Arkiv. Northern Ireland Assembly

Signs of real politics emerging from Stormont House Agreement

Brian Walker on February 11, 2015, 12:13 pm | Readers 1513

Be grateful for small mercies. With less than a hundred days to go before the election, implementing the Stormont Hose Agreement has had the effect of postponing the worst kind of dog-eat -dog sectarian campaigning – so far. Sinn Fein like the rest of them have had to swallow the basics of the Welfare Bill in the interests of political reality. Syriza type resistance has collapsed. To ask a different question: are there any signs at all of left-right politics …

The star of wonder shines through the Christmas Agreement

Brian Walker on December 23, 2014, 6:46 pm | Readers 2541

In Northern Ireland God seems to work in mysterious ways his wonders to perform at peak moments in the Christian calendar. Sixteen years after the Good Friday ( or Belfast ) Agreement, we have the Christmas ( or Stormont House) Agreement. Behind the details the main features are: Apparently genuine efforts by the parties to end deadlock by tackling it through a highly ambitious, comprehensive agenda . Against expectations, the dam seems to have broken. Regular monitoring of the conduct of the …

Lamentation over the Boston tapes does not prevent us dealing with the past

Brian Walker on March 30, 2014, 2:19 pm | Readers 49

Newton Emerson ‘s bleak assessment of how to deal with the past deserves serious attention (£). The Boston College tapes make a mockery of all high-blown talk about “dealing with the past”. The idea that a formal process of investigation, truth recovery and historical assessment into 3,700 Troubles deaths could work at all, let alone satisfy all sides, looks absurd given the saga over one 42-year-old case. As far as personal testimony is concerned the chilling effect of the use …