Belfast Gonzo

PADDY Heaney has gained quite a loyal following since his respected GAA column started a few short years ago, so the BBC won’t be taking his powerful argument and criticism lightly. Heaney points out that despite the growing popularity of Gaelic games, BBC Radio Ulster seems reluctant to give them the coverage he believes they deserve. The call comes after the Gaelic Players Association voted to strike over the distribution of player grants. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

WHEN Ballymoney Council was asked to provide Irish street names in three villages last week, the vote didn’t pass – perhaps unsurprising in a unionist-dominated council. However, the vote was (I believe) four for and four against, with the mayor – hardline Paisleyite John Finlay and casting vote holder – abstaining. Like Finlay, most of the DUP councillors actually abstained, with only two DUP and two independent unionists voting against the signs. The Council seems to have gone against the …

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RTE presenter Sean O’Rourke said on The Week In Politics that Sinn Fein is clearly embarrassed by some of the media fallout from its overall general election results. He was speaking after an interview with Nicky Kehoe was apparently cancelled by the SF press office. Kehoe narrowly missed out on a TDs seat in 2002, but was replaced by MEP Mary-Lou McDonald in this year’s general election in Dublin Central. The vote dropped 5%. SF deny they pulled Kehoe. Belfast …

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DON’T think it got published or broadcast, but since Slugger readers seem to regard it as a big deal, the Policing Board meeting the other day heard there were 12 attacks on Orange Halls in the July holiday period and nine in October. PA reported Assistant Chief Constable (Rural) Judith Gillespie saying: “It could be interpreted as sending out a statement to increase sectarian tension.” On last month’s arson attacks she said: “There is no specific intelligence to say that …

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THE Andytown News reports that “Protestant students” from the Northern Regional College on a sightseeing bus launched attacks on a Bobby Sands mural and memorial garden on the Falls Road. After an angry confrontation with the locals, the driver managed to get the flag-waving students back to the city centre before things spiralled out of control. But the next day, when the double-decker bus was carrying ‘normal’ tourists into west Belfast, it was the subject of what looks like a …

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THE BBC reports that a “tiny fraction” of the UDA’s murderous former South East Antrim brigade has started decommissioning, in a move overseen by the IICD. Chris Buckler reports: “Members of the South East Antrim faction of the UDA were present, however, many of its membership were not consulted and it is understood some are deeply unhappy about it. Some have even described the minor act of decommissioning as ‘treason’.” Brian Rowan reports in the Tele: “A loyalist told this …

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YET another Orange hall has been burnt out in Ulster, this time on the other side of the border. It’s the third to be destroyed out of 10 in County Cavan over the last 20 years. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

DESPITE what he said previously about possession being nine-tenths of the law, Ian Paisley Jr still doesn’t legally own the house he claims to have bought off controversial property developer Seymour Sweeney (after lobbying for it to be built – and there’s plenty more to come on the extent of Mr Paisley’s lobbying for Mr Sweeney). After describing it as “an administrative hiccup in Land Registry“, Mr Paisley’s cottage still seems to be registered in Mr Sweeney’s wife’s name. The …

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AFTER the recent Margaret Ritchie-UUP love-in, David McNarry’s vicious attack on the Social Development Minister over her handling of the withdrawal of funds from UDA-linked projects seems curiously out of step with the rest of his party, especially as his party leader is backing her version of events in the row over the loyalist scheme. Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

FROM tomorrow, donations to political parties in Northern Ireland will be ‘controlled’ for the first time. But the ‘controls’ are so slack and invisible to the public, that you wonder why the Electoral Commission bothered. Small wonder the parties back the new regime, as it looks like they got their own way. Much of the ‘control’ seems to count on good faith from the parties, and they still do not have to disclose the identity of donors (nor will the …

