“That’s politics. It’s about time we saw more of it.”

Brian may be correct to identify the NI Assembly vote to devolve some policing and justice matters, whilst continuing to reserve others, as a missed “golden opportunity” for the UUP and the SDLP.  But it is not perverse to argue, as Malachi O’Doherty does

There are two ways of looking at politics. Many see the peace process as a greater good which must be served at the expense of all other political considerations. That argument had greater weight when the danger remained high that the IRA leadership would end its ceasefire and start killing and wrecking again to get its way.

But the principle appears to survive in the minds of many, perhaps most, that talking and agreeing must continue because these are good and bring us closer to reconciliation between estranged communities. Many who endorse this way of thinking fail to see the lazy, unpolitical nature of this perspective.

Pete Baker @ 12:46 PM | Comments (6)

“Perhaps for the citizens of the Republic too, the Belfast Agreement is in fact a settlement.”

It is, perhaps, symbolic that, rather than attending Sinn Féin’s Irish Unity Conference in London, David Adams, Martin McGuinness, et al, found themselves stranded on a Belfast runway in an ice-bound Aer Lingus jet.  It meant they missed Paul Bew’s contribution to the debate.  And in the Irish Times today David Adams, belatedly, has his say

It is often forgotten that unionists are not the only ones who need to be attracted to the idea of a united Ireland. The people of the Republic must endorse a unitary state as well. It has always been taken for granted that they would jump at the chance of reunification with the North, but it would make more sense if in fact they preferred to stick with the existing arms-length relationship.

Whatever its faults, the Republic is settled, cohesive and self-contained. Why on earth would its people want to gamble all in some new dispensation with nearly two million troublesome Northerners – most particularly if it were the case that a substantial number of their erstwhile neighbours were being dragged into something against their will?

Maybe republicans aren’t rocking the boat in the South because they realise that the people there aren’t any keener on a united Ireland than unionists are. Perhaps for the citizens of the Republic too, the Belfast Agreement is in fact a settlement.

Pete Baker @ 10:38 AM | Comments (30)

“The Friendly Sons can go outside if they want to smoke”

The Irish Times notes a selective approach to anti-smoking legislation by the Friendly Sons of St Patrick on Washington DC City Council.

Washington DC city councillor Jack Evans, a member of the all-male Society of the Friendly Sons of St Patrick, pushed emergency legislation through the council last week to exempt the Sons’ annual dinner from the smoking ban which the council passed in 2006.

Pete Baker @ 11:08 AM | Comments (17)

“underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”

Worth noting that among the items the NI Assembly voted to remain reserved today is the “politically motivated” Serious Organised Crime Agency [SOCA].  Meanwhile, the Assembly and Executive Review Committee has published its second report on devolution of policing and justice [volume 1 here, volume 2 here].  Included in Appendix 4 are the “Agreements, Concordats, Protocols and Memoranda of Understanding underpinning the devolution of policing and justice matters”.  Of particular interest, the national security protocols which NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward had, for some time, resisted providing to the committee.  You need to scroll down from here to find the relevant section - “Handling Arrangements for National Security Related Matters after Devolution of Policing and Justice to the Northern Ireland Executive”.

1. After devolution of policing and justice, the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice (hereafter referred to as the Minister of Justice) will be responsible for policing and criminal justice policy[1].The Secretary of State remains responsible for national security matters. The Transfer of Functions Orders set out in more detail what this means in practice in terms of the full range of functions which will devolve and the small number of functions which will remain with the Secretary of State.

2. It is recognised that national security related issues may touch on the responsibilities of the Minister of Justice. This protocol sets out arrangements for managing this issue so as to ensure that the NI Executive and the UK Government can each carry out their respective responsibilities effectively and that national security issues are properly protected.

