John Ó Néill – Page 4 – Slugger O'Toole

Sinn Féin Minister hit by PSNI jeep following Tour of the North

John Ó Néill on June 22, 2013, 12:00 am

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According to reports on twitter, Sinn Féin Minister Carál Ní Chuilín was taken to hospital after being hit by a jeep at Carrickhill following the Tour of the North parade on Friday night. Gerry Kelly was also carried on the bonnet of a PSNI jeep. Gerry Adams has given some details: Caral released from hospital.Torn ligaments.Spoke 2 her.She was hit by PSNI jeep.Gerry K carried 50 yds on bonnet of jeep.Area now quiet. — Gerry Adams (@GerryAdamsSF) June 21, 2013 …

Party support and #NILT’s soft politicised underbelly

John Ó Néill on June 6, 2013, 11:20 am

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And the recurring problem with the NILT Survey (and it hasn’t gone away you know)? Political party support (%) DUP/Democratic Unionist Party 17 Sinn Fein 12 Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) 10 Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) 13 Alliance Party 8 Other Party (please specify) 2 None of these 24 Other answer (please specify) 5 Don’t know 8 For comparison, including only those with a political preference from the above, this would translate as follows (NILT figures in bold: electoral figures …

#SpAdBill, the #GFA and the long shadow of the Boundary Commission

John Ó Néill on June 3, 2013, 9:46 am

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I have been intending to post on the SpAdBill for a while but nothing has encapsulated the shrill histrionics of any public debate involving unionism since, well, the fading #flegs crisis or whatever the issue was just before that. And don’t get me wrong, there is no doubting the sincerity of Ann Travers or others who feel they have a grievance that needs to be addressed, regardless of who is responsible for their pain or loss. It is that last …

@rustyrockets on #Woolwich

John Ó Néill on May 28, 2013, 11:18 am

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Superb piece of writing from Russell Brand on his blog reflecting on his own response to the killing of Drummer Lee Digby in Woolwich, social media and how to respond to it. Set aside whatever preconceptions you might have based on Brand’s comedy or acting or writings and give it a proper read. Brand walks through his own response on Twitter, the reaction to it, and his need to return to it in a more meaningful way in the blog. …

According to Question Time, SF=IRA, DUP=Goodies

John Ó Néill on May 24, 2013, 1:43 pm

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Great bit of on the spot photojournalism from Simon Whittaker. During the filming of last nights Question Time by Mentorn Media for the BBC, he captured the notes attached to the television camera. It gives affiliations for four of the six panellists with an additional note below two, IRA below ‘Sinn Féin’ for the party’s MLA John O’Dowd and Goodies below ‘DUP’ for the parties Ian Paisley Junior. Needless to say Sinn Féin are unimpressed: “The ‘SF/IRA’ tag was one created …

“…go around to every fool on this planet and open their eyes to the mountains that surround them in life.”

John Ó Néill on May 13, 2013, 9:58 am

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And as much as I’d love to go around to every fool on this planet and open their eyes to the mountains that surround them in life, I can’t. But maybe if I shout from mine they’ll pay attention. The words of Donal Walsh who passed away yesterday at the age of 16. If you need some inspiration today (or anyday), have a read of today’s piece about his short life in the Indo, or just watch a brief video …

Uniting Ireland: no #abortion, no #equalmarriage

John Ó Néill on May 1, 2013, 4:02 pm

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Some revealing attitudes in the debates on equal marriage and abortion either side of the border this week. Last night the heads of the proposed Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 were published in Dublin (full details here courtesy of the Journal.ie). Initial reaction has been mixed on both the pro-choice and anti-abortion sides, with most emphasis on the decision-making process being resolved to unanimous agreement between three psychiatrists (not the six suggested during last week’s flag-flying exercise) in cases where …

#Reilly legislation on abortion: It’s truly idiotic

John Ó Néill on April 25, 2013, 11:00 am

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You didn't expect this.

And the abortion debate rumbles on …. Yesterday Health Minister James Reilly denied that it was ever being proposed that the opinion of six doctors would be stipulated in legislation covering abortion where there was a risk of suicide. This morning, Fionnan Sheahan published details of the draft legislation: • “One obstetrician and two psychiatrists have jointly certified that, in their reasonable opinion, there is a real and substantial risk of loss of the pregnant woman’s life from self-destruction and …

#Thatcher: Ten Children Dead

John Ó Néill on April 12, 2013, 4:13 pm

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From Margaret Thatcher became Prime Minister on the 4th May 1979 until her resignation on the 28h November 1990, ten children aged sixteen or under were killed by the security forces (the number is actually eleven as Hugh Maguire should be included in this list, see below). For anyone who wishes to evaluate or find the positive in a re-evaluation of her premiership, it is hard to ignore the recurrent moral failure to adequately protect children over whom she claimed the …

#MHE: the devil will be in the detail

John Ó Néill on March 26, 2013, 9:35 am

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This Wednesday voters go to the ballot box in the Meath East by-election. With a large government majority (albeit as a coalition), the outcome of the by-election will have no functional impact on the Dáil arithmetic. Given the circumstances of the by-election, which has arisen due to Fine Gael TD and junior Minister Sean McEntee taking his own life, it seems quite likely that his 26 year old daughter, Helen, will take the seat. His death prompted Fine Gael TDs to blame social media criticism either due to the …

#SpunOut.ie: Fine Gael TD rejects cost-border threesomes advice

John Ó Néill on March 25, 2013, 5:24 pm

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SpunOut.ie, a cross-border charity providing mental health and sexual advice to young adults aged 16-25 has become the latest source of outrage for Fine Gael TD for Mayo, Michelle Mulherin. Her focus is one, of about 3000 articles on the SpunOut.ie website, which concerns threesomes. It offers advice on how to deal with the issue if it arises in a relationship and, if you decide to proceed with it: A threesome involves getting sexually intimate with two people rather than just one …

Seachtain na Gaeilge: deis caillte?

