Irish News Editorial. Belfast. Thursday, April 4, 2019
The angry response from the DUP to yesterday’s high profile talks between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn effectively confirmed that the party’s realization that it had failed to play its cards astutely and was heading firmly back to the Westminster sidelines.
There can be no doubt that the outcome of the 2017 UK general election, which Mrs. May came to bitterly regret calling and left her without a parliamentary majority, gave the ten DUP MPs a short-term opportunity of considerable proportions.
However, rather than aligning itself with mainstream Conservatives who wanted to draw up Brexit plans which had a chance of actually being delivered, the DUP was instead attracted to the likes of Boris Johnson and Jacob Rees-Mogg.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Rees-Mogg were happy to be cheered at various DUP gatherings, and loudly proclaim their commitment to the Union, but proved extremely unreliable allies as soon as the wider pressure intensified.
By the stage when DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds said last week he would rather remain in the EU than risk outcomes which in his view risked the break-up of the UK, a parting of the ways became inevitable.
Mrs. May, for her part, has clearly concluded that any Brexit solution which may emerge before she finally departs from office – which is likely to be sooner rather than later – is not going to involve the DUP.
Her decision to seek the support of Mr. Corbyn has not gone down well with the most fervently anti-EU elements in her party, but she is entitled to point out the lack of other options available if her Withdrawal Agreement is ever to get through the House of Commons.
The erratic nature of Mrs. May’s performance, and the huge uncertainties about the attitude to Irish issues of whoever succeeds her in Downing Street, has underlined the overwhelming need for a backstop which provides reassurance that a seamless border will remain in place.
While the DUP has set its face against a backstop, 27 EU states and an increasing number of MPs from all the other main Westminster groups hold a very different opinion.
If Mrs. May cannot find common ground with Mr. Corbyn, the prospect of another UK general election will inevitably rise to the top of the political agenda.
When voters last went to the polls two years ago, suggestions that pro-EU parties might field agreed candidates in some key Northern Ireland constituencies were not ultimately pursued.
The scale of the crisis which we now face could well mean that a revised approach, with direct consequences for the level of DUP representation, proves possible.
9/11 MEMORIAL STAIR CLIMB VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
We are still asking for volunteers to assist with this year’s 9/11 Memorial Stair Climb on Sunday, April 7, at Madison Square Garden. Volunteers will receive a free ticket to the Knick’s First Responders Night vs. Washington Wizards at 7:30 PM that evening. Volunteers will be accepted on a first come first served basis, so please email RecordingSecretary@ufanyc.org or call 212-545-6974 as soon as possible if you are interested in helping out.
MEMORIAL MASS
Rescue 4 invites you and your family to attend their annual Memorial Mass tomorrow, Thursday, April 4, at 1:00 PM. Mass will be held at St. Sebastian Church, 58-02 Roosevelt Ave, Woodside, NY 11377. Lunch to follow.
ANNUAL FF MICHAEL J CAWLEY MEMORIAL FOUNDATION BENEFIT
The 18th Annual Firefighter Michael J Cawley Memorial Foundation Benefit will be held Saturday, April 6, at Mulcahy’s, 3232 Railroad Ave, Wantagh, NY, from 3:00-8:00 PM. The event will feature live music, raffle prizes, a live & silent auction, complimentary buffet and drink specials. A $25 donation is recommended. For more information, go to ffmichaeljcawley.org or call 718-359-8430.
SSG CHRIS ENGELDRUM FDNY VFW POST 12033
The SSG Chris Engeldrum FDNY VFW Post 12033 will be holding its monthly meeting on Wednesday, April 17, 2019. The meeting will be held at Randall’s Island, Building 11 Cafeteria at 8:00 pm. All Military Veterans who have served overseas during time of war are eligible to join. For additional information, see the Post website at FDNYVFW.com.
MATT’S RACE – 5K RUN
On Sunday, April 28, 2019, at 10 am, the Lt. Gordon “Matt” Ambelas Memorial 5K run will be held in Clove Lakes Park, Staten Island, NY. Registration fee is $25 for adults, $15 for children under 15. Post-race party includes food, beverage and entertainment. For additional information and to register online visit http://sirunning.com/race2019/matts%20race%202019.pdf.
Brian Feeney. Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, April 3, 2019
ANGELA Merkel arrives in Dublin tomorrow. It’s not a social call. Officially she’s there ‘to support’ Leo Varadkar and the Irish government in these critical times of Brexit.
The real reason is that she wants to know what Varadkar and the Irish government are going to do about the border.
Yesterday Varadkar was trying to give satisfactory answers to the same question to Macron in Paris.
Obviously it’s crunch time. Macron and Merkel are the big two in the EU but Merkel is the boss.
It’s 2014 since Merkel was in Ireland so her visit tomorrow is significant.
