#PatrickKielty
…you are firstly, a decent human being. We are so proud of you. My son Michael and I know this better than most.
@PatricKielty
who triumphed in
@ITVChase
has just told me he is donating his
£50k to Daisy Lodge Cancer respite centre in Newcastle, South Down.
#BallymurphyInnocents
. ...I have just seen the front pages of the papers in Britain...apart from a single column in the Guardian about the Coroner’s findings against the soldiers in the Ballymurphy cases - NOTHING. Enough said.
#Sinn
Féin .. Each time I asked Ian Paisley why he went into government with
@sinnfeinireland
he answered “Because the people elected them. That is democracy & they are not going away.” Why are
@LeoVaradkar
&
@MichealMartinTD
struggling to accept what Ian Paisley realised then?
#Brexit
.. congratulations to Derry journalist
@tconnellyRTE
on his scooping the whole of the European press corps on the agreed EU/UK brexit document. Take a bow Tony.
#Covid
-19 .. question.. why if we have our own government in Northern Ireland must we wait all the time for Downing Street to tell us what we have to do? You are elected to serve the people of Northern Ireland. Stand up. Take your decisions - simply “”ENFORCE” a lockdown now.
#CourageAndLeadership
... Alan McBride of
@WAVETrauma
is a beacon of home to humanity. He knows loss. His wife Sharon, & father-in-law Desmond Frizzell were killed in the Shankill Rd bomb in 1993. There he was today standing with the
#Ballymurphy
Families. Salute.
Breaking News…Delighted to let you known that on Feb 15
@Merrion
Press is publishing my memoir. I interviewed them all, Mandela, Thatcher, Clinton, Haughey, Ó’Fiaich, Hume, Paisley, Sands, Adams, Ervine McGuinness, Trimble etc. Stories, revelations galore, secrets, & anecdotes.
#Covi
-19 - Randox has approved testing kits for Coronavirus in Glennavy & we are now told by Health Minister Robin Swann our procurement of Randox testing kits is in the hands of Downing St. Scandal! Why not purchase directly? Is this not a resigning matter? People are dying.
#Covid
-19 ..I don’t recall being so emotionally fragile not even in the worst of the Troubles & I covered nearly all the major atrocities, La Mon, Stone’s Milltown Cemetery attack, Narrow Water, Mountbatten’s killing, the Omagh bombing, The Ballygawley bombing, the Droppin Well.
Leading Irish historian Professor Diarmaid Ferriter says of Boris Johnson: "his stupidity is going to be more and more exposed the longer he is in power" Listen
@campbellclaret
to my podcast here with one of Ireland's most respected academics:
#DEATH
...with the passing of John Hume in the early hours of this morning Northern Ireland has lost one of the greatest original political thinkers I knew in forty five years. Ar lámh dheis Dé go raibh anam John. Eamonn.
@TedSmyth
@DanMulhall
@colin_davidson
@hayes_clodagh
Why are people in the UK not more exercised about the number of
#covid19
related deaths? 'There is a failure to acknowledge the death toll.'
@GabrielScally
pulls no punches in my latest podcast.
@campbellclaret
listen here:
#RTE
Late Late Toy Show. .. for all of
@PatricKielty
sharpness and intelligence the child in him made The Toy Show what it was last night - a tour de force as we say in South Armagh!
#11
-Plus, 11 +, Eleven Plus.. kill it now! I can’t bear the needless hurt visited upon so many children who went into to school this morning who didn’t get an A. Rise up! Rise up! I failed the 11 + and I didn’t starve.
#PureGold
..I captured this beautiful moment today when sweet little Rosie McFerran joined her doting grandad & former West Belfast MP Dr Joe Hendron in a rendering of a favourite old Belfast song.
NI Biden visit turning out to be an embarrassment. NIO officials signalling holy war between Stormont & Downing St. over treatment of the President. I am advised this will not be forgotten in the White House. SOS Heaton-Harris you are fooling nobody.
@POTUS
@TedSmyth
#Killing
babies v
#Protecting
Commercial Shipping. The West is lining up to take whatever steps necessary to protect commercial vessels in the Red Sea but what of the killings of scores of helpless babies in Gaza? The West hasn’t the guts to call for a ceasefire.
British & Irish governments told me the DUP did a deal with SF in February. The DUP’s own people told me this also. The leadership could not sell the agreement. RHI: experientia docet populos. Is it not risible for the DUP to state “we continue to push for GOOD governance?”
#Covid19poetry
#SouthArmagh
… as people rush to cinemas to see ‘Belfast’, by
@kenneth_branagh
Jamie Dornan, one of the lead roles joins me & my fellow poetry lovers reading [ t h e ] n o r t h [ e r n ] [ o f ] i r e l a n d … a poem about us.
