Republic – Page 22 – Slugger O'Toole

Hesitant moves towards Anglo-Irish understanding in the State papers of 30 years ago

Brian Walker on August 1, 2013, 10:54 am

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The release of British State papers for 1983 as reported by John Bew in the Irish Times reveals the rocky road at the beginning of the journey towards the Anglo-Irish agreement of 1985. Thatcher was irritated by FitzGerald’s preachiness as he tried to build some trust after Haughey’s disastrous first administration. While FitzGerald was deeply frustrated by what he regarded as her narrow minded defence of endless Unionist political stonewalling, he detected enough potential flexibility in British official thinking to keep pegging …

How Stands the Republic? Grim verdicts at the MacGill summer school

Brian Walker on July 30, 2013, 5:57 pm

| Readers 71

During a visit to tropical Donegal a couple of weeks ago I picked up from Johnny Boyle in the Highlands Hotel this year’s programme for the Patrick MacGill summer school in Glenties, now just under way. Instead of the usual summer school diet of history, literature and nostalgia, for several years now, in the programme’s own words – “ especially since the sudden and brutal fall of the Celtic Tiger, the MacGill School has focused on reform of the …

Let’s praise David Cameron for creating a brilliant showcase

Brian Walker on June 19, 2013, 5:30 pm

| Readers 39

First of all there was the simple pleasure at Lough Erne looking wonderful, an English friend saying “didn’t Enniskillen look beautiful” and even the rain staying off, mostly. I admit I was chuffed to see Jon Snow presenting lakeside “fresh in from Iran.. on a beautiful Fermanagh evening.” And never mind Obama. Unfashionable as it is to praise any British Prime Minister for anything they do on this island, let’s hear it for David Cameron whose bold and imaginative decision …

If Ireland north and south can commemorate the First World War together, so should the Germans alongside the wartime Allies

Brian Walker on June 12, 2013, 11:03 am

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A piece in the Indy by Matthew Norman on the UK’s plans to commemorate World War 1 has to be read quite carefully to register the satire against the (English) Culture secretary’s smiley moral equivalence approach to the vexed issue of war guilt. Were the Germans the clear aggressors or “were we all to blame?” The subject will never die. In his magisterial “The Sleepwalkers,” written last year the Cambridge historian Christopher Clarke makes the case for shared guilt after an …

End now the old pretence that we want to deal with the past

Brian Walker on May 23, 2013, 11:40 am

| Readers 49

Another conference, another raking over old ground? Perhaps – but the DPP Barra McGrory made an interesting speech at the well-cast transitional justice conference in Belfast. “I think society has got to make a choice. Either it decides now to go down the route, the very difficult route, of determining that we are going to forego the investigation and prosecution of the past in favour of embedding the political institutions or the peace process, or between that and deciding whether …

Flaws in Enda Kenny’s case on abortion exposed as the hierarchy brings out the ex factor

Brian Walker on May 19, 2013, 12:52 pm

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The next Catholic primate of Ireland Archbishop Eamon Martin has told the Sunday Times( £ ) “You cannot regard yourself as a person of faith and support abortion,” Martin said in an interview with The Sunday Times. “You cannot believe you are with your church and directly help someone to procure an abortion. This includes medical professionals and the legislators. If a legislator comes to me and says, ‘Can I be a faithful Catholic and support abortion?’ I would say …

The struggle for abortion and other reform north and south is far from over

Brian Walker on May 4, 2013, 9:17 am

| Readers 50

John O Neill identifies the interesting paradox that while abortion and civil marriage appears to have united north and south Catholic and mainstream Protestant politicians, it’s the all- Ireland parties, above all Sinn Fein or elements of it , that have making the “progressive” case. Not that the advocacy has been clear or consistent, as Slugger posts have lovingly traced. But now, the raging debates have even attracted the attention of the Economist in an article where it identifies the new …

Is demonising Mrs Thatcher over the hunger strike also being laid to rest?

Brian Walker on April 14, 2013, 9:35 pm

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It was said of the republican “long war “ – (was it by Danny Morrison? – if not it ought to have been) – that one death in Britain was worth about 20 – or 100? in Northern Ireland. The corollary is that one of the lessons repeated in the welter of Thatcher press coverage is how little concentrated attention has tended to be paid in Britain to even the worst horrors of our Troubles. In the list of Thatcherite landmarks …

Meath East: We’ve seen it all before

Conor James McKinney on March 29, 2013, 5:04 pm

| Readers 61

Irish by-elections, by and large, are a bit of harmless fun. The outcome rarely influences the balance of forces in parliament, but it gives the voters a chance to give the incumbent party – whatever incumbent party – a good shoeing. Everyone feels better about themselves except whatever hapless candidate has been persuaded to stand by the ruling party. Famously, no government party had won a by-election for 30 years until Patrick Nulty stood under the Labour banner in 2011 – and he was an opposition politician in all but name, remedying even that within a couple of months.

Conor James McKinney

Born and live in London, brought up in Dublin, roots in East Belfast. Occasional blogging at mckinney.me and far more frequent tweets at twitter.com/mckinneytweets.

twitter.com/mckinneytweets

How do Robinson and McGuinness explain their anti- EU stances to Brazilian and other would be overseas investors?

