RHI – Slugger O'Toole

‘I’m talking about a culture change in government in Northern Ireland: I mean the civil service and politicians’

Paul Gosling on August 17, 2020, 9:00 am

| Readers 2254

Evidence-based policy-making is largely absent from government in Northern Ireland, but the new Pivotal think-tank has been established to correct that, says its director Ann Watt. She was speaking in the last of the second series of Holywell Trust Forward Together podcasts. The aim of Pivotal “is to help improve public policy in Northern Ireland,” says Ann. “It’s got a strong emphasis on research and evidence and on using evidence better in public policy.” The very first Pivotal report, published in November last year, …

Reforming government in Northern Ireland

Paul Gosling on April 20, 2020, 9:01 am

| Readers 2057

Government in Northern Ireland needs reform, but the fact that it works at all is actually impressive given the past, says Jess Sargeant of the Institute for Government, a London-based think-tank. She was speaking in the first of a new series of podcasts produced by the Holywell Trust, which feature opinions from policy experts who consider some of Northern Ireland’s biggest challenges. The Institute for Government published a review of Northern Ireland’s system of government at the end of last …

Watch: Sam McBride on the RHI Inquiry Report #ImagineBelfast

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 27, 2020, 8:25 pm

| Readers 1188

Watch back my interview with Sam McBride – author of Burned – to candidly discuss his impressions of the Renewable Heat Incentive inquiry’s report – the final part of this year’s unexpectedly free and online Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics. Everything that has been broadcast over the last three days is available to watch back on the Imagine! website.

Day three of #ImagineBelfast’s virtual festival of ideas and politics – finishing at 8pm with an interview with Burned author Sam McBride

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 27, 2020, 10:30 am

| Readers 266

Having sold out two nights of Sam McBride in conversation with William Crawley at the close of the planned week of face-to-face events, the virtual Imagine! Belfast Festival of Ideas and Politics broadcast will finish at 8pm this evening with the author of Burned talking about his impressions of the published RHI Inquiry Report. Before that, from 1pm you can watch talks about economic growth and community banking, a reprise of Lord Patten of Barnes’ recent speech in Belfast when he reminisced about his time in Northern Ireland and his reflections on the Patten report into police reform, thoughts on how COVID-19 has challenged the arts sector and may change political culture, as well as comedy from Stand Up, Speak Out and the Democracy Inspector.

RHI Report Published…

Brian O'Neill on March 13, 2020, 3:24 pm

| Readers 3184

Sir Patrick Coghlin has published his long-awaited report into the RHI fiasco. At 656 pages long you will forgive me for not having read it yet (or ever to be honest). The headline findings from the BBC are: Corrupt or malicious activity was not the cause of what went wrong with Northern Ireland’s failed energy scheme. The findings into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme were published on Friday. It found the scheme was a “project too far” for the NI Executive …

What Northern Ireland needs to do to decarbonize its economy

Peter Donaghy (Salmon of Data) on September 28, 2019, 8:08 pm

| Readers 3752

Following from the speech given by environmental campaigner Greta Thunberg at the UN General Assembly in New York this week, there has been a significant amount of discussion about the failure to respond to the world’s unfolding climate crisis. Northern Ireland contributes to greenhouse gas emission to a much greater extent than its small size would suggest. The charts at the top of the page show Northern Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 to 2017, compared with the target of …

A New Deal for Northern Ireland

Philip Smith on November 22, 2018, 1:03 pm

| Readers 2053

Politics needs to change in Northern Ireland. How we govern needs to change. Our political culture must transform or our future will be at best no different to our present – political stalemate with a sluggish, dependency economy; limited investment and failing public services. Optimistically our current zombie government will continue to tick over, at worst we descend into a sectarian spiral and we all know where that can lead if unchecked. We need politics to work. But it can’t …

“The ministerial code says all kinds of things about what should happen…”

Pete Baker on October 11, 2018, 1:49 pm

| Readers 784

A couple of quick points to note from the Renewal Heat Inquiry today, where senior civil servant Andrew McCormick has been giving evidence about the lack of minute taking within Northern Ireland Executive departments. From the BBC report On Thursday, the inquiry was told that a key meeting in August 2015, where a decision was taken to delay cost controls to the RHI scheme, had not been formally minuted. Mr McCormick said that was not unusual, as part of the …

RHI turning into a bonfire of the DUP’s reputation to do basic government…

Mick Fealty on September 12, 2018, 10:18 am

| Readers 3371

Shortly after the RHI story broke I remember remarking on the irony that the party had been hit in a policy area over which it had frequently expressed utter contempt. Sammy Wilson’s notorious flip from signing an early day motion in Westminster on climate change to full blown sceptical disciple of Nigel Lawson is a particularly stark example of the low contempt many in the party hold for any environmental policy. So Tim Cairns’ revelations didn’t stop at Jonathan Bell’s …

RHI Inquiry: “Dr Crawford I’m not inviting a comment from you, thank you.”

