Brendan Heading – Page 2 – Slugger O'Toole

Belfast Rapid Transit (Glider) Phase 2 announced

Brendan Heading on August 1, 2021, 1:25 pm

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This week, Minister for Infrastructure Nichola Mallon launched the public consultation for Phase 2 of the Belfast Rapid Transit (Glider) system. I think this is a welcome development and will improve connectivity, access to and uptake of public transport in the city. I remember when Glider was first launched on the east/west route a few years ago. Before it got off the ground, it was fashionable to dump on it (a common pattern for public transport projects on this island). …

How the NI Protocol protects the Agreement

Brendan Heading on June 26, 2021, 8:04 pm

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To the chagrin of Unionist politicians, it’s often emphasised by the four governments (UK, Ireland, EU, and US) that the Northern Ireland Protocol exists to protect the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. For reasons which are understandable when examined in isolation, Unionism feels let down by the promise of the Agreement. I can see where they are coming from. The Agreement is based on cross community consent; the Protocol does not recognise this. British citizens are asked to …

NI Protocol vs Act of Union : another Unionist strategic misstep looms

Brendan Heading on February 21, 2021, 1:59 pm

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Today’s Sunday Telegraph notes : [..] The Sunday Telegraph can also disclose that Ben Habib, a former Brexit Party MEP, cross-bench peer Baroness Hoey, and Jim Allister, the leader of the Traditional Unionist Voice party, are threatening a legal challenge against the Government to try to overturn [the NI Protocol].. There has been a persistent story, promulgated chiefly, it appears, by Jim Allister, that the NI Protocol could be a breach of the Act of Union. As a legal matter, …

A border poll can be held at any time – redux

Brendan Heading on January 24, 2021, 5:03 pm

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With border polls remaining a major topic of conversation, particularly following today’s Sunday Times/Lucid Talk reporting of a poll which found that a majority of voters in Northern Ireland wish a border poll to be held within the next five years, I still find that there remain widespread misconceptions around the Secretary of State’s powers to call a border poll. In particular, people still seem to think that the Secretary of State has no discretionary power to call a border …

Irish unity : going nowhere fast

Brendan Heading on December 20, 2020, 10:15 pm

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So how’s the Irish reunification campaign coming along ? According to Sinn Féin President, Mary Lou McDonald, there doesn’t need to be one, because it’s already been won. A few days ago, speaking to Owen Jones, McDonald said of a United Ireland : ‘We’ll do it in the next decade. We’ll do it in this decade, actually.’ This is an example of the nationalist equivalent of the ‘inevitability doctrine’ I wrote about a few months back. In my previous article, …

On the doctrine of inevitability

Brendan Heading on October 8, 2020, 10:09 pm

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The News Letter had an interesting article a short while back, reporting remarks by Alex Easton in respect of a border poll and the Irish reunification debate. It is not clear in which context he made his comments, but the headline is that he speculates that nationalists will “inevitably” lose a border poll, and recites a few other well-known tropes. I am not a nationalist, but I feel that his comments reflect beliefs prevalent within unionism around how people like me …

Waiting for the Alley Gates

Brendan Heading on October 4, 2020, 3:59 pm

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What are we waiting for, assembled in the forum? The alleys are to be gated today. Why isn’t anything going on in the senate? Why are the senators sitting there without legislating? Because the alleys are being gated today. What’s the point of senators making laws now? Once the alleys are gated, there will be no further need for legislation. Why did our emperor get up so early, and why is he sitting enthroned at the city’s main alley gate, …

Unionism: so what’s the plan ?

Brendan Heading on September 12, 2020, 11:17 pm

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The BBC reports this evening the following remarks from DUP North Antrim MP, Ian Paisley: Northern Ireland will not be used as a pawn – we opposed the withdrawal agreement, we warned about this protocol, we said it would damage the integrity. “I am glad, maybe at the last minute, the PM has wakened up to the serious threat that this poses to the union,” he said. “If the prime minister has the mettle to finish the job I welcome …

On high speed rail in Ireland (again)

Brendan Heading on August 1, 2020, 9:54 pm

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Any time I hear the phrase “let’s build high speed rail in Ireland” I find myself able, without undue effort, to restrain my enthusiasm within the bounds of public decorum. This is not because I’m against the idea, but rather because politicians here have a habit of talking a lot about it while never actually doing anything to progress it. It has been in the news a few times lately, most recently following yesterday’s north-south ministerial council meeting; it also …

“We were sold a pup with the GFA” – Sinn Féin MP

Brendan Heading on July 18, 2020, 7:04 pm

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Writing on Twitter on Thursday, Sinn Féin MP Francie Molloy made the following comment in response to commentary on the attitude of Taoiseach Micheál Martin on reunfication : We were sold a pup with the GFA no commitment from either Dublin or London to deliver for Nationalists or Republicans it was just a bluff. The Twitter account does not have verified status, but it is linked from Francie’s page on the official Sinn Féin website so it seems to be …

