DUP – Page 58 – Slugger O'Toole

Looking back at the DUP’s 2007 Manifesto

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 29, 2011, 9:00 am

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Stormont’s political structures don’t lend themselves to parties making too many promises in their election manifestos. And so reading through the DUP’s 2007 Assembly manifesto, could have been titled Playing it Safe rather than Getting it Right. This morning the DUP will launch their latest campaign manifesto in the run up to May’s Assembly elections, but I wanted to take a look back to see how their performance matched their promises in 2007. Unionism needs a strong DUP. The safeguards …

Phony war over First Minister title begins…

Mick Fealty on March 22, 2011, 12:08 pm

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There’s an awful lot of flurrying over Martin McGuinness’ (deputy with a small ‘d’ First Minister) apparent offer to ‘consider’ sharing the office of First Minister, should he come through in first place in May’s poll. It should be noted it that is possible for Sinn Fein to achieve that, if they pick up every target they have, but it is unlikely… Anyway, here’s his interview for UTV: And here’s the companion dismissal from Arlene Foster… As Mark Devenport points …

Calls increase for new investigation into Joanne Mathers’ murder

Turgon on March 18, 2011, 1:13 pm

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The call by Lowry Mathers for further investigation of his wife’s murder (which I covered on Wednesday) may or may not achieve justice for them and their son. Whilst the precedents for success are not good, his comments, after 30 years of dignified silence, seem to have struck something of a chord. It is worth noting that this story came back into the public consciousness due to the work of Londonderry Sentinel journalist Eamon Sweeney whose comments are here. The …

OFMDFM’s Contested Space Programme

Pete Baker on March 12, 2011, 5:01 pm

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No, not that sort of space programme… Maybe more like this sort of ‘space‘. ANYhoo… Late on a Friday afternoon seems an odd time for the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers to be announcing a 3-year £4million scheme which targets just “six pilot areas”. That works out at around £220,000 per ‘pilot area’, per year. You can build a lot of fences for that sort of money… Although, they don’t appear to have defined those ‘pilot areas’. The timing is even odder …

“it’s something that certainly never happened under the stewardship of Tony Blair or Gordon Brown.”

Pete Baker on March 7, 2011, 8:14 pm

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The visit by the British Labour Party leader, Ed Miliband, to Stormont today may have come as a surprise to the press [and the NI Labour Party… – Ed], but the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers were ready with their latest whinge. Apparently the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, isn’t prepared to meet them just to listen to their special little pleading. From the breakingnews.ie report Also accusing the coalition British government of backtracking on financial commitments made during the peace …

Not the old bogey of Sinn Fein again!

Brian Walker on March 2, 2011, 10:50 am

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The politics of it are all too familiar. Peter Robinson raises the bogey of Sinn Fein to get the vote out and try to prevent SF becoming the largest party in the Assembly. “Sinn Féin will be in government, I’ve no doubt about that whatsoever. But there’s no point to be in government just to be the mudguard of some conservative party, we want to be the vanguard… We’re in government in the north and let me be quite assertive …

DUP announce Assembly candidates, including a new face in East Belfast and two double-jobbers

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 28, 2011, 10:15 am

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Political parties have been slowly announcing their council and Assembly candidates ahead of May’s elections. This morning, the DUP are announcing their full slate of Assembly candidates, which includes two MPs. There will be interest in the three man DUP line up for East Belfast. The party’s council candidates attracted attention a couple of weeks ago as Orangeman and Belfast County Grand Master Tom Haire displaced an irate David Rodway in the Victoria ward. The East Belfast Assembly candidates are: …

“That long term approach is not confined to policing…”

Pete Baker on February 17, 2011, 11:26 pm

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Confirmation that the UK government is to provide an additional £200million to help the PSNI combat the continuing, and increasing, terrorist threat here – over four years with £57.1m in 2011-12, £53.3m in 2012-13, £62.4m in 2013-14 and £26.7m in the final year. And the BBC report carries these comments from the NI Justice Minister, the Alliance Party’s David Ford. David Ford said he had worked closely with the Chief Constable “to ensure that the needs of Northern Ireland are recognised in …

“This position could prove a political liability…”

Pete Baker on February 14, 2011, 5:33 pm

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Via Newshound. In the Sunday Times Liam Clarke picked up on the reaction by the Sinn Féin president, and still Crown Steward and Bailiff of Northstead, Gerard Adams to the recent reports of a possible visit to Ireland by Queen Elizabeth II later this year. Here’s the An Phoblacht report of that reaction I don’t think the queen should come. There are hugely unresolved matters in terms of the British still claiming jurisdiction even though in terms of the Good Friday …

“they have bought into the system and there is no going back for them”

Pete Baker on February 11, 2011, 11:56 am

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In the Belfast Telegraph Liam Clarke provides a useful corrective to the more excitable commenters’ response to Secretary of State Owen Paterson’s recent remarks about a potential future Northern Ireland First Minister. From the Belfast Telegraph article If you forgot the context, the soundbite could almost be taken as a call to vote Sinn Fein in order to copperfasten progress, but everyone knows that isn’t what Mr Paterson meant. He was making two other points. The first was that, if Sinn Fein …

