Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Exclusive: Sinn Fein councillor ‘suspended without prejudice’
Slugger understands that Fermanagh Sinn Fein Councillor Bernice Swift has been suspended from the party ‘without prejudice pending review’. Ms Swift’s offence? It would appear speaking out against the party line on policing and District Police Partnerships. Pete blogged her fairly cogent arguments, originally carried in the Impartial Reporter, earlier in the month:
The DPPs possess significantly less influence than the limited powers of the policing board. The Patten recommendations, (and indeed subsequent similar legislation), states that the views of the DPPs would only be ‘taken fully into account’ by the police and it also makes clear that these bodies would have no power to investigate police activities or to approve policing plans for their areas?
The lack of powers possessed by these boards and sub boards means that meaningful control and accountability by the community is impossible, as the control and accountability mechanisms rest elsewhere. These accountability mechanisms may have been tweaked recently but it is quite clear to me that such activist as those of MI5 will not be subject to any interference from these boards.
This interesting for a number of reasons. It is absolutely true that political parties are in effect collective enterprises all be it made up from lots of different minded individuals. They have a right to expect members to toe the line. The trouble here is that Ms Swift’s arguments reflect the feelings of those in other parties and are borne out by the fact that DDPs have struggled to retain the interest and enthusiasm of represents from as far apart as Fermanagh and North Down. Though Ms Swift’s arguments take a much wider purview than the usual grumblings about DPPs just being ‘pointless talking shops’.
That her remarks have warranted such a censorious response may be because her critique goes to the heart of misgivings shared by a lot of people in Republican heartlands: that the deal brought Sinn Fein back from St Andrews was no better, and indeed possibly a good deal worse than the previous deal the party so heavily criticised the SDLP for, which at least gave local politicians some sense of what the Intelligence Services might be up to.
What should worry insiders is the potential loss of a talented local councillor. No party (on any of these islands) is so awash with talent that it can let go of its best people cheaply. Indeed, as last week’s poorly managed parliamentary attack and the disappointing performance of some of its key Ministers demonstrates, such top down micro management of dissent is not necessarily the best way to build up a coalition of talent, never mind a new generation of leaders.
As one commentator suggested to Slugger, it is as though the party has no coping mechanism to help it manage the enormous changes it’s going through.
Mick Fealty @ 06:34 PM
Also, from yesterday’s Irish News:
Sinn Fein councillor Marie McKeegan formally resigned her seat in Moyle Council last night. Ms McKeegan, from Cushendun, announced she was stepping down at yesterday’s council meeting although she will stay as a member of the party. A by-election is expected to be held in early December after Sinn Fein Ballymena representative Padraig McShane and independent James McCarry were put forward as possible replacements.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 07:25 PMWonder how long it will be, before St Anne of Dungiven or some of the other usual suspects get the heave-ho....?
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 07:55 PMI know Bernice to be an articulate, intelligent and gifted individual. She is also one of the most hard working councilors in Fermanagh, whose dedication and enthusiasm is inspiring.
Getting shafted in such a fashion by Sinn FĂ©in is indicative of quite a few things, not least a lack of appreciation of talent within the ranks. Or perhaps there is a recognition by some, prompting such action by those who feel threatened.
I am more inclined to this idea of a lack of ability to cope or deal with situations outside the remit of the upper echelons. We saw that last week when the MLA’s were unable to deal with an unexpected statement from Margaret Ritchie.
So here we have a bright young thing making a fairly sensible pronouncement getting suspended by the party elders.
What does this tell us about Sinn Fein and what should we try to learn? Well, to begin with, we have a young aprty who dont know what to do outside the obvious scripted responses to practical acts of opposition. In other words, a party who were more used to physical disobedience such as car theft, dangerous driving or other criminal acts. It was easy enough to take alternative action in such cases and accept the ceasefire as a reason to prohibit physical force reaction.
But what of the mind police? The dangerous ones who try to control thought and action, who cannot cope with original ideas or challenge? Calling out the mind police in this fashion speaks of an immaturity and inability to deal with Real Politik that is frightening. How they hope to govern that cannot accept debate is beyond me.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 08:41 PMA shot across the bows to the rest of the elected reps and membership?
