One of the main roles of Stormont Ministers is to act together as a collective in the form of the Executive. The whole point of this is to agree on the best way to do the job they were elected to do and to justify the rather large sums of money they get as Ministers.However, with the DUP and Sinn Féin refusing to meet, the process of government has ground to a standstill.As SDLP Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie has said: The cancellation of Thursday’s Executive meeting is totally unacceptable.“I am outraged that amongst the many other important issues which are being held up in this logjam I am not able to progress my own housing agenda.“The people who elected us have the right to expect much better from the Ministers they entrusted with power.“This year I have set...
The BBC's obsession with the provisional movement continues apace. The latest instalment comes in the form of the headline story on their NI News website that informs us that Martin McGuinness says that dissident 'republicans' have little or no support.Apart from the fact that he has already said this before, the bottom line is that he is just stating an undeniable fact. Where's the news?Right, we get that the DUP and Sinn Féin have done a u-turn and have been talking more like normal democrats for the past year or so. But is there not real news that TV licence payers' money can go towards funding the reporting...
Despite being an arch anti-Tory myself, it is difficult not to have some regard for David Davis' decision to apply for Tony Blair's position as Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Chiltern Hundreds, and subsequently then submit himself as a candiate for the ensuing bye-election.Some say it is an act of ego; others an act of principle. I would suggest that it's probably a bit of both. Let's not forget that this is the man who snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the Conservative leadership contest. Nonetheless, he has given up one of the most powerful positions in the shadow cabinet and put his well-paid job as an MP on the line over this.At a time when the British Labour Party has woodchipped just about every ideological plank upon which it rested, politicians (with the unfortunate...
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Labour,
Tories,
Liberal Democrats,
David Cameron,
Gordon Brown,
Tony Blair,
Iris Robinson,
42 days' detention,
David Davis,
Chiltern Hundreds,
DUP
In 2005, Mary McAleese made some ill-advised comments on unionism and naziism. She apologised. In 2008, she visited a school in Coleraine in her home province of Ulster and was greeted by a small minority of the community providing heckles, foul-language, vocal complaints that she was not welcome, and placards reading 'Irish Money Not Wanted' and 'We Are Not Nazi's' [sic]. Am I the only one who spots the irony in...
I thought I'd heard it all, but Iris Robinson's suggestion that people who engage in the "abomination" of being part of the LGBT community could be 'turned' from their ways by a visit to a psychiatrist will really take some beating.Despite the fact that her husband is supposed to promote equality in his role as First Minister, Iris Robinson's comments are a slap in the face of those who actually believe that people have the right to be treated equally, not to mention the victims of hate attacks such as 27-year old Stephen Scott who two days previously was assaulted by a gang of youths, suffering head and leg injuries. What kind of message does this send out?The suggestion that living an 'alternative' lifestyle is an illness which needs fixed by a shrink would be hilarious if was coming...
After half a century of bile-spouting, it was going to take more than a few cheesy photos with Martin McGuinness to prove that Ian Paisley had finally seen the light. Actions speak louder than words, and Paisley's refusal to meet Eugene Reavey this week or apologise to him for the sickening accusations he levelled against the south Armagh man shows the departing First Minister's true colours.Mr Reavey's three brothers were slughtered in Whitecross by the brutal Glenanne Gang in 1976. In the immediate aftermath of these brutal killings, a short distance away ten Protestant workmen were killed in equally cold blood by the IRA. Under Parliamentary Privilege in 1999, Ian Paisley made the ludicrous accusation that Eugene Reavey "set up the Kingsmills massacre", despite the fact that he had...
The latest stunt by the DUP and Sinn Féin threatening to pull down the Assembly is a damning indictment of both parties and an insult to the people of the north, yet will conveniently suit both parties' self-serving agendas.With the new regime installed at the helm of the DUP, the party will want to move out of Chuckle Zone given the criticism from the TUV and others of Paisley's jovial relationship with Martin McGuinness of Sinn Féin over the past year. Of course, the DUP couldn't just manage this transformation back to the old-school style overnight without good reason- this 'crisis' gives them that good reason. It has created the perfect excuse to create the impression that there has been a chilling of the relationship. They even went so far as to appoint Jeffrey Donaldson as...
