Tag: Unification

Derek responds to @LeoVaradkar criticism of Taoiseach @MicheálMartinTD

by dsmooney, posted in Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Good Friday Agreement, Leo Varadkar, Micheal Martin, Northern Ireland, Unity

Here is a slightly edited (i.e. condensed) clip of my appearance on the BBC Radio Ulster Talkback show where I joined Aoife Moore, Gregory Campbell MP and DUP founder Wallace Thompson to discuss comments made by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on the BBC’s Borderland podcast where he said that the current Irish government was guilty of putting up an “artificial barrier” to a referendum on a united Ireland.

As reported on the BBC NI website, Varadkar asserts that Taoiseach Micheál Martin is not prepared to push forward with work on preparing for unity until there was “total reconciliation” across the island – something which his predecessor said may never be possible. “This is where I differ with Micheál Martin,” said Leo Varadkar.

Though I disagree with Micheál Martin on many issues and quit Fianna Fáil in 2020 because of irreconcilable disagreements on several political issues, including Martin’s approach to unity and Northern Ireland, I think Varadkar’s criticism goes far too far and is 

Change the record Mary Lou

by dsmooney, posted in Border, Brexit, Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland, Politics, Sinn Féin

This column appeared on Broadsheet.ie on May 29th 2018.

fr-billy-o-dwyer-spinmasterThere have been a few Fr Ted references here over the past few days, so let’s start off with another one. Remember that episode of Fr Ted where the lads need to raise money to fix the water leaks in the parochial house?

You know the one, they destroy the car Bishop Brennan gives them for the raffle and thus have to rig the draw to ensure that Dougal’s ticket wins it. Ted gets Fr Billy “Spinmaster” O’Dwyer to do the disco before the draw, but there’s a problem. Fr Billy has only one record with him and it’s “Ghost Town” by The Specials. Undeterred, the Spinmaster plays it over and over and over again, oblivious to the fact that the crowd have stopped listening.

I like Ghost Town. Not only is it a good song, it is a serious piece of popular social commentary, but even the loyalist Special fan would concede that forcing anyone to listen to it over and over again could turn them against it.

This is something that Sinn Féin’s “spinmasters” Mary Lou MacDonald and Michelle O’Neill could do well to bear in mind.

Continue reading “Change the record Mary Lou” →