Government – Page 232 – Slugger O'Toole

Just how independent is the Assembly of the Executive?

Mick Fealty on October 23, 2007, 3:22 pm | Readers 19

This might strike some as pure anorak fare. It begins slowly as Mark Durkan tries to get to the bottom of Peter Robinson’s controversial point of order last week. He doesn’t get much change from Speaker Willie Hay though. Yet Durkan points out at least four counts grounds for supposing important Assembly protocol was breached: There was no mention of standing order in Mr Robinson’s question, therefore it was not actually a valid point of order. It should not have …

So sign up to Schengen…

Pete Baker on July 17, 2007, 2:50 am | Readers 19

The most interesting point to emerge from today’s optically orientated 9th meeting of the British Irish Council wasn’t the quibbling about the financial package – it ain’t going to change significantly – it was the mention of gaps in security, which Dermot Ahern stated was referring to the Schengen Agreement.. and Gordon Brown agrees. The Alliance Party have previously made mention of this Agreement but the focus appears to be on different proposals than those presented by that party. [It …

Two monsters…

Mick Fealty on May 17, 2007, 1:54 pm | Readers 70

I just picked up David McKee’s (he of King Rollo, Mr Benn and Not now Bernard) Two Monsters to read to my youngest this morning… Maybe it’s just me, but it came over as an acutely prophetic (first published in 1986) parable of the Northern Ireland story. Two monsters on two sides of a mountain (west and east) who never see each other but communicate through a hole argue over whether sunset is day leaving or night arriving. They fight, …

Paisley, the greatest disrupter…

Mick Fealty on May 8, 2007, 8:04 pm | Readers 33

This essay appears in this month’s edition of Prospect magazine. In it I’ve tried to chart the lengthy political career of Ian Paisley, Northern Ireland’s single most enduring political figure whose career spans the period before during and after the Troubles.

SDLP criticises Sinn Fein of ‘over canvassing’…

Mick Fealty on March 16, 2007, 9:44 pm | Readers 445

On our last Slugger Radio outing Sammy noted that Sinn Fein’s electioneering techniques were miles ahead of the field. Unfairly so, say several senior SDLP MLAs. Here’s Dolores Kelly: “We were getting reports of Sinn Fein going twice to the same doors on the day of the election asking if people had voted,” she said. “People were complaining to us that there were up to 10 men standing outside the voting station and that they found it quite intimidating.” She …

How we squandered our peace dividend

Mick Fealty on March 14, 2006, 8:17 pm | Readers 4

There is little doubt that in many respects Northern Ireland has never had it so good: unemployment rates are 4.5% (pdf), just below the UK’s average of 5.1%. The sense of settled well-being arising is most palpable in areas of traditional high unemployment like the Bogside in Derry. Disputes erupt every so often about the trend of higher Catholic unemployment, but we’re in a different territory from the 80% unemployed heads of households that held for some considerable time in the …

A step too far by McDowell?

George on December 13, 2005, 5:44 pm | Readers 32

Justice Feargus Flood, chairman of the Centre for Public Inquiry, has come out in support to the group’s executive director, Frank Connolly. In an interview on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said that every citizen is entitled to a presumption of innocence until proven otherwise in a court of law (Audio file available at bottom of article). The comments follow Minister for Justice, Michael McDowell’s admission that he supplied documents to the Irish Independent for their story on allegations that Frank …

Neither your place nor mine

admin on April 29, 2005, 12:00 am | Readers 25

That’s Lough Neagh – perhaps the most recognisable geographic feature on our map. There are a number of issues arising from this report by the BBC on the ownership of Lough Neagh – news that, in itself, may come as a shock to many. The owner Lord Shaftesbury, whose body was found in the Alps earlier this month after he went missing – he is believed to have been murdered – in November last year, seems to have had a …

It’s not a ‘peace’ process.. it’s a political process

Pete Baker on October 31, 2004, 11:23 pm | Readers 1

According to the Irish Times, the Irish and British Governments have decided not to allow the party election strategies of the DUP and SF to take precedence over political progress – Ahern says North deadline is November 25th: The Taoiseach has said talks between the parties in the North cannot continue beyond November 25th. If no deal is agreed by then, the Irish and British governments will present a joint proposal for implementing the Belfast Agreement, writes Denis Staunton in …

Census begs political re-assessment

Mick Fealty on December 24, 2002, 10:30 amComments Off | Readers 21

It seems that after the announcement Unionist commentators have been much quicker to print their analysis of the Census results than Nationalists. The Newsletter sees it as sealing the bottom line of the Union and Graham Gudgin concludes: Nationalist expectations of a future Catholic majority have risen so high it will take more than a single census to bring them back down to earth. Sooner or later, though, there will have to be a re-assessment. Mick FealtyMick is founding editor …

Robinson’s plan:summary

Mick Fealty on December 9, 2002, 6:13 pmComments Off | Readers 2

In conversation with Frank Millar, Peter Robinson outlined the conditions for his party’s willing engagement with the peace process. He outlined what he believes to be fundamental flaws of the current Agreement. He returned to a theme his colleague Sammy Wilson outlined in more detail a few weeks back – the unaccountability of the institutions. He did not rule out working with Sinn Fein, but this would entail (amongst other things) finding a system that would allow all players to …

Sovereignty change?

