Making peace, I have found, is much harder than making war.
There can be no such things as an Irish nationalist accepting the loyalist veto and partition. You cannot claim to be an Irish nationalist if you consent to an internal six county settlement and if you are willing to negotiate the state of Irish society with a foreign government.
It might or might not be right to kill, but sometimes it is necessary.
If you militarise a situation, you beg for an armed response.
Hugging trees has a calming effect on me. I’m talking about enormous trees that will be there when we are all dead and gone. I’ve hugged trees in every part of this little island.
I nominate the Reverend Ian Paisley for the position of First Minister of northern Ireland.
Once water charges are in place they will only go up. This has been the history of all these charges.
I stopped buying Sunday papers about 15 years ago, because you’d buy handfuls of them, and what you got, because the hard news comes from so many other channels, was opinion pieces. You’re better off spending the money on a good novel.
When others stood idly by, you and your families gave your all, in defence of a risen people and in pursuit of Irish freedom and unity.
In the past I have defended the right of the IRA to engage in armed struggle. I did so because there was no alternative for those who would not bend the knee, or turn a blind eye to oppression, or for those who wanted a national republic.
One man’s transparency is another’s humiliation.
I think the worst kind of grief is unacknowledged grief.
Republican patience with how unionism deals with the political institutions, and with key issues like equality and human rights, will be tested because, obviously, there will be a battle a day on these matters. So lets face up to all of this with our eyes wide open.