Assorted thoughts on the realities of border polling and reunification

Brendan Heading on February 1, 2020, 2:44 pm

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There is no question that the brexit process is having a seismic effect on the ties that bind the UK’s four constituent parts. The union has never been weaker, not just because the UK now has a government that clearly places little value on it, but also because the populations of Scotland and Northern Ireland are questioning its value in ever greater numbers. I’ve heard arguments – from supporters and representatives of one political party in particular – that these …

revisited : owning and running an electric car in NI

Brendan Heading on January 13, 2020, 10:26 pm

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Some Slugger readers might remember, back in 2016, that I decided to take the plunge and lease an electric car. Recently, more attention has been paid to this topic; BBC NI recently ran a few segments about it, and I noted at the end of one of the leader’s debates prior to the election that the leaders were all asked if they had plans to change to an electric car. Then, this morning, I noticed that the Department for Infrastructure …

The downsides of no devolution for the DUP

Brendan Heading on September 18, 2019, 8:48 pm

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Yesterday, the BBC reported details of an NUJ rebuke for the North Antrim DUP MP, Ian Paisley, following “unwarranted and unworthy” personalised remarks made on Facebook about News Letter reporter Sam McBride. The source of Mr Paisley’s resentment appears to have been the implication that the DUP were indirectly culpable for the forthcoming sweeping liberalisation of abortion law in Northern Ireland by blocking a deal to restore the assembly which requires the introduction of an Irish Language Act. An objective …

DUP threaten to break the Confidence and Supply Agreement

Brendan Heading on October 7, 2018, 5:02 pm

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On Friday, on Twitter, DUP East Antrim MP Sammy Wilson referred to a News Letter article concerning the ongoing state of brexit negotiations and said the following : If [Theresa May] is rolling back on her pledge that there will be no barriers between NI and GB, then the Prime Minister should be under no illusions; we will vote against her deal and it will go nowhere. This prompted me to check the Confidence and Supply Agreement, the text of …

Ireland at the Bar

Brendan Heading on September 22, 2018, 10:43 pm

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During the latest of my recent (abortive) attempts to try to get involved with the works of James Joyce, I made the timely discovery of an interesting essay I’d never heard of before, “Ireland at the Bar”, written while the author was in Italy in 1907. I say “timely” because we’re in an interesting political epoch within these islands. Many of us are carefully re-evaluating our political perspective in light of recent developments, struggling to find ways to get our …

The role of the block grant in the constitutional debate

Brendan Heading on July 5, 2018, 8:58 am

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Writing in the News Letter yesterday, Owen Polley makes the case for winning over the centre ground to the Union in an article which is surely a classic of the genre. Airily dismissing his own contribution to the debate as a commentator, he spends most of his article heaping scorn upon NI’s centre ground for openly considering the idea of constitutional change, and then goes onto scold Unionist politicians for their failure to win support for the status quo. Once …

The bizarre story of banknotes in the United Kingdom

Brendan Heading on June 13, 2018, 10:18 pm

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Over the past while we’ve been debating a number of things around “special status” for Northern Ireland. Coincident with this debate was the announcement from Ulster Bank of a plan to issue new, verticially-oriented banknotes. I found myself in rare agreement with North Antrim MP Ian Paisley, who suggested on twitter that we could look at a move to Bank of England notes. I noted again this morning that the topic on discussion on the Nolan Show, where the proprietor …

Boris Johnson and the “pure millennium bug stuff”

Brendan Heading on June 9, 2018, 4:03 pm

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I’m really glad Boris Johnson, in private remarks, chose to draw a comparison between the Brexit process and the Millennium Bug. I’ve often thought this comparison was apt and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs’ comments have given me a great excuse to write about my own short experiences dealing with the bug. I was working at the HQ of a large Irish financial institution between the summers of 1999 and 2000 as part of my placement …

Reflections on the Good Friday Agreement

Brendan Heading on March 31, 2018, 6:22 pm

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I thought I’d record some personal opinions on the passing of the 20th anniversary (more or less) of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. I felt compelled to do this after reading a few exchanges on social media, one in particular declaring that Unionism had, in a manner of speaking, had its eye wiped. This is a popular, but demonstrably false, perspective that had its origins in the debate at that time, and perhaps has deeper origins …

Another angle on Sinn Féin’s Westminster abstention

Brendan Heading on March 4, 2018, 12:39 am

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Any debate about Sinn Féin’s Westminster abstention policy tends to cover no new ground. It always starts with someone – most recently Polly Toynbee – suggesting that SF should take their seats to pursue some common, worthwhile objective, in this case, that of blunting the sharp edges of brexit. It ends with SF supporters asserting that (a) it is a key republican principle that can’t be easily argued away; (b) that the party has a clear mandate to abstain from Westminster; …