Parties
UUP and the SDLP: Two parties in search of a script?
Very good column from Fionnuala O’Connor on Tuesday re what what’s happening to two parties in continuing decline. She starts with the semi public spat between Margaret Ritchie and her chosen successor, the retired school head, Sean Rogers: Surely between them a keen new player and a former leader could have avoided such a petty [...] more »
“This is a read-back into the so-called ‘dirty war’…”
In yesterday’s Belfast Telegraph, Brian Rowan attempted to explained the thinking behind Sinn Féin’s expressed concerns about the “Dark Side” [It's "a sound working partnership and one that is to be commended" - Ed] Indeed. From the Belfast Telegraph article …this is not a row for the sake of being awkward. It is a serious [...] more »
Sarkozy: “I did not know she voted in France…”
At the Guardian’s Politics Blog, Michael White has some fun with reports that Nicolas Sarkozy has enlisted Frau Bundeskanzlerin in his French presidential re-election campaign. Although this post’s title quote, from the Wall Street Journal blogs, suggests he may already be having second thoughts… ANYhoo… From Michael White’s post We can assume that pollsters have advised [...] more »
“Last January, the vast majority of families decided that the 39th Anniversary would be the last march”
Despite the declaration by the organising committee last year following the publication of the Saville Inquiry report, and the absence of endorsement by the Bloody Sunday Trust this year, a sizeable number of people took part in the 40th anniversary Bloody Sunday march in Londonderry yesterday. Estimates range from several hundred to almost 3000. And, [...] more »
“this device may have been here for some considerable time, possibly many years…”
There’s good news, and there’s bad news, as a 36 hour security alert in Kinawley, County Fermanagh, ends with two controlled explosions by the British Army’s bomb disposal team and the removal of a viable device “for further forensic examination”. From the BBC report Police have said that a bomb found in a field in County [...] more »
Londonderry to host All-Ireland Fleadh in UK City of Culture year
After the application of some internal, and external, pressure the Ulster Council of Comhaltas reversed their earlier decision in time for the organisation’s central executive to select Londonderry to host their All-Ireland Fleadh during the UK City of Culture year in 2013. In the event, the only other candidate was Sligo… [Adds - Apparently Ennis withdrew [...] more »
Lord Chief Justice: “it is difficult to regard the remarks as anything other than undermining and unhelpful to the administration of justice in Northern Ireland”
Apparently, I haven’t read it, former Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, MP for Neath, devotes two pages of his recently published memoirs to an attack on Lord Justice Girvan. More specifically, an attack on the then Mr Justice Girvan for his 2006 High Court ruling that Peter Hain “acted for an improper motive” [...] more »
Strangford Lough: “It is not as if the two departments did not know what needed to be done.”
It’s worth stating at the beginning that the European Commission haven’t, yet, imposed a fine for the Northern Ireland Executive’s failure to protect and restore a special habitat, of [protected species] horse mussel beds, in Strangford Lough – a designated Special Area of Conservation, an Area of Special Scientific Interest and a Ramsar (protected wetland) site. But, BBC [...] more »
“local communities need help – particularly funding and local political leadership”
In June last year The Detail’s John Breslin was asking questions of the International Fund for Ireland (IFI), and the “significant amount of money under its control, or on the way, that has not yet been either allocated, or is in the hands of, particular projects.” On Thursday last week the IFI announced a Peace Walls Programme with [...] more »
Boston College: “an example of just how unhinged the dialogue has become in some quarters.”
