17.6.2009
(1)
ARK, (2)
RTÉ, (3)
Irish News, (4)
The Irish Times
(5)
indymedia ireland,
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Irish Republican News, (7)
Independent
Sunday, 14 June, 2009
Thursday, 11 June, 2009
Northern Ireland European Election or Secterian Head Count? (5) (Northern Ireland)
Friday-Thursday, 5-11 June, 2009
Wednesday, 10 June, 2009
Leading article: The bitter end of an era (7) (Republic of Ireland)
European Election Results for Northern Ireland
By ARK
European and Local Election Results for the Republic of Ireland
By RTÉ
Spectacular Euro result is cause for republican elation
By Jim Gibney, Irish News
Northern Ireland
There is only one word which accurately describes the election of Sinn Fein’s Bairbre de Brun to the European parliament and that is spectacular. There is only one word which accurately describes the mood of Irish republicans across this island in the face of that result and that is elation.
The spectacular nature of the result and the elation that republicans feel is entirely understandable given the sacrifices they have made over the last 40 years of struggle.
Many republicans made the result possible – those IRA volunteers who paid the ultimate price for freedom with their lives; those members of Sinn Fein assassinated by loyalists; the families of republican martyrs who carried the burden of their loss with great dignity and fortitude; the thousands of political prisoners who spent many years behind bars in jails in Ireland, England and other parts of the world; those republicans who after partition carried the republican standard through the lean years until times got better; those who kept the republican faith against all the odds when the unionist state was at its most powerful and oppressive.
Praise also to those republicans who followed the outstanding leadership of Gerry Adams and Martin McGuinness, particularly at the most difficult times, as they forged a new peaceful strategy to bring about a united Ireland.
And of course the nationalist electorate, 126,184 of them who voted for Bairbre de Brun.
The election of Bairbre de Brun was a ringing endorsement for Sinn Fein’s constituency work and for the peace process.
It is also a considerable personal accolade for Bairbre as she returns to the European parliament for a second term.
Sinn Fein and the electorate recognise in Bairbre a highly-skilled, capable and dependable politician with an eye for detail who has effectively represented all the people of the north in the European parliament.
Of course republicans are also aware and disappointed that Bairbre de Brun will be returning to the European parliament without Mary Lou McDonald, who narrowly lost her Dublin seat, following an incredible fight to retain it.
Throughout the 26 counties Sinn Fein’s performance in the EU, Dail by-elections and local elections was broadly positive and places the party in a position to take advantage of this springboard at the hustings next time out.
In next week’s article I will provide a more detailed assessment of the election result in the 26 counties.
In politics, as in life, we are faced with many disappointments. It is how we manage the disappointments that are the real test of character.
The EU result for the DUP is one such challenge. They can approach it viewing the glass as half full or half empty.
The DUP are entitled to feel dejected and alarmed at the election result. Under the leadership of Ian Paisley snr and Peter Robinson they took huge risks for peace and helped create what many thought impossible – a power-sharing administration with Sinn Fein. In doing so they gave great hope to the people of this island because many people believed that their brand of unionism was beyond reach.
The leadership that Paisley and Robinson gave, if applied now, will take them through their current difficulties.
Many issues confronted them – the quality of their candidate; an election without Ian Paisley; the mixed message the party gave to the electorate (claiming to smash Sinn Fein but working with it in government); the disgraceful expenses scandal.
Also, Jim Allister tapped into a unionist sentiment opposed to power-sharing – a constituency which the DUP ‘hoovered’ up in the assembly election of May ’07 but lost this time.
These and other factors led to Allister taking a sizeable chunk of the DUP’s vote.
Prior to the election there were signs that the DUP were dragging their feet on issues such as the transfer of policing and justice powers. The last thing the people, the executive and assembly need is a paralysed DUP.
Peter Robinson knows that Allister’s 66,000 votes are a fraction – admittedly a vocal fraction – against the 418,375 people who voted for pro-agreement parties and the all-Ireland power-sharing institutions.
