Andy Boal – Slugger O'Toole

What happens when a Minister announces that public transport fares will be frozen

Andy Boal on May 21, 2026, 8:00 am

| Readers 1908

Signing of the new Enterprise Train Contract at Grand Central Station

We all know the quotation from David Copperfield, the most impenetrable novel I had to study in school. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds nought and six, result misery. Translink wishes. The reality is that Translink has been running at a substantial loss for the last two years. Forget Grand Central, forget new buses, forget the new Enterprise trains, all funded by DfI and not …

I may have spoken too soon…

Andy Boal on January 23, 2026, 11:09 am

| Readers 1417

a green heart beat on a black background

Oops. The phone rang on Tuesday. “Mr Boal, have you been using your CPAP machine ok?” Yes, I had. To my astonishment, as I mentioned in my last article, CPAP has been grand, because I do have sensitivity issues. However, my sinus pauses hadn’t stopped. I definitely had sleep apnoea, but it wasn’t the only thing happening. The pacemaker was back on the agenda again, and this is where it gets good. Really good. Friday I got a letter in …

It wasn’t easy being 52, but the Health Service was there the whole way

Andy Boal on January 11, 2026, 10:34 am

| Readers 1948

implantable loop recorder on the plm of a hand

The last time I drove a car on the public road was a year ago yesterday, on my way home from the MOT in Ballymena. To celebrate, I had a piece of my birthday cake when I got home, and promptly choked on it. Life was a lot simpler in 2024. As far as I knew, the only things wrong with me were high blood pressure and a bit of hay fever (and to this day, these are my only …

Slugger Exclusive: the Saltwater Bridge has been saved

Andy Boal on October 22, 2024, 7:00 am

| Readers 5402

Poster at Boyne abridge reading “touch the bridge beware”

Well, really not exclusive at all, but the truth is that the Saltwater Bridge wasn’t in serious danger in the first place, and this was established by Jim Allister in the Assembly in 2020, who followed the linked question with further queries regarding the progress of the investigation. The history It’s well established that King William III is believed to have passed through Belfast on his way from Carrickfergus to Drogheda in 1690, and would almost certainly have crossed the …

Time flies by when you’re the driver on a train…

Andy Boal on August 25, 2024, 8:00 am

| Readers 1935

Andy at the NIR train driver simulator

12 August saw the start of training and gauging train services into Grand Central station, which opens for bus services on 8 September, but Thursday of this week was rather special. The media were invited to see the NIR driving and signalling simulators in Adelaide depot, which was the site of the GNR’s loco shed, then NIR’s freight depot after the closure of Grosvenor Road (now the site of Grand Central), and for several years now, a split site between …

All Island Rail Review final report analysis – how are those buffers looking?

Andy Boal on August 15, 2024, 7:00 am

| Readers 3865

Brian took a brief look at the final report a couple of weeks ago, but real life has stopped me taking much more than an even briefer look up to now. Last year, I did a fairly in-depth review of the draft report, which Mick generously described as “proper scepticism.” I’m not going to repeat the analysis today, rather I’m going to look at what has changed between the two, but will it be enough for me to change what …

The right reason to take religious offence

Andy Boal on August 11, 2024, 8:02 pm

| Readers 2048

Oh, great was the fuss. A Bacchanalian scene of a drag queen and an oversized smurf during the Paris Olympics opening ceremony, redolent of the Last Supper… and more than one painting of Dionysus, of which I understand at least one or two are held in French art galleries, unlike da Vinci’s fresco. As I pointed out, the wrong reason to get offended. If someone thinks that a painting is satirising Christ, use the situation to talk about the real …

The most fundamental rule of politics

Andy Boal on July 1, 2024, 7:23 am

| Readers 1223

Elections are won by the party (or coalition of parties) which can attract the most support and agree a common programme. This applies whether you have a two-party state or a multi-party state. Sinn Fein have faced this in the Dail where they have been the equal-largest party, but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael would rather set aside their historic differences and work together than form a coalition with Sinn Fein. In US politics, where the bell curve of left …

15 minute cities. Exactly who is being controlled?

Andy Boal on May 12, 2024, 6:22 pm

| Readers 2150

man walking on street

15 minute cities. Within 15 minutes’ walk you will find all your amenities. Work. Recreation. Shopping. School. Places of worship. Must surely be government oppression to take our freedom. #amiright? #areyouwhat? If you know anything about me, you know I don’t do conspiracy theories. What I do is turn things on their head. Find a paper street map of your town or city (not village. Villages are a different issue.) Get a pair of compasses out. Old school. Set them …

A quiet man

Andy Boal on May 4, 2024, 4:29 pm

| Readers 3545

The name Denis Grimshaw will mean nothing to most people who will read this post, but a quiet man from the Ormeau Road made an immeasurable contribution to keeping the lights on at Northern Ireland Railways. The news of his death after many years ill with dementia last week, only eight days after his wife, came to mind as I attended the formal opening of York Street station on Monday. Yorkgate station, its immediate predecessor which will be demolished on …

Chris Heaton-Harris is not the only one who could stop the public sector pay disputes

Andy Boal on January 18, 2024, 3:33 pm

| Readers 3910

As a lifelong Trade Unionist, I’m on strike today. All because Chris Heaton-Harris refuses to deal with public sector pay in the absence of the Assembly and he is holding us hostage. No it isn’t. Let’s blame the right people. Chris Heaton-Harris could end the public sector pay disputes at the stroke of a pen. We know that. There is one other group of people who could also end the public sector pay disputes at the stroke of a pen. …

Equalising rail fares – balancing the books but at what cost?

