A Conversation with DUP Jeffrey Donaldson – Episode 19

Jeffrey Donaldson DUP smilingThis week we sit down with the DUP member Jeffrey Donaldson discussing topics such as unsensibly where do i buy antabuse Brexit, North-South relations, http://cjni.com/wp-json/oembed/1.0/embed?url=https://cjni.com/international-news-hits-close-to-home-but-local-stations-dont/ http://greymarkconstruction.com/in.php Boris Johnson, a potential Irish Unity referendum & need for a “Truth & Reconciliation” process. We also discuss the DUP’s confidence and supply deal with the British Conservatives under Boris Johnson.

Jeffrey Donaldson also puts himself in the shoes of the Irish Government, and addresses reports that Nortern ireland is one of the poorest regions in the UK, and the NHS is a shadow of its former self.

You can follow Jeffrey on his Twitter profile here.

Jeffrey Donaldson (born 7 December 1962) is a politician and Member of Parliament for Lagan Valley representing the Democratic Unionist Party. He is best known for his opposition to Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) leader David Trimble during the Northern Ireland peace process, especially from 1998 to 2003. He is Northern Ireland’s longest-serving current MP.

In 1998 Donaldson was in the Ulster Unionists’ negotiating team for the Good Friday Agreement. However, he walked out of the delegation at the end of the negotiations in protest at some of the arrangements, notably the lack of a link between Sinn Féin’s admittance to government and IRA decommissioning. In March 2019, Donaldson was one of 21 MPs who voted against LGBT inclusive sex and relationship education in English schools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A conversation with SDLP Claire Hanna – Episode 18

Image of Claire HannaThis week we are delighted to sit down with SDLP MLA Claire Hanna, an international relations and law graduate, originally from Connemara, Galway. Her professional background is in international development, latterly in a policy and education role, and included work in Bangladesh, Haiti and Zambia. Claire discusses the SDLP-Fianna Fail link up, the New Ireland Forum, making Stormont work, dealing with flags and bonfires while respecting cultures and identities.

You can follow SDLP Claire Hanna on twitter here.

You can find the bonus podcast here.

Born in Connemara, County Galway, Hanna has lived in South Belfast since the age of three. She attended St Bride’s Primary and Rathmore Grammar School. She has an honours degree in International Relations from the Open University and a master’s degree in Law from Queen’s University Belfast. Her professional background is in international development, latterly in a policy and education role, and included work in Bangladesh, Haiti and Zambia.

Hanna was elected to Belfast City Council, representing the Balmoral ward, from 2011 until her appointment as MLA, winning re-election in 2014. During her time in council, she sat on the Strategic Policy & Resources and Town Planning committees as well as the Historic Centenaries Working group.

She brought the motion that led to Belfast becoming the first Living Wage council in Northern Ireland – paying a fair wage to all employees – and introduced measures to combat the rise of predatory payday lending, as well as leading successful campaigns for the reinstatement of Lisburn Road Post Office in 2013, better traffic management in Finaghy in 2014 and on a variety of issues like improving recycling facilities and sustainable transport.

She secured all-party agreement to award the Freedom of Belfast to poet Michael Longley. She initiated a campaign to name the new Greenway bridge after playwright and trade unionist Sam Thompson. In the Assembly, she serves on the Regional Development Committee, the Public Accounts Committee and the Environment Committee and she chairs the Assembly All Party Groups on International Development and the Arts.

Hanna was chair of the East Belfast Policing Board and Community Partnership. Her home was attacked in the midst of the flag protests.

In February 2019, Hanna resigned the party whip after the SDLP agreed to form an electoral alliance with Fianna Fáil. She also quit as the party’s Brexit spokesperson. However, she remains a member of the SDLP.

 

 

A Conversation with Rev. David Latimer – Episode 17

We sat down with First Derry Presbyterian Church minister Rev. David Latimer to discuss his book, ‘A Leap of Faith‘, his friendship with the late Martin McGuinness as they sought to bridge the divide, what politicians need to do, and David addresses his comments regarding the War in Afghanistan. Join us after in the discussion at https://twitter.com/SharedIreland

You can find the bonus podcast here.

Rev. David Latimer was born in Dromore, Co Down, 68 years ago. His father, Cyril, was a coachbuilder with the Belfast Corporation Transport Department. They introduced him to the Christian faith and encouraged him to take school seriously. His mother’s constant advice was. “A little science is easily carried.”

he attended Dromore Primary School and Banbridge Technical College and, after O-levels, and worked for the Northern Ireland Electricity Board. Later, he graduated with an economics degree from Queen’s University Belfast and, in 1983, he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister. “My first charge was in Glascar and Donaghmore in Co Down, before moving to Derry in 1988.”

Soon after ordination, he became part-time chaplain with 204 (North Irish) Field Hospital RAMC and served until 2015. In the second half of 2008, he served with the unit in Afghanistan, where he was also a hospital chaplain in Camp Bastion.

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