Ireland – Page 16 – Slugger O'Toole

“Brexit will sort itself out eventually, but its more lasting impact will be on what it did to Ireland…”

Mick Fealty on January 11, 2019, 2:47 pm

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Acute observation from Patrick Murphy in last Saturday’s Irish News… A more far-reaching change has occurred in Irish foreign affairs. The Dublin government failed to recognise that Ireland’s relationship with Britain is different from any other EU state, because of historic, economic and cultural connections. When Britain decided to leave the EU, Dublin might have used those connections to become a bridge between Brussels and London. Leo Varadkar could have followed Reynolds, Ahern and Kenny to enter dialogue with unionism and …

Future Ireland / Uniting our Shared Island by Professor Colin Harvey…

Queen’s Policy Engagement on January 11, 2019, 10:14 am

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The discussion of Irish unity is gaining momentum; Brexit has altered the nature of this conversation, as more people now reflect on the constitutional future. The debate is already happening, and has been ongoing for some time. That does not mean Irish unity is any closer; it simply suggests a willingness to contemplate this option and to think through the implications. Work by, for example, Claire Mitchell, Andrée Murphy, Paul Gosling, Fintan O’Toole, David McWilliams, Mark Daly, Richard Humphreys, and …

Future Ireland / How will the PUL be accommodated in a United Ireland?

Soapbox on January 11, 2019, 8:30 am

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This week, we’re featuring submissions from readers on the theme of ‘Future Ireland: Alternative Conversations about Unity and the Union’. Competition winners will be published on Saturday. By ‘Danny Boy’. According to the demographics, there could be a nationalist majority within Northern Ireland in the not-too distant future, which some think will automatically lead to the re-unification of this island. So what will happen to all those people living within Northern Ireland who class themselves as being from the PUL …

Ireland’s “baby bust” continues despite its buoyant economy…

Mick Fealty on January 10, 2019, 12:20 pm

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Never heard of this term before today, but Dan O’Brien explains in the Indo: Over decades in Ireland, good economic times have made people more inclined to have kids. Slumps have done the opposite. That was to be seen in 1980s, when the Irish birth rate very suddenly started to fall. That coincided with the beginning of miserable economic times. The “long 1980s” only really ended with the arrival of the Celtic Tiger in the mid-1990s. The change in the …

Future Ireland from a Southern Perspective

Soapbox on January 10, 2019, 10:42 am

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This week, we’re featuring submissions from readers on the theme of ‘Future Ireland: Alternative Conversations about Unity and the Union’. Competition winners will be published on Saturday. Éamonn Toland is a business leader and writer from Dublin. Just over a decade ago, before the crash, the then Irish Foreign Minister, Dermot Ahern, called for the IFA and FAI to form an all-Ireland soccer team, so that the island could “punch its full weight internationally, something that real sports people have …

The shape of the final deal actually looks promising- if only we can get over the hump of the backstop. London now needs Dublin’s help to get there

Brian Walker on January 9, 2019, 11:54 pm

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“Cosmetic and meaningless.” On behalf of the DUP, Nigel Dodds’ rejection of the government’s latest bunch of concessions and clarifications is entirely predictable. The legal text containing the backstop of the Ireland/ Northern Ireland Protocol has indeed not been changed as everybody knew it wouldn’t be and won’t be. Many will shrug and say that’s that. But it’s nothing of the sort. If there’s to be any middle way between No Deal and No Brexit, it’s hard to see how …

Future Ireland / Building an Ireland of Communities

Soapbox on January 9, 2019, 9:10 am

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This week, we’re featuring submissions from readers on the theme of ‘Future Ireland: Alternative Conversations about Unity and the Union’. Competition winners will be published on Saturday. By T.R. Neill. Nationalism is an increasingly confident movement on the island of Ireland. As a nationalist myself, I see this as a good thing. However, I have always viewed nationalism’s challenge in the terms elucidated by John Hume, that we must not just remove the physical borders on this island but also …

Future Ireland / Why Include Ulster Protestants in a New Ireland?

Soapbox on January 8, 2019, 10:02 am

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This week, we’re featuring submissions from readers on the theme of ‘Future Ireland: Alternative Conversations about Unity and the Union’. Competition winners will be published on Saturday. By Dilcy, a nationalist living in Belfast. Why Include Ulster Protestants in a New Ireland? Answer 1 They’re here already and may as well stay. Answer 2 We say stay, but we really hope they will eventually leave. Answer 3 They are really Irish anyway. Answer 4 We really need their help to …

The DUP are the crucial “dominoes” in May’s bid to win a second meaningful vote

Brian Walker on January 7, 2019, 6:23 pm

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Theresa May’s strategy to try to win MPs’ endorsement of the withdrawal agreement is a little clearer, arising out of hints she gave to Andrew Marr yesterday. The strategy is classic if conventional politics, before a fundamentally divided, incoherent opposition, however formidable it now seems. It involves narrowing the gaps, wearing down opposition by a mixture of project Fear (miles of traffic jams and English police on Ulster streets ) and project Farce (the shipping company with no ships), and …

Power to the People: Best Irish Podcasts of 2018

Claire Mitchell on December 29, 2018, 3:57 pm

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2018 has been a great year for alternative media in Ireland. The podcast scene, in particular, has provided an important anchor in a year of political turmoil. Beyond the spun headlines of rage and fury, simplistic panel set-ups for and against, the cat-fights of social media, podcasts have have created space for challenging conversations and depth of analysis. They have provided journalists with a platform to tackle difficult questions, given all kinds of activists a voice, brought historical depth to …

