Tom Griffin (London, OK): The Northen Ireland Executive is set to meet for the first time in months on Thursday after the DUP and Sinn Féin agreed a way forward on the disputed issue of policing and justice today. Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness have written to the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive Review Committee, stating that a Justice Minister will be appointed under interim arrangements that will last until 2012. The planned process remains somewhat opaque, and there's a lively debate over on Slugger about who blinked first to allow the deal to happen.

Michael Calderbank (London) reviews Hunger, directed by Steve McQueen. On April 9th 1981 Bobby Sands, a 27 year-old prisoner on hunger strike in “H-blocks” of HMS Maze prison (known to republicans as Long Kesh), was elected Member of Parliament for Fermanagh and South Tyrone, having polled over 30,000 votes. This was a momentous episode not only in British (or “British”) electoral history, but in the course of the republican struggle and possibly in the future of politics in the six counties. Yet Steve McQueen’s harrowing dramatisation of Sands’ tragic story sees fit only to mention this remarkable political episode in the closing credits. This has the effective of casting the wider social context of the hunger strikes into the background, as the spotlight focuses forensically on the horror of Sands’ imprisonment and the tragedy of his self-sacrifice.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Ever since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, Northern Ireland's peace settlement has been based on the idea of parity of esteem between unionists and nationalists. It's a principle which has often sat uncomfortably alongside the reality that the institutions of one community are also those of the state. The  dilemma is well illustrated by the latest parade controversy which concerns, not the Orange Order or the Royal Black Preceptory, but a regiment of the British Army. The Royal Irish Regiment is due to hold a homecoming parade for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan. A Sinn Fein counter-demonstration is also planned. Gordon Brown has backed the parade, telling the Commons: "the troops in our armed forces deserve the support of every community from which they come. Where there have been parades in the different cities and towns of this country, not only have they been peaceful but large numbers of people have turned out because they want to give support to our troops and show them that they have the confidence of the British people. I want that to be a feature of our life in every part of the United Kingdom for many years to come."  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK):Most commentators may see it as a straight fight between Labour and the SNP, but that didn't stop David Cameron making his presence felt in the Glenrothes by-election yesterday:  "I think it is better for all of us to be in the United Kingdom. However, we won't solve it by frightening the Scots that they cannot make it on their own. I do not believe that. It won't win the argument. One of the first things I will do as Prime Minister is arrange to meet with the First Minister, whoever that may be, and work to further the benefits of the Union for people in Scotland." Cameron has shown in recent months that he is determined that the Tories should be more than an English party. One aspect of this strategy has been to offset weakness in Scotland through a new relationship with the Ulster Unionists. There are signs that plan may be unravelling. Read the rest of this post...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): Some detailed leaks in the News Letter this morning about the supposed likely recommendations of the Eames-Bradley Consultative Group on the Past in Northern Ireland. As I have blogged before, their report isn't now due for publication until December or January, but today's news reports gives a fair few details. The Belfast Telegraph's story describes the proposals as follows: "… there will be a five-year commission to investigate murders – headed by an independent international commissioner. The British and Irish Governments would appoint that commissioner with the agreement of the Executive and there will be an Investigations Unit and an Information Recovery Unit. The plan is for the Investigations Unit to take over the work of the current Historical Enquiries Team and the legacy cases that are dealt with by the Police Ombudsman’s office. "… if prosecution is not possible — then with the agreement of families cases can go to the Information Recovery Unit. Anyone with knowledge of killings will be encouraged to “tell what they know” — and any information they would give would not be admissible in court. That means there would be immunity from prosecution." My sources tell me (yes, I have a few!) that on this occasion the leak isn't from Eames-Bradley themselves and that they are a bit disconcerted that it has taken place, but we can probably assume that the report is fairly accurate. Read the rest of this post...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): The number of rapes being reported in Northern Ireland has increased by 50% in the past six years, according to official figures. More than 450 rapes or attempted rapes were reported last year – more than one every day. Only 3% of cases resulted in convictions. In England and Wales the conviction rate is – even at a pathetic 6% – still double that of Northern Ireland. Does a pronouncement this week by a senior Northern Ireland judge explain one of the reasons for us having such a low conviction rate for rape?  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Lord Trimble seems to have caused some jitters in the Ulster Unionist Party with his suggestion that the Conservatives will fight every seat in the UK at the next general election.  Is he hinting that the talks between the two parties may lead to a full merger? Not everyone in the UUP would be happy about that prospect, as the lively comments thread over on Three Thousand Versts indicates. In an interview with the BBC's Mark Devenport, David Cameron has admitted that the talks face some difficulties. Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Northern Ireland is to abolish prescription charges from 2010, Health Minister Michael McGimpsey of the UUP announced today. The move will follow a reduction to £3 in January 2009. "The introduction of free prescriptions was one of my party's manifesto commitments and was also one of my earliest assembly debates. A key consideration for me was the loss of around £13m income each year from prescription charges, and while it is only 3.5 per cent of the total drugs bill, it is still a lot of money." He added: "After looking closely at the financial position with my officials, I have concluded that the cost of free prescriptions can be found within my existing budget and without impacting on any existing service." Wales has already abolished prescription charges, and Scotland is set to follow suit in 2011. Although Gordon Brown announced moves to abolish charges for cancer patients last week, England is now the only UK nation in whch there are no plans to abolish prescription charges outright.