Mick Fealty on December 5, 2002, 11:03 pmComments Off | Readers 3

Mitchell McLaughlin in a speech in Balbriggan, Co Dublin, challenged Unionists to declare whether they support the transference of sovereignty in the event that a majority in the North vote for it. On the face of it, it is hard to see the relevance of this concern. Particularly since the Belfast Agreement states in its first clause: “The participants endorse the commitment made by the British and Irish Governments that, in a new British-Irish Agreement replacing the Anglo-Irish Agreement, they …

Religious figures in the census

Mick Fealty on December 4, 2002, 10:30 amComments Off | Readers 1

Are due to be published this month. Though the Census office has not given a date, latest reports suggest that it is on schedule to reach the public before Christmas. In light of this, journalists, politicians and policy makers will be dusting down the many words written on the political demography of Northern Ireland, in preparation for copious amounts of their own wise words on the subject. No doubt John Adams’ Political Demography of Northern Ireland will prove an invaluable …

Blair speech: The benefits

Mick Fealty on October 18, 2002, 1:21 pmComments Off | Readers 2

The focus changes to the political and economic benefits the Agreement has brought: “…there is still violence, but at a far, far reduced rate – in 1972, 470 people died. This year, so far, ten. Ten too many, but let us recognise the progress made. The transformation in the economy has been enormous: unemployment at its lowest since 1975; long-term unemployment, down 65 per cent since the Agreement; manufacturing up 15 per cent, uniquely in the UK. New jobs, new …

Suspension; eye witness

Mick Fealty on October 15, 2002, 11:28 amComments Off | Readers 4

In the subscription only Irish News Newton Emerson, editor of the satirical website Portadown News was in Stormont on the last day of business. One thing that consistently erks the reasonable middle ground parties is the way that most commentators rarely talk to them: “The Women’s Coalition are first to brave the spotlight. Cruelly, several reporters take this opportunity to make final adjustments to their cameras and microphones. There are no questions. As they leave, the DUP arrives and the …

Suspension; winners and losers

Mick Fealty on October 15, 2002, 8:28 amComments Off | Readers 4

Malachi O’Doherty is the first one I’ve seen to evaluate the gains and losses made by each of four main parties through the events of the last fortnight. It’s an interesting exercise, but one that may prove misleading in a process that has become more long term, where many expected early closure. Indeed it is these parties that O’Doherty pinpoints as the main losers. The winner, he declares is the DUP, repeating his observation of last Sunday that Peter Robinson …

Economics.

Mick Fealty on September 20, 2002, 12:29 pmComments Off | Readers 2

James Kelly in the subscription only Irish News, is getting fed up with the seemingly endless series of constitutional crises, and suggests that NI Plc is being seriously neglected in all the furore. Meantime, out in the real world away from the political hothouse, voices are being heard protesting about the political stranglehold which is choking economic growth here. One such voice is that of Jim Berry, a specialist on planning and development at the University of Ulster. He is …

More Catholics than Protestants support the Police

Mick Fealty on September 18, 2002, 12:46 pmComments Off | Readers 4

Extraordinary headline, but one borne out by this study for the BBC. 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

Unionist backroom

admin on September 18, 2002, 11:51 amComments Off | Readers 6

The public conversation within Unionism (see here) continues in the Belfast Telegraph. This time it’s Jeffrey Donaldson. He asserts, in apparent agreement with David Trimble, that this crisis is entirely of Sinn Fein’s making. Like the Trimblite academic Paul Bew yesterday, he highlights violence as a point of concern: Levels of violence on our streets are higher now than they were at the time of the Belfast Agreement over four years ago. The Assistant Chief Constable, Alan McQuillan, has declared …

Priomhoide briste as a phost

Mick Fealty on July 31, 2002, 3:19 pmComments Off | Readers 6

Dhearbhaigh an Foras Pátrúnachta cinneadh bhord bainistíochta Ghaelscoil Thulach na nÓg Tomás Ó Dúlaing a bhriseadh as a phost. Mar a duirt ceann den a na tuismitheoirí na scoile, i mBearla: “I feel sickened. We wanted to give our kids something different. We wanted them to learn more about religion than we ever had. Now bloody religion has come along and divided us and the school after all. What hope do those in the North have?” Dearainn Ian Malcolm, “Níl …