Irish Election - Coverage of Irish Politics, News and Current Affairs

Bertie gave the Bodenstown oration today and used it as an opportunity to return to the legacy issue theme of turning Fianna Fail into a 32-county party. He sought to reassure unionists that Fianna Fail will not be a sectarian influence of proponent of narrow nationalism as it seeks to move North.

So, what to make of the news yesterday about Fianna Fáil exploring the ‘idea of advancing itself as a political party in the North’? Certainly it has considerable support amongst many FF members. But the more one examines the idea the less feasible it becomes.

A Big Day in the North…or so Black Grape had it… back in 1995. So, what’s up next week? Why, the British-Irish Council meet, and as Gerry Moriarty writes in yesterdays Irish Times:
First Minister the Rev Ian Paisley and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness are scheduled to greet Gordon Brown at Parliament Buildings, Stormont, on [...]

So much of what occured after the Belfast Agreement is so hidden from open scrutiny that it is often a case of paying your money and take your choice of who was responsible for who ultimately collapsed the immediate outworking of that deal. Republicans blame unionists, and vice versa.

Brian Feeney casts his eye south of the border. He reckons Sinn Fein nibbling on the edges of government will cause much agitation within the DUP. He’s possibly right. However the actual position of the DUP on seeing Sinn Fein walking into a future government may not be as clear cut as he suggests. In [...]

From IOL.
The Irish Government today faced further calls to rejoin the Commonwealth.Following appeals in the North’s Assembly yesterday for Ireland to rejoin the international organisation headed by the Queen after 58 years, the secretary general of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA) Dr William Shija, said the time had come for Ireland to embrace the diversity [...]

From Reuters last night, Bertie speaking to the Council on Foreign Relations suggested a mechanism not unlike South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission may be necessary to secure progress in community relations up North.
 ”I think we have to find some mechanism. … Otherwise it will never come to an end,” Ahern said. One commission [...]

With all the ballots counted, preferences transfered and seats awarded, the make up of the could-be Stormont Assembly is now known. It was an election of little surprise - the DUP and Sinn Fein grew, the UUP and SDLP shrunk and no major names suffered shock defeats (akin to Trimble in the 2005 Westminster elections).
So [...]

As always, I struggle with a feeling that I’m somehow not entitled to stick my toe into the murky waters that comprises the political landscape in the six counties because I have no idea what the “sit-EE-ation” is really like up there.
Of course, that will never stop me chucking in my two cents’ worth anyway!
The [...]

Before I say anything negative about the events of last Sunday, I’d like to make it perfectly clear that in the grand scheme of things I do recognize that the outcome was a good thing for the peace process.
I do, however, have some concerns, for what they’re worth.
Let’s remember that the Good Friday Agreement was [...]

RTE, BBC coverage.

Strange, reading this earlier today. The policing issue has clearly become crucial to the further implementation of the Good Friday Agreement in it’s current form. And yet the news emanating from both Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party is far from good.
Firstly, and this is hardly a surprise, I entirely support the GFA and [...]

Why does Ian Paisley look like a man with a mad dog on a leash with regards to the Stormont attack by Loyalist killer Michael Stone? Why is this a great thing, appearing to be a real moderate by demonstrating to the public what a real Unionist looks like? What a great tactic to [...]

I’m wondering if I was the only one this morning who felt that the Archbishop Brady/Dr. Paisley meeting earlier today might well be a harbinger of an unintended consequence of the Peace Process. Hearing Archbishop Brady talking about the central position of “marriage and the family” and “faith-based” education struck me as rather intriguing. After [...]

Bound to be more on Slugger on this soon;

From the BBC;
“Are we prepared to actually think out of the box and say, well how - if this is to come about - it will be accommodated…Or alternatively, are we saying that we are abdicating solely to Provisional Sinn Fein, the role of being advocates for a united Ireland in the Republic?”