welfare reform

“If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bulls*!t.”

Mick Fealty on October 8, 2014, 3:55 pm

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So if you think these recent backroom changes in Sinn Fein have no visible effects, you might be right. Dropping Leo Green and then losing Vincent Parker (both of whom were highly rated by those outwith the party), may have not changed what happened to poor Phil Flanagan yesterday when he showed up on Nolan with a bat already thoroughly smashed to bits by his own team captain: listen to ‘Last month, the DUP got the Nolan Show montage treatment. …

Mickey Brady: Why Welfare cuts must be opposed

Soapbox on October 2, 2014, 5:00 pm

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As the debate continues on over welfare reform, Sinn Fein MLA and Deputy Chairman of the DSD Committee, Mickey Brady, writes for Slugger about why proposed cuts should be opposed. The Tory-led coalition has sought to sell welfare cuts on the false premise of Strivers verses Skivers. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cuts agenda will affect low-income working families, people with disabilities, those who cannot find employment because there are no jobs available, the young and the most …

Sinn Fein cannot protect people on benefits by magnifying the harm of the original cuts

Mick Fealty on September 29, 2014, 6:26 pm

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So Cameron has said, no. Nick Clegg has said no. And David Ed Miliband has said no. In the meantime, Sinn Fein stayed well clear of last Thursday’s The View when Simon Hamilton dished the dirt on their avoidance of the question of a governmental budget which is crumbling: And after three days of ‘thinking’, John O’Dowd (the guy who always gets to clear up the party’s mess) struggled to explain his party’s refusal to discuss the matter at the Executive …

Labour Party: “Making no progress on welfare has financial implications. It is not a cost-free choice…”

Pete Baker on September 25, 2014, 2:31 pm

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As Mick mentioned, the repeated attempts to blame the fallout from the Northern Ireland Executive’s deadlock on Welfare Reform on “the right wing Tory/DUP austerity agenda“, or “the British Tory Government“, or, more frequently, “a cabinet of Tory millionaires“, have been dealt a blow by clarification of the Labour Party’s position by the Shadow NI Secretary of State at the party’s conference. From the Irish Times report (23 Sept) The disagreement, said [Labour’s shadow Northern Ireland secretary Ivan Lewis], is “a denial” …

“Black Thursday” on its way some time between tomorrow and the end of the financial year

Mick Fealty on September 24, 2014, 12:57 pm

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So here’s the ‘paradox’: Sinn Fein’s resistance of cuts to the Welfare budget means not only is there a negation of the moderated deal they jointly negotiated with the DUP, but the fines will drop not in the post, but in the bank account on the first day of next year’s financial year. Direct rule and deep cuts are looming as deadline looms @mickfealty via @LIAMCLARKECJ #blackthursday pic.twitter.com/63PI9dlIr6 — Katie-o (@kateyo) September 24, 2014 UPdate: Here’s the text of Liam …

Villiers: “Northern Ireland’s political leaders need to act now to grip the situation”

Soapbox on September 22, 2014, 5:00 pm

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In the aftermath of the Scottish referendum and the debate over welfare reform, the Secretary of State, Theresa Villiers MP, writes exclusively for Slugger O’Toole about how we move forward There is much to celebrate about modern Northern Ireland. Twenty years ago this small place carried the burden of a global reputation built on images of bitter conflict and violence. Today, Northern Ireland deserves admiration for its burgeoning creative industries sector, advanced infrastructure and outstanding cultural attractions, as well as …

Sinn Fein Connolly House Masterplan – Tory cuts on steroids

Lee Reynolds on September 21, 2014, 6:37 pm

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Devolution in Northern Ireland is in the political equivalent of a hospital high dependency unit with a serious discussion about whether or not it is should head rapidly to intensive care. This deterioration in its health is as a result of the insistence by Sinn Fein to block the next steps of Welfare Reform. This will set out how this approach is a meeting of voodoo economics and crappy politics. 1) It doesn’t stop any cuts The premise of Sinn …

DUP respond to Welfare Reform deadlock by restating proposals to change Stormont (that would also result in deadlock)

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on September 9, 2014, 10:15 am

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First Minister Peter Robinson has told the Belfast Telegraph that the systems up on the hill are “are no longer fit for purpose”. The structures required cross-community agreement for every significant issue – a process that would have tested and defeated less divergent coalitions. The failure for the DUP and Sinn Fein to build consensus or find a compromise over Welfare Reform has broken the Executive in the DUP leader’s opinion. “It is transparently untenable for the Assembly and Executive …

Poots to pit welfare reform against impending NHS spending ‘cuts’ in Northern Ireland?

Mick Fealty on August 22, 2014, 9:56 am

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So, relax. Despite some fevered rumours to the contrary Ed Poots is calling time on the current executive, yet. Despite, or perhaps because of, a wrap over the knuckles for a £13.1 million overspend in Health, he’s gone into overdrive to point out that a £20 million rise in the Health budget is in fact a real terms cut. #108878571 / gettyimages.com As the BelTel notes… Edwin Poots insisted the health service would not be able to function properly if a …

Could Stormont collapse over non implementation of welfare reform?

Mick Fealty on August 14, 2014, 1:16 pm

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So, at Stormont the DUP and Sinn Fein have informed the ministers of the other parties that they will have to take the brunt of the spending cuts which follow on foot of the OFMdFM parties to come to terms with the relatively generous terms offered Northern Ireland by the Chancellor of Exchequer… #179628975 / gettyimages.com The Finance Minister Simon Hamilton was scathing over Sinn Fein’s lock down on a settlement they presumably had some part in negotiating… They are …

The Welfare Mission

Aaron&Brian on April 8, 2013, 2:17 am

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When George Osborne became Shadow Chancellor he made Welfare Reform one of his primary issues to focus on when in Government. Along with Iain Duncan-Smith, they worked on what would become Universal Credit which has had a difficult birth as a Government policy. The past week, more so than ever, with Osborne pointing towards the horrendous Mick Philpott as an example of the ‘monsters’ that are created in the welfare system. This, coupled with embarrassing photos of Osborne’s chauffeur driven …

Bedroom Tax aimed at the poor in London and SE will cost more in Northern reland

Mick Fealty on April 5, 2013, 4:08 pm

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So to be fair to Iain Duncan Smith, I don’t think the initial motive for the so-called bedroom tax (the social sector size criteria or under-occupation penalty) was to save money. Rather it was intended as a means of redistributing housing within the rented sector so that those with greatest got matching resources. This is a policy which was created for the overcrowded (and house starved) London and South East of England, where house prices are the driver for the …

What you might do with a Stormont Opposition (1): First, build a Fence?

Mick Fealty on April 2, 2013, 11:56 am

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I have some problems with the kind of demogogic simplification Dan Hodges is talking about here, but it demonstrates a line of Machiavellian thinking that is almost completely missing from Northern Irish politics these days. The parties in power don’t need to resort to it since their potential opponents are junior partners (mudguards in Dublin parlance). In the process he nails what’s been bugging me about Labour under Milliband E for months now: Ed Miliband loves hard thinking. He also …

“Those with the least capacity to suffer cuts should not be made to suffer more.”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on February 29, 2012, 7:40 pm

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We want to respectfully challenge those who hold authority in civil society to act with justice and to show compassion to those most in need. Those with the least capacity to suffer cuts should not be made to suffer more. Those were the words of Cardinal Brady at an event tonight looking at welfare reform in Northern Ireland involving the main church leaders along with the Secretary of State Owen Paterson and Social Development Minister Nelson McCausland. The evening was …