Pete Baker @ 07:26 PM | Comments (20)

“They are still campaigning for a united Ireland, they are not going to get that either”

The NI Equality Commission was highly critical of Derry City Council’s approach to attempting to officially change the name of the city from Londonderry to Derry and, in September 2009, “strongly advise[d] Derry City Council not to proceed with the policy as it is currently proposed”.  That attempt stalled on Monday when the Council failed to agree what its next step should be.  Sinn Féin and the SDLP are blaming each other for that failure - an Irish News report provides the detail.

Members voted on two separate proposals - an SDLP plan to form a working group to discuss the name change and a Sinn Féin motion to petition the Privy Council to change the name. The SDLP proposal was voted down by Sinn Féin and the DUP. The Sinn Féin motion to change the name was defeated by the SDLP and the DUP. Both the SDLP and Sinn Féin accused each other of thwarting any name change.

SDLP councillor Helen Quigley said the Privy Council would have rejected any petition after considering the Equality Commission and Community Relations Council reports. However, Sinn Féin’s Kevin Campbell accused the SDLP of opposing the name change.

Adds I should have mentioned the bid to become the UK City of Culture…

Pete Baker @ 05:39 PM | Comments (18)

“When I say I aspire for Timor-Leste to be like Singapore or Dubai…”

The President of East Timor Timor-Leste, José Ramos-Horta, has been forthright in his views of his own country’s justice truth and reconciliation process - and revelatory about past attempts at international collaboration between paramilitary groups.  In Dublin on an official state visit to Ireland, he’s been offering some lessons for those keen to export The Process™ abroad.  From the Irish Times report

“It is not like academics or some western donors or the UN who think that if you finance a few workshops and write a report you have contributed to peace,” the Nobel peace laureate told The Irish Times . “I have seen so much money wasted by donors on peace workshop after peace workshop. It is much more than that. It is meeting with families and with the victims day in, day out; it is finding jobs for them; providing them with training, with funding to create jobs; creating hopes and a future for them. “Peace-building is not based on workshops or UN evaluation missions who descend on our country every three months to do an evaluation. These are wasteful exercises.”

Pete Baker @ 01:14 PM | Comments (5)

Such a parcel of rogues…

We’ve now had former US President George Bush Jnr [reportedly at the instigation of US economic envoy to Northern Ireland, Declan Kelly], and Ian Paisley Snr join in the campaign by, amongst others, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness and the NIO and NI Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, to try to pressurise the UUP into toe-ing the DUP/SF party line on tomorrow’s vote on devolving policing and justice powers.  Nice to see old comrades working together again…  To, apparently, little effect…

The Ulster Unionist executive has endorsed the party’s decision to vote against the devolution of policing and justice powers to Northern Ireland.

Pete Baker @ 09:38 PM | Comments (53)

More statistics…

Is the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers’ commissioned poll [At what cost? - Ed] any more rigorous than the NIO’s?  Who knows?  The questions certainly don’t appear to be.  As spotted by “thedissenter” in the comments zone here, the polling company chosen, Red Circle Communications, was set up in 2007 by former head of communications for the Scottish Labour Party, Steven Lawther.  The polling report, dated 4th March, is here [pdf file].  BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport finds something of value in it.

That said there is some interesting stuff in the OFMDFM survey about people’s desire for the First and Deputy First to work together, and the gap between this aspiration and how well people think the Executive is doing its job. Additionally less than half those interviewed felt well informed about what the Executive is doing (maybe that’s my fault!)

Heh.

Pete Baker @ 06:35 PM | Comments (10)

“directing British policy and directing the occupation of Ireland”.

Ahead of tomorrow’s vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly on devolving policing and justice powers, The Guardian’s Henry McDonald has been speaking to the vice-president of Republican Sinn Féin, Geraldine Taylor, at the party’s Falls Road headquarters.  From The Guardian report

But Geraldine Taylor, the veteran west Belfast republican and vice-president of RSF, said whoever got elected to the post would be “directing British policy and directing the occupation of Ireland”.

At the party’s Falls Road headquarters, flanked by a number of young republicans from the North Armagh area where the CIRA has a growing base, Taylor said a new justice minister would be “part and parcel of the British crown”.

