Northern Irish politics has reached a breaking point, and it does not appear that it will survive it. The British government is due to set its upcoming budget this month, and with Sinn Fein and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) still hopelessly deadlocked, it appears that Secretary of State for Northern Ireland James Brokenshire will…
Sometimes it feels like disagreement is to Northern Ireland what chips are to fish—they just go together. Six months have passed since voters went to the polls and elected new representatives to the Assembly—or so they thought. Discussions between the two major parties are set to resume this autumn, but with no agreement between Sinn…
To use an old cliché, unless you have been living under a rock, by now you’ll have learned that Theresa May’s Conservative government and the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland have decided to form a coalition government. I’ve written a few paragraphs in my time but that last statement might be the most far-fetched….
The one takeaway from the 2017 general election in the UK that we can all pretty much agree with is that Theresa May has almost completely bungled it. Her Conservative Party had a thoroughly broken Labour Party as its main opposition, they had a majority government and they started the campaign with a massive lead in the…
Following the resignation of Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister on January 9th over the ongoing Renewable Heating Initiative (RHI) and the fallout from it, elections for the Northern Ireland Assembly have been set for March 2nd by Secretary of State for Northern Ireland Theresa Villers. This followed the refusal of Arlene Foster (the leader…
News of the result of the #Brexit referendum has rocked the world this morning; the United Kingdom has left the European Union, the value of the Pound sterling has plummeted to 30-year lows and, worst of all, Nigel Farage is smiling. Like a lot. The geographical breakdown of the votes in particular has caused massive…
This year’s annual Model Dáil debates hosted by both UCC’s International Relations Society and Government & Politics Society took place in Devere Hall on Monday the 14th. The event, which takes place every year pitting each of the parties present on campus against each other in debates regarding pressing issues in Irish politics today, took…
The General Election has passed (actually, at the time of writing a few recounts were still ongoing) and it is possibly the most interesting election in the history of the state. And while that is a statement that is surely said after nearly every election, it is definitely true for this election, if not just…
History was made last week in Cairo, Egypt, where the long-standing dream of Republicans all around the island finally came true. While on a diplomatic mission to the northern African state, a prominent politician stumbled upon the long-lost 6 counties of Ulster. The discovery was made following a series of daring capers & escapades deemed…
With the next General Election being expected to be announced soon, UCC Express Staff Writer & Political Activist Stephen Spillane writes in-detail about each of the constituencies in Cork and who he expects to win *Denotes sitting TD, **Denotes sitting Senator Cork East (4 Seats) Candidates: Barbara Ahern (FF), Tom Barry (FG)*, Paul Bradford (RN)**,…