Stormont

Against the backdrop of Sinn Féin’s seemingly inexorable electoral rise and the prospect of a border poll also increasing, MAX McGUINNESS reviews a timely book on the political history of the IRA Over the past four decades, Sinn Féin has built one of the most extensive and effective political machines in Europe. Having originated as a front for the Provisional IRA, […]

First minister Arlene Foster has accused the EU of having a “tin ear” to concerns about the Northern Ireland Protocol. Foster was speaking after European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said the protocol needs to be implemented. A new raft of checks on goods at the ports of Belfast and Larne under the terms […]

Recent tensions felt in Northern Ireland are not a result of the protocol introduced after the UK left the EU but rather Brexit itself, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said. She was speaking following the first day of the EU Council – the first such meeting since the introduction of the EU-UK trade […]

The UK’s Brexit negotiator has admitted the government underestimated the impact of Brexit on Northern Ireland. David Frost, who led the talks with the EU, said the disruption to trade between Great Britain and the country had been far greater than what was expected. Speaking to a committee of MPs he said there had been […]

Edwin Poots has been elected as the new leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), party chair Lord Morrow has announced. The results follow the party’s first ever leadership contest. The 36 members of the party’s electoral college, made up of its MPs and Stormont Assembly members, were eligible to vote in the race between Sir […]

Northern Ireland’s troubled past and Brexit tensions are likely to dominate discussions between the Irish premier and UK prime minister on Friday. Boris Johnson has been dogged by criticism in recent days over his response to an inquest finding that 10 people killed in shootings involving the Army in the Ballymurphy area of west Belfast […]

As Northern Ireland passes a low-key landmark, Irish author and journalist MATT COOPER sees signs that the 100-year-old country is moving away from the tribal scars of its past, even if that complicates its future One hundred years on from the political partition of the island of Ireland and a Northern Irish identity seemingly is taking hold at last among […]

Amid the turmoil in the DUP is a deeper question for unionists… should they retrench into hard-line ‘Ulster Says No’ politics or seek a recalibration? Wet flags flapping against telegraph poles under dark skies amid tentative post-lockdown re-openings of retail sectors on a stormy Bank Holiday Monday in Northern Ireland seemed an appropriate backdrop to yet […]

Sir Jeffrey Donaldson, a Westminster MP, is one of two candidates to announce a bid to replace Arlene Foster as DUP leader. The longstanding Lagan Valley MP said he would promote a positive strategy and values if elected, with a focus on building a shared future for everyone in Northern Ireland. The party’s current Westminster leader […]

Arlene Foster has said none of her DUP colleagues who moved to oust her have contacted her to explain why. The outgoing DUP leader and Stormont first minister said politics is “brutal” and she has endured a “turbulent” week, but she insisted she is “at peace” with her decision to leave the local political scene […]

Arlene Foster has resigned as Northern Ireland first minister and leader of the DUP following an internal revolt. Foster will step down as party leader on May 28 and first minister at the end of June, paving the way for a leadership contest to replace her as Northern Ireland’s next head of state. “It has been the […]

Arlene Foster’s future as DUP leader continues to hang in the balance after party colleagues mounted a heave against Stormont’s first minister. It is understood a significant number of DUP politicians have signed a letter of no confidence in Foster that was circulated among party MLAs, MPs and peers. If those numbers are confirmed and […]

Arlene Foster has played down suggestions her leadership of the DUP is under threat. Stormont’s first minister was responding to reports of internal unrest within the party. The Belfast News Letter has reported that several DUP constituency associations have written letters expressing concern at her decision to abstain on a recent Assembly vote on a […]

Four ponies detained at Belfast Port for almost five weeks due to errors in post-Brexit paperwork have been released to their new owners. Their arrival at the family farm near Ballygowan, Co Down, came after a judge ordered their release this week. The animals, which had been bought from a seller in Wales, had been […]

