Tom Kelly’s letter to the FT has ruffled some feathers. Tom was the Prime Minister’s Official Spokesman from 2001-2007, not to be confused with the Irish News columnist of the same name.
The Good Friday Agreement finally removed the shadow of the gunman from Irish politics and put fairness and justice at the heart of government in Northern Ireland — no mean feat. What it did not do was bring reconciliation about the past; agreement about the future; or good government. The sad reality is that our public services are in serious decline, while our politics remain zero sum, largely tribal rather than competence-based. The political centre ground has grown, but appears to have peaked at under 20 per cent. The result is an executive characterised by power-splitting rather than power-sharing, unable to take big decisions on issues such as health, education, water services and the environment. It has issued a programme for government, but that is aspirational rather than a detailed plan.
The temptation is to be thankful for what we have, but, as Stephens reflects, leaving our divisions to fester is rarely a good idea. Politics needs to be seen to be working, and, at present, it isn’t. That needs to be recognised and acted on. Just as the Good Friday Agreement was the result of a clear strategy by British and Irish governments over many years, so now London, in consultation with Dublin, needs to develop a clear strategy for moving beyond the current stasis — a strategy focused on improving public service outcomes in the here and now.
That means benchmarking Northern Ireland’s public service performance against that in England, Wales and Scotland — and the rest of Ireland; setting out what it believes can and should be done, to catch up and why “more money from London” isn’t the only answer; and then challenging ministers in the executive to forge a coherent response. And, if that fails, then the government should be prepared to consider whether the arrangements under the Good Friday Agreement have now become a barrier, rather than an enabler, to progress.
Such a proactive approach will undoubtedly attract criticism from local parties who will accuse the government of going over their heads, but the alternative is that politics in Northern Ireland will continue to drift, caught in the no man’s land of constitutional uncertainty while failing to deliver basic public services. That way spells danger.
I think this is the polite way of saying our executive is feckin’ useless.
Deirdre Heenan and Alex Kane discussed the issue on this morning’s Nolan show. You can listen to the segment via the link below.
The problem with Mr Kelly’s analysis is that it assumes our leaders have shame to begin with. Sinn Féin and the DUP have long realised that their utter ineffectiveness does not deter people from voting for them. ‘Permanent power without any responsibility’ as Deirdre Heenan put it.
Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.
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