EU – Page 37 – Slugger O'Toole

NI’s post Brexit (and unpolicible) border will be dictated by the (un)generosity of #Brexit’s precise terms.

Mick Fealty on February 17, 2017, 10:39 am

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Last night, I rewatched Michael Smiley’s Something to Ride Home For, a light-hearted, three-part TV series featuring interviews and bike rides across Ulster (including Monaghan and Donegal) which was originally broadcast in the summer of 2015. There’s a section in his interview with author Dervla Murphy at Crossmaglen on the shores of what I took to be Lough Ross, which straddles the border, where he reads from her 1979 classic A Place Apart where she discovers she’s crossed the border seven …

Sinn Fein has abandoned the idea of Irish Independence for the EU

Kilsally on February 16, 2017, 10:45 am

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The recent blog post of Free Church of Scotland Minister Rev David Robertson ( @theweeflea ) on his conversion from being a Pro SNP Scottish Independence supporter to a person who would now vote “No” in any second Scottish Independence referendum has triggered some fierce debate. I could not help but see the parallel between the SNP and Sinn Fein. The SNP has exchanged the idea of Scottish Independence for the fantasy of the progressive EU How easily the above …

Dail takes note of the nature of Sinn Fein’s bargain basement ‘win’ in the #EUReferendum…

Mick Fealty on February 16, 2017, 7:59 am

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It’s a bit of a red letter day when Slugger gets read into the record of any of our legislatures. So far we’ve made it into the Seanad, and the House of Lords, now we’re in the official record of the proceedings in Dáil Éireann. This snippet (and it’s exchanges) is worth sharing: Deputy Brendan Howlin: The people of Northern Ireland voted to remain part of the European Union. The largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland, Sinn Féin, failed to register for …

Theresa May’s week of shuttle diplomacy produced only gloom in Dublin

Brian Walker on February 4, 2017, 9:20 am

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At the end of a week the when Theresa May touched down in Dublin again, the Irish Times is deep gloom. Noel Whelan’s pessimism is not placated by May including Dublin in a transcontinental shuttle that began in Washington, touched down in Ankara and Cardiff and ended up in Valetta. She can’t have meant business if she only had James Brokenshire with her, he snorted. It seems a bit ungracious to dismiss her visit, the second, in which she accorded …

UK Government produces #Brexit White Paper

David McCann on February 2, 2017, 1:11 pm

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The UK Government had just produced its Brexit White Paper which can be read here The text dealing with Ireland and the Common Travel Area comes to a grand total of 3 pages with two key commitments which are listed below; 4.9 We are determined that our record of collaboration, built on shared experience and values and supported by personal, political and economic ties, continues to develop and strengthen after we leave the EU. 4.10 We will work with the …

Sinn Fein failed to register for the EU referendum (ie, it took no part in preventing Brexit)

Mick Fealty on February 1, 2017, 10:54 pm

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This is just weird. The new leader of Sinn Fein in the Assembly Michelle O’Neill had this to say: Brexit is not just an issue for the north. It will be a disaster for our economy north and south. Jobs are at risk, investment is under threat and our agricultural community faces new tariffs and an end to crucial subsidies. As it happens, I agree with her. What’s odd is that when the chips were down in the Referendum, Ms O’Neill and her …

Dublin Airport – Northern Ireland’s gateway to the world

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on February 1, 2017, 10:50 pm

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Yesterday’s announcement that Brussels Airlines are withdrawing their route from Belfast City Airport to Brussels is the latest in a series of setbacks for Northern Ireland’s aviation sector, following the controversy surrounding the termination of United Airlines’ route from Belfast International to Newark. The habit of throwing government funds at airlines to coax them into flying to Northern Ireland, only for them to pack their bags and leave when the subsidies run out, has become routine. Serious questions must be …

“If I no longer give you my judgment and simply follow your orders; I am betraying you.”

Mick Fealty on February 1, 2017, 11:06 am

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That the UK vote in favour of Brexit, and the election of Donald Trump are two outcomes I would guess not many sane elected representatives would have voted for. [What are you trying to say about the DUP? – Ed] Ssssh… Indeed it looks like both campaigns used advanced machine learning techniques to edge out the metropolitan elites (a real thing, actually) in both jurisdictions. It may also edge out deliberation of the type offered by Ken Clarke in the …

The splits over Brexit in the election campaign distract from bigger realities. As usual

Brian Walker on February 1, 2017, 10:18 am

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So no news in the fact that the DUP and Sinn Fein remain at odds over Brexit. Sinn Fein’s new Northern leader Michelle O’Neill rejects Theresa May’s assurances on an open *frictionless?” border. Mrs O’Neill said: “What we are very sure of is the implications of a hard Brexit are going to mean a hard border – a soft border is a nonsense. Nigel Dodds dismisses this as hot air, adding a twist by reminding the UK government that moving …

Theresa May holds the initiative as she makes promises on an open border

Brian Walker on January 31, 2017, 11:37 am

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While the world is transfixed by Trump, we made a little quiet progress on the interlinked politics of Brexit and the future of the Assembly. What did we get from Theresa May’s immersion in the generally anti-Brexit atmosphere of the joint ministerial committee and a summit with Enda Kenny? A warm gesture of commitment, that’s what, riding above the divisions which leave her unfazed for now and rather more than we might have expected, in the form of an article …

