sdlp – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

SDLP’s future direction…

David McCann on April 4, 2018, 1:43 pm

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Interesting story from the Belfast Telegraph Political Editor, Suzanne Breen this morning about the potential of an arrangement between the SDLP and Fianna Fail. She writes; SDLP leader Colum Eastwood has refused to rule out “a realignment in Irish politics” that would see his party standing aside and Fianna Fail organising in Northern Ireland. Senior SDLP sources told the Belfast Telegraph that around 80% of the party supported it “leaving the stage” to make way for Fianna Fail. They want …

Twenty years on, the key challenge is how we can make changes that only are seen to be fair and balanced

Soapbox on March 29, 2018, 8:30 am

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Peter Weir is a DUP MLA for Strangford, he writes for Slugger about his thoughts of the Good Friday Agreement. On Good Friday, twenty years ago, I found myself present at a central point in our history, not just as an observer but as a participant, albeit a minor one. I was in Castle Buildings as a junior member of the Ulster Unionist talks team. I was one of the so called baby barristers, a group of younger members of …

Mark Durkan suggests renewal review of Good Friday Agreement

David McCann on March 21, 2018, 7:17 pm

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Former SDLP Leader, Mark Durkan speaking in Dublin tonight has suggested a renewal review of the Good Friday Agreement. He told his audience; “As the Brexit negotiations intensify, it’s welcome that the EU27 have continued to voice a strong commitment to protecting the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. It’s critical, however, that such a commitment extends to protecting it in its promise and potential as well. “The full potential and flexibility of Strands Two and Three must be …

Why cutting MLAs pay may not be a route to salvation

David McCann on March 12, 2018, 8:27 pm

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From the BBC; The secretary of state has said she “is minded” to reduce MLA pay, in the wake of the collapse of the Stormont talks. Speaking in the House of Commons, Karen Bradley said the “time is right” to address “concern about MLA pay in the absence of a functioning assembly”. Last December, former assembly Chief Executive Trevor Reaney recommended a cut of 27.5%. Mrs Bradley said she wants to hear from Northern Ireland’s political parties before making a …

Grassroots Campaign for Irish Language Legislation transformed political discourse, but where are we now and how can we help deliver meaningful change?

Soapbox on January 22, 2018, 7:22 pm

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Ciarán Mac Giolla Bhéin writes for Slugger about the upcoming talks and the Irish Language Act On Wednesday our local political parties, this time the 5 ‘main parties’ as they are described in the media, will return to the table to try and flesh out a deal which would allow for the Executive to be formed and the MLA’s to take their seats in the Assembly once more. The issues in the ‘to be resolved’ box is much the same …

“This isn’t an issue about the mayor, the mayor was using his democratic right to use that casting vote…”

Pete Baker on January 9, 2018, 5:15 pm

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So says the Derry and Strabane District Sinn Féin Councillor Eric McGinley, a party colleague of the mayor in question, Sinn Féin Councillor, Maolíosa McHugh. The Sinn Féin mayor had previously declined to meet Prince Charles when he visited County Londonderry last year to meet victims of flooding. In his place, representing the office of the mayor, SDLP councillor John Boyle, the deputy mayor of Derry and Strabane, accompanied Prince Charles during the visit. The reason for the Sinn Féin statement defending …

Where do we put Ulster’s Irish passport office?

Daithi McKay on January 3, 2018, 10:50 pm

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Holding an Irish passport has become quite the statement. Since the Brexit vote applications have surged for a number of reasons including re-asserting an Irish identity in Britain and the north respectively. Also by Britons that want to hold on to their European Union citizenship. Dagmar Schiek, Professor of Law at Queen’s University Belfast said that “The British in Northern Ireland who do not also opt for Irish citizenship would be worse off after Brexit,” Bearers of these little red books …

Nationalism needs the inspiration so desperately needed in these early days of that better nation.

Soapbox on November 17, 2017, 10:06 am

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Aaron Murray, political researcher working in London. He is also on Twitter @aaronmurray87 Engraved on the Canongate wall of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood is a phrase Alasdair Gray described as ‘inspiring but not boastful’. ‘Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation’ it reads. Widely attributed to Gray, it is the creation of Canadian poet Dennis Lee from his exploration of citizenship, Civil Eligies. In recent years it became a credo of the Scottish …

Colum Eastwood: Sinn Féin and the DUP are within hours of buying us all first class tickets to Direct Rule

Soapbox on October 31, 2017, 6:05 pm

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Colum Eastwood is the Leader of the SDLP There are times when silence is golden and there are times when it is anything but. For weeks now the Stormont talks have operated under a cloud of secrecy feeding the frustration of everyone. There are only so many press releases that the NIO can put out which talk about ‘some progress’ or ‘significant gaps’. There are only so many press conferences that can be staged with everyone saying the same thing. …

The DUP’s £1 billion deal looks set for a second stage of direct rule

Brian Walker on October 30, 2017, 11:49 am

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When we’re reduced to praising James Brokenback for masterly inactivity, we’ve surely found rock bottom. One tiny flicker of life turns out to be an illusion after all. DUP MP Jeffrey Donaldson has denounced as “fake news” a story from the new Financial Times Ireland correspondent ( and ex-Irish Times ) Arthur Beesley, that “Theresa May’s £1 billion is on hold as to talks falter” (£) There may be less to this than meets the eye. A budget imposed by …

