Republic – Page 68 – Slugger O'Toole

plus ça change?

Pete Baker on August 4, 2007, 6:12 pm

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Not much detail yet but it looks like an interesting story emerging from Tallaght where last night 9 people were arrested in what is described in the RTÉ report as “an ongoing operation by the Special Detective Unit charged with investigating subversives.” Among those arrested, the RTÉ report understands, was “a member of the INLA who was recently released from prison”. More here It is understood that when members of the Emergency Response Unit raided the house in Tallaght, they …

Taoiseach’s nominees to Seanad are..

Pete Baker on August 3, 2007, 5:44 pm

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The Irish Times breaking news reports the Toaiseach Bertie Ahern’s 11 nominees to the Seanad.. mostly former FF TDs.. but the story will be the nominee in the middle of the pack – journalist Eoghan Harris. Full list is Dan Boyle (Green Party); Martin Brady (FF); Ivor Callely (FF); Ciarán Cannon (PD); Maria Corrigan (FF); Deirdre de Burca (Green Party); John Ellis (FF); Eoghan Harris; Lisa McDonald (FF); Brian Ó’Domhnaill (FF); Fiona O’Malley (PD). Adds From the RTÉ report Speaking …

“a signpost for the realignment of Dublin’s epicentre eastwards”

Pete Baker on August 2, 2007, 3:17 pm

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Belfast may have the needle in the cathedral, and whether it’s courageous or hideous will remain a matter of personal opinion, but Dublin has set course for something that sounds really courageous and innovative and exciting. Sculptor Antony Gormley, previously mentioned in connection with another project [and how is that project progressing? – Ed], has been chosen from a shortlist of six by Dublin Docklands Development Authority to develop his proposal for a sculpture “two-thirds the height of Liberty Hall” …

Cross border motorway to cut half hour from Belfast-Dublin journey

Mick Fealty on August 2, 2007, 2:58 pm

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Just 14 Kms long, but the new motorway link (opening today) between the A1 at Cloghoge in Co Armagh to the N1 at Dundalk will cut out that circuitous/tortuous journey through and around the north Louth border town. At 2 hours, the road link now rivals the rail journey for speed, if not convenience. 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 …

Weak cider sales after wet summer…

Mick Fealty on August 1, 2007, 3:28 pm

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C&C’s cider revolution may be one of the first Irish victims of England’s bad weather. After driving two years of unmitigated growth in the cider market, the weather, renewed competition (primarily from English Bulmers, and own brand’s copies), plus major capital investment, sales are down drastically: Chief executive Maurice Pratt told The Irish Times that the predicted 35 per cent fall in profit was not just down to a drop in the volume of cider it has sold over the …

A little problem with Brown’s Maginot Line?

Mick Fealty on July 29, 2007, 3:06 pm

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Mark Devenport throws up a question that should be of interest both to Gordon Brown and to his Tory party opponents. If Britain is to have a new Border Guard force, where exactly is the border?Our north/south border is virtually non existent, as is the east west. This would leave Brown with something like an Maginot Line , in which Britain’s coast, ports and airports are heavily defended, whilst leaving the Republic’s lighter security and tiny navy to guard it’s …

The right stuff for Ceann Comhairle?

Mick Fealty on July 28, 2007, 2:56 pm

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Julius wonders something I have wondered myself about the temperament of the new Ceann Comhairle in the Dail… 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

“It doesn’t add up, isn’t that right..”

Pete Baker on July 25, 2007, 11:23 pm

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The Mahon Tribunal doesn’t look like ending anytime soon, and due to a backlog of witnesses to question they’ve delayed the next appearance of Taoiseach Bertie Ahern until after the summer, but there have been some intriguing revelations in the evidence of the last two days from senior officials with AIB. Yesterday, as the Irish Times reported today, Philip Murphy, the assistant manager who dealt personally with Mr Ahern’s affairs at AIB O’Connell Street, “agreed that the bank’s records showed …

Sinn Fein hopeful of first Senator…

Mick Fealty on July 24, 2007, 2:17 am

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It looks like the first part of the Labour/Sinn Fein voting pact turned up trumps for Labour’s Alex White on the Cultural and Educational Panel. We’ll see shortly whether Labour is as generous the other way round. According to An Phoblacht, “Sinn Féin has 54 city and county councillors and four TDs, giving it 58 votes in the Seanad election. Pearse Doherty is standing in the Agricultural panel where the quota is expected to be around 90 votes”. Few, it …

“…to see the familiar with fresh eyes, we first have to make it strange”

Mick Fealty on July 23, 2007, 8:57 pm

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Eoghan Harris tests Brecht’s alienation technique to distruction when he proffers them the advice that they should cut their losses in the Republic and stick to their Northern Irish last, if they are serious about making their northern revolution take hold: …the fiction of an all-Ireland party, far from supporting a positive Northern project is now only an albatross around its neck. As we can see if we compare the two states. In the North, Sinn Fein looks like a …

