Declan Kearney

Towards an Agreed and Reconciled Future – Sinn Féin latest policy benchmark on promoting reconciliation and tackling sectarianism

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 24, 2019, 8:01 am

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Sinn Féin’s national chairperson Declan Kearney voiced his support for a policy document on Inclusion and Reconciliation in a New Ireland, that was adopted by delegates at last weekend’s ard fheis in Derry. As with all political party policies, there is much that is old and reinforced, as well as new nuance and specificity that a party’s actions (and those of its elected representatives and members) can be held to in the future.

“The third lesson of this episode stretches far beyond Israel-Palestine…”

Pete Baker on May 5, 2018, 3:02 pm

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The Palestinian leader, President Mahmoud Abbas, has been widely condemned for his anti-Semitic remarks in a televised speech addressing a meeting of the Palestinian National Council on Monday 30th April. Among his critics, as the Belfast Telegraph notes, former US Secretary of State John Kerry Former US Secretary of State John Kerry wrote on Twitter: “These comments are wrong, ugly, and unacceptable – anywhere from anyone – but particularly from anyone who says he wants to be a peacemaker. No …

Kearney “Together the DUP and British government currently represent an anti-equality axis”

David McCann on April 16, 2017, 3:41 pm

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Sinn Fein Chairperson, Declan Kearney made an address today to the Derry and Antrim Easter commemoration in the Loup, County Derry. In his remarks he put the blame for progress in the talks on the DUP and the British government. I have highlighted a key passage. The DUP and British government remain in denial that the political landscape has changed. They both refuse to ‘get it’. “The last two phases of talks show no evidence they are serious about resolving the …

Declan Kearney: “an attempt to destabilise nationalist areas in the North.”

Pete Baker on September 11, 2016, 6:40 pm

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As mentioned by Newton Emerson in Saturday’s Irish News, in an under-reported article in An Phoblacht this week, the Sinn Féin national chairperson, and MLA for South Antrim, Declan Kearney, doubled down on Roy Greenslade’s ‘policy of criminalisation‘ for dissident republicans to explain away the evident discontent the party is experiencing – adding further layers of conspiracy in the process. Yep. It’s the Brits the securocrats the ‘Dark Side’, again! In the article Declan Kearney claims that “republicans hostile to …

Declan Kearney on reconciliation: a longer term project than #AE16

John Ó Néill on May 3, 2016, 5:02 pm

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One of the benefits of an election campaign is that the political parties issue written statements reflecting where their thinking currently sits. What is revealing about the current crop is that there is still such a huge contrast in the language around peace and reconciliation from Sinn Féin and the two main unionist parties. Specifically, it is the absence of any desire for reconciliation in the messages of the DUP and UUP. This chimes with the comments made by President Michael D …

8 pitches for #EUref: 3 academic, 5 political; 2 to leave, 6 to remain #EUDebateNI

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 24, 2016, 10:48 pm

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Eight speakers deliver their pitch for the leaving or remaining in the European Union in QUB Student’s Union – Leslie Budd (OU), Hugo MacNeill (British/Irish Assoc), David Phinnemore (QUB), David McNarry (UKIP), Duncan Morrow (APNI), Declan Kearney (SF), Christopher Stalford (DUP) & Claire Hanna (SDLP)

Is The Local Cynicism of ‘Question Time’ Fair?

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on January 23, 2016, 7:30 pm

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On Thursday night David Dimbleby and the Question Time Carnival rolled into Titanic Belfast… and it seems the natives expected the worst and received it. To begin with, I’m a big fan of Question Time – I think it’s a great format to engage people nationwide in issues that many people are already talking about, and with the political machinery that exists within *most* parties, they give us, the voters, a good indication of party lines without having to go into …

Portugal – Redux: “I’m less heartened by the way in which individuals misinterpret other countries’ politics to prove particular political points.”