@PatricKielty
#BBCOurNextPM
.. I chaired a Sixth Form debate on Brexit in East Belfast recently and afforded Sixth Form students a voice in a similar debate in Newry. The quality of those student contributions was infinitely superior to that which I am watching tonight.
#arlene
think how excited people would be about
@DUPleader
had she said “I love every square inch of this land and everybody who lives here regardless of differences” instead of “I would probably have to leave” when asked
@Patrickkielty
what she would do in event of United Ir?
#Unionism
.. needs a credible voice to emerge from the working class Protestant community of the calibre of David Ervine. Here was a man with a vision but more than that he was courageous. Everyone knew from where he came but he earned respect of all.
@bwalker347
@BrianPJRowan
#Greysteel
funeral..the unforgettable image of an overwrought John Hume being comforted by a relative of one of those shot dead in the Greysteel gun attack on this day 25 years ago.
#Brexit
..how many times have we watched the great Conservative custodians of the Union empty the benches when Northern Ireland question time got underway? How often did you hear
@Jacob_Rees_Mogg
@BorisJohnson
et al preoccupying themselves down the years with NI’s well-being?
#11
+ Transfer Test: Parents if you’re in a flap over this cursed exam this morning - relax - I didn’t ‘transfer’ & the sky did not fall in. My learned friend Jim Aiken used to sagely say “your position in class will not neccessarily be your position in life.”
And that’s a fact!
Christopher, do you ever remember a cabinet with so many lightweights?
@piersmorgan
is swatting these guys like flies nearly every morning. When I think of Hurd, Patten, Prior, Heseltine, and so on - I have to ask - what has happened?
@markdevenport
Has any former Secretary of State in Northern Ireland ever dropped a clanger comparable to Karen Bradley’s remarks about killings involving members of the security services in NI declaring these not to be ‘crimes’ - usurping the role of the DPP?
This is a voice with a vision for which I have longed to hear since the departure of former SDLP leader John Hume from public life. Whether catholic Protestant or dissenter this voice voice speaks for you - for fair play for all. Visionary.
#Belfast
….
#Dirty
streets…twice in recent months I heard it said of Belfast, by foreigners, “Dirty streets but friendly people”. “Let’s clean up this city for once and for all and deal with derelict buildings”.
Will the Catholic Church learn anything from the celebration of the life of Shane McGowan in God’s House? More of this and young people will be flocking to churches all over the country to pay homage to God.
@BishopEamonn
@FrBrianDarcy
@CarganCampbell
@OxfordDiplomat
When my turn comes, I would be delighted to 'look down' from the great beyond and see friends celebrating my life with such a joyous send-off.
This was most definitely an IRISH funeral!😇☘️
#ShaneMcGowan
As a family we are blessed with good health & a capacity to continue making a living in the land in which we were born. Thanks to all who rallied to us in 2018. We too must be mindful of the less well off. Nollaig shona daoibh uilig. Happy Christmas to all my Twitter followers.
I am a long way from home today but one voice on Good Morning Ulster brought tears to my eyes ... that of Pat Hume speaking about her husband John. God bless them both.
#Nora
hundreds of neighbours of Nora Quoirin’s grandparents packed our local church St Brigid’s today to pray for her. Nora was baptised in St Brigid’s in 2004. “Somehow, the quiet gentle voice of Jesus Christ always breaks through the terrible turmoil of our world” Fr Eddie.
#Stormont
.. the people of Northern Ireland should rightly salute
@JulianSmithUK
and
@simoncoveney
for their commitment to restoring a political administration at Parliament Buildings.
#Orange
.. why do those attacking Orange halls not understand that those attacks amount to assaults on parity of esteem of those who identify with Orangeism and their way of life? You cannot have it both ways. Parity of esteem is not a one way street.
#Election2020
...These two speeches from Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are next level. I am so glad to be alive to hear voices of hope and renewal like these. Fá scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine! Together we are stronger.
Decision time for
@J_Donaldson_MP
.. Gambler’s dilemma “If you're gonna play the game, boy,
You gotta learn to play it right.
You got to know when to hold 'em,
Know when to fold 'em,
Know when to walk away”.
@skydavidblevins
@OxfordDiplomat
#Covid19
#
#NIExecutive
… Time to take off the gloves. With another 12 deaths, with numbers of unvaccinated in hospital, Ministers must take on the Hospitality Industry - “make vaccination passports compulsory NOW in all gatherings.”
#Birthdaygirl
Josie with “my wee boy”
@EamonnHolmes
.. Granny Holmes who is 90 today has been joined by all her family and friends to celebrate her very special birthday.
