Orangeman to attend Dublin forum

Although there is little formal Unionist representation at the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation at Dublin Castle, Orange Order member Ian Milne from Portadown has attended several sessions this week. Meanwhile Gerry Adams called for dialogue as means of bringing about peace.

Famine ship: a delicate matter

During the famine years the Newsletter fought a sustained editorial battle with the Times of London over the latter's serial character assination of the victims of famine in the South West of Ireland. Today it carries a story in which DUP councilor Robin Newton has questioned which flag a full sized replica of a Famine ship should sail under.

Though undoubtedly the North suffered proportionately less from the famine than other parts of the island, it is estimated that it lost 37,000 people in 1849 from cholera alone.

DUP: a deal is possible

Peter Robinson speaking to the Monday Club in London last night insisted that a new deal which had the support of both unionists and nationalists was possible.

However he also implied that whatever deal was done would have to be final and conclusive and preclude further erosion of the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. In other words, an end to process.

Update: You can read the full text of the speech here.

The British and the Republicans: an alternative view

In this fascinating survey of the early history of the troubles, dissident Republican Anthony McIntyre draws out several surprising insights out of the last four years of disclosures from the Public Records Office.

Burnside: powersharing option is not on

David Trimble has been warned by one of his harder line rivals that a return to powersharing will almost certainly trigger another meeting of the UUP's ruling council.

Peace process is dysfunctional

Cedric Wilson leader of the NI Unionist Party has highlighted the resignation of Bill Lowry as Head of Special Branch as part of what he calls an Appeasement Process. It was also the subject an editorial in Tuesday's Belfast Telegraph.

Election 2003: uncertainty is unhelpful

Brian Feeney argues that the need to have accurate representation in an Assembly, outweighs concerns over the future of a 'liberal' Unionist agenda:

"Who comes out on top in each community is an understandable anxiety in the main parties, but there are other reasons for holding elections here. Elections are snapshots. They show the state of play at a precise moment in political history. A family photo of the current assembly members, if you could get them all together for one, would be a record of the state of politics five years ago, not today. If elections are not held, assembly members will quickly cease to represent their voters."

However he goes on to argue that knowing one way or the other can only help individual parties clarify their own attitudes towards current negotiations.

SDLP will not re-negotiate Agreement

Brid Rogers response to the DUP plan to re-negotiate the Belfast Agreement is to insist that they will not let it happen.

Decommissioning: a rocky road

A lot of the pressure the British government will seek to exert on Sinn Fein today will be to effectively decommission the weapons of the IRA.

However, this sticking point is not uniquely peculiar to Northern Ireland. In Sri Lanka, another place where substantial progress has been made towards a post confilct state, they it seems have struck the same rock.

Dublin slips in e-commerce stakes

Despite the findings in last week's global research, Dublin is slipping the e-commerce stakes.

2nd generation Irish identity

Brendan O'Neill resumes his vigorous criticism of the Irish 2 project at spiked-on-line. In particular he singles out the project's criticism of the 2001 Census question in Britain:

"According to the Irish 2 report, the ethnic category is too much of a 'simple label', which doesn't allow for other, more diverse forms of Irishness. '[A] simple categorisation of "White" followed by a national identity such as "British" and "Irish"...will produce an over-identification with "British" because it is seen as a "fact" based on birthplace and passport entitlement', says the report."

O'Neill concludes:

"The lists of Irishness are endless and the demands for acceptance could go on forever - forging a second-generation identity that fancies itself as being rejected by the authorities while simultaneously seeking more and more recognition from the authorities. It's enough to make you long for the old days of the straightforward fighting Paddies."

Sinn Fein concerned about lost voters

Gerry Adams has expressed concern that the electoral authorities have failed to register as many as 80% of first-time voters.

Pepys weblog

Not strictly Northern Ireland, but here's an interesting interview with the blogger behind the recently established site carrying Samuel Pepys' diary.

Prisoner commisioners

Paul Murphy is to appoint a set of commissioners to represent the interests of prisoners like Johnny Adair who find their release from prison under the terms of the Belfast Agreement revoked.

Petition against Adams

A petition by Shankill residents claiming that Sinn Fein MP Gerry Adams continued boycott of the House of Commons is failing them as his constituents is to be handed to the Speaker Michael Martin by West Belfast Unionist councilor Frank McCoubrey.

Orde warns of arrest campaign

Cheif Constable Hugh Orde has warned that he may use a clear the streets method of arresting large numbers of Loyalist leaders. However there were warnings from Unionist MLA and barrister Bob McCartney that the ends cannot always be seen to justify the means.

Paisley denies split opinion in party

Though Ian Paisley was robust in suggesting there was no serious difference of opinion within the DUP, one of his more senior rivals in the UUP insisted that there is a serious tension below the surface within that party.

Election 2002: rubicon for mainstream

Although the Belfast Telegraph is hopeful that the election deadline will concentrate minds enough to strike a workable deal, it fires a warning:

"...in the absence of agreement, an Assembly election would set Northern Ireland on a dangerous course. Mainstream unionism and nationalism would suffer at the expense of the hardline parties. After such an acrimonious poll, it would be highly unlikely that any sort of inclusive deal could be struck."

Portadown Mosque controversy

According to several readers living in Portadown, yesterday's story in the Times about the Mosque at Bleary had been a controversy before Christmas, but was beginning to settle when the story broke nationally yesterday. The local Portadown Times (not to be confused with the satirical Portadown News) reported:

"Alderman Fred Crowe (UUP) said he was called in by residents 'who are objecting in the strongest terms possible' adding 'despite the fact that glaring deficiencies have come to light, planners are refusing to change their minds - hence the office meeting which follows an earlier site meeting'. The alderman pointed out that the fears were over roads and drainage, claiming 'its being built on a virtual swamp, where septic tank discharges meet'."

According to the paper the claims of racism have largely emanated from Nationalist members of Craigavon Borough Council:

"Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd challenged the council 'to step back and let these people have their freedom of worship'. This claim has been greeted with anger by councilors like Robert Smith (DUP) who accused Sinn Fein of hypocrisy, saying that 'the armed wing of Sinn Fein had denied people their basic right to life'.

"For their part, the Muslims insist that the development isn't 'an Eastern-type mosque with domes, but a community centre where we wish to practice our culture and religion". Leader Shameen Qureshi said, 'at the moment we use Moylinn centre, and there has never been complaints or problems'."

Education debate

Unionist MPs will discuss the future of selective education tomorrow in the House of Commons. Publicly funded selective education in NI has been in doubt since the local Education minister Martin McGuinness announced that the province wide selection test, known as the 11 plus was to be abolished.