Pete Baker on November 2, 2015, 5:41 pm

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Make that individuals and political parties… Like David, Sinn Féin had another go at framing the narrative over recent events in Portugal. Unlike David, they didn’t reverse ferret totally change their perspective after reading a random blog post… The initial charge (24 Oct) from the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, TD, was that “Events in Portugal expose anti-democratic nature of EU” …in Portugal we are witnessing the makings of a genuine coup with the unwillingness of the establishment there to …

A Little Perspective on the Spat at Stormont

Patricia MacBride on September 3, 2015, 10:29 pm

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On a day when the front page of most of the newspapers on these islands carried a heart-wrenching photograph of a little boy drowned on a Turkish beach, we really need to catch ourselves on and make sure our politicians do likewise. Like Jude Collins, I heard PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton on the news setting out that the IRA does not exist as a paramilitary organisation and that its members are pursuing their goals through exclusively peaceful means. You …

Uncomfortable Conversations – the Chief Constable, Sinn Féin Chair and me

Patricia MacBride on August 25, 2015, 9:41 am

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Tomorrow night in Derry, I’ll take part in an “Uncomfortable Conversation” that will include the PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton, Sinn Féin Chair Declan Kearney and Alan McBride, member of the NI Human Rights Commission and victims’ campaigner. The event, part of the Gasyard Féile, is one of a series of conversations around how we both deal with our past and build our future as communities, towns and cities and indeed islands seeking to emerge from conflict. These events and …

“It would be somewhat hypocritical to turn round and support strike action…”

The Firemen on March 13, 2015, 10:14 pm

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listen to ‘Sinn Fein Flip Flop ’ on audioBoom On Talkback today, Will Crawley played this recording of Sinn Fein Education Minister John O’Dowd to remind Declan Kearney of his party’s disapproving stance of the strikes today, just last week: But this [strike] is part of an opposition to the Stormont House Agreement, and I think that’s a mistake. There is a fundamental mistake in the strategy of the unions that are being opposed to the Stormont House Agreement. I …

#sfaf2015 Martin McGuinness, Rev Steve Stockman, Fr Martin Magill, Declan Kearney – Reconciliation, Ubuntu & grace

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 6, 2015, 8:52 pm

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Martin McGuinness took to the stage of Derry Millennium Forum on the opening night of Sinn Fein’s Ard Fheis. listen to ‘#sfaf2015 @m_mcguinness_sf addresses 2015 @sinnfeinireland Ard Fheis’ on audioBoom He said that “for almost two years the political institutions in the north stagnated” triggered in his opinion by Belfast City Council’s flag decision and unionism’s refusal to accept the decision of the Parades Commission in relation to Ardoyne. So-called republicans also remain intent on dragging us back to the …

Sinn Féin: “What happened was done with British cabinet approval…”

Pete Baker on May 13, 2014, 6:22 pm

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A few days ago on Eamonn Maillie’s blog, Brian Rowan gravely informed us that, rather than the wild paranoid ramblings of a party desperate to distract attention from their threat to “review” their support for policing if the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, was charged as a result of the investigation into the abduction, murder and secret burial of Jean McConville in 1972, Sinn Féin’s latest outburst is evidence that “we’re not out of the political woods just yet.” The …

Pitch for a selective ‘use of immunity’ sets Sinn Fein at odds with victims groups

Mick Fealty on March 15, 2014, 4:14 pm

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Declan Kearney’s blog over at the BelTel on the Secretary of State’s 7th March speech is worth highlighting for a number of reasons. One, it comes a full seven days after the Villiers speech. And two the argument begins with an odd reference to ‘narrative’: By setting out the primacy of a single narrative, and rejecting the use of immunity as one instrument to assist in dealing with the past, the British Government has come out against the Haass compromises. …

Declan Kearney on unionism, compromise, and building reconciliation as the next stage in the peace process

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 31, 2013, 12:27 am

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Sinn Féin’s Declan Kearney is back in the February issue of An Phoblacht with a bit of a lecture for unionism as well as an extended call for inclusive talks to advance reconciliation as the next phase of the peace process. It’s an issue that also contains Gerry Adams response to Kilsally’s blog post on Slugger about the border poll, Adams’ concerns that Arlene Foster (along with everyone else on the island) “is not well served by partition”, as well …