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Gerry Adams,
Jeffrey Donaldson,
Jim Allister,
TUV,
Ian Paisley,
Martin McGuinness,
DUP,
SDLP,
Sinn Fein,
Peter Robinson,
Northern Ireland Assembly
This week's announcement by Education Minister Caitríona Ruane that she would be bringing forward new plans for secondary transfer which included an element of examination was interpreted in one of two ways: as a climbdown in an attempt to win support from the other parties, or a climbdown because she realised she couldn't follow through on her "exciting" plans to abolish the eleven plus.It's quite clear that Ruane is crumpling under the pressure- she doesn't know where she's going and has given no indication of what her plans are. If Margaret Thatcher was the Iron Lady known for not turning, then it's becoming apparent that Caitríona Ruane is the Tin Foil Lady. After all, her plans are shapeless and amorphous, lightweight, crumple under any pressure and are easily torn apart.And if...
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Chuckle Brothers,
Caitríona Ruane,
Eleven Plus,
Ian Paisley,
Ulster Unionist Party,
DUP,
SDLP,
Sinn Fein,
Stormont
Bertie Ahern has handed in his notice to the President. And so comes to an end an era. Apart from Gerry Adams, who has effectively departed anyway, Bertie Ahern was the last of the Good Friday Agreement leaders to leave. He follows in the footsteps of Hume, Trimble and Blair.Of course, now begins a new era in Irish politics, north and south. Peter Robinson is to take over at the helm of the DUP and we already have Gordon Brown installed as British Prime Minister. The recent problems for the latter will undoubtedly raise questions about whether his two counterparts in Ireland will have similar problems following in the footsteps of such high-profile predecessors. It will be a while yet before we know, with no elections on either side of the border scheduled until next year. In the...
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David Trimble,
Bertie Ahern,
John Hume,
President,
Brian Cowen,
Taoiseach,
Gerry Adams,
Gordon Brown,
Tony Blair,
DUP,
SDLP,
Peter Robinson
A decade has passed since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement, and things have changed utterly since then for the people of Northern Ireland. Of course, they could have changed a lot earlier had the extremists now in power endorsed the Sunningdale Agreement in the 1970s, but the track record of those slow-learners is now the stuff of the history books.I read Peter Robinson in the News Letter the other day pouring cold water on the Good Friday Agreement, claiming it was a failure. In reality, of course, today's Assembly and governmental institutions are based almost wholly on the 1998 document. The St Andrews Agreement was nothing more than a stage show, a mere poor imitation of the Good Friday Agreement organised at the taxpayers' expense to give the impression that the DUP and Sinn...
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Seamus Mallon,
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David Trimble,
John Hume,
Gerry Adams,
Ian Paisley,
Ulster Unionist Party,
St. Andrews Agreement,
DUP,
SDLP
In an Assembly which has yet to pass any legislation of substance, we have yet again seen the inability of the DUP and Sinn Féin to deal with an important issue in a responsible and mature manner. After months of wrangling and delay, the plan to have four victims' commissioners, an idea concocted by the axis, has hit the rocks, with the two main parties disagreeing over whether there should be a chief commissioner- a primus inter pares, as it were. And as usual, it's the victims who lose out as they are lumbered with the pain of further delay.The DUP want there to be a main commissioner to chair the group's work, whereas Sinn Féin want each commissioner to be completely equal.Sinn Féin MLA Francie Molloy said: "That [DUP/ Sinn Féin] agreement was reached before Christmas on the lines...
In a move which some will see as an attempt to emulate Sinn Féin's ill-fated 'unionist outreach' charade, the DUP is to create an 'explorative' Irish Language Unit to examine how the island's native tongue can be sidelined handled in a way which is consistent with unionism.Clearly this is as a way for Paisley's party to portray itself as somewhat progressive without having to actually concede anything to the Irish language.However, this shouldn't come as such a big shock. After all, at the Ulster Unionist Convention of 1892 in Botanic Gardens, 20,000 delegates were greeted by the banner 'Erin go Bragh', which appeared on the pavilion, surmounted by a harp and shamrocks.Wonders never...
