Ireland – Page 30 – Slugger O'Toole

The Agreement. Ten Frames. Twenty Years.

Soapbox on April 6, 2018, 3:32 pm

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There’s going to be a lot of familiar and famous talking heads, looking back pensively, giving the ‘I was there’ definitive version of ‘what really happened’ at the signing of the Good Friday Agreement twenty years ago. We will note the wrinkles and the grey hair and we will see how they have changed, if only in their appearance. The usual role-call will be called. But what about artistic responses? What might an artist create that could ever contain the …

Fianna Fail going North would be a game changer. It implies an electoral pact with Sinn Fein in a bid to out poll unionists and lead a southern coalition towards unity

Brian Walker on April 4, 2018, 9:19 pm

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Poor old SDLP! What’s the point of voting in council elections next year for a party that says it may go out of business not now but maybe later? If Fianna Fail enter the lists, it has to be big, it has to be about more than rescuing the anti- Sinn Fein tradition of northern nationalism. It can only be to rob Sinn Fein of its role as the pacemaker for a united Ireland. Who ought to be better placed …

SDLP’s future direction…

David McCann on April 4, 2018, 1:43 pm

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Interesting story from the Belfast Telegraph Political Editor, Suzanne Breen this morning about the potential of an arrangement between the SDLP and Fianna Fail. She writes; SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has refused to rule out “a realignment in Irish politics” that would see his party standing aside and Fianna Fail organising in Northern Ireland. Senior SDLP sources told the Belfast Telegraph that around 80% of the party supported it “leaving the stage” to make way for Fianna Fail. They want …

A revised Belfast Agreement is needed more than nostalgia for 1998

Brian Walker on April 2, 2018, 4:31 pm

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Like Magna Carta, the Belfast/ Good Friday Agreement has acquired the status of icon of the constitution. This is not altogether in its favour. A good deal of nonsense is talked about Magna Carta. Back in 1215, no sooner had the ink dried on the vellum of the fair copy, than bad King John denounced it. But the idea of curbing the unbridled power of the monarch could not be unborn and it finally evolved into government by the rule …

Reflections on the Good Friday Agreement

Brendan Heading on March 31, 2018, 6:22 pm

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I thought I’d record some personal opinions on the passing of the 20th anniversary (more or less) of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. I felt compelled to do this after reading a few exchanges on social media, one in particular declaring that Unionism had, in a manner of speaking, had its eye wiped. This is a popular, but demonstrably false, perspective that had its origins in the debate at that time, and perhaps has deeper origins …

Thousands attend #IBelieveHer Rape Trial Rallies Across Ireland

Claire Mitchell on March 29, 2018, 6:54 pmComments Off | Readers 3440

Thousands of people across Ireland came out today to protest after yesterday’s not guilty verdicts in the rugby rape trials. Rallies were held in Belfast, Dublin, Derry, Limerick and Cork. The Belfast rally was at the Laganside Courthouse, with about 1000 people (Talkback estimate) – women and men, young and old – cohering around messages of #IBelieveHer and #Metoo. The rally at O’Connell Street in Dublin was even bigger. It’s been a harrowing 9 week trial, and it’s raised a lot …

With or without a good deal on Brexit, EU oversight of an all-island economy is looking likely

Brian Walker on March 29, 2018, 11:34 am

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Jim Allister QC is not the only one to spot the potential extension of north-south areas of cooperation under “the backstop”, the notorious Option 3 of the draft Withdrawal Agreement, as Newton Emerson reports. There’s quite a bit more from Professor Dagmar Schiek of Queen’s University and from human rights organisations north and south. With cooperation, authority follows. It is indeed a wonder that the DUP have not reacted more strongly. They seem to be putting their faith in a …

Mary Lou McDonald: Intergovernmental Conference needed, not a shadow Assembly that gives “a veneer of accountability to direct rule”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 26, 2018, 11:02 pm

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Speaking at QUB this evening, Sinn Féin President Mary Lou McDonald once again dismissed the idea of a transitional Assembly during the ongoing political stalemate, saying that it would give “a veneer of accountability to direct rule”. Instead, she said the British Irish Intergovernmental Conference should be convened to “produce … a pathway to bring forward the legislation and resources to secure these rights and implement the agreements”.

Is Northern Ireland dramatically poorer than the Republic?

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on March 26, 2018, 1:58 am

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Before Ireland was partitioned in 1921, the six counties that were to become Northern Ireland were the powerhouse of the Irish economy. Two thirds of Ireland’s manufacturing capacity was in the six counties, Belfast was Ireland’s largest city, and the economy was focused on high value manufacturing, unlike the largely agricultural economy in the rest of the island. Today, the economic situation in the two jurisdictions has flipped. The Republic of Ireland is now one of the world’s richest countries …

Words from Othello, Leonard Cohen for Sean O’Callaghan

Gary Kent on March 23, 2018, 5:23 pm

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Lord (Paul) Bew, a former professor of politics at Queen’s University, Belfast, struck the right note at Sean O’Callaghan’s memorial service in London by citing Othello’s final words in the Shakespeare play. “Soft you; a word or two before you go. I have done the state some service, and they know it. No more of that. I pray you, in your letters, When you shall these unlucky deeds relate, Speak of me as I am. Nothing extenuate, Nor set down …

Fine Gael’s constitutional sloppiness over the institutions of the GFA rooted in domestic concerns?