And it is those very people he and his party have to continue to provide leadership for.
Copyright © The Irish News 2009
Analysis: Time for DUP to tell their people the truth
By Fionnuala O Connor for the Irish Times
Northern Ireland
For half a century, the unionist community has destroyed its own leaders. Or rather Ian Paisley and the DUP destroyed them: O'Neill, Chichester-Clark, Faulkner and Trimble.
Paisley himself fell victim when he joined Sinn Fein in government and was seen to like smiling beside Martin McGuinness. Paisley in his turn was pushed out by the party he created.
The saga is Northern lore, imprinted on every political brain. You might suppose that nobody would know every syllable better than Paisley's heir. Yet Peter Robinson must have felt that with no one left to outflank him on the loyalist end of the spectrum he and his colleagues could with impunity simultaneously share power with Sinn Fein, while continuing to abuse them. And in the process, that they could feast - with some of their families - on jobs and associated expenses. After all, the last challenging anti-agreement voice had been seen off, in the 2007 Assembly election performances of Robert McCartney and company.
The First Minister's pre-election anxieties about the expenses fallout, manifested as characteristic waspishness towards questioners, seem to have come too late to allow him a clear head. It was puzzling to hear a man who always prided himself on election tactics break basic rules of the game, calling a week before the polls for a big unionist turnout to stop "the real prospect" that republicans could claim they were the leading voice of Northern Ireland.
Doesn't the handbook say never talk up the opponent? But the Diane Dodds campaign did that from the outset, by picturing the nightmare should unionism be pushed out of the top seat. It could not be permitted. Northern Ireland must have a unionist champion in Europe to stop Sinn Fein gloating, and the top MEP must have a Northern accent - the last a swipe at Bairbre de Brun's Southern vowels. The DUP's campaign and the dud Dodds soundbites duly made de Brun the voice of Ulster.
No amount of entrail-examination will be able to prove it. There remain suspicions that Dodds not only alienated DUP voters, already galled by tales of Westminster expenses, by feeding a crude mixed message, but that she also brought de Brun votes beyond the reach of Sinn Fein itself - far from confident about the result as they were. A fair sprinkling of last-minute nationalists may have been irked out to vote, by the suggestion that it is unionism's right to come top of the poll.
The end result for the Robinson leadership is humiliation by Jim Allister, who has just turned his Traditional Unionist Voice (TUV) into a pressure group of real menace.
DUP figures looked stunned at the King's Hall count last Monday to be jeered and heckled by a Union Jack-waving crowd. That used to be their role. Allister's barn-storming vow to take the fight to Westminster and Stormont needed only his later promise to contest the Paisley barony of North Antrim to leave DUP nerves in shreds. Threats by instalment for maximum unease? Allister could cause real problems in North Antrim whenever the next general election arrives, and more widely in the Assembly election scheduled for 2011. On past figures, TUV would only need to pinch a handful of seats to make Sinn Fein the leading party: arise First Minister McGuinness. And then the cat would be among the unionist pigeons, and devolution in real doubt.
Allister cannot hope to rise to power or compel parties and the governments to go back to basics. He can do real damage well short of that. He would presumably see restored direct rule as a good result: the unionist fallback position faced with assertive nationalism. Sour grapes as policy. We don't get our Stormont parliament back, English ministers keep arriving to patronise us, but that's okay because you don't get to walk your Irish nationalism into a Northern Assembly on equal terms.
The DUP (and Sinn Fein) cannot stand still and cannot go back. The DUP will win back no votes by saying "this is terrible but it's the best we can do", as Robinson said this week. They need to tell their people the truth - that in a deeply divided society it is desirable and necessary for the common good to share power and responsibility. The current position where they work with Sinn Fein, or profess to work alongside them, while saying they are smashing them, simply invites ridicule. It also treats their supporters as idiots. Paisley got away with that for decades, but Paisley in his prime was a rare phenomenon.
