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THE UNITED KINGDOM has a new prime minister, the first Labour government in 14 years, and Keir Starmer has some decisions to make about Ireland.
Prime Minister Starmer will have a lot of competition for his attention in the early days in Downing Street, one of which will be the normalisation of relations with Ireland.
Comments made by the new Prime Minister have indicated he is planning to ease diplomatic tensions between the UK and Ireland, with implications for the Northern Ireland border and investigations into crimes committed during the Troubles.
He has criticised the approaches of recent Conservative governments when it comes to dealing with Ireland, saying tensions between Dublin and London should never have become as strained as they were over Brexit.
Starmer made campaign promises in some policy areas that would directly affect Anglo-Irish relations.
He has promised to revisit the Conservative government’s Troubles Legacy Act, which shut down historical investigations into crimes committed in Northern Ireland between 1966 and 1998. The Irish government has brought a legal challenge against the legislation.
“I’m against it for a number of reasons,” he told LBC on 18 June. “The first is it doesn’t have the support of any of the political parties in Northern Ireland. This is the wrong way of doing business.”
He also noted that the act doesn’t have the support of victims groups either.
“There are very powerful arguments and counter arguments. I do want to find a way through this because I think in the end we have to find a way.
“But doing this in a way which doesn’t have the approval of victims of terrorism in Northern Ireland… is not a sensible way to proceed.”
Starmer himself has first-hand experience of dealing with politics in the North, having lived there for five years when he served as a human rights advisor to the Northern Ireland Policing Board.
“I was in love with this island and that love has stayed with me,” he said in a speech at Queen’s University Belfast in January last year. “It’s also taught me so much about politics, about change, about the power of hope.”
Starmer and his wife spent their first holiday after they got married in the North and he’s been known to wear a Donegal GAA jersey while playing five-a-side football.
During that speech, Starmer said: “The Good Friday Agreement is the greatest achievement of the Labour Party in my lifetime, without question.”
That kind of talk will provide some comfort to the government in Dublin after the disregard recent Tory prime ministers showed the treaty during Brexit negotiations.
Boris Johnson’s premiership, and his approach to Northern Ireland in particular, left relations between Ireland and the UK at their frostiest in decades. Liz Truss did not help matters but Rishi Sunak made some progress in agreeing on the Windsor Framework, which put to bed some of the thorniest issues around post-Brexit trade.
“One should acknowledge that Sunak is a great improvement on his two predecessors,” Bobby McDonagh, a former Irish ambassador to the UK, told The Journal ahead of the election.
“I think he’s done quite a bit to make some progress towards restoring relations by, for example, agreeing the Windsor framework and behaving in a broadly normal way, unlike Johnson and Truss.”
On the possibility of a Starmer-led government taking over 10 Downing Street, McDonagh says it would be a good thing for Anglo-Irish relations.
“I think it will be good for British-Irish relations in a number of ways.
“First of all, in terms of the North, the whole peace process was built on what is now called co-guarantorship, where the Dublin and London governments were co-guarantors of everything that happened.
“And that was because it was recognised that there were two communities in Northern Ireland with different aspirations.”
This idea held in relations between Britain and Ireland up until the UK government led by David Cameron.
“But since Brexit, and despite some efforts by Therese May, the idea of the two governments working together as equals in the process has got somewhat lost,” says McDonagh.
He says the UK’s Troubles Legacy Act was “a mistake for many reasons, including that every party in Northern Ireland opposes it”, but also because it was enacted without consultation with the Irish government.
“And it’s not just a matter of, you know, irritation or principle. They will make mistakes, as they have done on the Legacy Bill, if they don’t work with and listen to the Dublin government.
“So I think the first way in which a Starmer government will represent an improvement is that we would expect to return to that sort of equal joint working of the two governments, which worked so well between Dublin and London over several decades.”
Another way McDonagh sees the relationship changing between the two countries is the approach the Labour leader has said he would take to the European Union.
Starmer has said he will seek closer ties with the EU in terms of foreign policy and defence matters. He has also indicated he wants to sign a veterinary agreement, which would ease restrictions on trade, particularly with the North.
“I think Starmer will move slowly but steadily towards a more pragmatic relationship with the European Union, and by definition that means a better relationship with Dublin, because Europe is part of what we are,” McDonagh says.
That said, Starmer has said he does not want to rejoin the EU.
Another factor in considering Starmer’s stance on issues involving Ireland could be the number of people with Irish heritage he has in his team of advisors.
For McDonagh, this may lead to a more informed and friendly approach to Ireland but ultimately it will be the quality of the advice Starmer receives that matters most.
“The Labour Party, I suppose, does have a more empathetic relationship with Ireland than the predominant strain of the Conservative Party these days,” McDonagh says.
But that doesn’t mean Starmer is going to completely overhaul Anglo-Irish relations.
