David McCann – Page 26 – Slugger O'Toole

Unionist parties reject Modeling Irish Unification Report

David McCann on March 23, 2016, 1:18 pm

| Readers 3585

No real surprise here, but worth noting the response of the two main Unionist parties to the launch of the Modeling Irish Unification. The report was launched this morning at The MAC in Belfast with Sinn Fein, SDLP MLAs and economists in the audience. This report argues that Irish unity could potentially bring a €35.6 billion boost in GDP for the island in the first eight years. Responding for the UUP, Steve Aiken argues that the reports main conclusions are …

Niall Ó Donnghaile to run for the Seanad

David McCann on March 21, 2016, 5:39 pm

| Readers 1781

Former Mayor of Belfast and serving Titanic Quarter Councillor, Niall Ó Donnghaile is to run for the Seanad on the Administrative Panel for Sinn Fein. Speaking about the decision to run he said; This is an ideal opportunity to give a voice to Belfast and its citizens in the heart of the Oireachtas. Ending partition, building economic prosperity, protecting & promoting the rights and entitlements of Irish citizens in the north and promoting peace-building and reconciliation will be to the …

In The Arena; Some of our departing MLAs

David McCann on March 16, 2016, 3:14 pm

| Readers 1044

The current 2011-2016 Assembly mandate is over and now we are getting into election mode. However, before we get into thinking about the next Assembly, I wanted to pause for a moment to reflect on the one that has just passed and some of the people departing from it. Out of the current 108 MLAs, 16 are standing down at this election. That doesn’t include MLAs like Pat Ramsey, Conall McDevitt, Joe Byrne, Neil Somerville and Sue Ramsay who all …

Nesbitt “We are the party with the best ideas – and the most inclusive ideas”

David McCann on March 13, 2016, 2:09 pm

| Readers 1146

The UUP held their Spring conference yesterday in Armagh, launching their 33 candidates for the upcoming Assembly election. In his leaders speech, Mike Nesbitt reflected on the gains that the party has made over the past year; Danny Kinahan and Tom Elliott becoming Members of Parliament, ending a short but hurtful exile for this great party from the green benches of Parliament. Danny winning South Antrim for us. Tom winning Fermanagh and South Tyrone for all unionism. Remember, colleagues, running …

Sunday Trading Laws; Is a change ever gonna come?

David McCann on March 9, 2016, 5:36 pm

| Readers 513

This was the issue that famously beat Margaret Thatcher when she tried to liberalise the Sunday Trading laws in 1986 as James Landale reports of that time that; 72 Tory MPs felt so strongly about the issue that they were prepared to do the unthinkable and rebel against their leader. So the Shops Bill was defeated at second reading. This is a rare event for any piece of legislation but more importantly it was the only time the former prime …

Are Hustings a massive waste of time during elections?

David McCann on March 9, 2016, 2:01 pm

| Readers 344

I was part of a short segment from Chris Page on BBC Newsline looking at the issue of election hustings. I have seen hustings from both an organisers point of view and somebody who has sat in the audience. For most organisers they are hugely stressful and time consuming, for an audience member they can be a chance to learn about a candidate or they can be incredibly frustrating as candidates struggle/avoid answering questions, plus for some of the more …

Mr Eastwood; Your task this weekend if you choose to accept it

David McCann on March 9, 2016, 11:39 am

| Readers 1548

In Westminster they say being leader of the opposition is the worst job in British politics, if we were to extend the metaphor to Northern Ireland, then being the SDLP leader must be one of the worst jobs in Stormont. Think about it for a moment, your party has just come out of a leadership contest and electorally you’re down in the dumps. This is Colum Eastwood’s inheritance and the task he faces to turn this ship around. His first …

UUP support remaining in the European Union

David McCann on March 6, 2016, 11:07 am

| Readers 1393

The UUP will join Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and the Greens to argue for Northern Ireland staying within the European Union. Here is a statement from the party; The Ulster Unionist Party believes that on balance Northern Ireland is better remaining in the European Union, with the U.K. Government pressing for further reform and a return to the founding principle of free trade, not greater political union. The Party respects that individual members may vote for withdrawal on the 23rd …

Final words from John Bowman on #ge16

David McCann on February 29, 2016, 11:40 pm

| Readers 1519

A tradition in Irish election broadcasts is the final thoughts of broadcaster, John Bowman. Since there will be a lot of speculation over the coming days, here is his final analysis of Election 2016; To say this election is unique goes without saying. It’s historic, it’s seismic, it’s awesome in its consequences and as the deluge subsides what does one see? Is the integrity of the quarrel between Fianna Fail and Fine Gael intact or will it melt? Is the …

Maurice Devenney has second thoughts about the UUP

David McCann on February 29, 2016, 2:24 pm

| Readers 1892

On Friday, we were told another defector, former DUP MLA, Maurice Devenney had joined the UUP as Mike Nesbitt said; I am particularly pleased to welcome Maurice into the Ulster Unionist Party, given his standing in the community, his lengthy record of service for the people, and his obvious appetite for more. “Maurice joins an ever-lengthening list of elected representatives who are opting to change their party political allegiance to Ulster Unionism. He joins ex-DUP Councillors Jenny and John Palmer from …

