Slugger Cato Project

Diane Dodds on Scrutiny, System Shortfalls, and the Struggle for Clarity through Stormont’s Institutions

Mick Fealty on December 18, 2025, 4:00 pm

| Readers 818

In the final episode of the first series of the Slugger Cato Project, we sat down with DUP MLA and former Minister Diane Dodds. For those new to the series, this project is a shared inquiry into the mechanics of government—specifically those corners of the Northern Ireland Assembly that often remain hidden from public view. Before diving into Diane’s insights, it is worth reflecting on the feedback from last week’s conversation with Sinn Féin’s Pat Sheehan. The response from our …

Slugger Cato Project: Pat Sheehan on doggedly sticking to the question over time…

Mick Fealty on December 11, 2025, 4:12 pm

| Readers 1699

The Slugger Cato Project is an inquiry hosted by Mick Fealty, and is dedicated to exploring the less-visible aspects of governance and political action in Northern Ireland. It aims to investigate the inner workings of the Stormont government, analysing how politicians navigate bureaucratic systems and fulfil their representative roles. This series is an active investigation, shedding light on the mechanics of modern governance that often remain obscured. Our readers’ contributions have already given us much food for thought. “Finaghy” introduced the …

Who Guards the Guard? Timothy Gaston MLA on the Battle for Accountability in Stormont

Mick Fealty on December 4, 2025, 3:51 pm

| Readers 1825

In the Slugger Cato Project, our mission is clear, and even a little bit ambitious. It’s not simply to spotlight voices you might not typically hear from – though we often will. Our true purpose is to delve into the often frustrating interface between the public and the democratic institutions that were established under the Belfast, or Good Friday, Agreement. It’s a system designed for peace, which often struggles with the practicalities of good government (see Brian’s Panto analogy below). …

Slugger Cato Project: Claire Sugden on Challenging the Stormont System as an Independent MLA

Mick Fealty on November 27, 2025, 7:27 pm

| Readers 810

The way I originally conceived this project was as a sort of shared inquiry, where the active audience(s) of Slugger would play as much of a role in uncovering actionable insights from these individual episodes as the interviewees themselves. This helps us to fill out the context of a wider landscape and it’s no coincidence that that three of the commenters I’ve picked to introduce this episode are either expats living in London, or a native of the other island …

Slugger Cato Project: Patsy McGlone on Independence and Challenging the System

Mick Fealty on November 25, 2025, 4:44 pm

| Readers 1588

A feature, or bug is simply a difference between the product you have and the product you want. –Ernest Mueller The last episode (released on Thursday) sparked a pleasingly positive response from the Slugger Community, if not exactly breaking all records in terms of a ton readership. It seems we struck a nerve. For too long, the prevailing narrative has been that Stormont is merely a dysfunctional “clown show.” But as our commenter Babyface pointed out, while slagging everything off …

Accountability vs. “Clicks”: Paul Frew MLA on Scrutinising the Stormont Executive

Mick Fealty on November 20, 2025, 4:20 pm

| Readers 1496

Over the summer and the autumn I’ve been quietly working away talking to a small number of cross party backbenchers about the work they do in the Assembly as part of a new project we call the Slugger Cato Project. Cato the Younger was famous not for seeking power, but for relentlessly challenging it. He was a symbol of integrity, independence, and defiant courage—a citizen who demanded the highest standards from his government. Now it seems the wider media is …