On the signing of the Good Friday Agreement George Mitchel famously said that that was the easy bit. The hard part was going to be implementing it. And he was right. The twists and turns from April 10th 1998 to April 2013 have been many. At times the process has collapsed. At other times it [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Ireland’
Join Irish trade unionists on the St Patrick’s day parade tomorrow
Mar 16th, 2013 by Newsdesk.There will be a trade union presence on the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in London tomorrow, Sunday 17th March. The occasion is to commemorate the 100 years since the “Dublin Lockout!” This event was an important epoch in the history of Trade Unionism in Ireland as the anniversary is being promoted by the Dublin Trades [...]
A border poll – let the people decide
Jan 23rd, 2013 by Gerry Adams.Who would have believed it? Sinn Féin holds a conference in Dublin on Saturday and calls for a border poll in the next term of the Assembly and Oireachtas, and by Tuesday the DUP are supporting it! Of course Arlene Foster backs the idea because she’s convinced that it will deliver the answer she wants. According [...]
I’m up for a sensible debate on British and Irish identities
Jan 22nd, 2013 by Martin McGuinness.The last few weeks have been bad weeks for the political process, bad weeks for the peace process and bad weeks for the vast majority of people who are absolutely wedded to building a new society on this island. I have listened very carefully to the various reasons being put forward by those involved in [...]
Ireland’s ‘austerity’ is working – for profits
Nov 12th, 2012 by Michael Burke.The Central Statistical Office (CSO) has produced its latest institutional sector accounts for the Irish economy in 2011. The title would suggest they are among the driest economic data possible – from a long list. In fact they are among the most important data available because they reveal the sources of income for all the [...]
Just how left wing is Sinn Féin?
Nov 5th, 2012 by David Osler.There is a political party in the United Kingdom – and I use the geographical expression advisedly – content to serve as junior partner in a rightwing-dominated coalition committed to austerity, reductions in public spending, privatisation, the PFI and tax cuts for business. And no, I am not talking about the Liberal Democrats. Unfortunately, such [...]
Sinn Féin show a progressive, left way forward
Oct 30th, 2012 by Jayne Fisher.The recent article ANC and Sinn Féin: when radicals move to the right cannot go unanswered. I would not wish to comment on its assertions about the ANC, and indeed to conflate the two is both simplistic and wrong. But on the issue of Sinn Féin and the political struggle in Ireland, it is both factually [...]
ANC, Sinn Fein: when radicals move right
Oct 29th, 2012 by David Osler.There was a time when the African National Congress and Sinn Féin were bruited as progressive or even revolutionary forces by the bulk of the left, and equally vehemently repudiated as repugnant men of violence by most of the right. Thirty years ago, our side used to stage sit-down protests outside South Africa House and [...]
A Pyrrhic victory for austerity
Jun 6th, 2012 by Gerry Adams.In an earlier European campaign 2000 years ago, King Pyrrhus of Epirus suffered such heavy casualties at the hands of the Romans that his apparent military victories ultimately led to his defeat. Out of that experience the phrase pyrrhic victory came into common usage and was used to describe someone who has been successful in [...]
Standing up for Ireland
Mar 15th, 2012 by Gerry Adams.If you want to know who is taking the real decisions about the economy of the Irish state then you need look no further than EU Commissioner Olli Rehn. Since Fianna Fáil crashed the economy and Fine Gael and Labour won last years election they have repeatedly asserted that there can be no deviation from [...]