John Ó Néill on March 6, 2013, 6:24 pm

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Cad a tharla do’n bliain seo chaite? Táimid i measc Seachtain na Gaeilge arís agus b’fheidir go bhfuil sé ro-mhall do rud éigin suimiúil a dhéanamh an bhliain seo, mar shampla MÚC. Creidim gurb é seo an chead usaid don téarma nua seo – do mórchúrsa oscailte ar líne nó #MOOC (ach, mar ainm, níl MAOL comh holc sin ach oiread). I mbliana, ina bhfuil daoine ag caint faoi The Gathering™, bhí mé ag smaoineamh ar deis digiteach le bheith ag …

Hugo Chávez Frias

John Ó Néill on March 6, 2013, 12:43 am

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The death has been announced of President Hugo Chávez Frias. Chávez was the most recent of the Central and South American leaders whose left-wing policies and popularity seem to evoke such fear amongst western governments. By chance, two Irish film-makers, Kim Bartley and Donnacha Ó Briain, were filming a documentary about Chávez and filmed events during a failed right-wing coup in 2002. This was first broadcast on RTÉ as Chávez: Inside the Coup, then in feature-length as The Revolution Will Not Be …

Zombie Republic of Ireland (2010-2013)

John Ó Néill on February 6, 2013, 11:34 pm

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Tonight, on #promnight, the winding-up has been announced of the Zombie Republic of Ireland, formed in 2010 when the former sovereign state became a ward of the Bundestag’s finance committee. The end-of-life processes of the former Republic were accompanied by rushed late night decision-making and ill-considered legislation. The death notice, issued from ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, has never been made public. The zombie successor state was artificially kept in an animated state as a toxic repository where 1% of the EUs population has been assigned 42% of the European banking debt. Tonight, this European banking debt is poised to be consolidated as sovereign debt in late-night …

Will unionism’s long 2012 be seen as the year when the wave broke?

John Ó Néill on February 1, 2013, 10:37 am

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With the #flegs protests seemingly diminishing, it seems like a good time to wrap up where 2012 has brought unionism, although it can be pretty much summed up in one word – crisis. It was a year in which there were early signs of modest progress visible to DUP leader Peter Robinson in March and by November he felt confident to proclaim that the constitutional debate had been won. And remember, in 2012 we were told repeatedly how ‘Catholics’ were being taken within, and reciprocating, the embrace of unionist outreach. Looking past the rhetoric, …

#Finucane: this report is a sham, this report is a whitewash

John Ó Néill on December 12, 2012, 4:58 pm

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So now we’ve had the publication of the latest report into the killing of Pat Finuance in 1989 courtsey of Rt Hon Desmond de Silva QC (full text here). The surprise that David Cameron articulated in the Commons today, much like with Saville, is merely the formal admission of what has long been accepted by most other people. Pat’s widow Geraldine made a statement on behalf of the Finucane family today, which can be viewed here. The Finucanes are critical of the reports …

#flegs protests

John Ó Néill on December 7, 2012, 8:27 pm

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If you see any #flegs protests and want to give us an account, add it below. If you are on twitter and are live-blogging it, add you @ name so people can follow you. If you want to link images, only add one link per post or it will be automatically queued for moderation (by the Wordpress widget). John Ó NéillYou can check out more here… or view my history blog here

… a ballot paper in one hand: #Gaza 2012

John Ó Néill on November 20, 2012, 3:55 pm

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There seems to be nothing that exposes the impotence of the much vaunted international community more starkly than the meek tolerance of Israeli violence in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon. News outlets like the BBC are now reporting both that the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) are leafleting Gazans warning of an imminent invasion of ground forces, and, that all air attacks will end later today (technically these aren’t mutually exclusive claims). Either way, the recent Operation Pillar of Cloud has already seen the …

A rolling First World War reviews thread.

John Ó Néill on November 11, 2012, 11:11 am

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Given the day that is in it, and since there are only whatever number of shopping days until Christmas, this post is a rolling review of First World War literature, in its broadest sense to include personal accounts, historical fiction (and everything in between), histories, cinema, documentary, drama, theatre and the endless poetry. Next year, with the centenary of the outbreak of war looming, there will probably be a glut of reflections and new readings of the war, it’s course …

#Creationism to be included in the [#GiantsCauseway] exhibition, as a grant condition.

John Ó Néill on October 16, 2012, 5:16 pm

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The British Humanist Association is reporting that an FOI request by Andew Muir of the Alliance Party suggests that the origin of the creationist content in the National Trusts’ Giant’s Causeway exhibit can be traced back to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment: … an email uncovered by the Alliance Party, from a civil servant within DETI and dated 9 November 2009, states that ‘I’ve amended draft to take on board NITB [Northern Ireland Tourist Board] comment re National Trust unwillingness …