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Deirdre Heenan

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Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: DUP’s royal humiliation reflects a political creed in deep decline

The sight of an unhappy Jeffrey Donaldson playing second fiddle to Sinn Féin in King Charles’s presence last week showed how far unionism has fallen down the pecking order

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: Bringing stability to the North would be a good start for Truss

Britain’s new prime minister is facing an in-tray of crises unprecedented since the 1970s. Delivering on the North will win her goodwill, at home and abroad

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: The North will continue to be collateral damage under a Truss premiership

Liz Truss, the continuity Boris Johnson candidate, born-again Brexiteer and favourite in the Tory leadership race, bizarrely thinks her proposed legislation has ‘solved’ the protocol problem

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: DUP should be careful what it wishes for on the protocol

Jeffrey Donaldson’s party regards the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill as a vindication of its hardline stance, but in reality it is merely yet another Tory negotiating tactic

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: Boris Johnson is not a unionist – he’s a ruthless Johnsonist

The DUP has marched its supporters into the political wilderness in hoping for the best from a man who has already hoodwinked and humiliated them

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: Johnson has no game plan and the North can only lose

The people of Northern Ireland were always going to be collateral damage in the Brexiteers’ endless, deceitful game of brinkmanship with Europe

Deirdre Heenan: DUP pays a big political price for playing high-stakes poker

Jeffrey Donaldson was foolish to think that Boris Johnson’ s government would give in to the DUP’s wrecking-ball politics and now the future appears bleak for his party

Deirdre Heenan: Clinging on to the North’s ‘two tribes’ system is undesirable and unsustainable

It may be time to accept that Northern Ireland’s current system of mandatory coalition is obsolete and outdated

Deirdre Heenan: Donaldson and the DUP persist in digging their own political grave

The party is painting the upcoming election as ‘a battle for Northern Ireland’, but its own strategy suggests a deep-seated desire for self-destruction

Deirdre Heenan: Beattie turns his back on extremists, but it may be too little too late for this election

Doug Beattie promised to recast the Ulster Unionist Party as progressive before joining hardline unionists in opposing the protocol; he has now distanced himself from them in what could be the start of a rebuilding process for the UUP and unionism itself

Deirdre Heenan: DUP has been broken by Brexit and is in danger of dying from discord

Festering wounds over leadership, increasing factionalism and a declining voter base suggests this is the beginning of the end for the DUP

Deirdre Heenan: DUP’s increasingly desperate behaviour has all the signs of a party looking at the political wilderness

The DUP’s decision to dissolve the executive is an act of narrow, naked self-interest, which is unlikely to rescue it or return it to its former dominant position

Deirdre Heenan: Twitter’s double-edged sword leaves Beattie’s liberal credentials in tatters

The UUP leader is just the latest politician to find out that contentious social media posts have the potential to derail a career

Deirdre Heenan: Double-jobbing rule change fiasco results in ‘Jeffreymandering’ disaster

A bungled attempt to hand the DUP an electoral advantage by rewriting parliamentary procedures has completely backfired

Deirdre Heenan: DUP welcomes in the new year proudly parading its dysfunction

The Democratic Unionist Party’s recent remarks on the NI protocol show them to be as ill-judged and divorced from reality as ever

Deirdre Heenan: Sinn Féin’s days of getting away with doublespeak are numbered

Such things were tolerated from an opposition party, but if it wishes to wield power, it will have to make up its mind on crucial issues such as abortion rights

Deirdre Heenan: Trade boost shows why unionists need to get pragmatic on the protocol

With the economy in the North outperforming that of England, Scotland and Wales, the DUP, which sees itself as the party of business, is going to have to perform a volte-face on the protocol or face a wipeout at the polls

Deirdre Heenan: Donaldson’s echoing of the voice of hysteria smacks of desperation

The embattled DUP leader is in dire need of a win, but his entente cordiale with Jim Allister’s hardline Traditional Unionist Voice is recklessly ill-advised

Deirdre Heenan: Plenty of fury and bluster, but nothing new from Donaldson

The DUP leader’s call to bring down the North’s institutions over the Northern Ireland protocol looks like a desperate and not very credible threat to address dwindling support for his party

Deirdre Heenan: Donaldson leading from a distance rather than from the front

The DUP leader’s appointment as trade envoy to Cameroon is at odds with his declared intention to return to Stormont as soon as possible