Brian O’Neill – Page 53 – Slugger O'Toole

Happiness is not to be found in good public policy, but rather in the eternal love of Jesus…

Brian O'Neill on May 25, 2017, 1:37 pm | Readers 1948

Over in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Republican Abigail Whelan had an imaginative response to a question. As reported by Think Progressive. Pressed about her lack of support for an amendment that would close loopholes for offshore tax havens, a Minnesota Republican dodged the question in favor of talking about her religious beliefs. Minnesota Rep. Abigail Whelan, a second-term House legislator from suburban Ramsey, was responding to a question from Democratic Rep. Paul Thissen early Wednesday morning about whether she thinks “benefiting people …

Join us for Slugger’s Big Election Punt event on Thurs the 1st of June…

Brian O'Neill on May 10, 2017, 4:19 pm | Readers 1809

What an exciting year for politics. As we face yet another election join us to discuss the runners and riders in the race for seats. Who are the favourites? Who will be neck and neck? Who will be trailing the pack? Brexit, the impending collapse of the Labour Party and decades of Tory rule. Not to mention President Trump. Join our expert panel to discuss all these issues and more: Alex Kane – Political Commentator Chris Donnelly – Slugger Contributor & Political Commentator Patricia MacBride …

Another curious Brexit side effect. Companies may get grants to move jobs out of the UK…

Brian O'Neill on April 27, 2017, 3:40 pm | Readers 4630

Nestlé has announced that they are to axe 300 UK jobs and move Blue Riband biscuit production to Poland. More than likely this is about cost saving and has nothing to do with Brexit but it does introduce some interesting questions. Under EU rules member countries are not allowed to give subsidies that encourage companies to move jobs from one member state to another. So in the Nestlé example, Poland could not give grants to Nestlé. You can only grant …

It seems the Irish Catholic Church can now add slavery to its list of scandals…

Brian O'Neill on April 20, 2017, 3:25 pm | Readers 1862

Just when you think the reputation of the Irish Catholic Church can’t get any lower the Irish Independent reports on what amounts to slavery: A notorious industrial school in Limerick was paid to send boys under the age of 16 to work for traders, merchants and big farmers, according to hundreds of documents that have remained hidden for decades. Experts say the find demonstrates local communities were involved in the industrialisation and exploitation of marginalised children. There is no record …

She played tin whistle in an IRA band but fell in love with an Orangeman…

Brian O'Neill on April 14, 2017, 10:47 am | Readers 8448

The LAD chaps have surpassed themselves with this little ditty. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUurmhxkWBo&feature=youtu.be For those of you not up on your pop culture it is a spoof of Ed Sheeran’s Galway Girl song: Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the …

Brexit bites as EU workers start to say screw you UK we are outa here…

Brian O'Neill on April 11, 2017, 1:05 pm | Readers 5542

time to move on

If there is one advantage to having kids it is that it does increase your circle of friends. Humans need social contact, especially when going through the misery joy of having your first child. We compare notes with other parents, we sympathise when they tell you their baby is not sleeping even though inside we are delighted that at least our kid is not as bad as there’s. We force a smile when another parent tells us how their little …

So it turns out the UK’s economic record was pretty average even before Brexit…

Brian O'Neill on April 9, 2017, 12:21 pm | Readers 2843

Interesting report by the Centre for European Reform, BREXIT BRITAIN: THE POOR MAN OF WESTERN EUROPE? Contrary to what many would have you believe the UK economy is not exactly the dynamic powerhouse they make it out to be. Some details from the report: The UK has economic strengths, such as a flexible labour market, which ensures that unemployment is low even in many of its economically struggling regions. But contrary to much of the received wisdom, Britain has not been one …

Brexit to force Tayto Northern Ireland to stop selling their popular Cheese & Onion Crisps?

Brian O'Neill on April 1, 2017, 7:00 am | Readers 19382

Another casualty of Brexit is likely to be Tayto Cheese & Onion. The crisp is a popular delicacy locally and tops the list of things ex-pats miss about Northern Ireland (soda bread and potato bread take the number 2 and 3 positions). Tayto (Northern Ireland) was formed in 1956 by the Hutchinson family and licensed the name and recipes of Tayto Crisps in the Republic of Ireland. As part of the agreement only Tayto Northern Ireland could sell in the …

Will Spain demand Gibraltar back as part of a Brexit deal?

Brian O'Neill on March 31, 2017, 3:35 pm | Readers 3170

As I understand it all 27 EU member countries have to agree to any trade deal with the UK. As you can imagine many see this as an opportunity to screw a deal out of the UK. One long-running dispute is Spain wanting their territory of Gibraltar back. The Guardian reports: The EU has put the future of Gibraltar at stake in the coming Brexit negotiations, effectively backing Spain in its centuries-old dispute with the UK over the British overseas territory. After lobbying …

Department for the Economy release list of RHI beneficiaries…

Brian O'Neill on March 16, 2017, 8:05 pm | Readers 3663

After months of legal wrangling, the Department for the Economy has finally released the names of all RHI beneficiaries who are in receipt of payments over £5000. The released the data as a PDF but I converted it to a spreadsheet so you can filter it by who got the most. Which let’s face it is what we all want to know. Download an excel version | View a google sheet version Here are the top beneficiaries As expected there is a lot …

