Europe – Page 3 – Slugger O'Toole

“Return to your cumanns and prepare for Irish unification.”

Pete Baker on December 5, 2016, 3:49 pm

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In the Belfast Telegraph, Eilis O’Hanlon comments on the recent flurry of “displacement activity” from Sinn Féin. From the Belfast Telegraph article So, what better way to distract the republican home crowd than with some conjurer’s cheap tricks? Don’t look at that hand, look at this one. Don’t mention my ineffectiveness on a range of issues that actually matter, look at all these things I’m saying and doing about something that doesn’t matter in the slightest. It’s not as if …

Where now for Scotland?

Neale Richmond on December 2, 2016, 12:14 pm

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In an historic and stirring address to Seanad Éireann this week, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon refused to set out a timeline for when she might ask the Scottish people to vote once again on Independence. She repeated her view that the Scottish people had not voted to stay within a United Kingdon outside of the European Union and that the Scottish people’s decision to overwhelming vote in favour of remaining in the EU could not be ignored. Immediately after …

EU Special Status, and ignoring the Northern Ireland Assembly…

Pete Baker on November 28, 2016, 5:13 pm

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As Mick noted this morning, Micheal Martin has joined the list of party leaders calling on the Irish and British Governments to negotiate for EU special status for Northern Ireland post-Brexit. At the recent All-Island Civic Dialogue on Brexit, there was the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams said in his speech that the Government needed to uphold the wishes of the Northern Ireland people and secure a special status for the region. “The overriding and principle …

Dublin High Court orders extradition of suspect in 1996 PIRA mortar attack in Germany

Pete Baker on November 14, 2016, 10:06 pm

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Not much coverage of this so far, but the Irish Times reports that the High Court in Dublin has ordered the extradition of a suspect in the Provisional IRA mortar attack on a British army barracks near Osnabrück, Germany, in June 1996. In October last year, James Anthony Oliver Albert Corry (46) was arrested in Killorglin, Co Kerry, on foot of a European Arrest Warrant issued by German authorities. Later that month, Mr Corry, who is from north Belfast, spoke to a reporter …

OPINION: Promote critical thinking skills for better democracy @WFDemocracy Strasbourg 2016

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on November 14, 2016, 7:30 am

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OPINION: Promote critical thinking skills for better democracy: World Forum for Democracy: Strasbourg 2016
by Allan LEONARD for Northern Ireland Foundation
7 November 2016

The 600 seats of the hemicycle of the Council of Europe soon filled with young activists and seasoned practitioners at the 2016 gathering of the World Forum for Democracy in Strasbourg. I attended as part of a delegation from Northern Ireland, all beneficiaries of the Civic Activism Programme administered by Building Change Trust. Our objective was to learn and share experiences to improve democracy and equality through education.

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster)

PhD Researcher @UlsterUni | Managing Editor @SharedFuture | Board Member @FactCheckNI | Photographer 📸 | Runner 🏃‍♂️ | Genealogist 🌳 | https://mrulster.info

“if you do that you are going to see a flood of companies leaving Ireland and Canada and Germany and France and they are going to come back to the United States…”

Pete Baker on November 10, 2016, 6:16 pm

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Here’s something for Taoiseach Enda Kenny, and any one else, to keep in mind when they hear that US President-elect Donald Trump “understands Ireland very well. He was complimentary about the decisions made about the economy here.” The Belfast Telegraph reports comments by Stephen Moore, a “senior economic advisor to Mr Trump”, on BBC Radio 4’s World at One today. From the Belfast Telegraph report [Stephen] Moore, senior economic advisor to Mr Trump, said the centrepiece plan of the new Washington …

Belfast International Airport MD: “Am absolutely spitting useless faceless EU bureaucrats…”

Pete Baker on November 4, 2016, 3:20 pm

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As ever, the significant part of the story behind United Airlines’ decision to end the Belfast-New York route – despite an “irregular” three year NI Executive £9 million rescue deal – lies, not in the headline, but in the details. The first point to make, given the positioning of some parties on the UK’s withdrawal from the EU, is that the airline’s decision comes after the European Commission blocked the rescue package under state aid rules. AS the BBC report …

Tánaiste: “It has always been the case that Ireland and the United Kingdom cooperate closely on jointly securing the external border of the CTA…”

Pete Baker on October 17, 2016, 3:07 pm

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A couple of recent written questions in the Dáil, on the future operation of the Common Travel Area and immigration controls, provided the Irish Government with an opportunity to address what are described as “a number of misleading media reports on these matters in recent days”. From the Dáil record [13 Oct] Brexit Issues 10. Deputy Fiona O’Loughlin asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her views on media reports that the United Kingdom is seeking to shift the front line of …

Wolfgang Münchau :”those in Ireland in favour of EU membership should give some thought to what could go wrong”

Pete Baker on October 10, 2016, 4:48 pm

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Possibly related to my previous post… The Irish Times republishes an interesting article by Wolfgang Münchau in the FT. He starts with Brexit, and a necessary new direction of travel for the UK economy… There is a risk that Brexit and the associated change in model business will go wrong. Brexit is not necessarily a bad decision. But it requires the right kind of policies to work. The British prime minister is right to balance a hard Brexit with a shift …

“Government will seek to pursue any appropriate opportunities for Ireland arising from the UK’s departure”

