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Posted by Jim on July 9, 2019
WTC Retired Firefighter Lloyd W. Stuart Engine Company 3
WAKE Wednesday, July 10, 2019 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM & 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM Casey McCallum Rice South Shore Funeral Home 30 Nelson Avenue
All Off-Duty Members should attend in Class A Uniform.
Posted by Jim on
| Dear Friend of the Liturgy Office, The Office of Liturgy is inviting qualified liturgical musicians to apply for membership and service on the Archdiocesan Liturgical Music Commission. This Commission develops and promotes policies related to liturgical music in the Archdiocese of New York. It also serves as a point of contact for pastors and musicians seeking employmentt Application materials should be submitted before August 31. |
Posted by Jim on July 8, 2019
Simon Coveney.Irish Times. Dublin. Monday, July 8, 2019.
(Simon Coveney is Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs)
We are 115 days away from a potential no-deal Brexit. That leaves us with just in excess of 16 weeks to finish preparing, as best we can, for the serious disruption of the UK deciding to become a third country overnight after 46 years of EU membership. The chances of a disorderly Brexit have never been higher and the Government now considers the risk of this outcome on October 31st as “significant”.
Therefore, on Tuesday I will bring to Cabinet a detailed update on our contingency planning across all Government departments and State agencies. Once agreed by Cabinet we will lay the document before the Oireachtas and publish it in full ahead of a Dáil debate on Brexit preparations later this week.
This updated Contingency Action Plan will build on its predecessor published last December and the noteworthy cross-party effort that went into passing the Brexit Omnibus Act in March. It refines and improves on all the actions that were already in place for the March 29th and April 12th Brexit deadlines. This work will continue to be prioritised across Government in the weeks ahead.
The UK is, and will remain, the Republic’s closest neighbour and friend regardless of Brexit. At the same time, the State is, and will remain, a fully committed and proud member of the European Union.
In recent weeks we have observed and listened to some inaccurate utterances about ourselves, the EU and the backstop.
Of course people can have their own opinions, but they cannot have their own facts. The facts are that Brexit is a British decision, triggering article 50 on March 29th, 2017 was a British decision, and the red lines laid down for the negotiation are British red lines.
The Withdrawal Agreement was a hard-won deal between the EU and the UK; the “Backstop” is an integral part of that deal, and the Withdrawal Agreement will not be reopened.
The “Backstop” is a creative, negotiated solution to protect Northern Ireland, the part of these islands that will be most damaged by a no-deal Brexit, and in turn the peace process. It recognises the uniqueness of Northern Ireland. It is an insurance policy and we hope it doesn’t need to be used. But the “Backstop” gives us certainty now, certainty that is essential to protect stability on this island.
Any other arrangements agreed in the future must deliver the same outcome. The “Backstop” is much more than just avoiding physical infrastructure. It is also about avoiding related checks and controls, protecting North-South co-operation and the all-island economy, conditions that created tens of thousands of jobs, normalized relations on this island and sustained peace.
The backstop is also about protecting the EU’s single market and the Republic’s place in it. The Irish people did not vote to leave the EU. The State has not caused this problem and we cannot be expected to compromise our place in the EU and our single market to fix it. The Republic accepts the decision of the UK and we have negotiated in good faith as part of the EU for an orderly Brexit. Our country has pulled together and will need to do so even more if UK politics decides on a disorderly Brexit. I make no apology for protecting the Republic of Ireland through Brexit.
Some claim Northern Ireland won’t hurt too badly in a no-deal scenario. To them I say read the stark warnings and bleak reports of the Northern Ireland civil service. Listen to farming and fishing groups as well as the diverse business lobby. They all strongly support the backstop.
Biggest dangers
We hope sensible evidence-based politics prevails over slogans in the UK, but we cannot bank on that. One of the biggest dangers Ireland faces in the weeks ahead is the “boy who cried wolf” effect, whereby people and business assume that because a disorderly Brexit was averted in March and April the same will happen in October. To assume this would be a serious error.
The Government isn’t the only player in this. Businesses will need to ensure that they are prepared. Major multinational firms have done so, as have many Irish companies, but given the amount of small and medium enterprises in Ireland, not to mention their exposure to the UK market, we need to see concerted efforts by them in the weeks ahead.
The Government has helped and will continue to help small businesses, but we need those same businesses to realize that they are exposed and need to act. There is a range of supports already in place and tomorrow’s updated Contingency Action Plan will detail how the Government will continue to offer supports over the next 115 days.
Our no-deal planning work with the European Commission will continue in the weeks ahead to achieve the shared twin goals of preventing a hard Border while also protecting the EU’s single market. However, no deal means we lose the “Backstop” and elements of the all-island economy are particularly vulnerable in this scenario.
