I was fortunate enough this morning to get a short interview with Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd. If there had been time I would have asked for questions from blog- readers but time didn’t allow for that. The thing that struck me most was his comment about the several links of northern parties with the south, and how this leaves the DUP the odd man out. Check the interview and see if you agree….
Tag Archives | Sinn Féin
Stephen Collins and his war on the Shinnerbots
Perhaps his mother was frightened by a runaway republican horse when she was expecting him, but this morning Stephen Collins is yet again warning the public against the Shinners under the bed – or surfing the social media anyway. ‘Big two must take fight to SF on social media’ is the title of his article […]
That SF meeting last night
The Irish Times says there were 700 people at it. RTÉ says there was 1000. Whichever is the case, there were a lot of people at the Sinn Féin meeting in the Rochestown Park Hotel, Cork, last night. From the brief clip I saw on TV, the crowd appeared, as the commentators sometimes say, “good-humoured”. […]
For West Tyrone Sinn Féin, glad confident morning; for Barry McElduff…
When she was asked about Barry McElduff and the Kingsmill loaf affair, West Tyrone’s new Sinn Féin MP Orfhlaith Begley said that “there were lessons to be learned.” I call that a discreet answer. Barry McElduff has been the ghost at this political feast, but he has chosen to take a seat at the side […]
Noel Whelan tells Sinn Féin what to do
In his article in today’s Irish Times (‘Sinn Féin must end abstentionism’) ( Noel Whelan shows that he’s not very good at counting MPs and even less versed in policies north of the border. Whelan rightly accepts that Sinn Féin cannot end their policy of Westminster abstentionism, since they were elected on an abstentionist mandate. But he urges […]
Joe and the dumb nationalists in the north
When I was an impressionable teenager, I used to read Time magazine. It impressed me mightily: it could take some matter – any matter – and make what had been vague and fuzzy precise and sharp-edged. It wrote with clarity, it spoke with authority. Time was my bible. And then one week they did a […]
Leo and Mary Lou: two new leaders
Normally when a political party replaces an ageing leader with a leader in his/prime, the expectation is that this will give the party a bounce. People will see the new leader the way we look on the first snow-drops or a tentative daffodil tip pushing clear of the soil: something new and fresh and maybe […]
‘DUP have not moved on basic rights’ – Declan Kearney
Sinn Féin MLA and National Chairperson Declan Kearney said today that the DUP have not yet moved on the basic rights which collapsed the Executive. Declan Kearney said: “Discussions are continuing today and time is running short but the DUP have not yet moved on the basic rights issues which caused the collapse of the […]
Leo steps out and names the enemy
Some people will be pleased, some people will be nervous. But it’s safe to say that all Irish political parties – including the DUP, whose leader Arlene Foster is to visit Dublin today – are alert to the changes Leo Varadkar has said he will introduce as Taoiseach. Last month, he said that he was concerned […]
On being British and neutral
British politicians like to be balanced in their approach to things Northern Ireland. Their argument is that for generations Northern Irish Protestants and Catholics have been fighting each other, and it’s Britain’s destiny to try to get them to work together peacefully . Having cast themselves in that role for decades, you’d think British politicians would […]