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THE News Letter highlights the irony of Dunloy Accordian Band marching in the Lord Mayor’s Show in London, although it can’t actually march through the village it is named after. The Mayor of London is hardly what you’d call sympathetic to unionism either! Elsewhere, the Orange Order continues its outreach by distributing cartoon pocket guides (pictured) on its history to 20,000 schoolchildren across Northern Ireland. David Scott, Orange Order education officer, said: “We wanted to produce in-your-pocket guides that were …

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THE row over the Pride of the Raven (see vid) flute band’s controversial parade planned for November 24 continued on Talk Back just now. Band spokesman ‘Nigel’, said the band’s intention to walk down Donegall Pass (after a protest at the Parades Commission’s offices) was to reach Alliance Assembly member Anna Lo‘s office. The reasons why are detailed here, but the spokesman denied the accusation that this was to intimidate the Chinese community. He also refused to comment on the …

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THE Irish News reports that loyalists have applied to hold a demonstration in south Belfast next month in support of Pride of the Raven flute band (see vid) official George Spence, after he received a letter from Alliance MLA Anna Lo (pictured). Spence said he believed the letter – sent after the Chinese Assembly member received a complaint from a nurse that she couldn’t get to work during a previous parade – had put his life in danger, as the …

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ANY potential political crisis that commentators thought might occur in the wake of the Quinn murder in Cullyhanna has been largely imagined – and now it has been neutralised by the DUP’s Peter Robinson. All that ran before can be seen as posturing to keep the DUP rank-and-file happy. Robinson said: “I do not believe that there was, on the basis of information that I have, a decision taken at some central command. But it is important to establish whether …

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BERTIE Ahern won’t have to worry about brown envelopes any more, as he’s been awarded a £26,500 pay rise – taking his salary to an incredible £216,700. Meanwhile, it’s been revealed that the DUP’s Nigel Dodds claimed more in expenses – £151,412 – than any other Northern Irish MP last year, although at least he attended Parliament. Sinn Fein’s Michelle Gildernew is an abstentionist and somehow managed to require £138,779, although she only claimed £40,898 the year before. The average …

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“LOADS of women around Divis wear pyjamas going about their daily business, it’s part of our culture.” Belfast Gonzosluggerotoole.com

I spotted this rather cutting comment on our new devolved government the other day, hanging on the wall of Clements’ coffee shop on Royal Avenue in Belfast. It’s unusual in that most public political art in Northern Ireland is partisan, whereas this takes a dig at the cynics on both sides of the divide. Entitled ‘Chalk & Cheese’, Harry Pettis’ triptych features ‘advertisements’ for the aforementioned products, as branded by Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness, with satirical blurbs (which can …

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LEADING Dublin Sinn Fein councillor Nicky Kehoe has quit his seat. The Evening Echo reports: “Nicky Kehoe, 51, narrowly missed taking a Dáil seat in the 2002 General Election before making way for Mary Lou McDonald, who was unsuccessful as a candidate in Dublin Central in last May’s contest. A spokeswoman for the party said he was the fifth Sinn Féin councillor to resign for personal reasons since 2004 and is the 16th member of the 52 person Dublin council …

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THE helicopter surveillance footage below (with commentary in this BBC clip) shows loyalist terrorist John Main throwing a pipe bomb at police and firing a handgun at officers during the UDA’s riot in September 2005 when the Whiterock Orange parade was re-routed. Main was jailed for a total of 17 years yesterday for attempting to murder police, while his neighbour Colin Harbinson was given 10 years for possessing firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life. Four months before he …

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IT’S 30 years since the Battle of Bedford Street kick-started the punk movement in Belfast, well, according to the legendary Terri Hooley anyway. Terri’s organised a gig in Lavery’s Attic tonight to celebrate the anniversary of the time the Clash nearly played in Northern Ireland. However, the council banned the 1977 gig, resulting in a riot outside the Ulster Hall. “It was the night that kick-started the punk revolution,” said Hooley, the founder of Good Vibrations records (see video) who …

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