Mick Fealty on April 17, 2018, 7:12 pm

| Readers 4453

Coming back to Slugger (after a few weeks mostly out of the saddle), the most interesting item appears to be the RHI Inquiry. It is clear Sir Patrick Coghlin does not share the view of previous members of the judiciary that Stormont is a delicate flower. The BBC reports that he… …cautioned the public that if they heard something “sensational” in media coverage they should seek out the evidence themselves. He said the inquiry had gone to great lengths to ensure …

Arlene’s Valentines Day Massacre

Daithi McKay on February 14, 2018, 10:01 pm

| Readers 11474

Today could not have turned out any bigger a mess for the incumbent DUP Leader and would-be First Minister. If sources are to be believed the Fermanagh MLA was ready to sign off on a deal which would have seen 3 Bills introduced : An Irish Language Bill An Ulster Scots Bill A Joint Respect Bill What has happened since the weekend to put the Stormont train off the rails? A DUP Group meeting on Monday morning, 3 days of …

A Year Without Government Series: Part I of III

Soapbox on January 22, 2018, 1:38 pm

| Readers 1191

This week will mark one year since the suspension of the Northern Ireland Assembly and one year without government in Northern Ireland. Over the next few articles from myself on this site I hope to take a satirical and hopefully comical look back on the events of this year and how we managed to find ourselves in the situation. The following was written entirely tongue in cheek and none of it should be taken very seriously. How did we get …

NI Media will have serious questions to answer in reporting of RHI…

Mick Fealty on August 9, 2017, 11:55 am

| Readers 2219

I suspect had someone like John Lloyd been invited to speak he would have highlighted some glaring faults in the reporting of this story. I’d cite two major issues: lack of engagement with specialist knowledge and the egregious use of single sources to generate sustained controversy, which in turn created a dangerous form of demagogic simplification. The media in Northern Ireland, like much of the political class they report on, tend to see themselves and their work as being above …

RHI and the Media – self reflection and looking forward to the inquiry #feile17

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 8, 2017, 6:31 pm

| Readers 1314

RHI & THE MEDIA – Listen back to a refresher of the issues and key moments in the reporting ahead of the public hearings beginning in the autumn. Sam McBride and Allison Morris reflected on the media’s handling of RHI, and listed some of the weaknesses and lessons learnt along the way.

Féile an Phobail this week – RHI, Harold Good, unity, unionism, and drama #feile17

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on August 7, 2017, 6:22 pm

| Readers 1624

UNITY & UNIONISM are just two of the many, many topics being tackled at Féile an Phobail this week. David McCann will chair a discussion about RHI and media, Rev Harold Good will reflect on peace processes around the world, party leaders will discuss a ‘New Ireland’, and another panel will dissect the shrinking unionist vote. And then there’s the annual West Belfast Talks Back ding dong … #feile17

As for that RHI overrun, erm, that will be just £2 million per annum thank you very much?

Mick Fealty on July 5, 2017, 11:48 am

| Readers 2536

For the record, here’s the NI Audit Office update on the RHI ‘scandal’: Of the 1,687 boilers installed prior to 18 November 2015 and which are currently in payment, 659 (39%) are using the boilers for more than 50% of the available hours in a year i.e. more than 12 hours a day and 7 days a week all year round with an RHI subsidy per boiler in 2016‐17 of at least £28,000. Of these 10 boilers are being used …

Department for the Economy release list of RHI beneficiaries…

Brian O'Neill on March 16, 2017, 8:05 pm

| Readers 3663

After months of legal wrangling, the Department for the Economy has finally released the names of all RHI beneficiaries who are in receipt of payments over £5000. The released the data as a PDF but I converted it to a spreadsheet so you can filter it by who got the most. Which let’s face it is what we all want to know. Download an excel version | View a google sheet version Here are the top beneficiaries As expected there is a lot …

The pendulum swings – time not for Unionist panic nor inaction

Turgon on March 4, 2017, 11:30 am

| Readers 5287

So the elections results are in: a sea change has occurred. The bark of unionism’s boat is near overflowed. All may not yet be lost but all is about to be. Wail, lament, tear clothes, put on sack cloth or more realistically start surfing rightmove to find a nice house in the North of England or Midlands or maybe Wales (house prices preclude the south and Scotland will soon be gone). Well maybe and only a naïve unionist would dismiss …

Highest RHI uptake came after Conor Murphy fought to keep the scheme open…

Mick Fealty on February 20, 2017, 6:02 pm

| Readers 4191

To begin, last December, Mr Murphy said: … the devolved institutions have been “badly damaged” by the scandal which could cost the public well over £400m. He also said his party would support a public enquiry into the workings of the scheme. What we need to do is to get to the truth and have a full exposure of what happened. But it turns out he (along with Arlene’s SpAds) had pushed the then DETI Minister Jonathan Bell to keep …

Jonathan Bell to stand as an independent in Strangford #ae17

David McCann on February 7, 2017, 6:02 pm

| Readers 2501

Former DUP Minister, Jonathan Bell announced on Nolan this morning that he is standing as an independent in the Strangford constituency Bell received 3,393 first preferences in 2016 and was elected on the 3rd seat. David McCannDavid McCann holds a PhD in North-South relations from University of Ulster. You can follow him on twitter @dmcbfs