I had mentioned in the comments on a recent post that there was little threat of the pre-emptive destruction of the Boston College archive material which is being sought by the Historical Enquiries Team. As Thomas E Hachey and Dr Robert K O’Neill of Boston College point out in the Irish Times There have been people [...] more »
“he will remain available to exercise any legal authorities required beyond the delegated authorities”
As the BBC reports, the Northern Ireland Police Ombudsman, Al Hutchinson, has appointed Colin Lewis as Interim Chief Executive for the Office of the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland. From Colin Lewis’ profile [pdf file] In 1991 Colin entered the Northern Ireland Civil Service as an Industrial Accountant with the Industrial Development Board (IDB) and [...] more »
“They do absolutely fantastic work in some very challenging areas”
“They” being the 304 former RUC officers currently employed by the PSNI as civilians on temporary contracts. They’re part of the 399 civilian staff on such contracts supplied by a recruitment agency. And I’m sure the other 95 civilian staff are also appreciated. From the BBC report The PSNI has previously revealed that it is currently using [...] more »
Martin McGuinness: “This decision is a very decisive decision…”
…and not at all another fudge to keep the Department of Justice upright while they re-apply the same sticking plaster as last time. And as TUV leader Jim Allister said, “The Committee, of course, will lend itself to that farce.” According to the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness Mr McGuinness said the office of the [...] more »
“A working democracy must have in place effective mechanisms for holding the Executive to account…”
As the BBC reports, the Northern Ireland Appeal Court has delivered, “with regret”, its judgement on the NI Department of Education’s appeal of the “abuse of power” ruling that followed a judicial review of the then-minister Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane’s refusal to provide funding for Loreto Grammar School’s planned new-build on its existing site in Omagh. As the BBC report notes [...] more »
“The only way to neutralise the U.K. prefix…”
Nevin pointed at a rare tree of relevance in the comment zone yesterday. It’s the full statement from the former Sinn Féin “Director of Unionist Engagement“, now “Sinn Féin Junior Minister”, Martina Anderson, on the reluctance of some within Comhaltas to host the all-Ireland Fleadh in Londonderry during the UK City of Culture year. [That [...] more »
“Ireland faces a major challenge this year with the United Kingdom.”
Some interesting speculation from Paul Gillespie in the Irish Times on the potential outworkings of an Irish referendum on greater euro zone integration. From the Irish Times Unless the UK rethinks its veto (unlikely because of the political pressures on Cameron) it will become an outsider with an interest in the euro’s survival for its [...] more »
“we are a city of culture…”
More symptoms of that political psychosis in evidence in Londonderry. Sinn Féin’s Martina Anderson has informed the BBC that, at a meeting of the Irish music organisation Comhaltas in the city on Wednesday night, members failed to agree on a bid to host the all-Ireland Fleadh in 2013. From the BBC report “It is deeply disappointing,” [Martina [...] more »
Belfast City Council to invite Irish Government to Somme Commemoration
Not a bad opening gambit ahead of all those anniversaries. Belfast City Council have agreed to invite the Irish Government to participate in the Somme and Remembrance Sunday commemorations in Belfast [this year?]. But it wasn’t unanimous. From the BBC report SDLP councillor Pat McCarthy proposed the move which was discussed at a city council [...] more »
Tories and the UUP go their separate ways…
Acrrmoniously, according to Ken Reid. The Tories, at last, are to properly organise in Northern Ireland and run against the UUP… The BelTel points out the obvious problem for them: …there is an obvious difficulty for the Tories before they have even organised strongly here. By promoting themselves, first and foremost, as a pro-union party [...] more »
“Investigations mean more locks are applied…”
In the Belfast Telegraph, Brian Rowan picks up on former police ombudsman Nuala O’Loan’s call for a “unified investigatory body with powers to arrest and prosecute” to deal with the past and argues that this can only ever be a partial solution. From the Belfast Telegraph article. Investigations will only scratch the surface of what happened. [...] more »
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Books
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Have we Learned our own Lessons? Book Review of John Brewer’s Peace Processes
Northern Ireland’s peace process has been promoted as an international success story. The Republic’s Department of Foreign Affairs has its Conflict Resolution Unit, which aims to disseminate the ‘lessons’ of the Northern Ireland peace process. And some of the prominent players in our peace process have travelled abroad to other troubled spots to share their [...] read our review »
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Kevin Myers’ ‘Watching the Door’: Book Review
This reads as if a mad picaresque tale. Myers as first a reporter for RTÉ and then as a freelance journalist with no real experience, finds himself wandering into savagery as he hastens north as the Troubles explode. A soldier dies next to him; he witnesses an IRA ambush; he sees children shot to death [...] read our review »
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Lessons in Cute Hoorism: “Graft was accepted, for you were taking from the British…”
I’ve been catching up on some reading, recently. Most pleasantly surprised by John Drennan’s latest opus from Gill and Macmillan, Cute Hoors and Pious Protestors… It’s early days yet, but I was struck by this paragraph, part of a dissection of Fianna Fail near the beginning: One of the more fatal consequences of our colonial [...] read our review »
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