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14 November 2010
Gerry Adams 'to run for seat in Irish parliament'

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is expected to announce later that he intends running for the Irish parliament in the next election.

He is likely to resign from the Northern Ireland Assembly but retain his West Belfast seat at Westminster.

His decision to run for a seat in the Dail would mark a significant change in strategy by the Sinn Fein leader, says BBC correspondent Mark Simpson.

He has always concentrated on electoral politics north of the border.

Mr Adams has led his party at Stormont since power-sharing began 10 years ago.

The Irish prime minister, Brian Cowen, must call a general election before July 2012 and it is thought the election may happen next year.

Continue reading the main story
Analysis

Mark Simpson

BBC Ireland Correspondent

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As the peace process has settled down in recent years, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams has often looked bored.

There is no longer a new political crisis every week in Belfast. As a result, Mr Adams has a reduced workload and a much lower profile.

That may not be the main reason he has decided to run for the Irish parliament, but it may well be a factor.

While his right-hand man Martin McGuinness has become the face of Sinn Fein at Stormont, as Deputy First Minister, Mr Adams has had a peripheral role.

He spends a lot of time south of the border, but as an unelected politician he is effectively shouting from the sidelines.

At 62, he has decided to try to re-invent himself. If elected he would try to lead a surge in support for Sinn Fein in the south.

If he loses, it could spell the end of his long political career.
An obvious seat for 62-year-old Mr Adams to attempt to win would be in County Louth, just across the border from Northern Ireland.

Louth is currently represented by Sinn Fein's Arthur Morgan, who has said he plans to step down at the next election.

Mr Adams is due to deliver the keynote address at the Edentubber Commemoration in County Louth later.

In a brief statement issued on Saturday night, the party promised a "significant" speech from its leader at the commemoration.

Sinn Fein has five MPs, including Mr Adams, and four TDs in the Irish parliament.

There is no modern precedent for a politician to seek election to both Westminster, where Mr Adams represents West Belfast, and the Dail.

Mr Morgan was elected to Louth County Council in 1999, before taking the seat in the Dail at the 2002 general election, and retaining it five years later.

Last week he announced he would be stepping down at the next election to concentrate on his business. He said the party leadership had accepted his decision.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-11751856

Panic over, economy sorted.
But can you really represent two constituencies?

No outcry over this? Does exclusion from the party beckon, or is this merely preparaing the way?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/sinn-fein-member-first-to-address-parliament-2120506.html
Sinn Fein member first to address Parliament
By Oliver Wright, Whitehall Editor

Saturday, 30 October 2010

An Irish teenager made parliamentary history yesterday by becoming the first ever Sinn Fein member to cross the threshold and speak in the House of Commons.

Connor Morgan, 18, had been invited to Westminster as the representative for Co Derry in the UK Youth Parliament. The party has five MPs and the largest share of the vote in Northern Ireland, but no one from Sinn Fein has ever stepped foot in the chamber of the House of Commons.

Shortly after noon he stood at the dispatch box – in an unusually packed Commons chamber – and made the case for free higher education. But before he did so he made a second piece of history by addressing the chamber in Irish.

"It is a great honour to stand here before you and to have the opportunity to address you in Irish," he translated afterwards, having just been introduced by the Commons Speaker John Bercow, who was chairing the second ever meeting of the UK Youth Parliament (UKYP) in the chamber.

Around 300 members of the Youth Parliament aged between 11 and 18 sat on the Commons' green benches during the meeting. MPs voted earlier this year to allow the UKYP to hold an annual sitting in the Commons for the remainder of the parliament, which is due to end in 2015.

Mr Morgan, from Maghera, who is studying politics at Leeds, spoke to oppose the proposed removal of the cap on university tuition fees.

"Students will be trapped beneath a crushing burden of debt up to £95,000," he said before adding, to cheers from the chamber: "We need to send a clear message to decision-makers that we matter."

Speaking afterwards, Mr Morgan insisted his Sinn Fein membership was "completely irrelevant" as members of the Youth Parliament do not have party loyalties.

"This event is not party political," he said. "I'm here today just for the young people of my area. I want to represent their views."

Sinn Fein's MPs do not take their seats in Westminster because they refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaKHn4sMLqY


A Tory take on the situation here - if nothing else, it shows the importance of knowing your privacy settings on Facebook!
http://iaindale.blogspot.com/2010/10/sinn-fein-member-of-uk-youth-parliament.html

Surprised that Robinson's comments on the north's education system haven't been mentioned here.

Forgetting the history and the reasons why the current systems exists, what are the views on here? Do the responses from SF and the SDLP represent the broad views of nationalists in the north?

