Category Archives: Northern Ireland

The loyalist riots and London and Brussels’ ‘cloddish insensitivity’ to Irish concerns

Posted on Monday, 26 April, 2021 by andypollak

Now and again this writer comes across a blog by another author that is so apposite that he takes the liberty of reproducing it in full. I have done this recently with pieces by Paul Nolan and Duncan Morrow. The … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism | 2 Comments

Unity and Sanctuary: two difficult causes close to my ambivalent heart

Posted on Friday, 12 March, 2021 by andypollak

There was an interesting exchange in the Irish Times earlier this month between two men I admire and whose views on Irish reunification I respect. A report in the online paper (its editors obviously deemed it not significant enough for … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 3 Comments

A clash between Northern bad faith and good cross-border business and infrastructure?

Posted on Friday, 26 February, 2021 by andypollak

The unionists are digging another hole for themselves with their court action against the Northern Ireland Protocol. There is universal agreement in non-unionist Belfast, Dublin, London and Brussels that the Protocol, however unpleasant in the short-term for the North’s consumers … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Northern Ireland | 2 Comments

Listen to the wisdom of the man who was rejected by the voters of South Belfast

Posted on Tuesday, 9 February, 2021 by andypollak

In democratic societies it is not always the best and wisest people who end up as politicians and political leaders. We have seen that in the USA, the UK and, not surprisingly, little Northern Ireland in recent years. Sometimes the … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland | 1 Comment

Is the UK exit from the EU an opportunity to turn Northern Unionists towards Europe (and Ireland)?

Posted on Friday, 1 January, 2021 by andypollak

So, four and a half years after the fateful Brexit vote the United Kingdom finally left the European Union on New Year’s Eve with a trade deal in place. The sometimes unfathomable Northern Ireland protocol (which is separate from this … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Ireland, Europe and the world, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism, Sinn Fein | 2 Comments

Don’t the DUP realise they are hanging on to the Union by their fingertips?

Posted on Tuesday, 1 December, 2020 by andypollak

22 years ago, in the months after the Good Friday Agreement, there was a real feeling of hope in Northern Ireland. Seamus Mallon had sensed it when he talked to people in the streets of Omagh, Ballymoney and Poyntzpass after … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Protestantism, unionism and loyalism | 2 Comments

Sometimes I despair about the lack of fresh thinking in the Republic about moves towards unity

Posted on Thursday, 5 November, 2020 by andypollak

On 23rd October, the day after the Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, launched his ‘Shared Island’ initiative, I wrote the following letter to the Irish Times: The Taoiseach’s comments at the launch of the Government’s new ‘Shared Island’ initiative, prioritising sharing the … Continue reading →

Posted in Cross-border cooperation, General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 2 Comments

Sinn Fein are getting ready for government. But are they ready for unity?

Posted on Friday, 16 October, 2020 by andypollak

An Irish Times opinion poll on 8th October showed support for Fine Gael at 35% and Sinn Fein at 29%, with Fianna Fail a distant third at 17% and the Greens an even more distant fourth at 4%. Public anxiety … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Irish reunification, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein | 3 Comments

My tribute to the late, great Eugene McCabe

Posted on Wednesday, 30 September, 2020 by andypollak

The great Monaghan writer Eugene McCabe died a month ago, aged 90. This is a tribute I wrote to him nearly nine years ago in my former blog: ‘A Note from the Next Door Neighbours’. Does being a border writer … Continue reading →

Posted in General, Northern Ireland, Republic of Ireland | 1 Comment

Unionists – listen to the Professor of Consociation and Confederation

Posted on Saturday, 1 August, 2020 by andypollak

Brendan O’Leary is an extraordinary man.  Born in Cork and brought up in Nigeria and unionist County Antrim, he was a professor of politics at the London School of Economics and for the past 18 years has been Professor of … Continue reading →

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