John Ó Néill – Page 6 – Slugger O'Toole

raising an old issue like employment

John Ó Néill on February 10, 2012, 10:34 am

| Readers 63

At the moment, as Pete flagged a couple of days ago, Bill Clinton is doing some heavy lifting in the US for job creation on behalf of the Republic of Ireland’s government. Over at the Belfast media group, Jude Collins provides an interesting contrast, highlighting the uneven results of Invest NI’s work: During 2010/2011, Invest NI managed to secure NOT A SINGLE JOB in West Belfast. Yet year after year, south and east Belfast attract shed loads more money via Invest …

… to prosecute cases if the evidence emerges …

John Ó Néill on February 5, 2012, 9:56 am

| Readers 51

The Detail has an interesting piece to set alongside the DPP’s comments regarding confronting the past. It concerns the RUC and HET investigations into the killings such as the attack on Sean Grahams on the Ormeau Road which involved a Browning that was handed to the UFF/UDA by the RUC. The Detail outlines how: In 2010 the families were informed by the Historic Enquiries Team (HET) that police had “disposed of” interview notes of two loyalists who’d been caught in possession of the …

You are not responsible for the crisis (Oh yes you are)

John Ó Néill on January 27, 2012, 10:04 am

| Readers 36

Whoever it was aimed at, Enda Kenny’s performance in Davos doesn’t seem to be going down well back home. The Irish Times reports that he said: “What happened in our country was that people simply went mad borrowing,” Mr Kenny told a meeting at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland. “The extent of personal credit, personal wealth created on credit was done between people and banks – a system that spawned greed to a point where it just …

Anonymous: freedom is #TangoDown

John Ó Néill on January 23, 2012, 4:08 pm

| Readers 71

Their bio simply states: We are Anonymous. We are legion. We never forgive, We never forget, Expect us. Location: Right behind you. [You can find a longer backstory on the wired website.] There is something epic and fascinating in the current battles between Anonymous (and others) and the US government and, by proxy, various arms of the western capitalist system revolving around issues pertaining to the balance between freedom of speech, perceived encroachments on civil liberties, intellectual property and commercial rights. …

Will Scottish football decide the referendum?

John Ó Néill on January 17, 2012, 11:56 am

| Readers 74

Is Scotland’s football team good enough for independence? Let’s look at the facts by comparing electoral support for independence, in so far as that can be measured as support for the SNP, with the performance of the Scottish football team. A number of points are worthing noting here: Qualifying for the finals of tournaments in the 1950s didn’t coincide with any major electoral success on the part of the SNP as, coincidentally, it wasn’t until the late 1960s that there …

Boston College: an end of history

John Ó Néill on January 13, 2012, 1:19 pm

| Readers 66

Slugger readers will be familiar with the ongoing saga around the content of, and, access to the archives of the Belfast Project which were deposited with Boston College (where Irish government documents on decomissioning have also been deposited). The outworking of the litigation by which the PSNI’s Historical Enquiries Team are attempting to gain access to some of the material may now even lead to the intentional destruction of the archive by it’s creators. So, methodologically, the Belfast Project is now close …

… in terms of noise and output, Sinn Féin has proved more effective.

John Ó Néill on January 10, 2012, 9:45 pm

| Readers 48

Following on from yesterday’s piece on Fianna Fáil that Mick flagged up, today the Irish Times continued with Paul Cullen looking at the Opposition with a brief analysis of Sinn Féin’s performance to date (in one of two pieces on the IT website, for more see below). It suggests that: On numbers alone, a much diminished Fianna Fáil can still claim to lead the Opposition – but in terms of noise and output, Sinn Féin has proved more effective. The party …

…the British Government has planned the sell-out of Ulster

John Ó Néill on January 5, 2012, 1:47 pm

| Readers 318

So Ian Paisley was right after all! In his The Revivalist editorial of January 1982, he reflected on 1981 saying: 1982 is the year when the British Government has planned the sell-out of Ulster. It is essential that Ulster prepares itself for the great battle which lies ahead. Without Divine intervention all is lost. Admittedly, he had began 1981 by stating: Having made a dirty deal with the I.R.A. terrorists the Government has proceeded to enter into an underhand mini-Munich …

All Ireland Cancer Atlas 1995-2007

John Ó Néill on December 15, 2011, 8:45 pm

| Readers 12

Hats off to the cross-border research by the Northern Ireland Cancer Registry at Queen’s and National Cancer Registry, Ireland down in Cork for their co-production of the All Ireland Cancer Atlas 1995-2007. The conclusions and discussion are surprisingly accessible (all sections are linked below). While it may make for chastening reading (or help sharpen up ideas for a New Years Resolutions), it hopefully will inform health service provision, which is timely in light of the appearance of the Compton Review. Of particular interest in terms of …

To the objective, impartial observer, disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour are raised

John Ó Néill on December 14, 2011, 7:38 pm

| Readers 51

The families of the Miami Show Band members gave their reaction to the HET’s report today on the killing of three members in 1975. In a detailed statement, the survivors of the attack report that the HET concluded: ‘To the objective, impartial observer, disturbing questions about collusive and corrupt behaviour are raised. The HET review has found no means to assuage or rebut these concerns and that is a deeply troubling matter.’ This is in specific reference to evidence relating …

