Common Ground

Evolving Islands: Ireland & Britain - a special series from The Irish Times exploring the complex relationship between the two

Republicans who do not respect unionists or recognise State are standing in way of united Ireland

Commemorative and funeral marches by non-State actors wearing uniforms are polarising, ridiculous and ultimately unrepublican

By Michael McDowellWed Apr 03 2024 - 06:00

Will the tradition surrounding republican funerals change as Sinn Féin eyes a path to government?

Sinn Féin often argues that the past should be left to the past, but when it comes to funerals, things are complicated

By Gerry MoriartyMon Apr 01 2024 - 06:30

United Ireland: ‘It can’t be, Which side is going to win?’

Two academics have gathered the voices of people on both sides of the Border for more than five years about future constitutional change

By Mark HennessySat Mar 30 2024 - 06:00

Stakeknife whistleblower: ‘If I had that time again, outing Scappaticci wouldn’t happen’

Ian Hurst says identifying British army’s top IRA spy more than 20 years ago has caused too much hurt to families and state has not learned from past mistakes

By Seanín GrahamSat Mar 30 2024 - 05:00

Does the Belfast Agreement need reforming, and can this be done now that Stormont is back?

Now more than 25 years old, the Belfast Agreement is showing signs of age. So how can it be reformed, if at all?

By Mark HennessyFri Mar 29 2024 - 06:00

Eyewitness to War and Peace by Eamonn Mallie: recollections of a passing era

Reporter looks back on a lifetime’s work during the Troubles in Northern Ireland

By Matthew O'TooleFri Mar 29 2024 - 04:53

Dublin Unitarian church to end Good Friday reading of Troubles dead

Annual commemoration will end tomorrow as no one has been killed in political violence in Northern Ireland for nearly five years

By Patsy McGarryThu Mar 28 2024 - 14:32

Britain’s narrow stereotype of the Irish could not make sense of Leo Varadkar

Tories had never seen a politician pursuing Ireland’s interest at Britain’s cost. No wonder they despised him

By Finn McRedmondThu Mar 28 2024 - 06:00

At some point it will become unmissable that on many issues Sinn Féin is on much same ground as DUP

Northern nationalism regards itself as left-wing, but on most issues its views are centre-right

By Newton EmersonThu Mar 28 2024 - 06:00

Grizzled ‘republican family’ veterans turn out for IRA bomber Rose Dugdale’s funeral

Mourners who forgot to wear Easter lilies handed replacements as service plays host to who’s who of republican circles

By Miriam LordWed Mar 27 2024 - 21:23

Sinn Féin TD says he does not think any republican ‘shed a tear’ at death of garda-killer McAuley

David Cullinane agrees with Garda Commissioner that draping of flag on McAuley’s coffin was ‘outrageous’

By Cormac McQuinnWed Mar 27 2024 - 14:15

Sinn Féin is this island’s best resourced political party, the beneficiary of a legacy of barbarism

The effects of the Provisional movement’s fundraising campaign are still visible in Irish politics, north and south

By Michael McDowellWed Mar 27 2024 - 06:00

Frank Stagg’s final resting place

On government orders, hunger striker was buried in an unmarked grave, not a family grave

Wed Mar 27 2024 - 00:05

Justin McAleese was ‘terrified’ as a gay teenager at Catholic schools, says former president

Mary McAleese and Mary Kennedy speak to GAA president Jarlath Burns about Pride, partition and hurling in new weekly podcast

By Patsy McGarrySun Mar 24 2024 - 04:30

The deep problems facing Britain will continue to dog Labour

Weak central government that fails to deliver is making the nationalist case in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland stronger

By Paul GillespieSat Mar 23 2024 - 06:00

David McWilliams: Ireland needs a dose of ‘Protestant pragmatism’, where power is delegated to the people

The biggest challenge facing Ireland in the decades ahead will be the North. We can learn lessons from the Swiss

By David McWilliamsSat Mar 23 2024 - 06:00

‘They patronise the north’: Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham on why he lost faith in Westminster

Labour veteran is making a bid for a third term as the directly elected mayor and ‘King of the North’

