The continuing horror in Gaza touches us all deeply, even if only vicariously. It leads us ineluctably to the question, often asked in exasperation: Is there no solution?
But we’ve been here before and some point to the 1998 Belfast Good Friday Agreement (BGFA), which ended the Troubles in Northern Ireland, as a possible model for the problem of Palestine.… Read the rest
The announcement on 20 March 2024 of Leo Varadkar’s decision to resign as taoiseach came as a shock to the press, the public and many of his colleagues in the Oireachtas. Having served in the Dáil as a TD since 2007, having held ministerial rank since 2011, and having held office as taoiseach from 2017 to 2020 and 2022 to 2024, Varadkar has decided at the relatively young age of 45 to quit politics.… Read the rest
For two years Northern Ireland has been without devolved government following the Democratic Unionist Party’s boycott of the Executive in protest over the Northern Ireland Protocol.
On Saturday 3 February 2024 the Northern Ireland Assembly met and elected as First Minister Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill, the first nationalist member of the assembly to hold that position.… Read the rest
On 23 November 2023 the Dublin inner city witnessed an outbreak of civil disorder not seen in decades. Shocking images of burning buses, a burning police car, and police in riot gear were reminiscent of Belfast during the Troubles. In an article I wrote for Pearls and Irritations I explore the context in which the rioting occurred, with particular reference to increased immigration.… Read the rest
For nine months following the elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2022, nothing much changed in Northern Ireland. Then on 27 February 2023 the sleeping giant awoke. On that day the British prime minister Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen jointly announced they had agreed to resolve their differences over the Northern Ireland Protocol.… Read the rest
In the lead up to the elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly on 5 May 2022, opinion polls indicate that the issues of most concern to the voters of Northern Ireland are the cost of living and the crisis in the NHS. Nevertheless, dominating the campaign are two issues that the new Northern Ireland government will have no power to resolve: the Northern Ireland Protocol and a united Ireland.… Read the rest
Since Easter, our newspapers and television screens have been showing us images from Northern Ireland we thought were a thing of the past: a bus being burned, children pelting police with rocks, young men in balaclavas hurling Molotov cocktails. A few years ago we would have taken no notice. But now these images seem incongruous – what’s going on?… Read the rest
On Easter Sunday 2021 I was given the honour of addressing the Irish National Association’s annual gathering at the 1798 monument in Waverley Cemetery. For more than 90 years members, supporters, and friends of the INA have assembled at the monument to commemorate the men and women of 1916. This year marks the 105th anniversary of the Easter Rising, but it is also marks the centenary of the partition of Ireland, that unwanted outcome of the revolution begun in 1916.… Read the rest
For Australians, 11 November is a date that resonates in our nation’s history. On that date in 1880 Ned Kelly was hanged, in 1918 it saw the end of the fighting on the Western Front, and in 1975 it was the day on which Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismissed the prime minister, Gough Whitlam. This year marks the centenary of another momentous 11 November, a day unique in the annals of Australian political history.… Read the rest
On 8 February 2020 the Irish people went to the polls to elect Dáil Éireann, the 160-seat lower house of the Irish parliament. The result was remarkable for two main reasons. Firstly, Sinn Féin, traditionally a fringe-dweller of politics in the Republic of Ireland, had received the highest number of first-preference votes, and with 37 seats was the second largest party.… Read the rest