Soapbox – Page 23 – Slugger O'Toole

Conn O’Neill Festival – 400th Anniversary, Starts August 29, East Belfast…

Soapbox on August 21, 2019, 3:38 pm

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The second Conn O’Neill Festival will take place over two weekends in August and September 2019. It marks the 400th anniversary of the death of Conn, the last Gaelic Lord of east Belfast. His legacy endures in local place names and lore. The festival, organised by the Turas project in east Belfast, includes talks, tours, exhibitions and a family fun day. The programme is centred at the Skainos building, 239 Newtownards Road and includes: Thursday August 29: Festival Launch. 7pm. …

The Universal Credit two-child limit: all cost, no benefit

Soapbox on August 12, 2019, 9:00 am

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Picture of piggy bank being held by different ages of hands - Photo by rawpixel.com from Pexels

SOAPBOX: a representative from the British Association of Social Workers argues that the UK Government policy to limit Universal Credit to the first two children in a household is unbefitting of a modern, just society and argues that this roll-back of welfare provision is being pursued regardless of the impacts on hard-up families and vulnerable children. The resulting costs of implementing the introduction of the two-child policy mean that it seems to be driven by ideological rather than fiscal responsibility.

This is part of the jigsaw of national change and history we are all currently part of. And one we can directly influence and win.

Soapbox on August 8, 2019, 12:49 pm

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Andree Muprhy is a columnist for the Andersonstown News Irish presidents when I was growing up in 1970s and 80s Dublin were former Fianna Fáilers who had a retirement package in the Aras. I suppose I only remember one – Patrick Hilary who was President from 1976 until 1990. And there was a picture of my grandfather with Eamon De Valera while he had been president. Apart from that photograph the position was utterly irrelevant. Patrick Hillary greeted the Pope …

Identity is more than a passport

Soapbox on July 15, 2019, 9:49 pm

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Chris Eisenstadt is a dual national who has lived in Northern Ireland since he was 11. Recently, with the success of the English cricket team, there has been a “debate” about what it means to be English. The captain of the team, having been born in Ireland, has been praised and criticised for his decision to take to the field (is it a field? My cricket knowledge is rubbish. I’d never pass the Tebbit test) for England. I don’t know, …

SOAPBOX – Tech for Good: walking in the footsteps of medieval monks to harness collective intelligence and technology for social good

Soapbox on July 14, 2019, 5:08 pm

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Máirín Murray, co-founder of Tech for Good Dublin, calls on us to walk in the footsteps of medieval monks to harness our collective intelligence and technology for social good to make tools that serve and empower our communities. To forge new connections. To hammer out practical solutions. To shape technology towards new positive purposes. Together, she argues, we can change our world for the better, and make a positive dent in the universe.

There is a clear ministerial and Parliamentary majority for supporting these changes for Northern Ireland we simply need the opportunity for MPs to act

Soapbox on July 9, 2019, 3:40 pm

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Emma Campbell is Co-Chair of Alliance for Choice As one of the Co-Chairs of Alliance for Choice I am encouraged by the possibility of movement on both abortion rights and equal marriage in Westminster today. Yet another Executive Functions Bill is simply a delaying tactic by the UK Government who don’t want to rock their own Brexit boat and who are completely cowed by the DUP. No devolution, no direct rule, no governance ad nauseum. But that doesn’t mean we …

Abortion is a sensitive and complex issue which is why decisions around it are devolved.

Soapbox on July 9, 2019, 11:49 am

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Carla Lockhart is a Lurgan based DUP MLA for Upper Bann. Here she challenges the attempt by some Westminster MPs to include a number of changes to Northern Irish law within a piece of legislation designed to push back the current deadline. Over the course of the next few days the Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill will be passing through the House of Commons. This Bill is designed to amend the date by which the Secretary of State must call …

We have an Urgent Duty to LGBTQ+ people in this country…

Soapbox on July 5, 2019, 11:07 am

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Today I had two experiences that have deeply disturbed me. The first was to listen to Jim Wells MLA on the BBC Nolan Show and the second to read former MLA Nelson McCausland’s article about a ‘flood of transgenderism’ in the Belfast Telegraph. Both contributions displayed appalling ignorance as to the reality of lives for LGBTQ+ people in this country. I am in my 30’s and came out when I was 17. At that time, there were many more voices …

We don’t know how Brexit is going to affect cross-border provision of health care, but one thing is certain: the current situation leaves plenty of room for improvement…

Soapbox on June 7, 2019, 12:51 pm

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Paul Gosling recently posted about Professor Jim Dornan’s comments about the requirement for integrated provision of health care over the whole of Ireland. This article fills in some additional detail on hospital care, with special reference to the impact the lack of an integrated approach has had on the North West of Ireland. While there are many admirable aspects of specialist health services on both sides of the Irish border, provision of health care in general is suboptimal for people …

Faux outrage at Seamus Mallon exposes key weakness in the Unity movement

Soapbox on May 24, 2019, 8:10 pm

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The furore in response to Seamus Mallon’s comments amongst those claiming to lead the conversation within “civic nationalism” (I’m still unsure of what that actually means) already exposes significant fault lines in the case for unity. Despite all our rhetoric about having conversations and preparing our case, we’ve somehow managed to fall at the first hurdle. This hurdle has a number of components, but the primary problem (a common one in politics) is that we talk a good game about …

