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Newton EmersonThe Irish News |
SCOTLAND and Wales want a Good Friday Agreement-type mechanism for independence referendums. That is the goal of the constitutional cooperation being...
There is temptation for nationalist parties to blame their shortcomings on lack of money from London. But, this approach may suffer diminishing...
THE UUP has called for an independent review of Northern Ireland’s rights and equality commissions following the Supreme Court ruling last week on...
WHO cut funding for the Northern Ireland Place-Name Project? Strictly speaking, nobody. In 2022, administrative responsibility for the long-running...
A Conradh na Gaeilge report on unification asks if the language should remain compulsory
THERE was plenty of coverage and reaction last year when ‘intimidation points’ were removed from social housing by DUP Communities Minister Gordon...
UNIONISTS have secured a victory at Belfast City Council, against determined nationalist opposition, by signing the council up to the armed forces...
Part of the aim of dissident violence is to embarrass the party by forcing it to condemn what it once supported
THE Standards Board for England was abolished in 2012 after years of problems. Set up a decade earlier to enforce a statutory code of conduct on...
SINN Féin ministers have been diplomatically restrained about the growth in UK defence spending in Northern Ireland. They do not like it, for obvious...
Populist giveaways and overstaffing are costing Northern Ireland a shocking €3.3bn a year
INSTEAD of spreading animal waste on the land and having it run into our lakes and rivers, we could use it to produce electricity, biomethane...
AN important social housing project at a north Belfast interface is being held up by lack of sewage capacity. The Duncairn site between Tiger’s Bay...
WHAT if Stormont’s Good Jobs Bill is a bigger issue for the public sector than for the private sector? In an open letter this week, 22 business...
Three nationalist first ministers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales may not prove the triumph for nationalism they seem
MICHEÁL Martin has said he is “open” to nuclear power in Ireland, although he has questioned the cost. The taoiseach was responding to questions...
An extraordinary 40 per cent of all schools in Northern Ireland will be unviable by 2033, up from a quarter today
THE 2000 fuel protests, a landmark event in recent political history, received significant support in Northern Ireland, including from the Ulster...
HOUSE prices in Northern Ireland rose almost 10% over the past 12 months, six times faster than the UK average, according to the latest figures from...
Some thought has gone into the psychology of carefully boiling the fiscal frog
WHY is the Education Authority (EA) asking teachers if they are loyalist or republican? The explanation lies with Northern Ireland’s unique laws on...
THE DUP has blocked the introduction of minimum alcohol pricing by UUP health minister Mike Nesbitt, claiming that evidence for its effectiveness is...
There is nothing Belfast City Council can do to to stop property developers and landlords bulk-buying houses and converting them into HMOs (Houses of...
The classic image of Sunday closure in Northern Ireland is of unionist councils chaining up playground swing in the 1960s – the non-swinging ’60s
IN November 2024, the Executive found a spare £17 million for a one-off winter fuel payment for pensioners who had lost the benefit when the...
Having this number to hand would be transformative
TWO parties threatened last weekend to quit the executive. Alliance leader Naomi Long, addressing her party’s annual conference, said participation...
A JUDGE has accused two Stormont departments of being “entirely unfair and unacceptable”, “unprincipled” and of “gaslighting” in their...
Twenty years ago, NI officials tried to put restrictions on one-off rural house-building, and faced blowback from all sides
REGULATING the price of home heating oil in Northern Ireland would be surprisingly straightforward. It would be unusual – most developed countries...
CHIEF constable Jon Boutcher has told a cross-border policing conference that the number of Catholic officers in the PSNI “isn’t good enough”....
HOW much should Stormont politicians discuss international affairs, a subject completely beyond their remit? It might be unreasonable to expect a vow...
We have become fascinating island study of how bureaucracies work in their own interest
Yesterday marked the start of strict enforcement when boarding transport to the UK, hence Aer Lingus requiring passports on all flights to Britain
CAUSING death by dangerous driving will attract a longer maximum prison sentence – 20 years instead of 14 – under the Sentencing Bill being...
Michelle O’Neill has said it is “disgraceful” that the UK-wide puberty blocker trial for children with gender dysphoria has been paused in...
IT is clear from the reaction to last week’s story about flags that many people see the the PSNI as a sort of NHS for crime – a service that is at...
“TREASURY reserve” sounds like a particularly dry sherry. In fact it is the emergency fund for UK government departments, to be used as a final...