#GE16 Exit Polls show Government parties set for a beating

David McCann on February 27, 2016, 8:49 am

| Readers 969

Well it’s all over and we are just waiting for the vote to be counted but two exit polls make terrible reading for the government and should make Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein happy. RTE Irish Times/MRBI Some takeaways If true this is Enda Kenny’s worst ever General Election performance as leader, he scored 27.1% in 2007 and 36.1% in 2011. Fianna Fail are back in business; in places like Munster and parts of Dublin, the party will increase its …

Coalitions; How to keep one crowd honest & the other crowd out

David McCann on February 23, 2016, 7:50 pm

| Readers 1170

Coalitions are the talk of the town at the moment in the Irish general election. It’s little wonder seeing as the current government is certain to lose the massive 53 seat majority that it won at the 2011 general election. According to Professor Michael Marsh’s poll of polls the current state of play in terms of seats is this; This pretty much means all bets are off in terms of forming a government as only Fianna Fail and Fine …

SUN/Lucid Talk Poll shows majority voting to stay in the EU

David McCann on February 19, 2016, 10:27 am

| Readers 1205

A poll for The SUN conducted by Lucid Talk online with 2,886 responses (balanced by gender, age, area of residence and community background) shows a majority at this stage voting to stay within the European Union. (The poll has a margin of error of 3.9%) The headline figures show that if a vote were held today 55% would vote to stay within the EU, 29.4% would vote to leave and more than 14% are undecided. Breaking those figures down the poll …

Ranking the Party Election Broadcasts

David McCann on February 18, 2016, 9:47 pm

| Readers 910

As most of our regular readers know, I typically get a group of people together to review the party election broadcasts from the various parties in Northern Ireland. However, with the twists and turns in the current Irish general election, I thought it would be interesting do something similar for the party election broadcasts in the South. In that spirit, I took myself down to Dublin to review each of the main parties election broadcasts Hugh O’Connell, Political Editor of …

What do the Southern parties have planned for Northern Ireland?

David McCann on February 15, 2016, 7:07 pm

| Readers 3031

There’s an election on in the South in case you hadn’t noticed. Whilst yes, the North plays a little role in determining the outcome of an Irish election and the interest from Northern Ireland has hardly been great, I thought that since we now have the manifestos of the main parties out there now, it would be interesting to see what plans each of them have for the North. You will be relieved to know that in all of the …

SBP/REDC Poll: Fine Gael/Labour slump as Sinn Fein rise.

David McCann on February 13, 2016, 6:18 pm

| Readers 2167

The latest Sunday Business Post/RED C poll was released tonight and the results are grim reading for the government parties. Fine Gael is down 3% to 28% and Labour is down again to single digits of with just 8%. Sinn Fein has risen 3% to 20%, with Fianna Fail up 1% to 18% from last time. The article does give some more detail as to the rise in Sinn Fein’s support; Sinn Féin appears to have been the best in …

Is this the end of the line for Joan?

David McCann on February 11, 2016, 8:56 am

| Readers 1008

Today’s Independent is not happy reading for the Labour leader, Joan Burton. A poll in her Dublin West constituency finds her struggling to hold on to her seat with the election just two weeks away. The results are; Leo Varadkar (FG) and Paul Donnelly (SF) on 20% each. Jack Chambers is on 17% for Fianna Fáil and Ruth Coppinger is on 15% for the AAA. Joan Burton trails on 10%. Worth pointing out 14% of the electorate are still undecided …

Fatal Foetal Abnormality Amendment falls 59 to 40.

David McCann on February 11, 2016, 8:38 am

| Readers 1741

Late last night the Assembly voted down an amendment proposed by Stewart Dickson and Trevor Lunn to allow a termination in the case of fatal foetal abnormality. Here is a link so you can seek how each MLA voted on this issue, but here are some interesting votes. In terms of party leaders, Arlene Foster, Colum Eastwood and Jim Allister all voted no. Martin McGuinness, Steven Agnew, David Ford and Mike Nesbitt voted for the amendment. Only the DUP (against) and …

SDLP to vote against Justice Bill amendments

David McCann on February 10, 2016, 11:08 am

| Readers 2622

New leadership team and a new raft of MLAs fueled speculation that there might be a change in policy from the SDLP on this issue. Particularly since the new leader was stressing the “progressive” elements of his platform. However, the party has decided to stick to it’s current policy and vote against the amendments to the Justice Bill in the Assembly today. A party spokesperson said; The SDLP is a pro-life party and we do not support the extension of …

UUP could return to the Executive.

David McCann on February 8, 2016, 8:12 pm

| Readers 970

The UUP launched their alternative vision document today highlighting what they will do differently from the current DUP/Sinn Fein Executive. However, today Mike Nesbitt gave the clearest indication yet that his party could be returning to the Executive after May’s election. Nesbitt said that the if the next Executive has a progressive programme for government and the will to deliver it then the UUP could re-join the Executive. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University …