Posted by Jim on
Paul Gosling on July 8, 2019, 7:01 am
As Northern Ireland moves towards what will hopefully be a peaceful 12th July, the manager of ‘the Derry Model’, Maeve McLoughlin – a former Sinn Fein MLA – reflects on how peaceful parading was negotiated, after years of conflict and tension in Derry-Londonderry. “It was spurred on by a commitment to the city,” she says, “and by people who genuinely wanted to be in a better place.
“That was the feeling of the Apprentice Boys as well. They love the city. They want the city to be perceived and presented in a very positive light. There is no doubt that the demographics, the largely republican/nationalist city, spurred on those conversations. It was also that when you have rights, you also have responsibilities.”
The Derry Model is a conflict transformation peacebuilding project, which seeks to spread awareness of the city’s success in addressing its historic problems over parading – which used to lead to the city centre being virtually closed down during parades. Progress was achieved through extensive negotiations, compromises and recognition of both rights and responsibilities. Maeve explains the work of the Derry Model in the latest Forward Together podcast.
“It is not one thing,” says Maeve. “We couldn’t say the Derry Model equals this set of circumstances or experience. It’s a mixture. I think it’s our demographics. We had leadership. We had people willing to take risks. We have sets of experiences. I wouldn’t be naive enough to say we can simply lift those experiences and tailor them into other areas.
“But we have templates. We have a sense of people who were willing to take risks – that is a big important message for other communities. So it is how we use those experiences to cascade that learning to other circumstances. That is not to say it is all going to fit perfectly. In terms of parading, the relationship in this city of the Apprentice Boys with the residents’ groups, and the relationship we have between the Bloody Sunday Museum and the Siege Museum is unique. And the business sector played a very proactive role to reach an accommodation.”
Maeve says that republicans, nationalists and business leaders in Derry were willing to take risks to achieve agreement on parading, as were people in the loyal orders. “When we look at the Maiden City Accord between the bands’ forum, potentially sanctioning or disciplining individual band members or entire bands. That was a very significant message to the city, that people were taking this seriously.” This meant the city could take control of problems relating, for example, to drunken “hangers-on”.
The Derry Model is also concerned with dealing with the past. Maeve says that while the concept of ‘justice’ means different things for different people, learning the truth is central to how we should deal with the past. She adds that apologies – such as that from David Cameron for Bloody Sunday – can help the families of some victims and can be important.
But Maeve warns that Northern Ireland cannot made lasting and genuine progress unless there is economic, social and environmental regeneration that addresses actual need. “We won’t change the outcome unless we target that need,” she says. “If we keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to have the same outcome.”
Posted by Jim on July 7, 2019
| Armageddon on Brexit and the Union may take a little longer by Brian Walker |
So the Stormont talks are in limbo. Why should they be different? Everything else is, including the future of the Union. The reputation of failed prime ministers can rise after they retire defeated and the problems continue to confound their successors. Even Theresa May is starting to look just a bit better. Straight after he lost two elections in quick succession in 1974 ,Ted Heath’s reputation as a statesman seemed secure when his historic achievement of EEC entry was confirmed in the 1975 referendum that would surely stand the test of time…
In this respect Theresa May has got ahead of herself. Although three times rejected the withdrawal agreement doesn’t look so bad after all. I predict it’ll look better and better as 31 October looms. Not called the WA of course and not without a tweak or two looking ahead to “alternative arrangements” that will make the backstop even fuzzier.
But if not, what?
Her last minute warning that No Deal could destroy the Union is echoed by a chorus of Leavers and Remainers alike but without a clue what to do about it.
Critics of Jeremy Hunt and in particular Boris Johnson on their drop by on the Culloden hotel were loud in their accusations of hypocrisy and indifference over the fate Union and for displaying utter and complete ignorance about the impact of a crash out on both parts of Ireland. As well they might. Cold comfort can be gained in accepting this is no exception to the general run of things. The Tory candidates have eyes only for a constituency who commit the ultimate heresy by giving Brexit priority over the Union. And we can be sure that virtually none of them were among the handful of NI Conservative hosts to the Tory hustings.
The critical chorus is right though. It must dawn on Johnson and his party some time that an approach which is so spectacularly out of kilter with any potential wider constituency has got to have something wrong with it. As might Varadkar. Something will change after 24 July though God only knows what (literally – pre-supposing her/his omniscience or existence).