Rumours have been circulating for some time that the end of Ian Paisley's political career was nigh, and today we got confirmation from the horse's mouth that indeed the DUP leader is to resign from the office of First Minister and from the position of head of his party.It's not really any surprise that the comments from some quarters have practically ignored the decades of frustration that Paisley caused for democrats in the north of this country. Indeed, Martin McGuinness led tributes to the North Antrim MP, offering such glowing references that one would almost think that Sinn Féin are to write to the Pope asking that Paisley be considered for beatification. Perhaps it suits all concerned to airbrush out the full horrors of the past.There are also those who are congratulating Paisley...
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Ian Paisley,
IRA,
Martin McGuinness,
DUP,
Peter Robinson
DUP leader Ian Paisley has announced that he is to resign his position at the head of his party and as First Minister in May.He is to remain on as an MLA and MP for North Antrim.More to...
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Ian Paisley Jr.,
First Minister,
Nigel Dodds,
May,
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retire,
MLA,
resign,
MP,
North Antrim,
Sinn Féin,
Chuckle Brothers,
Ian Paisley,
DUP,
Peter Robinson,
Northern Ireland Assembly,
Stormont
In a shock result, the Ulster Unionist Party has retained its seat on Banbridge District Council after a bye-election in the Dromore area. The DUP, which had forced the bye-election following the resignation of UUP councillor and former rugby player Tyrone Howe, thought it would be a walk in the park. But they hadn't budgeted for the arrival of Jim Allister's Traditional Unionists on the scene.I was on the ground in the area last night during polling. A lot of people were of the opinion that TUV transfers would go back to the DUP and see them over the finishing post in first place. However, the animosity between the DUP and the two smaller Unionist parties was palpable, and I must admit I had a strong suspicion that the TUV would extract enough support from erstwhile DUP voters for the...
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Traditional Unionist Voice,
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by-election,
bye-election,
Tyrone Howe,
Jeffrey Donaldson,
Jim Allister,
TUV,
Ian Paisley,
DUP,
UUP,
Northern Ireland Assembly
The SDLP, having weighed up what was on offer in the budget against its serious shortcomings, voted against it- fair play to them. Margaret Ritchie stood firm in the face of the DUP/ SF axis bullying tactics and managed to squeeze extra money from them for much-needed social housing. However, it remains an essentially right-wing, anti-community budget. There is of course the lack of detail on water reform and education, and by the recent performance of Nigel Dodds with regard to the abolition of relief for the installation of energy efficient measures, the two big parties cannot be trusted to deliver unless they spell out exactly what they are intending to do.Some people don't seem to be able to get their heads around the concept that the SDLP are in the Executive as a right, not because...
I don't often bring up the issue of religion on this blog as it's not something I care to speak of much- live and let live, I say. However it is hard to ignore the blatant intolerance displayed by a DUP apparatchik on RTÉ radio this week.Wallace Thompson, who is an advisor to DUP enterprise minister Nigel Dodds, said on air yesterday that the "Pope is the Antichrist." He also told the radio phone-in that he would oppose any visit to the north by the Pontiff.If a senior official of a governing party anywhere else in Europe spouted this verbal detritus, there would be public outrage. Yet here in good ol' Northern Ireland, we're just supposed to accept this kind of anachronistic nonsense as if it were somehow normal. Not only that, but if we dare to criticise Paisley's party and its clearly...
I must apologise for my irregular appearances on the blog of late- a new computer is winging its way to Áras an Bhlogador so with any luck my contributions will resume a somewhat more orderly rate of publication. As it transpires, Pól has been keeping a steady hand at the helm, guiding El Blogador safely away from being dashed on the iceberg of irrelevance.Today saw the current Assembly's first budget. After all the wrangling of recent months over who was getting what from the proverbial purse, Margaret Ritchie's department emerged as the 'victor', which in effect means that the people in our society who need help to get a headstart in life are the victors.Despite being bullied and harrangued by the DUP/ Sinn Féin axis, Margaret has stood firm on a range of issues such as the...
