Posted by Jim on August 24, 2018
Irish Times. Dublin. Friday, August 24, 2018.
The publication by the British government of papers on a “no deal”- Brexit scenario only serve to underline how damaging such an outcome would be. The UK is far from prepared—and such is the chaos that would ensue that huge economic damage would be inevitable. The papers do start to set out the first principles of what a no-deal scenario would look like and how the UK would hope to respond. To be clear, this would be if the UK and EU do not reach a withdrawal agreement and the UK leaves next March without a deal.
The papers start to provide guidance to business on what measures it should take to prepare—some of which may well apply at some stage even if there is a deal. The notices suggest that special arrangements may be required for Northern Ireland on trade, tariffs and the cross-border movement of medicines, medical devices, blood and human organs.
Any kind of Brexit will be costly but a no-deal outcome would cause huge uncertainty and economic cost. Trade in and out of the UK would, the papers make clear, be subject to the rules set down by the World Trade Organisation, meaning customs checks and tariffs. There would be huge disruption in trade between the UK and EU as these new arrangements are put in place.
The EU is the UK’s biggest market and, contrary to statements yesterday by Brexit secretary Dominic Raab, no new deals elsewhere will compensate for Brexit disruption. Meanwhile, questions over rules and regulations in areas as diverse as drugs, food safety and air travel will raise a host of new issues. The UK’s presumption that the EU will agree to continue as now in many of these areas – even if the UK wants to – may not accord with the reality of a no-deal Brexit.
The documents repeat London’s intention to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and said it would “engage constructively” to avoid this in the event of a no-deal. But this brings us no further in seeing how this could happen. Businesses in the North are understandably annoyed at the suggestion they might need to talk to Dublin to see what new arrangements might apply after a no-deal Brexit. Agreeing a backstop arrangement on the Border—how to avoid the need for visible checks no matter what the outcome of trade talks—remains a key challenge.
The Government here will hope that it is sorted, as it would help clear the way towards signing a withdrawal agreement.
This would remove the threat of the UK crashing out next March and would also raise hopes of a favourable long-term trade deal. Such a deal would be in the interest of both sides, but can still not be guaranteed.
Like the UK, Ireland needs to be ready for a no-deal Brexit
Posted by Jim on August 23, 2018
Mitchel McLaughlin
By Anthony Neeson
A former Sinn Féin Assembly member has hit out at the denial of rights by the DUP and British government.
Mitchel McLaughlin was speaking at a march to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the birth of the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland when protestors marched from Coalisland to Dungannon in County Tyrone.
Following the original route on Saturday, McLaughlin gave the keynote address during the reenactment, saying that Ireland is on the verge of a seismic shift towards a “new, agreed and united Ireland.”
“Fifty years ago, likeminded people from all communities, outraged by the routine injustice and sectarianism of the six county state, came together to form the civil rights movement.
“Inspired by the bravery and determination of the black civil rights movement in the USA, they took to the streets and marched for rights and against inequality.
“The Orange state is now gone and we now have a peaceful and democratic way forward. This is a very different place than it was in 1968 and I am convinced that we are now on the verge of another seismic shift towards a new, agreed and united Ireland that will provide a prosperous and shared future for all our citizens.”
However, McLaughlin added his “deep concern” that there are “still people who want to deny rights and equality to their fellow citizens today.”
“People in the North still face attacks on their electoral and civil rights, alongside the continued denial of rights to LGBTQ couples, women, Irish language speakers, and bereaved families seeking a coroner’s inquest.
“Today, we are experiencing an unacceptable blockade on rights, imposed by the DUP and facilitated by the British government.
“Rights are also under threat by a right-wing Tory Brexit and there are unwelcome echoes of gerrymandering and the hollowing out of democracy by the recent Boundary Commission proposals.
The denial of rights, equality and respect is as wrong today as it was fifty years ago.”
Posted by Jim on August 22, 2018
DOMHNAIGH — On August 19, 1876, the whaling ship Catalpa
was given a tumultuous welcome as it sailed into New York harbor. She had no whales on board, but a far more valuable cargo, six Fenian prisoners from England’s Western Australia penal colony. Clan na Gael’s John Devoy, with the help of his friend John Boyle O’Reilly, a Fenian who had once escaped from Australia himself, planned the escape. Somehow maintaining the secrecy of the mission, the two arranged to buy and crew a whaler purchased in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for the attempt. The Catalpa set out in April 1875 with most of the crew unaware of their actual mission. In March 1876, they reached Australia and soon had the six Fenians — James Donagh, Martin Hogan, Michael Harrington, Thomas Hasset, Robert Cranston and James Wilson — safely on board. The British gunboat Georgette overtook the Catalpa the next day and fired a shot across the ship’s bow, demanding the prisoners be turned over. Captain George Anthony raised the Stars and Stripes and defied the British to fire on it; they would not. Seeing Anthony would not be intimidated, the Georgette headed back to port. Clan na Gael and the Fenians had achieved one of their greatest victories over the British Empire.
