The issue of the bonfire at Donegall Road exposes the democratic scandal of how this place works. There is a credible risk to public health but neither the responsible Alliance environment minister, UUP health minister nor any Executive party will say anything. Why not?

I graduated 20 years ago (🤯) the same day a local laureate got an hon Degree. My dad insisted on introducing himself, convinced Heaney would welcome chat with a "fellow culchie". And he did! Back then I cringed, now as father myself, I think of my dad's pride and delight and am emotional.

The Belfast Islamic Centre are literally my neighbours. My constituency office is yards away. The attack on them is cowardly and pathetic but sadly illustrates the real challenge of race hate we face. Solidarity with all affected - I and my party stand with you.

The appalling scenes in Ballymena are a bleak illustration that the hard right of loyalism and unionism has little to offer working class communities but fear. My piece for the i inews.co.uk/opinion/ball...

The actions of the Communities Minister cannot be ignored. He is the Minister responsible for the Housing Executive and lives are at stake. Tomorrow the Opposition will refer him to the standards commissioner and explore all other options for accountability.

Today we brought the first substantive Assembly motion on NI re-entering the EU. Alliance abstained, after slurs and petty name calling. Disappointingly, barely half of SF MLAs bothered to vote for a new Ireland. We will keep making the case for a new Ireland back in Europe.

Like anyone, Gerry Adams is entitled to petition a court and a jury has given its verdict. The BBC will have questions to consider after this. But today I'm thinking of the thousands of victims of the IRA, loyalists and the state who will never get a single day in court, let alone justice.

Irish unity is the only way Northern Ireland can rejoin the EU and there is no point pretending otherwise, according to an SDLP motion MLAs will debate on Monday.

I've never received the scale of constituent correspondence, from all backgrounds, over such a prolonged period, as I have from people despairing over Gaza. The gravity of what is unfolding and the outrage at the complicity of western leaders is overwhelming decent people.

The Executive is defined by inaction, so is happy with the distraction of daily rows on signs or statues. If we want to give young people a reason not to get on a plane to Australia, we need to offer more them more than one never-ending Old Firm game.

The structural shift in British politics took another step today. Those in NI who don't want to be part of a Farage UK, or even in a political system that concedes so much to him even when he isn't in power, have a choice which is ever more urgent. A new Ireland back in Europe.

Having promised an overhaul of workers rights (but not published an actual Bill) on Monday, Sinn Féin tonight worked with Alliance to force an extension of Sunday opening for giant retailers, against the express wishes of workers, trade unions and small shops. And on May day...

Mark Carney, "The lessons of Brexit are beginning to be applied to the US" "When you break trading relationships you end up with slower growth"

Stormont ministers have spent thousands on five star hotels while using lack of cash as a catch-all excuse for failure to deliver. When I asked the FM if she'd stayed in luxury hotels on public money, she claimed she didn't know. My letter to the Finance Minister on this ridiculous situation 👇

Brutal, unflinching, necessary television from Louis Theroux tonight. Violent, supremacist Israeli settler aggression allowed to speak for and damn itself.

This is a marketing email but it feels very pointed.

Senator Mitchell hits the nail on the head. We need to inspire young people to believe they can change this place and build a future here or they'll continue to leave. It's been a political priority for me since I returned myself after 20 years away. m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/norther...

Trump has managed to avoid legal, political and moral accountability all his life. The only awkward reality he has intermittently had to concede is being busted out, whether through repeated bankruptcies or, today, by the bond market. A grotesque tragedy that he still has power over our lives.

Was in my hometown earlier and Patrick's resting place looks the part rightly ☘️

On Wednesday I questioned both the Prime Minister and SOS about paramilitary transition plans. The SDLP will demand and shape an approach that means no payday, no legitimisation and no more soft soaping of organisations have been destroyed so many lives.

SDLP official opposition leader Matthew O’Toole branded the latest delay a “farce”

Brazen gaslighting from Sinn Féin representatives today claiming "progress" on the Glider as their minister indefinitely delays the start date and rules out key parts of the project. It's exactly the kind of shameless deception that has ruined trust in politics.

At Ulster University last week, @otoolematthew.bsky.social spoke about the crisis of accountability in NI politics. You don't have time to track everything happening at Stormont. But you should be able to trust those in power to deliver. We're committed to making sure words turn into action.

Pathetic failure to progress Glider/BRT phase 2 by the Executive. Promises to people in South (and North) Belfast made by Executive parties, not kept. Not only no extension to Carryduff - no clarity on when or ever the scheme will be delivered.

As a geriatric millennial, I make no apologies for having my Horlicks in this mug.

We desperately need to devolve more fiscal power away from London. But under four successive Sinn Féin finance ministers barely anything has happened other than empty talk. When I asked John O'Dowd how he planned to fulfil SF manifesto pledges in this area, he just dismissed the question.

