At The Guardian, “Malcolm Tucker” has some appropriate words of welcome for whoever the Labour Party has chosen to be the next Dear Leader… I particularly liked this Diane – I am not at all surprised that you have won living as we do on planet Zarg where people freak for your passive-aggressive hectoring. Up the revolution! M Heh. Pete Baker
The Irish Independent reports the results of a TV3 opinion poll carried out by Millward Brown Lansdowne – the rest of the poll can be read here [pdf file]. Margin of error is 3 percentage points. RTÉ have also picked it up. From the Irish Independent report Compared with the last poll by the same company, published in the Irish Independent in February, Fianna Fail is down five points to 22pc, Fine Gael is down four points to 30pc, and Labour …
They’re at it again in Londonderry, where The Sentinel reports that Sinn Féin MLA Raymond McCartney “has attacked the Ordnance Survey of Ireland for its preference for ‘Londonderry’ over ‘Derry.’” That would be the same place that will be the UK City of Culture in 2013… From The Sentinel report “I have raised this matter directly with Ordnance Survey Ireland and the Minister to which they are responsible, Eamon Ryan TD and made it quite clear that I find it offensive …
That would be the ‘momentum’ of the Ministerial Working Group on the troubled Presbyterian Mutual Society which met, again, yesterday. From the Northern Ireland Secretary of State’s statement Financial Secretary to the Treasury Mark Hoban came to Belfast for the first time in his ministerial role to attend the meeting. Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Owen Paterson MP chaired it. First Minister Peter Robinson, deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, NI Minister for Enterprise Trade and Investment Arlene Foster and Minister of State …
The First and deputy First Ministers continue their evasive response to criticism of their failure to accept their invitation to attend Pope Benedict XVI’s official welcome on the first-ever papal state visit to the UK. One’s clinging to his political psychosis/comfort blanket, the other’s claiming they were double-booked. That’s why you have junior ministers, guys. As for the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister’s claim that he “also [has] some grounds for believing [a Papal visit to Ireland] could happen as soon as 2012”. What grounds would …
With Irish Government bond yields still above 6%, the Finance Minister, Brian Lenihan, has told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that an estimate for the cost of the Anglo Irish Bank bailout will be published by the end of the month. This will “reassure the public and the markets that the costs of restructuring Anglo, while huge, are very manageable,” he told the Oireachtas Finance Committee. We’ll see… Meanwhile, as some are talking up yesterday’s bond auction, the Irish Times‘ Arthur Beesley had …
According to The Guardian report that’s the message US President Barack Obama is sending to the Democrats ahead of the up-coming mid-term congressional elections, as another advisor leaves. From The Guardian report Obama deployed a carrot and stick approach at the three events – a televised town hall meeting and a fundraising dinner in Washington, and a speech to party members in Philadelphia. On the one hand he attempted to assuage Democratic doubts about his administration, but he then went …
The BBC reports that the Northern Ireland First Minister, Peter Robinson, wearing his other hat as leader of the DUP, and out-going UUP leader Reg Empey have jointly written to the Irish government to object to the proposed sale of NI Electricity (NIE) to the state-owned Electricity Supply Board (ESB). NIE is currently owned, through Viridian, by Arcapita, a Bahrain-based bank. A RTÉ report adds It has emerged that Northern Ireland First Minister Peter Robinson and outgoing UUP leader Reg …
In the Irish Times Fintan O’Toole adds his thoughts on Taoiseach Brian Cowen’s under-par performance in that RTÉ radio interview. From the Irish Times If you read the transcript without listening to the voice, Cowen’s interview on Morning Ireland is almost indistinguishable from the one he gave a few days earlier to RTÉ radio’s This Week programme. And that in turn is the same as almost every interview he has given in the last two years. This is not because Cowen …
Worth noting that yesterday Conservative MP, Owen Paterson, became the first Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to attend the All-Ireland Senior Football Final at Croke Park. After the match between Down and Cork, Mr Paterson said: “It was a huge pleasure to be part of this great sporting occasion. “I really appreciated the warm welcome extended to me and Julian King, the British Ambassador to Ireland, from GAA officials and fans. “It shows, once again, how relations between the …