As SF u-turn on policy after policy and drift further from promises and expectations maybe the only way to keep people on message is by a very clear warning to all that no matter what your ability and commitment, no matter how clearly you see the emperor’s nudity, if you mutter one word off message you are out the door.
Or is there no dissent in SF on issues like implementing PFI and Water charges along with issues like running interference for the PSNI? Bernice a lone voice of dissent and integrity? The rest silenced or nodding along in agreement with the complete change in direction and policy?
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 08:58 PMFurther signs of the party imploding, with more to come, there was absolutely no change managment process within the party for what has been happening, nudge, wink and side of the mouth speak still rule the roost, with ideas, intelligece and talent,treated as a threat to the newly installed “leadership”, and ruthlessly put down,expelled or isolated.
More to come, and in a few years the party will only be inhabited by former soldiers and wannabees.Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 09:31 PMNo big deal. Wasn’t Francie Molloy chastised recently without any major effects? Fairly normal political practice, though applied with more consistency and ruthlessness than most.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 09:44 PMMick-
“the deal brought Sinn Fein back from St Andrews was no better, and indeed possibly a good deal worse than the previous deal the party so heavily criticised the SDLP for, which at least gave local politicians some sense of what the Intelligence Services might be up to.”
You’ve hit the nail on the head. The SDLP was repeatedly attacked by SF for going onto the Policing Board and DDPs for a numnber of years. How often did we hear the tired ‘you jumped too soon’ accusations? Then all of a sudden the SF leadership does a u-turn and likewise the wider party falls lock, stock and barrel behind the policing structures, no questions asked. Why? Did SF get a date for devolution of policing powers, a provision that they claimed needed to be in place before they joined the PB and DPPs? No. Did they get any major expedition of the implementation of Patten? No. They did however hand over oversight of the operations of British Secret Services.
So where does that leave us? Clearly one would assume that SF is not full of automatons (although the 180 degree u-turn on policing by the leadership and the ensuing domino-like endorsement by SF supporters for the change would arguably suggest otherwise), so those members capable of independent thought are going to find themselves vexed at the complete lack of basis for SF’s change in policy on policing.
Swift has merely voiced the ‘old’ SF position which was so strongly promoted prior to the extraordinary ard fheis. In the absence of anything to have made her change her mind on the issue of the policing structures, one would have thought that her comments would be quite legitimate from a SF member. However, for SF representatives it appears that logic must be jettisoned in favour of political expediency- Swift made the mistake of getting it the wrong way around, and has therefore found herself at the receiving end of provisional disciplinary wrath.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 09:49 PMGaribaldy,
You think? SF seem to operate on the outer edge of democratic centralism which is bizarre for a party happily endorsing mandatory coalition and ideological compromise at the top end. The willingness to compromise or accept alternate views is fine for leadership and not permitted by the base.
Twisted logic to me.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 09:54 PMAnother backfiring blunder from the most boneheaded, arrogant and disconnected “leadership” in the world.
One wonders were the same words uttered by Scappitici or Donaldson would their mates be so quick with the big stick.
3 Councilors have stood down in Dublin in the last week.
I agree with saveus completely - a dictatorship ran shambles which is set for more implosion and we won’t have to wait too long for it to intensify....
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 09:56 PMA henchmans club through and through with no space for anyone outside the lackey circle- shame on you McGuinness and Adams you are beneath contempt!
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 09:59 PMCTN-
“Another backfiring blunder from the most boneheaded, arrogant and disconnected “leadership” in the world.”
I wouldn’t say that. The provisional leadership, over the course of 25 years or so, has managed to turn the ship around completely in every respect, successfully bringing the bulk of the leadership with them and managing to do extraordinarily well in northern elections. The mark of failure will be if there are many more ‘Swift incidents’, defections and a drop in support at the polls.
Much as I reject the provisional analysis, one has to hand it to the leadership for the way they have successfully managed to change utterly everything their organisation once stood for.
Where they go from here is another question…
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:03 PMOr, with a limited focus on socialism having to play out the Leninist-Bolshevik-Menshevik-Stalinist debate decades after everyone* else worked out Menshevik was right all along.