Protocol …confirmation of a U.S. presidential visit to London in the New Year is a guarantee that there will be a Protocol deal. There are no circumstances in which
@RishiSunak
wants Biden kicking him in the shins under the table in Downing Street over any threat to the GFA.
#GE2020
Results .. I haven’t heard a single mention of Paul Quinn’s name by any FF/FG politician during the election coverage. Yet the killing of Paul Quinn in a Monaghan shed 13 years dominated the final days of the election as the polls predicted big SF gains. Puzzle me that.
#Generosity
#Humes
...former SDLP leader John Hume gave away his Nobel Prize money: now the Hume family is gifting John’s Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King’s Peace Award and Mahatma Ghandi Peace Prize to the people of Derry.
@markdurkan
@colin_davidson
@dupleader
is uniting nationalists in a way no other unionist leader ever managed. She in her every utterance has become ‘a recruiting sergeant’ for aspirants of a United Ireland. Surely those around Mrs Foster can see this?
My
@utv
series ‘Eamonn Mallie: Face to Face with...’ continues Wednesday 7th February at 10.45pm with an hour long special with
#JamieDornan
. Hope you enjoyed Ep 5 with
@ACorr_Official
of
@TheCorrsMUsic
- If you missed it you can catch up here -
#Brexit
.. many will feel tonight for former SDLP MEP John Hume & his colleagues who dreamed of European unity & who expended so much energy to win millions of pounds to underpin the peace process. Their democratic efforts have been tossed back in their faces.
@colindavidson
#Covid19
..are you as unimpressed as I am with the medics and scientists in whom governments in U.K. are placing their trust to beat Coronavirus? Think about it , Cheltenham, herd immunity, school closures, peaks, & confusion over numbers dying from Covid19 in care homes etc.
#Covid19
..it’s time journalists in N/Ireland started asking serious questions & end this syscophantic practice of telling the CMO & ministers how great it is to have them on their programmes. We are dealing with life & death here. Doctors & nurses forced the pace NOT the Media.
#Transfer
...we are witnessing the death of the 11 Plus by a thousands cuts with a
@duponline
Education minister invigilating. ‘Failing’ the 11 Plus was a low point in my childhood but I was determined I would rise again. “Children - reach for the sky. You too will rise again.”
Dublin Belfast Enterprise … Unacceptable. We are travelling on the 7pm Dublin Belfast Enterprise. It is packed to the gills. We are standing - dozens of us. What would happen in an emergency?
#Must
Read…Sports journalist Mark Sidebottom on being a patient in the RVH amidst the current chaos in our hospitals.
@CMO_NI
#Professor
Ian Young
@RobinSwannMoH
The Health System Needs Surgery - by Mark Sidebottom - Eamonn Mallie
#Rte
Late Late. I did two in-depth interviews for TV with
@PatricKielty
The frankness with which he laid bare his family’s remarkable history was breathtaking. Despite the killing of his father Jack, Paddy displayed no bitterness. He is a rarity.
@MiriamOCal
#Brexit
.. I wonder when will the penny drop in the DUP camp how its behaviour is imperilling the Union and at the same time realising a step change in so many nationalist minds?
#lostlives
.. we are indebted to the industry of journalists – David McKittrick, Seamus Kelters, Chris Thornton, authors Brian Feeney and David McVea – this is a unique record of the circumstances surrounding the deaths of every person who died in The NI Troubles. You humble us.
My generation had John Hume to teach us and to navigate us through the pros and cons of the EEC all those years ago. Our children’s generation has nobody of Hume’s intellectual capacity to educate them on the pros and cons of Brexit.
#RTE
Late Late - Patrick, I continue to be alarmed by the voices of the detractors of the ‘Political Miracle’ through which are living in these islands. I rejoice every day that our children are not subjected to what you and so many others suffered.
@Patrickielty
@OxfordDiplomat
This message from Patrick who lived through unimaginable pain of our conflict and the murder of his father is such a poignant message for everyone despairing. I never thought we’d have peace here
#Covid19
..we should not lose sight of one thing when reflecting on the emergence of Coronavirus. In GB both the football and rugby authorities left the government for dead in taking decisive action. In Northern Ireland parents, teachers and
@moneillsf
took the lead.
#Taylor
Swift - In the Eighties Bob Geldof mobilised the masses to respond to famine in Ethiopia.
@taylorswift13
you are loved & respected by youth world-wide. Please use your influence to pressurize all Western leaders to end killing of innocent babies & families in Gaza.
