Via Newshound. Interesting view-point from Kevin Myers on The Process™ and the ‘price of peace’. Room too for some archival links – on Gerry Adams, “armed struggle” was “necessary”, MI5 and the back-channel, and the US government’s role in the latter part of that Process™. Read the whole thing. For the peace process was solely about ensuring the IRA never bombed London again; and as far as MI5 – the prime movers of the peace process – was concerned, the …
The ripples from the evidence to the Mahon Tribunal last week seem to be unsettling the coalition. Both John Gormley, of the Green Party, and Mary Harney, from the PDs, have called on Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to clarify his account. Another Minister of State, Bertie Noel Ahern, disagrees. More from Cian at Irish Election. Pete Baker
Across Europe, there are nationalisms of many different types. In Britain as in Ireland finding the weight of a new citizenship is proving tough and in complicated by ‘red in tooth and claw’ politics: whether Bertie’s ill-fated attempt to get a national debate off the ground around any future implementation of Schengen and what it might ask of national consciousness in the Republic; or the political intriguing around Brown’s attempts to get a sane discussion going on the ever vexed …
Simon at Irish Election wonders whether this is “the smoking gun?” We’ll have to wait to see whether Taoiseach Bertie Ahern can square the apparent circle between his previous account and the latest evidence to the Mahon Tribunal – his lawyer yesterday said he needed time to consult with Mr Ahern before responding. To date, accounting has not been one of the Republic of Ireland’s former Finance Minister’s stronger points.. The Irish Times frontpage report notes the latest discrepancy The …
It’s three years since the discovery of £2.3million in sterling in a bin at his home in Cork and, as noted in this report, two years since the submission of a file to the DPP. Today Ted Cunningham has been arrested again and is reportedly due to be charged with money-laundering. A second man is also facing charges. From the BBC report A garda spokesman said the two men would be facing separate charges, with only one charged with money …
The President of the Republic of Ireland, Mary McAleese, has echoed Taoiseach Bertie Ahern by linking a visit by the Queen there to the devolution of policing and justice powers here. From the BBC report “We know that it is dependent on the completion of devolution, which hopefully will not be too far away. We had hoped that would be May.” Mrs McAleese said: “We are not entirely sure what the time scale is. We hope it will keep closely …
Of the eleven men arrested at the weekend over ongoing investigations into paramilitary activity, the four BBC journalists were released without charge, three other men have been released from custody – that report previous added that files would be sent to the DPP – and the remaining four men will appear at the Republic of Ireland’s Special Criminal Court later today. Adds From a short Irish Times report All four men have addresses in Derry city in Northern Ireland. They …
While Taoiseach Bertie Ahern et al were in Washington yesterday, handing over another “lovely bowl”, he took the opportunity to finally agree with the Republic of Ireland’s Minister of Justice, Brian Lenihan – “Amnesty or regularisation, in my view, undermines the system of legal migration.” As the Irish Times frontpage report states [no subs req] Mr Ahern said he wanted to be “honest about these things” with the undocumented Irish in the US, who could number between 3,000 and 20,000. …
Seriously. None whatsoever. I had suggested in September last year that “the absence of conclusive records of a money trail means that what we’ll end up with is likely to be speculative rather than potentially incriminating..” Since then we’ve had more convoluted testimony from the Taoiseach, and contradictory statements. This week we’ve heard that while the then-Finance Minister was signing blank cheques for Charles Haughey, the now-Taoiseach’s main constituency treasurer, Dominic Dillane, presented an annual report to the AGM of …
With the Republic of Ireland’s Supreme Court having thrown out his latest appeal, the Special Criminal Court has now set a June date for the trial of Brendan McFarlane. From the Irish Times breaking news report The Special Criminal Court has set a date for the trial of Maze Prison escaper Brendan McFarlane on charges connected with the kidnapping of supermarket executive Don Tidey. Mr McFarlane (52), Jamaica Street, Belfast, was charged in January 1998 with falsely imprisoning Mr Tidey …
