George

Eoghan Harris may be on to something when he says that while Michael McDowell’s “infatuation with his own image” may yet do for Bertie Ahern, the still popular and trusted Taoiseach can take the small consolation that “some day soon it will do for him too.””The Ahern affair is a familiar script” says Harris. “The PC media make a mountain out of a Fianna Fail molehill. The PDs panic for fear they will look bad in the Irish Times. They …

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Could it be that Gerry Adams has started dying his hair? It certainly appears to be a rinse at the very least. Or was it just the studio lighting? Adams makes his appearance 1 minute and five seconds into the clip. George

The Ulster Unionist Party have come to the shocking realisation that ties between the north and south of this island continue to be strengthened despite the fact that there is no Assembly. “We are greatly concerned that North South Bodies have gone into mission creep. Internal and external issues were supposed to exist as mutually dependent entities. If the Assembly falls, the North South element should also fall. But regrettably this has not been the case,” says South Antrim MLA …

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Mick’s piece on ambitious Poles looking to Ireland reminds me of an interesting article in last week’s Irish Independent where NCB Stockbrokers’ Dermot O’Brien observed that there was employment growth of almost 90,000 in the twelve months to June. Two million people are now at work in Ireland but, most extraordinary of all, over a quarter of those jobs did not exist ten years ago. “This can’t go on” is the generally accepted view, but what if it does? It …

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The Ryder Cup tees of Friday at the K Club in Kildare with mixed reports coming out as to whether the investment was worth it and if it will be good for Ireland’s image abroad. Following claims that some golf clubs have “doubled” their rates for the event, American Ambassador to Ireland James Kenny has already suggested Americans would be loathe to return to Ireland if they are overcharged. Meanwhile, Anderson Economic Group (AEG), working with Dublin-based Amárach Consulting, estimates …

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It seems more and more British and Americans are taking up Irish citizenship to be less of a terrorist target on their travels. There has been a rapid rise in British applications in the period since the July 7, 2005 London tube and bus bombings. In the first six months of this year 8,896 people born in the UK applied for an Irish passport for the first time, compared with 3,843 in the first half of 2005, according to the …

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The result of a poll Millward Brown IMS in the Sunday Tribune (subs needed) puts Sinn Féin at 8%, down one percentage point from the last equivalent poll in November 2005 and just one per cent higher than its general election result in 2002. Fianna Fáil is still unchanged at 37% and Fine Gael is up two to 26%. Labour is stalled at 12%, up just one per cent on four years ago while the PDs at 4% and the …

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After what many consider showing true leadership in Europe by opening their doors to the workers from the 10 accession states in 2004, it seems both Great Britain and Ireland (Sweden was the only other EU country) are considering imposing restrictions on people from the last two countries to join the EU under the Nice Treaty, Bulgaria and Romania, due to join the EU at the beginning of 2007. This even though all restrictions will have to be rescinded by …

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Derry City have been drawn against Scottish Cup finalists Gretna in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Cup. George

It seems there are some strong advocates of this option to permanently solve this island’s problems so it seems only fair they have their very own thread to discuss it at length. George

Breaking news from the German SI newsagency suggests that Tour de France winner Floyd Landis has failed a dope test. Nothing to do with Northern Ireland but interesting for those lovers of cycling. Update: Landis has apparently tested positive for the steroid testosterone, according to his Phonak team who say he failed the doping test after the 17th stage to Morzine which he won in spectacular fashion. ”The Phonak Cycling Team was notified yesterday by the UCI about an unusual …

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It looks like the popularity of Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau is about to hit stratospheric levels with the news that it is to target building developers and could confiscate assets valued at hundreds of millions of euro following the granting of a High Court order to freeze lands worth €61 million allegedly rezoned through planning corruption, according to an article in the Irish Times. The lands, at Carrickmines, south Dublin, at the centre of the ruling are owned by businessman …

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Independent Fianna Fail is to merge with Fianna Fáil after a thirty plus-year rift with the party’s only deputy, Niall Blaney, joining the Fianna Fail parliamentary party. Independent FF was founded in 1973 by the late Neil T. Blaney following the Arms Crisis. As a result, Fianna Fáil TD Jim McDaid, who opposed the merger, has reversed his decision to retire from politics. Should make for an interesting general election in Donegal. George

The Sunday Tribune (print edition only) has a harrowing report about the savagery of Dublin late at night (I’m sure it’s similar elsewhere) and how it is affecting the gay community in particular with groups of young men now regularly targetting gays on their way home. “As Frank walked home on his last night in town, he was lured into an alleyway in Dublin city centre, beaten unconscious and left for dead… When a passerby found him the next morning …

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Richard Gott seems to have annoyed quite a number of people with his piece in the Guardian where he argues that many of the present conflicts in the world take place “in the former colonial territories that Britain abandoned, exhausted and impoverished”. He calls Palestine a “settler colony” and goes on to describe “tragic statelet” Northern Ireland as a victim of “settler colonialism where unresolved problems survive from the time of empire include South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya”. George

A video celebrating the murder of Catholic boy Michael McIlveen is doing the rounds in Ballymena. It only came to light after it was sent to a Protestant friend of the victim. It seems the kicking of this child to death has struck a particular chord with some British loyalists as McIlveen’s name was also put on an Irish Tricolour ready to be burnt at a loyalist 11th Night bonfire in Ahoghill and elsewhere, already discussed at length here. Sinn …

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It seems that Northern Ireland, which I understand is the only part of these islands without an independent environmental protection agency, has the least protected environment in the UK and Ireland. For example, according to Friends of the Earth, in the coastal town of Bangor, sewage from more than 60,000 people is discharged untreated into the Irish Sea meaning beaches along the north coast are now littered with human waste, toilet paper and sanitary towels. Northern Ireland is required to …

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Ireland’s (Republic of) population now exceeds 4.2 million, a jump of over 300,000 in just five years, according to preliminary results from the 2006 Census. The figure is the highest since the 1861 census with the biggest increases coming in Fingal, Meath and Kildare, accounting for 30% of the increase since 2002. Interestingly, the 5.6% increase for Dublin is well below the national increase of 8.1%. Cavan has seen a jump of 13.1% while Cork city and Limerick city were …

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Stringfellows lapdancing club in Dublin has closed down after just four months saying it is unable to meet its financial obligations. Residents around Parnell Street, where the club was situated, have protested against Stringfellows from the beginning and were still mounting a protest up to the end. The club said in a statement that the protests had led to some reluctance to visit the club amongst the corporate sector. George