DUP – Page 26 – Slugger O'Toole

“Anyone for more opium?”

Pete Baker on June 18, 2017, 4:31 pm

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The empty rhetoric of the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, in Downing Street last week… Speaking at Downing Street, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said that the party told Mrs May “very directly that she was in breach of the Good Friday Agreement” over the Conservative negotiations with the DUP. …is neatly summed up in Ed Moloney’s blog post title, “Sinn Fein Meet May, Complain And Then Go Away……Move On, No Story Here“. The party’s impotence, in relation to any arrangement …

“The DUP deal is in danger”

Brian Walker on June 15, 2017, 9:39 am

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As many suspected… Sam McBride in the Newsletter reflects unease at the delay as well as DUP surface optimism that a deal is still on course. Ken Reid of UTV tweets that a deal this week is unlikely. The delay can hardly be only out of respect for the still unknown number of victims of the Grenfell tower fire, certainly as far as the government is concerned . Mrs May is visiting the tower today as well as meeting five …

New Sinn Féin MLA Director of Group that Discriminated against Job Applicant because of his Political Opinion

Pete Baker on June 14, 2017, 5:01 pm

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The Irish News today highlights details of the newly-appointed Sinn Féin MLA for Foyle Karen Mullan’s relevant experience for the job, mentioned in Eamonn McCann’s excellent post on the case, that illuminates David’s, somewhat limited, subsequent description of her as a “community worker in the city of Derry”. Karen Mullan is a director of Waterside Neighbourhood Partnership (WNP) Ltd., Sinn Féin and the DUP’s preferred delivery mechanism for community services and funding in the area, who, earlier this year, were ordered to …

Fears of a side deal with the DUP on the peace agenda are exaggerated. It requires cross community consent

Brian Walker on June 14, 2017, 12:59 pm

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So the DUP confidence and supply deal with the minority government will be delayed out of respect for the victims of the horrific North Kensington fire. Mark Devenport has a credible analysis of the state of play. This leaves out saying anything definite about legacy matters that so spooked the political class over here when someone showed them the DUP’s 2015 manifesto. The Guardian’s Home editor Alan Travis first raised the hare. The 12-page route map sets out a list …

“We don’t believe that any deal between the DUP here and the English Tories will be good for the people here.”

Pete Baker on June 13, 2017, 2:25 pm

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So stated the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, as he paraded his “Magnificent Seven” MPs [and Carál Ní Chuilín – Ed] in front of the media at a press conference at Stormont yesterday. But whilst most reports focused on that line, or a variation on it, only the Irish Times’ Gerry Moriarty appears to have still been listening when he went on to say… [Gerry Adams] said Sinn Féin would not reject any positive deal that might emerge from these …

‘DUP Facts’: An opportunity for education

Soapbox on June 13, 2017, 12:08 pm

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Meghan Rice holds an MA in Early Modern History with a specialism in Irish and British History from King’s College London. She is passionate about both Gaelige and Ulster Scots and has worked with various groups and individuals from both communities in Northern Ireland to help foster a better understanding of the peace process among the diaspora. Tweets at @MeghanJRice With the understandable furore surrounding a potential DUP- Tory coalition, now being dubbed a ‘confidence and supply agreement’, many people …

Round-the-clock DUP-bashing is not going to make them go away…

Consigliere on June 13, 2017, 10:25 am

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Okay. My many devoted readers will be delighted to learn I’m nearly done here. I know a lost cause when I see it. Liberal opinion will cheer on the anti-DUP lynch mob all the way. Facts won’t come into it. Every bit of fake news will get retweeted and applauded. Myths become truth. Even Channel 4’s elder statesman Jon Snow has joined in, stating on Twitter as fact that the DUP is demanding “the unbanning of sectarian marches as part …

A Con-DUP deal doesn’t have to scupper the Executive talks

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on June 12, 2017, 9:43 am

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We should watch out for an intelligent approach in the DUP’s cunning game of political poker. There’s no reason their wish list can’t include some items that would be celebrated by Sinn Féin and help keep the Stormont political talks alive.

Six reasons why the DUP must be considered on its merits rather than its faults…

Mick Fealty on June 12, 2017, 6:04 am

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One, Labour should approach any NI issue with some considerable caution and given the party leader’s record some humility too. It is not viable to defend John McDonnell’s kneecapping remarks one minute and then suggest the DUP is beyond the political Pale. Particularly if you have a credible ambition to run the UK. If, not then you can say what you bloody well like and ignore the following advice. Two, you have to ask yourself what forces have driven so …

DUP: You’re Playing Senior Hurling Now Lads

David McCann on June 11, 2017, 2:49 pm

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You’re playing senior hurling now lads Those were the words uttered by Fianna Fail Minister, Seamus Brennan to the Green Party in 2007 as they formed a coalition with Fianna Fail. The DUP are currently in talks with the Conservative Party about forming a minority government. So far, things have gone well for the party with the confusion from Number 10 about whether a deal had been reached and then the DUP’s statement that talks were ongoing but that no …

