Jackie McDonald

[jjcarroll]

Why was she meeting Mr. McDonald in the first place?

[ireland2004]

Why was she meeting Mr. McDonald in the first place?

I'm not entirely sure - I haven't been keeping up with the news this past few days. Didn't he set up a meeting with her and school children from the Shankill Road?

[jjcarroll]

I cannot see much logic to this whole visit, but McAlesee seems to have some strange attraction to meeting with loyalists. Wouldn't the Irish government have to had approved the itineary for the visit in the first place?

[Kerrygold]

I cannot see much logic to this whole visit, but McAlesee seems to have some strange attraction to meeting with loyalists. Wouldn't the Irish government have to had approved the itineary for the visit in the first place?

I'm not so sure that they would!

[ryano]

Why was she meeting Mr. McDonald in the first place?

From the Irish Times coverage, I picked up the suggestion that the meeting with McDonald was to ensure that there would not be a loyalist protest against the visit:

However, President McAleese was able to visit the primary school on the loyalist Taughmonagh estate where the dominant paramilitary force is the UDA. She received a friendly welcome from Jackie McDonald, the so-called UDA brigadier in south Belfast, which helped to ensure that the visit went ahead without protest.

[UnrepentantFenian]

His connections to the McAleese's are well known if generally misreported. Would any advances by republicans be rebuffed as it would make his position untenable?

He is on the front page of the Irish Times today hugging McAleese. His organisation is carrying out nightly attacks on nationalists in Antrim and Belfast and he is on the front page of the Irish Times hugging McAleese.

It's an odd place, the world.

It is indeed, but in the midst of the oddness certain things stand out. As Belfast reels from the weekends events, should Republicans reach out to people who will be likely to control loyalism in the context of the end game?