“He’s not going to suddenly become a radical Irish nationalist or anything like that.
“It’s part of his job as British prime minister to keep the peace process on track and to show respect for both communities in Northern Ireland, and that’s what the Irish government tries to do, and it’s what he should try to do.
“So whatever he does, he has to listen to nationalists and their concerns, he also has to take account of Unionist concerns.”
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Another fu€@ing corner, we must be going in circles so
Yip……. You got it in one…….. We turned all four corners
We going around in circles
Come on you pessimists surely you’ve realised by now it’s a spiral, we will continue to turn corners the entire way up!
I’d sooner believe Bertie’s stories he told to the tribunal than that ERSI crowd!
It’s more of a maze really, nobody reall knows how to get out of it
Economic clowns.
@Stephen ~ Wonderful comment.
Charles haughty once said “” I will take your cow to the mart and I will give you half of what I get for it”
Enda came along and said ” no no let me take it and I will everything I can get for it,”
As it turns out Charlie’s half was twice as much as all of Endas full
I was gonna see what Gerry would do but was afraid he might shoot it on the way
Sounds very positive! Not saying I’m 100% convinced by it all but I’m going to let my optimism increase by the same .9% that the country is expected to grow by next year, ah that feels better!
Sounds very like Geirge Orwell’s 1984
*george Orwell
It does seem positive, Teddy. I’m starting to see a bit of positivity around the place myself. I’m still quite cynical because of all the tripe the government has spoken so it’s hard to know what to believe. Either way, I feel the best thing to do is hit the bars.
Keeps the economy ticking over and the Capitaine in good spirits, win win as far as I’m concerned. Anywhere decent at this hour on a Wednesday?
tell that to all small buisness that wont see the end of january, its a bit late for them.
Turned the corner…and walked into a wall.
Ask yourself one question Ted… Who pays the ERSI wages? This would have held more credence if it came from OECD or an international body with authority
Maybe perhaps “all the tripe” wasn’t tripe afterall??!
When people start working non job bridge affiliated jobs then personally I will feel we have turned a corner
The total number of people working on Job bridge schemes is about 6500. It’s a tiny fraction of the total number employed (over 1,900,000)
In saying that, I don’t like the idea of the Job bridge scheme, but we shouldn’t let ourselves think that there are tens of thousands of people on these schemes or that it’s completely distorting employment figures. It’s such a small number.
Well done Enda
Call Donnelly. Stop upsetting people with your figures. If these people want to be miserable, then let them!
It’s not only job bridge numbers what about the CE schemes thousands walking around with yellow vests cutting grass and picking up papers then you have back to education and Fas courses 22 months to finish a ECDL course and if you pay it only takes 6 weeks. This is just to keep the live register down
Call & pat
You guys can whitewash it if you want it’s still slave labour
What’s the numbers on the amount of people who achieve full time employment thru job bridge very small I think you would agree
The issue with the ECDL is less and less employers value it thats according to someone I know teaching it
Foxy. Your an employer. After years of turmoil, the economy has turned to the level where you can employ one person.
There are two candidates. One who has been working through job bridge for 2 years. And the other has been unemployed for two years and not worked in any capacity.
Who are you more likely to pick for thr job?
No one should have two years unpaid work experience. I’d hire the guy from job bridge though cause he’s obviously a sucker that will do a full time job for very little money.
Pat
In that situation you hire the person who you feel is more suited to the job
And the person more suited to the job, assuming they have equal qualifications, is probably the guy who didnt want to sit on his ass for two years.
Pat
If they are both equally qualified in all aspects then I flip a coin
This being the same EARI that didn’t see the crash coming?
6500 people is not a “tiny” amount. Especially when they are being exploited by MNCs.
So many corners in this country.
We cut corners, turn a corner… We’re living in a bloody maze.
It genuinely has picked up in the last year.
Houses and land On the market for years, have sold in 2013.
Increase in house prices in some areas.
Higher passenger # on Dublin Bus.
Tax returns slightly higher than forecast.
I see some new start-ups doing well nearby.
Some long-term unemployed people that I know have secured fairly decent jobs in 2013.
But I suspect another (just one more?) austerity budget will knock this shaky start back down again.
Helen of course new start ups are doing well.Most of them managed to get good deals on rents, service charge ect (fairplay to them) but small retailers that started up 8/10 years ago are being hammerd by crazy rents that landlords will not negotiate with .They have struggled for the past 2 or 3 years , for many of them its to late.
How did that ‘soft landing’ they were talking about a few years ago go?
Did you hear Pat Kenny is moving to newstalk?
Good news. Glad to hear it. Seems quite positive. Here’s to the future. Hope the upturn continues.
Or…
Politicians are all b&stards. Bankers should be shot. I refuse to be enthused. Leave me wallow.
