Allison Morris

May 2022

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Allison Morris Opinion Westminster intervention may not be enough to have abortion services fully commissioned

The intervention by the Secretary of State to ensure abortion provision is available across all health trusts in Northern Ireland should come as no surprise.

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Allison Morris Opinion The Northern Ireland legacy bill may appear different, but end result will be the same... no prosecutions

Back in March 2020, as the world was about to be plunged into a global heath crisis and the UK into lockdown, Brandon Lewis made a statement to the Commons on the legacy of Northern Ireland’s conflict.

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Allison Morris Opinion Potential risk to peace and stability if Brexit issues are not resolved

With the UK Government now saying changes to the protocol are necessary for the “security and stability” of Northern Ireland, the threat level from paramilitary groups will be under assessment by the Home Office.

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Allison Morris Opinion With Boris in town, Stormont’s future is at a crucial point

A week is a long time in politics.

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Allison Morris Opinion There's a sneering classism in public life - politics and the media have been controlled for too long by middle and upper classes

There is a real issue with classism in our society, especially when it comes to those from working class or under privileged backgrounds who go on to achieve in the professional or political world.

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Allison Morris Opinion Sinn Fein leads the way with women as lessons are to be learned for UUP

Voters in Northern Ireland have returned a record number of women to the Assembly.

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Allison Morris Opinion Belfast South perfectly sums up the story of the 2022 election

There are two big stories coming from this election, the nationalist vote mobilising behind Sinn Fein and the increase in the middle ground, now firmly represented by the Alliance Party.

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Allison Morris Opinion Election day to show if positive approach can be a vote-winner

We are now in the last few days of what seems like the longest election campaign in living memory. While campaigning usually starts at the dissolution of the Assembly, the build-up to this election started back in February when Paul Givan resigned as First Minister.

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April 2022

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Allison Morris Opinion Women-hating trolls take their lead from the people in charge

There is no defending the type of journalism that labelled Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner a Basic Instinct-style femme fatale, trying to “distract” the Prime Minister from her seat on the opposition benches.

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Allison Morris Opinion Our troubled past masked the very real epidemic of violence against women in our society

The message on my phone flashed up on Saturday evening, ‘There’s been another woman murdered’. As I read it my stomach churned, for this was an all too familiar story.

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Allison Morris Opinion Changed tone: SF looks to future, not past, in carefully scripted Easter speeches

It was a confident but careful Sinn Fein leadership who addressed the faithful in Milltown Cemetery on Sunday.

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Allison Morris Opinion Mary Lou McDonald’s cool exterior on BBC's The View only rattled by questions over delivery

Taking part in BBC NI’s The View is a path paved with peril for even the most seasoned of politicians.

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Allison Morris Opinion We are moving dangerously close to a time when politicians are considered to be legitimate targets

Politics is not a career for the faint-hearted. The rough and tumble of the campaign trail can test even the most hardened of politician.

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Allison Morris Opinion DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson is now at the mercy of loyalist anger

You’d have to wonder about the mentality of someone who saw fit to put a noose around the neck of an election poster of UUP leader Doug Beattie.

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Allison Morris Opinion Disagreeing with another view not the same as censorship

What is censorship? The dictionary definition is “the suppression or prohibition of any parts of books, films, news, etc. that are considered obscene, politically unacceptable, or a threat to security”.

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March 2022

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Allison Morris Opinion Loyalism’s escalation is a worrying step towards darker days

When I set off for work on Friday I didn’t think I’d be standing at a police cordon while a suspected bomb was diffused — a bomb aimed at intimidating a senior member of the Irish government.

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Allison Morris Opinion Dramatic escalation amounts to an all-out war against NI Protocol

The Houben Centre straddles a once volatile interface on the Crumlin Road. Widely used by both communities, it stands as a symbol of peace in an area with a long history of sectarian violence.

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Allison Morris Opinion Quashing of Soldier F decision is a rare good day for Bloody Sunday families and also significant for historic prosecutions

For the victims of Bloody Sunday, Wednesday was a good day.

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Allison Morris Opinion Why we’re on road to nowhere without proper transport

There are many issues that politicians and their party activists will be questioned on at the doors as they call looking for your vote over the coming weeks.

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Allison Morris Opinion NI Protocol must go on backburner while heating crisis is here

It shouldn’t take a war to remind people to consider their priorities, but the scenes of terrified civilians fleeing Ukraine has certainly added perspective to some of our more parochial arguments.

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Allison Morris Opinion Denis Donaldson’s fate was sealed, but who pulled trigger?

When Denis Donaldson was exposed as an informer in 2005 it sent shockwaves through the republican movement, which considered him to be a loyal and dedicated republican.

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Allison Morris Opinion We must open arms to those in need at this desperate time

The war in Ukraine is harrowing to watch. Civilians are being forced to flee their homes in scenes not seen in Europe since the Balkans wars of the 1990s.

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Allison Morris Opinion Sooner rather than later, Alliance will have to step off fence on a border poll

Since it was formed over 50 years ago the Alliance Party has held a neutral position on the constitutional status of Northern Ireland.

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February 2022

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Allison Morris Opinion Jeffrey Donaldson can’t stay hidden forever… he has an election campaign to front up

In an exercise in how not to manage a political scandal, the DUP has managed to extend the life of the Sir Jeffrey Donaldson defection claims with a denial that has now become the story.

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Allison Morris Opinion Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is fighting fires on all sides in a deeply divided party

It’s been a week when politics came together on a personal level, to send heartfelt sympathies to a grieving family, but also one where questions were raised about the loyalty of those tasked with leading unionism into the future.

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Allison Morris Opinion For all us stalking victims, this is our victory but legislation needs to be more than words on a page

It’s a day many victims thought they would never see – the passing of legislation on stalking that finally puts Northern Ireland on an equal footing with the rest of these islands.

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Allison Morris Opinion Women and children collateral damage in the spying game

I’ve never been a great fan of fiction, but Small Town Girl, the story of undercover police officers who infiltrated activist groups by having relationships with unsuspecting women, is so unbelievably shocking it reads like a work of fiction.

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Allison Morris Opinion People living in poverty need help, not to be judged

In increasingly tough times for so many families, every news report about a hike in energy or food prices adds to the anxiety and despair. The realities of living on low income or basic benefits is never having enough heat and light, never having enough food or the ability to replace broken items.

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Allison Morris Opinion Locking up people who have yet to be convicted should only ever be a last resort

The outrageously slow manner in which Northern Ireland’s courts are operating is well known to anyone who has reason to observe the cumbersome nature of our justice system.

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Allison Morris Opinion Light is beginning to shine on murky secrets of conflict

You cannot read the Police Ombudsman’s Achille report in isolation.