Yesterday we had that walkout of Unionists from the current talks, choreographed to coincide, almost to the second, with the release of the Parades Commission determination for the Ardoyne return leg on the Twelfth. The assembled Unionists had an agreed statement already prepared about ‘graduated responses’ and made a call for no unlawful protests (ahem). Irony not being their strong point, this was in the context ignoring the legally binding determination of the Parades Commission. The first response was to withdraw from a North-South Ministerial Council meeting scheduled for today.
At more or less the same time, the legal challenge into the report by Douglas Bain into the Robinsons was withdrawn by the Robinsons’ legal team meaning it can now go forward to the Standards Committee of the Assembly. The report, into the behaviour of Peter and Iris Robinson, had been delayed over a significant period of time by Iris’ health. But for the last seven or eight months, it has been delayed from release by a legal challenge which would have soon had to be heard in court. The report may well have the potential to end Peter Robinson’s political career. The last time he was under such pressure, the DUP circulated their 40,000 infamous Flags leaflets.
So is the timing merely a coincidence? Discuss…
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