Richard Needham

6 results

DUP leader Arlene Foster: “I fully appreciate the risks of a ‘no deal’ but the dangers of a bad deal are worse.” Photograph: Niall Carson/PA Wire
No surrender? DUP holds hard line as business fears build

Arlene Foster is playing the Orange card as the Brexit negotiations may or may not be reaching endgame, amplifying the threat posed by the frequently (...)

John Hume at the announcement of the Belfast Agreement in 1998, a deal he roughly outlined to British officials eight years earlier. Photograph: Alan Betson
Hume’s outline of Belfast Agreement revealed in 1990 file

The evolving political views of SDLP leader John Hume engaged the close attention of the British secretary of state for Northern Ireland, Peter Brooke(...)

A 1989 report by the Fair Employment Agency on Queen’s University Belfast, which then employed 3,000 staff, showed 79 per cent of the Northern Ireland-born employees were Protestant and 21 per cent Catholic. File photograph: Queen’s University Belfast
‘Sad tale of bigotry’: Employment at Queen’s University scrutinised

No sooner had the new 1989 Fair Employment Act, compelling employers in Northern Ireland to ensure equal opportunity for all, been passed into law tha(...)

Lord Gowrie (centre) speaks in Dublin at the National Museum, alongside Charles Haughey and Dr Pat Wallace
Lord Gowrie told Irish diplomats about British spying

Irish diplomats were warned by a member of Margaret Thatcher’s cabinet about blanket eavesdropping on their communications with Dublin during the talk(...)

Peter Robinson sought “a hardening of the existing declaration to ensure that the men of violence and those who supported them would not be eligible to take their seats”.
Peter Robinson wanted ban on Sinn Féin in 1985

Current First Minister of Northern Ireland Peter Robinson favoured banning Sinn Féin on the eve of the Anglo-Irish Agreement in 1985, according to Bel(...)

Needham says the proposed entertainment complex could deliver up to £3 million in tax revenue for Belfast city council. Photograph: Barry Austin/Getty Images
Belfast Briefing: North to gamble on Rank Group casino?

’Tis the season for flashing lights, ringing bells and non-stop twinkly music. But if Belfast gave these traditional Christmas characteristics a home (...)