Theresa May is unmoved by Celtic frustrations over her Brexit stance

Brian Walker on January 30, 2017, 11:22 am

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After Trump and Turkey week for Theresa May but with the aftershocks still shaking the bones, Brexit week with the Celts must seem like an anti- climax. Despite all the warms words there is no sign that Mrs May is taking the pro-EU positions of two and half of the three devolved administrations even slightly seriously. The briefings before today’s Cardiff meeting could hardly be more underwhelming. We will not agree on everything, but that doesn’t mean we will shy …

In a slow and secret transition within Sinn Fein, Gerry Adams, still in charge, appears to be setting high targets for negotiations on the Assembly

Brian Walker on January 21, 2017, 8:28 pm

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At a Sinn Fein conference on a united Ireland in Dublin, Gerry Adams has claimed Brexit is a “ hostile action” that will “destroy the Good Friday Agreement”, although adding that “special status” would not take Northern Ireland out of the UK. Is this to be a sticking point in any talks to restore the Assembly? If so he’d be setting the bar very high and over quite a long timescale for resolution. Although it has been taken to mean …

Whatever #Brexit means for Britain, Northern Ireland must take its opportunities and threats seriously…

Mick Fealty on January 19, 2017, 12:35 pm

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So Guy Verhofstadt tells us that the EU is not out to punish the UK (or ‘Britain’ if you still think we’re all the same). We, if we are paying attention to Article 8 of the Lisbon Treaty, the EU cannot had out what the British Foreign Minister so crassly refers to as a punishment beating: The Union shall develop a special relationship with neighbouring countries, aiming to establish an area of prosperity and good neighbourliness, founded on the values of the …

Ireland must seek EU permission to make a draft bilateral deal with Britain

Brian Walker on January 18, 2017, 11:15 am

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Dublin reaction to Theresa May’s big Brexit speech is understandably cautious verging on the sceptical. Is more substantial content to be expected when Theresa meets Enda in Dublin next week, no doubt to discuss her hopes that an open-ish border can be achieved through “frictionless “ trading monitored digitally and immigration rules enforced mainly through national insurance and taxation rather than entry points? Probably not, even though the promptness of the visit after the speech is welcome and she has …

Theresa May’s speech: Is the UK planning to use Ireland as a hostage in negotiations with the 27?

Mick Fealty on January 17, 2017, 6:33 pm

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUIl0ZVw9zU To be honest I haven’t wanted to add to the wall to wall commentary on a Brexit deal, the outline of which is even now barely visible. Today, it became a little more clear. Mrs May wants access to the Single Market via a bespoke deal yet to be negotiated. Looks like a very big reset within the unifying frame of the UK state. She made references to a report she’s already had from the Scottish Government, and is …

Theresa May’s aim of free trade with the EU outside the single market is the way to avoid a hard border. The Irish should start lobbying their EU partners now.

Brian Walker on January 17, 2017, 5:30 pm

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We will put our precious Union at the heart of what we do.. We will strengthen our relationship between the four nations of the UK.. I hope for the same spirit of unity, especially in Northern Ireland and that the parties will establish a new relationship as soon as possible.. The devolved administrations will be fully engaged (in the Brexit process). That is why we have set up a joint ministerial committee.. We have received papers from Scotland and …

How will Ireland square the circle of close relations with Brexit Britain and continuing loyalty to the EU?

Brian Walker on January 15, 2017, 8:10 pm

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An Irish government official said to me a few weeks ago: “ we’re with the other guys now.” That arresting comment meant that Ireland was making a necessary shift further away from Britain and towards the continuing relationship with the EU. A binary choice is in prospect, goes the argument, depending on the Brexit outcomes. There was a certain amount of whistling bravado in the remark – perhaps belied by the Irish government’s intense efforts with its continuing EU partners …

So what of those 27 trade deals?

Andy Boal on January 10, 2017, 8:05 pm

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Time for a little light relief. Much is made of the 27 countries queuing up to make trade deals with the UK, but as ever the devil is in the detail. The first observation is that two or three of the countries concerned are not in a position to enter into bilaterals with the United Kingdom, as this would conflict with Germany and Ireland’s membership of the EU and possibly (although I can’t quite be sure) Switzerland’s bilateral treaties with …

SNP pressure to stay in the single market boosts the UK case. Why not champion these ideas for Northern Ireland?

Brian Walker on December 21, 2016, 11:36 am

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Nicola Sturgeon herself admits there are challenges in the SNP’s proposals to keep Scotland within the single market if the rest of the UK is without. The generous view of the paper Scotland’s Place in Europe is that at least it sets out a position, which is more than the than the UK government has done so far. Witness Theresa May’s stonewalling performance before the Commons Liaison Committee yesterday and the Guardian’s sketch of it. Furthermore the Scottish case could …

Events of 2016 will shape the challenges of 2017

Neale Richmond on December 20, 2016, 11:13 am

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To put it mildly, 2016 has been a pretty eventful year politically with Brexit, the election of Trump, a failed coup in Turkey, the downfall of Renzi as well as slightly inconclusive elections in both Ireland and Spain. As we hurtle to the close of the year, many interested or active in politics will be hoping for some sort of respite over the festive season before what could be an even more eventful year in 2017. Whatever 2017 as in …