Negotiations
Belated admissions from both of Northern Ireland’s top politicians…
Things I thought I’d never hear in public… 1, Peter Robinson admitting that unionists were too slow on accepting power sharing; and Martin McGuinness admitting that he and his party dobbed Trimble in with those unfulfilled promises to decommission IRA weapons before the November 2003 Assembly election… Nice to hear it, finally, from the horses’ [...] more »
“They are conversations – they are not negotiations, they are not mediation…”
With the draconian approach of the elected representatives in Sinn Féin and the DUP abandoned, and long-forgotten, the extant Parades Commission have appointed a trio of intermediaries to have ‘conversations’ with unidentified others in the Ardoyne area of north Belfast. From the BBC report Lord Alderdice is involved in the initiative, along with the Holy Cross priest [...] more »
Lessons from Northern Ireland: Rise above the fatalism generated by your own “sui generis” conflict…
H/T Mary FitzGerald on Twitter… This is a fairly impressive array of academic, political and government voices which looks at what lessons might be drawn from our much feted Peace Process, recorded in May last year… Most worthy of note are Jonathan Powell (keep hard power on so the insurgents cannot get comfortable, but offer [...] more »
Queen’s Visit: Time to move on but not to forget…
‘I have signed my own death warrant’; so (allegedly) did Michael Collins spake after he had signed The Treaty in London in 1921. Collins’s support for the Anglo-Irish Treaty which both agreed to the partition of the country and required elected representatives in the new state to promise to be faithful to His Majesty King [...] more »
Will Irish Labour take lessons from the British experience of coalition?
The Guardian’s Wintour and Watt blog warns the Irish Labour party of the risks of taking the Clegg coalition route. Yet it’s still hard to believe that the coalition dance in Dublin is much more than a ritual. Comparisons partly depend on your outlook. Pro- Labour opinion in Britain likes to think that the Lib [...] more »
Wrangles over spending cuts expose flaws in political relationships
Northern Ireland’s only regular press commentator on economics John Simpson is the latest to pour cold water on harmonising corporation tax with the Republic. ( though as usual John does it very gently). Any extra foreign direct investment (FDI) gained would fail to make up the consequent shortfall in block grant revenues of about £200m a year and [...] more »
Tax powers for Stormont, a doubtful proposition
Should the Assembly bid to Westminster to take on tax varying powers and lower corporation tax to the Republic’s level of 12.5%? Local experts appearing before the NI Select Committee were divided. It was pretty much the magic bullet for lobbyists from the Economic Reform Group, Eamonn Donaghy of KPMG and Victor Hewitt of the Economic Research [...] more »
Attacking Blair only steers political reform into a cul-de-sac
Robin Wilson’s dismissal ( link repaired) of Tony Blair’s handling of the peace process is misconceived. It’s not clear what his precise objections are. For Robin the form of power sharing which was adopted only institutionalised sectarianism. Can we really heap all that on Blair’s head? In one vital respect the prophets of doom were [...] more »
Talking to Terrorists
On BBC Radio 4 Owen Paterson began down the well trodden road of disingenuous double speak so beloved of Shaun Woodward, Peter Hain and numerous Conservative Secretaries of State of old and avoided completely denying contacts with the terrorists. This has yielded the predictable response of fury from Gregory Campbell and Jim Allister. About the [...] more »
Ritchie on the ‘stuck’ Executive…
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie says the NI assembly continues to be ‘dysfunctional.’ In a blistering attack on incomplete projects in the term just ended the South Down MP predicts the Executive’s performance will worsen under the weight of further cuts. These are the key areas of ‘failure’ highlighted by her: “The long and expensive process [...] more »
Debate within Unionism: Thorough, Intense and Constructive
This is a cross posting of Fair Deal's contribution to Open Unionism's ongoing debate on the future of unionism. He argues that all parties to the debate must resist the temptation to the shape of the solution in their own preferred image, but rather they must allow the debate be 'thorough, intense and constructive'. more »
Sinn Féin’s politics of delusion
Sinn Féin’s response to criticism of their refusal to sit at Westminster in the face of proposed cuts post-election has been to call on all the other parties “to unite with us against the cuts”, and even to press for an increase in the block grant. At the same time the party’s manifesto, along with others, wants fiscal [...] more »
Bloody Sunday: Once again, politics trumped truth….
