Brexit – Page 25 – Slugger O'Toole

Border issues are difficult enough without manufacturing a phoney one

Brian Walker on August 30, 2018, 8:52 am

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In response to Fionnbhar’s post, Newton has said most of what needs to be said. Debate over tariffs and regulations has been conflated with security to a ludicrous, irresponsible degree. Whatever shape Brexit takes, it can be made clear now that terrorist threats will be dealt with as they are dealt with already – by intelligence-led policing across Ireland. The latest kerfuffle over a open or a hard border is just one example of a prevailing paradox. That in a …

Rees-Mogg brazen in his ignorance of Ireland

Fionnbharr Rodgers on August 28, 2018, 4:08 pm

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“I don’t think my visiting the Border is really going to give me a fundamental insight into the Border beyond what one can get by studying it,” said Jacob Rees-Mogg, MP for North-East Somerset. This comes from footage of a public meeting where Rees-Mogg euphemistically stated that the British government could “keep an eye on” the border, and suggested that there should be a return to the sort of inspections at border-crossings that existed during the Troubles. Historians may, by …

Sustaining hope for peace: Global Conflict 2018 #GFA20

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on August 25, 2018, 2:25 pm

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Sustaining hope for peace: Global Conflict 2018 #GFA20 by Allan LEONARD 23 August 2018 In partnership with the University of Chicago and its Pearson Institute, Queen’s University Belfast hosted a two-day conference, “Global Conflict: The Human Impact”. This report recounts the first day’s events, which focussed on sharing learning from the peace processes in Northern Ireland and Colombia. Professor Ian Greer, recently installed Vice-Chancellor at Queen’s, welcomed delegates with some explanatory remarks about the partnership between the two universities. This …

Brexit Secretary tells NI businesses to ‘speak to Dublin’ if no deal…

Brian O'Neill on August 24, 2018, 9:59 am

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The Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab said Northern Ireland businesses trading across the Irish border should contact the Irish government for advice in the event of a ‘no-deal‘. My translation – ‘We have enough problems of our own, you Paddies sort yourselves out.’ Is it reading too much into it that the Government would happily throw NI under the bus if needed? So much for the DUP/Conservative bromance. That’s in the context of the Ashcroft Poll from June which revealed that ‘Six out …

Could the lights go out next March?

Brian Walker on August 22, 2018, 8:46 am

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The inanities of managing Brexit reach new depths. Times exclusive Emergency Brexit energy talks as ministers hide no deal plans Greg Clark, the business secretary, has held urgent talks with officials in Dublin on an emergency agreement to keep the lights on in Northern Ireland after a “no-deal” Brexit. Downing Street wants to avoid publishing its plans for a worst-case scenario that include importing thousands of generators north of the border. The electricity industry has operated a single wholesale market …

Half of NI firms postponed or cancelled investment plans due to Brexit…

Brian O'Neill on August 20, 2018, 11:27 am

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A survey by AIB bank shows that half of NI firms postponed or cancelled investment plans due to Brexit. As a business person myself I know in uncertain times you keep your money in your pocket to see how the future will pan out. You put off taking on new staff, you hold off on opening new premises, you don’t buy new equipment etc. But really caution does not just apply to business people but to any sensible consumer which is why we …

I believe so strongly that we have a massive case to be heard. This is about a way of life. We cannot go back to any form of hard border.

Soapbox on August 17, 2018, 10:27 am

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I’m a 50 year old Derry Girl, teacher of Drama and English in a local all girls’ grammar school and mother of two teenage daughters. I’ve lived in Derry all my life. My parents instilled in us a deep love of Donegal, its wild and often soft scenery, its simplicity and the gentle, unassuming people. Every Sunday we made the pilgrimage to Bridgend and then on to Rathmullan for the Football Special; Ballyliffin for the 70s delight of Chicken Maryland …

Less talking over the heads of Unionism, more recognising the political game has changed in Northern Ireland

David McCann on August 14, 2018, 9:41 pm

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I read with interest Micks piece earlier today on Unionist experiences and perspectives in the recent border poll debate and felt the need to offer a different view. When one of my political heroes, then Taoiseach Sean Lemass addressed the Oxford Union in late 1959 on the topic of Irish Unity he said his concern wasn’t about dwelling on the past, but rather it was about looking to the future. That is something that has always motivated me in this …

External Association and the Brexit Dilemma

Soapbox on August 13, 2018, 4:23 pm

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The Brexit negotiations have been plagued with political point scoring and little ‘real’ progress since the onset. There is a whirlwind of media noise surrounding any development when in reality the only concrete thing to emerge recently is the Chequers deal. This serves to embed the perception that Brexit is an intractable enigma, a foreign and absurd entity the likes of which we have not seen before. In reality, this kind of complex negotiation that fundamentally seeks to secure bi-lateral …

Is a second referendum feasible? A dispassionate view from academics

Brian Walker on August 9, 2018, 3:59 pm

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The Constitution Unit of University College London headed up by Meg Russell has posed seven questions about a possible second referendum on Brexit in a blog post. Last month the Unit published the report of the Independent Commission on Referendums which can be read here. The summary… Would it be possible to hold a referendum in the time available? Isextending Article 50 feasible? How could a referendum be triggered? What might the options be? What form should the question …

Why do the DUP persist in ignoring the interests of their own supporters?

