NI Assembly – Page 7 – Slugger O'Toole

GCSE reform: “It is unlikely that the Minister’s decision on this issue would stop the current position…”

Pete Baker on October 10, 2011, 5:25 pm

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In June this year the UK Government’s Education Secretary, Michael Gove, welcomed Ofqual’s proposals for making changes for GCSE courses and, on 27 September, a consultation was launched on changes to the current GCSE specifications in England. Today the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, launched a consultation on on making the same changes to current GCSE specifications here. In England the consultation ends on 4 November, here it continues until 30 December. According to the Northern Ireland consultation document [pdf file] It is …

“Republicans don’t accept that…”

Pete Baker on October 9, 2011, 2:52 pm

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Despite sitting in a Northern Ireland Assembly that requires Royal Assent to enact any legislation passed, the NI deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, has told the BBC that he would not be prepared to meet the UK Head of State (Queen Elizabeth II). From the BBC report [John O’Dowd] “There are a number of issues which need to be resolved before such a scenario would arise, including from a republican point of view, we were meeting a family …

Public sector pensions: “we didn’t think they would make the decision behind closed doors.”

Pete Baker on October 7, 2011, 4:21 pm

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The news that the Northern Ireland Executive agreed a blanket increase of 3.2 per cent in public-sector pension contributions at a meeting last month, but failed to mention the fact, has led to the Unite union regional secretary, Jimmy Kelly, accusing the NI Executive and Assembly of acting “in a cowardly fashion”. From today’s Irish News Jimmy Kelly, Irish regional secretary, hit out at what he described as “the underhand decision” not to publicise news of the increase which only came …

So just before you discount those Westminster seats?

Mick Fealty on September 14, 2011, 11:05 am

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Dewi was pretty hot off the starting gun (he either gets up earlier than the rest of us, or stays up much later) with the boundary change news. Nicholas Whyte’s analysis on the BBC is also well worth reading. But so too are these cautionary words from the gentlemanly Michael White: …cutting the number of MPs to save a theoretical £12m a year is likely to prove a trivial, possibly bad, reform where the laws of unintended consequences will have …

Al Hutchinson: Unresolved legacy issues left in the ‘too difficult’ tray will destroy this Office

Mick Fealty on September 8, 2011, 8:04 pm

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It’s easy to forget now, given all the posturing going on over Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson and the way he has interpreted the specifics of his role and that of his Office, that his appointment was enthusiastically endorsed by some of the parties who now seem desperately keen to shuffle him out the door upon the flimsiest of evidence (now where have we heard that before?). As Pete has noted, Tony McCusker’s report found a little more than office politics …

Is the Head of the NI Civil Service defending the indefensible?

Mick Fealty on June 17, 2011, 1:14 am

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So to start with we have an empassioned plea from John Dallat, the Northern Ireland Public Accounts Committee’s longest serving member that, according to the News Letter: “that Sir Bruce Robinson be forced to appear before it to explain his decision and said that he wanted an assurance that the committee could scrutinise public spending without senior civil servants covertly attacking it.” Interestingly none of the other parties in that committee wanted to proceed without taking further advice. Although beyond …

Cameron: “politics here will need to move beyond the peace process…”

Pete Baker on June 9, 2011, 4:12 pm

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After yesterday’s Joint Ministerial Committee meeting in Downing Street, the Prime Minister, David Cameron, was in Northern Ireland today. The Belfast Telegraph has an article on NI by the Conservative Party leader. And his address to the NI Assembly is here. Some sections worth highlighting – for the benefit of certain members of the Northern Ireland Executive… Whether you serve here as a Minister, a member of a committee or as a backbench member, all of you carry the responsibility …

Legal Aid Fees Dispute: “necessary to go outside Northern Ireland to bring in other lawyers”?

Pete Baker on June 6, 2011, 3:03 pm

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As the BBC reports, Northern Ireland Justice Minister, Alliance Party leader, David Ford, has detailed the number of cases where solictors have come “off record” to date in the dispute over legal aid fees [134 between 13 April and 27 May]. Although the Minister adds that It is not the court practice to record the reason given by a solicitor for coming off record so it is not possible to state categorically that all of these cases represent the outcome of a …

Slugger predicts: Executive Ministers

Blank on May 15, 2011, 9:41 pm

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We didn’t do that well in predicting the Ministries each party would choose – three people got 50% of them in order, our best two got 60% right with some in the wrong order. The Slugger hivemind scored much worse! So who do the best of Slugger predict as Ministers? Sammy Wilson Arlene Foster Simon Hamilton John O’Dowd Danny Kennedy Michelle Gildernew Patsy McGlone Edwin Poots Martina Anderson Stephen Farry I think most notable of the not picked – Caitroina …

Local democracy, a Big Idea for the new Assembly

Brian Walker on May 14, 2011, 8:03 pm

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What chance now for more normal politics after the smash victories of the DUP and Sinn Fein? The pessimistic answer is that with an even firmer grip on their electorates, deadlock in government will tighten further, as a natural consequence of a system that insulates each party from the wider interests of the community as a whole. That may be so. And yet there are reasons for hope. Their rhetorical unity in the face of the dissident republican threat was impressive. There is every …

It’s our House we don’t have to respect it?

