As our commenter Warm Storage noted, the 8th IMC Report is now available here Some extracts below the fold.The extract below contains the positive and the negative, on the activities of the PIRA – 3.25 To sum up, the position is not entirely straightforward. We see a number of definite signs of the organisation moving in the direction indicated in the 28 July statement. We see other signs which we would describe as neutral and some which are more disturbing. …
More pre-empting of the response to the IMC report, this time from the Irish government minister for Foreign Affairs, Dermot Ahern, as reported by Dan Keenan and Jamie Smyth in the Irish Times[subs req] – “You can’t expect that when you turn on a light that everything will be rosy in the garden. It would be naive to think that you can do that after 35 years of violence.” Also in the report, Taoiseach Bertie Ahern claims he hasn’t seen …
The Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland, Peter Hain, has put forward two motions for debate in the Commons on 8th February, the first is to reinstate Sinn Féin MP’s parliamentary allowances, the second is to grant the party access to “financial assistance for the party’s representative business”, as availed by other parties, both to be backdated to 1 November 2005 – the text of the motions should be available soon – and UTV has a report of …
The Broom is back!.. after a brief absence [The StrayTaoist again? – Ed].. and on form too.. linking to this Down Democrat response to Sinn Féin’s criticism of their coverage of the Denis Donaldson affair – as noted here and here. In it the Down Democrat makes an important point about such criticism from a political party – “The role of the Press however is to chronicle events and to question authority and to place in the public domain issues …
The NIO Minister for Political Development, David Hanson, has announced the government’s intention to introduce new legislation on the electoral roll and, the issue I’ll highlight in this post, donations to political parties.. the accompanying PDF file, available here, also reveals some of the responses from the political parties themselves.. perhaps most interesting amongst them is the response from Sinn Féin to the proposed increase in transparency around individual donors – page 22 of 25.This is the response from SF …
The row over the proposed new stadium for football, GAA and rugby rumbles on.. today, in the Belfast Telegraph DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson declares his support for the Maze site, the paper also trails tomorrow’s instalment, when the former Assembly Sports Minister, the UUP’s Michael McGimpsey, will put the case against. Meanwhile a seperate, but not unconnected row is emerging – UUP leader Reg Empey is calling for Secretary of State Peter Hain to intervene in the appointments to the …
This is clearly tagged for Sinn Fein in Derry, but it seems that the party is going to re-structure to allow for more bottom up decision making, though the report is very short on detail. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty
According to a reported statement issued by Francie Molloy, the Mid Ulster MLA suspended from Sinn Féin by Mitchel McLaughlin after he called the 7 council model that emerged from the RPA, a model that Sinn Féin declared the party’s support for, “a sectarian headcount” which would be “endorsing gerrymandering”, he is to be re-admiitted to the party on 22 January. The internal affair, as Mitchel McLauglin referred to it, is reported to have been decided at a discplinary meeting …
In case you were wondering where exactly the DUP leader Ian Paisley was when the Secretary of State for Wales and Northern Ireland prepared to engage the reverse gear on the Northern Ireland [Offences] Bill.. wonder no more. The [observant] Levee Breaks has spotted him at the Temple Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennesse [spotted an article about him you mean? – Ed].. as for the question posed by Mr Levee.. perhaps he meant out of Northern Ireland? Pete Baker
He may have bought Gonzo a pint once, but he’s not leader of the Lib Dems anymore.. Charles Kennedy bowed to the inevitable and resigned as the Lib Dem party leader today, despite his previous statement, after his colleagues, excepting Lembit Opik, took turns on just about every current affairs platform to urge him to do just that.. So that’s a new Conservative leader, a soon-to-be new Lib Dem leader [Simon Hughes or Menzies Campbell? – Ed].. and then there’s …