The End of (Westminster) Nationalism

Daithi McKay on June 11, 2017, 11:34 am

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The Tory Chief Whip was in Belfast this weekend to meet the DUP leadership. It is believed that they were discussing all options for co-operation at Westminster, from coalition to confidence and supply . The outcome is the outline of a Confidence and Supply arrangement. “Who are the DUP?” is being googled on laptops across Britain. The former Chancellor George Osbourne’s Evening Standard newspaper published a cartoon of a large dour Orangeman with Theresa May tucked into his breast pocket.If …

Our Friends in the North? The DUP and the Tories aren’t ideologically close

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on June 10, 2017, 9:17 pm

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Following the shock result of Thursday’s General Election, the Prime Minister has announced her intention to form a government with the help with her “friends and allies in the DUP”. The DUP and the Conservatives are aligned in their commitment to Brexit and Northern Ireland’s place in the union, but they are far from ideological twins with regards to other issues. Much has been made of the incompatibilities between the DUP’s hard-line stance on same sex marriage and the Conservatives, …

Can you all just calm yourselves down a bit about the DUP?

Consigliere on June 10, 2017, 9:08 am

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Dear Virtue Signallers and assembled worthies from the Liberal Metropolitan Elite. Can you just calm yourselves down a bit about the DUP? I get you don’t like them, and God knows some of them can be hard to like. But Arlene and co having some leverage on Theresa May is not THE WORST THING EVER. It may even land us some much-needed infrastructure investment. But perhaps shiny new hospitals, roads and schools aren’t your thing. Maybe you’d rather do without the money? Maybe you’d …

“Politics in NI is dead, has descended into sectarian mud-wrestling” – Alban Maginness

Brian O'Neill on June 9, 2017, 3:56 pm

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Speaking on today’s BBC TalkBack show former SDLP MLA Alban Maginness declared that “Politics in NI is dead, has descended into sectarian mud-wrestling”. Is he right? As the voters abandon the middle ground is our political system now just a straight sectarian headcount? People were quick to accuse the SDLP of sour grapes: It's the egotism behind that comment that reveals the flaw in the SDLP psyche – their divine right to lead the nationalist people. — Danny Morrison (@molloy1916) June …

Will DUP demands be small and parochial or will they look to shape wider government policy?

Finn Purdy on June 9, 2017, 3:31 pm

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Theresa May has now stated that she will look to work closely with her “friends and allies” in the DUP, but the terms of this deal are yet to be set out. Many of the smaller parties early on in the campaign were keen to rule out any kind of coalition or deal with either Labour or the Conservatives, having seen the electoral impact on the Liberal Democrats for having made such a bargain in 2010. The DUP however arguably …

The DUP are in pole position to remove the threats both of a hard border and a border poll

Brian Walker on June 9, 2017, 10:18 am

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Brexit ‘s revival of the spectre of a hard border and the support of Ireland’s partners for a united Ireland with consent within the EU was the perfect formula for the complete polarisation that has duly happened at Westminster level. Nationalism is now without representation at Westminster for the first time since 1966. The SDLP’s special pleading for an anti-Brexit pact failed and their attack on Sinn Fein for abstaining from Westminster as if it was a new idea left …

SDLP and UUP wiped out as Sinn Fein and DUP take 17 seats…

Brian O'Neill on June 9, 2017, 7:53 am

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It was a bad night for the moderate parties as the SDLP have lost all three of its Westminster seats and the UUP lost all two of theirs. The DUP and Sinn Fein grabbed 17 out of 18 seats with Independent Lady Sylvia Hermon being re-elected in North Down. This will be a major blow for the new UUP leader Robin Swann as for the first time they lose all representation at Westminster. The SDLP will feel particularly aggrieved losing …

What to look out for tonight

David McCann on June 8, 2017, 7:38 pm

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It’s nearly all over as one of the quietest campaigns comes to an end but turnout is reported to be doing well in many places across Northern Ireland at 5pm. What should you look out for; For the UK wide picture as soon as it hits 10pm the main networks BBC, ITV and SKY News will publish the results of their exit poll, be cautious about other polls out there! Some folks got other polls mixed up in 2015 and …

Slugger TV debuts on NVTV looking at key constituencies of #GE2017

David McCann on May 31, 2017, 6:28 pm

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Slugger O’Toole: Episode 1 from Northern Visions NvTv on Vimeo. Slugger TV debuted on NVTV last night with a panel of the Irish News Security Correspondent, Allison Morris and our own Alan Meban. We looked at the key constituencies of the campaign and some of the moments of the election campaign. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs

Why is Colum Eastwood pulling his punches on a border poll?

Brian Walker on May 31, 2017, 9:54 am

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There is no point in denying the appeal of a united Ireland within the EU, even if the threat of a hard border turns out to be exaggerated for its malign effects on trade, integrated agriculture and ease of movement and Theresa May’s team returns from Brussels in triumph. It transcends narrow nationalism and reflects the Remain verdict in the EU referendum which put nationalism on the winning side, courtesy of quite a few on the unionist side. For the …