Haass – Slugger O'Toole

Political leadership shouldn’t resort to the handbrake every time the speed of the car needs to be corrected

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on July 14, 2015, 5:44 pm | Readers 783

One difficulty with political negotiations in Northern Ireland is the need to negotiate in multiple planes. Firstly there has to be give and take between the DUP and Sinn Féin. Then while delicately balancing this agreed framework, equilibrium has to be maintained while the three smaller parties – SDLP, UUP and Alliance – are given their opportunity to shake the scaffolding and bolt on some of their own tweaks and issues. After the DUP and Sinn Féin had reached an …

The Mirror Image-Minoritarianism

Lee Reynolds on January 20, 2015, 1:09 pm | Readers 1227

This is part two of my analysis of the Haass talks and Unionist thinking. This article also appeared on my blog Haass begins with: …there was a feeling that change would disadvantage them. First, Haass fails to notice the change that had occurred in the immediate run up to his talks had disadvantaged them. The design of the agenda was a rather obvious clue e.g. parades and flags. Second, we will deal with the cliché of ‘change’. Change can be …

Haass: From the other side of the table

Lee Reynolds on January 6, 2015, 8:37 pm | Readers 2345

This post originally appeared in the Ultonia blog Richard Haass has recently done another interview on the failure of the Haass process. In it he blames Unionism for the failure of the talks. This piece is to make the case that the failure of the process lay closer to home than he presents. It lay in the internal dynamics of those talks. The basis of the article is based on my personal experiences of the Haass talks. My role was …

#Villiers, re-hashing Larkin and victim typologies

John Ó Néill on April 16, 2014, 3:50 pm | Readers 86

If nothing else, Theresa Villiers statement on power-sharing contains some odd language (see the first quote Mick has cited here). The nuances in “…there are inherent weaknesses in a system in which it is very difficult to remove one’s rulers by voting and to choose a viable alternative…” actually jar with the mother-and-apple-pie follow-up about about consistency with power-sharing and inclusivity. A central tenet of democracy is that voting in elections removes ‘rulers’ and replaces them with whoever gets elected …

Is Villiers’ warning to OTRs the cue to launch a whole new search for fresh evidence?

Brian Walker on March 7, 2014, 6:08 pm | Readers 53

Theresa Villiers has delivered her solemn warning to recipients that their comfort letters are not get out of jail cards. They will not protect you from arrest or from prosecution and if the police can gather sufficient evidence, you will be subject to all the due processes of law, just like anybody else. The letters do not amount to any immunity, exemption or amnesty something that could only ever be granted by legislation passed by Parliament. They were statements of …

Gilmore: Two governments may intervene over #Haass

David McCann on January 19, 2014, 11:38 am | Readers 61

Eamon Gilmore is to give an interview to the Sunday Politics on the failure of the five parties to agree a deal during the Haass talks. I have been critical in the past of the lack of involvement of the two governments throughout the entire process but instead of criticising Gilmore for showing upto the party late, I will just be grateful that he showed up at all. In the interview Gilmore spoke about an urgency that needed to be …

McGuinness: in the city of Belfast the UVF, the PUP and the Orange Order are one and the same thing // Robinson responds to the “dictator” deputy First Minister

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 16, 2014, 10:59 pm | Readers 258

The moment that draft seven of the Haass proposals went into the shredder may well have been at 10:45pm when BBC NI’s The View broadcast deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness telling Mark Carruthers: Mainstream unionist elected representatives have told me that they accept my analysis that in the city of Belfast the UVF, the PUP and the Orange Order are one and the same thing … I believe it needs to be challenged. Just as I have challenged those so-called …

Cartoon – Selling out the moderate (part 2)

Brian Spencer on January 10, 2014, 9:31 am | Readers 73

Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

Haass/O’Sullivan: We are disappointed that all five have not [endorsed the agreement]

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 8, 2014, 5:16 pm | Readers 54

Richard Haass and Meghan O’Sullivan haven’t quite gone away you know … In a statement released this afternoon, the chair and vice-chair of the five party talks say: We note that all five parties participating in the Panel of Parties in the Northern Ireland Executive have put forward views on the draft agreement of 31 December, 2013. This draft was the product of their intense engagement with one another and with the two of us over the last six months …

DUP outflanks UUP on #Haass

David McCann on January 7, 2014, 3:46 pm | Readers 48

When he went into his fight with George Foreman in 1974, Muhammad Ali used a strategy now famously called ‘rope a dope.’ At its core it is basically give your opponent enough rope and they will hang themselves with it. In Northern Ireland politics we have seen the equivalent of this today as the wiley old operators within the DUP have outfoxed their UUP rivals (again!). It’s not often I praise the DUP but like Sinn Fein with South Belfast …

Jim Allister issues TUV’s Twenty-Two Theses critiquing the Haass/O’Sullivan draft agreement

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on January 3, 2014, 11:19 am | Readers 244