Derry has more than its fair share of unfinished business viz a viz the troubles. Earlier today Eamonn McCann gave the Annual Lecture at the St Patrick’s Festival, Coatbridge, Glasgow. The following is an extract in which he argues that political processes has obscured the outcome of the Saville Inquiry: Bloody Sunday was a key [...] more »
Time for the DUP and UUP to think the unthinkable?
The stated policy of all the unionist parties is to move from the current status of mandatory coalition under D’Hondt to one of voluntary coalition. There are perceived to be enormous advantages to having a more normalised system of government with proper power sharing within the confines of a cabinet with collective responsibility. Collective responsibility [...] more »
So what’s the deal with the party then Peter?
The trouble with these deals that we have not yet seen, nor has the likely putative Justice Minister is that we don’t know what they contain. But as raised here a few weeks ago, we still don’t know what might remotely trigger Robinson’s resignation. Lord Ken Magennis in last night’s Tele: Reports have suggested that [...] more »
What are the DUP’s terms to avoid the forced resignation of Peter Robinson?
Before you head off for the weekend, have a look at Sam McBride’s exclusive in this morning’s News Letter… PETER Robinson signed a post-dated letter of resignation as First Minister to secure his party’s support for policing and justice.. This is significant on two levels. One, it suggests that if the party doesn’t get the [...] more »
“You may have identified these leaders already…”
In the Irish Times Newton Emerson identifies the “six-point structured negotiating framework” of The Process™ available at “the new Conflict Transformation Initiative from the University of Portadown (Lurgan Campus).” 4. Identify Solutions Once you have identified the leaders, the problem and the opportunities, you have already identified the solution. However, you might still need to [...] more »
Sinn Fein believes negotiations are now closed…
Good morning. Another week-end looming and still no deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein. The problem is this: as of now, come the first week in May Republicans can put on show as evidence of the transfer of policing and justice powers a justice minister at work and all the attending swearing-in publicity. The [...] more »
Déjà vu, all over again..
As Mark Devenport says Tomorrow looks like it will involve yet more talks , and as a number of people have pointed out to me February 2nd really is Groundhog Day. Although, I think a different link might be more appropriate. more »
“Although I had been reliably informed that the Prime Minister was on his way to Belfast..”
As Mick noted, they’re still in play… apparently. Here’s a short clip from the DUP press conference at Stormont this evening followed by a positive interpretation from commentator Jim Dougal in the UTV studio. Video courtesy of UTV more »
Advertise
-
Books
-
The Earl Bishop
Interesting BBC article on an upcoming presentation and talk [Roe Valley Arts and Cultural Centre, 17 August] by lecturer and broadcaster Stephen Price on the subject of his new book – The Earl Bishop. The 18th Century ”Earl Bishop” was Frederick Augustus Hervey, fourth Earl of Bristol and Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry. Hervey was also elected [...] read our review »
-
What Ireland did right (and what it needs to do)…
It is difficult to believe now that one country recently sent 19 delegations to Ireland to study how well our economy was managed. The revelation that our model of economic management featured positively in political and economic discussion in countries including Estonia, Greece and Scotland may also come as a surprise. As we survey the [...] read our review »
-
Against Remembrance – Seminar & Book by David Rieff
Is the best way to overcome the legacy of conflict simply to forget about it? Author and journalist David Rieff spoke on this subject last week in a seminar at the Institute for International Integration Studies (IIIS) at Trinity College Dublin. Rieff has recently written a book titled, Against Remembrance (published in Ireland by Liffey [...] read our review »
-
