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...
I went along to the Bush protest at Belfast City Hall yesterday, which was reasonably attended given that it was Monday lunchtime, armed with a load of placards and a large red banner- a trait I had in common with many in attendance. It was great to see such a variety of people turning out to oppose the decision to invite the War President to pose as a man of peace in Stormont; curious bystanders on their lunchbreak, anarcho-syndicalists, Eamonn McCann basking in his post-Raytheon trial glory, trade unionists, youth groups from the SDLP, SF, Socialist Party and ICTU, the SWP, large rubber statues with men inside, young children and elderly women to name a few.The highlight was éirígí's brazen stunt which saw the Iraqi flag replace the Union Flag on the City Hall flagpole for the...
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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...
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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Abstentionism in the past worked very well for Sinn Féin; it provided a brilliant change of approach after the December 1918 elections which consigned the tired Irish Parliamentary, rather unfairly in some respects, to the dustbin of post-1916 20th century Irish history. The unilateral declaration of independence and the setting up of a separatist assembly which soon became the legitimate parliament of the Irish people, the First Dáil, was a great success. That was then; how about now?Nowadays there is no alternative revolutionary assembly; just the Stormont Assembly in which Sinn Féin MLAs sit. This acceptance of British rule in Ireland marked a belated turnaround from the traditional SF policy of 'kill loads of people and ruin the economy' in order to somehow force the British from...
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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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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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...
Democracy- what's it all about, eh? Here was me thinking that with devolved government, we might have seen an end the backdoor sidedealery that marked British Direct Rule. However, it seems that the DUP and Sinn Féin are picking up where Hain and friends left off.It has been revealed that the Paisleyites and the Provos approached the British Government on the sly to get cash for two extra advisors, a move which required a change in the law. But did they do this through the Assembly? No. Did they decide to put it to the elected representatives in the House of Commons? No. It turns out that the law was changed through a Prerogative Order signed by the Secretary of State and rubberstamped by the Privy Council on 25th July, allowing no debate in either Parliament or the Assembly.Are this lot...
The reshuffled roster of SDLP spokespersons is as follows:Attwood, Alex: Employment and Learning, North-South DevelopmentBradley, Dominic: EducationBradley, Mary: Elderly, Children (OFMDFM)Bradley, PJ: Agriculture and Rural AffairsBurns, Thomas: Social DevelopmentDallat, John: Regional DevelopmentGallagher, Tommy: Environment, Western Services DevelopmentHanna, Carmel: Health and Public SafetyKelly, Dolores: Equality (OFMDFM), Policing Board memberMaginness, Alban: JusticeMcDonnell, Alasdair: Enterprise, Trade and DevelopmentMcGlone, Patsy: Irish language, Community AffairsO'Loan, Declan: Finance and PersonnelRamsey, Pat: Culture, Arts and...