Northern Ireland

[Isgrimnur]

NY Times

The fractious power-sharing government in Northern Ireland effectively collapsed on Thursday as Peter Robinson, leader of the majority party, followed through on his threat to resign as the province’s chief executive. It was the latest chapter in a political crisis prompted by claims from the police that Irish Republican Army operatives were involved in the murder of a former member last month.

Mr. Robinson, who heads the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party, said all but one of his party’s members would follow him in stepping down from the Northern Ireland Assembly, the provincial parliament. The move came after other parties refused to vote to suspend assembly business pending an investigation into the allegations, as Mr. Robinson, who had been first minister of Northern Ireland, had demanded.

Mr. Robinson said the assembly needed to adjourn to discuss the fallout from the killing of Kevin McGuigan, a former I.R.A. member, on Aug. 12 and the subsequent arrest of senior members of Sinn Fein, the majority Irish nationalist party in the assembly. Last week, the minority Ulster Unionist Party resigned over the issue, citing distrust of Sinn Fein, once the political wing of the I.R.A.

The crisis deepened on Wednesday after the arrest of three former senior I.R.A. figures, including Bobby Storey, a leader of Sinn Fein who is widely regarded as a close confidant of its president, Gerry Adams.

The failure to reach agreement on an adjournment creates a virtual suspension of the multiparty government structures that have been in place in their current form since 2007. The assembly, which was created as a result of the 1998 Good Friday peace agreement, has been suspended several times before, sometimes for several years. On those occasions, Northern Ireland reverted to direct rule from London.

Mr. Robinson said one Democratic Unionist, Arlene Foster, would remain in the assembly as acting first minister “to ensure that nationalists and Republicans are not able to take financial and other decisions that may be detrimental to Northern Ireland.”
...
At a news conference after the vote, Mr. Adams, the Sinn Fein president, said it should not be blamed for the murder of Mr. McGuigan, who is believed to have been killed in revenge for the murder in May of another former I.R.A. activist, Gerard (Jock) Davison.

“We are not responsible for criminal elements out there,” he said. “Those who are against equality, harmony and peace and those who killed Kevin McGuigan are the only ones who will benefit by bringing down these institutions.”

A statement from the British government said Prime Minister David Cameron was “gravely concerned” about the situation and would call Mr. Robinson and the Northern Ireland secretary, Theresa Villiers, to discuss it.

[El Guapo]

How does it make any sense to suspend parliamentary business pending a murder investigation? Wouldn't the logical thing be to vote to create some sort of special inquiry or something?

[LawBeefaroni]

I lived in Dublin during 95-96. Went up North and got to spend some time in the Falls Road neighborhood but also went to Shankill. Went to a concert in a gravel lot that was bordered by a "peace line" on one side. Even with optimism and the short-lived ceasefire that was going on, it was a sobering experience. And there are still reprisals from stuff done decades ago.




Those three former IRA officials mentioned in the article have been released, BTW. Storey's lawyer says he'll sue for false arrest.

[Isgrimnur]

Independent

The revelations about the IRA have heaped pressure on Sinn Fein to explain why the supposedly defunct paramilitary organisation is still in existence.

From my albeit limited understanding of the issues:

Imagine if, post-Civil War, a general from the South was murdered, and three prominent sitting politicians from the South were arrested in connection with it, despite assurances that their days of fighting the establishment were behind them.

It's not about the murder investigation, it's about fears that, rather than disbanding their forces, they just went underground.

[GreenGoo]

but also went to Shankill.

I'm thinking this is not some place I want to live or raise children.

I live in shankill in murderhorn county. My kids go to explodo elementary school.

[El Guapo]

but also went to Shankill.

I'm thinking this is not some place I want to live or raise children.

I live in shankill in murderhorn county. My kids go to explodo elementary school.

Unfortunately you missed your chance to live in Camp Kill Jews.

[AWS260]

I lived in Dublin during 95-96. Went up North and got to spend some time in the Falls Road neighborhood but also went to Shankill. Went to a concert in a gravel lot that was bordered by a "peace line" on one side. Even with optimism and the short-lived ceasefire that was going on, it was a sobering experience. And there are still reprisals from stuff done decades ago.

I spent the summer in Ireland in 96, including a couple of weeks in the North. Sobering indeed. I remember asking our professor why the police station walls were so high, and he explained that it was so protestors couldn't throw grenades over them. Not petrol bombs, grenades.

We got to meet a couple of local politicians to hear their perspective on the Troubles. One was an Orange Order official who was just a blatant anti-Catholic bigot, and who seemed to be under the impression that we were a sympathetic audience. The other was Billy Hutchinson, a far more thoughtful and pragmatic man who had in his youth served time for driving the getaway car in the murder of two Catholics.

It's a strange country.

[hitbyambulance]

The other was Billy Hutchinson, a far more thoughtful and pragmatic man who had in his youth served time for driving the getaway car in the murder of two Catholics.

In March 2014, in an interview with the Belfast Newsletter, Hutchinson was quoted as saying that he had "no regrets" about his past in relation to the random murders of his two Catholic victims in 1974, claiming that he had helped to prevent a united Ireland by his actions.

ah, well then...

[AWS260]

Did not see this coming: Former soldier arrested in connection with the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre.

[Isgrimnur]

For the first time, an Irish nationalist leads Northern Ireland's government

Sinn Fein Vice President Michelle O'Neill was nominated as first minister in the government that under the terms of the 1998 Good Friday peace accord shares power between Northern Ireland's two main communities — British unionists who want to stay in the U.K., and Irish nationalists who seek to unite with Ireland. Northern Ireland was established as a unionist, Protestant-majority part of the U.K. in 1921, following independence for the Republic of Ireland.
...
Neither side can govern without agreement from the other. Government business ground to a half over the past two years after the Democratic Unionist Party walked out to protest trade issues related to Brexit.

O'Neill will share power with deputy first minister Emma Little-Pengelly from the DUP. The two will be equals, but O'Neill, whose party captured more seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly in the 2022 elections, will hold the more prestigious title.

[Smoove_B]

[Isgrimnur]

Did not see this coming: Former soldier arrested in connection with the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre.

Britain bans prosecution of past Catholic and Protestant killings in Northern Ireland

The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act, which took effect Sept. 21 [2023], limits investigations, legal proceedings, inquests and police complaints about killings and disappearances that date back to the decades of the Troubles. Perpetrators who come forward with information about any conflict-era crimes will be offered conditional amnesty, and intelligence records will be sealed.

[waitingtoconnect]

Unification is probably inevitable but right now most northern Irish want to be part of the UK in the order of 51% to 30% in recent polling.

Unification would cost; and reasons can be complex. For example in the UK medical care is largely free thanks to the nhs while in the republic it’s not entirely free.

Right now NI is effectively part of the EU and UK thanks to the arrangements to avoid a hard border in Ireland which could break the Good Friday accord. Great position to be in.