Michelle O’Neill
Theresa Villiers: “I’m extremely pleased that we were able to answer the Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill’s request for a military helicopter…”
Tweet Following a request yesterday from the Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister, Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, to the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, for “urgent access to helicopter support“, an RAF Chinook flew from its Hampshire base today to airlift supplies in order ”to get food on the ground for stranded animals“. [It's just "a transport helicopter"! [...] more »
Irish Agriculture Minister: “I am seriously concerned about this development…”
Tweet I haven’t been posting on every twist and turn [Not "an isolated instance", then? - Ed] of the still unravelling story of the Europe-wide horse meat for beef scandal. But this looks like it could be a significant development. From the RTÉ report A processing plant in Co Tipperary has been shut down after inspectors found it [...] more »
#Horsemeat? What crisis? Ah, that crisis? (Don’t mention the election) It was the FSA wot done it.
Tweet Okay, so there’s a Westminster by election in your Mid Ulster constitutuency. There’s also a crisis in Northern Irish Agriculture that you said you had no reason to believe existed just two weeks ago. And you’re the Agriculture Minister. Damnit! So you call a cross department presser in the middle of your constituency in [...] more »
Is there an unregulated trade in horsemeat in Northern Ireland?
Tweet Now, here’s a thing. Mary Creagh has set some ferocious cats amongst the local pigeons [You do mean harses don't ya? - Ed]. She alone of politicians with any local interest, has been listening to the concerns of the USPCA: “The Ulster Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals have clear evidence of an illegal trade [...] more »
Bovine TB and badgers: “This approach has not been tried anywhere else…”
Tweet The different approaches of the various administrations in the UK and Ireland to attempting to eradicate bovine tuberculosis [TB] in wild animals, specifically badgers, are worth noting. They are all in response to the EU Directive 64/432/EEC which, as the Welsh adminstration’s website notes, ”requires Member States to provide plans showing how they will eradicate bovine TB in [...] more »
“I am determined to develop a response which fully matches our responsibility under the Habitats Directive…”
Tweet With the Northern Ireland Fisheries Minster, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín, displaying Helleresque logic in her efforts to avoid European Commission fines over the Executive’s failure to act to conserve atlantic salmon stocks, BBC NI’s environment correspondent, Mike McKimm, has an update on the NI Executive’s continuing inaction over environmental vandalism at Strangford Lough - a designated Special Area of Conservation, [...] more »
-
Books
-
Book Review: The McGurk’s Bar Bombing
Tweet The McGurk’s Bar Bombing: Collusion, Cover-Up and a Campaign for Truth with a foreword by Colin Wallace, just published by Frontline Noir, is the first book by Ciarán MacAirt, grandson of one of those killed in the bombing and the most visible campaigner on behalf of the victims and their families. The book pulls together the [...] read our review » -
Sunday Supplement
Tweet It being Sunday, we’ve all got time to consider and ponder things at greater length than during the working week, yes? If it’s good enough for the Sunday papers, it’s good enough for this guest blogger. So here’s the review section… Actually, it’s my introduction to a book published last year, Goin’ Down Slow: [...] read our review » -
Eamon Nancarrow’s misadventures in Rock…
Tweet It’s the quiet ones you have to watch, they say. When I last saw Eamonn Namcarrow, back in the mid 1980s he was a congenial, good-natured and highly sociable young lad. The next time was 26 years later, in Lavery’s Gin Palace in Bradbury Place. He’d just brought out his first book, Holywood Star [...] read our review »
-