Parties

A tiny insight into how Sinn Fein MLAs make their huge donations to the party?

Mick Fealty on February 17, 2016, 9:18 am

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If you missed this, it’s worth noting in passing… Fermanagh-South Tyrone MLA Phil Flanagan told the High Court last week that he gets to keep only £2,000 a month of his £48,000-a-year assembly salary and that people within Sinn Féin “have access” to his bank account. Mr Flanagan made the claim to support his case for not having enough money to pay substantial libel damages to former Ulster Unionist leader Tom Elliott. The Sinn Féin MLA is challenging Stormont’s former …

NI Assembly Commission misleads the Assembly, and the public

Pete Baker on February 15, 2016, 3:20 pm

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When the BBC reported the Northern Ireland Assembly Commission’s written answers to some ‘stupid’ questions from TUV leader Jim Allister on Friday they used the headline “Sinn Féin MLAs who claimed almost £700,000 in expenses ‘did nothing wrong‘”. There was also a report broadcast, “Sinn Féin cleared in expenses investigation“. The NI Assembly Commission is chaired by the Speaker, currently Sinn Féin’s Mitchel McLaughlin, and consists of one MLA from each of the Executive parties – who have a vote …

On the dire circumstance of politicians as ‘wee boys just minding the shop’…

Mick Fealty on February 10, 2016, 2:48 pm

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I think Alex is annoyed… I don’t expect the Executive parties to like each other. Heavens, I’m well aware that half the members of one party don’t actually like the other half of their own party! But I expect them to respect each other enough to govern together. It’s what they signed up to do in 1998 and what the DUP and Sinn Fein signed up to do in 2007 and again with the Fresh Start agreement a few months …

Eastwood: A new North doesn’t mean an economy based on smuggling of diesel, cigarettes or waste.

Soapbox on February 8, 2016, 2:35 pm

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SPREAD OUT TO COME TOGETHER: Colum Eastwood argues that rhetoric will not tear down the border or even put a dent in it. Everyone, he argues, unionist, nationalist and the many who now don’t subscribe to either, require a much fuller idea of what is meant and imagined within the context of a New Ireland.

High Court awards Elliot £48,750 damages [plus costs] for Flanagan libel

Pete Baker on February 3, 2016, 12:24 pm

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Whilst waiting for the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle to ratify his re-selection as a candidate in Fermanagh/South Tyrone, at the second time of trying, notorious tweeter Phil Flanagan, MLA, has discovered the cost of his “grossly defamatory” libel against former UUP leader, Tom Elliot, then MLA, now MP for FST. As the BBC reports The High Court in Belfast has awarded almost £50k in damages to a former Ulster Unionist leader over a defamatory message posted on Twitter. Mr Justice Stephens …

Phil Flanangan re-selected in re-run convention, Michelle Gildernew not so much…

Pete Baker on February 1, 2016, 1:08 am

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David noted the result of the re-run Sinn Féin selection convention for Fermanagh/South Tyrone. But, interestingly, given the allegation of unaccounted-for additional votes for Michelle Gildernew in the first selection convention [see comment zone] which promoted her above Phil Flanagan at the time, that re-run has seen notorious tweeter Phil Flanagan re-selected by the party, along with fellow sitting MLA Sean Lynch, and Councillor Sean Feeley. Neither the renewed candidate Bronwyn McGahan, MLA, nor former MLA, former MP, and current member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle, …

Second Chance at Re-Selection for Sinn Féin’s Phil Flanagan – Updated

Pete Baker on January 30, 2016, 3:54 pm

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Sinn Féin’s other notorious tweeter, Phil Flanagan, MLA, may be facing a sizeable bill for libelling the UUP’s Tom Elliot, but the party’s central office has given him a second chance at continuing his political career. He was deselected by his party constituency organisation on 13 December last year, but earlier this month the party’s Ard Chomhairle decided to re-run the selection process in Fermanagh/South Tyrone. On 22 January, The Impartial Reporter noted Mr. Flanagan refused to comment when contacted by this newspaper, …

The biggest losers in failing to come clean on the past is the reputation and authority of the state and its servants.

Brian Walker on January 28, 2016, 12:24 pm

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You don’t have to be a transitional justice zealot or a Provie fellow traveller to recognise that the heat is on the British government, the police and security authorities over dealing with the past. You can be a judge like Lord Justice Weir blasting the police and indirectly the government for the inordinate delays in producing inquest evidence, now that high court judges have taken over the coroner’s service. You only need to be a supporter the DUP or TUV, …

#GE16 Guide to Limerick City: Intense battle amongst the Left for the final seat…

Statler and Waldorf on January 26, 2016, 11:11 am

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Limerick City Current TDs Minister Jan O’Sullivan (Labour), Minister Michael Noonan (Fine Gael), Kieran O’Donnell (Fine Gael), Willie O’Dea (Fianna Fáil) Total seats in 2016 General Election: 4 Main Areas: Limerick City West Electoral Area (7 seats) includes Dooradoyle, Ballinacurra, Clarina Limerick City North Electoral Area (6 seats) includes Moyross, Monaleen, Farranshone & The island Limerick City East Electoral Area (8 Seats) includes City Centre, Castleconnell, Castletroy, Monaleen & Annacotty Part of the Cappamore-Kilmallock Electoral Area (3 seat equivalent) includes Doon, …

Martin McGuinness switches back to run for the City he’s never left…

Mick Fealty on January 22, 2016, 10:30 am

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RETURN OF THE NATIVE: Mr McGuinness comes back to represent a constituency he never actually left, seeking to pressurise the SDLP machine – who need to defend three seats against both Sinn Fein and People Before Profit candidates – in hopes of weakening its efforts elsewhere.

