Andrée Murphy

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Is it time we had a commission for commissions?

THERE are things that seem like a really good idea at the time but then experience prompts us to ask if they really are.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Phoenix Park elders have a chance to forge a new national conversation

WHEN Mary Robinson was first elected to the Presidency there was a sense of “shift”. The South of Ireland gave its first sign that it was breaking the hegemony of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and was more outward-looking.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Unionist cold-war aggression takes hold yet again

THE combined actions and inactions of the DUP and the Orange Order this week tell of a unique local psychosis of being at once deeply insecure and at the same time incredible arrogant. How lovely to have a home-grown disorder. It is almost as if they don’t want the place to work at all.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Integrity and trust defeated the post-partition duopoly

IDENTIFIED as firmly a voice for the dispossessed and marginalised, Uachtarán Catherine Connolly has caught a mood that has been simmering but lacking confidence for too long. Its day has come and Ireland will potentially, if we can continue to be brave, have its traumatic past changed to a healing and united future.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: The Paras' reputation is not 'proud' and they are not 'valiant'

MAYBE Justice Lynch felt he was acknowledging the Bloody Sunday families when he spoke of the Parachute Regiment’s actions in Derry 1972 being a source of shame. However, referring to the “proud reputation” of the regiment denied the reality of the experience of thousands who met the Parachute Regiment in Ireland.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Our Irishness is not something you can dilute, Emma

THE Deputy First Minister’s remarks on Presidential voting rights are another sign that the DUP will never understand what power-sharing actually mean. And they are instructive in how the main party of unionism views Irish citizenry and the Good Friday Agreement itself.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Peace through strength is no kind of peace

IT is so clearly not a peace deal. It is so clearly a pause of uncertainty, of unfairness, of threat and of inequality.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Watching the fairground ride we're not allowed to get on

IT'S hard to sum up the absolute car crash of the Southern Presidential election in ways that are kind, positive or contributory right now. With what were three pretty underwhelming candidates, who could have expected the thrills and spills of the weekend?

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Germany calling, Germany calling: Don't ignore the lessons of history

BERLIN 1989. The communist efidice is crumbling. Citizens of the country decide to hop over the Berlin Wall and some start taking out the Kangol hammers.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Let's create our own smells and colours as the leaves begin to fall

THE September air turned crisp this week as we were reminded that despite the turmoil of the world, the seasons will come, and the earth will remind us of the forces greater than our imagination.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Starmer afraid to admit the truth about his flag-flying Britain

I NEARLY choked on my Sunday fry reading the headline: “The UK will not surrender its flag to those who wish to use it as a symbol of violence, fear and division."

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Victims must not be sidelined in this New Ireland debate

AS the Presidential campaign is proving, Ireland is now in the middle of a period of heightened debate on constitutional change.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: We can only sit and watch as the Presidential drama plays out

THE democratic process is a wonderful thing – and the vote for an Irish President all the more so.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Neutrality is about how we view ourselves as a people

ONE of the surprises of Féile this year was the repeated reference to Irish neutrality and the passionate response every time it was mentioned. It became clear by the end of the week that this is an issue that Irish people feel strongly about, an issue that they view in the context of the diminishing of the peace and security of the globe, and that it matters in the constitutional debate.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: When and how to call time on power-sharing

NATIONALISM is in a bind. It has gained and maintained a significant share of the vote from unionism, and received enough transfers from Alliance voters to earn the First Minister position.

Belfast gets the crumbs off the table with Euro 2028 draw

Gaelic Games: St Gall's set up All-Belfast final after victory over Creggan

Soccer: Depleted Cliftonville welcome Swifts to Solitude

Soccer: Joe 'the goal' breaks 300 goals as Reds advance to last eight

Community Gardening: Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness is here, time to get planting

PLATING UP: A chilli lime and coriander seasoned Basa fillet on a bed of baby beets

EYE ON THE PAST: November 1984 – Direct Rule plan for Belfast

Police treat UVF graffiti at Alliance office as a 'hate crime'

Andrée Murphy

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