Northern Ireland – Slugger O'Toole

WATCH: book launch of Padraig O’Malley’s Perils and Prospects of a United Ireland #ImagineBelfast

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 23, 2023, 3:34 pm | Readers 890

Slugger will be streaming this evening’s book launch of Professor Padraig O’Malley latest work – Perils and Prospects of a United Ireland – an event happening as part of the Imagine! Festival of Ideas and Politics. As part of the event, Belfast Telegraph journalist Sam McBride will be talking to O’Malley about his fourth book on the politics of Northern Ireland, with nearly 100 interviews with leaders and commentators reflecting on the social, economic, and political changes afoot in both …

Images of Incoming: exclusion and belonging in Northern Ireland

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on March 10, 2023, 10:11 am | Readers 2286

To coincide with International Women’s Day, the Linen Hall Library hosted an event showcasing a Photovoice project that involved over 70 women from Northern Ireland and Canada, expressing their sense of inclusion and exclusion in their new countries. Dr Federica Ferrieri, the project coordinator, presented a selection of their images and expanded on their captions with themes and subthemes revealed through the work. Ferrieri described the background and framework of the project, which was a partnership between Queen’s University Belfast’s …

The claim that Sunak is overselling is oversold

Brian Walker on March 1, 2023, 1:01 pm | Readers 5223

If you object to any trace of the EU in Northern Ireland future affairs, look away now. Even Lord Frost who delivered the discredited Protocol isn’t quite with you. Sunak’s deal will help he admits “but it’s a bitter pill to swallow”. Whereas Sunak stresses NI ‘s recovery of UK sovereignty, Frost points out reasonably that the deal is so called because it is indeed a framework for applying EU law We are told that 1700 pages of EU law …

The DUP are struggling to find reasons of principle for continuing their Assembly boycott

Brian Walker on February 28, 2023, 6:07 pm | Readers 7948

Photo; The Irish Sea Many unionists are doing what unionists do, poring over a legal text. Not all of them may be clear in their own minds why they’re doing so. Looking for fresh evidence of betrayal or points that need improving? For one, Sam McBride has delivered a glass half empty exposure of Rishi Sunak’s bouncy oversell. The border in the Irish Sea may have been replaced by the green channel but it is alive and well in the …

Book review — Refugees and Forced Displacement in Northern Ireland’s Troubles (Niall GILMARTIN and Brendan Ciarán BROWNE)

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on February 20, 2023, 7:55 am | Readers 1610

Among the imagery associated with the Troubles, occasionally you see one of a van or car overladen with house furniture and hastily assembled parcels of clothing and personal possessions. These people were given enough time to bring some things with them as they were either forced out or no longer felt safe remaining in their homes. These incidents usually get a brief mention in the analysis of the 30-year violent conflict in Northern Ireland, yet in a tone of an …

The Act of Disunion?

Sarah Creighton on February 11, 2023, 11:42 am | Readers 8209

The latest ruling from the Supreme Court should surprise no-one. The justices affirmed previous precedent and confirmed what was obvious: the Protocol was lawfully implemented. Since the ruling, there have been calls to ditch the Good Friday Agreement. Anti- Agreement unionists say the consent principle isn’t worth the paper it’s written on because it didn’t stop the Protocol If the Agreement should go because it’s useless, what does that say about the Act of Union? In its ruling, the Supreme …

Offer of help with truth recovery process at Irish Council of Churches centenary service

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on January 24, 2023, 12:03 pm | Readers 1380

The Irish Council of Churches (ICC) — an all-island body with membership from Protestant, Orthodox, Reformed, and independent church traditions — marked its centenary with a joint service of worship at St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast. With the theme of “Celebrating our Reconciling Vision of Hope”, the special service also marked the 50th anniversary of the Ballymascanlon Talks, which led to the establishment of the Irish Inter-Church Meeting (IICM), the means by which the ICC continues to engage and collaborate with …

Rather than keep slagging off the DUP over the Protocol, let’s recognise their better points

Brian Walker on January 23, 2023, 4:40 pm | Readers 7301

Nerves on all sides are stretched like skins on a drum waiting to see what emerges from the forthcoming Protocol negotiations. Every cautious word is parsed and construed for signs of progress or the lack of it. Make no mistake a big push is on for a positive outcome on two fronts; to end the deadlock in the relations between the UK and EU and to come up with enough to restore the DUP to the Assembly. Never mind the …

‘Ordinary People’: an exhibition of standing up to hatred

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on January 21, 2023, 6:36 pm | Readers 943

“It’s the farmer in the field, and the pilot that he finds, Hides him in his barn, till all his wounds have healed. Or the baker making extra bread, to give a starving man, Or people helping people, who they’ll never see again.” The poem, “The Ordinary People”, by Sharon Kerr, is one of the dozens of items on display at an exhibition at Bangor Carnegie Library, to mark Holocaust Memorial Day 2023, remembering the millions killed in the Holocaust …

The long and winding road to dealing with the past stretches ahead at Westminster. Will it turn out to be a dead end?

