Author Archives: andypollak

Two states, one system: a novel idea worth considering

Posted on Wednesday, 17 April, 2024 by andypollak

Regular readers of this blog will know that I like new ideas which go beyond the binary unionist-nationalist straitjacket which has dominated (and constrained) debate about the future of this island for most of the past hundred years. Thus over … Continue reading →

Posted in General | 1 Comment

Leo Varadkar and Ireland’s Future have very different ideas of reconciliation and consent

Posted on Thursday, 28 March, 2024 by andypollak

I wouldn’t have said this seven years ago, when he first became Taoiseach, but I am sorry to see Leo Varadkar stepping down from that post. I do not agree with many of his right-of-centre policies on economic and social … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland | 2 Comments

Ireland in 2024 is a rather good country, despite the begrudgers

Posted on Wednesday, 13 March, 2024 by andypollak

Maybe because St Patrick’s Day is coming up and we’re in the middle of Seachtain na Gaeilge, I’m feeling a bit patriotic – so am going to write about why I think the Republic of Ireland is a rather good … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Republic of Ireland | 4 Comments

Why the Republic of Ireland needs a new John Bruton

Posted on Tuesday, 20 February, 2024 by andypollak

With the death earlier this month of former Taoiseach John Bruton, we have lost an important and courageous voice in the Republic of Ireland. We will need a new John Bruton to appear from somewhere: a nationalist leader who will … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Republic of Ireland | 7 Comments

Nobody can deny that Michelle O’Neill’s elevation was an historic moment

Posted on Tuesday, 6 February, 2024 by andypollak

Nobody can deny that the installation of Michelle O’Neill as the first nationalist First Minister of Northern Ireland last Saturday was an historic moment. For a statelet that was set up over a century ago specifically to ensure that NI … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein | 1 Comment

A glimpse into the strange, secretive party that stands on the brink of power in Ireland

Posted on Monday, 8 January, 2024 by andypollak

Over the Christmas holidays I read The Long Game: Inside Sinn Fein, by the former Irish Examiner journalist Aoife Moore. I was looking forward to reading this book enormously, since good books on this “strange, secretive party that stands on … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Sinn Fein | 4 Comments

A united Ireland is not inevitable – only persuasion can make it happen

Posted on Monday, 18 December, 2023 by andypollak

What is it about passionate nationalists that when they get less than a third of people in favour of their nationalist project, they still insist they are driving on to victory? That was the situation according to the second big … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Dublin’s anti-immigration riot mark the beginning of the end of Ireland’s image of openness and tolerance?

Posted on Tuesday, 28 November, 2023 by andypollak

Last Thursday morning I sat down to write a blog in which I was aiming to argue that Ireland (the Republic) had been hugely successful in integrating a large number of immigrants over the past 20-25 years, and that this … Continue reading →

Posted in British-Irish relations, General, Republic of Ireland | 3 Comments

What have the British ever done for us? Quite a bit, actually

Posted on Wednesday, 1 November, 2023 by andypollak

One of the recurrent themes of these blogs is that if we are going to welcome 900,000 Unionists into a ‘new Ireland’, we are going to have to accept and respect their passionate Britishness. And that is going to be … Continue reading →

Posted in British-Irish relations, General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 2 Comments

A half-Jewish Irishman’s view of the war in the Middle East

Posted on Monday, 16 October, 2023 by andypollak

I am an Irishman from a half-Jewish background – the other half is Presbyterian, so I am utterly untypical of people in this republic. However as a person with such unusual antecedents, I feel reluctantly impelled to add my two … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world | 2 Comments