Jim Allister has nailed the TUV’s 22 point analysis of the Haass/O’Sullivan draft agreement to the wall their website. In amongst the reiteration of TUV policy and ideology, Jim Allister does raise good points about: the exclusivity of political representation on the proposed quangos (restricted to parties remaining in the Executive); the difficulty some current politicians would have to commit to support every decision of the present Parades Commission; the potential for the replacement parading bodies and process to reduce …

#Haass paper published

David McCann on December 31, 2013, 7:00 pm | Readers 65

Folks here are the proposals from the Haass talks that has been put up on the OFM/DFM website Paper opens with ‘We in Northern Ireland have come along way. From the depths of violence we have built an impressive, albiet incomplete peace.’ It goes on to say ‘Despite these positive steps , we have further distance to travel. Many continue to await the end of sectarianism and the peace dividend that all citizens’ should be due.’ On who they met …

Will the panel of parties now publish their final draft proposals?

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 31, 2013, 10:12 am | Readers 52

While not a surprise, it is still disappointing that the five parties in the Executive – and in particular the big two – who arranged The Panel of Parties in the NI Executive were able to identify three problem areas but were not confident enough to compromise enough to agree a way forward. Given the distance between DUP and Sinn Fein and their nearest rivals in terms of electoral support, there was surely room for big compromise, for putting themselves …

#Haass talks D-Day-No Agreement

David McCann on December 30, 2013, 7:31 pm | Readers 66

Well it’s nearly over. After three months of talks and attempted deal Dr. Haass and Prof. O’Sullivan will end their talks on flags, parades and the past. At the moment we are looking at an announcement of a deal or failure to agree at around midnight. It may well be the latter as Tracey Magee from UTV tweeted just a moment ago these comments from Jeffrey Donaldson DUPs Jeffrey Donaldson says he’s not sure there is a basis for agreement. Leaving …

Haass, our future and a plea form a frustrated politico

David McCann on December 28, 2013, 2:25 pm | Readers 68

Dr.Richard Haass begins his final session of talks today to get an agreement from all of main political parties in Northern Ireland on flags, parades and dealing with the past. While his earlier efforts have failed to produce anything, he will be banking on the need for our politicians to demonstrate once again what great peacemakers they all are and not become an international laughing stock. When we look back on this weekend in a few years’ time, we could …

Haass pt3-more process, little actual solutions

David McCann on December 22, 2013, 8:32 pm | Readers 50

Stephen Walker from the BBC has managed to obtain details of Richard Haass’ third draft to the five main parties. The latest draft comes to the conlusion that most of us could have said months ago that : “We could not reach a common position on the flying of flags.” Haass does reccomend a policy of councils flying flags on designated days-something that Unionists are unlikely to adopt. He also proposes the creation of a new working group that would …

A spirited discussion about the issues on the Haass agenda

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 26, 2013, 12:28 am | Readers 78

One of the recurring themes of tonight’s Haass/O’Sullivan panel discussion is that we often ask the wrong questions. Ask not if there’s light at the end of the tunnel, but why there’s no tunnel! It was the third panel event that Platform for Change have hosted this year. Trevor Ringland chaired (opening with a quote from Blackadder and A Long Peace by Messrs Fealty, Ringland and Steven) and the up-front contributions came from: Lesley Carroll (Fortwilliam Presbyterian Church; member of …

Labour’s recommendations to Haass to reform Parades Commission, reform HET … and introduce a bank holiday

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on November 23, 2013, 8:56 am | Readers 73

Labour NI AGM table goodies

The Labour Party’s submission to the Haass/O’Sullivan talks is spread over five pages (with a two page summary of recommendations at the back). It starts by noting the important role the Labour Party played in the peace process, saying that the party’s submission is a “signal [of] our continued commitment to ensuring Northern Ireland continues on its journey to build peace, fairness and prosperity”. There’s an emphasis throughout the submission on local committees and forums rather than relying solely on …

#Panorama to show absence of very good tools to critique the state

John Ó Néill on November 21, 2013, 4:55 pm | Readers 99

Tonight’s BBC Panorama programme will detail allegations about the operation of the Military Reaction Force, or MRF, and how it killed unarmed civilians as part of its work up until 1973. The programme has identified ten unarmed civilians it believes were shot by MRF members operating undercover. It also will include a claim that a Ministry of Defence review concluded that the MRF had “no provision for detailed command and control”. As with so much reportage about ‘the past’, they aren’t particularly new …

Platform for Change debating Haass/O’Sullivan agenda (Mon 25 Nov); East Belfast Speaks Out (Wed 27 Nov)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on October 25, 2013, 2:40 pm | Readers 87

The last week of November is shaping up to be a week of political hustings and community discussions. Looking towards the final stages of the Haass/O’Sullivan talks, Platform for Change are hosting a panel discussion in Dukes at Queens (aka, Dukes Hotel) on Monday 25 November from 7.30pm to 9.30pm. Previous events this year have explored flags (with a remarkable inclusive panel) and education. This time the panel tackling the agenda of the political talks and is appallingly titled: Parades, …