Police appeal for information after two men hospitalised in paramilitary-style assaults
Two men have been targeted in paramilitary-style attacks in separate incidents in Derry and Ballymena.
In the first attack, a man in his 30s was shot in the leg, which police said had “all the hallmarks of a paramilitary-style shooting”.
Continue reading...Irish government says No 10 proposal to pursue only cases with compelling new evidence betrays Stormont agreement
The UK government has proposed closing the book on most unsolved killings during the Troubles, prompting dismay from the Irish government and Northern Ireland’s nationalist parties.
A new independent body will review cases, and only those deemed to have compelling new evidence and a realistic prospect of prosecution will receive a full police investigation, the government announced on Wednesday.
Continue reading...Legislation to stop ‘vexatious’ claims excludes alleged crimes by military personnel in Northern Ireland
A five-year time limit on bringing prosecutions against soldiers and veterans who have served abroad – except in “exceptional circumstances” – is to be imposed under legislation introduced by the government.
Clauses in the overseas operations (service personnel and veterans) bill would protect serving and former military personnel from what the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, claimed was a “vexatious” cycle of claims and re-investigations.
Continue reading...Republic of Ireland’s caretaker taoiseach and Northern Ireland’s first minister meet in Armagh
Leo Varadkar and Arlene Foster are meet to discuss a cross-border approach to combatting coronavirus.
With mass gatherings including sporting events and concerts to be banned across the UK from next weekend, pressure was growing on Northern Irish leaders to close schools in line with the move south of the border.
Continue reading...Findings lay bare ‘multiplicity of errors and omissions’ behind bungled green energy scheme
The official report into Northern Ireland’s cash-for-ash scandal has issued a blistering indictment of incompetence by the Democratic Unionist party (DUP), special advisers and civil servants at Stormont.
The findings of the public inquiry, published on Friday, laid bare a “multiplicity of errors and omissions” behind a bungled green energy scheme that shattered confidence in politicians and fuelled doubts about the region’s ability to rule itself.
Continue reading...Damning verdict expected on civil servants and politicians including Arlene Foster
Northern Ireland’s cash-for-ash scandal started almost a decade ago as a way to save the planet, veered into greed, cronyism and dysfunction, and will now reach a denouement in the place where it all started: Stormont.
Sir Patrick Coghlin, chairman of the public inquiry into the region’s bungled green energy scheme, is due to publish his report on Friday at the grand estate outside Belfast that hosts the devolved government’s assembly and executive.
Continue reading...Critics of UK coronavirus measures call for joint strategy on island of Ireland
Ireland is shutting schools, colleges and childcare facilities to delay the spread of coronavirus in contrast to the UK which is keeping education institutions open, exposing a stark divergence in response to the crisis.
Irish authorities said the shutdown would begin at 6pm on Thursday and last at least until 29 March as part of a series of restrictions, including a ban on mass gatherings, that will be kept under review.
Continue reading...Concerns raised after reports negotiating team told to devise plans to ‘get around’ protocol in withdrawal agreement
Reneging on the special Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland will risk trade deals with both the EU and the US, experts have warned.
Concern has been raised after Boris Johnson’s Brexit negotiating team has reportedly been ordered to come up with plans to “get around” the Northern Ireland protocol in the withdrawal agreement, which includes checks on goods and food going from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
Continue reading...Downing Street is accusing the EU of being in disarray over its plans for a post-Brexit trade deal, in the latest deterioration of relations ahead of crunch talks next month.
Boris Johnson will also unveil his blueprint for a US trade deal next week, in a move designed to heap further pressure on Brussels. However, EU sources regard the hostile briefings as a bluff from the prime minister’s team, saying that their pre-negotiation plans are on track.
Continue reading...Brexit and the surprising gains for Sinn Féin in Ireland’s general election have combined to reopen the debate about economic and political partition
Continue reading...Emmett McConomy, whose 11-year-old brother died in 1982, said cases ‘not going away’
A man whose 11-year-old brother was killed by a soldier in Northern Ireland nearly 40 years ago has warned that victims’ families “were not going to go away” if the British government tried to introduce an amnesty for military personnel.
