Parties – Page 75 – Slugger O'Toole

Portillo to Balls – “Ed: prepare two speeches”

Pete Baker on May 6, 2010, 10:34 am

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At the Guardian’s CommentisFree, Michael Portillo reflects on the prospect of another cabinet minister losing his seat In the last two weeks my name has been in headlines for the first time in years. Will a cabinet minister suffer the humiliation of losing his seat in the full glare of national publicity, as I did in 1997? Will he (oh please, please yes!) endure “a Portillo moment“? My name is now synonymous with eating a bucketload of shit in public. I …

Robinson scores a palpable, if tactical, hit with the Daily Telegraph

Mick Fealty on May 5, 2010, 1:47 pm

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Interesting front page story from my old Daily Telegraph colleagues Rosa Prince and Robert Winnett who may not have accurately read the implications of their story for their paper’s favourite man in the race… Effectively they are saying that Cameron may come to rely on a party they are currently engaged in a life and death struggle with in South Antrim (erm, the day after beating his way through hell, high water and volcanic ash to a part of the …

David Cameron talks to Mallie, with just thirty six hours to go…

Eamonn Mallie on May 4, 2010, 6:10 pm

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Aspiring Prime Minister David Cameron has rubbished a Belfast Telegraph election poll, alleging it was carried out by a lobbying company linked to the Democratic Unionist Party. In a rousing speech to members of Ulster Unionist and Conservative parties David Cameron gallantly boasted of how he braved the elements of nature like young Lochinvar to reach La Mon Hotel for today’s political rally. La Mon Hotel was bombed by the IRA 31 years ago. The Conservative party leader raised the temperature declaring: …

Arthurs’ Challenge to Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007 Ruling Begins

Pete Baker on May 4, 2010, 5:14 pm

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The Irish News reports that “prominent Co Tyrone republican” Brian Arthurs’ legal challenge to the ruling that he should stand trial in a non-jury court, on charges of converting criminal property and obtaining a money transfer by deception, began today. The original case against Arthurs collapsed in August 2008 when the judge ruled that the Public Prosecution Service had failed to provide any evidence to the court. The non-jury trial ruling was made under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007, introduced by …

Gerry Adams: It’s not about the oath

Pete Baker on May 4, 2010, 12:33 pm

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On BBC NI’s Talkback the Sinn Féin president, Gerry Adams, was asked whether, if elected, Sinn Féin candidates would take their seats in Westminster if they didn’t have to take, or affirm, the Parliamentary oath of allegiance. Answer, “No”. There’s a Parliamentary research paper on the history of the oath and Sinn Féin’s legal challenge in 1997 here [pdf file]. The research paper contains a quote from an Irish Times report dated 5 December 1997. Mr Adams said the question of the oath was “a bit …

And so four days out…

Mick Fealty on May 3, 2010, 5:53 pm

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It’s been a weirdly uneventful campaign, on the Irish side of the water. All the action has been over in Britain. But it is precisely because of that action that the outcome in Northern Ireland may be that bit much more important than usual. Realistically, there are only two seats in play: Fermanagh South Tyrone (where, if the raw figures are anything to go by, will be SFs first northern loss for years) and South Antrim (win or lose, Reg …

Quote of the day…

Mick Fealty on May 3, 2010, 2:45 pm

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Heard in Fermanagh South Tyrone… Martin Ferris (TD, Kerry) catches up with Ferghal McKinney and informs him, “You don’t even live in the constituency”… 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

On that Newsletter “Slugger O’Toole” poll…

Mick Fealty on May 3, 2010, 1:11 pm

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For those of you wondering why we got ‘scooped’ on our own poll, as reported on the Newsletter this morning, it’s because it’s not actually our poll. We had been talking to Lucid Talk about running a depth poll in two key constituencies, rather than an 18 constituency wide survey. Bill White, former chair of South Belfast Ulster Unionist Association, who owns LucidTalk, explains below the fold:

Mick 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

Northern Bank robbery – redux

Pete Baker on May 2, 2010, 9:01 pm

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In an under-reported move on Friday, 63 year-old George Hegarty, of Donnybrook Cottages, Douglas, Cork, pleaded guilty to money laundering at his address in February 2005, knowing or believing that the £66,000 Sterling found at his home represented the proceeds of a robbery at the Northern Bank, Belfast in December 2004, or being reckless as to whether that money was or represented such proceeds. As yesterday’s Irish News noted Mr Hegarty was originally arrested in February 2005 at the same time as …

Gormley’s Wire Man not “being progressed”

Pete Baker on May 2, 2010, 2:49 pm

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In January last year the Dublin Docklands Authority stated that although they would “not be proceeding” with Antony Gormley’s Wire Man sculpture at that time, “the project will be kept under review and the Docklands Authority will continue working with the artist and others to progress the design at this stage.” They also confirmed that “the sculpture is an important element of the Docklands Arts Strategy”. Today’s Sunday Times reports that despite assurances to the artist, and DDA spending more than …

