Soapbox – Page 17 – Slugger O'Toole

Next 100 years: Ethical foundations are a prerequisite not an afterthought for a better future…

Soapbox on January 13, 2022, 3:44 pm

| Readers 2840

resilience, victory, force

Hugo MacNeill, at an Irish Association meeting in December, answered a question put to him by old teammate Trevor Ringland: how do we get relationships on the island right over the next 100 years that we got so wrong over the last 100? There has been much talk recently about the topic of a Border Poll on Irish unity. Reference is always made to the Good Friday Agreement and the specific point (on page 4) relating to the ability of the …

Defensive response to Hoey reveals unwelcome truths about Northern Ireland’s new establishment

Soapbox on January 11, 2022, 1:56 pm

| Readers 5316

opposites, thumb, positive

Jaime Hyland is critically supportive of Irish unity from his adopted home in Berlin. But he wonders whether the reaction to Kate Hoey’s remarks show an odd confidence deficit in spite of the many successes of a new generation of nationalists. The hostile nationalist response to Baroness Hoey’s recent remarks on disparities in Northern Irish professions is not surprising. Hoey’s high profile in pro-Brexit and anti-protocol circles won’t have helped, especially combined with the fact that she made her point in the …

Reflections: “Casual comedy was part of this time’s fabric, as was terror…”

Soapbox on December 29, 2021, 8:57 am

| Readers 3259

titanic, belfast, texture

Nicholas Allen is Chaired Professor in Humanities and Director of Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at the University of Georgia. He recalls a “thinning artery” of peace in the geography of Belfast’s late Troubles in the early 90s. In the early nineties I lived in the upstairs half of a corner house on Dudley Street, a side street on the edge of the Holylands, that Belfast quarter sectioned by the Ormeau Road, the river Lagan, the Botanic Gardens, and Queen’s university. The Holylands were anything …

“We must acknowledge that every life taken, no matter who took it and why, was wrong…”

Soapbox on December 23, 2021, 10:41 am

| Readers 4944

eye, creative, galaxy

Dean Bonner is Law graduate and current Public Policy Masters student. Here he argues that it is not enough to hide behind platitudes about there being no hierarchies of victims, there must also be no hierarchies for murderers either. A certain statement has been uttered so many times by our elected representatives that it’s almost become a cliché: that there can be no hierarchy of victims. It has regularly emitted from the ranks of Sinn Féin. Mary-Lou McDonald said it during a speech …

United by Intransigence: The bond between the DUP and Sinn Féin…

Soapbox on December 10, 2021, 2:38 pm

| Readers 5061

confused, muddled, illogical

Dean Bonner is Law graduate and current Public Policy Masters student. He writes here about how a common culture of political intransigence binds the two dominant of the Executive Office. The political theatre of Northern Ireland is dominated by the tug-of-war between the DUP and Sinn Féin for dominance and cultural supremacy. Both of them promulgate their respective ideologies as if they reflect majority will and as if they are received wisdom. But that simply isn’t true of either ideology. Furthermore, the behaviour …

What use are Covid protection policies that are not enforced?

Soapbox on December 4, 2021, 10:03 am

| Readers 2104

face mask, virus, coronavirus

Philip O’Neill is a Slugger reader from Belfast I have just spent 40 mins on a bus journey into Belfast. Since the start of the pandemic, I have not used public transport as I had concerns as to so many people from different ‘bubbles’ being so close together in a very confined space. I soon recognized the bus journey was a small but representative microcosm of our society. Fewer than half the people on the bus were wearing masks, some …

Time for action on rights for Irish speakers is now

Soapbox on November 5, 2021, 3:20 pm

| Readers 3555

By Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin History teaches us many things, or so we are told. One of the most important lessons that we all have long experience of in Ireland and that the whole of Europe is now painfully discovering is that the British Government can never be trusted to implement international agreements, even the ones they helped negotiate. The latest developments concerning the Irish Language Act serve as a timely reminder of this fact; the British Government committed to …

Northern Ireland must not be left behind – Why I’m supporting a Wellbeing of Future Generations Bill

Soapbox on November 3, 2021, 1:08 pm

| Readers 2057

Claire Hanna is the MP for South Belfast We are currently living through a series of emergencies; from the destruction of natural habitats and the tragic emergence of displaced peoples and refugees to most recently, the spread of the COVID19 pandemic. It should go without saying that we will do everything in our power to address and eradicate these immediate crises and to ensure that future generations are not forced to act in perpetual calamity. It is for that reason, …

Biggest threat no longer climate denial, but delay.