(I’ll go with the former approach please)
Are you on jobsbridge Colin?
No…what’s the point of that question?
The point is Colin, there are people in this country that have genuine reason to give out about current state of things, like politicians, the banks etc. And just because you’re doing alright doesn’t mean you can patronise them.
God Ronan, sorry. I never realised people were having serious financial, health and emotional problems.
I thought everyone was fine.
I never thought about how tough it must be for people these days and that the best way to help them is to continue to moan and whinge about everything, EVEN GOOD NEWS!!
Appreciate your help in putting me right.
So you’re saying, you are aware but happy to patronise anyway. We’ll as long as you’re alright Colin, thats the main thing.
No Ronan, as long as you’re ‘right’, that’s the main thing.
Is this the same ESRI that said that it was going to be a soft landing into recession a few year’s back.
No. It’s the same ESRI how predicted the housing crash 8 years before it happened, though.
Go out and spend, spend, SPEND! Oh and get that house now – there’s only a few LEFT!
Exports, Exports. Falling into the trap of depending on one sector to keep the economy propped up again.
The corner shop pays a higher rate of tax than a multinational.
What sector is that?
“Exports” is not a sector.
Good man yourself.
I don’t pretend to understand economics but didn’t the article say this is based on GNP and that GNP excludes income or whatever from multinationals? Or did I pick that up wrong. Anyway even if every job created is from a multinational paying no tax and shopping every profit they make overseas, it’d still be better than those people being on the dole costing the state a fortune, less people on the dole means less state spending means less tax and / or less cutbacks and means more money being spent by the newly reemployed means more new jobs and so on
I agree with you but a level playing field for all domestic SMEs and foreign multinationals is essential for growth.
Maybe it does,but does it employ tens of thousands of people!what sector exactly do you want to depend on to prop up the economy?the quango sector?the dole sector?
SMEs are important for job creation. The sum of people employed in SMEs is probably more than multinationals. Probably about 60-70% of our workforce.
It’s not good for a country to depend highly on one sector or industry
Correct Ronan. GNP is the total value of all goods and services produced within the country plus the income earned by that country’s citizens minus income of non residents in that country. This can also include Irish firms operating abroad where profits are repatriated to the home country. It’s a good indicator of the performance of an economy, ceterus paribus, higher GNP = higher standard of living for citizens.
How many jobs lost at the ESRI government mouthpiece?
Where have I heard that before?
Turned a corner?
Tell that to my 90 year old mother living on old age pension:
- phone allowance gone
- esb allowance cut hugely
- increased drug costs
- property tax
- reduced health insurance relief
- reduced home help
So for her miserable €12k pension these additional stealth charges have reduced her spending power by €2k = 17% pay cut.
So Enda and Eamonn what cut did you take this year?
What did the HSE managers take? Money from pensioners through increased car park charges at hospitals. Those extra one and two euro increases here and there DO hurt.
Indeed we have turned a corner. More like turned our backs on the vulnerable.
I long for the party hacks to call to my door next year.
Now im not being mean but she is relying as alot do on state pension. My own 89 yr old grandfather has private pension and lives comfortably. I do recognise that people paid taxes all their lives but still. Look at people now with no pensions heading the same way. I started mine at 20 I don’t ever wish to have to rely on the state.
Get in the real world.
Bruce, he is in the real world. By your own statement and your Grannies experience it is obvious you can’t rely in the state. Everyone needs to start planning their retirement and set up a private pension.
Money the state had saved to plug the looming massive pension shortfall has been used to pay the bond holders, troika etc etc. so now we have no savings but pension hole is still coming.
People did plan. They have gilt edge investments in blue chip companies. They vaporised.
You have all missed the point of my argument: vulnerable people have paid a hugely disproportionate price for the bailout.
Great news. Seems like a lot of people here could do with a little sugar in their tea. Leave out the lemons.
My father Lord rest him had a saying which best describes reports like that one;
“If my Aunt had balls she’d be me Uncle”.
What has your family history got to do with anything ?
That’s not a very good example actually, as the ‘Uncle Aunt Balls’ analogy refers to the notion of hypothesis, whereas this report is based on statistical fact.
Just sayin’.
Are you saying his Aunt had notions about being his Uncle?
Obviously Colin you did not read the ESRI report, otherwise you would have known your statement that “this report is based on statistical fact”, is incorrect.
For example the report uses phrases like
“should have a positive impact on the economy”
“we have excluded certain measures”
“Indicates that observations with such characteristics were dropped from the analysis”
“Estimates considered unreliable”
However this one takes the biscuit;
“Previous sector of employment information is not made available by the CSO”
In other words Colin, this report is based on aspirations and complied knowing that all information that should have been included was not.
So what would you call a report based on aspirations and missing information?