Pretty disturbed by some of the Kremlin framing on the Trump talks being bought by parts of the media worldwide. It’s as if the genesis of the war is entirely forgotten. This isn’t a conflict which needs mediation. It was an unprovoked act of aggression. It could end tomorrow if Putin just withdrew.

I wrote this on the most consistently terrible, and fatal, idea in centrist politics today. On Fanta, rebadging, and why attempting to win votes from fascists is morally disgusting and politically suicidal. www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle-co...

Tonight Leader of the Opposition @otoolematthew.bsky.social will be speaking at @ulsteruniversity.bsky.social on the challenge of creating a culture of accountability and improving democratic discourse in local politics. 📍 Lecture Theatre 1, BC Building 📅 6:30pm, Tuesday 18 February

Ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Cutting aid to the poorest. Abandoning Ukraine. Is there nothing Trump could do to make you rethink a photo op? We won’t turn a blind eye and we won’t be at the St. Patrick's week celebrations in Washington. @otoolematthew.bsky.social

Absolutely clear that Musk via Vance is intent not just on influencing European politics, but on systematically weakening one of the last structural defences against the dystopian instincts of parts of US tech oligarchy: the regulatory power of the EU. That can't happen.

Are you interested in why NI politics struggles to make meaningful change and how we improve our democracy? I'm giving a talk on that subject and my reflections on a year in Oppositon on 18 February at Ulster University Register and come along: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creating-a...

Are you interested in why NI politics struggles to make meaningful change and how we improve our democracy? I'm giving a talk on that subject and my reflections on a year in Oppositon on 18 February at Ulster University Register and come along: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/creating-a...

Hi @allianceparty.bsky.social Flattered so many SDLP ideas have made it into your paper - almost verbatim 🥰 I fear however your bizarre geographic depiction of this region may stand in the way of your claimed aspiration to rejoin the EU. Which will only happen via a New Ireland.

Hi @allianceparty.bsky.social Flattered so many SDLP ideas have made it into your paper - almost verbatim 🥰 I fear however your bizarre geographic depiction of this region may stand in the way of your claimed aspiration to rejoin the EU. Which will only happen via a New Ireland.

Useful but sobering insights from small businesses and community sector representatives on the huge pressures facing them at a joint finance and economy committee meeting. Its clear that Executive action is needed to support them.

Elon Musk has posed as a champion of those poor bereaved families in Southport but the killer watched a violent video just before his killing spree *on X* and Musk is refusing to take it down despite numerous official requests from UK & Australian authorities www.ft.com/content/3c89...

Michelle O'Neill assured me again yesterday that the Executive was delivering and had an ambitious legislative programme. What's on the Stormont agenda for next week? A non-binding motion on nappy collection. Mortifying.

All our SDLP Opposition Day motions on tackling violence against women passed yesterday, but now we need to see action from the Executive. As I said yesterday, we can no longer tolerate women feeling unsafe as they live their lives.

Northern Ireland is one of the most dangerous places in Europe to be a woman. We are using our first opposition day of 2025 to place the epidemic of violence against women at the top of agenda. Watch here: niassembly.tv/live-stream-1/

I wrote for the @ft.com.web.brid.gy today on the huge opportunities facing NI from maximising our unique position in relation to the EU. You can read more of the SDLP's proposals in Our European Future document on.ft.com/40mm7Gk www.sdlp.ie/our_european...

I wrote for the @ft.com.web.brid.gy today on the huge opportunities facing NI from maximising our unique position in relation to the EU. You can read more of the SDLP's proposals in Our European Future document on.ft.com/40mm7Gk www.sdlp.ie/our_european...

The Executive has been long on aspiration but short on delivery since it returned last February. We have offered a list of urgent priorities which the Executive should resolve early in the New Year. The warm words of 2024 must be matched by action in 2025. www.sdlp.ie/sdlp_opposit...

I'm a non-believing Irishman, but it's not Christmas without the Festival of Nine Lessons from King's College Cambridge on Radio 4.

Every year my terrific colleague @oisindonn.bsky.social outdoes himself with our office card. Merry Christmas from the Opposition and bless us, everyone.

"This budget is about putting a sticking plaster on our failing public services rather than delivering the vision and transformation needed to change things for the better." @otoolematthew.bsky.social Read more: www.sdlp.ie/o_toole_budg...

Useful roundtable in Dublin today on the @sdlp.bsky.social Our European Future proposals and how we maximise the opportunities for our businesses, workers, young people and wider society from our unique relationship with the EU. Many thanks to IBEC for hosting myself and @clairehanna.bsky.social

The Assembly has voted to extend the protections of the Protocol. Now, as well as continued efforts to smooth goods movement, we need a focus on maximising the immense opportunities from our unique relationship with Europe. My words in the Assembly on Tuesday.

Ahead of this week's vote, you'll hear negativity about our relationship to Europe. Not from the SDLP. We are NI's most pro-European party and passionate about the opportunities awaiting our people from a truly European future 🇪🇺 We were in Brussels this week making that case.