Emmett McConomy, whose older brother Stephen was shot in the back of the head with a plastic bullet, said the new Northern Ireland secretary, Brandon Lewis, needed to understand the strength of feeling among families who had not yet seen cases involving British soldiers come to court.
Continue reading...Sinn Féin president’s statement comes after senior party figures were threatened
Violent dissident republicans should disband, the leader of Sinn Féin has said. Anti-peace process renegades threatened the party’s vice-president, Michelle O’Neill, and veteran policing spokesman Gerry Kelly after they supported a recent recruitment campaign for new Catholic officers.
The party’s president, Mary-Lou McDonald, said they would not be deterred or intimidated by the gunmen. She added: “These people have no politics, no strategy and nothing to offer. They are at war with their community and are now threatening political representatives who serve the people.”
Continue reading...Architect and PM’s enthusiasm for Celtic crossing tempered by local cynicism of ‘pipe dream’
“The stars are aligning” for a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, according to the principal advocate for a Celtic crossing, the leading architect Alan Dunlop.
Although engineering experts have dismissed the concept as “bonkers”, Dunlop has been pressing for serious discussion of Boris Johnson’s latest grand infrastructure scheme since he conducted a feasibility study into the proposal in 2018, when he first raised the prospect.
Continue reading...A Sinn Féin coalition will rattle unionists, who consider Boris Johnson’s EU deal a betrayal
Sinn Féin won the most first-preference votes in Saturday’s Irish general election, delivering a shock to the country’s political landscape after decades of domination by the centrist rivals Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
However, the fragmented results will produce a hung parliament with no party close to 80 seats, meaning there could be weeks – possibly months – of negotiations between party leaders before a government is formed.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Q: Do you think there is any chance of Boris Johnson changing his mind in relation to ruling out an extension to the post-Brexit transition?
Sturgeon says she has to assume that what the UK government says about ruling out an extension is what they mean.
Q: Have you had any contact from the police in relation to Derek Mackay’s conduct? And do you think he should resign as an MSP?
Sturgeon says she has not had any contact over this from the police.
Continue reading...Yellow wind warnings issued and ‘blizzard-like conditions’ expected next week
Weather warnings have been issued for parts of the UK as Storm Ciara is forecast to bring strong gales and heavy rain over the weekend.
Yellow warnings of wind have been issued by the Met Office for north-western parts of the UK on Saturday. It also warned of travel disruption and potential power cuts in some areas on Sunday.
Continue reading...Mother of victim urges Netflix to be respectful and truthful as people still grieving today
The mother of a boy murdered by the IRA alongside Lord Louis Mountbatten has appealed to the makers of the The Crown to accurately depict the atrocity in the next season of the Netflix series.
Mary Hornsey said she hoped the drama would show sensitivity in portraying the events of 27 August 1979, when a bomb blew up Mountbatten’s fishing boat off Mullaghmore, a village in County Sligo on Ireland’s north-west coast.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen
Here is the Times’s Steven Swinford on the significant of the PMOS’s comments on fishing.
No 10 spokesman suggests access to Britain’s waters for EU fishing boats *will* be the subject of negotiations over future trade deal
‘We are taking back control of our waters
‘It will be for the UK to determine for the best interests of the UK who fishes in those waters’
The PMOS is not talking about some of the post-Brexit Whitehall arrangements.
He says there will be 40 officials working in government taskforce on the EU future partnership.
Continue reading...Tributes pour in for former deputy first minister of Northern Ireland
Seamus Mallon, an architect of the Northern Ireland peace process who served as deputy first minister, has died at the age of 83.
Tributes from across the political spectrum in Ireland and the UK poured in after the SDLP announced on Friday that its former deputy leader had died.
Continue reading...Transport and manufacturing heads criticise paperwork needed to trade with GB
The “straightforward” document that Northern Irish businesses will need to complete to send goods to Great Britain after Brexit is a complex form that includes 31 data elements, it can be revealed.
The Freight Transport Association has raised concerns that hauliers could be fined if they get elements of the “exit summary declaration” wrong, and is calling on the EU and the UK to remove it during their negotiations.
Continue reading...