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El Blogador,
Department of Social Development,
budget,
Sinn Féin,
Michael McGimpsey,
Ulster Unionist Party,
DUP,
SDLP,
Peter Robinson,
Northern Ireland Assembly,
Margaret Ritchie
I attended an interesting debate in Queen's Students' Union last night which pitched political representatives against each other under the chairmanship of Jim Fitzpatrick. The event was part of the union's 'Political Activism Week.'South Belfast DUP MLA Jimmy Spratt was booked as one of the speakers, but we were informed upon arrival that he had pulled out as MEP Jim Allister had been added to the bill. Spratt was replaced by his unsuccessful fellow Stormont candidate Christopher Stalford. Making up the rest of the line-up was John Barry from the Greens, Carmel Hanna from the SDLP, Basil McCrea from the UUP, David Ford from Alliance, and Sinn Féin's Alex Maskey (who arrived 25 minutes late- no jokes please about Sinn Féin always being behind everyone else).Issues discussed included the...
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Reg Empey,
Arlene Foster,
David McNarry,
Jim Fitzpatrick,
Basil McCrea,
Queen's University,
Alliance Party,
Sinn Féin,
Jeffrey Donaldson,
Jim Allister,
DUP,
SDLP,
UUP
I was shocked to hear about the failure of the Sinn Féin group on Belfast City Council to back a motion tabled at the monthly council meeting last night which asked councillors to support the suffering of the people of Burma and their democratic leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.The images are fresh in our memories of the brave people of Burma standing up to the brutal regime there. It's only right that the people of the world back their struggle for justice, democracy and freedom. Sinn Féin, however, appears to disagree.SDLP councillor Carmel Hanna had asked the Belfast councillors to agree that it would be a fitting tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi to consider offering her the Freedom of the City of Belfast. The proposal was supported by UUP, Alliance and...
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Belfast City Council,
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Nobel Peace Prize,
Aung San Suu Kyi,
Burma,
Alliance Party,
Sinn Féin,
DUP,
SDLP,
UUP
Jim Fitzpatrick has an amusing article which highlights how Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness have more in common than a shared inane propensity to giggle like schoolgirls when they come within a mile of a TV camera- it seems they may both have a rather embarrassing time as they lord it up in first class on their trip to America.The visa waiver form, which visitors from the UK and Ireland complete to avoid having to apply for a visa, has a number of questions about the applicant's past that most of us could answer 'No' to. That's not the case with the Chuckle Brothers though.One of the questions asks: "Have you ever been or are you now involved in espionage or sabotage; or in terrorist activities?" Given Martin McGuinness' involvement in the IRA, his conviction in 1973 after being caught...
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Continuity IRA,
USA,
Óglaigh na hÉireann,
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Special Criminal Court,
Jim Fitzpatrick,
First Minister,
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Chuckle Brothers,
Ian Paisley,
Martin McGuinness,
DUP,
Stormont
On a cold, wet night in November, you would expect most people in Ireland to be tucked up at home in front of the TV with the fire blazing. But that wasn't the case last night in Cullyhanna in south Armagh, where there was a massive turn-out of local people to back the family of Paul Quinn's campaign for justice. There quite literally was standing room only in the community centre.This was a gathering of ordinary, decent people who have simply come together to agree that they've had enough. A number of people in the crowd spoke of the years of intimidation they have received at the hands of paramilitaries. They talked about how they kept quiet about the beatings that their family members had received for fear of further reprisals. They spoke about the fact that they were sick of living...
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South Armagh,
Conor Murphy,
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Jim McAllister,
Cullyhanna,
Quinn Support Group,
Shaun Woodward,
Sinn Féin,
Fianna Fáil,
Bertie Ahern,
IRA,
Dominic Bradley,
Provos,
DUP,
SDLP
You've got to hand it to Martin McGuinness- for someone without RADA training it must have taken some skill to keep a straight face yesterday when he described the SDLP and UUP as the "problem parties". Clap, clap, clap. Bravo.Perhaps Mr McGuinness suffers from amnesia (probably useful given his past), but if he casts his mind back just a decade, then he will see what real problem parties were, including his own- on one side we had Sinn Féin advocating the resurrected campaign of terror being waged by the IRA and refusing to condemn provo killings, and on the other we saw the DUP refusing to entertain the idea of sharing power with nationalists and displaying just about every sectarian cliché in the book. The only problem with the SDLP and UUP for Sinn Féin and the DUP in the current...
