Parties – Page 48 – Slugger O'Toole

“accept the tragedy of what happened in those wasted years without indulging in double think…”

Pete Baker on December 6, 2011, 3:18 pm

| Readers 32

Via Newshound. As Liam Clarke notes on the political reaction to his report on the Historical Enquiries Team’s findings on Loughgall The past is often treated like a political football. Politicians take sides and blame the referee if he does not agree with them. The Historical Enquiries Team is a case in point. Up to now it has been mainly loyalists who have cursed this ref, accusing him of picking on them and turning a blind eye to republican foul …

“a shared future/shared society will require a natural, evolutionary breaking down of barriers – be they psychological or physical.”

Pete Baker on December 5, 2011, 4:21 pm

| Readers 19

In the News Letter Alex Kane revisits the topic of his last column, the shared future section of Peter Robinson’s speech at the DUP’s annual conference, and takes on Chris’ criticism of that speech. From the News Letter article. What struck me most about the comment is that the writer seems to object to the fact that unionism should try and reach out to Roman Catholics at all. Indeed, he seems to believe that the only purpose of such an outreach …

“The restoration of this beautiful building, due to be completed in….”

Pete Baker on December 3, 2011, 4:14 pm

| Readers 5

Another example of the kind of openness, transparency, and forward-planning that makes Derry City Council the local government it is… They’re moving to facilitate restoration work. And the BBC reports that the £3million Guildhall Restoration Project, on which work began in August 2010, is not expected to allow the 19th Century Guildhall to re-open until Spring 2013 – well into Londonderry’s year-long reign as the first UK City of Culture. From the BBC report The Mayor of Derry, Alderman Maurice Devenney, …

“The Committee, of course, will lend itself to that farce…”

Pete Baker on December 1, 2011, 8:43 pm

| Readers 6

Having been tasked by the Northern Ireland Assembly to review the initial ministerial provision for the Department of Justice and to “make recommendations relating to the provision that should exist from 1 May 2012”, the Assembly and Executive Review Committee failed to complete their task. From the AER Committee’s report 8. Following Committee discussion, a proposal was made, on the basis that there was no broad consensus on any of the options, that the Committee draft a Report that outlines …

Justice Minister: “grandstanding and chest beating seen in the Chamber” on mandatory sentences call

Pete Baker on November 30, 2011, 5:25 pm

| Readers 26

As the BBC reports, yesterday in the Northern Ireland Assembly, by 44 votes to 41, MLAs called on the NI Justice Minister, Alliance Party leader David Ford, to “introduce legislation to impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for people who are found guilty of violent crimes against older or vulnerable people”. The motion was agreed despite opposition from the NI Justice Minister and a number of MLAs with legal backgrounds. The NI Justice Minister also pointed out that, “officials from my Department are in …

Memo to BBC: The NI Executive voted these measures through

Pete Baker on November 30, 2011, 11:50 am

| Readers 4

Why are the BBC busying themselves counting the number of MLAs turning up for work today? Don’t they know the Northern Ireland Executive voted in favour of the blanket increase of 3.2 per cent in public-sector pension contributions? Admittedly they did so behind closed doors, and didn’t tell anyone at the time. [Some parties don’t seem to remember either – Ed] Some parties have still to tell the public how their ministers voted at the time… Pete Baker

The Right Honourable, the Lord Mayor, Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile…

Pete Baker on November 29, 2011, 5:18 pm

| Readers 80

According to a UTV report, Sinn Féin Councillor Niall Ó Donnghaile, Lord Mayor of Belfast, was at Belfast City Hall on Monday evening handing out Northern Ireland Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards to “over 166 young people”, between the aged of 14 and 24, “from all backgrounds”. Almost. From the UTV report During the service at Belfast City Hall on Monday evening, the Lord Mayor stopped presenting the certificates to the group when it became clear that one of the recipients …

“The ombudsman now plans to ask Justice Minister David Ford to introduce new legislation…”

Pete Baker on November 24, 2011, 10:18 pm

| Readers 11

John wanted a “public explanation”… BBC NI home affairs correspondent, Vincent Kearney, reports that 49 historical cases where RUC officers were responsible for deaths, which were passed by the Historical Enquiries Team (HET) to the Police Ombudsman for Northern Ireland because European legislation prevents the HET from investigating, cannot be investigated by the ombudsman because domestic legislation prevents the office from acting. From Vincent Kearney’s report The Historical Enquiries Team cannot investigate them because European law states investigations into state killings must be …

Ministerial U-turn on NI Water Chief Executive’s terms

Pete Baker on November 23, 2011, 2:23 pm

| Readers 25

After his very well publicised threat to resign, the acting Chief Executive at Northern Ireland Water, Trevor Haslett, appears to have got what he wanted – a £20,000 pay rise [and a two year contract? – Ed]. From the BBC report A spokeswoman for the Department for Regional Development confirmed the deal. “Northern Ireland Water needs leadership and stability,” she said. “Trevor Haslett has demonstrated that he is the best person to lead NI Water through the winter that is almost …

“Nonsense, Minister.” – Redux

Pete Baker on November 18, 2011, 4:54 pm

| Readers 28

Sinn Féin’s ideologically driven campaign against grammar schools continues, and it’s the Northern Ireland Education Minister, SF’s John O’Dowd, who’s making the strange claims. When the Association of Quality Education (AQE) tests were being sat this year the Minister labelled them “a clever marketing device”. For the Post-Primary Transfer Consortium (PPTC) of schools, who will use a separate assesment test this weekend, he has claimed there is an anonymous “private donor” paying for it. From the BBC report “We have a private donor …

Euro crisis: “Ireland sees the same information from the troika about Greece”

