onthehill

The trouble with Stormont’s MLAs is that they are not real politicians…

| Readers 48

Well, the Irish News yesterday went fairly big on the possible abandonment of the ESA (Education and Skills Authority) that was supposed to streamline the running of schools in Northern Ireland by amalgamating a whole bunch of organisations, not least the many of the executive of the Department and the five Education and Library Boards. Brian Feeney is pretty sharp in his attack on the lack of any political nous amongst the political parties at Stormont. One minute they are …

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Papers, debates, research and e-services – information up #onthehill

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Only a few steps away from the main entrance and the Great Hall in Parliament Buildings you’ll find the Assembly Library. It’s part of the Assembly’s Research and Information Service (RaISe) which exists to assist the work of the Members in their parliamentary business as well as the Assembly’s secretariat. When I was up at the Assembly last Tuesday, I spoke to Ingrid Mercer (Senior Librarian) and Michael (a research officer) about their work. RaISe provides MLAs and their staff …

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#onthehill Alex Maskey explaining the work and role of NI Assembly committees

| Readers 40

The work of committees up at Stormont is a crucial part of the democratic jigsaw, many of them scrutinising the plans and work of Executive departments. On Tuesday I asked Alex Maskey about the role of committees in general, and then more specifically about the Social Development committee which he chairs. Alex Maskey explaining the role and work of @niassembly committees (mp3) After a couple of minutes of prelude looking at the context of the Assembly and Executive and the …

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#onthehill End of term report: how do MLAs assess the Assembly’s performance? (Can you name the 16 voices?)

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Loitering around the Great Hall on Tuesday, I asked 16 MLAs to give a score out of ten and supply the headmaster’s comment for the Assembly’s end of term report card. Here’s what they said: End of term report: how do MLAs assess @niassembly performance? (mp3) But can you name all sixteen? No prize, other than the satisfaction of being correct and first! Given the sample size, any statistical inference is very unscientific. However, it’s still interesting to note that …

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#onthehill The middle letter in M L A is Legislative

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Before the plenary session on Tuesday, two charities had arranged photo opportunities with MLAs to promote campaigns – one disability-related, the other fuel poverty. The UUP’s Michael Copeland was well prepared with his furry hat for the outside snaps. Speaking to @MCopelandMLA this morning: "it strikes me as a piece of drama" (mp3) He spoke to me about his long working hours and the volume of constituency work. People say we [MLAs] need to be at a certain higher strategic …

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#onthehill In which the blogger wonders whether the online coverage is indeed better than being there in person …

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If the Vodafone network penetrating the stone-clad Parliament Buildings had made the leap from 2G to 3G, some of this might have been uploaded during the day! First off, should you want to go and watch your MLAs at work, getting into Parliament Buildings – where the Northern Ireland Assembly and its committees meet – is pretty straightforward. If you explain that you’re a visitor, you’ll be waved up the drive and directed to the visitors’ car park (which fills …

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What’ll happen #onthehill on Tuesday? I’m planning to find out …

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About eleven years old, visiting London for the first time, I queued up with my family and sat in the public gallery of the House of Commons and listened for a short time while a few MPs debated something unmemorable about foreign policy. Much closer to home, I’ve been to many events in the Long Gallery up at Parliament Buildings, sat inside the Assembly chamber while the McCrea/McElduff double act explained the finer details of life as an MLA, and …

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