Red C Poll: Labour 7 points up, SF 4 points down

Pete Baker on May 1, 2010, 8:11 pm

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The interesting thing to note from the reports of the Red C poll figures for tomorrow’s Sunday Business Post is that the only statistically significant swings appear to be away from Sinn Féin (down 4 points at 6%) and towards the Irish Labour Party (up 7 points at 24%). From the RTÉ report The poll found Fianna Fáil support down one point to 23%, leaving the party in third place just days before the second anniversary of Brian Cowen’s election as Taoiseach. Labour …

Another Sinn Féin councillor resigns from party

Pete Baker on April 30, 2010, 1:58 pm

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The BBC reports that Moyle District Councillor Padraig McShane has resigned from Sinn Féin. From the report In a statement on Friday, he said he was leaving Sinn Fein. But he remained tight lipped about the reason why. He said that his decision followed “certain allegations” which might be taken up by “certain hostile media elements”. “My adjudication on this matter leads me to believe that those hostile elements within the media would use any allegation to attack my party and …

47.4% drop in postal/proxy votes issued

Pete Baker on April 30, 2010, 11:42 am

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The BBC report notes the headline figure but, below the fold, the breakdown by constituency shows massive variations in the reduction in postal and proxy votes issued this year compared to 2005. As the Electoral Office Northern Ireland statement says [pdf file] Almost 1.17 million people will be able to vote at the general election the Electoral Office has announced. Figures published today by the Office also show that the number of people applying for a postal or proxy vote …

Northern Ireland parties give verdicts on PM debate

Pete Baker on April 29, 2010, 11:33 pm

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Most of them… From the BBC report The DUP, the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, the SDLP and Alliance gave a mixed reaction to the debate. TUV and the Green Party also gave their view. Sinn Fein declined to comment. Well, it was a debate about the economy… Pete Baker

de Juana Chaos jumps bail

Pete Baker on April 29, 2010, 2:45 pm

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The BBC reports that convicted ETA killer, Jose Ignacio de Juana Chaos, has jumped bail and may have left Northern Ireland. He had been contesting the Spanish authorities’ attempt to extradite him on a charge of glorifying terrorism. From the BBC report De Juana Chaos, who had been living in west Belfast, was out on bail ahead of an appeal against his extradition. On Thurdsay, High Court judges were told he has not reported to police in Belfast or been …

Sinn Féin’s politics of delusion

Pete Baker on April 29, 2010, 12:50 pm

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Sinn Féin’s response to criticism of their refusal to sit at Westminster in the face of proposed cuts post-election has been to call on all the other parties “to unite with us against the cuts”, and even to press for an increase in the block grant. At the same time the party’s manifesto, along with others, wants fiscal powers devolved and corporation tax reduced – whilst also refusing to agree to the introduction of water charges. Balance those books. The example Gerry Adams …

Quality of education at Gaelscoil na Daroige “inadequate”

Pete Baker on April 28, 2010, 1:50 pm

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The Irish News education correspondent, Simon Doyle, notes that a Northern Ireland Education and Training Inspectorate report has stated that the “quality of provision in Irish and English was inadequate” at a Londonderry Irish-medium primary school which the NI Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitriona Ruane, has twice awarded funding to against the advice of her departmental officials. From the Irish News Ms Ruane approved the first proposal in 2007, but the school never met the necessary intake numbers and was forced to re-apply. The second proposal …

Irish Justice Minister cancels appearance at GRA annual conference

Pete Baker on April 27, 2010, 7:53 pm

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Irish Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern cancelled his scheduled appearance at the Garda Representative Association (GRA) annual conference today after the text of a critical speech to be delivered by the association’s outgoing president, Michael O’Boyce, was circulated. According to the iol report In the speech, Mr O’Boyce was intending to say gardaí and other public sector workers had endured an “unrelenting, distasteful and vitriolic attack from the Government and their wealthy cronies” during the past year and a half. “This was distasteful …

Ford tries to ‘bump’ Long over the line?

Mick Fealty on April 27, 2010, 9:08 am

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I’ve not been able to take politicians forecasts of their own fortunes seriously since Mitchel McLaughlin told me in all seriousness that he was going to win the Foyle seat in 2005. Now David Ford is pushing his candidate in East Belfast as a real possibility for taking a seat, without quite saying that. With Sammy Morse’s warnings against any party (including his own presumably) who relies on canvass returns ringing in my ears, I would say the Alliance party …

FST’s ‘shotgun marriage’ may not cut it for Unionist electorate…

Mick Fealty on April 27, 2010, 8:39 am

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Last week Ben Lowry was asking whether those behind the Unionist unity campaign had taken account of its natural response: nationalist unity? The publication of the High Court’s judgement against Fermanagh District Council won’t help the unity candidate down there. Toals already have the incumbent Michelle Gildernew fractionally ahead of the council’s former CEO Rodney Connor, even though, theoretically, the numbers should add up to slight unionist majority. As I argued back in January, some of form of unionist unity …