We watch as it happens now. This time – this week – in Manchester. And we watch and we listen until we can no longer watch and listen. Every detail, every tear, the panic, the screaming, the running, the waiting, the names, the responses. News is every second of every day. Every phone is…

There is no mystery, no intrigue, no doubt about Sinn Fein’s position in relation to Stormont – none, unless we are completely misreading the signals. The political institutions – Assembly and Executive – are in abeyance and could remain so beyond the next talks deadline of June 29 – unless, of course, certainty is achieved…

    Last time I met Brendan Duddy was in Galway, where we were taking part in a seminar at the invitation of the NUI archivists. Accompanied by his son and daughter Brendan was in his wheelchair and, since his severe stroke had deprived him of his speech, it was they who shared his story on…

    Over the past couple of days Brendan Duddy has been described both as a “quiet” and a “secret” peacemaker. In the words of Gerry Adams, he was: “A decent man who did his best”. The republican newspaper An Phoblacht tweeted some more of Adams’ words on Saturday.     Brendan Duddy: Secret peacemaker…

  Just ten weeks ago in the Assembly elections, the people of the North overwhelmingly backed the need for change. They endorsed Martin McGuinness’s position that there had to be an end to political corruption, to disrespect and inequality towards sections of our community. We will go to the polls again on June 8th and…

Who knows what the June elections here will deliver in terms of results? The one-time predictability of such contests was shattered in March – by that turning upside down of the political numbers game. Everything changed; the Assembly arithmetic so completely different – no overall unionist majority at Stormont; Sinn Fein within a seat of…

A text message to my phone mid-morning on Saturday delivered the news of an expected  breakthrough in the search for the remains of Seamus Ruddy. He was disappeared by the INLA in France in 1985. Within minutes of that text message, I spoke to Willie Gallagher of the INLA-linked Irish Republican Socialist Party (IRSP). Over…

    In the days of a Trump Presidency and a British Prime Minister seemingly intent on pushing through a hard Brexit at any costs, dissenters are branded saboteurs and part of a global conspiracy. However, leaving aside the ridiculousness of those arguments, liberalism is not the problem. In many ways, people voting for Brexit…

  Last August in an interview for UTV on International Day of the Disappeared, Anne Morgan spoke to me about her hopes for another search. Her brother, Seamus Ruddy, was disappeared by the INLA in France in 1985. “At the moment, we have a lot of hope,” Anne said as she described “very good work…

  How we think about the future in Northern Ireland is inevitably informed by the past and the processes and mechanisms we develop to deal with the legacy of the Troubles. This should not be about drawing a line under the past – it is both unfair and inappropriate that we should ask people to…

    By the time they gathered this afternoon the negotiations at Stormont had arrived at that inevitable pause. A leaders’ meeting at the Castle meant it was a talks table for 14 – two from the British Government, including Secretary of State James Brokenshire, two Irish officials, Arlene Foster with Richard Bullick, Michelle O’Neill…

    Arlene, ‘Tús maith leath na hoibre’  (‘a good start is half the battle’). You may recall in January I penned an article on the Irish Times website titled ‘Grace.’ In essence my message was – doing the unexpected for the right reason rarely goes unrewarded. Quite often leadership is the kernel of such…

  In proposing an anti-Brexit coalition I always knew I was potentially throwing seeds on stony ground. The politics of the North has never offered the best environment to grow new ideas and build new coalitions – and so it has proven once more. I remain absolutely convinced that an anti-Brexit coalition was worth exploring. I still think…

  A snap Westminster election hot on the heels of a snap Assembly election has made 2017 a year to remember for Northern Ireland’s politicos – and it’s only the Spring. Recent headlines and political speculation have concerned pacts. A potential “pro-remain” or “anti-Brexit” pact and of course a Unionist pact. I did meet with…

  On Monday in the Great Hall at Parliament Buildings, SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said what many were thinking. In a few words, he dismissed the idea of some big negotiation going on that might yet produce some early agreement to restore the Assembly and the Executive. It was a difficult enough task before Theresa…