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From the BBC: Trump said a united Ireland would happen eventually and that the Taoiseach was “the right man over here to get it moving”. During his meeting with Micheál Martin at Farmleigh House, in Phoenix Park, Trump said a united Ireland would be a “fantastic thing”, but added: “now the UK would have something to say about it obviously but I think it would be a great thing, I mean, how can it be bad?” Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) …

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For those not familiar with the situation, Gaelic games are split into three organisations: The main GAA The Ladies Gaelic Football Association Camogie (the female version of hurling) For years they have been trying to merge the three organisations into the main GAA and they put the formidable ex-president Mary McAleese in charge of the campaign. But after four years she has thrown her hands up and walked out, blaming the GAA’s management for the situation. From the Irish Times: …

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The Great Orange One arrives in Ireland tomorrow, causing a diplomatic headache for the Irish government. DFA are as smooth as the yard of silk but this visit will stretch even their legendary powers of diplomacy. President Catherine Connolly is no fan of Trump so she will be doing her best to bite her tongue and get through the meet and greet without incident. There are reports that the security operation is costing the Irish government 20 million, all just …

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To some of us the choice of Ed Miliband as Foreign Secretary by Andy Burnham was a surprising one.  If you had to pick someone who was likely to get on with President Trump, a green energy, windmill-loving lefty like Ed Miliband seemed like a poor choice.  The switch from climate change and net-zero policies to international relations was stark and unexpected. However, after Tuesday’s speech on foreign policy in the Commons, the wisdom of this move became apparent – …

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By Elizabeth Clarke MBE  is a member of the Ulster Unionist Party, a school governor, charity volunteer and mum of five.  My son is thinking about moving to Australia next year. Part of me wants to tell him to go see the world, have the adventure and take every opportunity that comes his way. But the mum in me has one question. Will he come home? Because with home comes hope. Hope that our young people can go out into …

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I like this: Best comment on the FT I’ve seen for a while. Explains a lot of the last 14 years. I would probably edit to “ if reasonable people don’t address reasonable voters reasonable concerns then unreasonable people will , and unreasonably ” pic.twitter.com/yFJaWO7vEM — Tom Goodwin (@tomfgoodwin) September 8, 2026 You could also quote the Yeats poem, “The Second Coming.”: The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity. The left, simply put, have …

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What you need to know The Assembly returns on Monday after an eventful summer recess that included two emergency committee meetings, one new health minister, and no Executive budget. Andy Burham, already back in the chamber at Westminster, promised to get Stormont functioning again, and talks on a sustainable funding settlement for Northern Ireland will resume again next week. Meanwhile, crunch time for legislation begins as we enter the final term of this Assembly mandate. This includes both ministerial priorities and …

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The SDLP have the wind in their sails heading into their party conference in Belfast this weekend. According to the latest figures from LucidTalk, the party is polling at 13%, their highest support in five years, up from 9% at the last election in 2022. Claire Hanna MP is the most popular party leader in the north, with an approval rating of 50%, rising to 63% among nationalists and 64% among Alliance/Green voters.  These figures reflect the party’s strong performance as the …

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The spectre of Drumcree has loomed over Northern Ireland again this past week. For many, it had faded from view over the last 28 years; for those of us within the Orange Institution, it never truly disappeared. Weekly protests kept the memory alive, while emptier lodge rooms after the 1990s served as a constant reminder of what the crisis did to the Institution. It was never simply a dispute over a road. For the Institution, Drumcree became a wound that …

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The idea for Open Sunday is to let you discuss what you like. Just two rules. Keep it civil and no man/woman playing. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I 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. When not …

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In addition to our normal open Sunday, we have a politics-free post to give you all a break. So discuss what you like here, but no politics. Comments will close at 12 pm on Monday. Brian O'NeillManaging Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I 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 …

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It’s 1987. I’m working in war torn Northern Ireland. Worse, I’m in west Belfast. In a big shopping centre, the first major retail development in that area for decades. The good news is that it’s my week off. I’m listening to Raintown the debut album from Deacon Blue.  The album is mainly about Glasgow. It’s dreary. Glasgow, not the album. Belfast too is dreary, but unlike Glasgow, the tribes here are slaughtering each other. Literally. Only half a mile from …

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Pour aul Robbie Butler. Well respected as one of the nicest men in politics there were concerns that he would be completely out of his depth as Health Minister and so it has come to pass. Less than a month into the job, he has pulled a Father Ted and announced yet another review into health services. You might recall me writing about this when Peter Weir was Education Minister. Baron Weir of Ballyholme decided rather than take any useful …

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Some readers may be old enough to remember both a TV series and movie from the 1980’s called Whoops Apocalypse. These were satirical fictions about global catastrophe caused by human carelessness. The narratives concerned chains of events which lead to the detonation of nuclear weapons. In the real world that has always been a possibility. In 1983 a wise and brave man called Stanislav Petrov averted such an accidental catastrophe during the Soviet nuclear false alarm incident. However there seem to be two more significant, …

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Late August, given heavy rain and sun For a full week, the blackberries would ripen. Seamus Heaney, “Blackberry-Picking” I visited the Seamus Heaney HomePlace this month, and on Bank Holiday Monday found myself out among the hedges picking blackberries, coming home with stained fingers and enough for a pudding. I am eating the last piece as I write this. There’s something genuinely comforting for me in these small, seasonal traditions. I need such mindful distractions, particularly as I watch a …

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I have been quiet lately as I find the current atmosphere even more depressing than usual. Drumcree was a particularly bleak time in our history and I, like most of us, had assumed the issue was put in a concrete box and dropped somewhere in the middle of Lough Neagh. That unionism is keen to bring back this utterly toxic issue is another example of how useless they are at any strategic thinking. As the old saying goes, “Unionism never …

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This year sees a quarter of a century pass since one of the basest, most depraved ‘protests’ in our conflictive history – the Holy Cross ‘protest’ in North Belfast. While there had been a number of shameful protests before Holy Cross, such as the blockading of Ballymena’s Catholic Harryville Church. And after when ‘protestors’ attempted to reignite the sectarian hatred of Holy Cross at the disgraceful Carnmoney Cemetery ‘protests’ a year to the month after Holy Cross had ended. None …

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Earlier this month, the Executive published its long-awaited draft Artificial Intelligence Strategy. While it recognises that AI can support economic growth and the public sector, the strategy also gives consideration to the vast risks the technology generates. As such, the strategy’s eight principles for responsible AI include human oversight; accountability and redress; data governance; technical safety and security; fairness and transparency; sustainability; societal benefit; and training and literacy.   At times, though, there exists a tension between the document’s appropriate caution about AI’s risks and its far greater confidence in AI’s potential.   The “tortoise and hare” metaphor has been regularly referenced to describe a mismatch between the slow-moving pace of legislation and policymaking …

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What you need to know Prime Minister Andy Burnham made his first visit to Northern Ireland this week, as part of his cost-of-living “listening tour”. He sought to take the constitutional question “off the table” and focus on bread-and-butter issues instead. However, with Drumcree back in the headlines and Stormont still without an agreed budget, this will be easier said than done. In this week’s blog, my colleague Dr Karli Gibson writes that the Executive’s draft AI Strategy is “another instance of …

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