Last week Relatives for Justice published it’s submission-response on the consultation draft bill arising from the legacy agreement at Stormont House among the five main political parties and both governments. Our submission was accompanied by video submissions from scores of families affected by all conflict participants outlining why they want the proposals implemented. Notwithstanding…

  I’ve been wondering lately whether anyone in Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) leadership circles actually tries to reflect upon what republicans, nationalists, and other progressive minded citizens think about the current political situation. Do they even care what others think? The evidence suggests not. Several days ago the DUP leader pronounced that her party could…

    Crisis. Leadership issues. Spending issues. Confidence issues. Talk of last chance and of rearranging the furniture. I was watching the teatime football on television on Saturday – that first-half debacle as Newcastle United took the lead, added to it and pushed Mourinho and Manchester United ever closer to some decision on those issues…

  If, as a friend witnessed, the guide informed tourists overlooking, from their vantage point on Derry’s Walls, what is now referred to as the Bogside: “Catholics did not have any jobs or votes” it is not a picture which residents of the city at the time will share. In 1968, prior to a population…

  There will always be different narratives of our past and accepting that is crucial to building the future. Today, Sinn Féin published our detailed submission to the public consultation on planned legislation to address the legacy of the conflict. ‘Engaging With the Past: Building for the Future’ is a comprehensive document which has been…

    Soon decisions will have to be made on the Legacy consultations. We shouldn’t burden families who lost loved ones with the responsibility of having to design or determine a legacy process. Nothing that can be done or will be done will ever fully meet their expectations, whether in terms of justice, truth or…

    On a Wednesday evening last April – just two weeks after the commemorative meetings at Queen’s University to mark the Good Friday Agreement anniversary – a remarkable but little noticed event took place in the Long Gallery in Parliament Buildings. For one evening only politics returned to Stormont. Issues were debated. MLAs from…

    The Troubles was one of the darkest periods in Northern Ireland’s history. It has had a profound and lasting impact on the lives of so many in Northern Ireland and across the United Kingdom as a whole. I have been deeply moved by the personal stories of pain and suffering endured by the…

Just read this tweet on Wednesday evening from PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton:     Those three words that he uses as his end thought – “some day perhaps?!” – say it all in terms of how difficult it will be to resuscitate or revive the politics of this place. Hamilton is just one of…

    “I believe you know me well enough to appreciate that I am not a man given to extravagant language. “But I must say to you that our conduct over the coming days and weeks will decide our future. As we face this situation, I would be failing in my duty to you, if…

  The launch yesterday in Belfast of a new campaign by businesses to secure a law change to allow same-sex couples in Northern Ireland to marry shows that inequality is an economic as well as a human rights issue. ‘Businesses for Love Equality’ brings together some of Northern Ireland’s biggest employers in a call for…

    Last week the political script read like something out of EastEnders; the ‘word pellets’ firing from the RHI Inquiry providing enough material for a series of ‘Mock The Month’ – never mind ‘Mock The Week’. Politics on the Stormont Hill became even more of a laughing stock. A week on, it is back…

  I initially thought of climbing Everest. Over 450 women have summited Everest but only 15 women have ever rowed an ocean solo. The water in my nemesis. I don’t like to be out of my depth and up until a month ago I couldn’t swim. It is a huge challenge for me. I started…

  A couple of weekends ago I was strolling along the beach, minding my own business, when I ran into two of my neighbours. After exchanging a few pleasantries, they asked me what I was up to. I started to tell them about the Living History course which I am facilitating  at Stranmillis. Their faces…

  Politics in Scotland, always febrile, have taken a turn for the surreal. Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader and First Minister, this week dramatically resigned the party membership he has held since his youth. The move has been made as a result of allegations – which Salmond strongly denies – that he sexually harassed…