Parties – Page 92 – Slugger O'Toole

Mistaken and misguided committents to failed policies…

Mick Fealty on November 27, 2009, 2:55 pm

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A large dollop of reality from Tom Kelly who notes a vain of political timidity running through the two main political parties at Stormont… And now they are lumbered with a number of populist policies to sweeten the pill of indolent devolution, but seem unable to deal with anything beyond those policy devices they have inherited from direct rule: The executive never seemed comfortable with tough decisions. From the start it ducked anything that had to do with the implementing …

But they’re extremists, not like us

Jason Walsh on November 26, 2009, 9:34 pm

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Musings elsewhere: “Sanctimonious distaste for the supposedly ‘outlying’ views of the ‘extremists’ mask the fact that both parties are as much a part of the endless peace processing project as their forebears in the UUP and SDLP. The growth of the once fringe parties does not represent a polarisation of politics as much as it represents a total retreat from actual politics into a primarily cultural space where loud but meaningless sham battles function as proxies for the conflict of …

“Huffing” Sinn Féin should “roll up their sleeves”

Pete Baker on November 26, 2009, 7:57 pm

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While Sinn Féin were issuing statements ahead of meeting the Prime Minister on devolving policing and justice powers, the DUP’s Peter Robinson waited until after he had met Gordon Brown. As the BBC reports Mr Robinson said Sinn Fein were doing nothing to resolve outstanding issues. He said there were three remaining issues which needed to be agreed. They were identifying the name of the Justice Minister, outlining what their powers would be and solving the issue of parading. The …

“agreement between the political parties (as you well know) remains the key determinant”

Pete Baker on November 26, 2009, 5:41 pm

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As Eamonn recorded last night, Sinn Féin are apparently in Downing St urging the British (and Irish) governments to interfere in the “indigenous” deal [“Let no-one interfere with that”! – Ed] Indeed. That would be a “constitutional nonsense”. Meanwhile, keeping up that “maximum pressure”, Seumas Milne in the Guardian helpfully [To some – Ed] warns of those still-violent republicans. Of course, if Sinn Féin hadn’t lied about misrepresented what they actually negotiated those they lied to might not feel so …

“economic downturn is so acute it is causing many to consider leaving the country..”

Pete Baker on November 26, 2009, 3:43 am

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In yesterday’s Irish Times, the Republic of Ireland’s President, Mary McAleese, was telling anyone who would listen that “Ireland’s young people have the sort of can-do mentality, combined with education and confidence, that is needed to lift the country out of its gloom.” Elaine Byrne chipped in on the opinion pages – “Rising generation will regenerate a better Ireland”. Unfortunately for their argument, the same edition carried these details from the latest Irish Times /Behaviour Attitudes opinion poll. THE VAST …

“there is nothing like an election to purge the system”

Pete Baker on November 26, 2009, 2:15 am

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Stephen King, writing in the Irish Examiner, argues that “an election to purge the system” “cannot come soon enough” If policing has become too big a deal, perhaps a measure of confidence can be restored by making progress on other fronts. Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin, in a comprehensive statement to the Seanad earlier this month, listed a whole array of outstanding issues on which the DUP and Sinn Féin need to move forward, from a policy to promote reconciliation, …

DUP go guerilla on the TUV…

Mick Fealty on November 25, 2009, 6:38 pm

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Mick FealtyMick is founding editor of Slugger. He has written papers on the impacts of the Internet on politics and the wider media and is a regular guest and speaking events across Ireland, the UK and Europe. Twitter: @MickFealty

“I will consider the nature of Members’ remarks and the context in which they were made.”

Pete Baker on November 25, 2009, 12:47 am

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A short clip of the NI Assembly Speaker’s Business from today’s Stormont Live. Afterwards Mark Devenport commented that it’s the Speaker declaring there will be “No More Heroes” being ejected from the Assembly for a day. Jim Fitzpatrick noted that the new arrangements for addressing “unparliamentary language” – potentially not being “called to speak in the Chamber for some time on any debate” – amounts to the creation of a “Stormont naughty step”. Heh. Here’s the text from Hansard Speaker’s …

“the dissidents themselves are actually attacking the direct local accountability institutions”

Pete Baker on November 24, 2009, 3:36 am

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BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport has been properly sceptical before of the suggestion that “having a local Justice Minister might dampen down any dissident violence”. And, following the weekend car bomb attack on the Policing Board headquarters, on today’s Stormont Live he put one of his “stupid” questions to Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly. “Would it really make that much of a difference? Because the dissidents have now directly targeted the Policing Board – which is a symbol of local …

Is it excusable for party leaders to castigate political rivals for ‘splitting’ the vote?

Eamonn Mallie on November 22, 2009, 11:22 pm

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What is it about politicians in Northern Ireland that they will not seriously confront racism, bigotry and sectarianism? How can any politician who promotes the notion of ‘a sectarian head count’ in either community convince thinking people that he or she is serious about standing up to sectarianism? At the heart of the Conservative party’s explanation for aligning with the Ulster Unionist party is the claim that they want to bring ‘normality’ to politics here. Does anyone believe that the …

“but with no political agreement..”