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): A Northern Ireland Truth Commission moved a step closer to reality on Thursday with the call by Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams for such a body to be established to deal with the legacy of the thirty-year conflict. His endorsement of the idea and call for it be helped by "all relevant parties", suggests that the IRA, which was responsible for over 1,700 deaths – nearly half of the overall death toll from the conflict – could be ready to participate in a truth recovery process. Read the rest of this post...

When Gordon Brown became Prime Minister, Northern Ireland was not uppermost in his mind.  He inherited the St Andrew's Agreement as a result of Blair's scramble for a success story before he left office.  While devolution has been restored it has not bedded down and if Gordon comes to call on Tuesday (as predicted) rather than talk about progress he will be faced with what Blair dealt with for a decade.  Read the rest of this post...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): As previewed on Belfast and Beyond (Tasers: shocks and secrets) some weeks ago, a Belfast child has applied for and yesterday won the right to challenge the PSNI's decision to start using Tasers. If successful, the child's court challenge could have UK-wide implications for police use of the 50,000-volt device.  Read the rest of this post...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): The arrest on Tuesday of five people by police investigating the murder of Sunday World journalist Martin O'Hagan in Lurgan seven years ago reminds us that no-one has yet been brought to justice for this crime (sadly, just like so many others in Northern Ireland's recent history). As Kevin Cooper of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) noted at the time of his murder, Martin O'Hagan was the only "journalist to be killed in Northern Ireland because he was a journalist and because of his work as a journalist".  Read the rest of this post...

Damian O'Loan (Paris): Amidst the problems at Stormont, nationalist Mark Durkan has given a reminder of the need to move towards voluntary coalition. The SDLP leader suggests eventually replacing the Nationalist/Unionist “designation” system of the Good Friday and St Andrew's agreements with the forthcoming NI Bill of Rights, alongside a weighted majority, as the basis of government.  Read the rest of this post...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): At the risk of coming across as Forrest Gump with bad timing (see my recent Belfast and Beyond post: ('One night (not) in Bangkok'), last Tuesday I sort of stumbled across the Belfast end of an international arms bust. As I passed the Europa Hotel, I noticed a squad of heavily armed police moving in on the hotel entrance, shouting instructions and organising vehicles. Inside they were arresting a Dublin man as part of an international police operation which also led to arrests and weapons seizures in Amsterdam, Zaandam and Dublin.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK): For decades, the moderate nationalist SDLP has been the Northern Ireland party most associated with the principle of power-sharing. So it was a significant development when party leader Mark Durkan told the British-Irish Association on Friday that a strong bill of rights could remove the need for the institutionalised nationalist and unionist blocs put in place by the Good Friday Agreement a decade ago. 'I remember, at the time, saying that the system of designation was necessary because of what we were coming from, but should not be necessary where we were going,' he said. 'As we move towards a fully sealed and settled process we should be preparing to think about how and when to remove some of the ugly scaffolding needed during the construction of the new edifice.'  Read the rest of this post...

Patrick Corrigan, (Amnesty Blogs: Belfast and Beyond): Looks like the Observer's Henry McDonald has been hearing the same rumours around Belfast as I have – namely, that the report by the Eames-Bradley Consultative Group on the Past is to be postponed (yet again) until the end of the year at least. The Group concluded its investigation as long ago as January. When I last blogged this topic in late May (Northern Ireland: 'It must never happen again'), at the time of a high-profile speech by the Group's chairs Archbishop Robin Eames and Denis Bradley, I mentioned that the report was expected later in the summer. Then, it was said, it would be out in September. Then October. Now McDonald is reporting December, while I am hearing that we could be into next year before the Group's findings finally become public. Read the rest of this post...

