Chris Donnelly

Whilst much of the focus has rightly been on Arlene Foster as the unionist leader feeling the heat in this election campaign on account of the RHI context and her leading role in delivering that catastrophic initiative, Mike Nesbitt could actually be the unionist political leader under the more severe pressure to step aside if the Unionist electorate fail to move in decisive numbers away from Arlene Foster’s DUP and to UUP candidates in order to prevent the Ulster Unionists …

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The first Leaders’ Debate took place on UTV during the week. It was a relatively tame affair, and Alan provided some notes and analysis from the hour long discussion on here. Yet what was glaringly absent, once again, from an election campaign discussion and debate here was any sense that our political leaderships should be held to account for their respective positions on substantive policy matters that impact on our lives every day. I’m far from naive, and understand completely …

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Prior to last year’s Assembly election, I wrote this article on Slugger about the impending battle for nationalist votes. I predicted that it was unlikely the nationalist parties would hold the 43 seats they held between them on account of the developing trend of a declining nationalist turnout over many years, which I have written about on Slugger, including after the Westminster election in 2015 when I labelled it the Nationalist Malaise. In the aftermath of the 2016 Assembly election, …

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Yes, you read that right. The West Belfast DUP Facebook page has caused quite the stir today after accusing a TUV councillor of having a personal vendetta against loyalist paramilitaries. The TUV councillor in question, Andrew Girvin, had commented on Facebook that he wondered “how many SFIRA election transfers will be given to DUPUDA.” That prompted the following reply on the West Belfast DUP Facebook page: Seen this on social media it seems the TUV have a personal vendetta not …

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When Sinn Féin’s Assembly Election ’17 candidates were formally introduced at the Waterfront Hall on Monday morning, Dr Peter Doran, the candidate for Lagan Valley, quietly stepped into the limelight of Republican politics for the first time. The Donegal native, who currently teaches environmental justice at the School of Law in Queens University, raised eyebrows in the media and among friends in activist networks when he joined Sinn Féin a few years ago after twenty years a member of the …

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Deep in the bowels of Party HQ, the Inner Circle have gathered for a think-in to plot the party’s way out of the abbreviation crisis Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken. Paul’s just off the phone. Can’t make it but he sends his regards. Someone organise for a tray of Ashers’ finest buns to be sent to his house anyway. The curry my yoghurts will be spitting mad after he licked their Leefaaa! The congratulatory exchange helps break the tension. …

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As more RHI revelations make their way into the public domain, there are signs that the political temperature in the Executive is heading northwards. Today, the Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, reiterated his party’s call for Arlene Foster to step aside as First Minister over the issue. Whilst a non-attributed DUP statement appeared to rule this out in recent days (to the joy of at least one DUP councillor- see tweet below), there are indications that the heat …

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The DUP must have hoped that the Christmas break would help relieve the pressure facing the party’s senior figures over the RHI scandal. The latest revelations, that Arlene Foster as DETI Minister wrote to banks in early 2013 urging them to “look favourably” on approaches from businesses seeking money to install renewable technologies for the RHI scheme, has led to renewed calls for her to resign. Sinn Fein’s move to make January 16th the Decision Day was interpreted as providing …

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1. Arlene Foster, and Arlene Foster alone, shoulders the blame through the basic principle of ministerial responsibility for the introduction of a Northern Ireland-specific RHI scheme that was appallingly devised and implemented. 2. The DUP as a political party is exclusively culpable for the most significant financial crisis in the albeit short history of the devolved institutions in the north of Ireland. Whether or not Arlene Foster is forced from post will not detract from the fact that the DUP brand and …

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Guess who’s back in the news? Stephen Brimstone, for long a prominent DUP Special Advisor (SpAd) at Stormont, has been revealed to be a beneficiary of the RHI scheme. Brimstone, very recently retired from his post as Arlene Foster’s SpAd, had previously served as SpAd for DUP Social Development Ministers Nelson McCausland and Mervyn Storey, before being promoted to work in the OFMDFM for Peter Robinson in May 2015. Mr Brimstone has a track record when it comes to making …