As Alan has noted, Northern Ireland Employment Minister, and out-going UUP Leader, Sir Reg Empey will be attending this year’s meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative [CGI]. Last year the CGI held a special session on Northern Ireland, which the Employment Minister also attended. As did the NI Secretary of State and the Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, along with others from within the NI Executive – and without. But what will the NI Employment Minister report back to the CGI on? Beyond the one-day …
The Irish Times has some interesting quotes from the head of MI5, Jonathan Evans. Worth looking back in the Slugger archive for a reminder of his optimism in 2007. And checking more recently on what the Real IRA had to say. From the Irish Times report Mr Evans said the assumption in 2007 was that the residual threat from terrorism in Northern Ireland was low and likely to decline further as time went on and as the new constitutional arrangements under the …
Nevermind the Presbyterian moderator, at least he’s going to be there. Our own little Process™ might have got a special mention as Pope Benedict XVI arrived in Edinburgh today on his first ever state visit to the UK, but no-one from the Northern Ireland Executive was there to hear it – despite an invitation being sent to the Office of the First and deputy First Ministers. Apparently that’s what happens when you can’t meet the Pope/Queen without meeting the Queen/Pope… Adds An otherwise somewhat unbalanced BBC report notes …
The Guardian carries an exclusive front page interview with the Real IRA – “a series of written answers to the Guardian’s questions”, “the product of several months of contacts through intermediaries who contacted Real IRA members with a view to establishing a link.” Henry McDonald responds to the ‘oxygen of publicity’ argument. The Guardian article contains the Real IRA’s familiar defence of “‘punishment’ shootings and beatings of those they deem ‘antisocial elements’ in nationalist working class areas” – “a last resort to …
What to make of the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister, Sinn Fein’s Conor Murphy’s, apparent declaration of intent over NI Water? Some would argue that the stated objective, of ‘re-nationalisation’ [within Northern Ireland] of the Water Service NI Water, was the main reason behind the ongoing saga. From the BBC report Finance Minister Sammy Wilson criticised Mr Murphy’s proposals as “expensive and unrealistic”. “Bringing Northern Ireland Water back, and he has admitted this himself, into full public ownership would have revenue consequences, making …
There’s been much public posturing from the two main [mandatory] coalition parties here following comments by the Northern Ireland First Minister, the DUP’s Peter Robinson, about the expected cuts in public expenditure. Reported attempts by the deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, to play down suggestions of a split appear to have fallen on deaf, non-Ministerial, ears within his own party. Mark Devenport tells us that DUP sources reckon there’s a difference between the public line being pushed in Sinn …
Somewhat under-reported, as far as I can tell, was the following exchange between Will Crawley and Denis Bradley on Talkback yesterday. [approx 28 mins in] Will Crawley: “But we now have some people, including unionist politicans, saying how can we really seriously and credibly talk about a truth recovery process in dealing with the past when people can simply appeal to memory loss about what happened and their involvement in the past?” Denis Bradley: “Well that’s probably an observation worth exploring, …
The Dissenter takes an interesting tack of his own, inspired (if that is the right word) by the News Letter’s Unionism 2010 series. And in the process he says things that should be of interest to all constitutional camps in Northern Ireland: …the business sector is as much grounded in a dependency culture as the social sector. Nationalists cannot complain about a significant reduction in Northern Ireland’s public sector. If there is to be an all-Islands economy (one of the largest …
Gerry McGeough, last seen in April confronting Gerry Adams, was in court today in the latest stage of his trial on a charge of attempted murder dating back to 1981. McGeough was arrested as he left the count centre after his unsuccesssful run in the 2007 Assembly election. His legal team have made an abuse of process application. UTV notes the charges McGeough, from the Carrycastle Road, Gortmerron Dungannon, is accused of attempting to murder former UDR soldier Samuel Brush, possessing two Colt revolvers used …
While the UUP leadership contest provides the surface focus there’s talk of possible legal challenges to the membership list. The Belfast Telegraph understands many on the list have not paid dues and in some cases missed several deadlines to do so. Letters are to be sent informing individuals they cannot take part in the vote on Wednesday, September 22, despite an amnesty offer by party chairman David Campbell a few months ago. Mr McCrea said: “I can confirm I did formally …
