A plea to Our Politicians; please spend the emergency funding you have been allocated by the Chancellor as he intended and on the basis of need…

Following the publication of my recent article on Monday literally pleading for Stormont to reallocate money from its capital budgets to stop the collapse of the local economy, it is pleasing to hear Westminster announce targeted financial support for Northern Ireland. However, the pronouncements from our Politicians in recent days as to how they are going to spend these funds is however deeply worrying and their approach needs to be challenged and scrutinised to ensure these funds are not wasted …

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A way can be found between the EU rock and the GB hard place. But will Boris Johnson let us take it?

Katy Hayward We are literally at sea over what Northern Ireland’s special status with the EU will mean  in practice.   Our Brexit guru – or should I now say, our Guru on Trading Relations with GB and the EU Katy Hayward  writing in the Belfast Telegraph explains neatly why Northern Ireland is between a rock and a hard place    In  the past  Katy was keen to repeat assurances that  NI’s  different economic  relationship with the EU from GB  had …

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Medical school plan for Derry Campus now “oven ready” if only an Executive minister signs it off, says NIO minister. Will it happen?

Andrew Adonis, the former Labour cabinet minister and senior adviser to Tony Blair is that rare creature, a British politician who having been introduced to Northern Ireland doesn’t turn away wearily after a short while. He has  decided  to champion our interests. He’s been mocked recently as a fanatical anti-Brexiteer who has had to face defeat. Undaunted, he has  turned to  other causes.  His speech during a debate in the Lords about the Stormont standoff yesterday  triggered an important statement …

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With the best will in the world, you can’t know what you’re voting for today

Let’s begin at (your) home. After all the mystery and muttering about tactics after the election, do you know which main party the DUP would support in government? I don’t. But Nigel Dodds sounds as if he’s nuzzling up to the Tories again with or without an overall majority     There is no doubt that if we reach a tariff-free trade deal with the European Union, that will eliminate the need for most if not all customs checks..I sincerely hope …

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While you’re waiting for election results, why not take a look at the state of Brexit from the Irish point of view?

Fairly dramatic conclusions about the future of the Union and stability in Northern Ireland have been produced in the third Brexit Status Report of the Dublin based Institute of European and International Affairs.    Rather disappointingly the Report avoids discussing post Brexit  strategies for restoring  Stormont or if they fail, options such as direct rule, joint authority or an accountability mechanism for the Northern Ireland people on the future of the “frontstop,” assuming it is ratified by Parliament. A border …

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“Potential lifeline” for Harland and Wolff amid the backstop blues

  The FT reports on a potential lifeline to build Royal Navy frigates for Harland and Wolff.   A consortium led by defence group Babcock International has won the competition to build new frigates for the Royal Navy, securing hundreds of jobs at British shipyards, including in Northern Ireland and Scotland. Under the original proposal, the plan was to assemble the vessels at Rosyth using “blocks” built by H&W and Ferguson. It remained unclear if the role of H&W and …

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Concern deepens in both parts of Ireland over the state of paralysis in Brexit negotiations

Evidence mounts of the economic damage of No Deal to the economies north and south and the implications for the border which are disputed between the British and Irish governments. A no-deal Brexit would mean Northern Ireland’s economy would be at least 3% smaller compared to if the UK stayed in the EU, a new analysis highlighted by the BBC NI Economics correspondent John Campbell suggests. That is a much less severe impact than a UK government analysis which suggested a …

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The true costs of No Deal – the most complete independent assessment yet

Britain in a changing Europe is as near as we’ve got to an objective think on the subject of Brexit. Today as the Commons votes  to forestall a No Deal outcome, they publish their independent assessment on what No Deal actually means for the UK (not the Republic).     This is the Executive summary No deal will mean a prolonged period of uncertainty. Not only do we not know with any certainty when and how no deal impacts will …

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Is Northern Ireland Spiralling out of Control?

There has never been so much consensus in Northern Ireland. There has never been so much discord. The guy who cuts our trees thinks we’re Catholic, as we send our kids to the local Catholic school. We’re not (we’re Lundies). We think he’s Protestant, because of his name and the fact that we live in majority Protestant area. Last week, I was surprised to hear my husband drop a ‘Londonderry’ into the conversation – I assume to make the tree …

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‘Let’s not repeat the mistakes of the past! (But we are.)’

