Northern Irish Blogs.com

In a sickening act of right-wing piracy, the southern government has thrust a financial knife into the heart of working people by landing them with a budget that will make their lives misery.At a time when most ordinary people in the south are having to tighten their belts to make ends meet, the Fianna Fáil/ Green/ PD administration is more interested in tightening the noose around their necks.Among the jewels unfurled by Brian Lenihan and hurled at an unwitting public today were a massive 8c leap in tax on a litre of petrol, a half-percentage point jump in the already astronomically high VAT rate, and a 1% income levy on gross earnings up to €100,100.And to add insult to injury, quite literally, the already grossly inadequate public health system has been boosted in its inability to...

A meeting this evening of the elected representatives of the PDs has effectively agreed that the party is finished. Last year's disastrous general election left the party with only two TDs, one of whom, Noel Grealish, has refused for some time to deny that he's planning a move to Fianna Fáil.Party leader Ciaran Cannon said after this evening's meeting that it was the unanimous view of the four members of the parliamentary party (two TDs and two Senators) that the party was no longer politically viable.A special conference of the party wiull be held in October to decide finally on what happens. Some are calling for a merger with Fianna Fáil, but given that a good few within the party would have tended to come from a Fine Gael background, it's likely that representatives and members will...

Bertie Ahern has handed in his notice to the President. And so comes to an end an era. Apart from Gerry Adams, who has effectively departed anyway, Bertie Ahern was the last of the Good Friday Agreement leaders to leave. He follows in the footsteps of Hume, Trimble and Blair.Of course, now begins a new era in Irish politics, north and south. Peter Robinson is to take over at the helm of the DUP and we already have Gordon Brown installed as British Prime Minister. The recent problems for the latter will undoubtedly raise questions about whether his two counterparts in Ireland will have similar problems following in the footsteps of such high-profile predecessors. It will be a while yet before we know, with no elections on either side of the border scheduled until next year. In the...

According to today's Sun newspaper, a corpse has been found in the office of Fianna Fáil Minister Mary Coughlan. Going by a review of the newspaper on the TV3 Nightly News with Vincent Browne, the body had been lying there for four days.Coughlan is a Donegal South-West TD and Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries & Food.This probably isn't the time to make a pun about Fianna Fáil having other skeletons in the...

Former Ulster Unionist councillor Harvey Bicker has joined Fianna Fáil. The ex-British soldier has not been active in frontline politics for several years. Whether or not one is a supporter of Fianna Fáil, it's certainly good news that those who formerly pledged allegiance to the British Crown are beginning to turn to the Irish...

Bertie Ahern staged somewhat of a u-turn on the floor of the Dáil today when he backtracked on his previous claims that Paul Quinn died as the result of some sort of criminal feud. When asked to comment on the case by Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, Ahern came up with a rather prosaic response that there is an “ongoing police investigation into the murder and the Garda is working very closely with the PSNI to ensure that everything possible is being done to bring the perpetrators to justice. I urge anyone with information to co-operate fully with the police investigation. It is only through full co-operation with the law enforcement agencies that the perpetrators of this vicious crime will be brought to justice.”When pressed by Labour leader Eamon Gilmore, who asked: “Will the...

On a cold, wet night in November, you would expect most people in Ireland to be tucked up at home in front of the TV with the fire blazing. But that wasn't the case last night in Cullyhanna in south Armagh, where there was a massive turn-out of local people to back the family of Paul Quinn's campaign for justice. There quite literally was standing room only in the community centre.This was a gathering of ordinary, decent people who have simply come together to agree that they've had enough. A number of people in the crowd spoke of the years of intimidation they have received at the hands of paramilitaries. They talked about how they kept quiet about the beatings that their family members had received for fear of further reprisals. They spoke about the fact that they were sick of living...

The idea has been knocking around recently that an honours system could be introduced in the south- last week over on O'Conall Street they mentioned that Bertie Ahern had backed such a plan. As yet details have not been published on what form this scheme would take, but in principle I would be dead against it. How can a republic, which supposedly is the epitome of egalistarianism, reconcile itself with a honours system which elevates some citizens above others?Now I've no problem with medals or awards being granted for specific reasons, for instance if a member of the armed forces went beyond the call of duty to save civilians in a war situation, but granting someone a title which permanently elevates them above the rest of society smacks of monarchism. If someone does a good job in their...

I’ve recently been having an argument debate on Wikipedia over whether the SDLP is an Irish republican party- I say it is; others disagree. I pointed out that the SDLP has described itself as a republican party, but others seem to think that it depends on the perception which people have of a party which counts (an altogether less tangible measurement).So what is the definition of ‘republican’? Well, as an adjective one tends to find explanations such as “a person who favours a republican form of government” and “having the supreme power lying in the body of citizens entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them or characteristic of such government.” As a noun, we find “One who favours a republic as the best form of government.” Clearly the SDLP...

After weeks of unfounded media speculation, the record has been set straight on the future of the SDLP by its own membership- an all-Ireland working group will be established to look at all the options available to the party. And then, once all the issues have been teased out, the membership will decide on the best way forward based on the evidence they will have at their disposal. The party will be engaging with all of the main southern parties and anyone else whom it deems necessary.The private debate at yesterday's conference session saw many salient points being madeby members from across the island . I was extremely hungover after having argued with southerners until nearly five o'clock in the morning, fuelled by Guinness, but thankfully I didn't have to take to the stage as there...

