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Newton EmersonThe Irish News |
“Nothing is off the table” to address the “epidemic” of road fatalities, chief constable Jon Boucher has said. That would require a reversal...
Initial hearings at the Covid inquiry in Belfast make it clear the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) is incapable of reforming itself. The lessons...
It is less than 20 years since the British and Irish governments were discussing compatible national identity cards to manage a shared immigration...
The reckless cynicism of the British and Irish governments over the past week can be of no comfort to anyone in Northern Ireland. To distract from its...
“Northern Ireland is divided in many different ways. It has been described as a 25/25/50 society with 25% of households living in hardship, 25% in...
In their haste to claim the UK’s Rwanda immigration law is having an effect, the Irish and British governments are both glossing over the question...
The hapless UUP is making a mess of what should be its most promising election in years. It has a solid chance of taking South Antrim from the DUP in...
If Translink was being abolished so Stormont could take direct control of public transport, it is likely you would be aware of it. If it was happening...
Open culture war has broken out between the DUP and Alliance. An Alliance motion in the Assembly on Monday called on the DUP to implement a compulsory...
The greatest concern with any restriction on tobacco sales in Northern Ireland is the smuggling opportunity for organised crime and paramilitary...
The Number 7 cafe in Craigavon’s Rushmere Centre – an institution in the town – has made headlines by publicising its £71,000 rates bill for...
Simon Harris must be taken aback by the reaction to his comment that he is “of a generation where people are more familiar now with London and...
Underinvestment in the water system has prevented 19,000 houses being built and Stormont must take action, the Construction Employers Federation has...
There is an ominous parallel between the decline of our water system and our health service. In both cases, Stormont knows action is required but has...
Ireland is overdue a debate on banning overseas buyers of residential property. This is very much a live debate elsewhere - EU countries are even...
As shock subsides over Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s resignation, it seems the political ramifications may have been over-stated. The DUP is determined to...
The DUP’s best route out of the crisis it now finds itself in is to focus on delivering a small number of concrete policies that improve everyday...
Any crisis within unionism provokes talk of “unionist realignment”, and the resignation of Jeffrey Donaldson as DUP leader has been no exception....
“Have the referendums killed citizens’ assemblies?” the Irish Times has asked, as have many others in the Republic following this month’s...
In 1987 the Rainbow Alliance, a group linked to the Monster Raving Looney Party, proposed a devolved federation of Wales, Ireland, Scotland and...
The Republic’s small but sudden turn to the right was bound to have implications for Northern Ireland, even before Sinn Féin decided to get in...
Irish-American congressmen Richard Neal and Brendan Boyle have made headlines by saying talks should be held on preparing for a border poll. However,...
Simon Harris, Ireland’s minister for science and further education, appears to be heading for a coronation following the shock resignation of Leo...
The DUP has almost no hope of blocking new EU single market legislation in Northern Ireland so why did it apparently try in Stormont on Tuesday?...
The DUP has almost no hope of blocking new EU single market legislation in Northern Ireland so why did it apparently try in Stormont on Tuesday?...
The DUP’s Windsor Framework split is healing, leaving only some rather comically wounded pride, as the party’s Westminster awkward squad accepts...
John O’Dowd has offered some excellent reasons to keep Northern Ireland’s network of state-run MOT centres. As the Sinn Féin infrastructure...
Last week’s referendums show Ireland and the UK have something in common: a gap in the market for mainstream conservative politics – mainstream,...
The first and deputy first ministers have denied they are engaging in “gesture politics” for the sake of it. Speaking during a visit to St...
The comparison increasingly made between Casement Park and the new Dundonald Ice Bowl is daft whataboutery even by Northern Ireland’s lamentable...
Micheál Martin addressed the Alliance Party conference in Belfast last Friday. It was an official engagement: he was billed as the Tánaiste and the...
The DUP has been rather sour about the Irish government’s €800 million Shared Island initiative funding. Leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson welcomed...
We may be witnessing the birth of a new Northern Ireland myth, false but as fondly believed as ‘Rathcoole is the largest housing estate in Europe’...
Leo Varadkar is getting only two cheers in Northern Ireland for the €600 million the Government has announced to upgrade the A5 road through...
The government wants revenue-raising from Stormont not because the Treasury desperately needs £113 million – it is about to give Stormont £3.3...
Sinn Féin and the DUP agreed to govern together at St Andrews in part to avoid being blamed for domestic water charges, so it is no surprise they...
Balancing Stormont’s budget is not just about money. It is being seen as a test of the new Executive’s ability to make difficult decisions. The...
Whatever else may divide them, all four executive parties have been immediately able to issue a joint statement asking London for more money. As well...
It is obviously a bad sign for the new executive that the DUP pulled a last-minute switch in its choice of departments, taking education instead of...
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is fortunate nationalism is not laughing openly at the party’s deal with the British government. It is not just...
The most significant aspect of the DUP-Conservative deal is that the European Commission has gone along with it. There is little new or substantial in...
Queen’s University Belfast has found itself at the bottom of an embarrassing league table. The Sunday Times has discovered it is one of 15 elite...
Naomi Long is hardly alone in fearing Stormont will return only to collapse again. “Given the fragility of relationships, not just between the...
Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has finally confronted unionism’s Brexit “100 percenters”, as former US senator George Mitchell witheringly described them...
Hilary Benn sent an unsubtle message to the DUP in the Commons last week. Labour’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary said his party supports...
For much of the past week, it looked as if a new interim method of governing Northern Ireland was about to be unveiled. Chris Heaton-Harris, the...
What has been most pathetic about Jeffrey Donaldson’s dithering over a Stormont deal is how little unionist dissent he is likely to face. Sammy...
Does indirect rule still have any rules? Speaking outside Hillsborough Castle on Monday, Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris said he could not...
It will be hard to gauge the reaction to Thursday’s huge public sector strike in Northern Ireland, and not just because many people will be kept...
Emergency general surgery at Newry’s Daisy Hill Hospital was moved to Craigavon two years ago due to staff shortages. The Southern Health Trust said...