Chris Donnelly

One very obvious issue that was largely ignored in both the summary conclusions of Paul Nolan’s 3rd Annual Peace Monitoring Report and the subsequent media headlines relating to its publication was the confirmation yet again that catholic communities predominate the lists of the most socio -economic deprived communities in the north. On all measures-from unemployment to income, health and life expectancy- catholic communities are hit hardest. That’s an important and disturbing headline conclusion, not least for once again exposing the …

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51.4% of Primary schools set in our most deprived communities inspected during the three year period of 2011-2013 received overall ETI assessments below good, with all found to be either ‘Satisfactory’ or ‘Inadequate.’ In contrast, just 1 out of 10 schools with Free School Meal % (FSM%) of less than 20% were deemed to be below good. Similarly, whilst 7 in 10 schools with less than 10% FSM pupils were found to be either ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Very Good’ (the highest …

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Alex Kane in the Newsletter has had an early look at the runners and riders in this year’s European election. Alex’s primary focus is on the unionist battle, with his assumption – widely shared- being that Sinn Fein’s Martina Anderson will claim a seat and leave the SDLP’s Alex Attwood battling merely for an increased share of the Euro vote (the party has been stuck on the 16% mark for the previous two European contests.) The fact that the local …

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The American sporting world was dominated last week by the news that a talented young American football star, Michael Sam, had announced publicly that he was gay. The University of Missouri defensive talent had declared himself eligible for the professional NFL Draft, the wonderfully communistic process in which young talent is selected in turn by teams in order determined by their performance in the previous season, with the worst going first, second worst thereafter until the Super Bowl winner eventually …

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2014 has arrived, and we’ve come through yet another of our hothouse political negotiation moments. This time, a deal wasn’t struck, and indeed the mood music and content of the final Haass draft confirms that many of the key issues of division were to be pushed further down the road anyway, as opposed to being resolved at this time. But, in one area, this negotiation was like the many others that have preceded it in the post-ceasefires era. Throughout the …

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Every summer for the past fifteen years of my life, I’ve been fortunate to spend at least a week in the beautiful County Down seaside village of Killough. It remains one of our unspoilt treasures, with its picture perfect Castle Street, pier walk and bay views. Van Morrison and Terry George are amongst those who have captured the allure of Killough and Coney Island in song and on screen. For years I have enjoyed the scenic walk along the coastal …

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UPDATE: The Constitutional Convention delegates have overwhelmingly supported the motion to extend franchise to Irish citizens resident in Northern Ireland (73% in favour, 20% against, 1% 7% Undecided/ No Opinion.) The question regarding all citizens resident outside the State was also passed by a margin of 78%, 21%, 1%.) Whilst Richard Haass is busy meeting politicians and interested parties to explore issues kicked to touch during the Good Friday Agreement discussions 15 years ago, the Constitutional Convention in Dublin will …

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Following on from the 12th July loyalist rioting in Belfast, the Orange Order and loyalists conceived of the idea of establishing a “civil rights” camp to keep the pot boiling at the most sensitive of Belfast’s interfaces: the Ardoyne-Twaddell Avenue roundabout. This decision was clearly taken with the support of unionist politicians, who have regularly attended rallies and parades at the ‘camp site.’ The sight of an array of loyalist flags and banners awkwardly positioned at the interface neatly illustrates …

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Yesterday saw yet another housing inequality report, Equality Can’t Wait, published by north Belfast based Participation and the Practice of Rights (PPR) – the organisation which Inez McCormack founded in 2006. PPR’s systematic chronicling of successive failures to take action to eradicate the well documented religious inequality affecting the Catholic community in north Belfast is indeed impressive, if extremely depressing reading.  For those not into reading long reports, the key findings have been summarised by the PPR.  What I found …

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Brian Walker has picked up on articles from Dan Keenan and Steven McCaffrey which reflected a sentiment noted by others on Twitter and elsewhere: namely, why is it that Derry seems to have moved past the mid-summer street confrontations that used to be the norm there and which still define a summer in Belfast? Firstly, let us establish one incontrovertible fact: The ability of thousands of loyalists to march unchallenged through the centre of the overwhelmingly nationalist city of Derry …

