Problem of Northern Ireland
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Michael Collins is undoubtedly one of the most important and significant men in the history of Ireland. He is, at the same time, a great and tragic figure, both determining the course of history and perishing as a result of how he himself determined it. Collins was born at Woodfield, Sam’s Cross, in County Cork,…
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Sinn Féin’s winning of more seats than any other political party in the NI Assembly elections has produced some sniping from begrudgers who cannot bring themselves to acknowledge the achievement. The objective has been to denigrate the triumph of Sinn Fein by claiming that the party’s performance has been less impressive than it has been…
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To mark the 50th anniversary of the administrative massacre in Derry I have posted the section which deals with Bloody Sunday in ‘Resurgence, 1969-2016: Volume Two of The Catholic Predicament in ‘Northern Ireland’ by Pat Walsh (Athol Books, 2016) pp. 185-8. Testing the Nationalist Will It was the British escalation of the conflict, after failing…
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John Hume was an absolutely unique force in politics in the North of Ireland. He stood head and shoulders above every other constitutional nationalist politician in political ability. He was indispensable to the Peace Process and its success and the achievement of the Good Friday settlement. His community was very fortunate it found a man of…
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The funeral of Volunteer Bobby Storey has created something of a palaver. Palavers, of course, are not unusual in the weird political construct of ‘Northern Ireland’. They are the very stuff of the communal grind and they gain extra purchase when they occur within one of the two communal blocs rather than between the two.…
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Irish Political Review Editorial of April 2020 Sinn Fein And The Fog Of Party Politics The Treaty parties have run out of steam. They were rejected individually by the electorate, and they were rejected even as a pair. They were rejected because they became a pair. And they became a pair when Fianna Fail rejected…
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Editorial, Irish Political Review, March 18 The strange British device called Northern Ireland was based on an antagonism of two stable populations with fixed ideas, which we described fifty years ago as two nations. One of those populations ruled the other in local Six County affairs then, while the basic services of state were laid…
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Editorial from The Irish Political Review December 2018: The 26 County Government says it will not tolerate the restoration of a Border between the part of the island which it governs and the Six Counties in the North which are part of the British state. It means that it will not tolerate a Customs barrier.…
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Editorial from Irish Political Review November 2017: Brexit seems to be going ahead, but there is no Northern Ireland Government to tend to Northern Ireland interests in the process of it. The two Governments are worried by this and they are urging Northern Ireland to get a Government so that it can tend to the…
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‘The Reformation In Ireland’ is the editorial in Church and State Autumn 2017: On the 500th anniversary of Luther’s attack on mainstream European Christianity, the Irish Times asked: “at the risk of being parochial…: why did the Reformation fail in Ireland?” There is of course no risk of the Irish Times becoming parochial—not Irish parochial at…
