Slugger O'Toole

A new deal on administering the devolved powers in Stormont appear to have cut out the absolute requirement for them to consult local representatives, with the result that technically all decisions are made by London in consultation with Dublin. The controversy is rooted (subs needed) in a row over a Dublin government amendment to legislation, which: “…allows for decisions of the council in relation to the North-South bodies to be taken by the Irish and British governments pending the restoration …

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Davey Carlin reports on a (albeit temporary) opening of the Peaceline between the Shankill and the Falls, planned for next Saturday. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

The UUP have added some pressure to the interparty talks by suggesting they could walk out if backroom deals are done between the two governments and the IRA. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

This is probably the most interesting part of the DUP analysis to emerge so far. “Q: Sinn Féin might say you’re not required to trust them; that the point about the Belfast Agreement is that it constructed an inclusive system of government that reflected the mandate of the parties.” “A: It doesn’t work. It has collapsed four times. You see this is the nonsense of that kind of argument; that something works because it stays up for five minutes. That’s …

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Even though Johnny Adair is out of the country, and Northern Ireland is the grip of very cold weather, there is still some considerable heat in the rivalry between different sections of the UDA. John White defends Adair in his absence. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Peter Robinson talks about what he requires from Sinn Fein. Responding to the suggestion from Sinn Fein that the DUP will eventually have to talk to them, he says: “…they must be looking to a time when they’re going to start behaving themselves, give up violence and stand down the IRA. All of those issues will be coming before any Democratic Unionist would ever engage with anybody from Sinn Féin. Our position is clear and we didn’t set the criteria.” …

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Martin Mansergh calls for a clearing away of the last vestiges of a peculiarly Irish political weapon – the boycott. He goes on to echo Tony Blair’s call for acts of completion. The Sunday Business Post re-iterates the message in an editorial piece. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Peter Robinson in conversation with Frank Millar, in the subscription only Irish Times, goes into some critical detail: “I think it’s fundamentally flawed in a number of areas but centrally it’s all around the issue of accountability. Accountability within the Assembly, accountability North/South-wise, the democratic controls. Power is exercised by ministers, not by the Assembly. Those are issues we can go into.” “I want devolution to be the outcome. But devolution to be an outcome must be built on a …

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As if to underline the extent of the problem, several groups of supporters went on the rampage in Derry on Saturday after Glasgow Celtic’s defeat at the hands of Glasgow Rangers. The First Minister in Scotland Jack McConnell, announced his plans for new legislation last Wednesday, following the publication of a report from the working group on Religious Hatred . Though this problem has been so visible within Northern Ireland, it is only in recent years that it has become …

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Despite his genial denials on BBC Radio 4 and Radio Ulster this morning, it seems that David Trimble is keen on closer links with the British Tory party. It looks like the Tories are keen on him too. The Daily Telegraph may be in danger of smoothing over too many cracks with it’s editorial advocacy of such a plan. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Billy Hutchinson warns against some of Paul Murphy’s recent proposals to set an amnesty for IRA volunteers still on the run. The implication being that if it is only offered to the Republican movement, it will unbalance the Agreement. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

I have been on the search for Frank Millar’s interview (subscription only) with Peter Robinson in last Wednesday’s Irish Times. Finally my paper copy arrived on Saturday morning, so that I have now managed to track it down on the web. Although Millar is the London Editor of the Irish Times, he was also for many years a leading member of the UUP. It’s clear that, at times, Robinson treats this as a conversation between two political rivals, rather than …

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NI Secretary of State Paul Murphy has called for signs of a substantive move from the IRA: “There have to be moves from the IRA in terms of where they are going over the next months and in terms of where they believe they should stand when we are in a peaceful democratic society.” Brian Rowan with background. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Sharon O’Neill sheds some light on the recent past of Andrew Hunter, the former Tory MP now seeking election to the Assembly with the DUP. It revolves around his contact with Sinn Fein, and quotes him in a letter suggesting that: ““Two or three years ago I approached Sinn Féin and asked for a copy of Setting the Record Straight. I found this very helpful indeed and in my draft chapters on the secret negotiations I conclude that Sinn Féin’s …

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Interesting piece from Quentin Davies, the Tory spokesman on Northern Ireland. Having spent some time amongst families on both sides of the peaceline, he has some remarkable candid stories to reveal, not least this particular conversation: “A few IRA men described how they had been captured by the RUC. They had been hooded and beaten. “If I had been captured by you as a British soldier,” I said, “I would not just have been hooded and beaten, I would have …

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It seems that Andrew Hunter was the source of the information that Peter Robinson leaked under parliamentary privilege earlier this week. It mentions that he has worked for MI5. There has also been some speculation that he worked with the South African Intelligence Service under apartheid. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

And no one notices. Had we still had one, it would have been the third anniversary of a devolved parliament in NI on Monday. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Looks like Peter Robinson is on the edge of revealing the party’s new alternative to the Belfast Agreement. Slugger O'TooleA general account used for the daily threads and other things.

Eric Waugh expresses a view which may be the key to understanding the fundamental departure between Catholic and Protestants over the Belfast Agreement: “It is that the difficulties over the Agreement arise largely because our two peoples have different cultural ideas of the nature of truth.” This seems to fly in the face of many of the original hopes that prompted the inspirational writer and academic Declan Kiberd to write these lines only weeks after the Agreement was signed: “The …

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At last, Brendan O’Neill takes a quick break from more pressing international affairs and provides us something we can use here at the Letter. He keeps up his sustained attack on false Irishness: “Irishness used to be a straightforward affair, where it was rightly assumed that those who lived or were born in Ireland were Irish. Now that Irishness is everything and anything, you have to declare your Irish credentials repeatedly in order to feel that your identity is a …

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