A Conversation with Frazer and Nigel – Episode 4

Image of half an Irish flag and half a British Union Jack.Frazer and Nigel sat down with Shared Ireland and we were delighted to host them. Frazer and Nigel who are from a Unionist background. They give us their insight on what a Shared Ireland means to them and what it will take to create an equal and fair Ireland .

You can follow Frazer here and Nigel here.

Topics discusses include new anthem and flag in the event of a United Ireland, Brexit, socioeconomic issues, homelessness, healthcare, NHS,

Nigel Watson – Pitch of a shared Ireland would be involving national politics. We only have 7 million people on the island. Stormont doesn’t make sense in a shared Ireland. Could we have beefed up councils. Is this the way forward?

New anthem and flag is a tough conversation. That’s a bigger conversation for people in south. First impression of the Irish flag is something that is draped in a bombers coffin. In Cork, I understand it’s associated with happy memories like Jack Charlton era.

I see the tricolor flying on top of Empire State Building. Ireland has a massive body of goodwill around the world for a small country. That brand for a small place is a massive thing. Can we retain this flag and brand in a Shared Ireland?

Cameron unwittingly subverted democracy when he called the referendum.
May has singled minded put forward her deal and undermined democracy.
We see a rise English nationalism in part because of devolution in Scotland, Wales and NI, in part because people have been left out. MPs in other jurisdictions having an impact and say on decisions in places where they live and they don’t have the same thing as they do in Scotland, Wales and NI. – Frazer.

Bradford and Sheffield are seeing people getting more of the pot and it’s understandable but from NI perspective it’s hard to see Brexit and whole the dynamic as good for NI

I’ve great respect for those who put together the agreement in 1998. Fundamental thing that hasn’t worked is people have not built up relationships and trust. Trust is key.

Frazer – Aside from identity politics, we have 1.7 million people in the north. In it we have deprivation, young people lack opportunity and we also have people that suffer from disability. These are socio-economic things politicians should be looking at as a priority along with education and health. I would rather hear debates and strategies around that and how they will be rolled out.

If it ends up being a Sinn Fein thing or out-breeding them thing, its doomed to failure. I know middle class Catholics that are happy in NI.

I’m a unionist but nothing is being sold to me and yet the corollary of that is that nationalists are starting to sell something to me.

Nationalist will have to have a conversation with itself first and then broaden out the conversation to Unionism.

Complacency is unionists biggest problem.

I identify as an Irishman not a nationalist, unionist and republican. I am who I am.

An Ireland where we can all live together and accept each other for who we are in all our diversity, with no sense of fear or retribution. A place that’s economically successful, people do well and set their sights high and achieve those. A place with highest standards of education and terms of health and where we can be one nation.

I’d like the whole island to look like the Republic and that’s a challenge to unionism.

If you want the north to be vibrant and success, Varadkar needs to lead unionism.

Index:

3.23 – Our backgrounds.
5.47 – New Ireland would you support retention of Stormont and what way would you like the shared Ireland to be shaped.
8.05 – On new anthem and flag.
12.15- Rise of English nationalism jeopardize unionism.
14.50 – What’s wrong with Stormont why is it not working and who is to blame.
28.08 – Ireland future event in waterfront.
34.42 – What sort of things would swing a UI for you.
42.14 – how can we help heal lingering wounds in communities.
43.38 – Should marching on both sides become a thing resigned to history books?
46.10 – OO and catholic church in Scotland.
47.08 – How would you sell the benefits of union to pro unity voices.
50.00 – How will Ireland look in 30 years time

 

 

A Conversation with Stephen Travers & Eugene Reavey – Episode 3

Image of Eugene Reavey and Stephen Travers.This weeks Shared Ireland podcasts welcomes Stephen Travers and Eugene Reavey. We discuss The Miami Showband massacre, as well as the Netflix special. A riveting account of a horrific event in Irish history. Two ordinary gentlemen tell extraordinary, vivid, harrowing accounts of personal horror, murder and British State collusion in a dystopian timeline.

You can follow Stephen here and Eugene here.

The objectionably Xanten Reavey and O’Dowd killings were two co-ordinated gun attacks on 4 January 1976 in County Armagh. Six Irish Catholic civilians died after members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), an Ulster loyalist paramilitary group, broke into their homes and shot them. Three members of the Reavey family were shot at their home in Whitecross and four members of the O’Dowd family were shot at their home in Ballydougan. Two of the Reaveys and three of the O’Dowds were killed outright, with the third Reavey victim dying of brain hemorrhage almost a month later.

The shootings were part of a string of attacks on Catholics and Irish nationalists by the “Glenanne gang”; an alliance of loyalist militants, British soldiers and Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) police officers. Billy McCaughey, a police officer from the RUC Special Patrol Group, admitted taking part and accused another officer of being involved. His colleague John Weir said that those involved included a British soldier, two police officers and an alleged police agent: Robin ‘the Jackal’ Jackson.

The next day, gunmen shot dead ten Ulster Protestant civilians in the Kingsmill massacre. This was claimed as retaliation for the Reavey and O’Dowd shootings. Kingsmill was the climax of a string of tit-for-tat killings in the area during the mid-1970s.

The buy prednisone 20mg tablets http://radleyice.com/hiking-to-carlton-ridge/ Miami Showband killings (also called the Miami Showband Massacre) was an attack on 31 July 1975 by the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), a loyalist paramilitary group. It took place on the A1 road at Buskhill in County Down, Northern Ireland. Five people were killed, including three members of The Miami Showband, who were one of Ireland’s most popular cabaret bands. Stephen Travers was a member of this band.