What prompted the politicians in
St Anne’s to join in the applause of the congregation for what was a searing full frontal sacerdotal assault directed at THEM for allegedly abdicating in their political responsibilities in Northern Ireland? A case study for psychiatrists.
#Brexit
..one of the glaring deficits in the Brexit debate is the voice of former SDLP leader John Hume - a calmative during many political storms down the years. Portrait of John Hume by
@colin_davidson
#Deal
....why are
@duponline
not being challenged about their inability to sell the deal agreed with SF in February?
Is this not a dereliction of duty by members of the Media & politicians who know the facts of that agreement as confirmed by the 2 governments?
#ILA
.. senior DUP MPs scuppered the deal agreed with
@sinnfeinireland
in Feb 2018 which included an Irish Language Act agreed by the
@DUPleader
This fact has been confirmed to me at the highest level by the DUP, and by the British and Irish governments.
@StephenNolan
Kielty Tops! -
#RTE
Late Late Show…RTE says Patrick Kielty's long-awaited first night as host was a 'record-breaking debut' with a peak audience of 934,000. They said: "Friday night's eagerly anticipated Late Late Show had an average audience of 830,000
@PatricKielty
What is remarkable
@rodneyedwards
is that no Belfast-based editor had snapped up Bernadette D - I found her in my interviews to be one of the sharpest minds, politically & culturally. She has a searing awareness of the fate of people down at heel.
GAA When Michaela Harte’s remains were returned from Mauritius where she was killed while honeymooning FM Peter Robinson visited the wake house. Speaking to me later he wondered how the spirit, togetherness & organisational skills of the GAA could be transmuted to his community.
I feel like screaming. What is inhibiting our leaders from literally spelling it out “ no more parks with children, no more groups of cyclists rubbing shoulders, no gangs of young people congregating on street corners and in parks.” Italy and Spain have done it!
#SOSNI
…In my political reporting in Northern Ireland over the years I got to know Con. Secretaries of State, Douglas Hurd, Jim Prior, Peter Brooke & Patrick Mayhew. These were people of intellect who publicly and subterraneously worked for the good of all. That is history now.
These young people and their capacity to express themselves with such clarity and civility must scare the living day lights out of people like
@BorisJohnson
. It is wonderfully encouraging.
When a Conservative Prime Minister who feels he’s born to rule is outclassed and put in his place by the quiet, understated decency of a woman who cares about other people and hates the injustice in our society.
Every person in our country should watch this video.
#DeathofPaddyMoloney
…all patrons of traditional Irish music will lament the passing of Chieftains founder Paddy Moloney. He loved his ‘pintistle’ as he affectionately called his whistle. He was my guest for Irish TV. Charming man.
@colin_davidson
captured Paddy in paint.
#Irish
..following on from Poet Michael Longley’s unequivocal support for the Irish language I repeat Presbyterian Minister TP McCaughey’s insightful response when challenged by Unionists about embracing Gaeilge - he said “I feel a fuller person because I learned it.” Mise Fosta.
Have
@JimAllister
TUV leader’s ‘urinator’ remarks, boosted the chances of
@johnfinucane
Belfast Lord Mayor winning N/Belfast by dipping into the ‘caught short’ story?
We asked 100 guys “did you ever do a wee in a city centre alleyway?” Response - 100!
Sorcha, no one would be surprised if you were to win Lagan Valley next time round. People believe you. They accept you understand what poverty is & that you are carrying &sharing a major health burden in your personal life. You are one of the most talked about politicians in NI.
When one of our MLAs is living the reality of living with cancer. This is what it’s all about.
Real people with real stories.
Rest well over the Xmas holidays, my friend
@SorchaEastwood
… you deserve it. And I, and so many are thankful for your leadership and voice 💚
#Brexit
..one of the Irish politicians who has emerged as a formidable force in the whole Brexit debate is
@MaireadMcGMEP
#bbcqt
..a sensible woman. She may differ with others but she is respectful.
#Covid
-19 What a story! An
@AerLingus
engineer went to China twice this week as part of the mission to pick up PPE supplies. Now that’s not going down to the local shop for a loaf! God bless all our health workers, nurses,medics in all our local hospitals & surgeries.
I have repeatedly asked Minister Robin Swann and CMO Michael McBride to spell out how many people are dying outside of hospital due to Coronavirus but to no avail.
Coronavirus: Concerns in Northern Ireland over under-reported deaths
via
@IrishTimes
#Brexit
...I can’t recall since the 1981 Hunger Strike any moment here when emotions in NI’s two communities were so stirred and torn. Sinn Féin’s virtual silence merits scrutiny while the behaviour of Arlene Foster’s DUP is sowing seeds of confusion in both communities.