A United Ireland does not mean simply assimilating the North into the Republic. Everything must be on the table Despite all the contemporary difficulties that we face on this island, and indeed across these islands, 23 years on from the signing of the Good Friday Agreement there is a clear sense of hope for a […]

Two citizens’ assemblies should be held in Northern Ireland and the Republic to lay the groundwork for a border poll which could be held in the next decade, a Fine Gael TD has said. Neale Richmond will present his new paper Towards A New Ireland at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, on Monday. The paper […]

Misunderstood and mischaracterised by the rest of the UK, the plight of Northern Ireland’s Unionists, trapped between London and Dublin, is a melancholic one The Unionist identity in Northern Ireland has always been a difficult one for outsiders to understand. The stock images that travel so reliably abroad – of towering bonfires and Orangemen in bowler hats […]

Northern Ireland is still a peacemaking success story. But 23 years after Good Friday Agreement, the region should be further towards reconciliation and social justice There is no mystery about the grassroots unionist anger that has led to street violence in Northern Ireland in recent weeks. Telling communities to be angry has been the political […]

Northern Ireland’s former police ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan has criticised first minister Arlene Foster for calling for the resignation of the police chief. Lady O’Loan also criticised the UK government for acting on the post-Brexit deal on Northern Ireland without agreement from Brussels, saying if ministers take the law into their own hands “it does […]

Rioters have been blasted with a water cannon by police as unrest continued on the streets of Northern Ireland. After shocking scenes provoked calls for calm this week, violence again flared up on the streets of west Belfast, amid rising tensions in the area. Stones and fireworks were thrown at police by gangs of youths […]

Prime minister Boris Johnson has condemned violence that again broke out on the streets of Northern Ireland, after a bus was hijacked and set on fire. The bus was set alight after being pelted with petrol bombs at the junction of Lanark Way and Shankill Road in west Belfast, the PSNI said. It was one […]

Critics of the Northern Ireland protocol have failed to provide alternatives, the EU’s ambassador to the UK said as he slammed politicians looking to tear up the agreement. João Vale de Almeida called on unionist leaders to focus on making the protocol work rather than fighting against it, pledging Brussels’ commitment to flexibility on its […]

The Stormont Assembly is set to be recalled for an emergency debate following days of violence and disorder in parts of Northern Ireland. Alliance Party leader Naomi Long had called for MLAs to debate a motion condemning the recent attacks on police in loyalist areas. The party secured the required support of 30 Assembly members […]

Northern Ireland’s First Minister has blamed “malign and criminal elements” for whipping up young people involved in recent violence and disorder. Arlene Foster called for youths to desist from violence, adding that issues should be resolved at a political level. It comes as the Stormont Assembly is set to be recalled for an emergency debate […]

Violence has broken out on the streets of Northern Ireland again, despite appeals for calm. A car was set alight in Sperrin Park in the Waterside area of Londonderry, while there were also reports of violent incidents in Carrickfergus, near Belfast on Monday night. Both locations have been the scene of violence and unrest among […]

While Indyref2 still looks the most likely end of the UK as we know it, and the SNP makes headlines, another constituent part’s fate is in the balance. Compare the British government’s approach to Scotland and Northern Ireland as it attempts to address the chaotic consequences of Brexit. The post-Brexit mood in both Scotland and […]

US president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris have been invited to Northern Ireland when public health conditions allow. The invitation was extended during a virtual meeting with Stormont first minister Arlene Foster and deputy first minister Michelle O’Neill on St Patrick’s Day. During the meeting, the president and vice president expressed their strong […]

Irish journalist and academic DENNIS KENNEDY on the consequences of a demographic revolution in Northern Ireland The Northern Ireland Protocol promises to be 21st century Europe’s Schleswig-Holstein Question, the apparently intractable territorial dispute lasting most of the 19th century involving Denmark, Sweden, Prussia, Austria and some others over the two provinces straddling south Denmark and northern Germany. Lord […]