Léargas

Congressman Richard Neal, Gerry Adams  and Fiachra and Emmett McGuinness For the second time this month I am in the United States of America. And not for the first time I am writing my weekly column on t he train between Washington DC and New York. It’s a beautiful Tuesday evening as the train speeds its way through the American countryside. The sky is largely blue with some clouds rolling across it. RG and I travelled up to DC on Monday evening. Rita O’Hare had warned me to be prepared for hot weather. New York and DC have been experiencing a heat wave with temperatures in the 90’s. I was told that temperatures this week would be in the more ‘ bearable’  80’s. I had to keep telling my American friends that for Irish people temperatures in the 80’s are still a heat wave! As it turned out they were all wrong. The temperature in New York only climbed to the low 70’s and on Monday it rained most of the day. Just like an Irish summer! Terry O Sul...

20 years ago this month the IRA declared its second cessation. As a result of that historic initiative all-party negotiations commenced in September 1997. After eight months of difficult negotiations the Good Friday Agreement was agreed on April 10 th  1998. The Agreement is an historic compromise between nationalists, unionists, republicans, and the British and Irish governments. It is not the republic proclaimed at Easter 1916 but it is based on the principles of equality and respect, and parity of esteem, and provides a route to further progress towards our republican objectives. The Good Friday Agreement has been described as an agreement to a journey but not to a destination. It moved beyond notion of an internal 6 county settlement. It is all-Ireland, in form and structure. It is about a new political dispensation on the island of Ireland and a new relationship between Ireland and Britain. It is also about fundamental constitutional and institutional ...

The Great Hunger memorial at Rockland GAC Rita O Hare says she doesn't understand sports. "A load of balls" says she in a dismissive tone when the subject comes up. So, she didn't really show any interest when I tried to keep up with the Lions versus the All Blacks as we departed from Dublin Airport for the USA last Saturday morning. Later when we got to our hotel, The Time NYACK in Rockland county in the Hudson River Valley, she feigned complete disinterest in my efforts to keep track of the hurling and football Championship play offs back home.  Me? I was keeping my commitment to Claire Kerraine to support Roscommon against Galway in the Connacht Football Final. I’m a big fan of Galway but given that they are doing so well with the hurling I succumbed to Claire's faith in her heroes and opted for the Rossies. And I'm glad I did. What a win!  And then the hurling thriller at Thurles when Waterford and Kilkenny were neck to neck at half time. The Déi...

The anti-equality approach of the DUP, supported by the British government, has seen the shutters effectively pulled down on this round of talks. This constitutes a monumental failure by Theresa May and her government. Decades of work are being put on hold to keep her in power. As a result i t is unlikely that any agreement will now be possible this side of the summer. None of this is surprising. The character of the current negotiations has been different from others we have had with the DUP in recent years. We were back to the David Trimble style of slow, tedious, minimalist negotiations. As a consequence, there was no agreement on Irish language rights, marriage equality, the Bill of Rights, legacy matters or anti-sectarian measures. The DUP has resisted the imperative of rights-based policies and agreements that are essential for the political institutions to be sustainable. This is especially true in the context of Brexit, the DUP alliance with the Tories and the fallout from t...