*well, democratic socialists
I apologise if the references above are going above the heads of some.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:17 PMSwift wont be missed around Fermanagh a terrible councillor and quite lazy as well.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:18 PMIn relation to this intervention by the thought-police against Bernice Swift, its worth pointing out that the late John Kelly said in a interview with the Irish News’ Stephen McCaffery some time ago that “I began to feel that within Sinn FĂ©in republicanism there was no room or no space for people to have an opinion that was different from the leadership’s opinion, and I felt that was contrary to the whole spirit of republicanism. It was contrary, not only to republicanism, but to the whole concept of the civil rights movement where people living in a police state had been denied the right to have a political opinion that was contrary to unionism….Sinn FĂ©in are a very controlled organisation,” he said.
“Some of my republican colleagues referred to them as a benign dictatorship. That’s their cynical view of it. It is a ‘control dictatorship’ with all the elite at the top. Everything has to be filtered through that and no-one else is to be given space to express an opinion…..I think there are people who would be echoing what I am saying, but who at the end of the day would do what they were told,” he said.
“So there was a distinction between whether you wanted to go along with that, or whether you wanted to – not be your own man – but to at least be allowed the dignity to express your own opinion.
“And not to be treated as someone who is incapable of having a political opinion, or doesn’t have the intelligence to have a political opinion.”I’m sure Bernice and others can now the wisdom of John’s words.
Bernice is a not your ordinary SF cllr. She is also project manager with Firinne, a group which works on behalf of victims of state-sponsored violence throughout County Fermanagh. Firinne have three people employed who are currently working with the victims and their families, helping them to address their trauma and counselling needs and also in the pursuit of their legal cases to find out the truth about collusion in County Fermanagh.
She is also, along with the DUP’s Lord Maurice Morrow, one of the two alternate members of the Committee of the Regions set up by the EU in 1994 under the Treaty on the European Union, as an advisory political assembly representing local and regional authorities in the European Union. The two full members are two ministers- Conor Murphy and Edwin Poots. So clearly, SF believed that she had future potential.
Interestingly, in February PĂłilĂn UĂ Cathain resigned as a councillor from Sinn FĂ©in in the aftermath of the special Ard FhĂ©is on policing. At the time she was quoted as saying “I sincerely hope that my reservations regarding Sinn Fein`s support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland will be proven wrong. I believe that this decision is now irreversible. Thereforewhile I can afford to be wrong, I don`t believe that SinnFein has that luxury.”
Both Bernice Swift and Poilin UĂ Cathain were elected in May 2005 for the Erne West electoral area of Fermanagh Council which includes Belcoo, Garrison, Boho, Cleenish & Letterbreen, Derrygonnelly, Derrylin, FlorenceCourt & Kinawley
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:21 PMGaribaldy
Are you suggesting that a prohibition on airing a political view is ‘normal practice’? Like, seriously!The point being missed I think is that the areas raised by Swift were not hinges of the political platform. They were fairly low grade questions on the efficacy of the local DPP.
Ironically, the DPPs as they now stand will probably be abolished by 2010 to fall in line with the new DCU’s which were meant to align with the never never RPA structures. So, it is in many ways much ado about nothing
Which underscores my core point that this party is not dealing in a fair, open and democratic fashion with debate among the members, and such stringent measures will do nothing but ultimately destroy the party.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:21 PMwhat a dictatorship, cllr swifts comments seemed to have hit a raw nerve with the leadership. i wonder will this tactic rebound on the party? im sure she was speaking what alot of other cllrs and members are thinking? Maybe sinn fein should look to bring back SECTION 31 BROADCASTING BAN but only on party members with there on mind and brain? the rest of the sheep should be ok.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:23 PM“Wasn’t Francie Molloy chastised recently without any major effects?”
Yes, in his case he was opposed to the 7 council model, whereas SF were in favour.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:32 PMMiss Fitz,
This is an a rerun of a debate had before any of us were born. How a ‘revolutionary’ party transforms once they stop fighting the war.
I’m happy to be be in the minority ‘Mensheviks’. The Bolshies just lead to Stalinism.
Hooray for Bernice. Good to see at least one willing to say no to the Bolshies.
