Negotiations – Page 19 – Slugger O'Toole

Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to talk terms on a minority government…

Mick Fealty on April 9, 2016, 6:49 pm

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Interesting wording from Fine Gael this pm: note the lack a mention of “partnership”… Following exploratory talks this morning, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil negotiating teams have agreed to meet early next week to discuss how a viable minority government would work. I’d mark that down as progress, not least because it now matches the Fianna Fáil leaders wording… “Following exploratory talks today, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have agreed to meet next week to discuss how a viable minority …

A new election would favour no one but Fianna Fáil…

Mick Fealty on April 8, 2016, 6:24 am

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Sarah Bardon in the Irish Times quotes Willie O’Dea… ’ Limerick City TD Willie O’Dea said the people of this country voted to get rid of the outgoing government and the party could not accept any partnership or coalition. He said: “The people who are supporting me and who are asking about my views . . . certainly didn’t contemplate that I would be part of this arrangement which would ultimately involve putting Enda Kenny back as taoiseach and sharing …

The scheme for gathering information on the Troubles ignores the public interest

Brian Walker on January 26, 2016, 12:42 pm

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News is dribbling out about the proposed cumbersomely- named Independent Commission on Information Retrieval on the Past – despite the fact that the proposals for dealing with the Past have not yet been agreed. Even without a flood of confessions from paramilitaries, this body may yet prove to be the most important in a complicated set -up which includes an Oral history archive. In the Newsletter Sam McBride and his headline writer splutter unnecessarily about Martin McGuinness’s role in making …

#FreshStart critics are failing to see the wood for the trees…

Soapbox on November 20, 2015, 11:18 am

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FRESH START: The document isn’t perfect, but it’s better than direct rule and Tory cuts. Its also important to see this document as a base to move forward, this isn’t the end of the negotiations on the economic situation within Ireland.

“Fresh Start” shows that ‘deals’ can be painful, yes. But impossible, certainly not.

Mick Fealty on November 18, 2015, 12:47 pm

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BEYOND BUNKUM: Small changes over time can shift the future a very long way. The trouble is that it takes courage, vision and enormous patience to effect even such small changes. FRESH START was a long time coming. But for now, just agreeing to set a budget may be small change enough.

“The first and deputy first ministers held a private meeting with the prime minister in London..”

Pete Baker on November 7, 2015, 12:31 am

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Back to political reality, because some recent posts have been less than relevant. No names, no pack drill. ANYhoo… As the BBC reports, following the Northern Ireland Secretary of State’s declaration that, “I think it is possible that we could have a deal next week“, the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers, the DUP’s Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, met with the Prime Minister in Downing Street today on Friday 6 November. The BBC reports that There is …

On the political future, the answers are available and lie mainly with ourselves

Brian Walker on October 3, 2015, 1:50 pm

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Yelps of alarm are appearing in the papers as the political talks are poised to enter a third week without signs of resolution. Depression seems to be the order the day. Theresa Villiers reports a big gap remaining between the parties . Jim Downey in the Indo depicts a chronic low intensity crisis which the Republic has ignored and over which it has little leverage More or less quiet”? If you look closely, you can see that the place isn’t …

Adams says “Trust is not a pre-condition for making political progress…”

Mick Fealty on September 22, 2015, 9:55 am

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TRUST FREE ENVIRONMENT: Ernest Hemingway said that “the best way to find out if you can trust somebody is to trust them”. Trust in business is often indicated by credit (ie belief). Currencies have no intrinsic value in and of themselves. We invest in them because our empirical experience rewards our belief. So when Gerry Adams says “trust is not a precondition for making political progress”, what does he mean?

Villiers timetable seems trimmed to get everyone back to work asap…

Mick Fealty on September 19, 2015, 6:10 pm

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VILLIERS PARAMILITARY REVIEW: There are potential snags if Sinn Fein or the DUP don’t like any future assessment or any action which follows. There could be another crisis, but it is hard for Sinn Fein to walk out in protest at a security assessment.

“Sinn Fein has played sectarian politics and failed to acknowledge issues with the Provisionals…”

Mick Fealty on September 14, 2015, 4:46 pm

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MARTIN EXCORIATES SF SECTARIANISM: Huge potential for growth and development in the Border region is being wasted by a neglectful Executive and disinterested governments. Peace, reconciliation and development will be a key part of Fianna Fail’s agenda for the next Dáil.