Northern Ireland is “a society that is still emerging from conflict”, warns Conal McFeely, chief executive of one of Northern Ireland’s largest and most successful not-for-profit businesses, the Ráth Mór Centre[i] in Derry.  He was interviewed in the latest Forward Together podcast. “We must collectively not allow ourselves to make the same political mistakes – and the failure of governance – that we’ve done in the past,” Conal says, before adding “but sadly I believe that we are at the moment”. …

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Terrible news about Bombardier but the prospects aren’t hopeless

With all the phased cuts and despite winning a battle against Trump’s protectionism, this will come as a shock but not much of a surprise. Sends a chill down the spine though.  The local politicians are all running around looking for assurances, but impotent. They can’t even make the ritual promises of “everything will be done that can be done.” Brexit and the Stormont stand off all add to the impression of a difficult environment for new foreign direct investment.  …

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The common sense solution to the Brexit crisis comes from business, not politics

 This suggested solution to  the Brexit crisis is offered by Willie McCarter,  for many years  one of  our leading  business people, with long experience of north-south and international manufacturing and trade, becoming CEO of Fruit of the Loom’s operations based in the north west, 1987-97. He was also a leading fund raiser in the US for community and heritage projects to promote development and reconciliation here as chairman of the International Fund for Ireland, 1993-2005.    As the threat of …

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Stop dreaming and learn how to take responsibility – the key demand to local parties

Alan and Mick have done sterling work in reporting and commenting  on the Alliance and Fianna Fail  conferences, with the SDLP in tow for the latter. From me at a distance they prompt the following reflections. Real politics cannot be about endless positioning, it has to be about policies, doing things for the people , how to raise and spend the money – you know,  the stuff you read about  what happens in other places. The SDLP’s agenda is too …

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Every day we stand still, we fall further behind

Last week we saw the most recent efforts to kick-start talks to restore devolved government here in the North, and again the efforts seemed to have fallen at the first hurdle with the main parties fairly down on the session and chances of progress. We are now over two years without an Executive, local minsters and various associated committees that form the basis of devolved government here.  Many on the street ask “what has changed?”, highlighting that “they didn’t do …

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“Such pressure as is on Ireland (and it will be significant) will come from the reality of the situation…”

Worth quoting at length from Pat Leahy in the Irish Times on the Irish Government’s role in the ongoing Brexit negotiations.  It’s a welcome, un-hysterical look at a key player in what will unfold.  [And all too rare here! – Ed]  Indeed.  From the Irish Times By and large, Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney and the Government apparatus as a whole have handled the Brexit crisis well – just as the Opposition, in the main, has been pretty responsible. Contrast our …

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The DUP are the crucial “dominoes” in May’s bid to win a second meaningful vote

Theresa May’s strategy to try to win MPs’ endorsement of the withdrawal agreement is a little clearer, arising out of hints she gave to Andrew Marr yesterday. The strategy  is classic if conventional  politics, before a fundamentally divided, incoherent opposition, however formidable it now seems. It involves  narrowing  the gaps, wearing down opposition by a mixture of  project Fear (miles of traffic jams and English police on Ulster streets ) and project Farce (the shipping company with no ships), and …

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Crisp advice to Parliament on what to ponder over Christmas

Perhaps the most celebrated of constitutional experts Vernon Bogdanor, has no doubts about what should happen next. The irony is that there is a much greater consensus among MPs than is apparent from the posturing of May’s opponents. Kenneth Clarke believes that about 80% of MPs are against a no-deal Brexit, while nearly all MPs accept that there should not be a hard Irish border, which would be incompatible with the spirit of the Good Friday agreement of 1998. The withdrawal agreement achieves …

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Putting Brexit in Historical Perspective #NevinLecture

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE – Listen back to Professor Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke delivering the annual Donal Nevin lecture, explaining how UK trade policies evolved to the point that they entered the EU, and what this teaches us about Brexit. QUB’s Dr Katy Hayward responded with the Northern Ireland context.

Keep your eye on the glimmer of light in the Big Picture. But first we need to re-examine the backstop, sooner rather than later.

Although the sight of it is darkly occluded, the shape of things to come is emerging through the fog. Whatever immediate  political strategy  Theresa May chooses today, the dream of the hard line Brexiteers is in process of disintegration.  Whatever the political turmoil today, the UK will retain some sort of close relationship with the EU.   In Northern Ireland, unionists will have a closer relationship with the Republic and with nationalists generally – and I would argue with only slightly …

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‘A New Ireland: a ten year plan?’ Book launch…

‘A New Ireland: a ten year plan?’ is being launched at events in Dublin and Belfast tomorrow (7th December). The book considers the prospect for Irish reunification in the context of the impact of Brexit and demographic changes in Northern Ireland, alongside the economic strength and increasing social liberalism of the Irish Republic.  Things are changing in Ireland, north and south. But the problems associated with the Brexit referendum result demonstrate the danger of having a yes/no vote without considering …

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