The band was travelling home to Dublin late at night after a performance in Banbridge. Halfway to Newry, their minibus was stopped at what appeared to be a military checkpoint where gunmen in British Army uniforms ordered them to line up by the roadside. At least four of the gunmen were soldiers from the British Army’s Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR), and all were members of the UVF. Two of the gunmen, both soldiers, died when the time bomb they were hiding on the minibus exploded. The other gunmen then opened fire on the dazed band members, killing three and wounding two. It is believed that the bomb was meant to explode en route, so that the victim band members would appear to be IRA bomb-smugglers and stricter security measures would be established at the border.

Two serving UDR soldiers and one former UDR soldier were found guilty of the murders and received life sentences; they were released in 1998. Those responsible for the attack belonged to the Glenanne gang, a secret alliance of loyalist militants, rogue police officers, and UDR soldiers. There are also allegations that British military intelligence agents were involved. According to former Intelligence Corps agent Captain Fred Holroyd, the killings were organised by British intelligence officer Robert Nairac, together with the UVF’s Mid-Ulster Brigade and its commander Robin “The Jackal” Jackson. The Historical Enquiries Team investigated the killings and released their report to the victims’ families in December 2011. It confirmed that Jackson was linked to the attack by fingerprints. Documentary evidence, published in 2015, clears Robert Nairac of complicity as it determines he was not in Northern Ireland when the ambush took place. Stephen Travers discusses these findings on this podcast.

 

A Conversation with Naomi Long – Episode 2 – Part 2

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long stands in front of a microphone.We continue our conversation with Alliance Party leader Naomi Long as we discuss a shared society, diversity on the island of Ireland, death threats, symbols and emblems, the unappealing nature of British jingoism, and politics in the North of Ireland.

You can follow Naomi on Twitter here.

This is part 2 to a 2 part podcast. You can listen to part 1 here.

Naomi Rachel Long (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who has been leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland since 2016. A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East since 2016, she previously held the same seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2003 to 2010 until her election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Westminster constituency of Belfast East. She served as the second elected female Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2009 to 2010. In 2019, she was elected as the Alliance Party candidate for the European Parliament, becoming the first ever Alliance MEP.

Having served as a local councillor, MLA, MP and MEP, Long is the only active politician in Northern Ireland to have served in every elected position.

Born in East Belfast, she attended Mersey Street Primary and Bloomfield Collegiate School. She graduated from Queen’s University of Belfast with a degree in civil engineering in 1994, worked in a structural engineering consultancy for two years, held a research and training post at Queen’s University for three years, and then went back into environmental and hydraulic engineering consultancy for four years.

 

A conversation with Naomi Long – Episode 2 – Part 1

Alliance Party leader Naomi Long poses for a photograph.This week we are joined by Alliance Party leader Naomi Long who discusses her early life, transition into politics, why she joined the Alliance party, online trolls, sock-puppet accounts, and also Irish Citizenship. You can follow Naomi on Twitter here.

This is part 1 to a 2 part podcast. You can find part 2 here.

Naomi Rachel Long (née Johnston; born 13 December 1971) is a Northern Irish politician who has been leader of the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland since 2016. A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) for Belfast East since 2016, she previously held the same seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly from 2003 to 2010 until her election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2015 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Westminster constituency of Belfast East. She served as the second elected female Lord Mayor of Belfast from 2009 to 2010. In 2019, she was elected as the Alliance Party candidate for the European Parliament, becoming the first ever Alliance MEP.

Having served as a local councillor, MLA, MP and MEP, Long is the only active politician in Northern Ireland to have served in every elected position.

Born in East Belfast, she attended Mersey Street Primary and Bloomfield Collegiate School. She graduated from Queen’s University of Belfast with a degree in civil engineering in 1994, worked in a structural engineering consultancy for two years, held a research and training post at Queen’s University for three years, and then went back into environmental and hydraulic engineering consultancy for four years.

A conversation with Colum Eastwood – Episode 1

Colum Eastwood stands on the podium.SDLP leader Colum Eastwood joins us for our first podcast as we discuss the impasse in the North, English/Irish relations, Brexit, and what it takes to create a Shared Ireland.You can follow Colum on Twitter here.

Don’t forget to join the conversation on our twitter page. https://twitter.com/SharedIreland/

Colum Eastwood is the Leader of the SDLP.

Colum Eastwood MLA (born 30 April 1983) is an Irish nationalist politician and leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) since 2015. He was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2011, and has since been re-elected. He is also the SDLP candidate in the 2019 European Parliament election to represent Northern Ireland.

Colum Eastwood was born in Derry, where he was educated at St John’s Primary School (Creggan) and at St Columb’s College. He later attended the University of Liverpool, where he studied Latin American Studies though he did not finish his degree. He married Rachael Parkes in December 2013 and they live in Derry.

Eastwood was elected to Derry City Council in 2005, and elected for a one-year term as Mayor of Derry in June 2010. Aged 27, he was the youngest mayor of the city to date.

Following his election to the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2011, Eastwood was appointed SDLP representative on the committee of the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. He sits on the Northern Ireland Assembly committees on Standards and Privileges, and the Environment. He is the youngest SDLP member of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

 

 

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