By Mark PaulFri Mar 22 2024 - 15:06

Ireland’s designation of UK as ‘safe third country’ is unlawful, rules High Court

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee made the designation in response to the UK’s exit from EU

By Ellen O'RiordanFri Mar 22 2024 - 13:54

England, Wales and Scotland all now in favour of Irish unification, research shows

The 2023 State of the Union survey examines attitudes towards constitutional issues in the UK

By Mark HennessyThu Mar 21 2024 - 10:00

‘Why isn’t he called Murphy like the rest of them?’: Leo Varadkar subjected to sustained abuse in UK during Brexit negotiations

Varadkar’s inability to develop a relationship with British prime minister Theresa May marked a low point

By Mark HennessyThu Mar 21 2024 - 06:45

DUP’s best option is to say the Stormont brake has been tested and then move swiftly on

DUP has never promised this test would block an EU law. The party has only said it will show Stormont has been given “democratic scrutiny” and “the ability to have a say”.

By Newton EmersonThu Mar 21 2024 - 06:00

Will Britain ever hold its own ‘state terrorists’ to account? Don’t hold your breath

It is no surprise to anyone familiar with the Northern Irish conflict that the British state used illegal violence

By Paddy WoodworthWed Mar 20 2024 - 06:00

Compensation for terrorists simply wrong, says former Irish rugby international

Treating bomber’s family the same as victim’s families ignores hatred passed down for generations - Trevor Ringland

By Trevor RinglandMon Mar 18 2024 - 11:56

‘I don’t feel either Irish or British’: English expats on being ‘blow-ins’ in Ireland’s most British town

Ahead of St Patrick’s Day, recent and older arrivals from England reflect on new lives, identity and heritage in Skibbereen, west Cork

By Sorcha PollakSun Mar 17 2024 - 06:00

Scotland’s neglected island communities: ‘London ignores us, Edinburgh hates us’

The stunning Outer Hebrides are threatened by depopulation and a ferries fiasco

By Mark PaulSat Mar 16 2024 - 10:57

‘I am a child of the Troubles. Ordinary boring government is much better’

Former IRA prisoner turned artist says of post-conflict Northern Irish society: ‘We’re not normal, but we’re heading towards normality’

By Mark HennessySat Mar 16 2024 - 06:00

The Disappeared: Forced Disappearances in Ireland 1798–1998

This is a valuable addition to the already-published directories of the lost lives of the Troubles and the War of Independence

By Ray BurkeSat Mar 16 2024 - 00:00

Stormont facing mountain of European legislation, warns major think tank

Windsor Framework will put the civil service in Northern Ireland under ‘major strain’

By Mark HennessyWed Mar 13 2024 - 21:42

Sinn Féin’s Troubles apology may be flawed, but silence from London has been deafening

‘Some were terrible, some were essentially excuses,’ says Prof Kieran McEvoy of the Apologies, Abuses and Dealing with the Past project

By Mark HennessyWed Mar 13 2024 - 19:00

Future of George Mitchell scholarships in doubt as programme paused over funding shortages

Scheme was created 25 years ago, in light of Belfast Agreement, to send future US leaders to island of Ireland

By Carl O'BrienWed Mar 13 2024 - 14:16

Little-Pengelly with a hurley makes a good photo, but such gestures need to be followed by action

Sport’s capacity to reconcile competing identities and nurture shared allegiances must be followed up by action

By Bobby McDonaghWed Mar 13 2024 - 06:00

One in five children in Northern Ireland living in poverty - report

Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland calls for the creation of an integrated, cross-department anti-poverty strategy

Tue Mar 12 2024 - 00:01

50 years on: Murder of Senator Billy Fox is remembered by his then girlfriend

Marjorie Coulson was waiting for her boyfriend to turn up when he was murdered by the Provisional IRA near her home

By Ronan McGreevyMon Mar 11 2024 - 19:37

Vibrant trade unions in North possible after shift in political status quo

Irish Congress of Trade Unions counts membership of 200,000 in NI and increasing after strikes in key sectors

By Emmet MaloneMon Mar 11 2024 - 10:44

Chris Mullin and the Birmingham Six 50 years on: ‘My goal was simply to rescue the innocent’

The British journalist, author and politician on his campaign to help prove the innocence of six Irishmen wrongly imprisoned for bombings – and tracking down the real bombers

By Chris MullinSat Mar 09 2024 - 06:00

British agents inside Provisional IRA knowingly killed others in organisation, Kenova report finds

Those inside PIRA who gave information ‘significantly degraded and debilitated the effectiveness of terrorist groups’

By Colm KeenaFri Mar 08 2024 - 18:27

Stakeknife revealed: What more does Kenova tell us about IRA killer and British spy Freddie Scappaticci?

