history of our politics here. In surpassing even Hume, the founder of the SDLP, Colum now has the weight of a City and history itself on his shoulders. If his victory is to mean anything then it shouldn’t be used solely as a launch pad to building a revitalised SDLP across NI. This is of course within the remit of every party leader, but in changing hands in 2017, …