Looking through the lens of history helps us ease the torments of Brexit

Brian Walker on December 22, 2018, 11:50 am

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As a Christmas treat, let’s stand back from the tangles of Brexit and the backstop and take a broader look at how they’re complicating our fond old obsession with our choice of identities British, Irish and European. One of the leaders of the current debate is Fintan O’Toole a torrentially eloquent writer who knows Britain as well as his own backyard. You’d be hard put to find an English equivalent writing about Ireland. What we see more of are endless voyages of …

Driving home for Christmas? Be thankful

John Lavery on December 22, 2018, 9:35 am

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As I walked through Belfast City Centre a couple of Fridays ago I passed, scattered among the late-night revellers, five maybe six rough sleepers. Some were out cold, some awake looking vacantly at the crowds and some taking the opportunity of the passing footfall to ask for spare change. Seeing rough sleepers in Belfast is nothing new, I recall them from my childhood too. But it remains something that is hard to see and fathom, at this time of year …

How will we Remember Martin McGuinness?: Review of David Latimer’s ‘A Leap of Faith’

Gladys Ganiel on December 21, 2018, 3:58 pm

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A new book by Rev David Latimer, A Leap of Faith: How Martin McGuinness and I Worked Together for Peace, tells the story of the surprising but strong friendship between Latimer, the minister at First Derry Presbyterian Church, and the late Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin. It was a controversial friendship. There were those within Latimer’s own congregation, the wider Presbyterian Church, and unionism more generally who found it difficult to contemplate his close ties with a former IRA commander. …

Theresa, No Deal Project Fear is a cruel insult to our intelligence

Brian Walker on December 18, 2018, 11:50 pm

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The latest Project Fear is a UK government analysis of the impact of No Deal on the Republic’s trade. It says that 80% of their trade with Europe passes over the British land bridge to ports such as Dover. No deal barriers causing expected congestion there would have a catastrophic effect on the Irish economy. The aim is to soften up Varadkar’s apparently implacable support for the backstop. Project Fear is accompanied by Project Puff up and Soothe the DUP, …

Brexit has reversed the stereotypes of Britain and Ireland

Brian Walker on December 18, 2018, 5:11 pm

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Brexit has turned British, Irish and continental stereotypes on their heads, historian Arthur Aughey has observed in a brilliant essay in the Belfast Telegraph One long-standing explanation is that the British and continental Europeans (especially the French) approach political problems with very different mindsets… On the one hand, Michel Barnier’s style – and the European Council’s – considers British reluctance to define principles as either proof of poor preparation or as inability to clarify its objectives. That, more or less, …

May’s desperate tactics are unworthy and will fail to give her victory

Brian Walker on December 17, 2018, 10:31 pm

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Tactically Theresa May is being astute. But then she has always run Brexit as a party strategy. Strategically in the national interest, she’s risking a disaster. By continuing to face MPs with a binary choice as late as mid January – My Deal or No Deal – she’s squeezing the time available for any Plan Bs to emerge but she’s raised her immediate chances of staying in office. This of course assumes the divided cabinet will play along and the …

“I can take the despair. It’s the hope I can’t stand.” Theresa May in Brussels? Answer. Worse: humiliation

Brian Walker on December 13, 2018, 11:53 pm

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What was Theresa May actually expecting from the EU 27 leaders in Brussels? There was always the desperate hope for one of those last minute rush to settle against the declared odds. Instead… headlines… Daily Telegraph ( Brexiteer) Theresa May was humiliated once again by EU leaders last night as her attempts to improve her Brexit deal were thrown back in her face. The Sun (Brexiteer) and coiner of dreadful puns BRUSSELS ROUT Theresa May told to get stuffed by …

Putting Brexit in Historical Perspective #NevinLecture

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on December 13, 2018, 8:00 am

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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE – Listen back to Professor Kevin Hjortshøj O’Rourke delivering the annual Donal Nevin lecture, explaining how UK trade policies evolved to the point that they entered the EU, and what this teaches us about Brexit. QUB’s Dr Katy Hayward responded with the Northern Ireland context.

Keep your eye on the glimmer of light in the Big Picture. But first we need to re-examine the backstop, sooner rather than later.

Brian Walker on December 10, 2018, 1:04 pm

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Although the sight of it is darkly occluded, the shape of things to come is emerging through the fog. Whatever immediate political strategy Theresa May chooses today, the dream of the hard line Brexiteers is in process of disintegration. Whatever the political turmoil today, the UK will retain some sort of close relationship with the EU. In Northern Ireland, unionists will have a closer relationship with the Republic and with nationalists generally – and I would argue with only slightly …

The DUP would be fools to vote for no confidence in the government and boost the chances of a No Deal default

Brian Walker on December 7, 2018, 4:33 pm

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Politics is in a vortex of fast moving events over which the government has little control. According to the likely scenario, Theresa May will lose the meaningful vote badly next Tuesday night. What happens next is in uncharted waters. But this is how the meaningful vote fits into the prescribed timetable, courtesy of the FT: The vote is a legal obligation under the UK’s 2018 EU Withdrawal Act, which says such a vote must take place “before the European Parliament decides whether …