Fianna Fáil will campaign against #Brexit in NI regardless of the outcome of #GE16…

Mick Fealty on January 20, 2016, 10:59 am

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BORDER HOP: Micheal Martin told the Dail yesterday, that it is Fianna Fáil’s intention to lay out the case in Northern Ireland for it to remain as part of the European Union, and that “the case for Northern Ireland remaining is overwhelming and we should not and will not be silent in the campaign”.

Fine Gael’s #GE16 pre-campaign campaign does not augur well for the real thing…

Derek Mooney on January 15, 2016, 4:55 pm

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MORE DAVRO THAN BERTIE: This is now a zero sum game. Loss of ground by Fine Gael over the campaign will automatically translate into a Fianna Fáil gain. Fianna Fáil will have to make its own ground in this one and will need to land some hefty punches on Enda, Leo, Michael and Simon. It cannot depend on Enda and Fine Gael to just lose it.

NI Assembly Insurers Refuse to Cover Sinn Féin’s Phil Flanagan for Compensation and Costs Awarded in Tom Elliot Libel Case

Pete Baker on January 9, 2016, 8:48 pm

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It’s worth noting to begin with that that refusal is in accordance with advice given to Jack Peel, Deputy Head of Finance, NI Assembly in March 2011 by Karen McLaverty, Vice President, Marsh Ltd, who provide the Assembly insurance broking and risk management services. Nineteen months after libelling the former UUP leader, Tom Elliot, then an MLA, now MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone [since May 2015], the recently deselected Sinn Féin MLA, Phil Flanagan, appeared in Belfast High Court yesterday where he recognised the …

US President Bill Clinton: “We’ve all taken our licks for Gerry”.

Pete Baker on January 7, 2016, 4:06 pm

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The BBC’s freedom of information specialist, Martin Rosenbaum, has been reading through transcripts of calls and meetings between US President Bill Clinton and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, between 1997 and 2000, which were released following a BBC freedom of information request to the Clinton Presidential Library. As he notes, [The transcripts] contain substantial redactions, especially of Mr Blair’s remarks… From the BBC report Much of their discussion was about the Northern Ireland peace process, in which President Clinton played a significant part. …

#GE16 is shaping up to be a three (and 4/3) horse race…

Mick Fealty on January 7, 2016, 7:07 am

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ELECTION 2016 (I): A grand coalition is unlikely. FF’s messages may be fuzzy and narrative unclear, but the machine is in working order with good candidates coming through. FG may have to patch up Labour, Renua, the Soc Dems and/or the rag bag independent rest. Or, they might just have do it all on their own.

Renua Ireland launches General Election manifesto

Pete Baker on January 4, 2016, 11:46 pm

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[One of] Ireland’s newest political party parties, Renua Ireland, launched its general election manifesto today, and revealed its 18 candidates. The RTÉ report focuses on the proposal for a flat rate of income tax at 23%, and the party leader Lucinda Creighton’s bid for the party as a future coalition partner. Ms Creighton claimed no party would have a clear-cut majority after the election and the question voters had to ask was “who would be their watchdog in government?”. She insisted …

Corbyn is not Labour’s real headache, Labour is…

Mick Fealty on December 16, 2015, 6:31 am

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Just putting this here… In general, the paradox is that the political argument for [Scottish] independence is perhaps even stronger than it was a year ago but the economic argument, a weakness even in 2014, is incontrovertibly weaker than it was 12 months ago. No-one is much thinking about that right now but at some point some nationalists are going to have devote some thought to these matters. At some point the Labour party is going to have to come to …

Arlene Foster as leader would challenge some cherished media narratives…

Mick Fealty on December 8, 2015, 3:16 pm

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LADY’S DAY: Only the second major Northern Irish party leader and a former UUPer, Arlene Foster’s rise runs counter to a long favoured analysis in the NI political media that the DUP consists mostly of a few modernisers living in fear of backwoodsmen. That’s a myth that will be harder to sustain under Foster than it was under Robinson.

Ireland – The Politics of Consensus and Spoof

Johnny Fallon on December 2, 2015, 12:38 pm

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Is consensus politics choking the Irish system? Freelance journalist Feidhlim ó Broin makes the case Much has been written recently about the steady rise of Fine Gael in the polls, about the nascent economic recovery and the construction of a new, progressive, modern Republic. Indeed, Ireland’s political parties illustrate this new order. Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Fein and the Labour Party agree on practically everything from European Policy, the need for a more liberal abortion regime, to crime and …

Coalition politics of necessity can make liars of everyone…

Mick Fealty on November 30, 2015, 1:54 pm

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Nice story from Noel Whelan pointing out that whatever parties say now about what their position will be after the next election, complicated electoral mathematics will exert its own power when the time comes… Labour spent the first two weeks after the 1992 election teasing out coalition prospects with the other parties. When these efforts did not go well Spring met Reynolds for exploratory talks on December 13th, 1992. On December 14th, the Dáil met for the first time after …