Asked how the new minister would be regarded by what she called the “Republican Movement” (the umbrella term encompassing RSF and CIRA), Taylor replied: “They would be an enemy of the Irish people in just the same way as a British soldier or police officer serving in the PSNI/RUC.”

Pete Baker @ 03:28 PM | Comments (28)

“This poll shows that overwhelming community confidence has been firmly established..”

As Brian has mentioned, the NIO, and Northern Ireland Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, have weighed in to the campaign against the UUP with another of their famous surveys.  But is it 75%? 73%? Or, as the BBC reports, 68% in favour?  And was there a timescale involved for that support?  And is it the case that “In terms of overall support for the agreement to transfer policing and justice powers to the Executive at Stormont, 67% were in support and 13% opposed.” I could point out that their last published survey indicated 74% in favour of that transfer at some time.  Not that we can compare the findings to any of their previous offerings propaganda because, to date, there’s even fewer details on this poll than any of the others.  Where, for example, are the figures for the other parties?  Will we see the figures for those who indicated their support for the DUP?  Wouldn’t it be interesting to see how many of those surveyed indicated support for the TUV?  Was anyone asked?  A margin of error would be nice, Shaun… Adds See also the post on the OFMDFM poll.

Pete Baker @ 10:25 AM | Comments (36)

“the current Executive must be capable of exercising its existing powers…”

In Scotland and in Wales the people are to be asked directly before any more power is gifted to local politicians.  Here, the two main parties in the mandatory four party coalition go into a huddle behind closed doors and produce a less than transparent “agreement”.  Then those same two parties engage in a campaign against anyone expressing doubts based on the actual performance of the dysfunctional Northern Ireland Executive to date.  Then there’s the reported interest of unnamed US congressmen [Adds now named as the usual suspects congressmen Peter King, Richard Neal, Joseph Crowley and Tim Murphy].  Not that the other parties in the NI Executive can actually vote down any proposal supported by those two parties - and in a cross community vote the Alliance Party’s votes still don’t count.  And, after thanking the US Secretary of State for her kind phone call, the UUP leader Reg Empey issued a statement.  As reported here

Empey said he appreciated the call from Mrs Clinton, but stressed that his party still intended to vote ’no’ on the proposal to transfer law and order responsibilities from London to Belfast in April. “She (Mrs Clinton) has always taken a very keen interest in Northern Ireland and I thanked her for the call,” he said. “She’s obviously very anxious to see a successful resolution but I explained the situation we faced. She was very pleasant and helpful and I think she understands our view that we should have been more involved (in the Hillsborough talks).” Empey said “nothing substantive” had developed over the weekend to address any of his party’s concerns over the wide-ranging agreement on justice devolution and parades that was hammered out after 10 days of round-the-clock talks between Sinn Féin and the DUP at Hillsborough Castle, Co Down last month.

Perhaps this situation is also considered to be “good enough”... Adds We know why it’s “good enough” for one of those party. [*Cuckoo* *Cuckoo* - Ed] Now, we’ve put that US ‘imperialism’ behind us…

Pete Baker @ 10:37 PM | Comments (1)

“If anyone knows the whereabouts of the vehicle or has knowledge of its disposal…”

The BBC report notes that 20 minutes after the recent car bomb at the courthouse in Newry police received reports of a vehicle on fire in Drumintee, south Armagh.  And as the iol report notes - “while the Police Service of Northern Ireland received reports of the burning car 20 minutes after the blast in Newry, 48 hours later it was removed from the site without their knowledge by unknown persons.”  The report quotes a PSNI spokeswoman

“Police received a report of a vehicle on fire in the area of Drumintee just before 11pm on Monday February 22,” said a PSNI spokeswoman. “During Tuesday, officers made inquiries to establish if the vehicle was linked to the bomb attack at Newry courthouse. However, due to concerns that the vehicle may have been a lure to attack police, officers were unable to respond as fully or as quickly as they would have wished. On Wednesday morning police learned that the vehicle had been removed.”