Today's DUP have forgotten their origin as outsiders. Allister feeds on their double-speak, as they did with David Trimble. They might as well do the decent thing.
Copyright © The Irish News 2009
Thursday, 11 June, 2009
Northern Ireland European Election or Secterian Head Count?
Northern Ireland
Friday-Thursday, 5-11 June, 2009
Unionism Fractures
By Irish Republican News
Northern Ireland
Sinn Fein headed the poll for the first time in the European elections in Six Counties while the DUP, poll-topper at every other European election, had to be content with taking the third seat.
Bairbre de Brun was elected on the first count for Sinn Fein with 126,000 votes or 26 per cent of the vote, more than 5,000 votes over the quota.
The surprise of the election was the split in the hardline unionist vote with DUP candidate Diane Dodds winning almost exactly half (88,000) the number of votes Jim Allister won in 2004 when he headed the poll for the DUP.
Mr Allister split from the DUP over the 2006 powersharing deal with Sinn Fein, taking his seat in the European Parliament with him. Campaigning on his opposition to Sinn Fein or "terrorists in government", Mr Allister failed to hold his seat, but polled strongly as leader of the ultra-unionist 'Traditional Unionist Voice', winning 66,000 votes.
Jim Nicholson, who has held a seat for the Ulster Unionist Party since 1989, retained his seat comfortably under the new banner of the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force (UCUNF).
The turnout was a low at just under 43 per cent. A significant decline in the turnout in nationalist and republican areas prevented the SDLP candidate Alban Maginnis from contesting for the third seat. The combined nationalist vote was down by over 30,000, while the combined unionist vote decreased by 3,000 votes.
Ian Parsley for the moderate unionist Alliance won 26,700 votes, one of its best ever results, although cynics pointed to the close similarity between his name and that of the former DUP leader Ian Paisley as the main reason for the rise.
Both Ms Dodds and Mr Allister refused to shake hands with Ms de Brun at the final declaration.
Allister's supporters heckled a dignifiedf Ms de Brun during her speech, particularly when she spoke in Irish. Some erupted in fury at the very sound of Gaelic and staged a walkout.
They also barracked Ms Dodds during her acceptance speech.
DUP leader and First Minister Peter Robinson expressed disappointment at the result. He said he understood many in the unionist community opposed sharing power with Sinn Fein, but "people need to know that there is no more acceptable alternative available".
In turn, Allister declared his "success" was for every traditional unionist who refused to roll over before "IRA/Sinn Fein", before adding: "We haven't gone away, you know. Our day will come."
"Unionists who were grossly disillusioned, who felt that the cause was lost, who woke up and saw Martin McGuinness as their joint First Minister, and thought no one could do anything about it, have seen that there is the beginning of a huge foundation to rebuild traditional unionism in this province," he said.
He said the TUV would contest other Westminster seats and stand in the next Assembly elections. He also indicated his intention to stand in North Antrim in the next Westminster elections, when Ian Paisley stands down.
On Wednesday, the DUP MP issued a challenge to the TUV leader. Speaking from Westminster, Mr Paisley said his former DUP colleague was "very welcome to come and get a hiding in North Antrim".
Mr Paisley said although the TUV polled well in the European elections, his party was still defeated by the DUP.
He said: "The election was won because he didn't get a seat.
"He stole the seat [in the European Parliament] from me, Jim Allister had not political breath except for what he took from me."
Speaking to the BBC on Thursday Mr Allister said the former DUP leader's words were "hollow".
"Ian Paisley tries to claim it as a triumph. He says there was no defeat, everyone knows there was a defeat," he said.
"If the DUP are in the business of sleep-walking out of Monday into the future, well I'm quite content that the good people of North Antrim and elsewhere will continue to give us the resounding type of result there was on Monday.
"What we need is a system where you can have opposition, people who are both in and out of government.
"A voluntary coalition where those that are in government are bound by policies that they all support."