Even the Governments paid for broadcaster RTE Radio this morning stated this report assumes the greater European Economy will recover otherwise the growth figures contained in the report will not materialise. So how is that “statistical fact”?
The ESRI have zero credibility. I wouldn’t take heed of anything they say, good or bad.
They’re not sure if they’re a journal or not. They give off the pretence of being a recognised economic journal, yet they retain the ability to “unpublish” any article that “doesn’t go down well”.
ESRI are a state-funded quango who are paid (very well) to tell the public what the government want them to hear.
With all these corners we’ve turned our economy must be like a rubik’s cube.
Here is another institution that has no idea what a corner looks like never mind turn it!! I am correct in saying that these people should have seen the property trouble happening in advance. Needless to say, I am no faith in the ESRI!!!!!
True, they seem to be trowing predictions as if they can tell the future, why couldnt they predict the economic collapse?…because they’re bullsh.tting us folks…
Eh… actually they did predict it. They warned the government way back as far as 2000 but they were ignored completely! Why do people seem to forget that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THWbrFy5NWM
Wow, and the government didnt even seem to take on board what they where saying. Fking idiots, thanks fianna fail, and the other idiots who voted them in.
Well I actually remember the Central Bank urging people to hold off buying property and can vividly remember what they were concerned but the people wanted to buy and the banks wanted to lend and who were the government to stop this seemingly fantastic money spinning machine!!! Ha Ha I’m an ordinary joe soap here but I even knew things were going to go pear shaped back in 2006/2007! The Micro economy is a good starting point.
Forecast after forecast.
Can anyone look at the economic forecasts made for the last 5 years and see if they were accurate predictions? If they weren’t then why are we paying any heed to this one?
I’ll stick to New York for now thank you very much…. Shove ye’re “prosperity” up year Gathering holes….. Ye must think we came up the river in a bubble!
I hate hearing good news like this. Moan…begorrah…moan…
Good news is always welcome but we can do without the bullshit….is there any chance the Journal could provide us with the ERSI’s predictions for the last couple of years just to see how accurate they are at forecasting?
If the ESRI says it, it must be true! Oh wait, aren’t they the organisation that withdrew a report last year because the content didn’t suit the Government?!!
The ponzi money system that is the core cause of this economic collapse has not changed one bit.
Our money – the euro is a perception resevrve currency with absolutely no solid asset linked to it that is manipulated like all fiat currencies by PRIVATE central bank owners.
We have just gone through the collapse and payback of extortions phase “economic recovery” should again start as the cycle reboots. Our nation assets have been liquidated and plundered ,which along with the debt/labour of the population, is the real wealth of a nation.
On top of that the government and more so the international bankers will hope we all forget the 64+ BILLION we are paying them that we never owed.
Wake up citizen slaves.
Would this be the corner that involves a cliff. We’re are these donkey’s getting their data. Working in a large Midlands town & the past few days it seems akin to an old western film set, all that’s missing is tumble weed rolling down the main street. There was some predictable amusement, the town council generously offering free parking for Christmas shopping at its own & public car parks with only one slight problem they decided to close the main ones to resurface. Only in ireland I guess.
Was in my local last night
Four people in it and there’s no corners
Vote yes for jobs. Ha ha.
That’s three corners we turned this year ???. Sounds to me like back at square one…. Round and round we go….
The MINE ME MOAN gang out in force this morning
If they say it often enough, it will become fact ??
Historically low interest rates, historically high stock market, Massive global printing of money, insolvent banks, stealth taxes through the roof, banks not lending, negative equity issues, thousands being thrown out of their homes, corruption still rife . . . And many more
But sure we’ve turned the corner don’t you know !
“This ERSI report was sponsored by Fine Gael” was missing at the bottom of the article.
Funny all the comments in the comments section complaining (commenting?) about people commenting in the comment section.
It may have but look at the trail of misery it has left us in that is not progress
Load o bollox
Water tax,property tax increase,further job losses,road tax and toll rises etc etc will soon put an end to any corner turning
Turned the corner, but the car is a little worse for wear after the crash. Next we need to find a crash repair garage
Wouldnt hold my breath on this turning a corner, I can recall the late Brian Linehan making a similar statement a few years ago!
Thank you so much Enda you are a terrific man
Another corner? Must be goin around in a circle by now!
Perhaps the whingers could organise a massive hunger strike, that would be fantastic, we really would listen to their concerns ;)
Survey of one here doing some building work all trades are occupied and difficult to get guys to commit to days and times. But lots want cash only, so Tax and dole situation needs to be sorted out to really take the shackles off IMO.
And in the words of another: “I did not have sex with that woman” and another who said: “There will be no whitewash at the whitehouse” and yet another wh……
lies, lies and statistics comes to mind when I think of Eire – mainly the former.
Wouldnt hold my breath on these predictions.
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