Personally, i'm all for integrated/state education. If people want religious instruction, they can either do it separately within an integrated school, or (preferably) do it outside of school altogether.

From a GAA point of view, there's real potential to open up access to the sport to others if people from 'both sides' were attending the same schools.

Bring it on!

Headliners not announced until Wednesday night but the first batch was announced tonight. Great festival with a great atmosphere in a beautiful location up in the Sperrins.

Lowly Knights
Strait Laces
Pocket Billiards
Wonder Villians
Team Fresh
More Than Conquerors
The Last Tycoons
Axis Of
A Plastic Rose
Furlo
Here Come The Landed Gentry
Silouette
The Q
Colenso parade
Swanee River
Fingersmith
John Edgar Voe
Chipzel
Gascan Ruckus
The Vals
A Plastic Rose

Was today's loss part of a bigger plan? Are Monaghan to stay in Division 1 by sending Kerry to Division 2? 

Anyway, one last throw of the dice. Monaghan are definitely capable of Division 1 football and it would be a great boost going into the Championship if we could maintain that status.

All roads lead to Killarney this day 2 weeks.

Very important game now. 3 teams safe in Division 1 and 5 teams on 2 points with Monaghan bottom on scoring difference, with Derry second from bottom. Both teams have difficult final games (Monaghan away to Mayo and Kerry, Derry at home to Cork and away to Galway) and will be looking to get something out of this one. It's difficult to see both teams staying up and whoever loses this game is in big trouble (although given that 5 teams are on two points, it might not require 6 points to stay up).

As for the tie itself, there's plenty of history between these two teams with four recent championship ties in the last few years and two wins each. Monaghan's defeats to Derry last year will still be fresh in the mind. Scotstown however is a different proposition and Derry won't have anywhere near as much room as they had in the qualifier in Clones last year. It's all to play for. Expecting a tight and tough game.

http://www.hoganstand.com/ArticleForm.aspx?ID=123824

The GAA have issued their first Fair Play Index, which ranks each county based on their disciplinary record in the Allianz NFL.

With no bookings or red cards in their opening round games, Monaghan and Limerick have perfect disciplinary records after one round.

Bottom of the table are Roscommon, who received eight yellow cards in their 13-point loss to Cavan in NFL Division 3.

Kildare, who have three players currently suspended after a row in their O'Byrne Cup clash with Laois in January, are second bottom with seven bookings in their clash with Down last weekend.

Counties received points for yellow cards and red cards, with yellow cards started at one point and red cards going from anything between 2 and 10 points based on the category of offence.

Full details of the table and the category of offences are available here - [url]http://www.hoganstand.com/common/clients/national/fairplay.pdf[/url

It will be interesting to see how this pans out over time.

Good news. There was no other obvious candidate and i'm not sure anyone else would be able to get any more out of the available players anyway.

It is expected that Seamus McEnaney will remain on as Monaghan football manager for the 2010 season.

The Corduff clubman has spent weeks mulling over his future and it's believed he has now decided to extend his reign for a sixth season.

This year was expected to be McEnaney's last hurrah with the Farney County, but pleas from the players for him to remain in charge is thought to have played a major part in his decision to carry on.

It is not yet known whether trainer Martin McElkennon will also be involved with the county next year.

McEnaney has overseen a major upswing in Monaghan's fortunes since taking charge at the end of 2004, with Division 2 League success in 2005 and an unlucky reverse to Kerry in the 2007 All-Ireland quarter-final, being the high points in his tenure so far.

http://www.rte.ie/sport/gaa/championship/2009/0819/monaghan.html

[McCausland slams H-Block event]

Surprised this hasn't been posted already...

McCausland slams H-Block event 

Sports Minister Nelson McCausland has criticised the staging of a hunger strike commemoration at a GAA ground.

It took place at Galbally, County Tyrone, after a procession on Sunday.

Speaking as a DUP MLA, he said: "It cannot be right that a sports ground should be used for commemorating and celebrating something as offensive as the whole H-Block episode."

Sinn Fein MLA Barry McElduff said there were no alternative venues for the rural, largely republican community.

"We were remembering, not terrorists but inspirational, politically-motivated Irish hunger strikers," said Mr McElduff, who was speaking in a party capacity rather than as chairman of the assembly's culture, arts and leisure committee.

"Many young people are curious to know the story of these hunger strikers who laid down their lives for Irish freedom."

However, Mr McCausland said the event was a breach of the GAA's rule 7a, which states the organisation should be non-party political.

"People will be disappointed to see a sports ground used for such a political event which glorifies Irish republican terrorism," he said.

