Boston Irish Reporter - politics

Is Sinn Fein's Abstention Policy Dying?

irishadmin — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:29:08 +0000

Bill O'Donnell

Maybe it's because Gerry Adams has had some recent personal setbacks along with his party's electoral hopes, but the call for the voice of the Provos to end their parliamentary abstention is growing louder. The new leader of the SDLP, Margaret Ritchie, has openly suggested to the republicans that it might be time for elected Sinn Fein representatives in the House of Commons to start actively representing their constituents instead of playing hard to get. Read more

Rob O'Leary, State Senator for Cape and Islands, Looks to Congress With an Eager, Practiced Eye

irishadmin — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:22:30 +0000

Greg O'Brien

Giving new definition to irony, Rob O'Leary's academic pedigree in the spirited arena of Boston politics reads like one from central casting: Kimball Union Academy in New Hampshire; The School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University where he rubbed shoulders with a young Bill Clinton; a master's in public policy from Harvard; and a PhD in history from Tufts. The state senator serving Cape Cod and the Islands, with his trademark Kennedy good looks, was the first Democrat to represent the region in the state Legislature since the Civil War. He now seeks bigger fish to fry - by replacing retiring Congressman Bill Delahunt in the state's 10th Congressional District. Read more

British Elections Loom Crucial to Peace in Northern Ireland

irishadmin — Sun, 02 May 2010 03:19:07 +0000

Joe Leary

The results of the upcoming British Parliamentary elections will have a profound effect upon peace and understanding amongst the conflicted people of Northern Ireland. The people of the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland, will elect 650 members of the newly constituted Parliament, which will rule the country for the next five years unless the new government fails to maintain its majority. Read more

SDLP Elects Margaret Ritchie as 'Leader' - First Woman to Head Major Party in North

irishadmin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:40:56 +0000

Joe Leary

In a close election last month, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) of Northern Ireland elected Minister Margaret Ritchie, 51, as its "leader" to guide the party into the second decade of the 21st century. With her ascension, Miss Ritchie becomes the first female head of a major party in Northern Ireland. Read more

Officials See North's Policing Accord As Signaling End to 'Troubles' Era

irishadmin — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:37:05 +0000

Robert P. Connolly

Northern Ireland's Troubles began with its police force front and center and in a very real sense may have ended with a grand compromise on the vexing question of where the ultimate control over policing should rest. Read more

Climate Change in Scott Brown's Massachusetts

irishadmin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 19:15:44 +0000

Jim O'Sullivan

The Jan. 19 election to succeed Paul Kirk - and Ted Kennedy - in the United States Senate was supposed to be the tripwire. The vote that launched a thousand domino campaigns, Democrats vying against Democrats for seats long held safe by Democrats, and expected to be held by Democrats long into the foreseeable.

Instead, state Sen. Scott Brown's election over Attorney General Martha Coakley has sent the state's plurality party into an unaccustomed place: the wilderness contemplative. Read more

Murphy, a Mover on the Boston City Council, Takes Stock of Voter Anger in Mulling Future

irishadmin — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 18:29:29 +0000

Greg O'Brien

The view is serene from Stephen John Murphy's office on the fifth floor of Boston City Hall. It overlooks Faneuil Hall and a swath of Boston Harbor in the distance on this promising late January day when the sun is a bit higher in the sky and the temperature is flirting with the 50s. Inside this dense concrete bunker, the political climate is chilling, as observers assess the damage from the storm surge of angry voters that swept Scott Brown into the United States Senate faster than you could say "All bets are off!" Read more

For Gerry Adams, It Was a Year of Trials at Work and at Home

irishadmin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 04:33:41 +0000

Robert P. Connolly

First came the startling news that the republican leader's brother, Liam Adams, was on the run, charged with having sexually abused his daughter for an eight-year period that began when the girl was 4. He was reported to be hiding in the Republic of Ireland and Gerry appealed to his brother to return to Northern Ireland to face the charges lodged against him. Read more

Saville Report Delay Unconscionable

irishadmin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 16:06:10 +0000

Bill O'Donnell

This new year, 2010, will be the 12th anniversary of the start of the Saville Inquiry into the January 1972 massacre, Bloody Sunday, when 13 unarmed Derry citizens were shot to death by British paratroopers on the streets where they lived. A fourteenth would die later of his wounds. No one has ever been charged, no one has been adjudged guilty, and the fact that it has taken a dozen years - with the end not yet in sight - to try to clean up his Lordship Widgery's disgraceful whitewash should be an acute embarrassment to the British legal establishment. Read more

A Conversation in the Oval Office

irishadmin — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:53:42 +0000

Senator John McCain and President Barack Obama are meeting in the Oval Office. Let's listen in on the conversation: Read more