Mick Fealty on March 23, 2018, 11:09 am

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20130410 GFA 15

One of the effects of the poor networking of knowledge we’re getting at the moment is easily seen in the poor conceptual grasp, first of all, Sinn Fein and latterly Fine Gael, has on the institutional architecture. No matter how many times they repeat it, the BIIC cannot replace Stormont. Newton puts them straight… Last November, when Taoiseach Leo Varadkar first proposed reconvening the conference to address the Stormont crisis, he got this crucial detail wrong, telling the Dáil: “If nothing is devolved, …

The next big Brexit issue- the future rights of EU/Irish citizens in the North

Brian Walker on March 22, 2018, 12:56 pm

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Another big Brexit theme has been overshadowed by the border conundrum – the future of citizens’ rights in Northern Ireland. The contention is that many of these will go unprotected when the UK withdraws from the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the rulings of the EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg, a key UK government aim. The Charter has greater force than the non-EU European Convention on Human Rights which is written into UK law as the Human Rights …

It has to be faced. Brexit will happen. The Irish border problem will not stop it

Brian Walker on March 20, 2018, 11:04 am

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It’s now clear to me that we convinced Remainers must accept that Brexit is going to happen. It will not implode through the weight of its own contradictions. There is no prospect of an alternative government that will halt the process. Yesterday felt like a real turning point. As a result of yesterday’s agreement on the transition period the EU leaders will ratify on Thursday, the UK will remain within the single market and the customs Union beyond the Leave …

Sinn Fein Ard Fheis moved to June

David McCann on March 19, 2018, 6:49 pm

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The Sinn Fein Ard Fheis will be moved from November to June in order to amend the party policy around abortion rights to back the recommendation of the Joint Oireachtas Committee. The Sinn Fein President, Mary Loy McDonald said; “Today I put two proposals to the the Ard Chomhairle. The first was to move the party’s 2018 Ard Fheis from November to June. The second was a motion to go to that Ard Fheis, which would amend party policy in line with …

After brinkmanship, agreement on the transition period, but another fudge on the border. The ” backstop” for Northern Ireland remains

Brian Walker on March 19, 2018, 1:14 pm

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Breaking….. I had just filed a piece below headlined “brinkmanship on the border “ when the Irish Times reported that that the British had agreed to accept a legal draft text containing the “ backstop” option 3 on keeping Northern Ireland in alignment with the EU after Brexit as part of transition terms for exiting the Union. RTE also has the story There is a huge provisio. Both sides want a comprehensive final deal that negates any need for special status …

Brinkmanship on the Border

Brian Walker on March 19, 2018, 12:16 pm

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Another day, another doubt. After a weekend of sherpa preparations for the EU summit on Thursday and Friday, both sides are still unsure they can reach an agreed position by tomorrow night on transition terms and duration for the UK’s departure from the EU. From the Irish Times preview of the David/Barnier meeting, it’s clear that the Irish government neither want nor need to take sole responsibility for imposing a veto on a transition timetable later this week. Irish and …

Senior Irish and British figures mark death of Sean O’Callaghan

Gary Kent on March 19, 2018, 10:03 am

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IRA informer Sean O’Callaghan’s life and legacy will be marked by senior representatives of the British and Irish states on Wednesday. They will be joined by many of his friends in London, where he made his life and from where he gave invaluable advice to David Trimble about how to deal with his former close colleagues in the IRA. The former IRA commander gave the intelligence services in Britain and Ireland vital information about IRA operations and the thinking of …

Dublin not expected to use their “border veto” against a transition deal for the UK

Brian Walker on March 18, 2018, 12:58 pm

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Brexit talks will become more intensive over the next six months and will feature a greater focus in the Irish border, according to the EU side. This week looks likes providing one of those so-called crunch moments when a key Brexit decision is reached in black and white but with grey edges. The UK are hoping for agreement on a transition period longer than December 2020 as currently mooted, during which the UK would pay full EU budgetary contributions. The …

Taking their seats at Westminster would be a high risk U-turn for Sinn Fein

Brian Walker on March 16, 2018, 12:40 pm

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Noel Whelan in the Irish Times today repeats the case for Sinn Fein to take their seats at Westminster – but only after a general election for which the end of abstention would be in their manifesto. This differs from the plea by the Guardian’s Polly Toynbee who recently wrote that ..the taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, ventured to call on the party on Wednesday to take up their six – soon to be seven – Westminster seats “to make things better …

Leo goes to Washington

Larry Donnelly on March 16, 2018, 11:33 am

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The Taoiseach. Leo Varadkar, and his ministerial colleagues landed into the United States this week as the Trump White House is embroiled in turmoil. This St. Patrick’s week isn’t at all that strange, however, in the new, unprecedented political reality ushered in when the American people chose the bombastic billionaire over Hillary Clinton nearly a year and a half ago now. The dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, though it seemed to happen suddenly, has been in the works …