Lord Goldsmith’s paper on British Citizenship has excited a lot of comment in Britain. Michael White just wonders, if ain’t broke, why fix it? Chicken Yoghurt just isn’t keen on Patriotism of any description. The CEP blog is not impressed either, saying the proposals are skewed towards making the English buy into Britishness and everyone else doing what they like. Rick MUir reckons the whole furore is obscuring the fact that there is a need for more ceremony. But the …
Mick mentioned this clip of Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams at Milltown cemetery on Sunday, but the footage, and the speech, is worth putting on the frontpage. Not least as a comparison to his attempt to ride a different horse last week at his party’s televised Ard Fheis. And, while we don’t have the actual text to check against, the reference to attracting US investors is missing from the clip we have. What is there though is some selective memory …
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern had promised that, if returned to government, Fianna Fáil would allocate €5m for a permanent “monument to peace” to be located in the border region.. Today, the Republic of Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Dermot Ahern, announced the launch of an international competition, with an allocated €5m, to select the design of the monument to be sited at Carrickcarnan, Co Louth, near the Louth-Armagh border. Pete Baker
Another day, another rippling quote from a Sinn Féin TD. This time, as noted in the Irish Times – “SF back to basics..” [subs req], it’s Louth TD, Arthur Morgan, and he’s not referring to the Assembly nor to Northern Ireland. From the Dáil record. “Why would I expect any different from a Tánaiste and a Government over this partial Parliament in this little semi-statelet over which he is presiding?” And, as the Irish Times also noted, Fianna Fáil TD, …
Whilst the UK’s parliament, the House of Commons for now, today voted down proposals to hold a referendum on the Treaty of Lisbon – exposing divisions within parties in the process – the Republic of Ireland’s government prepares to publish their referendum legislation.. but no exact date yet. Meanwhile, with perhaps some prompting from a mischievous press, certain EU state leaders have endorsed suggestions that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern would be a good first candidate for the envisaged post of President …
In the comments to a recent post ‘SlugFest’ asked the not unreasonable question – “Whatever happened with Bic McFarlane’s trial?” Thanks to the Irish Times breaking news we have the answer, it had been delayed by another legal challenge. But no longer.. Maze prison escapee Brendan McFarlane today lost his latest legal challenge to stop his trial over the kidnap of a supermarket boss 25 years ago. In a brief hearing in the Supreme Court, five judges revealed they had …
Setting aside all polls and forecasts, and even the party’s reverse in its electoral fortunes last year, the Irish Examiner believes it is the party’s preoccupation with Northern Irish politics that poses it’s biggest difficulty in making headway in the southern polity. Mr Adams was strongest when talking about northern issues — the proposed transfer of policing and justice powers, the campaign by some unionists to force out Ian Paisley, the commitment to establish a “high-powered taskforce” to drive forward …
It might not constitute the “change in material circumstances” that the Republic of Ireland’s Environment Minister, the Green Party’s John Gormley, eventually said he required, but the criticism of the road building through the Tara valley by Nobel laureate Seamus Heaney will likely reverberate throughout government. He’s not the first poet to point out the implications of that development, but he is the most influential. The Irish Times front page highlighted his comments today, and the BBC report has more …
A short report from yesterday which almost slipped under the radar. The trial of “good republican” Thomas ‘Slab’ Murphy in the Special Criminal Court, on charges connected to alleged revenue offences, could begin in late May or early June. Mr Murphy was remanded on continuing bail until April when the case will be mentioned again. Pete Baker
With the British Irish Council establishing a permanent secretariat the British Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body could be excused a period of existential angst. The DUP’s Peter Robinson may have made a presentation to the BIIP Body in April 2006, but neither the DUP nor the UUP have taken their seats. The BBC’s Martina Purdy reports that the BIIPB steering committee member, Niall Blaney, TD, is in Belfast this week, meeting the DUP’s Peter Robinson and Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey. …
