Posted by Jim on February 24, 2018
William Scholes.Irish News. Belfast. Friday, February 23, 2018
A casebook of mysteries has emerged from the soutane recesses of the square brackets débâcle.[As in this square bracket, the text of the Stormont Agreement, or lack thereof, was peppered with sqare brackets. Hence Mr. Scholes’ lampooning-use of square brackets in next paragraph].
These include questions over Arlene Foster’s [lack of] leadership and the length of time it will take the DUP to [inevitably] sign up to the [modest] Irish language commitments it has [already] negotiated with Sinn Féin, and thus restore devolution.
Sinn Féin must also explain why, having droned on and on and on for month after month about “no return to the status quo”, it was prepared to embrace a deal that appeared to offer such little progress on so many of its cherished issues.
Yet instead of Sinn Féin being on the back foot because it was going to buy tickets to a status quo tribute act, it is the DUP – as well as unionism more widely – that finds itself rocked back on its heels.
This is, in part, because of internal DUP dynamics and Mrs. Foster’s own cloddishness. Once again, she has approached a political problem with the delicate poise and quiet self-control of a sideboard stuffed with crockery being shoved down several flights of stairs
But it also reflects a wider malaise in DUP-dominated Unionism and the way it has shaped itself and the political landscape in recent years.
A siege mentality and an increasingly parochial outlook are its hallmarks as the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, mere weeks away, limps into view.
There is a fixation with defining Britishness in a very particular way that is not only alien to the British on ‘the mainland’ but also, with its orange and green, them and us narratives, corrosive to citizens in Northern Ireland.
Even when it has got a good deal for its voters, as the latest sensible compromise appears to have been, 21st century Unionism is incapable of talking about it without looking like it is sucking a lemon or sounding like the end of the Union is nigh. It is just a coincidence that ‘nigh’ is Ulster-Scots for ‘now’.
Mrs. Foster’s latest difficulties show a more worrying development, not least for her own position.
Struggling to persuade your voters about the merits of the latest deal with the Shinners is one thing, but being embarrassed into denying its very existence by your own MLAs and MPs is a shambles of an altogether different, bewildering order.
The spectre of internal party opposition is one with which Mrs Foster ought to be very familiar.
While in the UUP, she was among those who felt that David Trimble had sold out Unionism through his support for the Good Friday Agreement.
With others, she eventually left the UUP in 2003, though not before helping sow the seeds of Trimble’s demise, that party’s decline and confirming the notion that Unionists don’t know a decent political deal when they see one.
Fast forward, and it is Mrs. Foster who now finds herself in the isolated position of being out of step with much of her party because of the Irish language elements to the [draft] deal she negotiated with Sinn Féin.
A strong leader can get away with being a step in front of their party. But Mrs. Foster is anything but a strong leader, as demonstrated by the speed and manner with which matters at Stormont unravelled last week.
The gap between her own public pronouncements on the Irish language, crocodiles included, never mind those of comic turns like Gregory Campbell and Sammy Wilson, and the reality of the negotiations with Sinn Féin was simply too wide to be credibly bridged.
And at no time had the DUP signaled to its voters what it was prepared to agree to on the Irish language.
Nor had it the wit to indicate that it was cooking up a good deal for Unionism and that Sinn Féin had dropped its red lines.
When, for example, did you last hear Sinn Féin say Mrs. Foster couldn’t be first minister, or agitate over RHI and Nama? And where has reform of the Petition of Concern and same-sex marriage gone?
After meeting Theresa May on Wednesday, Mrs. Foster again insisted that she was not contemplating an Irish Language Act with impressive sincerity for someone who just days earlier was, erm, contemplating an Irish Language Act.
The consensual optimism of the Trimble era has been obliterated. If Unionism is to have a long future, then it will need to find confident leaders who can articulate a vision fit for a modern, shared society without begrudgery and casual offensiveness.
Posted by Jim on
Arj Singh, Press Association. Irish News. Saturday, February 24, 2018
Tony Blair has claimed the British government is sacrificing the Good Friday Agreement so that it can leave the Customs Union following Brexit.
The former Labour prime minister, who was a key figure in the 1998 negotiations, attacked Conservative ministers’ “sickening” irresponsibility.
In an article attacking the ‘road to Brexit’, series of speeches which will culminate in an address by prime minister Theresa May next Friday, Mr Blair wrote that the agreement is being sacrificed so the government can leave the customs union to strike free trade deals around the world, raising the prospect of border posts on the island of Ireland.
He wrote: “There are politicians prepared to sacrifice the Good Friday Agreement on the altar of Brexit and declare that the peace agreed in Northern Ireland is not really worth having anyway.
“This is irresponsibility that is frankly sickening.”
Mr Blair also urged his Labour Party to oppose Brexit, as Jeremy Corbyn prepares to deliver his own key speech on withdrawal on Monday.
The former Labour leader released a study accompanying his article showing that Brexit will cause economic pain, and that the UK needs most categories of EU migrant
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The defacement of a bilingual road sign in Fermanagh has symptomised a
new wave of anti-Gaelic and anti-Irish hate in the wake of the
collapsed Stormont talks.