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Reg Empey,
Sinn Féin,
Michael McGimpsey,
Ian Paisley,
Martin McGuinness,
DUP,
SDLP,
UUP,
Peter Robinson,
Northern Ireland Assembly,
Margaret Ritchie
With the ongoing debate and needless politicisation of the Irish language issue by the DUP, I hope I'm not barking up the wrong tree by showing this video as a lighthearted example of how an ability to speak both English and Irish is a good thing. There's nothing fishy about the idea of an Irish Language Act- it will help secure and enhance a linguistic heritage that belongs to everyone on this island, and will promote a greater understanding of where we have come from as we look at where we are going. The DUP and other politicians such as David McNarry may throw dog's abuse at the Irish language and its supporters, but that will not deter those who believe that an act is necessary....
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dog,
cat,
Irish Language Act,
fish,
Edwin Poots,
David McNarry,
Sinn Féin,
DUP,
SDLP,
UUP,
Northern Ireland Assembly
In the last week two PSNI officers have been shot by what are termed dissident republicans but who might be more accurately be described as non-subscribing Provisionals. Thankfully, though badly wounded, neither officer was killed. The Real IRA claimed responsible for the attack in Derry and a group styling itself the Irish Republican Liberation Army admitted the shooting in Dungannon. (Where do they get their names? Is there an Irish National Republican Army out there too?) The worrying thing is that these attacks will continue and, worse, escalate.The RIRA issued a statement about their attack which readers of a certain age will recognise as coming from An Phoblacht circa 1979: “As the Crown forces member travelled along Bishop Street towards the city centre, two IRA volunteers...
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RUC,
Crossmaglen,
Derry,
Real IRA,
Dungannon,
Sinn Féin,
John Hume,
PSNI,
Martin McGuinness,
DUP,
SDLP,
Margaret Ritchie
It would be remiss of me to not post on the departure of Nuala O'Loan from the post of Police Ombudsman. For the first time in the history of Northern Ireland, the police service was held to account upon her taking up her position. The job of Police Ombudsman left in the hands of a lesser person may have proved ineffective, but Nuala faced down personal insult and downright ignorance from unionist politicians and certain members of the PSNI to help bring us to a position now where people from all sides of the community feel that they can have at least some faith in the system.Let us hope that Al Hutchinson has even some of the balls of...
SDLP Leader Mark Durkan slammed a statement issued this evening by the DUP's Peter Robinson. Mr Durkan accused Robinson of prejudging the Executive meeting scheduled for tomorrow and of seeking to reshape events to suit personal political priorities.Robinson claimed that Margaret Ritchie "rushed to make her statement without keeping the conditions set out by the executive."He added: "Before she made her statement the minister was warned by officials she would be breaching the ministerial code but chose to dismiss the advice. Under the new ministerial code every minister is bound by executive decisions and must act in accordance with those decisions. The ministerial code has statutory authority. The DSD minister has therefore breached the ministerial code."However the Leader of the SDLP...
I would like to congratulate the Minister for Social Development for standing firm against the UDA, despite attempts by elements from within and outside the Assembly to undermine her. It is quite clear that the UDA should not get their grubby fingers on a single penny of public money.Of course it comes as no surprise that the DUP threw their toys out of the pram upon hearing the Minister's statement. What exactly do they want- a continuation of funding for those who refuse to decommission? Funny how they didn't display the same attitude in relation to the IRA in recent years. Hypocrisy of the highest order, methinks.Sinn Féin weren't much better. In the Assembly today they repeatedly asked the Minister the wholly pointless question: "Have you been funding the UDA?" Sinn Féin and...
Over the course of the past few months it has become clear that the tight grip of power that Ian Paisley once had on his 'flock' is loosening. Just last week it was revealed that he will be stepping down as leader of the church he founded, and now eight DUP councillors on Coleraine Council have backed a move to oppose DUP Minister Arlene Foster's plans for the Giant's Causeway.The councillors in question supported a proposal by SDLP Councillor John Dallat backing the original government plan for the development of the Giant’s Causeway. The proposal was seconded by the DUP mayor Maurice Bradley.The proposal reads: "This council supports the original government backed planning application for the Giant’s Causeway lodged in 2002 and conveys our concerns to the Minister for the...
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John Dallat,
Seaport Developments,
Giant's Causeway,
Free Presbyterian Church,
Seymour Sweeney,
Arlene Foster,
Ian Paisley,
coleraine,
DUP,
SDLP,
Northern Ireland Assembly