The EU, and these two in particular, have lost confidence that the UK will produce an orderly exit by April 12.
Never mind those indicative votes. There are only three legal options: no deal, no Brexit or May’s deal.
If not May’s deal there’s no deal, which means there’s no backstop. That means there will be an EU border in Ireland. They want to know what it will look like.
The official Irish position is still that there will be no Border, but for the past month Merkel has been using every opportunity at EU meetings to ask Varadkar what he’s going to do.
So far, answer came there none. She wants one tomorrow. She wants to know what Ireland is going to do, as she repeats, “to preserve the integrity of the single market”.
So far the best information we have is that there will be checks of some kind on incoming goods “away from the border”.
Fair enough, but what about animals and vegetables – phytosanitary checks?
Some of you may remember the havoc caused by the 2001 foot-and-mouth outbreak when six million sheep, cattle and pigs were slaughtered on the other island.
What struck every observer was the way the Irish government sealed the border to keep the disease at bay.
For the EU, the danger of any communicable disease getting into the single market is unthinkable.
Without a backstop and checks in the Irish Sea, Britain’s border in Ireland will be the EU frontier.
What happens when the first consignment of Brazilian beef lands in the UK? What about the infamous US chlorinated chicken and hormone-stuffed beef? There will have to be phytosanitary checks at the Border.
The British know all this and three weeks ago published their plans for trade in the event of no deal.
All EU goods will enter The North freely. However, the EU will apply full tariffs to everything going out from the north to the south, which will, within a month, wipe out The North’s agriculture.
Meanwhile punitive tariffs will be placed on EU goods entering the UK otherwise than across the British border here. Within a month Irish agriculture would be flattened.
Most experts instantly condemned the British plans as ignorant, stupid and illegal because they breach World Trade Organisation rules which stipulate every country has to be treated the same; you couldn’t treat Ireland differently from other EU states.
It wouldn’t take long for the French and Germans to retaliate. The UK says they can act on a temporary basis, but how long is temporary and how do they get out of it?
‘Urgent discussions’ is the UK answer. On what basis? Who decides? Who arbitrates?
Meanwhile the Border in Ireland will be a paradise for smugglers and tax avoiders.
The British proposals were so ridiculous and ill thought out and obviously unlawful in international practice that they can’t be serious.
There can only be two motives. First, to scare the Irish government and the EU into ditching the backstop, but that won’t happen because of the importance of the integrity of the single market.
The real motive was to put pressure on the DUP to cave in and accept May’s deal because anyone can see The North’s business and agriculture would be destroyed.
Whatever the reason the cunning plan failed. The authors didn’t realize they are dealing with nutters, fanatics, people who would happily adopt a scorched earth policy, who would die in the last ditch, yelling, “Nevarr.”
The proof? They laughed at the UK proposals and voted down May’s deal, the best of both worlds offered by the EU.
An opinion poll published by the Sunday Business Post over the weekend showed support for Sinn Fein had dropped by five points to 13 per cent. The figure was 18 per cent in February.
On Monday Ms McDonald said: “In respect of St Patrick’s Day, I think it starts certainly a conversation around that banner which has been up and down Fifth Avenue for a generation.
“It’s a very direct political statement, it’s an anti-partition statement.
“I know it was taken by some to be directed at English people. It certainly was not and is not.”
She described the slogan as a “fairly blunt statement at any time”.
Speaking on RTÉ Radio 1 she said: “I suppose all of us have to be conscious of not just what we say and what is meant, but also what is heard and what is understood.”
Asked whether she was inching towards an apology, she replied: “I don’t have to inch towards anything… for anybody who felt that it was directed at English people I just want to reassure them that that’s not the case.
“Indeed I have blood relatives myself who are English… and English people are very welcome in Ireland.
“Many of them live amongst us, they are our neighbours and our friends, so certainly I apologise to anybody who felt that the banner was intended in that way, and I’m happy to clarify that it’s not. It certainly doesn’t mean that.”
On the political sentiment behind the banner, Ms McDonald said she would not apologise for being “a united Irelander” and for wanting unity and democracy across Ireland.
“Far from apologising for it, I wear that political position as a badge of honour,” she said.
The DUP said Ms McDonald’s apology was motivated by poll ratings rather than remorse.
East Antrim MLA Gordon Lyons said: “Mary Lou McDonald’s apology is a cynical response to falling poll ratings rather than any acknowledgement of remorse.
“It is testament to Sinn Féin’s place on the sidelines of politics that gaffes by their new president have been their most significant contribution to politics in recent months.
“It is clear however that a drop in support has pressed those who take the decisions within Sinn Fein to stop defending the banner and belatedly send Mary Lou McDonald out to issue this supposed apology.”
Mr Lyons said if the party’s leadership was truly focused on repairing the damage it would commit to working with all other parties to restore the Stormont assembly.