The Mid Ulster council road sign, located outside Caledon in County
Tyrone, had the Irish lettering painted out.
Sinn Fein Assembly member Colm Gildernew said: “The vandalism of this
sign is indicative of the attitude of some in society who show a
complete disregard and lack of respect for the Irish identity.
“There is no excuse for this type of vandalism and it will not be
tolerated.
“Anybody removing, destroying or vandalising bilingual signs is
involved in criminal damage and should be reported to the PSNI.
“Occurrences like this bring into focus the need for protection of
Irish Language rights through Acht na Gaeilge.”
Last week David McNarry — a former leader of the UK Independence Party
in the north of Ireland — said he would break the law to remove an
Irish language sign if one was erected on his street.
This week he said he would not condemn the vandalism at Caledon.
“I would be a total hypocrite if I condemned the people who did this,”
he said. “I don’t know what reason they’ve had for doing it except that
they may have just been standing up for what they think are their own
rights and their own British dimension.
“This is where we’re heading with the Irish language – people are going
to have to think very, very carefully that these things aren’t just
being done to agitate people and to cause friction.”
Meanwhile, there has been an angry response to the mockery of the Irish
language recently by BBC broadcaster Stephen Nolan, with a petition
calling for an apology receiving almost 10,000 votes.
Award-winning actor winner John Connors has turned down an appearance on
Nolan’s television show as he was “disgusted” at the presenter’s
attitude to the Irish language.
He was invited to appear by a researcher to appear on Nolan Live
following his celebrated speech at the Irish Film and Television Awards
(Ifta) last week. Mr Connors was widely praised for his speech in which
he referred to the barriers he faced as a Traveller as well as his own
mental health.
He said he was “disgusted” at the treatment by the show’s host of former
Sinn Fein Belfast City councillor Niall O Donnghaile, in a discussion on
the language.
Mr Connors said: “I will forever boycott that show because of Stephen’s
disgusting mockery of the Irish language, the native language of the
whole island of Ireland”.
Mr Connors said he thought “a BBC presenter should be trying to bring
people together, trying to mediate. Instead he seemed to be talking for
the DUP. I thought the way he kept persisting with it, I thought it was
horrendous and disgusting.”
The online petition for a public BBC apology to the Irish Language
community is online at the address: https://bit.ly/2ChxqWi
SECOND ST PATRICK’S DAY BAN FOR TRICOLOUR
Meanwhile, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council has been accused of
tagging on to an anti-Irish bandwagon in the north of Ireland. It has
emerged that the Irish tricolour flag has been banned from the St
Patrick’s Day parade in Newry, just weeks after it was banned in
Strabane and Derry.
According to local Saoradh representative Stephen Murney, the flag has
been barred from the annual event for a number of years now.
Speaking to the Newry Democrat, Mr Murney expressed his anger at the
continuing situation, and said that another ban had also now been
imposed on the Four Provinces flag.
“I was contacted by a representative of the Banna Fliuit Naoimh
Phadraig,” he said. “They informed me that they had phoned the council
to enquire if the flute band could carry the tricolour in this year’s
parade in Newry.
“Not only were they told that they are banned from carrying our National
Flag, but they were also told that the flag of the Four Provinces would
also be banned.
“Banna Fliuit Naoimh Phadraig have quite rightly told the council that
unless the ban is lifted they won’t be taking part.
“This is outrageous and is clearly an attempt to suppress and erode any
display of Irish culture and heritage in the Saint Patrick’s day
parade.”
The news comes less than a month after it was revealed that Ireland’s
national flag had been banned from the St Patrick’s Day parades in both
Strabane and Derry city.
In those cases, the council withdrew the bans after facing a massive
public backlash on social media.
However, a spokesperson for Newry, Mourne and Down District Council
insisted the Irish flag will not be permitted by any of the participants
in the Council’s St Patrick’s Day carnival parades in either Newry or
Downpatrick.
“Saint Patrick’s day is a worldwide recognition of Irish culture,” said
Mr Murney. “It’s a disgrace that our nation’s flags are being banned. It
has to be asked who will enforce such a ban? Will the British forces be
tasked to enforce it?”
Posted by Jim on
Tensions are high in north Armagh following a three-day British Army and
PSNI assault against the republican community in the area.
The operation began on Wednesday night when five armed response vehicles
suddenly descended on the Kilwilkie estate. They were backed up by over
half a dozen armoured land rovers who blocked both sides of the road
which tried to prevent locals from accessing the area, where two local
republican activists were detained. Masked police pointed assault rifles
at residents who had come out of their homes to see what was going on.
The harassment of republicans continued for the next 48 hours with
stop-and-search detentions and raids monitored by two British military
aircraft, a spotter plane and a helicopter.
In a statement, Republican Sinn Fein said the actions “did not resemble
the actions of a normal police force but instead resembled what can only
be described as actions of a paramilitary style police force attempting
to intimidate, harass and put fear into people.”
