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Monthly Archives: October 2012
What’s Mined is Theirs — Ireland’s Oil and Gas
Earlier this month, Providence Resources announced that an oil field at Barryroe, off the coast of Cork, is expected to yield 280 million barrels. The company’s CEO, Tony O’Reilly Jr, the son of the media mogul, told the Today programme that this … Continue reading
Posted in Ireland, London Review of Books
Tagged Ireland, LRB, Oil, Pat Rabbitte, Providence Resources
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Sceptics say oil find will not mean boom for Irish economy
IRELAND’S devastated economy received a boost yesterday with the announcement that an offshore field at Barryroe, 30 miles off the coast of County Cork, could yield up to 280 million barrels of oil. Providence Resources, an Irish and UK company … Continue reading
From Dream Home to Living Hell: Life on Ireland’s Ghost Estates
Noelle McHale bought her “dream home” in a new estate in Ireland’s midlands in 2006 for €175,000 (£142,000 today). But her dream has turned to nightmare with her semi-detached worth only a fraction of that price, and the unfinished estate … Continue reading
Posted in Ireland, Scotsman, Society and Culture
Tagged Gleann Riada, Longford, unfinished estates
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Book Review: Political Corruption in Ireland 1922-2010, by Elaine Byrne
As is the case with unhappy families, every corrupt state is corrupt in its own way: in Ireland, an entrenched, localized “parish pump” political system; weak regulation; devout deference to authority; and a predisposition to denigrate whistleblowers as “informers” all contributed to … Continue reading
Kosovo’s Footballing Allegiances
A recent match between Switzerland and Albania included players whose home nation is not yet recognised by FIFA With less than a quarter of an hour to go in Switzerland’s recent World Cup qualifier against Albania in Lucerne, Granit Xhaka … Continue reading
Posted in Albania, Kosovo, Sport, Uncategorized
Tagged Albania, Football, Kosovo, Macedonia, Shaqiri, Switzerland, Xhaka
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Kosovo Goes it Alone
Mother Teresa Boulevard is a street pregnant with symbolism. At one end of the wide, pedestrianized thoroughfare that runs through the centre of Pristina, an imposing statue of Albanian hero Skanderbeg stands in the shadow of Kosovo’s parliament building. A … Continue reading
Ulster Covenant’s Scottish Resonances
THE prospect of independence in Scotland is a world apart from the quashed Irish bid for home rule in 1912, writes Peter Geoghegan. “THE DARK eleventh hour draws on and sees us sold to every evil power we fought against … Continue reading
Posted in Northern Ireland, Politics, Scotland, Scotsman
Tagged 1912, 2014, Carson, Independence, Referendum
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Albania watches as bunkers become bunk-beds
Concrete totems to Communist rule made into hostels and cafes or blown up – but should they be kept as reminder of past? For some, they are an ugly, podlike reminder of Albania‘s paranoid past that should be allowed to disappear … Continue reading
Sting of economic reality fails to mute Kosovo’s independence joy
THE conference that took place recently in the Kosovan capital Pristina to mark the end of the country’s supervised independence was billed as “chapter closed in the Balkans”. But away from the panel discussions and the diplomatic soirees, the atmosphere … Continue reading
Scotland Rallies for Independence
How George Robertson must regret saying in 1995 that ‘Devolution will kill Nationalism stone dead.’ Robertson, then the shadow secretary of state for Scotland, was trying to appease sceptical unionists. Last weekend, 13 years after a devolved parliament was established … Continue reading
Posted in London Review of Books, Scotland
Tagged 2014, Alex Salmond, Independence, Referendum
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