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Arlene Foster was Minister at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment when the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme was introduced. She was responsible for implementing and managing the scheme when it was brought to Northern Ireland, having been previously rolled out in Britain. While she was in post as Minister, a conscious decision was made to alter the funding programme model so that, unlike the parent scheme rolled out in Britain, tiering was not introduced and there was no …

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The Opposition era at Stormont is still in its infancy stage, but the Executive parties certainly can’t be accused of adopting a defensive strategy in anticipation of the UUP and SDLP-led Opposition getting their acts together. The surprising appointment of David Gordon as the NI Executive’s Press Secretary marked a statement of intent by the leading parties of unionism and nationalism to ensure that their Fresh Start Executive would withstand the efforts of a dedicated Opposition to discredit the administration. …

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Daithi McKay has begun his career as a columnist with an interview in The Belfast Telegraph in which he speaks of his time in Sinn Fein, at Stormont and the manner of his leaving. There is nothing particularly new in his discussion with Malachi O’Doherty about the incident that led to his departure, apart from his assertion that he neither coached Jamie Bryson nor ‘took a bullet’ for a more senior member of Sinn Fein. The most interesting aspect of …

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The latest Sinn Fein document seeking to promote the cause of Irish unity, Towards A United Ireland, was the subject of this piece from David earlier in the week. It is the product of the party’s decision to task senior party elected representative, Matt Carthy, with the task of developing a strategy to promote unity. From a republican perspective, the Brexit vote has sparked renewed interest in the nature of all-island and Europe-wide relations. As the document’s introduction headline states: …

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The Irish News broke a story yesterday revealing that Neville Armstrong, the Independent joint chairman of the new Flags, Parades and Identity Commission established under the Fresh Start Agreement, is also a DUP appointee to a SIF group. In fact, as John Manley outlines in the paper, he is the DUP’s “sole political appointee on the body overseeing SIF projects in the ‘Western’ zone, which includes Co Fermanagh and Co Tyrone.” The composition of that committee was already the subject …

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At the DUP conference last month, the party published a paper entitled No Child Left Behind, a study into educational underachievement in Northern Ireland. The document was researched and written by the North Down party councillor, Peter Martin, who consulted with many educationalists ahead of producing the paper. The report can be accessed via the link at the bottom of this article. Peter Martin’s paper is a welcome addition to the body of work being developed on the theme of …

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The first time I ever saw a satellite dish up close was when I paid one of my regular visits to the home of my cousin’s grandparents on a sweltering hot summer’s day in Phoenix, Arizona, in the early 1980s. I must’ve been eight or nine, and my cousin Mike and me had stopped in for lemonade after riding our bikes around the block for hours, dismounting only to collect oranges from trees and play a game of catch in …

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The Crumlin Road parade dispute has been resolved, and central to the resolution was a decision by mainstream republicans to push their own constituency to the limit at a time when not doing anything would have provided them, at face value, with precisely the same outcome that they have achieved. On yesterday’s BBC1 Sunday Politics, I prefaced my comments with the observation that GARC spokesman were right to state that the return parade was essentially a thing of the past …

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Ahead of Saturday’s Lighthouse Indian Summer School in Killough, I have an article in today’s Irish News examining the challenges and opportunities that Brexit presents for Irish nationalism in the short and long term. I’ve always thought that the developing European identity in the latter quarter of the 20th century helped Irish nationalists cope with the differing challenges and experiences faced in both jurisdictions on the island. Part of me admires the self-confidence of the British in taking Brexit’s leap …

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A fortnight ago, I was in Dublin to watch the opening game of the first Saturday of the American college football season between the universities of Boston College and Georgia Tech. It was an exciting encounter between two well matched teams, the latest in a series of Dublin-based fixtures that has brought tens of thousands of additional American tourists to Ireland in the past five years. The Belfast equivalent has seen a US college ice hockey tournament held in November …

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