Brian Walker on November 28, 2022, 5:00 pm | Readers 3292

All Northern Ireland parties and groups including victims are united on one thing. They are opposed to the UK government’s NI Troubles, (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill. Nevertheless the Bill began its long passage to become law – or not –in the House of Lords last Wednesday. The Lords debate presents a good opportunity to air the issues in one place in this lengthy post. A vote will eventually be held on whether to recommend scrapping the Bill entirely or heavily …

Slugger Podcast looks at the State of the State

David McCann on November 11, 2022, 12:45 pm | Readers 1096

Powered by RedCircle The Slugger Podcast is back! In this episode, we are looking at the State of the State report which surveys the attitudes and opinions of sector leaders and the public about how they think things are going in the UK. we speak with Ed Roddis, Head of Public Sector Research and Marie Doyle, Partner at Deloitte This report is published by Deloitte, which surveys these attitudes every year. The research includes a survey by Ipsos UK of …

The British and Irish governments mustn’t mess about. Time for Direct Rule by whatever name with Dublin support to tackle the cost of living crisis and move on to Assembly reform

Brian Walker on October 27, 2022, 2:05 pm | Readers 8332

We are teetering on a cliff edge of absurdity about calling an Assembly election “ nobody wants. ” From the DUP viewpoint Peter Robinson brilliantly describes the contradictions in every party’s position except his own. He might have added that it was Chris Heaton Harris and his cronies in the ERG who more than any other faction got us into this trouble in the first place by championing a Withdrawal Agreement with the Protocol attached under frankly false pretences. The …

Good Friday Agreement ‘best thing that’s happened on this island in the last 100 years’: Coveney

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on October 26, 2022, 2:08 pm | Readers 3720

Minister Simon Coveney TD, Ireland Minister for Foreign Affairs, resumed his speech that was interrupted by a bomb scare earlier this year in north Belfast. He was the keynote speaker guest as part of a series of seminars, “Building Common Ground”, organised by the John & Pat Hume Foundation for Peaceful Change and Reconciliation. After Minister Coveney’s address, there was a facilitated discussion with Claire Sugden MLA, a former Justice Minister. Father Gary Donegan reminded the audience that the event venue, the Houben Centre, is …

Media’s role in mediating our ‘different psychic landscapes’

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on October 22, 2022, 11:58 am | Readers 940

A set of current and former journalists shared their experiences and thoughts on the role of media and social debate across the island of Ireland. Hosted by the Irish Association, the event “Journalism without borders” attracted several dozen, including other journalists and commentators. The discussion explored what we think the public knows about society on both sides of the border, and why or why not that is the case. Indeed, Stephen Douds (president of the Irish Association) explained in his introduction a motivation …

The political class will have to work hard to prevent Northern Ireland coming off worse in the UK government meltdown

Brian Walker on October 14, 2022, 1:57 pm | Readers 6191

As we treasure long memories in this distinguished forum, I offer 1973-4 as the nearest parallel to the meltdown in government we face today. In the UK as a whole the miner’s strike in 1973 produced power cuts and a three day working week. Four months into ’74. Northern Ireland suffered its own exclusive version of power cuts all over again in the UWC strike, a loyalist revolt against the first fragile power sharing Executive that had been set up …

The pennies are dropping: the UK government are starting to face reality over their mini Budget and restoring the Executive

Brian Walker on October 3, 2022, 8:53 am | Readers 6329

By far the most important immediate question for Northern Ireland is how to prevent the constitutional question dominating politics even more than before, at the expense of delivering government for the people. Apart from threatening an Assembly election that would only increase instability, the British government has largely disqualified itself from influencing events in favour of a standoff over the Protocol, a problem they had exclusively had created. Beyond formal courtesies the vital essential relationship with the Republic went into …

Do they reelly, reelly want it? A reflection on “Ireland’s Future”

Brian Walker on October 2, 2022, 8:06 pm | Readers 3163

Not only in Dublin at the weekend but for the whole series of conferences on Ireland’s Future, the aims are first, to add momentum to the eventual creation of a United Ireland by convening a Citizens’ Assembly ; and two, to come up with a generous offer of unity unionists can’t refuse – in both senses ; impossible to refuse because so attractive, (the smiley version) and (hint of rough stuff) because the numbers of nationalists North and south would …

Peace Heroines: Spotlight on Stormont

Allan LEONARD (Mr Ulster) on September 29, 2022, 4:42 pm | Readers 1175

The Herstory project, established in 2016 to elevate the stories of women in national histories, launched an art exhibition at the Long Gallery in Parliament Buildings, Belfast. “Peace Heroines” features nine vibrant, largescale individual portrait paintings by artist FRIZ — women who have made an indelible mark on the Northern Ireland peace process, including Monica McWilliams, Pearl Sagar, Linda Ervine, Pat Hume, May Blood, Ann Carr, and Saidie Patterson. Several took part in an event discussion with Herstory creative director, Melanie Lynch. After …

Are border poll criteria an excuse for procrastination ?

Brendan Heading on September 25, 2022, 4:05 pm | Readers 4631

Peter Kyle, shadow Secretary of State

This morning, on the BBC’s Sunday Politics, Shadow Secretary of State Peter Kyle made some comments during a brief interview with the BBC’s Darran Marshall on the question of the criteria to call a border poll (iplayer : interview begins at approx 18:45) which seems to have generated a frisson of excitement. The salient part of the interview is reproduced below, with my emphasis. DM : I want to talk to you about the constitutional position now. Do you think …

Houses of sand: Unionism has a problem with younger voters. A huge one.

Sarah Creighton on September 24, 2022, 9:50 am | Readers 10072

Whither the union. I find myself becoming weary as I write this. Articles about the demise of the union, about unionist malaise and mistakes, are so common these days that they all sound the same. I stopped writing them at one point because I had nothing new to add. Even now, people write these pieces with a weird air of arrogance. They want you to know that they and they alone have figured out that unionism is in a difficult …