Former Bishop of Galway Eamon Casey dies…

Brian O'Neill on March 14, 2017, 4:47 pm | Readers 1031

Given all the scandals we have had in the Catholic Church since then, Bishop Eamon Casey fathering a child now seems a relatively minor indiscretion. But back then in 1992 it rocked the Irish Catholic Church and the State itself to the core. In fact you could argue that it was the turning point for the Catholic church – it was all downhill from there. Not long after in 1995 Fr Ted hits our screens and it was game over …

How to explain Ireland’s Brexit dilemma to your mates…

Brian O'Neill on March 14, 2017, 2:31 pm | Readers 2902

Brexit for Ireland as like when you’re out with all your mates on the sesh. Having a great time, Germany’s buying shots for everyone which is grand cause we only brought enough out for three drinks. Then England and Wales start getting in a huff cause Sweden and Germany invited Syria and Yemen along. England and Wales are going on that it’s not about who was brought along, they just thought it was gonna be the usual group who was out and they didn’t want to be getting into rounds with people who’ve only come along halfway through.

Get your free tickets for our ‘7 Ways to Make Northern Ireland Great Again!’ live event…

Brian O'Neill on March 13, 2017, 4:56 pm | Readers 942

Next Thursday the 23rd of March we are running a live event ‘7 Ways to Make Northern Ireland Great Again!’. We are running it in association with Stratagem as part of the Imagine Festival. We are hosting the event in the Dark Horse Bar and the event kicks off at 7:30pm. Tickets are free and you can book them here… Opinion differs on whether Northern Ireland was ever great. But we’d like you to join the Slugger O’Toole team and our …

Join us for Slugger’s Big Election Punt event on Wed the 1st of March…

Brian O'Neill on February 7, 2017, 6:47 pm | Readers 2425

Join us on the eve of the Assembly Elections as we discuss the runners and riders in the race for Stormont. Who are the favourites? Who will be neck and neck? Who will be trailing the pack? We have put together an expert panel to give us their predictions on the big race to the hill. Alex Kane – Political Commentator Chris Donnelly – Slugger Contributor & Political Commentator Amanda Ferguson – Journalist & Commentator Brendan Mulgrew – Commentator & Founder of MW Advocate …

Free screening of ‘I am Belfast’ film this Thursday…

Brian O'Neill on February 7, 2017, 3:15 pm | Readers 911

If you have not seen it yet, ‘I am Belfast’ is a visually wonderful and unique film. Mark Cousins’ tribute to his home city is both a treat for the eyes and thought-provoking. The basic concept is to imagine Belfast as a 10,000 year old woman. We follow her as she travels through Belfast and reflects on the history of the locations she visits. What I liked about the film was that it made you see Belfast in a whole different light. Locations …

Bear with us as we try to remove those terrible Disqus ads from the comments area…

Brian O'Neill on February 2, 2017, 8:50 am | Readers 961

Disqus is the system we use to power the comments on Slugger. The company has started to put ads into our comments section of our site without even telling us. As you can imagine I am extremely annoyed at this – I hate crappy online ads as much as you do. Supposedly we can remove the ads if we pay them $10 a month, but as yet there is no mechanism on their site to do this. I don’t mind paying …

Get your free tickets for the next Slugger Sessions – The Review of the Year SO FAR!

Brian O'Neill on January 11, 2017, 3:21 pm | Readers 813

We are less than 2 weeks into the new year and already it seems like we have a whole years worth of news stories behind us. RHI, the collapse of the Assembly, potential elections and much more! Join us next Thursday the 19th of January for a Slugger Session as we explore all these issues with our panel of experts: Allison Morris – Irish News Journalist Dawn Purvis – Former MLA Dr Margaret O’Callaghan – Historian and political analyst at Queens …

Dominoes, pass the parcel and the impeding collapse of the Northern Ireland GP service….

Brian O'Neill on January 6, 2017, 11:23 am | Readers 852

For years GPs have been warming the government that the service is on the verge of collapse. But as usual in Northern Ireland we govern by inertia or doing bugger all as the man in the street might call it. I
But now it begins. We get to witness the collapse of the GP service in real time. The Portadown case gives us the template of how it will happen.

The BBC and Stephen Nolan show again that they are the real opposition…

Brian O'Neill on December 12, 2016, 11:10 am | Readers 6412

The Cash for Ash scandal is the biggest financial blunder in the history of Northern Ireland. It has the potential to take down the first minister Arlene Foster. It is a mess of the highest order. The BBC spotlight team did an excellent job with last week’s programme on the affair. It was a forensic dissection of an easily preventable mess. Stephen Nolan then followed up the pressure by devoting the entirety of his show over the past few days …

Photo: A Seat in the Sun…

Brian O'Neill on November 23, 2016, 1:14 pm | Readers 316

The Lagan Towpath bathed in winter sun. Photo by Davymac. Brian O'NeillI help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism, I am not a member of any political party. Oddly for a member of the Slugger team, I am not that interested in daily politics, preferring to write about big ideas in society. When not stuck …