Update According to UTV

On Sunday, a PSNI spokesman said the vehicle, which could hold vital forensic clues as to the car bombers’ identity, had now been located again. “A vehicle which police, at this stage, believe was the car set on fire in the area of Drumintee just before 11pm on Monday 22 February, was subsequently recovered for further investigation,” he said. The police would give no further details where the car was found, but it is understood it was recovered days after it went missing.

Pete Baker @ 03:02 PM | Comments (43)

“There is no doubt in my mind that the DUP and Sinn Fein have the numbers to pass this resolution”

According to the BBC’s report, and the UTV one, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness has said that the UUP have “three days to sort themselves out” over the issue of policing and justice [and OFMDFM’s less than transparent approach on other issues? - Ed].  An “ultimatum”, no less.  Or else what, Martin?  Who, exactly, is “threatening the political institutions” over this issue?  And what would your collapsing of your best only evidence of Sinn Fein’s “ability to deliver” tell the electorate in Ireland? After all, Sinn Féin and the DUP can carry the vote on Tuesday, alone.

Pete Baker @ 10:20 PM | Comments (28)

“Any electoral damage that might ensue would affect only southerners.”

Having just voted against a motion rejecting a possible coalition with either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael, it’s a bit odd for Martin McGuinness to be ruling out a coalition with one of those parties.  Probably wiser to wait until you’re asked… and in a numerical position to join a coalition.  And isn’t it up to “the membership of Sinn Féin”, “alone”, to decide?  Still, it matches the contradictory statements made ahead of the vote.  Interestingly, those speaking in favour of the rejected motion included the chairman of the troubled Dublin Sinn Féin constituency party, Eoin O’Broin, who reportedly argued that “participation in government with a “right-wing” party would entrench partition and damage Sinn Féin”.  Odder still, then, is the unelected Mary Lou McDonald’s claim that the dysfunctional mandatory coalition that is the Northern Ireland Executive [any right-wing parties there? - Ed], which they’d been threatening to collapse, is evidence of Sinn Féin’s “ability to deliver” in government an administration.  As Brian Feeney noted earlier in the week in the Irish News.

In Sinn Féin’s case the ard fheis motions opposing coalitions are all from southern cumainn while it is clear the northerners desperately want to get into government so they can have ministers on both sides of the border sitting across the table from each other in the North-South Ministerial Council. Any electoral damage that might ensue would affect only southerners. Indeed the northerners would benefit electorally. How to square that circle?

They haven’t bothered trying, Brian. [Partitionist! - Ed] Indeed.

Pete Baker @ 12:33 PM | Comments (19)

“and there’s not a parliament to publish the report…”

According to a BBC report, Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Shaun Woodward, speaking in Londonderry, said that he hopes to be in a position to publish Lord Saville’s [pointless] report into Bloody Sunday “within days of receiving it.”  Except that, as the BBC previously reported, he told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee at Westminster on Wednesday that “he would only take about two weeks to consider the mammoth document but added that nobody knew when Prime Minister Gordon Brown would call the election.”

He told the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee of MPs the election raised security concerns about possible leaks and added people’s lives could be endangered if highly sensitive personal details were released. “Where it is the case that the report is delivered and there’s not a parliament to publish the report, it then sits in electronic and in physical form in a warehouse for what might be weeks so I am genuinely concerned,” he said. “But I am also concerned, not just about legitimate leaks but those leaks which actually of course are not based on the report at all but are wild speculation dressed up as leaks.” He said such speculation would cause anxiety but “it will be impossible to give any response” at that time.

Pete Baker @ 10:44 AM | Comments (13)

“with as much transparency as is possible to achieve without compromising our operations”

The BBC reports that the SDLP’s Alex Attwood is complaining that proposed security protocols mean that MI5 will remain accountable only to senior UK Ministers, Parliament and the judiciary, however limited that may be, and not to a local Northern Ireland Justice Minister - just as it is in the rest of the UK.  From the BBC report

The DUP’s Ian Paisley Jnr said the SDLP needed to accept the fact that issues concerning national security would not be devolved. “The local justice minister will have responsibility to deal with local justice issues in terms of courts, prison service and the general holding to account of the police service,” he said. “No local justice minister is having their fingers near the national security of the UK.”

