A week or two ago there was a photo op for Gerry Adams and Mary Lou McDonald on Howth Head. One journalist who was present told Slugger the only memorable thing he could remember was when someone asked Gerry what he thought of the McDowell accession to the top of the PDs. Whilst Sinn Fein may not be making much headway on the airwaves, it is reported to be throwing everything but the kitchen sink at some of its key …
Shift focus to the south from the west east, a fair amount of newsprint has been spent all week on the donations to Bertie story. After initially refusing to comment, he is now planning to release the detail this evening on the RTE Six O’Clock News. This has the feel of another sucker punch coming. 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 …
Despite the evident scale of the combined policing operation today, involving the Serious Organised Crime Agency, PSNI financial investigators, detectives in Cumbria, officers from the drug enforcement agency in Scotland and the Criminal Assets Bureau in the Irish Republic, there’s not a lot of detail yet. But I’d expect more to be revealed over the coming days and weeks. One man is reported to have been arrested in Dublin, presumably the target of the investigation into organised crime and money-laundering …
The High Court has told the Parades Commission to review its decision not to restrict Saturday’s Orange Order parade at Drumcree to mark 3,000 days since Orangemen were barred from marching along the Garvaghy Road. The ruling came after Mr Justice Weatherup said the commission was told there was no general call-out but the Portadown District Lodge’s website contradicted that.Mr Justice Weatherup said Portadown District Lodge on its website had called for Orange Order members throughout Northern Ireland to join …
The Sunday Business Post has a piece on the new British Ambassador in Dublin. 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
Richard Waghorne kindly reproduces a series of three columns charting the changing of the guard in the PDs for the Irish Daily Mail. Whilst he welcomes McDowell’s elevation he has some reservations about the gap between the Minister’s promises and actual delivery: There’s nothing unforgivably wrong with a flight of oratory and combative positioning – especially after unanimously claiming the leadership – but only if it’s backed up by the hard work of practical politics and meaningful reform. McDowell’s past …
Good analysis (subs needed) from one of the Republic’s leading public psephologist, Noel Whelan, who notes that few, if any, of the party’s seats are safe and one or two look almost certain to go. The primary danger lies in the expected resurgence of Fine Gael after an extremely low point in 2002. Perhaps that’s why its voters were the first target in McDowell’s first press statement as leader. My own suspicion is that a noteably successful outcome from Harney’s …
We understand that Michael McDowell has been confirmed as the new party leader (and Tainiste?) with Liz O’Donnell as his Deputy while Tom Parlon takes over as party President. Mary Harney can, if she so wishes retain her tough brief at health (key to their election campaign?). No surprises there then. We await confirmation from the MSM. Though El Matador was onto it well before us… Update: As Pete notes below, the party statement is ambiguous to say the least. …
Red Rover Simon notes the early breakers for the front in the PD leadership race are mostly (though not all) backing the controversial Justice Minister, Michael McDowell. Notoriously independent of mind, is he the one who Bertie had in mind yesterday when he said, “he would expect to get a clear commitment from the new PD leader that they would complete the agreed programme for government until the next general election”. It will make for an interesting ride if he …
Blogging first broke into the limelight in the US after 9/11. By June 2002, when Slugger began life, poltical blogging was still a something of a small village affair in Britain and the lonely pursuit of a handful of early adopters in Ireland. One, Paul Dunne, even handbuilt his own linux-based blog software. This week’s events in Britain have shown how blogs enable individuals to share forensic knowledge and insight in speedy networks. In Ireland we are still looking for …
Take a few minutes to read Danny Kelly… He’s been on holiday to Co Clare and has had something of a revelation… 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
Long before Slugger, I used to spend time on the Compuserve Ireland forum. It was ably moderated by the late (great?) Vincent Hannah – a sincere, passionate and scrupulously fair man. In one round of discussions it became obvious that most of us tend to remember the past through the prism of our own community’s sensibilities, which often requires the complete relegation from memory of atrocities committed by ‘our side’ on ‘theirs’. Eoghan Harris tells one such forgotten story from …
Two interviews, and two hints about when the Irish and British PMs will go… David Milliband tells the Today Programme that twelve months is a sensible guess, (sound file) though it won’t necessarily stop the Westminster junkies from tongue wagging about the planned manner of his departure… On Morning Ireland Bertie’s response will bring some dismay to his opponents, he’ll stay till he’s sixty and then ‘paddle his own canoe’…He just about wraps up the proportions of the hill the …
Richard Waghorne is on the BBC World Service tomorrow between 10-11am to talk about Gerry Adams’ visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories. 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
Damien Mulley is fuming with Comreg et al. Despite being the second richest country in the world in terms of GDP, domestic broadband penetration in the Republic is scraping just above the ground at 8%. The average amongst new member EU countries is 12%. Slugger also hears that the new Danish owners of Northern Bank offered its employees a deal in which they provided laptops and a free domestic broadband connection for a year, but were dismayed when large numbers …
That’s the upshot of the Newsletter’s take on the news that Northern Ireland has the UK’s fastest growing population, it’s expected to increase by 12% over the next generation. It now accounts for 2.7% of the UK population. The demographic profile shows a strong youthful bias, which as the Newsletter points out ‘should be positive for a cohesive economy’.It also notes: …the Office for National Statistics confirms that the numbers of migrant workers are greater than the young people leaving …
The Republic’s government’s decision to abolish the name of Dingle has led to a major opposition and the introduction of a new plebescite to decide whether to reverse the process. ONe of the most bizzare aspects (I’m sure someone will enlighten me) is that the name change was effected by plebescite of those electors living in the townland of Dingle, not the town as a whole. A re-run is to take place in mid October, this time to change it …
Thanks to Boland’s Ghost for pointing us in the direction of Gay Mitchell’s latest kite flying exercise, when he asks if there would be a role for a monarch in a 32 county Republic. It is, as Boland notes, a role back from the position held by Collins in treaty negotiations, since the Irish Republican project has never had more than a derisory response from the island’s original republicans (ie Ulster’s Presbyterians), it may be the least it can do …
That’s what’s dominating the headlines in this week’s Dundalk Democrat. Sheena Brothers reports that ‘for well over a month now smokers of the popular yet illegal drug have been unable to score anything but the lowest quality hash and even that has now dried up”. Head of the local drugs unit explains:”It is not something that is specific to Dundalk. It’s a national situation. It could be a combination of any number of factors from the conflict in the Middle …
David McWilliams reckons that the Republic’s expansion has led to unsustainable urban communities, and a startling divide between ‘new’ and ‘old’ Ireland. In essence, the problem raised by the 2006 Census is that whilst Dublin is expanding rapidly, the countries other centres of populations, Cork, Limerick and Waterford are witnessing falls in their population, whilst in the countryside it is rising. The population is falling or about to fall in three of our five major cities. This is a huge …