“the involvement of those Provisional IRA ‘structures’ in the events leading up to, and including, the murder of Kevin McGuigan”

Mick Fealty on September 2, 2015, 3:46 pm

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So, here. With a few notable exceptions, many commentators seem to be struggling with the particulars of the current crisis… For all the inattention of the London Press, the problem hasn’t eluded the Times of London, whose leader today is pretty unambiguous. In the Guardian Mary Dejevsky’s analysis appears to miss some of the more granular political detailing, describing “politics in Northern Ireland as singularly resistant to the ambiguity that oils the wheels of diplomacy”. Her colleague the media critic Roy Greenslade points the finger …

The collapse of the Northern Ireland Assembly can be averted

Brian Walker on August 27, 2015, 10:51 am

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The Ulster Unionists appear to have succumbed to the revulsion many unionists feel at the very idea of sharing power with the spawn of the IRA that most of them have suppressed every day since 1998. The danger now is that they will set off a chain reaction and take the DUP with them. The DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson says the UUP’s move does nothing to support the DUP’s aim to exclude Sinn Fein from the Executive, even if this …

After Greece – where now for Cameron’s negotiating?

Paul Hagan on July 21, 2015, 10:46 am

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Donald Tusk has improved his English lately, which may have something to do with his employing of an Ulster-born speech-writer. The former Prime Minister of Poland took-over from Herman “damp-rag” Van Rompuy as the President of the Council of the EU last year, this was the job once sought by Tony Blair, but no British candidate had been in the picture this time around. Tusk made an executive decision in the early hours of last Sunday morning to cancel the …

Roy Mason, the last to believe in outright IRA defeat

Brian Walker on April 21, 2015, 10:33 am

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Roy Mason who has died aged 91 was Northern Ireland Secretary of State from 1976 to the end of the Labour government in 1979. He was “short in stature and long in self confidence “ as David McKittrick rightly described him. He even designed his own peculiarly vented and lapelled tight fitting light khaki suits. When I last met him a few years ago at the launch of a Northern Ireland stamp, he was eloquent about his collection. He retained heavy police security at …

Well done SDLP for coming out of Sinn Fein’s shadow over the National Crime Agency

Brian Walker on February 4, 2015, 8:36 pm

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With less than a hundred days to go before the general election, the SDLP are to be congratulated for breaking free of Sinn Fein me-too-ism to vote in favour of terms which permit the National Crime Agency to operate fully in Northern Ireland. A clap on the back too for David Ford for bringing long negotiations to a successful outcome . To the outsider admittedly not in full command of the details, the final local accountability arrangements seem little different from what was …

‘Stormont House’ deal demonstrates how limited compromises bring limited wins…

Mick Fealty on December 23, 2014, 6:10 pm

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I’ll leave some of the detail to others to pick through, so some quick (very quick) on the hoof reactions. Sinn Fein (and the SDLP) have pretty much swallowed the Tory austerity agenda whole, and with barely a backward glance to their previous [Unsustainable? – Ed] anti reform agenda. The £1.9 million is recouped mostly from increased loan limits, one-off land sales and the wholesale raiding of capital budgets. Cameron has barely moved on the compensating package. The fines accrued …

On Welfare and the Budget, reality for Stormont is acceptable

Brian Walker on December 20, 2014, 1:42 pm

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Only the rashest observer would claim that s/he has a complete understanding of the complexities of welfare payments and reform and the other details of the negotiations that are said to be reaching a climax. My feeling is that they are less about negotiations and more about accepting realities they can live with. On welfare and other public expenditure issues it hardly came as a surprise that most local politicians – and not only Sinn Fein – at first adopted …

Outsourcing solutions may be the secret of dealing with more than the past

Brian Walker on December 19, 2014, 4:42 pm

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Well, perhaps amid the encircling gloom the political parties have seen some light at last. The details of the agreement on welfare reform are awaited but it looks as if any new money will come from Westminster mainly to deal with the past which is surely fair. Adds: United Executive request for a total of £2.1 billion over 10 years. Quite a gap with David Cameron’s £1 billion extra borrowing.. but perhaps smoke and mirrors will narrow it once the welfare deal surfaces. Nothing from that …

New powers for Scotland threaten constitutional crisis for the UK

Brian Walker on November 29, 2014, 11:37 am

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David Cameron’s claim that the Smith report will create “a stronger Union “ rings hollow when set against his insistence that the case for English votes on English laws is “ unanswerable,” If it means that English MPs should have a veto on any measure they don’t like that a future Labour government proposes, it will create a constitutional crisis . Equally hollow sounding is Scottish Labour’s praise for a good deal from Smith on the transfer of income tax powers …

For Scotland today, idealism like Ireland 1916, or be careful of what you wish for?

Brian Walker on October 23, 2014, 1:46 pm

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Guardian columnist Martin Kettle makes a bold comparison between the generational change in Ireland 1916 and the “energising “ impact of the Scottish independence referendum of 2014. He’s inspired by Roy Foster’s marvellous new book which I’m only just into: “Vivid Faces.” In his review Maurice Hayes quotes Holywood’s Bulmer Hobson who faced house arrest by his own compatriots who feared his dissent from the countermanding order. Those who began the great adventure with high hopes for social and political …