Pete Baker on November 21, 2009, 10:42 pm

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Last weekend more than 7000 primary school pupils sat one version of the new privatised post-primary transfer test, this weekend, as the BBC reports, “about 6,700 took a different test aimed mainly at those seeking places in Catholic grammars.” And with the Education Bill suspended by the Minister and area-based planning awol, the education system is clearly in the very safest of hands… [Time for another campaign? – Ed] Pete Baker

“In each case, the most appropriate and proportionate measures are taken.”

Pete Baker on November 21, 2009, 8:09 pm

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Two Irish News reports of interest from yesterday, both relating to the arrest of Harry Fitzsimmons on an European Arrest Warrant. The first report notes that Acting on intelligence, Dublin-based detectives from the force’s Extradition Unit travelled to the Co Louth town on Tuesday November 10 and arrested the 40-year-old Belfast man, who had been on the run for three years. Garda sources confirmed that officers from Dundalk itself were not involved in the arrest operation. The second report notes …

“I warn those unionist cave-dwellers who seek to wreck our achievements…”

Eamonn Mallie on November 21, 2009, 7:53 pm

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DUP leader Peter Robinson has told Republicans he will not be bossed about on the issue of the devolution of policing and justice. Mr Robinson told his party’s annual conference: “The last few weeks have witnessed republicans muttering darkly about an emergent political crisis and a threat to the existence of the Assembly. To my mind this is the clearest evidence that it is they and not we who are under real pressure from the new dispensation in Northern Ireland …

DUP Conference Live Blog…

Mick Fealty on November 21, 2009, 3:33 pm

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DUP ConferenceOkay, the BBC should have a live feed from about 10am onwards (check the news page after 10). We have tweeters on the ground at La Mon Hotel, but you can join in by using your own Twitter account and the hashtag #dup09 which will mean then that your ‘tweets’ will automatically appear in the live blog feed. I need to give a presentation half way through the day here in Barcelona, so tweeting is going to be the …

“I regret that the political process has not yet delivered what the Executive promised”

Pete Baker on November 20, 2009, 7:51 pm

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As noted on the delay in progressing the Education Bill, yesterday the ESA Chief Executive Designate, Gavin Boyd said “However the Minister has made it very clear that she remains focussed on the agreed implementation date of 1 January. She plans that the Education Bill will move to Consideration Stage as soon as possible, so that it completes its Assembly passage early next month and becomes law before Christmas.” Today, as the BBC reports, the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn …

Over the next few days…

Eamonn Mallie on November 20, 2009, 1:20 pm

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Now in Barcelona preparing for a couple of panel discussions at the Personal Democracy Forum… Gavin’s here too… I’ll be tweeting bits and pieces from here through the next couple of days… If you’re not doing it already you can pick up my feed from here (and what everyone is saying here)… Hashtag: #pdfeu We’ll still be live blogging (see below the fold) from the DUP conference… Hashtag for that will be: #dup09 Let us know if you’re going to …

“It is like a terminal illness…”

Eamonn Mallie on November 20, 2009, 5:01 am

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“The days of sitting at the back of the bus are over.” The defiant words of a senior republican who fears the DUP and its leader Peter Robinson are determined to wreck the architecture of the Good Friday Agreement and the principle of power sharing. The source added: “They are wilfully corrupting power sharing. Slowing everything down to make it look as if the structures aren’t working. The DUP have disengaged with us from last December. The Euro election changed …

“At time of recording this broadcast the Bill has still not been scheduled.”

Pete Baker on November 19, 2009, 10:31 pm

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The decision by the Northern Ireland Education Minister, Sinn Féin’s Caitríona Ruane, not to move the Consideration Stage of the Education Bill in the Assembly in October risks another vacuum developing in the education system. There’s also been a subsequent DUP amendment tabled which would appear to seek to restrict the Department’s ability to bring into operation some of the provisions of the Bill – by requiring a vote in the Assembly for each of the provisions not immediately enacted. …

Waiting for Reg to make up his mind on the big push…

Mick Fealty on November 19, 2009, 9:53 pm

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We’ve been picking up a fair amount of frustration in and around the UCU – NF, that new force that seems reluctant to speak its name. Chekov gave pretty gentle vent to some of the frustrations being felt inside the party at Reg Empey’s reluctance to actually make a decision. So far the Tories have committed money and are building capacity at the Central Office end, with the addition of heavy weight Jonathan Cainer to Owen Paterson’s NI team. But …

Could UKIP (and Lisbon) cost Cameron his comfortable majority…?

Mick Fealty on November 18, 2009, 4:36 pm

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I’ve a pretty chipper Tory mate who did have his party pegged for a 90 seat majority in the next parliament. But Simon Heffer probably raises an issue that most Tories don’t want to talk about in public… a possibly deleterious drift to UKIP in their long prepared and highly funded effort in the southern English marginals as a result of David Cameron’s climb down over Lisbon… I’ve not checked with my Tory mate since then… I keep meeting Tory …