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Author Archives: andypollak
A half-Jewish Irishman’s view of the war in the Middle East
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
A crumbling ‘end of days’ feel in Northern Ireland as infrastructure totters
It’s not very often that this blog plagiarises a column from an Irish daily newspaper. But a truly shocking column by that fine Belfast Telegraph journalist Sam McBride1 is worth reprinting (almost) in full because it outlines in graphic detail … Continue reading
Posted in General, Northern Ireland, The island environment
3 Comments
Straws in the autumn wind around the Irish unity debate
There have been some interesting straws in the autumn wind in recent weeks as politicians get ready for the new political term and general elections in both Irish jurisdictions in the near future. Leo Varadkar doesn’t very often talk about … Continue reading
The IRA’s Christmas present to the Niedermayer family: the murder of their father
Earlier this month I saw ‘Face Down’, a powerful and heartbreaking documentary by the Dublin film-maker Gerry Gregg about the IRA’s 1973 murder of Thomas Niedermayer, the German manager of an electronics factory on the edge of west Belfast. The … Continue reading
Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Sinn Fein
3 Comments
The Border Region as a microcosm of opinion across the island
I have a particular fondness for the border town of Clones; it was a place I visited frequently during my 14 years running the Centre for Cross Border Studies in Armagh. It was in the news earlier this month for … Continue reading
Why not a loyalist woman as the symbol of the ‘new Ireland’? Why not Bessie Burgess?
I was in Galway last month to see the brilliant production by the Druid theatre company of Sean O’Casey’s classic play set during the 1916 Rising: The Plough and the Stars. This is the tragic story of Jack Clitheroe, who … Continue reading
What has really changed in Northern Ireland over the past 30 years?
Last week I attended a reception in the Irish government’s splendid house in Notting Hill in Belfast to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the publication of the Opsahl Report.1 This landmark report, based on the views of around 3,000 people … Continue reading
Posted in General, Northern Ireland
3 Comments
Refugee crisis reveals the racism in our smug republic
I don’t usually write about contentious issues in the Republic of Ireland, because – although I have lived here for many years – I feel I have little to add to the hundreds of thousands of words on television, radio … Continue reading
Why I am an (Irish) Unitarian
This is a slightly edited version of an address I gave in the St Stephen’s Green Unitarian Church, Dublin, on 30th April. I’m going to talk today about why I am a Unitarian. But I am going to start with … Continue reading
Posted in General, Republic of Ireland
3 Comments
Irish media’s poor coverage of Northern Ireland not helping understanding in the Republic
Earlier this week I addressed the Belfast dialogue group Compass Points on the coverage of Northern Ireland by the media in the Republic. This is a slightly edited version of my remarks. The first thing I should say is that … Continue reading
Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland
5 Comments