Brian Walker on March 11, 2013, 10:44 am

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The Financial Times (£) have another report warning of possible dire consequences if the UK voted to leave the EU in a 2017 referendum, not least for Ireland north and south. An UK exit from the EU would produce huge complications to cross border trade – you can just imagine trying to put in place bilateral arrangements,” said Steve Aitken, chief executive of the British-Irish Chamber of Commerce. “Businesses don’t recognise the national boundaries that politicians do and are extremely …

Well meaning though it may be, I’m against teaching history to promote a shared identity

Brian Walker on March 7, 2013, 5:21 pm

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The historian Tristram Hunt has given a cautious welcome in the Times to Michael Gove’s controversial plans for the history curriculum in England, (£) a topic I raised last month. This is interesting because Hunt is also a Labour MP and pro-Labour reaction to the Gove proposals was generally hostile. Hunt writes: At the heart of the controversy is the question of Britishness. Critics suggest that in a modern, globalised world, dominated by China and India, it is backward and …

Ireland: Europe’s poster child for austerity or fall guy?

Brian Walker on March 4, 2013, 7:17 pm

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“The plan is working” declares the Taoiseach, in an article above his name in the Irish Times. While I acknowledge that we still have a long way to go, it is clear Ireland is headed in the right direction and there is light at the end of this tunnel .. Other banks have been recapitalised and restructured, with new boards and management teams. The bank guarantee has been ended, some stakes in the banks have been sold, deposits are flowing …

An Irish Borgen?

Brian Walker on February 3, 2013, 11:39 am

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Dyspeptic Scots columnist Kevin McKenna (now where did that name come from?) is so right when he says Scottish politics are too boring to mount a drama like Borgen. But then, Alex might reply that Scotland is not an independent country – yet. Staying glued to Borgen though fits perfectly into Scottish culture. Manfully, I’ve been trying to lower the life expectancy of Borgen fans by preparing for the Saturday night fix thus: watching Soccer AM; grabbing a few Bacardis; …

We could be entering an era of referendum politics. Will it be destructive or creative?

Brian Walker on January 19, 2013, 8:56 pm

| Readers 68

Sinn Fein’s very reason for existing requires that they will call for a border poll during the life time of the 2015-19 Assembly. The tactic is about more than bravado. SF can afford to lose one poll and yet do well enough for another to be called within the prescribed seven years. It might be thought that here is another example of a party refusing to accept the sectarian consequences of their politics. But do not doubt that Sinn Fein …

Memories of 1982, a strange year

Brian Walker on December 31, 2012, 6:49 pm

| Readers 148

According to what’s appeared in the papers, the archives of 1982 have produced few surprises. Perhaps Wally Kirwan’s suggestion of cross border internment put (safely) to Garret FitzGerald comes close but it was never going to happen. The two governments had allowed themselves to be pushed apart by the 1981 hunger strike and a key initiative had been handed to the IRA and Sinn Fein for years. I missed an early chance of enlightenment. After snatching a TV interview with …

A referendum on Irish unity is more likely than you think

Brian Walker on December 15, 2012, 5:37 pm

| Readers 89

The flag riots have shown sectarianism to be as potent as ever while the census may have shown that the old easy equivalence between Protestant/ unionist and Catholic/nationalist has gone. What are we to make of the contradiction? Can we have it both ways: to be dismayed by the upsurge of sectarian violence yet encouraged by the decline in bottom line sectarian identities? Has the trouble been “the spasm of a dying cause”, as Bill Neely put it from comfortable …

Broadcasters’ right to free expression will become more restricted

Brian Walker on December 8, 2012, 12:29 pm

| Readers 40

Here’s a worrying report by Breda O’Brien in the Irish Times which will give RTE and public service broadcasters everywhere a headache. McGuirk, PR consultant and former Libertas communications director (and prolific tweeter himself), recently compiled a list of journalists and producers who tweeted that they were taking part in a pro-choice march, or calling for support for it. He gave up at 37. There were some names associated with RTÉ, and nine from this newspaper (although The Irish Times is …

Peter Robinson will not win over nationalists with gloating like this

Brian Walker on December 3, 2012, 11:10 am

| Readers 57

I know we’ve taken this subject apart before but blame Peter not me for returning to it. His speech to a home crowd welcoming a softening of political attitudes illustrates perfectly what’s defective in his approach. He is guilty of reducing what could be a tentative change in political attitudes requiring respect and real understanding of difference to the tired old zero sum game between unionism and nationalism. This risks hardening attitudes up all over again. And by failing at least …

Spare us a new long game of political numbers

Brian Walker on November 26, 2012, 2:38 pm

| Readers 39

More clearly than before as Mick observes, it is Peter Robinson’s medium term strategy and perhaps his personal legacy to enlist the support of enough Catholics to preserve the Union. But despite the superficial confidence in Peter’s leader’s speech it is loaded with insecurity. He has been forced to recognise the likelihood of an eventual Catholic majority and with it a possible loss of unionist control. While candour in politics is always a good thing, it is unfortunate that he has chosen …

The NI peace process has lessons for Israel and Hamas

Brian Walker on November 22, 2012, 12:47 pm

| Readers 94

Richard Haass President Bush’s envoy to Northern Ireland and now head of a leading foreign affairs advisory board, has a piece in the Financial Times (£) headlined “Israel should learn from Northern Ireland.” The first lessons are not those touted by the former paramilitaries but those learned by the governments. As he has said before, Haass puts Israel in a roughly equivalent role to that of the British government in the peace process. Israel needs to put Hamas to the test. …