Though her card is marked as always.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:37 PMAs per usual there are those that are attempting to predict an impending “implosion” of Sinn FĂ©in from a fairly insignificant episode. It is absolutely ridiculous and way off the mark.
Sinn FĂ©in is not about to implode because the party has reprimanded a Fermanagh councillor.
Sinn FĂ©in has survived the policing challenge with a series of carefully, crafted well-managed maneuvres that were only made with the support of the vast majority of Sinn FĂ©in grass roots. The criticism of the SDLP came when this grass root support wasn’t assured - it now is.
SF survived all the policing debates at a potentially harmful time politically (i.e. there was an election campaign). Does anyone remember Davy Hyland, Kathy Stanton? - these were higher profile names than Swift and former MLAs of course.
“The potential loss of a talented councillor” is not going to overly worry “insiders”. There is a raft of young, up and coming talent in Sinn FĂ©in at both council and Assembly level, particularly in comparison to some of their political rivals - The UUP and SDLP are rather lacking in comparison.
SF has survived the potential policing crisis with an increased share of the vote and an increased representation in the Assembly.Imminent implosion?? Where will the votes go? to the SDLP...? to a new Republican party...? There is absolutely no sign or evidence whatsoever of either of these situations happening and for anyone to infer that it will happen from recent events is to seriously underestimate the strength of Sinn FĂ©in’s party political machine.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:44 PMHooray for Bernice. Good to see at least one willing to say no to the Bolshies.
Frank Sinistra
Behind all the rhetoric from Swift the simple fact is she wont support the police force and it seems she would much prefer to go back to old Sinn Fein policies of simply killing police personnel. I don’t applaud this she is a pathetic public representative and has no role in a civilised society. How many people like her exist in Sinn Fein and continue to pour scorn on the police, quite a few I would assume and many of these know who killed the young man at the weekend.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:48 PMLamaria
I can understand that this makes uncomfortable reading for people, but I am approaching this from a more academic perspective, as are many of the other commentators.
While there is obviously the individual situation of Bernice Swift to consider, there are wider and more significant implications for Sinn Fein as a party who want to continue to attract voters and remain within the democratic framework.
Yes, certainly, it is hard to point and say that voters can go to alternative parties at this particular point in time. Having said that, I think we are seeing a continuation of a hardline and non-participatory approach to politics that cannot continue indefinitely.
This may not be a loud implosion, but it may indeed be the beginning of the end.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:50 PMThis may not be a loud implosion, but it may indeed be the beginning of the end.
Missfitz
The end of what, Sinn Feins aspirations for a United Ireland?
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 10:59 PMMissFitz,
Don’t sound the death bell yet. I’m deeply encouraged by the growth of Ă©irĂgĂ in the north.
Us ‘hardliners’ ain’t beat yet.
- to steal from a northern ireland fan - Onwards and Upwards.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 11:03 PM‘no role in a civilised society’
OUTSIDER you surely are an outsider of fermanagh, your character assassisnation attempt on cllr swift is disgraceful, she is an excellent cllr for the people of fermanagh and has represented all people of all areas in fermanagh. im suprised you can get the internet in that cave that you are living in, the only thing thats PATHETIC was your last two posts. put up a good argument or just SHUT UP.
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 11:05 PMMissfitz
I respectfully disagree, the debate has been won.
both the DUP and Sinn FĂ©in i think you will find will be surprisingly robust in future years when occurances like this attempt to challenge the political focus of the leadership.
The Assembly now focusses attention on the 108 MLAs, they are closely kept in line by party whips. Even if MLAs are to step out of line, the party’s will survive with no damage as long as there is no significant number or if they are insignificant party players.
The DUP won the power-sharing battle, they would only have been in danger if significant players like Dodds, Campbell and McCrea had not been convinced. In the end it was only the likes of Jim Allister, George Ennis, Mel Lucas and some North Antrim Councillors who took exception. Are they on the verge of implosion as well??
The same principle is true with Sinn FĂ©in over policing. Insignificant political players very rarely capture the public attention in NI (the only one in recent yrs that I can think of was a single issue campaign by Kieran Deeny in West Tyrone, but he wasn’t attempting to bring down a whole political party!)
Posted by on Oct 24, 2007 @ 11:06 PM