A year on Peter Robinson’s problems mainly those of success though some dangers lurk

Turgon on January 31, 2011, 10:03 pm

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It is only a year since the Iris Robinson affair rocked the DUP; following that there was the row about the £5 land deal. Many expected the meltdown or at least heavy defeat of the DUP. Then in the Westminster election the challenge of both the UUP and TUV was almost completely defeated. Peter Robinson paid a heavy price and as I noted at the time seemed to act as a lightening conductor taking on himself the damage to the …

Another conflict of interest in yet another NI Water review team – redux

Pete Baker on January 28, 2011, 12:21 am

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As I said of the leaked draft PAC report into NI Water The First and deputy First Ministers clearly haven’t learned the importance of not appointing individuals to ‘independent’ reviews who “could be perceived as having a conflict of interest.” The BBC reports on questions over the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers’ appointment of Philip Holder to the second layer of the investigation into the role and responsibilities of the NI Regional Development Minister and the Department in the NI Water saga. From the BBC report The Department for Regional …

Unionist parties agree to greater co-operation…

Mick Fealty on January 20, 2011, 12:32 pm

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Not a pact exactly, (and it’s only in north and west Belfast) but could the new agreement between the UUP and the DUP lead to a much vaunted, but little in evidence realignment of Unionism in Northern Ireland. The News Letter reports: “Unionist co-operation is not so much about voting pacts and electoral arrangements; rather, it is about unionist elected representatives committing themselves to engaging and working together, in continuing partnership with the community, in order to ensure co-operation takes …

“It is pure frustration that for five years we have been led along with a bit of string.”

Pete Baker on January 19, 2011, 4:18 pm

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As Gonzo noted back in December IF this contrite statement is anything to go by, DUP Sports Minster Nelson McCausland must have hauled Sport NI chief executive Eamonn McCartan over the coals for listing off on TV reasons why we weren’t attracting Olympic interest. McCartan told the BBC that no Olympic teams had committed to train here for the 2012 Games due to our violent image, the threat from dissidents, geographical location, travel costs and access to Olympics venues. But …

Bullshit, and joined-up government…

Pete Baker on January 14, 2011, 3:04 pm

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Some four weeks after the departmental allocations were agreed and all Northern Ireland Executive departments have, to a greater or lesser extent, finally published their spending plans. Don’t worry, though. There’ll be an extra week of that public consultation… Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Finance Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, is complaining that the UK Treasury has “swiped” £300million of NI departments’ yearly underspend – rather than allowing it to be drawn down in the subsequent year. The NIO has issued a statement …

Shock horror probe: DUP have a sense of humour…

Mick Fealty on January 13, 2011, 2:24 pm

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Courtesy of Lee… And Google Translate… Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

DUP website embraces Irish language (ie, hacked)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 12, 2011, 8:31 pm

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The DUP website was briefly hacked tonight before being taken offline. Soon after, PeterRobinson.org and JeffreyDonaldson.org were given a similar makeover. For anyone needing translation of the (most likely criminal) defacement of their homepages, the message reads Irish Now. My name is Peter Robinson and I supported the Irish Language Act. A country without a language, is a country without a soul. Going by the name Hector Ó Hackatdawn and describing himself as “a computer science graduate, Irish language activist, …

NI water crisis: “why Sinn Féin and the DUP have reacted with a mix of denial and pulpit thumping”

Pete Baker on January 3, 2011, 2:37 pm

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Via Newshound, in the Sunday Times Liam Clarke adds his thoughts on the “pulpit thumping” intervention of the OFMDFM, the possibly misplaced ministerial confidence, and the ongoing cost of Executive crowd-pleasing as the NI water crisis continues. From the Sunday Times article Murphy and his colleagues are making the most of the inherited nature of their difficulties. Yet, knowing the risks, the DUP/Sinn Féin-led administration did little to improve the situation. There was some limited investment in the water system …

The five, five words of Christmas (incomplete)

Blank on December 23, 2010, 8:39 pm

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Christmas messages run through Wordle. Does what they say a lot, say a lot? DUP Christmas, God’s, Northern, Ireland, birth Sinn Féin Sinn, Féin, Ág, águs, leis UUP Northern, Ireland, Unionist, People, party SDLP: No Christmas message as yet Alliance: No Christmas message as yet Blank

“making tough choices for the good of the country…”

Pete Baker on December 15, 2010, 12:32 pm

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And so it came to pass… After weeks of political posturing the Northern Ireland Executive stayed up late last night to discuss DUP/Sinn Féin proposals for the draft NI Budget. And with those two parties having enough votes in the Executive – the UUP and SDLP abstained with the Alliance Party’s minister agreeing the proposals – today the Assembly is being immediately bumped into passing agreeing the draft ahead of a public consultation… The title quote is Jim Fitzpatrick’s prediction of the spin from …