Ireland – Page 36 – Slugger O'Toole

Best Irish & Northern Irish Podcasts of 2017

Claire Mitchell on December 27, 2017, 5:55 pm

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I’ve been making ‘top ten podcasts of the year’ for ages now. But there’s hardly ever been anything Irish on it. Because, to be honest, it’s been slim pickings. And the American and BBC stuff was miles ahead. But something has changed. The audio revolution has hit Ireland. And to some extent, even Northern Ireland… And it’s brilliant! People are making amazing stories and sharing alternative perspectives, in our own accents, with our own reference points. Often with our own …

Ireland and Europe: how Rugby could provide a very positive story in 2018…

ItwasSammyMcNally on December 21, 2017, 10:10 am

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The European club championships have now closed down until the new year. Rounds 3 & 4, played over the weekends of 9th and the 16th December, saw all 4 Irish provinces win for the 2nd weekend in a row. Leinster, Munster and Ulster (listed in alphabetical order) are all now well placed in their groups to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions Cup, with Connacht likewise well placed in the Challenge Cup. Since the European Cup started in …

Sean Gallagher successfully sues RTE to protect reputation and “the integrity of the democratic process…”

Mick Fealty on December 20, 2017, 1:38 pm

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So RTE has found out the hard way that social media is a dangerous place. It was known as the bogus tweet at the time, now it’s plain old #FakeNews. On Monday, October 24th 2011, as the last week of the Presidential election began, Harry McGee notes that …weekend opinion polls gave the former Dragons’ Den panellist (Sean Gallagher) a commanding lead: 43 percent support compared to 26 percent for his nearest rival, Michael D Higgins of Labour. RTE’s mistake …

Time for Fianna Fáil to end its northern election taboo?

Daithi McKay on December 18, 2017, 8:43 am

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The Sunday Business Post reported yesterday that Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin is “delaying his decision on whether to run candidates in the North” amid concerns in the party about the impact of Brexit. It’s nearly four years since the party called for active and serious participating and engagement in the political process in the North and decided that “…the party should begin fielding candidates for election there for 2019“. To make any meaningful impact on the elections to the 11 …

Coveney says there is a need to repair relations with the DUP

David McCann on December 17, 2017, 1:50 pm

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Government needs to repair relationship with the DUP – Tánaiste @simoncoveney tells #twip pic.twitter.com/KGnv3gxOqj — The Week in Politics (@rtetwip) December 17, 2017 This comes after the Fianna Fail Leader, Michael Martin raised some concerns about the Irish governments strategy in an interview with JOE.ie; The problem with, what Martin calls the government’s “megaphone diplomacy” and the “weakening of the back channels between the leaders of Ireland and the UK”, is that the government is playing well at home but …

The Unfreemaning of Bob Geldof from the City of Dublin…

Mick Fealty on December 17, 2017, 7:30 am

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Fascinating conversation in council last week on whether Bob Geldof should lose his Freedom the City status, because, well, he handed to them, so they calculated that they have no choice but to accept it and strike him from the record. Formally, you can see the Lord Mayor and the CEO are being procedurally correct. But Cllr Paul McAuliffe points out outside the public conversation, there is no record of the conversation between Geldof and council officials. From Bob’s point …

“The prospect written between the lines of this week’s letter is of Sinn Féin sidelining itself….”

Mick Fealty on December 14, 2017, 2:22 pm

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I Newton Emerson points out the irony of that letter Chris blogged the other day, signed by 200 members of nationalist civil society. “We appeal urgently to you Taoiseach,” it concludes, “and to the Irish Government, to reassure us of your commitment to stand for equality and a human-rights based society and your determination to secure and protect the rights of all citizens in the North of Ireland. ” Varadkar’s office responded promptly by saying the way to address these issues …

Time to look past this ‘dodgy’ Brexit to the material reality of how politics actually works

Mick Fealty on December 12, 2017, 8:54 am

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One of the remarkable things about Friday’s conclusion to the Phase 1 talks is just how happy everyone seems to have been. Either some or all parties are going to be disappointed as we go forward, or we are on for the blandest version of what Guido used to call a non-Brexit. What actually happened is that the Real British position was finally brought to the surface, after months of wild propagandising in favour of a ‘hard Brexit’, which in retrospect looks …

Decision time for Dáil Committee on abortion reform

Daithi McKay on December 12, 2017, 8:37 am

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The Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment is set to recommend a straight repeal of Article 40.3.3 when it considers its final report on Wednesday. The Committee has 21 members and 12 are already on the record as saying that the removal of the clause should be recommended by the group. There might also be a majority in favour of recommending that abortion be freely available and without restriction for up to 12 weeks gestation. According to the Sunday TImes …

Proceed to Phase Two. All systems go for Brexit?

Soapbox on December 9, 2017, 7:05 am

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All these competing visions of Brexit cannot be accommodated within the framework taking shape at this stage, which suggests a ‘softer’ outcome than desired by some. 