The general political chaos over Brexit will take time to work out although no doubt a crash out could force the pace. It’s not quite panic stations for the Union yet. Supporters of referendums in Scotland and Ireland need a stable platform to stand on even if it’s made of disaster. As the pro Union Scottish Correspondent of Alan Cochrane of the Sunday Telegraph observes:
Most nationalists believed that Brexit would make independence a certainty given that Scottish voters had voted by a large margin to remain in the EU. However, it hasn’t worked out like that. Support for independence has indeed increased but in the latest opinion polls it is still registering at below 50 per cent, whilst Ms Sturgeon and other SNP strategists have insisted that they wouldn’t prepare for another referendum until polls showed independence support running at 60 per cent.
Campaigners for a border poll will hang back until they see the form a future border will take – the harder the better and the greater the disruption – and to await the response of the Dail as a whole.
In the meantime, Northern Ireland knows very well what deadlines are like. Emergency legislation to defer an Assembly election yet again will be moved this week. This will present one of the last opportunities to challenge the shaky Tory control over the agenda in the small window between now and September, with Parliament rising on July 25, the day after Johnson is expected to become PM.
The really bold move would be to move an amendment to block No Deal. But the NI Bill might be too small a vehicle to attract support for such a massive challenge. Equal marriage supporters may try to tag on an amendment in favour of equal marriage as they tried and failed with abortion last time. They will again win cross party sympathy but not the desired result- and least not yet.
On the government side the prevailing confusion has reached new heights in a surprising quarter. Amazingly the Minister for Women has been talking as if she’s prepared to sacrifice the DUP’s confidence and supply deal on the altar of abortion reform. Does she know what she’s saying or is this another case of the bogey under their nose they can see only when they sneeze?
Wearing her other hat as Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt sings the DUP’s song over supporting a qualified amnesty for former soldiers, but here she is threatening legislation to introduce abortion reform for Northern Ireland over the heads of the deadlocked Assembly. Her cue would come if the High Court in Belfast applies the recent Supreme Court judgment to an appellant who qualifies to bring it before the court . (Incidentally Jeremy Hunt whom Mordaunt backs as leader would be against it). Mordaunt told the Commons:
The reason why this hasn’t been dealt with to date is because this is a devolved matter and we take devolution seriously. But it has been shown, and we will soon see what the court’s ruling is on this, that what has been happening is not compatible with an individual’s human rights… If we have this ruling by the court I think government will act. Certainly that has been the indication from the Northern Ireland office. But if government did not, parliament would, and clearly all members of parliament, including prime ministers, would have a free vote on that.”
This raises other intriguing questions.
If Westminster really was prepared to legislate for abortion and equal marriage why not for an Irish Language Act as foreshadowed in the St Andrews Agreement? The impact on the Stormont talks would be – shall we say – interesting.
While it looks as if social reform won’t go away, further legal process and the general political chaos including a likely general election will push it down the agenda.
But the fundamental counter to Westminster action of this kind is that it runs directly counter to the principles and practice of UK devolution. If there was a direct Scottish equivalent superseding Holyrood directly, it would guarantee IndyRef 2 however much Westminster would try to assert its right ( non- existent for a border poll , remember) – to block it.
On the big picture Johnson will have a stalling tactic ready for 31 October, either to crash out or more likely to declare victory over a tweaked withdrawal agreement and defy his party critics and the DUP to oust him and install Jeremy Corbyn. The addition of Scottish Conservative MPs to 30 or so English MPs led by the outgoing chancellor to block No Deal would present Johnson with near- insuperable problems if he remains implacable on 31 October The scenarios from Adam Boulton in the Sunday Times are persuasive
Jeremy Corbyn could disrupt the orderly handover of power, possibly turning Johnson into a mayfly premier, lasting barely a day. Labour is committed to tabling a vote of confidence in the new government. If Jeremy Corbyn does it right away on Wednesday July 24, the debate will be the next day, Thursday July 25, when parliament is due to rise for the summer recess.
Convention places no limit on the number of votes of confidence the leader of the opposition can demand. A vote after MPs return in September is a certainty. Such is the volume of business that will have to be transacted, come what may, veteran MPs expect the usual three-week recess for the party conferences to be cancelled, so the Commons can sit straight through to the Brexit deadline on Hallowe’en.
The main argument against a late-July vote of confidence is that Johnson would almost certainly win it. The Conservatives would rally behind the new leader — as, probably, would the DUP. It would be premature for the Tory pro-Europeans, perhaps led by Philip Hammond, to oppose their own government. They will act only if it becomes clear, after renegotiations with the EU, that the new prime minister is bent on leaving at the end of October with no deal in place.
Corbyn may still feel that the turmoil brought on by a token effort at no confidence in July is worth it — a protest against the change of national leader without recourse to a general election.
Either way, Johnson is likely to have the chance to assemble a government that will last until the autumn, at least.