They said the “oppressive” PSNI had “no interest in bettering or
building strong communities” and accused them of recruiting drug dealers
as spies against the republican community.
“Residents have expressed their anger at these actions which left
parents and children walking in the estate petrified at what they where
witnessing,” they said. We would encourage everyone to be vigilant and
report any incidents of harassment to local members of Republican Sinn
Fein so it can be highlighted and challenged.”
CLONARD RAID
There was also tensions in Clonard in west Belfast when the home of a
prominent member of Saoradh was raided by PSNI.
Five jeeps full of armed and masked militiamen, accompanied by
plainclothes police, descended on the area simply to ransack the family
home of Fionnuala Parry, a former Saoradh chairperson. After a raid
lasting a total of five and a half hours, personal items were taken.
Saoradh linked the raid to its political efforts in the area.
“This latest act of Crown Force aggression comes just two days after a
successful leaflet drop and positive engagement with Clonard residents
by Saoradh members,” Saoradh said.
“It is surely no coincidence that this raid took place so soon after, in
the hope of demonising a well respected veteran Republican from the
area. In fact the opposite has been the case, with local residents
offering support to the family today.”
“Regardless of State Forces attacks, in either the Six or Twenty Six
Counties, Saoradh continues to grow and develop with a clear
revolutionary endeavour. Such attacks, supported by Crown Force
cheerleaders in areas such as Clonard, are futile and will continue to
be resisted.”
NEIL HEGARTY RELEASED
Meanwhile, Saoradh have welcomed the release of republican prisoner Neil
Hegarty who had been interned since December, ostensibly on the basis that
he had not complied with electronic tagging requirements.
It is understood the Parole Commissioners released him ahead of a legal
appeal against an ambiguous court judgement last week which confirmed
the internment.
In a statement, Saoradh said: “His release should in no way deflect
from the vindictive and arbitrary way in which he was interned, or the
cases of other ongoing similar examples.
“To our comrade Neil Hegarty we say welcome home to your family and
community. Failte romhat abhaile, a chara.”
Posted by Jim on
US urged to defend Good Friday Agreement
A concerted attack by British ‘Brexiteers’ to end Ireland’s famous 1998
peace deal may have motivated a US decision to appoint a new envoy to
the north of Ireland.
Activity in London in the wake of the collapse of talks to restore
powersharing in Belfast took an unusual turn this week when a number of
right-wing political figures directly called for the Good Friday
Agreement to be scrapped. Their criticism appeared motivated by fears
the deal could pose an impediment to British withdrawal from the EU.
In a weekend newspaper column, leading pro-Brexit MEP Daniel Hannan said
his objections to the peace accord “were not on orange or green grounds
but on democratic grounds”. Without irony, he declared: “It’s unhealthy
to have the same people in office all the time.”
Former Tory Direct Ruler Owen Paterson and senior Labour Party figure
Kate Hoey then claimed the Good Friday Agreement was “unsustainable” and
had “outlived its use”.
Signs of an anti-GFA bandwagon have been emerging at Westminster ever
since it became clear that the peace deal was incompatible with Brexit.
A year ago, the London parliament voted to allow the British government
renege on the Agreement as part of its negotiations to leave the
European Union. The issue has come back into focus in recent weeks as
it became central to Britain’s negotiations with the EU.
The US government has always been considered to be a force for the
protection of the agreement since it was brokered by former US Senator
George Mitchell. On Friday, US secretary of state Rex Tillerson
confirmed that the United States is again preparing to appoint a special
envoy to the north of Ireland.
Responding to questions from reporters ahead of a meeting with the
deputy prime minister in the 26 Counties, Tanaiste Simon Coveney, at the
US state department in Washington, Mr Tillerson said: “We’re giving some
names to the White House as we currently speak.”
The first US special envoy, Senator Mitchell, was appointed in 1995.
Successive appointees, including Richard Haass and Gary Hart, have
played a role in the talks process, but the position has remained
unfilled since the election of Donald Trump.
This week a group of 22 members of the US Congress called on the Trump
administration to appoint a special envoy to the region, as did the
Ancient Order of Hibernians. It is thought one will be appointed ahead
of the annual gathering of Irish politicians in the US for St Patrick’s
Day.
“Obviously the St Patrick’s Day celebrations and events would be a great
opportunity to bring some clarity there,” Mr Coveney said. He said the
importance of US engagement was “less about Brexit and more about trying
to ensure that political structures and the implementation of the Good
Friday agreement continued to be bedded down”.
He warned that talking down the peace accord could undermine peace in
the Six Counties. “It is not only irresponsible, but reckless and
potentially undermines the foundations of a fragile peace process in
Northern Ireland that should never be taken for granted,” he said.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar claimed he was reassured by statements from
British prime minister Theresa May and the British Direct Ruler in
Ireland, Karen Bradley, reiterating their commitment to the agreement in
recent days.
“They’ve said that they stand by the Good Friday Agreement and their
support for it is steadfast,” he said. “You know, when I want to know
what the United Kingdom government thinks, when there are a lot of mixed
messages, I listen to the prime minister.”