Blank on May 13, 2011, 8:19 pm

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With a DUP speaker in the chair at Stormont again, it will be interesting to see how he deals with live tweeting the allocation of Ministries via d’Hondt before anything is presented to the Assembly. In many previously instances he has aped the protocols and expectations of Westminster when it comes to Stormont standards – Government announcing key decisions outside the House has long been a bone of contention at Westminster. Their Speaker previously had this to say: Ministers ought …

First DUP/SF back-room ‘deal’ of new Assembly?

Pete Baker on May 12, 2011, 3:21 pm

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After the public posturing by Sinn Féin earlier in the week, the DUP’s William Hay has been returned as Speaker in the new Northern Ireland Assembly. The BBC report notes BBC NI’s political editor Mark Devenport said a deal had been struck between the DUP and Sinn Fein over the speaker’s job. “The job is going to go to William Hay, but it looks like he won’t actually be performing that role for the entire period of this assembly,” he …

“They held an election and the government won…”

Pete Baker on May 7, 2011, 5:10 pm

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Something of a one-two in the Irish News opinion pages today. Firstly, from the editorial. For a government, it is difficult to claim a credible mandate when around half the voting population refuses to offer its backing to any of the candidates on offer. This disconnect is not a new phenomenon, of course, but representatives who dismiss this as simply a symptom of normal politics need to take a reality check. What they should be asking is why voters are staying …

Futuring: d’Hondt and the new Executive

Blank on May 7, 2011, 9:44 am

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As the outcome of the Assembly election firms up throughout the day thoughts will be drawn to d’Hondt and the eventual make up of a future Executive. Forget about a paper and pen, use this handy d’Hondt calculator to play with numbers. Blank

Arrest in Denis Donaldson murder probe?

Pete Baker on April 12, 2011, 11:16 pm

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Previously adjourned, for the fifth time, in August last year, the inquest into the 2006 death of former senior Sinn Féin figure Denis Donaldson was adjourned again in January ahead of a further pre-inquest hearing on May 5. Now the BBC are reporting that a 70-year-old man has been arrested and is being questioned in Letterkenny Garda station, County Donegal. As RTÉ notes, the man is being detained “on suspicion of withholding information”. He can be held for three days. Responsibility for Donaldson’s murder was claimed …

“There’s nothing impossible about such progress”

Pete Baker on April 4, 2011, 12:01 pm

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In the Guardian, Peter Preston, with echoes of a point he made in 2007, identifies the limits of the “politics of peace” – and our current ‘indigenous’ arrangements. From Peter Preston at Comment is Free Yet this commonsensical chorus only takes you so far. It clears the bloody detritus of the past; it provides a suitably united response to the murderers who remain; but somehow it still fails to address or secure the foundations of a quite different future. Nationalism (as chronicled …

“the reports will be published after the Assembly elections…”

Pete Baker on March 31, 2011, 1:37 pm

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As the BBC reports, the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, Owen Paterson, has announced the dissolution of the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) and the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD). The IICD archive is to be held at Boston College, as Kevin Cullen reports Thomas E. Hachey, executive director of the Center for Irish Programs at Boston College and a professor of history, said getting the archive was a coup for BC. “This is an incredibly valuable collection for future …

That future meetings of the Assembly be held in the city of Armagh

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 15, 2011, 11:47 pm

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Colourful bookshelves in NI Assembly Library

One of the unexpected treats on tonight’s tour of Parliament Buildings was the stop-off in the Assembly Library. The “tweet-up” had been arranged by the Assembly’s Engagement team to encourage photographers, facebookers, tweeters, bloggers et al to come and explore the delights of Stormont – a legislative first in the UK or Ireland. The library has an enormous set of political biographies and Irish political history section. In an annex to the main library, a small room with colourful bookshelves …

“Trench warfare has erupted…”

Pete Baker on February 22, 2011, 2:41 pm

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Via Newshound. In the Sunday Times Liam Clarke welcomes the “trench warfare” the parties are engaging in over the Northern Ireland Executive’s draft spending plans. Apparently, it’s better than the sectarian squabbling that went before… ANYhoo… From the transcribed Sunday Times article The eruption of public anger and megaphone diplomacy reflects the poisonous atmosphere around the executive table itself. McGimpsey needled the furious McGuinness by saying, “calm down Martin, don’t get so excited”. McGuinness and Robinson are both accustomed to …

“this is significantly exacerbated by the political situation in Northern Ireland”

Pete Baker on February 21, 2011, 3:44 pm

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As well as those briefings by the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, both he and the NI First Minister have been dismissing political criticism of the draft NI Executive spending plans as ‘electioneering’. No doubt that’s a consideration for some, but it’s not a charge that can be levelled at the Assembly’s Finance Committee. And as the Belfast Telegraph reports, PricewaterhouseCooper’s economic analysis of those draft plans is that “the [NI] Budget may not be deliverable in its current form”. [Esmond Birnie, Chief Economist at PwC …