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So, let’s recap last night’s happenings in the centre of Belfast. An anti-internment parade was organized along an entirely non-contentious route, winding its way from a nationalist part of north Belfast through the city centre and ending up in west Belfast. In a remarkable development which further serves to discredit what remains of political Unionism’s entire parading argument, Unionist politicians call for the parade to be banned for utterly spurious reasons. Lest we forget, Royal Avenue is used by scores …

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Following on from the sectarian attack on Belfast Mayor Mairtin O’Muilleoir at Woodvale Park yesterday,  Jude Collins correctly fixes the spotlight on the unionist political leaders who, instead of leading from the front, have preferred to indulge the sectarian assumptions and fantastical notions behind the increasingly paranoid and utterly bogus loyalist grievance narrative (the subject of this thread, and this one.) Collins captures the contradiction between the response afforded leading DUP figures, Nelson McCausland and Gavin Robinson, in Dunville Park, …

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The loyalists who paraded past Ardoyne on the morning of the 12th July carried a banner stating ‘End hatred of Orange culture.’ The banner was brought to the interface at Twaddell Avenue and placed on a wall during protests in the days after the Twelfth. It is a gross error of judgement for loyalists to introduce the words ‘hatred’ and ‘culture’ into the discussion around loyalism’s ‘festive’ Twelfth period. Here is what an online thesaurus throws up when the word …

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The publication of the Parades Commission determination regarding the contentious Crumlin Road parade presents an opportunity to pre-empt the anticipated avalanche of cries from unionist politicians suggesting that British and unionist culture is being eroded in the north of Ireland. On their respective appearances on The Nolan Show in the past year, Jeffrey Donaldson has spoken about his “identity and tradition being beaten into the ground” due to the decision by Belfast City Council to fly the Union Flag on …

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The news agenda has been dominated in recent days by the revelation that up to eight people may have lost their lives locally since May as a result of taking illegal drugs. On The Nolan Show this morning, DUP Health Minister Edwin Poots accused the PSNI of turning a blind eye to the activities of some dealers in return for other information gleaned from these sources, calling for the PSNI to declare they won’t “give cover” to dealers. But this …

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Lisburn City Council has used ratepayers money to pay for a meeting of the Unionist Forum in the Lagan Valley Island centre, cynically using the Council’s Good Relations programme as cover to enable them to finance an organisation established with the specific objectives of maximising the unionist vote, devising a joint PUL parades and flag-flying strategy and address issues relating to socio-economic deprivation, but only in protestant communities. The story is the front page lead in today’s Irish News. The …

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A prominent DUP elected representative has launched a fierce attack on the PSNI at a loyalist gathering in Carrickfergus. Addressing a rally organized by Carrickfergus United Loyalists in the town yesterday, DUP councillor Ruth Patterson delivered a scathing attack on the PSNI, accusing the police of being responsible for “the persecution of the Protestant people” and of “beating our women and our children off the streets.”  From Ruth’s speech: “[I am] Ashamed of the PSNI at the minute. The political …

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The PSNI have lost any moral authority to intervene to clear roads of protestors in advance of contentious loyalist parades through sectarian interfaces. Discuss. We’re running at a rate of way less than 1 protestor charged per illegal road blockade to date- indeed, were the PSNI operating at the 2010 Ardoyne rate, there’d be thousands in the dock by now. Given the paucity of charges to date brought against those engaged in illegal road blockades, the PSNI will correctly be …

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The Platform for Change discussion on Flags at Belfast’s Holiday Inn last night focused partially on the possibility of an agreed resolution to the Flags Row which could be implemented consistently across the newly proposed eleven local government councils. It was a fairly tame affair, though multiple contributions by loyalist flag protesters (including one lasting for what seemed like 5 minutes in spite of the polite yet vain pleadings of Robin Wilson for said man to concede the floor to …

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