John Coulter
Unionist parties need to understand that the only tactic which will force Sinn Fein to compromise on welfare reform and halt the current violent republican feud lies with the Orange Order’s four Irish...
View ArticleJohn Coulter
The so-called “draft dodgers” within the Irish republican movement are in danger of having their political power base eroded by undisciplined Provisional IRA activists who have never fully embraced...
View ArticleJohn Coulter
Jeremy Corbyn may have only one way forward in Ireland – cut the moderate Catholic SDLP adrift in Northern Ireland and align with the Irish Labour Party in the Republic to encourage the latter to join...
View ArticleIreland Eye – John Coulter
Smooth coronation, not bitter confrontation seems to be the “in motto” now that yet another political sticky plaster known as Fresh Start is being applied to the cancer called social unrest in Ireland....
View ArticleIreland Eye – John Coulter
The leadership strategy of Arlene Foster, the Democratic Unionists’ first woman leader since the party was founded in 1971, could dictate the future composition of the next Dail in Dublin. Foster –...
View ArticleJohn Coulter – Ireland Eye
The most important general election on the island of Ireland since 1918 is scheduled for Friday February 26 when voters in the Irish Republic will elect the 32nd Dail. Maybe it’s a good omen that it’s...
View ArticleIreland Eye – John Coulter
The recent Dail general election in the year Irish republicans commemorate the centenary of the failed Easter Rising has marked a fundamental political realignment in the Irish Republic. What is clear...
View ArticleNegotiation now is crucial
Will the real republicans please stand up? That may sound flippant in the aftermath of the recent commemorations to mark the centenary of the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. But given the splits which...
View ArticleIreland Eye – John Coulter
It’s time for the “Twinkles” to shine on May 5. Who, you ask? The Stormont Assembly poll on that day will be the first major opportunity for teenage voters who were born after the signing of the 1998...
View ArticleThe more things change…
The outcome of the Stormont poll can be easily summarised: compared to 2011, the DUP, UUP, Alliance, Independent and TUV got the same final tally of seats; Sinn Fein lost one seat; the SDLP lost two;...
View ArticleIreland Eye – John Coulter
Words of wisdom, or the way out to the wilderness – that’s how Ulster Unionist leader Mike Nesbitt’s announcement that his party will go into official opposition in the Stormont Assembly will be...
View ArticleIreland Eye – John Coulter
The time has now come to bring dissident republicans in from the cold in the same way as mainstream republicans and loyalists were involved, leading ultimately to the Good Friday Agreement. The initial...
View ArticleIreland Eye: John Coulter
I t is time for the British and Irish Labour parties to merge and form a single all-island party now that the crown of socialist champion is slowly slipping from Sinn Fein. The power-sharing partner in...
View ArticleIreland Eye
The exclusively Protestant Orange Order needs to decide if it can become a vehicle for the rebirth of Christian socialism in Ireland, or take advantage of the growing cross-border relations and move...
View ArticleIreland Eye
Democratic Unionist leader and Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster used her party’s annual conference to signal what will be the end of the DUP by 2021 – the centenary of the founding of Northern...
View ArticleIreland Eye: John Coulter
Unionism looks set to tumble into the same quagmire over Brexit as it did three decades ago during protests against the then Anglo-Irish Agreement. The two main Unionist parties have so far snubbed the...
View ArticleBell suspended as RHI scandal engulfs Stormont
Serious questions have been posed as to who really runs Northern Ireland as a result of the multi-million pound Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme scandal. Sounds daft, but that’s what many...
View ArticleIreland Eye
Who will blink first and provoke a snap Stormont poll? That’s the key question which could be decided on Manic Monday – 16 January – when the Northern Ireland Assembly returns from its festive break....
View ArticleO’Neill could be catalyst for Stormont upheaval
Unionist unity, not Irish unity, could be the long-term consequence of the appointment of Sinn Fein’s Michelle O’Neill as Martin McGuinness’s replacement as the party’s Stormont leader last week. With...
View ArticleIreland Eye
Northern Ireland is not simply facing yet another crossroads election, to coin a phrase once used by a former Ulster Prime Minister – it is now entrenched in its own political version of the Alamo....
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