Brian Walker on August 9, 2018, 12:06 pm

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For decades, Barry White was a great part of the voice of the Belfast Telegraph, sometimes in his own name, as often in anonymous editorials. He was one of a trio ofsenior journalists, Roy Lilley, Ed Curran and himself who steered a difficult editorial path for the paper from 1970 arguing for the centre ground mainly from the standpoint of liberal unionism. The voice was that of reasonableness, by definition so often ahead of the real thing, although Barry wrote …

Did Peter Robinson blunder into the border poll debate too early?

Brian Walker on August 6, 2018, 10:14 am

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Coming late to the Peter Robinson speech at Glenties and its aftermath, I’m struck by two elements of it, one of which has been hardly picked up. In the text I was offered, the discussion of a border poll which overshadowed the rest of it didn’t appear at all. Tommie Gorman of RTE has explained. I chaired the Friday evening session (27 July) in the Glenties Highlands Hotel where Peter Robinson was the guest speaker. The references to a united Ireland …

Happy Days Festival does Beckett and Brexit (1-6 August)

Soapbox on July 30, 2018, 1:58 pm

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Waiting for Godot on the border, billboards and cross-border chess: the 6th Happy Days International Beckett Festival takes stock ahead of Brexit. The first line of Samuel Beckett’s famous play reads: ”Nothing to be done“. The characters go round in circles, both verbally and physically, are disorientated, are forever waiting for something to happen but it never does. They want to move forward but instead remain fixed in the same spot. Sound familiar?

Even if they don’t quite love us (and who can blame them?), British and Irish leaders want to show they care

Brian Walker on July 28, 2018, 1:57 pm

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At a time when all parties in Northern Ireland are feeling isolated and sorry for themselves for some reasons beyond their control and others self inflicted, it’s worth noting the two recent visits to Derry by senior ministers of both states. While these differed in style, purpose and content, both emphasise the basic British and Irish engagement that continues despite present tensions and breakdown. Earlier this month the Tánaiste Simon Conveney visited the unionist Fountain estate as well as the …

Focusing on the bigger picture is how to prevent a Brexit disaster

Brian Walker on July 27, 2018, 11:03 am

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The Sun and the Guardian, raucous tabloid and campaigning broadsheet on either side of the Brexit trauma are united: Barnier has killed off the Chequers plan. The FT however is more circumspect. We have doubts it can be done without putting at risk the integrity of the customs union, our common commercial policy, regulatory policy and fiscal revenue,” said Mr Barnier. Mr Barnier and Mr Raab also said they had agreed to work on a model for financial services co-operation …

Trusting Westminster to deliver on the border is a pipe dream, but who else is there?

Soapbox on July 25, 2018, 1:05 pm

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Patch Thompson is a postgraduate student at Queen’s University, specialising in Northern Irish and Labour politics and Anglo-Irish Relations. Last week, during his first political appearance since resigning as Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson told the House of Commons that, to his surprise, the question of the border in Ireland, which had previously been ‘assumed on all sides to be readily soluble’ was now ‘so politically charged as to dominate the debate’. Johnson’s shock at what anyone with basic comprehension skills …

The nightmare scenario

Andrew Gallagher on July 20, 2018, 6:07 pm

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Both the British and Irish Governments have this week warned their people of the dangers (however seemingly remote) of a no-deal Brexit. No doubt there have been junior staff on both sides beavering away in basements to plan for the possibility, whether or not their superiors took them seriously. And the probability of those contingency plans being dusted off has surely increased in the last few days. But we must also entertain the even smaller chance of a perfect storm, …

On the backstop, Theresa May’s “passion” for solutions and a bit more clarity seems to be paying off

Brian Walker on July 20, 2018, 3:02 pm

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Theresa May and Michel Barnier have spoken. Barnier has picked his way critically through the UK White Paper with its “facilitated customs arrangement” and common rule book, asking all the pertinent questions but turning nothing down. 80% of the UK’s withdrawal from the EU is now agreed, but the EU’s version of the backstop remains the bugbear. The black scenario is: no agreement on the border, no withdrawal agreement, therefore no transition and no deal. To be honest, nobody except …

Joint statement by party leaders on rights after Brexit

David McCann on July 19, 2018, 7:39 am

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The following is a joint statement from the leaders of Sinn Fein, SDLP, Alliance and Green parties. We are at a crucial point in the Brexit negotiations. Guarantees were given in the Joint Report between the British government and the EU in December that there would be no diminution of rights as a result of Brexit, on the rights of people resident here and that the Good Friday Agreement would be protected. “These guarantees have yet to be fully translated …

Theresa May is playing well off a weak hand

Brian Walker on July 18, 2018, 3:04 pm

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Five Labour votes on Tuesday, plus really poor whipping on Monday night that allowed the Lib Dem leader and his predecessor to miss the vote are two crucial factors that helped save Theresa May’s bacon this week. The Commons will stagger on until Tuesday after all, as the government didn’t dare press for an early recess today after their hair’s breadth wins earlier this week. Internal opposition to May has come from both sides, first from Brexiteers opposing the Chequers …