Soapbox on November 2, 2021, 5:58 pm

| Readers 1670

Eoin Tennyson is an Alliance Party Councillor for Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council In Glasgow this week, COP26 delegates will pore over past climate pledges and calculate how they will impact global warming. The answer will be clear: the promises made to date and efforts to meet them have been woefully inadequate. 2015’s Paris climate agreement committed nations to holding global temperature rises well below 2C from pre-industrial levels, while endeavouring to keep that increase nearer to 1.5C. …

There really is nothing to fear in an Irish language act…

Soapbox on November 2, 2021, 10:39 am

| Readers 4526

drop, splash, impact

Réamonn Ó Ciaráin is Director of Education with Gael Linn. Nobody will be disadvantaged for not being able to speak Irish. No school children will be forced to learn Irish against their will and no street name signs will be erected in Irish where they are not wanted. It will not cost too much; somewhere in the region of £4m per annum initially, it is estimated. Neither will there be employment quotas on language grounds. The proposed legislation will however, …

The geothermal energy potential of Northern Ireland…

Soapbox on October 29, 2021, 8:26 am

| Readers 2824

power plant, geothermal, geothermal energy

On the 3rd February 2020, the Northern Ireland Assembly declared a climate emergency and called for immediate measures to tackle it. One such measure outlined in the New Decade New Approach agreement is the new Energy Strategy for Northern Ireland. This strategy is being led by the Department for the Economy (DfE), with the purpose of achieving net zero carbon and affordable energy for all. This new Energy Strategy signals the beginning of our energy transition, during which we will …

You can’t have one without the other – the importance of environmental and social wellbeing in Northern Ireland

Soapbox on October 28, 2021, 1:40 pm

| Readers 794

Jennifer Wallace (Director, Carnegie UK) and Hannah Ormston (Policy and Development Officer, Carnegie UK). With COP26 kicking into full swing in Glasgow next week, accelerating action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change will almost certainly require leaders and policy makers to commit to both immediate and longer-term interventions. While it remains to be seen what progress will be made at this conference, any journey to towards net zero carbon emissions must …

The Good Friday Agreement is no longer fit for purpose: can it be reformed?

Soapbox on October 28, 2021, 11:49 am

| Readers 5015

The moderators on this site have, for a while, been expressing opinions about a lack of unionist voices in the blogs, so I thought to chip in and contribute my own proverbial two cents from a moderate but conservative-minded Ulster Unionist perspective. This is my first time so forgive me if it’s rough around the edges… Firstly, a bit about me; I am a social and economic conservative and long-time UUP supporter in the vein of O’Neill and Faulkner, in …

The Siege of Queen’s University, October 1971

Soapbox on October 15, 2021, 12:30 pm

| Readers 2304

Adam McGibbon is a writer, campaigner, and a former vice president for welfare at QUB Students Union. Last year, the old Queen’s University Students’ Union building – with its decades of history – was pulled down. Few know that in 1971, 50 years ago this week, it was the site of a police and army siege, an incident which made headlines across the UK and Ireland – and involved a future British Prime Minister. BBC Rewind (login required) has preserved …

Make Irish teaching almost impossible and then claim there’s no demand!

Soapbox on October 7, 2021, 10:30 am

| Readers 5597

mind, railway, platform

Réamonn Ó Ciaráin is Director of Education with Gael Linn. Here he argues that recent downgrading of language teaching in educational priorities is having a dilatory effect on the numbers learning Irish in Northern Irish schools. There is without doubt a crisis in languages in post-primary schools in Northern Ireland. It is affecting some languages worse than others. The Irish language is traditionally only offered in half the English medium post-primary schools in this jurisdiction. This because of historical and socio-political …

Seminar tomorrow featuring voices from NI, Libya and Somalia will honour Pat Hume’s legacy…

Soapbox on September 30, 2021, 10:59 am

| Readers 350

Pat Hume who was recently described by Monica Mc Williams ‘as the woman who never gave up’ is the inspiration behind Fire in the Belly: Lessons from young women peacebuilders from Somalia, Libya and Northern Ireland on inspiring leaders for peaceful change’ the third event planned in the Youth, Peace and Security Leadership Seminar Series. On Friday 1 October 2021, Monica Mc Williams who is Emeritus Professor at Ulster University, Board member of the John and Pat Hume Foundation and former Chairperson of Interpeace, will chair Fire in …

The crucial work general practice has been doing throughout the global pandemic…

Soapbox on September 13, 2021, 10:07 am

| Readers 2103

stethoscope, hospital, doctor

Dr Laurence Dorman is Chair of RCGP Northern Ireland… As Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners in Northern Ireland, I wish to refute some of the comments made by Mr Terry Maguire on your website last week and to highlight the crucial work general practice has been doing throughout the global pandemic. Like Mr Maguire, all GPs want to provide the highest standard of patient care including access and timely repeat prescribing. His comments are in significant contrast …

Masked, jabbed and LIVE! The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival is back…

Soapbox on September 1, 2021, 11:45 am

| Readers 746

It’s been a while, but Belfast’s most diverse arts festival is back! Fully masked and double jabbed, Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival tentatively returns from 2-12 September, with an incredible programme of live music, comedy, literature, theatre and more. Heralding a more hopeful future for the normalistion live events, organisers say the 21st Festival will be safe, secure and above all celebratory. Full health and safety precautions will also be observed at all events, including the wearing of masks to and …

A cycle tour of the NI Border/North-South Frontier/Squiggly line…

Soapbox on August 29, 2021, 8:43 am

| Readers 1916

Andy McMurray is an Alliance Councillor in Newry, Mourne and Down Council. I like cycling. I like spending nights under canvas. I am 12th generation Planter. I like to get between a Point A and a Point B without really knowing what lies in between. The squiggly line which runs across Ulster turned 100 this year. Since its inception it has managed to predominate the political discussion here. However, it is not the year’s only salient milestone. This year I …