He added: "The event in Tyrone was a retrograde step and I think it has reinforced division and political sectarianism."

Breach of the GAA's rule 7a carries a penalty of up to 24 weeks' suspension.

A GAA spokesperson said they had no comment to make on the matter.

The parade was staged near the home of IRA hunger striker Martin Hurson, who died in the Maze Prison in July 1981.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8206863.stm

It's a shame yet again that some people have felt it appropriate to use a GAA ground for such activities. And all it does is give the DUP another stick to beat the Association with.

Any other fans on here? They're probably my favourite band.

New album on the way next month and a good lead track - The Fixer - now online.
(http://www.myspace.com/tenclub)

Here's hoping for an Irish gig in early 2010!

Anyone know where you can download good quality images of county crests (250x250 pixels minimum).
It's easy to find them for some counties, but not for others. I'm struggling for good quality ones for Tipp and Monaghan in particular.

Any help much appreciated.

Let the battle commence!

[Tyrone]

After Anrtim's result yesterday, and the generally surprising run of results on that side of the draw, I was wondering just where Antrim, and all of the the teams, now rank in the province.

My own assessment, at this stage, would be:

Tyrone - a few points ahead of the next batch.
Monaghan / Derry / Armagh - all capable of beating each other, but none really capable of beating Tyrone.
Antrim - massive improvement and will now be boosted with some belief. Whatever happens, they're in the last 12. Also have the benefit of youth - if performance to date is built on, could have a few good years.
Fermanagh - inconsistent and lack of power up front. Cavan beat them, but they wouldn't have fallen to Antrim to the extent that Cavan did.
Donegal - nothing special. Difficult to see them pulling it together for the qualifiers, although they have an easy first round to get themselves together.
Down - beaten by Fermanagh, who fell to Cavan, who subsequently fell to Antrim...
Cavan - might have beaten Fermanagh narrowly, although Fermanagh missed a few chances at the end that could have made the difference. Yesterday's performance was abysmal - totally lacking in direction.

[Man climbs onto wheel attraction]

Man climbs onto wheel attraction  



A man has climbed onto the top of the Belfast Wheel in the grounds of City Hall.

Three fire appliances are at the scene.

The structure offers views across Belfast from a height of 200ft.

More information to follow.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8113757.stm

So what happened today? 9-10,000 in Brewster Park with a capacity of c.18,000, yet this game was all ticket! I was considering heading down, being at home, although all week on Ticketmaster this game was listed, but no tickets were on sale. On what basis do the Ulster Council make such decisions for games like this? Is there no attempt to put tickets on general sale - i.e. not just through clubs and county boards?

It's the same story next week - all ticket for Monaghan v Derry. It won't matter to me - i have tickets sorted for this one. But such arrangements are hardly a help in attracting people to games. Celtic Park holds 20k+. Does this really need to be all ticket?

This was on BBC's main UK news last night!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8017391.stm

Roll on 26th April!

Was hoping for Kildare myself, to avenge the recent defeat in Clones, but it wasn't to be. Monaghan have shown that they can take Cork - a second win against them would further consolidate our good form and have us firmly in the top 8 teams in the country.

Fingers crossed, we have no injury worries at the minute. It would be great to go into the game against Derry as Division 2 Champions - a big psychological difference from our preparation for the Fermanagh game last year.

From HoganStand:

Spillane steps down from Sunday Game anchor role
05 April 2009

Pat Spillane will return to duty as a pundit on this season's Sunday Games programme after RTE announced the program will have a new presenter in 2009.

The eight time All-Ireland winners acted as programme host for the past four years after Michael Lyster's stood down from the role on the highlights programme.

Spillane was a hugely successful analyst on the show prior to taking over the lead role and will return as a pundit when the show resumes in May.

RTE will announce this coming week who the new presenter is, with the names of Michael Lyster, Joanne Cantwell, Dara O Cinneide and Darragh Maloney already linked with the job.

Did he step, or was he given a nudge?

Spotted this story in the Irish News today. Someone has set up a spoof 'twitter' for Sammy Wilson and he's not too impressed.
http://twitter.com/sammywilsonmp


Some very funny (and random) reading:

What a beautiful day. If this is global warming, bring it on!

It's alright for the first ministers, away to Brussels! I don't even get out to Bangor!

Give up on wiifit, having a couple of cans and watching Shameless.

Shameless looks a bit like Larne at times.

Had a dream about Michelle Obama. Stimulating.

Missed most of Extreme Fishing, Robson Green is a prat though.

Going to bring the bin in, forgot about it. Hope I don't get done for illegally parking.