Copyright © Irish Republican News 2009
Friday-Thursday, 5-11 June, 2009
Coalition clings to power
By Irish Republican News
Republic of Ireland
The Dublin government appears determined to cling to power despite its overwhelming rejection at the hands of voters in the 26 Counties.
Roughly three quarters of the people in the south rejected the coalition parties, Fianna Fail and the Greens. Both parties suffered heavy losses in their representation in Brussels and on local city and county councils across the state. The main opposition party, Fine Gael, Labour and more radical left wing organisations were the main beneficiaries,
For the first time in its history, Fine Gael, led by Enda Kenny, won more support in a statewide election than Fianna Fail.
Socialists scored a historic breakthrough in Dublin in both the local and Europeran elections, with veteran Socialist Party leader Joe Higgins securing election to the European Parliament.
Speaking in the Dublin parliament, Kenny told the Taoiseach and Fianna Fail leader Brian Cowen that "if he has any respect for the Irish people, who he leads politically, he will accept that following Friday's disaster for his government, including his Green Party colleagues, he has no mandate or authority to continue in government and that he and his colleagues are deluding themselves if they believe they are losing support because they have faced tough decisions."
In the Dail debate, Labour leader Eamon Gilmore also attacked the 'crony capitalism' of the corporate sector of "you sit on my board and I'll sit on your board".
"We need political change in this country," he said. "For the past decade people were used to having the country run on auto-pilot. No matter what problem arose, there was always money to be thrown at it."
Sinn Fein Dail leader Caoimhghin O Caolain pointed out that, of the three parties that negotiated the original Programme for Government in 2007, the Progressive Democrats no longer existed, the Greens had been reduced to three county councillors and Fianna Fail's support base had been depleted.
Speaking to the press following the outcome of the election, Gerry Adams said the Dublin government had now lost the moral authority to govern.
"People need hope and positive hard nosed leadership to turn around the economy in the interests of working people.
"In local councils throughout the state parties with a commitment to equality must set aside differences and work in the common good," he said.
Mr Adams said "the big story" of the elections was that " tere is a lot of work to be done if a just and fair society is to be established on this island."
The vast majority of people want a rights based, decent and fair system of governance, he said.
"An alliance for change must be built. The broad left did well in this election. But the left is fragmented. Unity needs to be built. That will take time but it doesnt have to wait until the next election. That work must start now.
"In local councils throughout the state parties with a commitment to equality must set aside differences and work in the common good.
"The government has lost the moral authority to govern. But it is not good enough to be against government policy. People need hope and positive hard nosed leadership to turn around the economy in the interests of working people.
Sinn Fein Vice President Mary Lou McDonald released a defiant statement, despite being edged out of her seat in Europe in the reduced Dublin constituency. Congratulating Joe Higgins on his election success, she vowed to press on with her political efforts.
"While disappointed I just missed out taking the third seat, I am very proud to have had the privilege of representing Dublin in Europe over the past 5 years," she said.
"I will continue for stand up for ordinary Dubliners and be a voice for those this government wants to trample on," she said.
"To the people of Dublin, you have shown that voting does matter and there is a growing momentum for change. The Government has been sent a strong and clear message from you that they need to go.
"Together we can build on that momentum and start to turn this country around."
Elsewhere, Toireasa Ferris performed very well for Sinn Fein in the South constituency but lost out to Labour senator Alan Kelly for the third seat in the constituency.
Kathleen Funchion and Tomas Sharkey raised their profile in the East while the decision by Fianna Fail's Pat 'the Cope' Gallagher's to run in the North West damaged Councillor Padraic Mac Lochlainn's chances of winning a European seat.
Sinn Fein lost five council seats in Dublin, where Labour now dominates, and suffered setbacks in Waterford city, Wexford and Galway.
There were gains elsewhere with a doubling of its seats in Cork city, now holding four, and Maurice Quinlivan secured a seat on Limerick City Council. There were gains in Mayo and a number of other rural areas, allowing the party to achieve representation in 31 out of the 32 counties.