Vote For Me

John Ó Néill on December 13, 2011, 1:25 am

| Readers 10

You’ll guess how bad this is when I’m going to apologise in advance for it. Dan Boyle, former tweet-master general of the Green Party, has managed to coincide the launch of his album, Third Adolescence, with the 30th anniversary re-launch of the Green Party. Yeah, you read that right, his album. In deference to his chequered electoral history, he has included a track called ‘Vote For Me’ (if you really hate your ears – you can listen to a sample preview on Amazon). Amazingly, he isn’t the first …

The hyperlocal probing into the past: 9.12.11 round-up

John Ó Néill on December 10, 2011, 1:56 pm

| Readers 14

On Friday, the probing of the past trundled onwards: at the Smithwick Tribunal into the deaths of Chief Supt Harry Breen and Supt Bob Buchanan, who were shot dead by the IRA in 1989; and, at the inquest into the death of Daniel Hegarty, who was shot dead by a British solider during Operation Motorman in July 1972. There is an interesting contrast in the reporting of the Smithwick Tribunal proceedings on the BBC and in the Irish Times, with the BBC reporting on Jeffrey …

The difference between FF and FG? Twelve months.

John Ó Néill on December 8, 2011, 12:25 am

| Readers 14

Anyone who watched the anodyne post-budget chat between Michael Noonan (FG) and Michael McGrath (FF) on RTE’s PrimeTime on Tuesday must have been reminded of Pearse Doherty’s comment during Sinn Féin’s response to the budget in the Dáil earlier that day that the difference between Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is twelve months. In retrospect the kites that were flown prior to the budget provide a cynical benchmark of the extent to which the government tried to instill fear in the public to condition them for some of the changes …

British monarchy under threat of being opened up to [Roman] Catholics

John Ó Néill on December 8, 2011, 12:01 am

| Readers 51

It looks like we could be in for yet another installment of false rage now the DUP has endorsed a shared (sic) future platform. The Telegraph is reporting that the political and constitutional reform committee have said that: “The scenario does beg the question of whether it remains appropriate for the monarch to be required to be in communion with the Church of England. “The most obvious difficulty in having a Catholic monarch — beyond the purely statutory obstacles — is the crown’s role as supreme governor of the …

Austerity in two halves: #Budget2012

John Ó Néill on December 3, 2011, 11:32 pm

| Readers 5

Early next week will finally see the introduction of #Budget2012 to the Dáil, in a novel format with two speeches, one by Brendan Howlin on Monday and one by Michael Noonan on Tuesday. The budget has been heavily trailed, with endless kite-flying over the last few weeks. A brief guide to (some) of the proposed changes was given by Caroline Madden in the Irish Times last Monday. For ease of reference, most of the main suggested budgetary changes are given below. It will be interesting to compare the …

European law states investigations into state killings must be fully independent

John Ó Néill on December 2, 2011, 11:56 pm

| Readers 30

Last week, as flagged by Pete, it was being reported that: The Historical Enquiries Team cannot investigate them because European law states investigations into state killings must be fully independent. As the HET is accountable to the chief constable, it cannot investigate killings by police officers. A whole week later, it appears that the Historical Enquiries Team do actually report on cases where police officers were involved in killings (see Turgon’s thread on Loughgall, where the RUC’s HMSU took part as …

Death blast lessons

John Ó Néill on November 30, 2011, 12:30 pm

| Readers 333

The lengthy excerpt below appeared as an article by Ciaran McKeown in the Irish Press on Monday 6th December 1971 entitled ‘Death blast lesson for the North’. McKeown wrote the piece in the immediate aftermath of the destruction of McGurk’s Bar on the preceding Saturday night, the 4th December, the fortieth anniversary of which falls this weekend. It is worth reading if only to reflect on the lessons which were not learned back in 1971. I’ve retained the layout, including headings from the original and …

OPONI wants more history, less inquiry…

John Ó Néill on November 24, 2011, 10:00 pm

| Readers 17

Over at The Detail, Barry McCafferty is reporting that the Police Ombudsman’s office is now saying that it can no longer investigate the killings of anyone shot dead by a police officer during the Troubles. “A test case in the Supreme Court (House of Lords) earlier this year has confirmed to us that we cannot investigate deaths from the Troubles which have previously been investigated unless there is new evidence.” The Ombudsman spokesman said it would now ask government to introduce …

Belfast’s built heritage: under threat, or hindering progress?

John Ó Néill on November 22, 2011, 1:15 am

| Readers 176

The fate of the Swanston Linen Warehouse (aka the Athletic Stores) in Queen Street now very much hangs in the balance as Belfast City Council has signalled it’s approval of the decision to demolish the building and replace it with a mixed use developement of apartments and retail space. The Belfast Telegraph is reporting that a vote of the city council’s Town Planning Committee saw a motion to refer it back to the Planning Service backed by the Alliance and Sinn Féin …

Did Taoiseach submit #Budget2012 to Berlin for approval?

John Ó Néill on November 17, 2011, 8:14 pm

| Readers 6

The Irish government is under pressure this evening as it is having to deny Press Association reported rumours that it has allowed the German government to inspect the budget before it is brought to the Dáil next month (i.e. well before the democractically members of Oireachtas get to see it). The Irish Independent says that Reuters also had the same story, prompting swift denials from Government officials today. With market driven crises prompting the replacement of existing leaders with technocrats in Italy …