POLITICAL RE-APPOINTMENTS: A party has seven days after a ministerial resignation before it falls to the Assembly to ensure the post is filled by running dHondt. Which begs a question of Speaker Mitchel McLaughlin. Why hasn’t he forced the Assembly to appoint a new DRD Minister?
A wee Sunday thought. Under d’Hondt, and specifically section 18 of the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the DUP is due to be asked to nominate the new minister for Regional Development when the Assembly reconvenes after the summer break. The current chairperson of the Committee for Regional Development is Trevor Clarke, in succession to Jimmy Spratt. Section 29(5) of the same Act says that “in making a selection under the provision made by virtue of subsection (2)(a), a nominating officer …
Two interesting blasts from non-natives in the abortion debate have appeared in – can you guess? Yes! – in the Guardian and the Independent. In the Indy, London-based Siobhan Fenton has been combing the statistics just out, to find that that 828 women who had abortions in England and Wales last year gave Northern Ireland addresses and 3754 were recorded as coming from the Republic. Almost certainly these figures are an underestimate, the real NI figure being around 2000, according …
John McCallister may be ex-UUP and ex-NI21, but he’s not planning to be ex-politics. I spoke to the South Down independent unionist late last week. He’s rebuilding his profile and perhaps also his reputation after been seen as the person who pulled the plug on NI21 a day or two before the May 2014 elections. On top of “a fairly hefty workload of constituency work” he’s ploughing effort into a Private Members Bill to address Assembly and Executive Reform. After …
With the threat of Stormont collapsing gaining more headlines in our papers, a group called Make it Work has emerged to pressure civil society into engaging positively with the political process. Writing for Slugger, Peter McBride, Chair of ‘Make It Work’ argues for a positive approach towards our devolved administration. Why would we have to mount a campaign to make this place work? That sums up the challenge perfectly – it isn’t working. Our politicians have made enormous progress since …
Over in New York, Gerry Adams has just issued a statement on the current impasse over welfare cuts in the Assembly (as reported by Liam Clarke). According to the report, Sinn Féin will let the Assembly fall and trigger an election rather than implement the cuts and Gerry Adams said: “It isn’t that we want an election but if some of the parties in the North are going to follow this agenda, then let them bring it on to the …
Last week I did an analysis of the decline in the SDLP’s electoral support since 1998. In the piece, I questioned whether the party had a future if it continued losing voters. A lot of these same problems affect the Ulster Unionist Party. This party which founded the Northern Ireland state had led every single government that the province had until 2007. Indeed, it is hard to the think that Ian Paisley was the first leader of our provincial administration who did …
A debate on the future of education has begun in confusion but at least it’s underway. Since Obama’s speech which was accorded more significance than it deserved, the debate on sharing or integration in education got into a terrible muddle straight away. Is sharing a big step towards integration or the very opposite? Since promoting its comment columns as The Home of Debate NI, the Belfast Telegraph has thrown its usual ”on the one hand, on the other – let’s …
Interesting use of an FOI by a political party (never wrong for long, I’m told it was the Nolan Show wot found it out), ie to find out whether any of the other political parties at Stormont refused their 11% pay rise. Mark H Durkan: “The independent panel which recommended the payrise are completely out of touch not only with the public mood but also with public need. This was evidenced by their decision to cut MLA office costs at …
This is an experiment in participation. I would like to get to the bottom of this business of MLAs insurance, and it seems to me that it’;s best done openly. So I’ve begun a draft Freedom of Information request which is open for Slugger readers to add to and redraft… Or simply to comment on the Google doc or below. I want to send it in on Monday. And I will post in to the Assembly via the WhatDoTheyKnow website. …
Bronagh Hinds’ chapter of Everyday Life After the Irish Conflict: The Impact of Devolution and Cross-Border Cooperation [reviewed yesterday] examines women’s political participation points to limited progress in addressing the gender balance of political institutions. The proportion of councillors who are female rose to 24 per cent in 2011 from 14 per cent in 2000. Sounds good. But of the 14 opportunities for co-option in the NI Assembly between 2007 and 2012 2010 “to replace MLAs who had resigned or …
Interesting front page story in the Irish News today… They’ve been digging on the use of free toner to political parties and it breaks down to this: Sinn Fein £93,550 SDLP £58,693 DUP £52,770 UUP £25,515 Pat Doherty in West Tyrone claimed about £16,300, although the party say that Doherty shared an office with the former MLA Clare McGill… Sinn Fein MLAs made up nine of the top twenty spots followed by the SDLP (seven), the DUP (three), and the …
I DOUBT if our Sammy has been down at Writer’s Square lately, or whether he’s been flicking through the pages of Tescopoly – but there’s little doubt he has managed to piss off one multi-national more than our tent-dwelling comrades have. And after reading Tesco director David North’s threats the other day about cutting job creation and investment here if Sammy goes ahead with plans to impose a large retailer levy, I rather sympathise with Sammy. North said last week …
Tuesday night’s Spotlight on the killing of Mary Travers was indeed fascinating, not so much for the story of the ambush itself – although I had never seen the family members speak on camera before, and their continuing suffering was palpable – but for its insights into the inner workings of Sinn Féin. SF’s arrogant attitude towards journalists is well-known (how dare they ask impertinent questions!), but it was the juxtaposition of Carál Ní Chuilín’s bad-tempered interview and her relationship …
In news Slugger predicted last year, Alliance’s Sean Neeson has announced his retirement. You won’t have long to wait to check if the 2nd half of the prediction is correct and Gerry Lynch is selected to run in his place. Blank
Looks like there could be an(other) opportunity for parties to play candidate/co-option games in the Assembly and local government elections in May 2011. With at least two elections being held on the same day (never mind the strong chance of a voting reform referendum) some politicians may be fighting to retain several different jobs. Now double-jobbing has really only been addressed at an MP/MLA and MP/Council level, but a surprising number of MLAs have so far seemed happy to retain …
Nicholas Whyte has kindly given Slugger permission to reproduce this article.
Over on the Anti-Room group blog, Amanda posts about female political representation and gender quotas. She notes: Now we hear news that Irish female politicians as a group (all be it a very small one in comparison to their male counterparts) are not in favour of introducing quotas to ensure a greater number of women get into power. A very thorough article in today’s Irish Times by political correspondent Mary Minihan, found that of the 23 female TDs currently in …
It’s now clear that the UK coalition’s decision to cut the number of MPs by 50 to 600 will have radical implications for the Assembly. Northern Ireland is set to have its numbers cut to 15 MPs, three fewer than at present. This is the up to date data Electorate 600 MPs England 38,241,036 504.62 Northern Ireland 1,135,835 14.98 Scotland 3,864,416 50.96 Wales 2,261,816 29.82 Quota 75,839 The Assembly is of course elected on the basis on the 18 Westminster constituencies. …
A browse in the NI Life and Times Survey for 2008-09 published recently reveals the usual benign political attitudes without being able to explain how these fail to have a decisive impact on voting patterns or the attitudes of elected representatives. Cynics say this shows the persistent unviability of political polling even now. But this time, the main results may make even them sit up and take notice. A whopping 85% trust politicians not very much or not at all. 63% …