I’m guessing it’s not exactly what the Ulster Unionist MLA David Burnside had in mind when he made his speech to the Young Ulster Unionist Council calling for the UUP to “rejoin the national union structure of Conservative and Unionist Associations”, a speech that occasional Slugger contributor Michael Shilliday used to spark off an interesting discussion on the Young Unionist blog. But yesterday’s Tribune had a brief report suggesting the soon-to-be Lord Trimble may take the Tory whip.. once concern …
of the Conservative Party that is.. David “call me Dave” Cameron, by a 2 to 1 margin of the total number of votes by Conservative Party members.. to the relief of the GNewsBlog’s Oliver King, not to mention his hat. The same as the old boss?.. the Conservatives will be hoping he isn’t. Pete Baker
Via UTV, the Press Association report that Sinn Féin’s Conor Murphy has confirmed that “papers had been lodged in the High Court in London accusing the four-member Independent Monitoring Commission of bias and calling for its reports to date to be declared null and void.” It’s not the first legal action that Sinn Féin have taken against the IMC.. that one was dismissed in the High Court in Belfast. It’s another interesting development ahead of January’s Independent Monitoring Commission report.. …
It’s rare to see a Professor of History prepared to excuse historical amnesia, but in this article on the OpenDemocracy website, Prof Richard English seems to be saying just that, although I’m not sure that those he excuses will be fully supportive. On a similar theme to the previous OpenDemocracy article on Loyalism’s cultural identity, if less detailed, he focuses on the importance of the cultural aspects of identification with Arthur Griffith’s Sinn Féinism and assesses the 21st Century Sinn …
Murmurs of discontent within the Alliance Party following the move by Lisburn City Council to reverse its earlier support for Alliance Party Councillor Seamus Close’s motion to restrict access to the council’s Cherry Room for civil partnerships. The BBC report that two of the three Alliance Party councillors in Lisburn have stepped down from their executive positions in the party – they remain party members – including the Party Chairman and Deputy Mayor of Lisburn, Trevor Lunn, following what he …
UTV are reporting [no word on the SF website] Sinn Féin General Secretary Mitchel McLaughlin’s emphasis on the democratic nature of the disciplinary hearing that the party’s MLA Francie Molloy faces following his repeated assertion that the 7 Councils model, announced by Peter Hain, was a “sectrarian headcount” – the Irish Times cartoonist Martyn Turner picks up that theme today – Meanwhile, in the Belfast Telegraph, Eamonn McCann wonders “whether [his] old friend Mitchel isn’t being a mite foolhardy in …
On BBC Radio Ulster’s Talkback today, Sinn Féin MLA Francie Molloy said he “feels sore” about “being silenced in this way” – referring to his suspension yesterday from Sinn Féin, a move that the party’s general secretary, Mitchell McLaughlin, has taken responsibility for – and said there was a need to work out “how do [SF] members have a voice to represent their electorate”, quoting Gerry Adams saying that “[the party] doesn’t need sheep”. He also stated that, on local …
The BBC are reporting that the Sinn Féin MLA for Mid Ulster Francie Molloy has been suspended from the party, pending a disciplinary hearing, for speaking out, on BBC radio earlier today, against the 7 super councils – as announced by Peter Hain today and officially endorsed by SF. Although the BBC note, in particular, his role as a councillor, Francie Molloy, MLA, is also the current SF Mayor of Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council, as well as previously …
The Newsletter reported this morning (no link) that the UUP has re-established a society at QUB following a four year absence. Michael ShillidayI used to write and get paid, now I read and don’t. Former UUP staffer, currently living in London. @mjshilliday
A subtle, or not so subtle, re-emergence of our favoured analogy for the political processing – Henry McDonald in the Guardian argues that some parties [and not just the ones you may expect] are looking at a longer game than the more optimistic observers may imagine.. and are Waiting for Gordo.. Brown that is. He also takes the opportunity to warn those parties that, with economic reports, such as this one from PriceWaterhouseCooper, pointing to the risks to the economy …
