PREVIEW: The Tedious Southern ‘Flag’ Debate

PREVIEW: Jack Traynor discusses the current ‘flag’ debate taking place across Ireland’s press. The real question is, why?

UK-EU Trade Talks: A Whimsical Withdrawal risks Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland has been part and parcel of the Brexit process, from its inception in 2016. After exhaustive negotiations in 2019, the Conservative Government, headed by Boris Johnson, reached a notable consensus, with the Withdrawal Agreement. The UK left the EU on January 31st 2020. However, less than a year on and in the midst of a pandemic further wrangling in the ranks both – UK and EU – has produced significant coverage and debate over the UK’s Internal Market Bill which would seek to give Government Ministers power to unilaterally alter fundamental parts of the Withdrawal Agreement including, what is viewed as the ‘Holy Grail’ clause, the Northern Ireland Protocol which would see NI abide by the EU’s Customs Code to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland. NI Unionists have claimed that it would damage NI’s access to the Great Britain market, NI’s largest economic partner, while Nationalists claim the Protocol agreed is the bare minimum to secure certainty for border communities, businesses and the all-island economy. The UK Government has advised that the bill is necessary to secure their recently attained position as a non-EU independent nation.

A Legacy of Honour: The Gown’s Reflection on John Hume’s passing, Issue 1

The Gown’s exclusive two-part feature on the life of John Hume, who died earlier in August, aged 83. His steadfastness in pursuing a peaceful settlement to Northern Ireland and the perpetual ills of the ‘Irish question’ changed the country’s political and social landscape for future generations.

Coronavirus Regulations: The Most Stringent of Interpretations

Peter Donnelly, Opinions Editor. The world has been in the inner clutches of the Covid-19 pandemic for almost four months.  It has not had a precedent or a historical parallel for well-over a century.  It has proven its destructive and indiscriminate credentials with a total of 45,644 deaths across the U.K. and Ireland and well

Going…Going…Gone from the EU

Peter Donnelly, Opinions Editor. The United Kingdom has brought down the proverbial curtain upon its 47- year old relationship with the European Union. Despite the incessant expression of commiserations, the UK-EU journey has been one strewn with difficulty, squabbling and general unease. Successive Conservative Prime Ministers have seen their careers tarnished by the eternal strife