Pete Baker on November 18, 2011, 3:14 pm

| Readers 9

The answer to John’s title question is, again, NO! As the respective spokesmen for European commissioner for economic and monetary affairs, Olli Rehn, and the German finance ministry explain in this Irish Times report “On behalf of the commission, the leaks are regrettable,” said Amadeu Altafaj Tardio. “We insist that this is a draft and that we have a legal obligation to share the information that we receive from the authorities in Dublin with the member states. This is actually our …

McGuinness: “It’s fair to say [A5 upgrade is] back on track again”

Pete Baker on November 11, 2011, 10:43 pm

| Readers 23

No, really!! Following the Irish Government’s decision to postpone their £400million contribution to the £850million cost of the proposed A5 upgrade, the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers announced they would be seeking “maximum clarity on this issue” in talks with Taoiseach Enda Kenny, while they were in Dublin today. After the meeting, the NI deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, was accentuating the positive to UTV’s Ken Reid. “It’s far from dead,” Mr McGuinness told UTV. “I think, …

OFMDFM: “It is becoming increasingly obvious this trust is in danger of being eroded…”

Pete Baker on November 11, 2011, 5:34 pm

| Readers 29

Yesterday’s Irish News carried an interesting report of the most recent proceedings of the Northern Ireland Assembly Committee for the Office of the First Minister and deputy First Minister. It seems that the NI First Minister, the DUP’s Peter Robinson, and the then-acting deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s John O’Dowd, are/were not happy. And they’ve written to the Assembly Speaker, William Hay, to tell him so. First, some background. Back in July 2010, OFMDFM published their “motherhood and apple pie” proposals for the long-awaited Programme for …

Irish Government ‘postpones’ £400m A5 upgrade funding

Pete Baker on November 9, 2011, 2:26 pm

| Readers 43

Given the dire economic situation, and the fact that the Northern Ireland Regional Development Minister isn’t due to decide how the A5 Western Transport Corridor is to progress until “early 2012”, it’s hardly surprising that the Irish Government has withdrawn its £400million contribution to the £850million scheme. The RTÉ report describes it as being ‘postponed’ after a “review of a range of major capital infrastructure commitments”. [Indefinitely? – Ed] You might well think that… As Irish Labour Party transport spokesman, Joe …

“The real horse trading [over Justice Ministry] is likely to happen between party leaders…”

Pete Baker on November 8, 2011, 9:03 pm

| Readers 10

And only two parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin have the necessary votes to trade… ANYhoo, as I mentioned during the Sinn Féin ard fheis when the deputy chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Justice Committee, and noted plagiarist, Raymond McCartney complained that “David Ford’s department [of Justice] is like Jurassic Park.” …if Sinn Féin aren’t happy with David Ford as Northern Ireland Justice Minister then they, and the DUP, can always find someone else to agree on… They, both parties, have to agree on someone …

Your questions for the SDLP leadership candidates?

Mick Fealty on November 2, 2011, 11:10 am

| Readers 33

As Alan notes, Paddy Power (the people who brought you Martin McGuinness at 3/1 for the Aras) now has Alex Attwood as favourite to win. To be fair that probably reflects a good campaign for Alex, and would considerably turn the table on our crowd sourced predictions from a few weeks ago. Indeed the Irish bookmaker has brought him a hell of a long way from 14/1. In any case, we’d like to put a standard four questions to all …

The other Irish [by]election

Pete Baker on October 28, 2011, 3:15 pm

| Readers 10

The Irish Times reports the preliminary results tallies at the Dublin West byelection. Labour councillor Patrick Nulty is expected to win the Dublin West byelection following completion of tallies at the Citywest count centre in Saggart, Co Dublin. With a turnout of 49 per cent, Cllr Nulty is on 24.3 per cent (8,491 votes) after 100 per cent of tallies have been counted. While there has been no official count yet, the councillor (28), who works for a homeless charity, …

NI Auditor General: “This pattern has continued in 2010-11.”

Pete Baker on October 25, 2011, 4:24 pm

| Readers 39

Last year the Comptroller and Auditor General for Northern Ireland, Kieran Donnelly, qualified “a larger number of [NI Executive department’s] accounts than usual” and highlighted his concern “that there [were] significant problems within the registered housing association sector in Northern Ireland.” As the NIAO press release notes, “This pattern has continued in 2010-11”. Six out of the nineteen NI Executive departmental resource accounts have received qualified audit opinions. The full report is available here. BBC NI business correspondent, Kevin Magee, notes what the report has …

Belfast City Airport passenger limit reinstated

Pete Baker on October 25, 2011, 3:03 pm

| Readers 14

Having launched a consultation on the 2 million passenger seats per 12 month restriction on Belfast City Airport in June last year, the then Northern Ireland Environment Minister, the DUP’s Edwin Poots, announced in December 2010 Environment Minister Edwin Poots today announced his decision to remove the seats for sale restriction at George Best Belfast City Airport (GBBCA). Mr Poots explained: “Having given the matter careful consideration and taken into account the issues raised in response to the consultation, I have decided …

“Are the Scots more the Greeks or Germans? I couldn’t possibly say.”

Pete Baker on October 24, 2011, 1:18 pm

| Readers 12

“It’s starting”, is it? [Whatever ‘it’ is – Ed]. The Guardian’s Michael White spots a flaw in Alex Salmond’s cunning plan. [Does it involve turnips? – Ed] Neeps. From the Guardian Politics Blog The SNP and the Tory Eurosceptics have much in common – and I don’t mean that as a compliment, decent people though so many of them are. The obvious tactic they currently share, apart from national chauvinism as a panacea for deeper problems, is the three-choice referendum …