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 Brexit, North-South relations, 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 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.

A Conversation with Mike Nesbitt – Episode 13

Headshot picture of Mike Nesbitt of the UUP.Mike Nesbitt, ex Commissioner of Victims and Survivors, journalist and current Ulster Unionist Party MLA for Strangford discusses recent election performances, gives us his thoughts on legacy issues, a shared future and an update on Stormont talks.

You can follow Mike on twitter here.

You can check out the bonus podcast with Mike here.

Mike Nesbitt (born 11 May 1957) is a British politician and former broadcaster who was the Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party from 2012 to 2017 and has been the Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for Strangford since 2011.

Following the 2017 election, Nesbitt announced his intention to step down as party leader, which he did on 8 April 2017.

Nesbitt worked as a sports reporter at BBC Northern Ireland and progressed to presenting Good Morning Ulster on BBC Radio Ulster from 1986 to 1990. Nesbitt joined UTV as a presenter and reporter in 1992, being joined by his wife Lynda Bryans to co-present evening news programme UTV Live in 1996.

In January 2008, Nesbitt was announced as a Commissioner of Victims and Survivors, a Northern Ireland Assembly role designed to promote the interests of victims of the Troubles.

Nesbitt resigned from the post on 17 February 2010 to become the parliamentary candidate for the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force in the constituency of Strangford. He lost out to the Democratic Unionist Party’s Jim Shannon in the election.

In the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, Nesbitt was elected as one of six MLAs representing Strangford.

 

 

A Conversation with Doug Beattie – Episode 10

Doug Beattie on the podium speaking.Doug Beattie is the first Unionist politician to join us and we are delighted to talk with him. We discuss issues arising from partition and inequality, dealing with the past, Irish Language Act, prosecution of soldiers, and how we can create a truly Shared Ireland. You can follow Doug on Twitter here.

Doug is the Ulster Unionist MLA for Upper Bann and the party Justice spokesman. Doug is also on the Assembly committee for Standards and Privileges and presently sits as the Ulster Unionist representative on the Flags, Identity and Culture Commission.

Doug Beattie is a career soldier having spent thirty-four years in the military and is a keen advocate for ensuring the Armed Forces Covenant is applied in Northern Ireland to the same standard it is applied in the rest of the United Kingdom. Doug remains a member of the Army Reserves serving with 2 R IRISH and holding the rank of Captain. Following his return from Afghanistan, Beattie published the first of two books, An Ordinary Soldier, which became an immediate best seller in the United Kingdom and propelled him into the public eye.

You can find part 2 bonus part of this podcast here.

You can join the discussion regarding these podcasts here.

 

 

 

 

A Conversation with Alex Kane – Episode 7

Alex Kane looks into the camera.Shared Ireland sat down with Alex Kane this week to discuss early years, current impasse in the North, the backstop, Brexit, the widening debate withing Nationalism and the failure of Unionist selling Unionism. You can follow Alex on Twitter here.

Alex Kane is a columnist for the News Letter and Irish News and a regular contributor to a number of other publications. He comments on politics for the BBC, UTV and RTÉ. He is a political writer, columnist, panelist and commentator based in Belfast and a former Director of Communications for the Ulster Unionist Party.

We discuss the sunngindale agreement, John’s father saving the life of UUP MP John Taylor, difficulties with the Good Friday Agreement, Sinn Fein handling of the Stormont crisis, Martin Guinness’s resignation, Peter Robinsons effort to get DUP into power sharing with Sinn Fein, the worry that nobody is selling Unionism to Nationalists.

Quotes fro the podcast:

When I joined the UUP in 1972, it was because I believed in power sharing at a time when the SDLP was considered a front for the IRA.

Part of the unionist psyche is that anything that looks like organised nationalism must by definition have a link to [the IRA].

It has always been my view from a young age that if you want Northern Ireland to work, it must work together. You must make NI a comfortable place.

Even people who want a UI, I have no difficulty with that, my views always been, if they want to push that idea, I have no difficulty with that, but it’s also up to Unionists to say, this is not a bad place.

If you want anything to work, it has to be about cooperation. You can’t tell people how to feel, how to believe, how to feel, how to vote.

The GFA was difficult for unionism and nationalism. It was a window of opportunity. An opportunity that didn’t exist in my lifetime. This moment may not come again. We have nothing to lose by trying. If we manage to get a deal, could we surprise ourselves.

What has concerned me since 2002 onwards, rather than bringing us closer together, it was pushing us further apart. It was cementing positions…power sharing is where you make compromises because it is the right thing to do and it for the collective good.

My fear what was happening with the GFA that it wasn’t power sharing. It was Newtonian politics. To each action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. If they get something, we must get something. They may not need it, we may not need it, but we have to counterbalance everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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