SDLP Leader Mark Durkan MP MLA has today responded to An Taoiseach’s announcement that Fianna Fáil is to establish a new committee on all-island strategy:"The SDLP was the architect of the Agreed Ireland which has now at last come to pass. We have always said that this new Ireland would bring realignment and exciting change in Irish politics, both between North and South and within the North. With many of the institutions finally up and running, the flux that we have predicted is now beginning to appear."We are a party that plays its role in response to the public needs of the time. For decades, we worked in the national interest to secure peace. In recent years, we have continued to take on the real issues of the day, North and South, not least through our ‘North-South Makes...

It's often been claimed that many southerners are all for a united Ireland in theory, but that things may change once it starts hitting them in the pocket. And so it was this week with the announcement that Aer Lingus is to relocate its hub from Shannon to Belfast.Political representatives in the west are far from happy that jobs are moving northwards. Surely the most important thing is that they remain within the country. It was quite amusing to see a Fianna Fáil TD on Prime Time this evening demanding that the government should use its 25% stake in Aer Lingus to 'revisit' this issue. Does he not realise that this is all part of Bertie's masterplan- there's no point in being a key player in the peace process and building cross-border links and then turning round and leaving the north as...

Whatever the outcome of today’s general election, it’ll be good for democracy because for once we’ll have had a proper contest in which pundits and public alike really have no idea who will form the next government.For a long time, the question wasn’t ‘if’ Fianna Fáil got into government, but rather how large their majority would be. Even when they entered the era of coalition, it was merely a question of who would be Fianna Fáil’s partner after each election. Save for a period of Fine Gael strength in the 1980s, Fianna Fáil government of some form was all but guaranteed.Such absence of true competition is bad for democracy. I don’t mean that from an anti-FF perspective- any party remaining too strong for too long would be bad news, whether it is FF, FG or whoever- but...

So here it is- election day in the south! If I get a chance, I'll put some updates on here as I receive them. It'll be...

I've given music a skip this week and gone for some comedy videos on this week's elections in the south. Great...

As we enter the last week of campigning for the southern general elections, tonight RTÉ will be running a debate between the leaders of the two main parties- Bertie Ahern of Fianna Fáil and Enda Kenny of Fine Gael. I've met Enda before but have never had the pleasure of Bertie's company.In an increasingly media-orientated political culture in the south, image is constantly moving up the agenda for would-be candidates, which would suggest that tonight's spectacle is important. However, it should also be borne in mind that in the 2002 debate Fine Gael leader Michael Noonan was general deemed to have 'won', but history went on to record a disastrous election result for his party.If nothing else, tonight's show should be interesting in showcasing the two potential taoisigh head-to-head in...

Fine Gael will be rubbing their hands in delight at the revelation tonight that they are a mere three percentage points behind Fianna Fáil in the latest opinion poll. The latest survey, for tomorrow's Irish Times, puts support for Enda Kenny's party at 31% and for Bertie Ahern's at 34%. This is the highest score attributed to FG in a TNS/ MBRI opinion poll since 1989. Strangely however, the two parties' possible respective partners in government have had the opposite experience- Fine Gael's partner Labour has seen its level of support drop one point to 10% whereas Fianna Fáil's current coalition partner the Progressive Democrats have seen a rise from 1% to 3%.Combined, the FF/PD partnership currently has 37% of support, whereas the FG/Labour link-up commands 41%.Of course, this won't...

Two new polls have both shown a rise in support for Fine Gael and a drop for Fianna Fáil.The Sunday Business Post's Red C poll shows Fianna Fáil down one point to 35%, with Fine Gael up four to 27%. Labour are down one to 11%, the PDs unchanged at 3%, the Greens up one to 9%, Sinn Féin is down two to 8%.Meanwhile, a Millward Brown IMS poll in the Sindo shows Bertie Ahern's party at 38%, down one percentage point since January, while Enda Kenny's party has risen one percentage point to 23%. Fine Gael's possible coalition partner Labour's support is unchanged at 12%, while current government partners the Progressive Democrats have slipped one to 4%. The Greens have risen one point to 6%, while Sinn Féin are also up one to 8%.Of course, the only real poll is the one which is just around...

At first glance, today's April Fool's story in the Sunday Tribune may have seemed quite ludicrous (although some people fell for it hook, line and sinker) but bizarrely the claim that Fine Gael is planning to change the wording of the national anthem is not wholly divorced from reality.Amhrán na bhFiann, which was written by Peadar Kearney in 1907 and translated into Irish by Bulmer Hobson, originally had as its first line "Sinne Laochra Gaedheal" meaning "we the heroes of Ireland". However, a subsequent Fianna Fáil government decided in their wisdom to replace it with "Sinne Fianna Fáil".If the Tribune's comedic (but not so unbelievable) premonition does come to pass, it will be interesting to see what we end up with if a Fine Gael/ Labour/ Green government is formed after the...

There is only one party in the north that commands the respect of the main parties in the south and enjoys their open support- that party is the SDLP.The only way to secure investment from the south and to improve cross-border cooperation is by working constructively with the southern government- it helps then that both the current Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and his party Fianna Fáil, as well as the 'alternative government' of Enda Kenny's Fine Gael and Pat Rabbitte's Labour have all openly and publicly endorsed the SDLP's North South Makes Sense blueprint for all-Ireland cooperation. Things don't come any stronger than that. That means that come the elections in the south, no matter who is in power, they will be backing the SDLP's plan.Of course, the best way to secure that cooperation is...