Pete Baker @ 09:06 PM | Comments (25)

“only a complete recall of the affected models will restore market confidence…”

Irish University presidents have defended the standard of education in their colleges as the Dáil awaits details from the Irish Minister of Education, Batt O’Keeffe, of his department’s report on ‘grade inflation’ - as mentioned here.  Interestingly the review was announced following a meeting between the Minister and representatives of a number of US multinational companies, including Google and Intel.  Until the report is unveiled I’ll leave you with Frank McNally’s Irishman’s Diary

It is understood the problem involves both second- and third-level graduates, produced on a range of assembly lines between 1992 and 2004. All makes are potentially affected. But among those causing particular concern is the best-selling Maynooth first-class honours model, one of Ireland Inc’s recent success stories: production of which increased by 700 per cent during the boom years. The sporty, fast-talking UCC model, premium versions of which rose by 174 per cent during the same period, is also being investigated.

But safety fears are not confined to the company’s luxury products. The hybrid Institute-of-Technology diploma holder, a mainstay of the family and budget sectors of the market, is thought to be at risk too. And even the humble Leaving Cert graduate, still popular as an urban runabout, may now be suspect.

Update RTÉ reports that “The Minister for Education has said he is satisfied that grade inflation is not a problem at Leaving Certificate level and that proper controls are in place.”  But the iol report notes that “A new university grades watchdog is being set up after US multinationals complained about the standard of Irish graduates”.

Mr O’Keeffe said there were a number of conflicting arguments as to why top university and third-level grades had increased over the past 10 years in Ireland, and internationally. These included a deliberate decision to align Irish standards with the UK and elsewhere, that students were better prepared and motivated or simply that grade increases were a result of a drop in standards. The minister refused to say what reasons he believed were behind the trend and would only insist it was a complex issue.

Pete Baker @ 01:20 PM | Comments (31)

“Venezuelan government’s co-operation in the illicit collaboration” between Eta and Farc”

With a number of convicted, and suspected, former ETA terrorists washing up on these shores there’s a notable report of interest from the Irish Times.

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez denied the allegations. Typically, he blamed an “international Yankee plot”, describing it as “a sad remnant of Spain’s colonial past”. It is not the first time Mr Chavez has had strong words for Spain. His repeated interruptions of Mr Zapatero at the Ibero-American summit in Chile two years ago caused King Juan Carlos to shout: “Why don’t you shut up?”

Words of a more conciliatory tone came from Nicolas Maduro, the Venezuelan foreign minister. In a telephone call with his Spanish counterpart Miguel Angel Moratinos, he promised he would investigate the allegations and keep Mr Moratinos informed.

Pete Baker @ 10:59 PM | Comments (10)

On the problem of consultation as “cynical tokenism”...

Jeff Peel and Bobballs both have posts on an issue that’s perplexing both of them: the possible withdrawal of funding for places in the Preparatory Departments of 16 Grammar Schools. As BobBalls notes “the Protestant middle-classes don’t tend to be a tinderbox for revolutionary spirit.” But he also points out that the motive cannot be about saving money:

Mick Fealty @ 10:47 PM | Comments (26)

“Saville is pointless (so is any question on it)”

Someone has mischievously leaked an email from the putative Northern Ireland Justice Minister David Ford to the Liberal Democrats dating from last November.  The BBC report highlights the relevant line

In the email leaked to the BBC, entitled ‘Northern Ireland Questions’, Mr Ford states “Saville is pointless”, adding in brackets and “so is any question on it”.

Adds In the comments zone, [Alliance Party member] “Sammy Morse” points to an earlier reference to the email by Mark Devenport - although Saville doesn’t get a mention.