Posted by Jim on
“ ‘No Pope here,’ is the extreme Orange (Unionist/Loyalist/Protestant) battle cry of anti-Catholic bigots in Northern Ireland. It is being heard once again because of Pope Francis’ visit to Ireland (but not to the Six Counties of Northern Ireland). Belfast columnist Brian Feeney in the article below deplores the fact that Arlene Foster is, in effect, boycotting the Pope.
Quite simply Foster is scared to show respect to the Pope because it would infuriate a significant section of her support base. However, it is important to understand this:Anti-Catholicism in Northern Ireland is not about theological disagreement with Catholicism, but rather a socio-political system and mindset determined to keep Catholics down. Just as anti-Semitism is not really a theological disagreement, but rather an organized system of hostility towards people of the Jewish faith or heritage.The same with anti-Islamism, etc.etc.
Extreme anti-Catholic bigotry in Northern Ireland does not harm the Pope, and never has. That was never really its purpose. Its purpose was always to harm, hurt and disrespect the local Catholics in Northern Ireland—to keep uppity Catholics in their place, to show them who the boss is, and to keep the Six Counties loyal to the Queen!”—Fr. Sean McManus
Arlene’s refusal to meet Pope is act of political cowardice
Brian Feeney. Irish News. Belfast. Wednesday, August 22, 2018
You can understand what the late Martin McGuinness meant about his problems with Arlene Foster.
Her lack of reciprocity got him into trouble. There he was meeting the Queen in Windsor and Belfast. Maybe more importantly, there was the Queen meeting him in Belfast and Windsor. There was the queen muttering a cúpla focal in Dublin.
On the other hand there was Arlene swanning around with her crown brooch permanently stuck in everyone’s face so obviously that it’s become a prominent feature in Ian Knox’s brilliant caricatures of her. Yet if the person whom that brooch symbolizes can meet McGuinness despite the IRA’s killing of Lord Mountbatten and moreover meet popes, not just one, despite her being the supreme head of Arlene’s Church of Ireland, why can’t Arlene do any of that in any location?
It’s not as if Arlene is a Presbyterian who, outside this benighted place, are notoriously hostile to any expressions of monarchy, priesthood, pomp and ceremony, bells and smells. You might be able to see her difficulty if that were the case. There might even be some religious reason. On the contrary, the Presbyterian moderator will attend the papal reception in Dublin Castle. So will religious leaders and political representatives from all over Ireland except for the largest party for the time being in The North.
The fact that it took Foster so long to remember that she was going on a family holiday next week raises the suspicion that she thought about going to Dublin to join other political and religious leaders at, mark you, a non-religious reception, and then thought worse of it. The fact that no one from the DUP will be there speaks volumes.
Of course, she’d have faced flak. Isn’t that what political leaders are for? To lead? Didn’t Martin McGuinness face flak after many republicans thought he’d gone too far but received nothing in return? Hasn’t the current Presbyterian moderator faced flak from within his own Church? Why? Because he showed leadership.
Foster’s failure to go to Dublin and her failure to nominate anyone else in her party to attend, is a supreme example of her political cowardice, her failure of leadership, precisely the sort of myopic politics Peter Robinson has been warning against in recent months. Her inaction marks her out as a political pygmy for whom the world beyond the Ballygawley roundabout is a big, scary place. Some political leaders grow into the position. Foster has shrunk from the position during her tenure, repeatedly demonstrating that she’s out of her depth. Now she’s just a figurehead shorn of any kudos that went with being first minister. We all know who the real DUP leader is these days and where the real power in the party resides.
One consequence is certain. Foster’s failure of nerve guarantees that those Catholic unicorns that some unionists fondly imagine will never vote for Irish unity will remain imaginary. Robinson’s pleas in 2011 that Unionists will have to reach out to northern Catholics if they want to preserve the Union because soon there will no longer be enough Protestants to save it have fallen on deaf ears.
It is not as if Foster’s failure is an act of religious bigotry. It’s not. It’s an entirely political failure. She knows perfectly well that probably more than half of those attending the reception or function in Croke Park no longer believe a word the pope utters. Her attendance, or that of anyone from the DUP, would have had as much religious connotation as that of the majority present who voted for abortion reform and ignore the Catholic Church’s teaching on contraception and everything else. No, she’s not taken the trouble to deputze anyone not for religious reasons but for petty, provincial symbolic reasons which no one outside her limited Norn Irn [Noerhern Ireland] political horizons understands.
It seems bizarre that Foster can’t herself understand the contradiction that the very fact that she refuses to perform symbolic actions as Martin McGuinness did, is in itself a symbolic action. She remains unable to answer why the Queen can perform symbolic actions which Foster won’t even send a DUP representative to perform, and yet still remains the Queen, and more highly regarded because of those symbolic gestures.
