In yet another excellent piece for the Newsletter Sam McBride highlights the fact that Claire Sugden, it appears, has the ability to call a public inquiry on RHI under the Inquiries Act 2005. Up until this point the East Derry MLA has managed to avoid much of the media focus that has engulfed other Executive parties. With the Attorney General’s Office making it clear that he cannot set up an investigation into the ‘Cash for Ash’ scheme it does appear …
So the misogyny line from Arlene this morning. I don’t want to spend too much time on it, because I’m with Jim Allister that it is just the latest in a line of distractions. It will take more than a self-serving Telegraph interview to clear Arlene Foster of RHI culpability https://t.co/sAOEys975N — Jim Allister (@JimAllister) January 4, 2017 But you only have to search twitter with the FM’s name and the sort of gross language most women politicians have to …
With every day that passes, the path for those seeking to block a full public inquiry into the diabolical RHI scheme is getting narrower. Many parties have suggested various forms of investigations and inquiries , but what is becoming abundantly clear is that only one form of inquiry can get to the truth, and that is a full public inquiry under the Inquiries Act 2005. That is why the motion constructed by Cllr Ruth Patterson, which comes before Belfast City …
One Sinn Fein friend on Twitter this morning tried to argue that a SF public representative producing their own Press Release from their own email (after it had been withdrawn by the press office) was normal practice. Not in my experience. In fact, as Gareth McKeown points out, it was only one word of a difference: After appearing to clarify it did not support a public inquiry on Friday evening a senior MLA contradicted the party line on Monday by …
What would the Assembly look like if weighted majority voting had been introduced? With the present RHI scandal throwing up another problem with the system there have been some calls for a ‘public conversation’ on future reform. In the (original) Assembly & Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Bill John McCallister brought forward cross-community support and the petition of concern would have been removed. He had proposed a minimum percentage of 60% as a weighted majority threshold. First lets see how the …
Dear Arlene I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to you and your party for my recent fickleness. I have let you down and I pledge, from this day forth, to do everything in my power to regain your trust. As to my fickleness: A temporary failure on my part to give you the benefit of any doubt. I ignored the cardinal rule, if it’s a one off then give someone the benefit, if it keeps happening well it’s …
Chris had a piece up on Sinn Fein’s approach towards RHI and we will have to wait until the Assembly comes back to see how far the are prepared to go over this issue but a contribution was made today by Matt Carthy MEP who has issued a warning to the DUP. I have bolded some of the key bits. Nationalists and republicans throughout Ireland, not least members and supporters of Sinn Féin, are deeply angered at the recent actions and …
As more RHI revelations make their way into the public domain, there are signs that the political temperature in the Executive is heading northwards. Today, the Sinn Fein Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness, reiterated his party’s call for Arlene Foster to step aside as First Minister over the issue. Whilst a non-attributed DUP statement appeared to rule this out in recent days (to the joy of at least one DUP councillor- see tweet below), there are indications that the heat …
PRODUCING SAUSAGE MEAT – This is my favourite item from my mid-December stink looking through government papers that would be released on Friday 30 under the 20 Year Rule. The title could have been referring to a report on the state of the pork industry. The papers could have been an evaluation of how best to heat pig farms in the 1980s. It could have pointed to an unbeknownst – or forgotten – health crisis affecting sausages. Instead …