Files seen by North’s DPP showed ‘insufficient evidence’ to press charges over Stakeknife’s operations

By Gerry MoriartyFri Mar 08 2024 - 15:39

Freddie Scappaticci: The life, activities and murders of an IRA double agent

One of the most notorious figures of the Troubles joined the Provisional IRA in 1969. He was interned without trial and released, later allegedly becoming an informer before heading up the IRA’s Internal Security Unit

By Fiachra GallagherFri Mar 08 2024 - 14:00

Stakeknife: What will legacy of Kenova report into IRA double agent Freddie Scappaticci be?

Academic who examined British intelligence’s war against IRA hopes seven-year investigation into spy will still be worthwhile

By Mark HennessyThu Mar 07 2024 - 19:20

What’s Micheál Martin’s long game: a stronger North or a United Ireland?

There was no chance of a tub-thumping republican speech at the Alliance Party conference

By Newton EmersonThu Mar 07 2024 - 06:00

SDLP’s New Ireland Commission explores path to unity through ‘partnership, co-operation and reconciliation’

Claire Hanna says ‘those of us who want to talk about a new Ireland have an obligation to spell out a lot more exactly what we mean by that’

By Mark HennessyThu Mar 07 2024 - 06:00

Return union representatives to state boards in NI and banish ‘quangocrats’, says Ictu

Unions in 1988 had more than 50 representatives on public bodies, but by 2008 this had fallen to 22 and just eight now

By Emmet MaloneTue Mar 05 2024 - 05:00

No requirement to secure reconciliation ahead of Border poll, says campaign group

Ireland’s Future report outlines steps that could be taken towards vote, including establishment of new government departments

By Mark HennessyMon Mar 04 2024 - 18:20

Bombings, beatings, anti-Irish racism, and dreaming of being an astronaut

Michael Flavin's novel One Small Step explores what it was like to be a young boy growing up in Birmingham’s Irish community in the mid 1970s in the aftermath of the pub bombings

By Michael FlavinMon Mar 04 2024 - 06:01

Many ‘patriots’ who wave the Irish flag do not respect the country

On this island, the Irish flag and the Union Jack will have to grow more comfortable in each other’s company

By Bobby McDonaghMon Mar 04 2024 - 06:00

‘It’s an alternative to orange and green politics we’ve had for so long’: Why some Northern Ireland youth are turning to Alliance

Climate, jobs, health, welfare and equality trump constitutional politics for young and centrist voters at Alliance party conference in Belfast

By Seanín Graham and Freya McClementsSat Mar 02 2024 - 17:59

Sinn Féin’s battle to engage the Irish-American heart, mind and wallet when it comes to Irish reunification

The lives of the modern, career-focused Irish in the States are a far cry from those of the immigrants who escaped a moribund Ireland in the 80s and 90s

By Keith DugganSat Mar 02 2024 - 13:27

Power, Politics and Territory in the ‘New Northern Ireland’: a divided Belfast portrayed with courage

The decommissioning of Girdwood military barracks in 2005 released 27 acres for development in north Belfast that should have been the showcase of the post-1998 ‘peace dividend’

By Marianne ElliottSat Mar 02 2024 - 00:00

From Cork to Westminster: meet the latest ROI-born person elected to the House of Commons

Damien Egan’s background as an immigrant, a gay man and a Jewish convert gives him a nuanced view on life

By Mark PaulFri Mar 01 2024 - 07:00

At least 16 Troubles inquests will not be completed by Legacy Act cut-off date

UK government has rejected claims that state bodies are openly running down clock to May 1st deadline

By Freya McClements and Seanín GrahamSat Feb 24 2024 - 14:00

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