 Damian O'Loan (Paris): The situation in Stormont may now merit the term crisis. A prominent Sinn Fein representative in the South of Ireland, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin TD, has threatened collapse of the Assembly if policing and justice are not devolved: “we will have no option but to pull out our ministers.” Jeffrey Donaldson MP, MLA, Privy Council member and possible Justice Minister, has called for clarification of the threat: “Do they want to stay in the executive? If they do, let's meet and address these issues." Both sides claim the other refuses to talk; it is widely held that Sinn Fein are blocking the passage of other Ministerial business until their key electoral promises have been resolved – or as Peter Robinson has it: “Adams seems to think that it is the role of everyone to move to his position.” The other parties are unforgiving, nationalist SDLP leader Mark Durkan saying “The soundings coming from Sinn Féin at the minute are more ludicrous than ominous.” Moderate unionism's leader Sir Reg Empey warned “This sort of behaviour cannot continue for much longer.” Read the rest of this post...

 Damian O'Loan (Paris): The Prime Minister has sent a response to the 15,700 people who petitioned him to reprimand DUP MP Iris Robinson following her claim that members of the LGBT community should seek a cure. Predictably, Gordon Brown has chosen only to point to the strong anti-discrimination legislation in place in Northern Ireland, and links to the Equality Commission. Read the rest of this post...

Robin Wilson (Belfast, Policy Analyst): The suggestion that the various secretaries of state for the nations and regions should be wrapped up into one department has made sense ever since devolution was established in the initial years of ‘New’ Labour. But devolution to Scotland, Wales and (always shakily) Northern Ireland was, paradoxically, characterised by the patrician English trope of amateurish muddling through. And so the repeated case made by the Constitution Unit for a formal system of intergovernmental relations, as in Canada or Australia—and of which the unified department would have been one element, along with Lords reform to make the second chamber a voice for the nations and regions—fell on deaf Whitehall ears. Other departments in effect became ‘English’ departments, even when their actions had implications for devolved counterparts. A decision to move belatedly towards having a single minister for the devolved jurisdictions at the cabinet table—a further step from the rather awkward job-sharing of recent years—would certainly be welcome, if media speculation is borne out. But a fly in the ointment remains Northern Ireland—and if such a move were premised on a belief that imminent devolution of policing and justice powers would slot in the last piece of the jigsaw of a settlement for the troubled region, this could turn out to be a mistaken assumption. Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK): It seems that OurKingdom has picked up a couple of mentions on the nominations thread for the political blogging award at Northern Ireland's premier blog, Slugger O'Toole. Many thanks to Chekov and O'Neill for these fulsome recommendations: Our Kingdom: “Fair Deal is one of the very few bloggers delivering a DUP standpoint in a thoughtful manner.  I rarely agree with what he says, but he’s always worth reading. Damian O’Loan is an excellent new addition, writing coherent and temperate analysis from a liberal nationalist perspective.  An encouraging indication that moderation is not dead.” And “Fair Deal, Damian O’Loan, Tom Griffin, Patrick Corrigan and (very occasionally) Ian Parsley all are delivering thoughtful and coherent articles analysing different areas of political life here.”  Nominations close in mid-September. It's well worth checking out some of the excellent blogs that are in the running so far.

 Damian O'Loan (Paris): After months of deadlock, it looks as if there is finally movement on the transfer of policing and justice powers to the Stormont Assembly. Sinn Féin had falsely claimed that a May 'O8 deadline for the transfer was secured in the St Andrews Agreement. The DUP opposed any deadline, which was was fundamental to Sinn Féin's vote to support the police. That support in turn was crucial for the creation of the current Stormont executive – hence the present crisis. Now the two main parties have decided there will be a single Policing and Justice Department and Minister, and that they will not field candidates. Read the rest of this post...

In a comment on Damian O'Loan's lament about ongoing sectarianism in Northern Ireland, Anthony Barnett asked why restorative justice of all things is deepening the divide when it is supposed to do the opposite. Damian's answer vividly illuminates what is going on.  Damian O'Loan (Paris): Restorative justice involves community representatives mediating in low-level disputes, reducing criminalisation while better serving victims' interests. It has been effective internationally, most particularly regarding youth justice. What's specific to Northern Ireland, where it was this week further institutionalised, is it lies in the hands of groups rising from the embers of paramilitarism. Read the rest of this post...