Leaders issue a joint statement on Cantrell Close

David McCann on October 2, 2017, 5:38 pm

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The following is a joint statement on behalf of the leaders of the DUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP, UUP, Alliance Party and the Green Party; We as political leaders condemn all forms of sectarianism, intolerance and threats of violence. Four families have been forced to leave their homes in South Belfast. This is wrong. Any threat to these families should be lifted immediately. There is also an onus on the PSNI and the statutory agencies to provide immediate and appropriate support …

Nichola Mallon is the new Deputy Leader of the SDLP

David McCann on September 12, 2017, 11:53 am

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Nichola Mallon has become the new Deputy Leader of the SDLP, the position was vacant after the former Deputy Leader, Fearghal McKinney lost his seat at the 2016 Assembly Election. Speaking about her election she said; “This is a critical moment for our politics. “The challenge we all face is to forge a society based on a positive accommodation of difference and diversity. “That challenge is made all the more important following the Brexit Bill vote last night. “I’m delighted …

How new is the Foster offer?

David McCann on September 1, 2017, 11:46 am

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There has been some debate doing the rounds about how new the proposal from the DUP Leader was last night about a parallel process. Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill argued this morning that such an offer is not new from the DUP and had been proposed before. On the core of the proposal, she is actually right as the lead negotiator for the party Edwin Poots proposed in June the following Speaking to the BBC on Tuesday evening, Edwin Poots, the …

Eastwood “I still know that the constitutional position will not be changed overnight even in with the upheaval caused by Brexit”

David McCann on August 23, 2017, 9:41 pm

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SDLP Leader, Colum Eastwood gave an address to the D’Arcy McGee Summer School on Brexit and he made some interesting comments about how Unionist parties view comments on this subject from Nationalist leaders; I am conscious that unionism’s kneejerk reaction to this kind of language will be naturally defensive and some will automatically assume that I am speaking about some sort of sudden re-unification to avoid Brexit. Let me be clear – I am not. Of course my view as an …

3 SDLP Councillors quit the party

David McCann on June 19, 2017, 1:10 pm

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In this mornings Belfast Telegraph, Suzanne Breen reports trouble in the SDLP’s ranks as three of their councillors on Belfast City Council have quit the party. Cllrs, Pat Convery, Declan Boyle and Kate Mullan were suspended after they abstained on a motion dealing with harassment outside reproductive health facilities. Breen reports; The three who abstained told the Belfast Telegraph that they were quitting the party with “profoundly heavy hearts”. They said they would not resign their seats but would continue …

Time for unity among those advocating Unity

Soapbox on June 14, 2017, 6:30 pm

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Matt Carthy is a Sinn Fein MEP for the Ireland Midlands-North West constituency Something big is happening. Brexit has simply accelerated a debate on Irish Unity that was inevitably going to happen anyway. Irish Unity featured during the recent Westminster election campaign in a way in which it hasn’t in living memory. That is simply a reflection of what is occurring in communities, within civic society and among members and supporters of all the main political parties North & South …

SDLP’s ‘unprecedented’ conversations begin

Daithi McKay on June 14, 2017, 3:18 pm

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The Belfast Telegraph today reports on the first of what will presumably be a number of “unprecedented” conversations within the SDLP. The SDLP’s Mid Ulster constituency council will discuss a possible merger with Fianna Fáil at a meeting in Maghera. Local Councillor Martin Kearney said “These are normal discussions which happen after every election, “We’ve a great variety of old members and the young SDLP branch in Maghera is very active. “We want to listen to them, there’s been such …

The End of (Westminster) Nationalism

Daithi McKay on June 11, 2017, 11:34 am

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The Tory Chief Whip was in Belfast this weekend to meet the DUP leadership. It is believed that they were discussing all options for co-operation at Westminster, from coalition to confidence and supply . The outcome is the outline of a Confidence and Supply arrangement. “Who are the DUP?” is being googled on laptops across Britain. The former Chancellor George Osbourne’s Evening Standard newspaper published a cartoon of a large dour Orangeman with Theresa May tucked into his breast pocket.If …

“Politics in NI is dead, has descended into sectarian mud-wrestling” – Alban Maginness

Brian O'Neill on June 9, 2017, 3:56 pm

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Speaking on today’s BBC TalkBack show former SDLP MLA Alban Maginness declared that “Politics in NI is dead, has descended into sectarian mud-wrestling”. Is he right? As the voters abandon the middle ground is our political system now just a straight sectarian headcount? People were quick to accuse the SDLP of sour grapes: It's the egotism behind that comment that reveals the flaw in the SDLP psyche – their divine right to lead the nationalist people. — Danny Morrison (@molloy1916) June …

SDLP and UUP wiped out as Sinn Fein and DUP take 17 seats…

Brian O'Neill on June 9, 2017, 7:53 am

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It was a bad night for the moderate parties as the SDLP have lost all three of its Westminster seats and the UUP lost all two of theirs. The DUP and Sinn Fein grabbed 17 out of 18 seats with Independent Lady Sylvia Hermon being re-elected in North Down. This will be a major blow for the new UUP leader Robin Swann as for the first time they lose all representation at Westminster. The SDLP will feel particularly aggrieved losing …