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Deirdre Heenan

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Stormont farce to continue as long as British government strings DUP along

Change to Good Friday Agreement may be needed if power sharing is to return to the North

Deirdre Heenan: DUP have trapped the North in a state of dysfunction and drift

There are no signs that the DUP is prepared to return to power sharing, but neither are there any indications of what they actually want

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: Whatever the election outcome, it won’t alter dysfunction in North’s political system

It is no longer possible to paper over the systemic underlying political issues in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: No matter what Biden said, the DUP would have spit the dummy

The hostile media coverage of the US president’s visit to the North was born of the same blind intransigence, and British impotence, that has created the Stormont stalemate

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: DUP caught between a rock and hard place of its own making

The party’s framing of the ‘outstanding issues’ around the Windsor Framework is becoming increasingly preposterous. Where does it go from here?

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: The DUP must be wary of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Any stalling by Jeffrey Donaldson on the Windsor framework will allow the naysayers to gain momentum, and a rejection of it by the DUP will lead to the North being viewed as ungovernable

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: If he gives in to the Brexit zealots, Sunak will be prime minister in name only

It is crunch time for Rishi Sunak, who cannot sit on the fence when it comes to the Northern Ireland protocol for much longer

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: Can Sunak pull a protocol deal out of the hat?

As the British Tory leadership softens its stance and reaches towards a compromise solution with Europe, the DUP may regret its mantra of ‘not an inch’

Deirdre Heenan: Northern Ireland appears to be destined to suffer a hellish political Groundhog Day

As a fast-tracked bill extends the deadline for the formation of a new executive, the British secretary of state’s ham-fisted approach to the issue of an election doesn’t inspire confidence

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: No way to fix protocol problem until Britain acknowledges Brexit was a giant mistake

The North is facing another toxic, polarising and futile Assembly election

Northern Ireland

Deirdre Heenan: DUP must stop the threats and look for a face-saving deal to return to power-sharing

The party and its leaders are clinging to the last vestiges of power, unable to accept that the world around them has fundamentally changed

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