Nothing has endeared Leo Varadkar to United Irelanders like his leaving office. In a positive way, I hasten to add. In a valedictory interview with RTE, the outgoing Taoiseach was emphatic when asked about the potential costs of a united Ireland, replying that it ‘should never be about money.’ He added: ‘If you believe in the unification of your country, three or 4% of GDP is […]

Let me cut to the chase: the report into the financial consequences of Irish unity from Professors John Fitzgerald and Edgar Morgenroth for the Institute of International and European Affairs  in Dublin, published yesterday, is a farrago of nonsense.  Nevertheless, it has dominated a slow news week, with the good professors offering a series of contentious assumptions about the costs of Irish unification, speculatingthat it […]

It’s a rhetorical question, of course. The answer is ‘pretty daft.’ After being buttered-up by British ministers on innumerable occasions since Brexit – only to find themselves let down more times than a well-bucket – they have now relented from their two-year boycott of the Good Friday Agreement institutions and returned to Stormont. Tail between […]

Political prediction-peddling is a mug’s game. But let me nevertheless lurch forwards into the realm of pointless speculation, poring over the coffee grinds in my flat white in the process, and offer you the following. And so, 2024 begin much as 2023 ended. With Jeffrey Donaldson stood there, like a man wearing expensive new shoes […]

Quite a week for United Irelanders Leo. Colum. Wallace. Duncan. Members of Ireland’s latest boy band? Not quite, but this quartet have been singing mellifluously from the same hymn sheet this past week. Political leaders, Varadkar and Eastwood, trilling a new-found enthusiasm for Irish unity.  But the stand-out performance – the lead solo – came […]

And, so, he is gone. Finito. Ceased to be. Goodbye Boris, we shan’t forget you. Your contribution to the cause of Irish unity will not be overlooked. The day after that border poll, as the sun shines across a single, 32-county Ireland, the multitudes will rejoice. Choirs of voices will sing your praises. ‘Thank-you Boris, […]

There was a fascinating piece from Miriam Lord in last Saturday’s Irish Times. She suggests, with the casual authority of the informed commentator, that Leo Varadkar, Simon Coveney and Pascal Donohue will all quit frontline politics at the next Irish general election. Big news if so, representing a clear-out of Fine Gael’s top table. They […]

Teachers are fond of telling their pupils to ‘show their working out.’ Even if they don’t arrive at the correct answer, there is still merit in understanding the way in which they calculated it. So, just for fun – and on the back of a napkin – let me try and sketch out the emerging […]

John Alderice is not known for hyperbole. In fact, the quietly-spoken former Alliance leader and speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, who now sits in the House of Lords, usually keeps a pretty low profile. Until the other day. ‘It’s all over bar the shoutin’’ was the title of a post on his personal blog. […]