Unionist assurances come with a sacrifice of certainty…

Mick Fealty on December 8, 2017, 6:00 pm

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Amidst all the hype, some reality from Irish Times veteran, Paddy Smith… The Northern Ireland provisions of the agreement signed on Friday morning between the European Commission and the UK sacrifice a degree of certainty about how the frictionless Border will be sustained for reassurances to the unionist community that they will not be treated apart from the rest of the UK. Unless, that is, the UK achieves its objective in the trade talks of securing a free trade agreement …

I return your seasonal greeting card with contempt…

Brian O'Neill on December 8, 2017, 4:22 pm

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Came across this seasonal gem via Reddit and the Irish Times: “I return your seasonal greeting card with contempt. May your hypocritical words choke you and may they choke you early in the New Year, rather than later.” Prof Kennedy Lindsay, a Vanguard member of the Northern Ireland Assembly, returning a Christmas card from then minister for foreign affairs, Garret FitzGerald, as reported in The Irish Times I confess I had never heard of the good Professor but having a read …

Polling Matters: What do the DUP want?

Mick Fealty on December 8, 2017, 7:37 am

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Myself and Kieran Pedley chunking through the various polls and issues around the DUP and Brexit. What we didn’t anticipate was the very swift conclusion of Phase 1 talks. I’ve outlined three things they want: a frictionless border; best possible trade deal with Europe (a key aid to the first); and the U.K. (including NI) to be free to strike its own trade deals particularly with the developing world outwith the EU. This last is why the argument over terms …

“The fact that all of the other parties in the Dáil rallied around to wave the green flag on Tuesday demonstrates not that the Government got it right but that it successfully pandered to populist sentiment”

Pete Baker on December 7, 2017, 7:28 pm

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In the Irish Times, Stephen Collins on the risks involved in the Irish Government’s public positioning over the ongoing Brexit negotiations. From the Irish Times article The British government and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) are the ones primarily responsible for Monday’s debacle, but the Irish Government didn’t exactly cover itself in glory. The way Tánaiste Simon Coveney jumped the gun with a premature radio interview on Monday morning and the subsequent mood music suggesting that the Irish side had …

Fine Gael benefit from their #Brexit hardball game…

Mick Fealty on December 7, 2017, 4:23 pm

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Here’s what the aggressive stance on the EU negotiations in general, and the DUP in particular has been all about. And it looks like its been working. This polling for the Irish Times was conducted last Monday. For once, it’s a statistically significant change, with FF definitely getting the worst of it… The poll, which was taken this week while the row over the breakdown of Brexit negotiations was raging, shows that Fine Gael has gained five points since the …

Lucid Talk poll shows support for special status & strong support for the DUP & Sinn Fein

David McCann on December 7, 2017, 4:13 pm

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Lucid Talk released a poll today (commissioned by the GUE/NGL group in the EU Parliament). They have some really interesting findings. Broken down into those who identify as Unionist or Nationalists; Another interesting statistic from the poll is the current levels of party support in Northern Ireland (Good news for the DUP & Sinn Fein); Some Thoughts Obviously it’s one poll and the usual caveats apply about a simple snap shot in time. The level of support for Irish reunification …

May suggestion that Phase One can roll into Phase Two is not compliant with A50…

Mick Fealty on December 6, 2017, 9:46 pm

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Interesting development, coming in on the heel of the news that the British PM failed to share with the DUP, turns out that no only has Mrs May not told Mrs Foster what she was planning, she also has yet to discuss the matter of what sort of Brexit she wants with the Cabinet. That suggests she’s going to have major problems hammering this together. More concerning from an Irish point of view, she seems to think that “nothing is …

“ambiguity… appears to have led Dublin and Brussels to interpret it as a maximalist position, while the DUP believed or were led to believe that it would or could be minimalist.”

Pete Baker on December 6, 2017, 4:52 pm

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The parlous state of the Brexit negotiations has been generating more than the usual level of idle speculation, and arrant nonsense. [Including on Slugger? – Ed] No names, no pack drill… But there are some intelligent points being made, in some places, which are worth keeping in mind – if you are actually thinking about these things. Like other, usually reliable, observers, The News Letter’s Sam McBride, whilst initially a little puzzled by Monday’s developments, offered a coherent scenario yesterday. …

Brexit is the definition of a national issue, but we must listen to what Unionists are telling us

Mick Fealty on December 6, 2017, 1:51 pm

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Stephen Donnelly in an interview on RTE yesterday at lunchtime, who said that whilst he is happy with the draft deal on the table over the border – Brexit, he says, is the very definition of a national issue – but we must listen to what Unionists are saying about Dublin’s tone. He points out that gaps were opening up because of a lack of back-channel contacts between the government in Dublin and the DUP’s own backroom teams: no one on …

Foster says DUP only saw text of a proposed deal on late Monday morning

David McCann on December 5, 2017, 9:48 pm

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David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs