Search Results for “polit-bureau” – Slugger O'Toole

The semi-detached polit-bureau in action

Pete Baker on July 29, 2010, 3:17 pm

| Readers 9

They just can’t help themselves… Mr McGuinness was speaking at the official opening of the first high-speed road link between Belfast and Dublin. He said: “I think Peter Robinson and I will have more good news to announce in regard to the development of the Maze/Long Kesh site. “We have actually reached agreement and we will publicly announce how we intend to take that forward over the next very short while.” As both the BBC and UTV Press Association note …

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Council reform founders on semi-detached polit-bureau rocks

Pete Baker on June 14, 2010, 10:45 pm

| Readers 7

The BBC reports that, after a weekend of private talks between the DUP and Sinn Féin, the Northern Ireland Executive semi-detached polit-bureau have failed to agree on the proposed reform of local government. From the BBC report Next year council elections will be based on the original model of 26. SDLP, Sinn Fein and Alliance ministers all voted for the 11 council model but the three DUP ministers voted against. The UUP ministers did not vote. Michael McGimspey, Sir Reg Empey and …

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Semi-detached polit-bureau at loggerheads over Council reform

Pete Baker on June 10, 2010, 11:26 pm

| Readers 4

The BBC has the latest on the dysfunctional Northern Ireland Executive’s semi-detached polit-bureau’s failure to agree on local government reform Executive ministers have adjourned five-hour long meeting aimed at resolving the impasse over the future of local government. Ministers are due to meet again on Monday after further discussions over the weekend about a plan to reduce the 26 councils to 11.

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As the dysfunctional semi-detached polit-bureau wends its way into history…

Mick Fealty on January 12, 2010, 2:17 pm

| Readers 30

One of the things, I guess, that will be taxing most of our new readers from elsewhere is why does a crisis around one political leader potentially threaten the nature of the whole settlement? In an op ed for the London Times today, I’ve sketched the outline the plot of the political power play that’s been going on underneath these top line events. In effect, the supposed partners in OFMdFM have been engaged in a (to put it very crudely) …

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The dysfunctional polit-bureau

Pete Baker on June 11, 2009, 1:33 am

| Readers 2

During a longer, more wide-ranging, conversation between UUP’s Reg Empey, Alliance Party’s David Ford, and BBC NI’s Noel Thompson and Mark Devenport during the EU election count on Monday, Reg Empey opened the door on the dysfunctional Northern Ireland Executive – mentioned previously – and shed some light on the semi-detached polit-bureau in action. Full conversation – part 1 and part 2.

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Fall-out from the polit-bureau failure

Pete Baker on February 4, 2009, 1:02 am

| Readers 2

Also from Stormont Live is this short opening discussion on the fall-out from the failure of the polit-bureau to agree a way forward on post-primary transfer. As Mick might mention later in this podcast, having sought a decidedly left-wing objective the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane, by delivering an unregulated system has, in fact, arrived at a classically right-wing/libertarian destination.

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The failure of the polit-bureau..

Pete Baker on February 3, 2009, 1:44 am

| Readers 5

The announcement today [After consulting her advisers? – Ed] by the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane, of the new detailed policies guidance for schools heralds the start of an era of de-regulation of the post-primary transfer system. And, as Mark Devenport suggests in the opening discussion on Stormont Live, it also signals the failure of regional government the semi-accountable, and semi-detached, polit-bureau here.

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“Run like a huckster’s shop” – Redux

Pete Baker on July 31, 2014, 2:35 pm

| Readers 1119

[No change since June 2009, then? – Ed] Have there been any consequences…? A BBC report that the DUP and Sinn Féin have, belatedly, agreed the outcome of the semi-detached polit-bureau Northern Ireland Executive’s June budget monitoring round was met with understandable criticism from the other NI Executive parties. Justice Minister David Ford, who leads the Alliance Party, described the situation as “shambolic” while the Ulster Unionists and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) said they had been kept in the dark about …

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Martina Anderson MEP: “and if the British government lifts its ban on Executive access to the EIB…”

Pete Baker on July 17, 2014, 7:49 pm

| Readers 1685

No update yet from Sinn Féin on the meeting they chose to trail a couple of days ago between three of their MEPs, led by the Derry Northern Ireland representative, Martina Anderson, and “the Vice-Chairman of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Jonathan Taylor”. But let’s hope they were better briefed than the 15 July press release suggests, otherwise the only reaction is likely to be a rolling of eyes by Jonathan Taylor, Vice-President of the EIB, formerly Director General for Financial Services at …

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Green ‘dismissal’: “There are no policy issues, because the people you are talking about remain in the party”

Mick Fealty on February 13, 2014, 8:21 pm

| Readers 107

Liam Clarke has been asking some useful questions around Sinn Fein’s silent dropping of Leo Green: Green said he had renewed his membership of Sinn Fein on January 24 and that he had not left over any single issue. We are none the wiser except that this man, who cut his political teeth under IRA army discipline, is not about to break ranks with his comrades and speak his mind. The rumour is that, among other issues, he felt the …

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NI Justice Minister: “I trust that the executive will recognise that it is the right decision, and that I was right to make it”

Pete Baker on January 31, 2014, 4:46 pm

| Readers 96

In the aftermath of the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers/Executive/Assembly/Policing Board members semi-detached polit-bureau’s kerfuffle over the NI Justice Minister’s proposed changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, Liam Clarke reveals some significant correspondence on the matter. Firstly, the Chief Executive of the NI Policing Board, Sam Pollock, tries his hand at herding cats to put some manners on members of the Board. In his letter to Policing Board members, Mr Pollock wrote: “I am disappointed in the …

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NI Justice Minister: “It is important to note that, in setting some minimum standards, I am not prohibiting the Board from adding to these minimum criteria…”

Pete Baker on January 28, 2014, 2:39 pm

| Readers 84

Whilst Brian may regard them as “surely sensible” changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, and they may well be, as I mentioned in updates to a previous post, no sooner had the Northern Ireland Justice Minister, the Alliance Party’s David Ford, announced those changes than the NI First and deputy First Ministers promptly agreed to exercise their prerogative to call his decision into the dysfunctional NI Executive semi-detached polit-bureau [Where it will be put to the sword… – …

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After Haass, the apolitical ministerial toboggan ride continues…

Mick Fealty on January 8, 2014, 3:03 pm

| Readers 59

It’s worth remembering what the Haass talks were, and what they weren’t. This is not as easy as it may seem since the media have been portraying it has some sort of GFA3 event. In fact Dr Haass and Professor O’Sullivan is all there was: a small if perfectly formed gang of two three (plus Charles Landlow) with no support, no back up and no informed [local] advisors to tell them where the hidden trap doors where. We should probably …

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Lord Chief Justice Morgan: “this is a case about political failure”

Pete Baker on December 28, 2013, 4:02 pm

| Readers 176

Not the Haass talks. You can keep your nose pressed against the windowpane with David if you’re hoping for a scrap of comfort from that. No, this is about the continued dysfunctional approach of the two main parties of the Northern Ireland Executive semi-detached polit-bureau to the process of government – as defined under the current administration. Sinn Féin’s pre-Christmas (23 Dec) defence of the Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill’s unilateral decision to re-allocate €137 million of EU funding over the next six …

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Theresa Villiers: “our economic package will be closely linked to, and conditional on real progress by the executive…”

Pete Baker on April 10, 2013, 3:53 pm

| Readers 47

The Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers, was in west Belfast today on the 15th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. Here’s a couple of lines from her press statement The Agreement called for ‘reconciliation, tolerance, and mutual trust’ and as I’ve travelled around Northern Ireland, I’ve seen many fantastic initiatives that are bringing different parts of the community together. Forthspring Inter Community Group and the Argyle Business Centre are two great examples of the courage, leadership and tenacity that local …

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“unless it’s because politicians in Northern Ireland want to be able to sue newspapers more readily…”

Pete Baker on March 18, 2013, 3:58 pm

| Readers 68

Some interesting added detail in the News Letter report following up on the story of the Northern Ireland Executive’s failure to consent to the Defamation Bill going through the UK Parliament. To begin with, it’s claimed that it wasn’t the Executive after all… Last Wednesday, the News Letter revealed that the Defamation Bill – the first reform of the UK’s libel laws since the 19th Century – had been blocked from extending to Northern Ireland by Stormont’s leaders. However, the …

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“Our job is to express the concerns as we hear them in the community…”

Pete Baker on March 4, 2013, 8:55 pm

| Readers 78

If it’s not Sinn Féin complaining about ‘political policing’, it’s the DUP. Mr Robinson said that trust needed to be rebuilt. “It’s important that the police gain the confidence of the unionist community, or regain the confidence of that section of the unionist community who have lost confidence in the police, by showing that his actions were entirely even-handed,” Mr Robinson said. “Our job is to express the concerns as we hear them in the community. [Good to see both parties are still …

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Peter Hain: “I took some risky decisions to engage with people who were on the fringes…”

Pete Baker on January 13, 2013, 4:56 pm

| Readers 49

The BBC reports more self-aggrandisement disguised as political comment from the erstwhile Secretary of State for Wales, etc, Peter Hain. From the BBC report “In Northern Ireland, I think there is a particular issue with the loyalist community and I do not think the government is doing enough to engage with them,” [Peter Hain] said. “I took some risky decisions to engage with people who were on the fringes and some actually almost in uniform as it were, in paramilitary …

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“they demonstrate clearly their disdain for the democratic process”

Pete Baker on July 19, 2012, 5:06 pm

| Readers 61

The semi-detached polit-bureau are at it again. Whatever ‘it’ is… [Headline-grabbing? – Ed] Possibly… There’s certainly a lack of detail. In the absence of a sitting Northern Ireland Assembly to question them, and with no NI Executive meeting for them to jointly chair until September, the NI First and deputy First Ministers issued a statement last night. [It’s a Queens’ Speech! – Ed] Indeed. From the OFMDFM statement Commenting, Ministers said: “We are pleased to be able to give some detail on …

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“For much of the time, the Stormont Assembly looks more like a talking-shop.”

Pete Baker on May 29, 2012, 1:58 pm

| Readers 99

With the announcement on Girdwood [and any other business? – Ed] as a stark example of the semi-detached polit-bureau back in action, Ed Curran looks ahead The mark of the Stormont Executive has been its ability to take longer than could be imagined to arrive at decisions on many important issues. No agreed legislation means little, or nothing, to debate in the Assembly chamber. MLAs have been hard-pressed to stretch out debates in plenary sessions in recent months. For much of the …

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