Fair Deal (Slugger O'Toole): The Barnett formula has fundamental flaws and failed in its aim of equalisation. The IPPR report Fair Shares attempts to offer a new way forward for the UK, but the alternative has its own flaws, key questions are sidestepped and it will probably be Alex Salmond who determines whether Barnett reaches 40 years of age. Read the rest of this post...

Damian O'Loan (Paris): One wonders, observing the political crises in London and Belfast, how much is real and how much is 'silly season' filler. In the case of Northern Ireland, some may be surprised that “the hand of history” may not be leading to reconciliation after all. The relationship with Brown's difficulty is that both crises represent the inevitable unravelling of spin to expose reality underneath. Blair said he solved Northern Ireland - as elsewhere, he spoke too soon.  Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, OK): The DUP this week sought to undermine Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey by portraying his precedessor David Trimble as the real architect of the party's deal with the Conservatives. Even if that claim is exagerrated, Trimble's former advisor Steven King is a well-placed observer of Conservative-unionist relations. In the Irish Examiner, he suggests that the Tories' move away from English nationalism could actually assist a rapprochement with the SNP. George Osborne, the Tories’ finance spokesman and unofficial deputy leader, in particular, has been asking how it would look if the Conservatives were held responsible for the break-up of the UK, not least if the 1980s were to repeat themselves and the Tories were seen to provoke Scottish nationalist sentiment. Wouldn’t a partnership involving the whole UK (including the north), not just the whole of Great Britain, answer criticisms that the Tories are “the English party”? Furthermore, if the Conservatives were in government at Stormont with the nationalist party par excellence, Sinn Féin, wouldn’t that clear the way for new approaches in Edinburgh and silence doubts about the Tories’ commitment to devolution? 

Tom Griffin (London, OK): Passport checks between Britain and Northern Ireland are set to be introduced as part of the e-borders scheme, the Irish Times reported on Monday. The changes will be fiercely unpopular with unionists, who have argued that it means they will be treated as second-class citizens within the United Kingdom. Passport and other identity checks will be introduced between the Republic and Great Britain - but not between the Republic and Northern Ireland - from 2009 for air travellers, and the following year for those travelling by sea under London's e-borders security system.  Read the rest of this post...

Ian Parsley (North Down, Alliance): Senator Barack Obama made the inevitable reference to Northern Ireland during his speech in Berlin last week, saying that walls had “come down in Belfast, where Protestants and Catholics found a way to live together”. These are delightful sentiments – but they do not tell the story. There are, in fact, more walls up separating communities in Belfast than at the time of the Agreement 10 years ago. In truth, it could better be argued, Protestants and Catholics have found away to live apart - and they have done so, primarily, for economic reasons. Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): The Conservatives' link-up with the Ulster Unionists is provoking a great deal of interest around the blogosphere today. Over at Brassneck, Mick Fealty sees the move as a sign that the Tories have finally developed a coherent response to devolution. From a unionist (in the broadest sense of that word) perspective the new arrangements may finally give both parties a purpose beyond the narrow protection of a political union that is no longer under coherent attack from outside, but in grave danger of losing coherence from within. Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): On a day when the Conservatives are expected to be also-rans in Scotland, David Cameron has delivered the clearest possible signal of his commitment to the union. In a joint Telegraph article with Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey, he calls for a renewal of the historic alliance between the two parties. As leaders we met at Westminster last week and agreed to set up a joint working group to explore the possibilities of closer cooperation leading to the creation of a new political and electoral force in Northern Ireland. That working group will report to us in the autumn Read the rest of this post...

Tom Griffin (London, The Green Ribbon): A cross-party group of MPs yesterday tabled an amendment to the Embryology Bill that would extend Britain's post-1967 abortion law to Northern Ireland. This could be an interesting can of worms for the Prime Minister as the Sunday Telegraph noted at the weekend: The issue is doubly politically sensitive for Mr Brown because it threatens to reopen the row about how Labour secured the support of nine Democratic Unionist party MPs – crucial to the Government's success in winning last month's Commons vote on extending the period terrorist suspects can be held without charge to 42 days. The Prime Minister has denied any "deal" was done with the DUP. However, Shaun Woodward, the Northern Ireland Secretary, reassured the DUP at the time that the Government had no plans to extend abortion laws to the province.   Read the rest of this post...