It is wrong to suggest that being nationalist or unionist makes you sectarian…

Soapbox on May 19, 2019, 2:17 pm

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Nichola Mallon is the Deputy Leader of the SDLP. Please note, we are open to taking contributions from all parties, and none! Isolated things can be said in the heat of an election when emotions are high. That is one thing and in many ways part and parcel of electoral politics. But there is a narrative being pushed, particularly at election times and usually by Alliance sources, that to be a Unionist or a Nationalist is to automatically be ‘sectarian’. …

The Centre is Broad, Not Narrow

Soapbox on May 18, 2019, 10:08 am

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Stephen Donnan Dalzell is an LGBT activist and writer The local elections in Northern Ireland just a few weeks ago were not like those previously. If you have been following the results and are familiar with how elections in Northern Ireland usually pan out then you may have noticed something different. In a part of the United Kingdom that has been a sticking point during the Brexit negotiations and who’s border with the Republic of Ireland has been a stumbling …

Brexit Woes and a Broken Parliament: The Perilous Path Ahead for British Democracy

Soapbox on April 27, 2019, 9:08 am

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Theresa May’s withdrawal agreement has been rejected multiple times in Parliament. The EU says it can’t be re-negotiated, but that’s beside the point. Despite two series of indicative votes, MPs refused to back any alternative version of Brexit. There also wasn’t enough support for a no-deal Brexit, nor for revoking Article 50 to cancel Brexit altogether. In other words, Parliament rejected all the options available. There were none left. Even those who oppose the withdrawal agreement cannot fairly blame it …

Children of the Ceasefire: Reflections on the Border I

Soapbox on April 17, 2019, 11:57 am

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As we head into the home stretch of Brexit, the issue of a hard border in Ireland seems to be the main issue. The question of how to regulate the flow of goods and trade has no clear answer. Much has been made by the DUP of there being no need for a border, as trade has always been free-flowing. If that where the case one wonders why the military felt it necessary to ever establish check-points, outposts and look-out …

Children of the Ceasefire: Reflections on the Border II

Soapbox on April 17, 2019, 11:56 am

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Irish. Northern Irish. A global citizen. Three ways in which I described myself in my previous blog post. In describing this, I highlighted my concerns to being constrained to one certain identity. However, as discussions on Brexit intensify, so does the issue of the border and these constraints of identity. I am a holder of an Irish passport. I play and follow Irish sports. I have studied at an Irish university. I have been christened with an Irish name. I …

Children of the Ceasefire: Reflections on the Border III

Soapbox on April 17, 2019, 11:55 am

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The Issue of the Border in Ireland is a debate caught between two fronts. The border, as it exists currently, is representative of a physical and symbolic/metaphysical indicator of relative peace and stability in Ireland. The openness of the physical border has consequentially allowed for civil debate and meaningful reconciliation between Northern and Southern communities to flourish. The absence of a physical manifestation of the border solidified by investment through the PEACE I-IV, and EDF schemes in Northern Ireland and …

The Unity Genie is Out of the Bottle: What do Unionism and Southern Parties do Next?

Soapbox on April 16, 2019, 1:49 pm

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As we fast approach the local council elections, it’s important to assess what the results might tell us about the future of Stormont and power-sharing as a whole. Will the council elections show a growth in the Nationalist vote? And/or will we finally see a breakthrough in middle ground voters, against the vacuum and groundhog day of our local politics? I do not need to inform all where we’re at and why. We all have slightly different takes on this, …

Bringing the SDLP and Fianna Fáil together is like adding 1 + 1 and getting 5.

Soapbox on February 8, 2019, 10:12 am

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Gareth Brown is a third generation SDLP member, former staffer, and a political consultant/commentator based in Edinburgh. SDLP members will vote on a proposed new partnership with Fianna Fáil at a Special Conference this weekend in Newry. The fundamental questions though are whether it’s good for Irish politics, North and South, and whether it will actually work electorally. For the SDLP, the rationale for the proposal comprises two categories of thought: firstly, that the party’s nationalist credentials are weakened by …

Is the Fianna Fáil partnership the SDLP’s Brexit moment?

Soapbox on February 4, 2019, 3:02 pm

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Naomh Gallagher is an epidemiologist by day, currently working in research and development in the health sector. In her own time she enjoys political chats with anyone who is willing to partake, and she is a member and former International Secretary of the SDLP (but all views are her own). Can be found on Twitter @naomhgallagher Since the Leave vote in 2016, countless column inches have been devoted to analysing the reasons behind that result. This weekend it could be argued …

SDLP and Fianna Fáil can deliver our long awaited peace dividend

Soapbox on January 31, 2019, 3:37 pm

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On Saturday I attended the ‘Beyond Brexit: Ireland’s Future’ conference in Belfast. My immediate observations were firstly the sheer number of people that were in one room; a rarity for a political event in Northern Ireland. The broad representation of speakers undermined the myth that Irish Nationalists are a homogenous group. Despite the conglomeration of those present – they were all unified under the one realisation- that Brexit has shifted politics indefinitely. And that that shift has unearthed centuries old …