Taoiseach’s office funding new mural in Mount Vernon

Pete Baker on July 22, 2007, 3:54 pm

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A couple of details stand out from Henry McDonald’s report in today’s Observer. The first, and most obvious, is that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has approved a grant of “€4,000 for a piece of artwork to commemorate the link between the 16th Irish and the 36th Ulster Divisions” in Mount Vernon. The spokesman for the Department of the Taoiseach said “The aim of the fund is to assist and encourage the development of local organisations”. The ‘community’ organisation involved is headed …

“it requires a belief that truth is a value in itself”

Pete Baker on July 21, 2007, 6:23 pm

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A well-argued CommentisFree contribution from Fintan O’Toole on the need for the Eames/Bradley committee [and everyone else – Ed] to take the bull by the horns – which they should. Because conflict has been underpinned by selective remembering in which grief becomes grievance, it is foolish to believe that if we ignore the recent past it will go away. In the Irish experience, both nationalists and unionists have been all too adept at constructing versions of the past in which …

Gormley ponders European Commission proceedings as Green’s elect him leader

Pete Baker on July 18, 2007, 12:29 am

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The Irish government Minister for the Environment John Gormley is, as far as I can tell, still to respond to the European Commission which, it’s reported [subs req], has taken infringement proceedings “in relation to the decision to preserve by record the ancient site at Lismullin.” The Irish Times report notes that “Ireland is the subject of 33 investigations by the commission into infringements of EU directives ranging from water pollution to the habitats directive and birds directive.” He described …

Towards a politics that bears scansion across borders?

Mick Fealty on July 17, 2007, 9:27 pm

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Mark Hennessey had a fascinating piece on the ruminations, within Sinn Fein and without, on the party’s failure to move forward in last election. Past experience would seem to bear Gerry Adams out when he says that “anyone who is trying to write off Sinn Féin in the South, or on the island, is making a very, very big mistake.” That said, there is much for the party to worry about if it is to make its all island aspiration …

British Irish Council (finally) gets underway…

Mick Fealty on July 17, 2007, 2:02 pm

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Once thought to be a sop to David Trimble for the North South Ministerial Council (meeting today), the British-Irish Council took an extraordinary full shape yesterday with both British and Irish premiers and three devolved First Ministers taking part. The Irish Times notes, there may be some strategic value for unionists in such formal joining up of the constituent parts of the Union: Yet while the SNP leader offers Mr Brown a non-confrontational approach in the interest of delivering prosperity …

Rumours from Monaghan and the execution of Billy Fox?

Mick Fealty on July 13, 2007, 6:57 pm

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I was cleaning up my hard disk on the way to London one day last week when I came across a number of RTE documentaries I’d downloaded, intending to listen to them when I had the time. Rumours from Monaghan stood head and shoulders above the rest. It is, as Our Friend in the North remarks, “a poignant documentary about a remarkable individual and one of the several thousand people who have now sadly been forgotten about”. It is also …

President McAleese hosting 12th July Garden Party at Áras an Uachtaráin

Pete Baker on July 12, 2007, 6:05 pm

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The Republic of Ireland’s President, Mary McAleese, is hosting a 12th July garden party today to mark the Anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne, it’s the tenth reception hosted by President McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin to mark July 12th and is the only State-funded celebration to mark the Twelfth in the Republic. From the President’s website President McAleese will host a garden party at Áras an Uachtaráin today to mark the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. …

Labour and Sinn Fein pact for Senators…

Mick Fealty on July 11, 2007, 2:30 am

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There may be a way back for Pearse Doherty, one of Sinn Fein’s brightest new hopes for the future. Irishelection.com pulls together several reports that Labour and Sinn Fein are talking about a pact that might see each gain an extra Senator. In SF’s case that would be their only one. Stephen Collins in the Irish Times details the maths: A Sinn Féin source confirmed that contacts were continuing between the two parties: “My understanding is that a deal hasn’t …

Timing.. again

Pete Baker on July 11, 2007, 1:35 am

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There had been a suggestion that the meetings wouldn’t take place until after the summer.. but as it turns out the delay only lasted a week or so [perhaps a longer delay was deemed too perilous for The Process™? – Ed A more prosaic answer might look at the Welsh situation.] It’s probably in the interests of the optics, and the DUP, that the British Irish Council will meet first, on Monday 16th July, with the North-South Ministerial Council expected …

Susceptible to smuggling?

Pete Baker on July 10, 2007, 2:31 am

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Interesting that the new Irish government Justice Minister, Brian Lenihan, is reported to have dismissed suggestions that the recent discovery of bales of cocaine off the County Cork coast proves that the Irish coastline is susceptible to smuggling. Interesting because of the Taoiseach’s acknowledgement last week that the discovery was due to “weather conditions rather than intelligence” and the Observer report this Sunday which noted that The vulnerability of Ireland’s coastline was first highlighted seven years ago by the US …