Pete Baker @ 08:44 PM | Comments (161)

Non-jury trials “an essential option to ensure fair trials”

According to the current Criminal Justice Minister Paul Goggins, MP, the provision for non-jury trials, which was renewed in June 2009, will be subject to “a comprehensive review [], including a full public consultation, before it next falls to be renewed in July 2011.”  By which time it may fall to the NI Assembly to decide whether to renew that [or similar] legislation.  Do the parties here have an agreed position?

Pete Baker @ 03:12 PM | Comments (25)

McFarlane takes Ireland to European Court of Human Rights

The Irish Times informs us that “Ireland makes a rare appearance before the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg today to face allegations of violating the rights of Maze escapee Brendan McFarlane.”  The complaint followed the collapse of the trial of the prominent Provisional IRA member on charges relating to the kidnapping of businessman Don Tidey in 1983.  From the Irish Times report

In this case, Mr McFarlane is asking the court for a ruling that the State deprived him of a fair trial in not charging him with offences related to the 1983 kidnapping until 1998, and to further delay in that this trial did not eventually take place until 2008.

He is making a separate complaint that his judicial review proceedings challenging the delay, which began in November 1999, were not concluded until March 2006, and that there were further delays while he litigated residual issues before the courts between November 2006 and March 2008.

Concerns about The Process™ are unlikely to be considered a valid defence…

Pete Baker @ 11:41 AM | Comments (3)

“Sure, he’d always be buying tickets to draws and stuff like that…”

Notorious gambler, and former Taoiseach, Bertie ‘Lucky’ Ahern, has apparently scooped the rollover jackpot of €10,000 in a draw for a soccer club at the Beaumont House pub in his northside constituency - the scene of two of his previous “whip-rounds”.  Over to the Irish Times’ Miriam Lord

All those millions of raffle tickets he purchased down through the bubble years are worthless now. If it wasn’t for his pension and TD’s salary and various other bits and bobs rolling in, the man would be as penniless as he was during those minister for finance years. But do they care in Leinster House? They do not.

The man himself wasn’t around yesterday. No sign of him in the chamber, so we don’t know if he joined his fellow deputies and Senators in clocking into work for the first time in Irish political history. Perhaps the Bert was back in his office, trying to work out whether he should put his winnings into the bank or into a biscuit tin. Bertie didn’t have a lot of faith in the banks when he was officially on his uppers back in the 1990s and unofficially awash with money.

Pete Baker @ 10:52 AM | Comments (6)

Education, education, education…

The Catholic Church has announced it is to unilaterally review the provision of the post-primary Catholic Maintained Schools sector and, in the process, appears to be extending their previously identified ‘deadline’ of 2012 for ending [Catholic] academic selection. Recently Cardinal Sean Brady also defended “the right of children in our schools to be led and formed in authentic worship of God in the Catholic tradition”.  DUP leader Peter Robinson is more exercised about the former than the latter.  Meanwhile, those Catholic and state-controlled grammar schools still selecting academically are holding talks about introducing a single post-primary transfer test.

The Post-Primary Transfer Consortium and Association for Quality Education held a meeting in Belfast on Monday. The chairman of the meeting described it as a “positive” encounter. Former principal Finbarr McCallion said that there was general agreement on having a single test.

Pete Baker @ 06:58 PM | Comments (35)

“While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK.”

Londonderry may have been shortlisted to become the UK’s first City of Culture in 2013, but the Sinn Féin party leader on the council, Maeve McLaughlin, is not happy.

Ms McLaughlin said she believed the bid was “very heavily weighted in terms of cementing our relationship with London”. “While we are a city of culture there has to be a recognition that we’re not part of the UK.

“We are not opposing the bid, but we are putting down a marker at this stage and saying we should be exploring, rather than cementing, this relationship. “There is a huge onus on the team that’s been put together to lead this bid to put in writing how they will address the issue of the tens of thousands of nationalists and republicans in this city and region who do not recognise themselves as part of the UK,” she said.

She’s wrong on both counts…

Pete Baker @ 09:24 AM | Comments (73)