The party also welcomed the re-election of former TD Sean Crowe to South Dublin County Council. However, it suffered a blow when long-time party activist and general election candidate Daithi Doolan lost his seat in the south-east inner city.
In the Dublin Central by-election Councillor Christy Burke fell short, with with the seat being taken by Independent Maureen O'Sullivan. His subsequent resignation, despite securing re-election as a Sinn Fein candidate onto the city council, dramatically exposed the party's fault lines in Dublin. A reorganisation of the party in the city is expected to take place later this year.
Republican Sinn Fein welcomed the victory of Councillor Tomas O Curraoin in the Conamara area of County Galway after countless attempts to secure election to the county council and the Gaeltacht authority.
Party President Ruairi O Bradaigh said that it was a "tonic" that the group, which split from Sinn Fein in 1986, had "reclaimed" one of the two coounty council seats held by the organisation in the past.
"That outstanding success proves that Republican Sinn Fein candidates are electable - it can be done! - but that hard work on the ground is necessary over a prolonged period of time.
He said the work of "rebuilding the Republican Movement" in the aftermath of the "defections of recent years" would continue.
Elsewhere, Green Party chairman and unsuccessful European candidate Dan Boyle insisted that while his party were down, they were not out.
Green councillors were ousted in Carlow, Galway City, Meath, Monaghan and Kildare.
The party comfortably held just one seat, Brian Meeney in Clare, while Mark Deery was the only Green candidate to actually gain a seat in Louth.
"It is our nadir. The only way we can go is up. I am optimistic for the future," he said.
However, defeated Green Party councillor, Niall O Brolchain suggested the party could pull out of power with Fianna Fail and form an ad-hoc government with Fine Gael and Labour, presumably with Sinn Fein support.
Mr O Brolchain said his understanding from talking to Green Party leader John Gormley was the party would hold a national conference to decide on the party's future. But with the Green Party TDs keen to avoid a confrontation the party's grassroots, it is not believed this special meeting will be imminent.
A motion of no confidence in the coalition government was defeated in the Dail on Thursday by 85 votes to 79, with Fianna Fail supported by the Green Party's six TDs, as well as two independents, Jackie Healy-Rae and Michael Lowry.
Copyright © Irish Republican News 2009
Leading article: The bitter end of an era
By The Independent
Republic of Ireland
The voters of the Republic of Ireland have just demonstrated that they have had enough of their government and want rid of it. This week they had three types of contest - one for Europe, another for local councils and a couple of Dail by-elections. In each, the once-mighty Fianna Fail party, which has dominated Irish politics for more than half a century, was not only rejected but humiliated.
This outcome looks not like some temporary setback but the beginning of a new era in Irish politics. This is partly because Fianna Fail's plunge was so dramatic and partly because no improvement in the dire economic situation is forecast for many years. The Irish public believes, rightly, that the country is among those hardest hit by the international recession, and for this it particularly blames the government. This is partly because Fianna Fail-led administrations were economically reckless during the boom years, and partly because the government seemed to go into shock when the crash came.
When it regained some composure, which took months, it had to convey the message that things were dire, and the future is bleak. It has already put taxes up and has been obliged to make it clear that more taxes and many cuts lie ahead. An entire nation has thus had to abandon many of its hopes and aspirations for improvement. "Palpable anger" was reported from the doorsteps.
It has not helped that prime minister Brian Cowen's default facial expression is one of disconsolate brooding. He can often seem even more morose than Gordon Brown. In the campaign he inspired neither his own party workers nor the electorate at large.
His party is now surveying the post-election wreckage, facing opposition parties which achieved major boosts and which look capable of forming an alternative coalition.
Fianna Fail knows that an election any time soon would lead to a crushing defeat. But it also knows that it is in very deep trouble, and that Mr Cowen does not seem capable of staging a political recovery. It will therefore come as a surprise if, in a year's time, he is still prime minister.
Copyright © The Independent 2009