Andy Boal on October 19, 2023, 7:50 pm

| Readers 2021

Once upon a long ago – I think way back in the 1990s – I looked at the fares from Belfast Central to every station on the network. In those days, the Great Northern branch line from Knockmore to Antrim was still open, and I found a few surprises. Chiefly, that Bangor, 13 miles from Belfast Central, had the same fare as Whitehead (15 miles away) and Crumlin (a lot further). Granted, Crumlin had an unusual fare because the fare …

All Island Rail Review has been published – but will it hit the buffers?

Andy Boal on July 27, 2023, 9:22 am

| Readers 3897

Regional and rural interventions rail map from All Island Rail Review

Yes, I’m cynical. You can’t entirely blame me. There is some great stuff in the All-Island Rail Review, published on Tuesday, including some blue sky thinking. The summary, with my annotations, is below. Short term and decarbonisation Electrify remainder of Belfast-Dublin line, Belfast-Bangor, Dublin-Cork/Galway/Limerick/Waterford (both companies were already working on plans to abolish diesel traction, but NIR I think also intends to electrify the Larne, Portrush and Derry/Londonderry (hereafter referred to as Derry) lines) Increase line speeed to 100mph (currently …

Early reversal of previous Minister’s policy as fares rise scheduled

Andy Boal on February 8, 2023, 12:55 pm

| Readers 796

Enterprise crossing Craigmore Viaduct near Bessbrook

It shouldn’t actually surprise us in the slightest, and for once I can’t entirely blame the DUP’s collapse of the Assembly. On 25th October, John O’Dowd announced as Infrastructure Minister that Translink fares would “remain frozen for another year”, but today it was announced that they would rise by an average of 7% from 6 March. The Secretary of State made a statement to the House of Commons on 24 November 2022 saying he recognised “that steps will also need …

Why the neo-Thatcherites’ gamble is doomed…

Andy Boal on September 28, 2022, 7:00 am

| Readers 5513

calculator, calculation, insurance

“Trickle down economics never existed in the first place, just in the minds of those who don’t like tax cuts” said a friend of a friend, citing a 2015 Spectator article by Thomas Sowell on the same subject. He proceeded to describe the “basic premise of conservative economics [as being] that the most effective way to help people out of poverty is to grow the market, [which] creates opportunity for people on the lowest rungs to earn wages”, which sounds …

How to ensure that the Assembly can do its business

Andy Boal on August 23, 2022, 7:00 am

| Readers 4022

Note: this article is written on an entirely personal basis. What is to be done? The DUP has been single-handedly preventing the Assembly from sitting for 100 days, its defenders pointing out that Sinn Fein “prevented” it from sitting for three years, as though sauce for the goose were sauce for the gander, and ignoring the failure to offer (or at least publicise) negotiations that might persuade Sinn Fein to enter government before sections 8 and 9 of the Executive …

The latest polls are not good news for those of us who love the United Kingdom

Andy Boal on August 22, 2022, 7:00 am

| Readers 6660

To be polite, I have been… annoyed by the shenanigans over the NI Protocol. Unfortunately, real life has taken up too much time to allow me to writing for Slugger in recent months. This Irish passport holder who was born British and Irish, will die British and Irish, and quite frankly has better things to worry about than whether Belfast is in the United Kingdom or an independent Ireland, has been extremely frustrated by the (to continue to be polite) …

The abuse of “controversial and cross-cutting”

Andy Boal on February 2, 2022, 9:06 pm

| Readers 3615

port, pier, cargo containers

There is no doubt that the question of border checks at Northern Ireland’s ports is controversial. The question is whether Edwin Poots has the ability to ignore the law of the United Kingdom? Jamie Bryson argues that that section 20(4)(aa) of the Northern Ireland Act 1998 overrides the obligations of the Northern Ireland Protocol. It isn’t in the Programme for Government, therefore it needs to be decided by the Executive. However, Sinn Fein state that that decision was made by …

They say variety is the spice of life, but has anybody told commercial radio executives?

Andy Boal on December 12, 2021, 9:20 pm

| Readers 2496

There is a conventional wisdom in commercial radio that you should play what the listeners like, and lots of it. This sounds eminently sensible. The problem is that this conventional wisdom is taken to extremes, specifically that what listeners apparently like is the same songs over and over again. A spot of background. Every commercial radio station has a playlist. Songs that station management want to be played several times a day to promote, combined with a computer that would …

Why the Circle Line is a dead end siding – but Antrim-Lisburn-Belfast trains can’t be lost

Andy Boal on November 20, 2021, 2:16 pm

| Readers 4062

The Circle Line sounds like a great idea. Go either direction according to your needs, with a total journey time of 90 minutes or so, you’re no more than 45 minutes from anywhere on it. However, picking up on my comment on Jay’s article, there are certain logistical barriers that mean it is a non-starter in its proposed form. The key assumption I will make in this piece is that the line from Antrim-Monkstown is doubled, including the total reconstruction …