Pete Baker on October 10, 2016, 3:05 pm

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As mentioned in a couple of recent written answers in the Dáil, here and here, the Irish “Government will seek to pursue any appropriate opportunities for Ireland arising from the UK’s departure” from the EU. Here are those written answers Brexit Issues Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport if he has set up a departmental taskforce to acquire EU agencies and research projects from the UK that may have to relocate from Britain after Brexit negotiations are completed; and …

Calm down, dears…

Pete Baker on July 19, 2016, 5:27 pm

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Wilful or otherwise, there’s been a degree of misrepresentation of Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s apparently unscripted, and qualified, comments at the MacGill Summer School yesterday – you can read the official version of his speech here. As the initial reported quote demonstrated, his focus was not on preparing for the prospect of referendums on a united Ireland, but on seeking clarification of what would happen, in the new post-Brexit world, in the event of a ‘Yes’ vote. Because if that possibility were …

Northern’s Ireland best chance of leverage rests inevitably at Westminster

Brian Walker on July 8, 2016, 2:18 pm

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Look guys, you’re knocking at an open door. Yes it’s not yet resolved as we haven’t got a new UK government. That will take on the outside 74 days. But the Republic had to wait 69 days for their new government so they know how to wait. What’s the alternative? It isn’t good politics to keep demonising the Tory government before they’ve devised a Brexit strategy and when there plainly isn’t any alternative. One Nation Tories will want to to …

Cartoon – Life after #brexit

Brian Spencer on July 5, 2016, 4:57 pm

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Farage has left the stage. The “most important” and “most successful” politician of the last decade, says Rod Liddle. That’s up for debate. Christoph Waltz likened his exit to a rat disembarking a sinking ship. I’m struck by how he said he wants his life back. I’m sure there are a great many million and more people who think the same, except they don’t have a golden life raft to jump in to… Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political …

“The Irish Government will not be negotiating on behalf of Northern Ireland”

Pete Baker on July 4, 2016, 9:22 pm

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In case you were wondering what the Brexit ’10-point plan’ was that the BBC reported the North South Ministerial Council agreed today, it’s in the final joint communique of 4th July [pdf file] FINANCIAL AND EU MATTERS [Implications of UK Referendum] 8. The Council had a detailed discussion on the potential impact of the UK referendum result to leave the EU. In order to optimise joint planning and engagement on key issues arising following the UK referendum result, the NSMC: …

Uniting to mitigate the effects of Brexit is better politics than talk of break up in these islands.

Brian Walker on June 28, 2016, 2:31 pm

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In the absence of any clarity about the terms for Brexit, it’s no surprise that some Remain supporters are dreaming about reversing the result and nationalist politicians are weighing up the chances of the break-up of the UK. They may have to decide soon how realistic are their ambitions for constitutional change if a snap Westminster election is sprung soon. The SNP are the only major party to have anything like a stable negotiating position at the moment. It looks …

Taoiseach on Border Poll: “There are much more serious issues to deal with in the immediate terms and that is where our focus is.”

Pete Baker on June 25, 2016, 5:29 pm

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Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, was, rightly, quick to dismiss Sinn Féin’s attempted distraction predictably opportunistic call for a border poll following the EU referendum result. Here’s what she told Radio Ulster listeners “The Good Friday Agreement sets out the conditions under which I am required to call for a border poll – those are when I believe that there’s a reasonable likelihood that there would be a majority for a united Ireland,” [Theresa Villiers] said. “There’s nothing to …

The Irish can show the English how to handle nationalism better in post-Brexit Europe

Brian Walker on June 25, 2016, 12:39 pm

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The temptation is strong to go apocalyptic over Brexit. A slightly poorer UK with the threat of fragmentation hanging over it is not the ideal backdrop for stability on Northern Ireland. But here’s a thought. Why not set good example? After all, our experience of instability is unrivalled in modern western Europe. We know the score. Let’s pick our way through Stephen Collins’ prophetic piece in the Irish Times . There is some irony in the fact that on the …

The Irish north and south can teach Brexit supporters that nationalism is not enough

Brian Walker on June 22, 2016, 9:35 am

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Times / YouGov results on the Big Debate: Which side won ? Remain: 34% Leave: 39% Not sure:17% How will you vote? Remain 41% Leave 40% Not sure 8% Never mind the polls. How was it for you on the big stage? Was it about as relevant as the Eurovision Song Contest? More or less fun? Either way, didn’t they all do well! And that was the problem. It was a no score draw, both sides shooting and blocking like …

Euro 2016: Northern Ireland through to last 16

Pete Baker on June 21, 2016, 9:52 pm

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Despite losing to world champions Germany earlier today, Northern Ireland’s footballers have secured a place in the last 16 of the UEFA European Championship 2016. There they’ll face either France or Wales. A heroic performance by NI’s freelance keeper, Michael McGovern, kept the ball out of the net on all but one occasion and the 1-0 win for Germany left Northern Ireland in third place in Group C on 3 points following their win over Ukraine. Crucially, though, they had …

Remain in Northern Ireland still looks on top. Will the DUP heave a sigh of relief if it wins?

Brian Walker on June 21, 2016, 12:01 pm

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The arguments continue right down to the wire. The referendum has cut across the unionist/nationalist divide and – (nothing unusual here) – has split unionism. What is rarer is the DUP’s failure to press home their traditional case with the traditional fervour, suggesting they have doubts about it themselves, as Stephen McCaffery argues in The Detail. Sammy Wilson’s pitch for Leave has only one sentence directly about Northern Ireland and steers clear of concerns over a hard border. A leave vote will …