Archive for the ‘Assembly’ Category

Devolution of justice: part 2010

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009

Keeping with the theme of the Devolution of Justice, it’s appropiate at this stage to highlight the internal scrambling of SF on the issue. Where to start……

In the Assembly, SF is content to attack the SDLP to attempt to cover their many contradictions and weaknesses; claiming that we are attempting to serve our own interests in the issue of the allocation of the ministry.

You couldn’t make it up. SF; the party responsible for effectively collapsing the government for five months because they didn’t get their own way accuse the SDLP of being self serving!

We have made our position very clear. The method that the DUP conned SF into adopting for the allocation of the post is a major digression from the Good Friday Agreement. An agreement supported by the majority of the Irish people in a referendum. The SDLP is right and proper to oppose that method. Power Sharing and proportionality are fundamental pillars of the GFA and SF is blindly assisting the DUP in picking apart the agreement.

Alban Maginness said it well when he said ‘If we depart from d’Hondt, we effectively undermine and weaken partnership in this institution…It is also the fairest way to bring about proper representation and a level of input from every significant political opinion. If we abandon that, we abandon fairness…The SDLP is committed to d’Hondt and would like, in the first instance, d’Hondt to be completely rerun. If that is required, let us do that. If that cannot be achieved, let us top up d’Hondt ‘

It couldn’t be made any clearer that it’s not about the SDLP, but about the hard fought protections under the GFA that SF are giving away.

So John O’Dowd then outlined that SF are not selling out power sharing and that an SDLP member could apply for the post. But they needed a CV. And they needed to take that CV to Peter Robinson.

Wait. What? What did John O’Dowd say? Did he just say that in order for a nationalist to become Justice Minister; they have to prepare a CV, take their CV to Peter Robinson, a Unionist, and await an answer?

That’s outlined in the GFA where exactly?  What do you think his answer would be? 

SF are in a spin (pun) over this. They held their special Ard Fheis in 2007 and passed a motion to sign up to policing with the provision that Justice would be devolved by May 2008. It’s now the end of 2009. We’ll soon be in 2010.

It seems their “chief negotiator” is doing well then (on this, and everything/anything else).

Posted in Alban Maguinness, Assembly, DUP, Justice, Policing, SDLP, Sinn Fein | No Comments »

Eye on the Hill – Devolution of Justice

Monday, November 30th, 2009

Gregory Campbell has said that it will be a number of years yet before we successfully devolve justice powers to Northern Ireland.

Martin McGuinness has said that there will be severe political consequences if there isn’t a date for devolution before Christmas (which is funny, considering earlier this month they voted down an SDLP motion calling for just that – but we’ll park that).

I suppose this is the definition of a stalemate really. Just like everything else in the DUP/SF dominated Executive at the minute.

It’s quite obvious that Peter Robinson is having internal difficulties with his own party, the Dodds and Campbells and the like. While he needed, and was quite content I should add, to use them to get what he wanted (the top job), he is now faced with an internal power struggle against those very people he needed to oust Paisley. Hence Campbell putting down a maker.

Add that to the fact that Robinson knows that the best method of challenging the TUV is to go to the electorate with a record of delivery, delivery that is noticeable and that makes a difference to the general public. Something he is failing to do.

So he has turned to blaming the institutions for those failures. He claims that they are not designed to deliver fast or work properly. What he fails to mention though is that the ‘mutual veto’ (the mechanism holding everything up) is the mechanism that he negotiated at St. Andrew’s and that his party and Sinn Fein were happy with. Attacking the institutions is so transparent and pretty weak from the leader of the largest party.

On the one hand, the TUV are breathing down his neck and on the other SF are holding up progress (equal to the DUP, on different issues). To blame the system and not address the issues in his own party he will soon find to be a flawed strategy.

People are beyond the point of accepting the argument that “it’s the system, not us” and just want value for money and delivery from their government. The fact is, this is the system these parties wanted and they are both culpable for the failure to deliver. The institutions work, it’s the dominant parties running them that don’t.

We all know that. Change of tactic for Mr Robinson I would presume.

Posted in Assembly, DUP, Executive, Justice, Policing, SDLP, Sinn Fein, TUV | 2 Comments »

Keeping the pressure on..

Thursday, July 2nd, 2009

 

West Belfast SDLP held the second of a series of public meetings around major community issues, following the highly successful conference on terror threats and national security. The second meeting was on academic selection and the transfer mess that parents, teachers and children are currently faced with.

  

We will be holding other events around this issue, it was clear from the mood in the room on Tuesday night (30 June 2009) that parents, teachers and most worryingly, children are in deep stress and concerned about this situation.

 

It is important that this issue does not to go off the political radar, particularly over the summer months. In fact, while this issue represents a crushing failure in our politics and our system, if politicians take the summer recess off from the Assembly – that would clearly represent a slap in the face to all those parents.

 

The SDLP has already called for the Assembly to be reconvened over the summer, to tackle this issue and many more.  

 

We want to provide a platform for parents and teachers to air their views and ideas around finding a solution to the current untenable situation.  Many concerns as well as ideas where expressed on Tuesday, and we will be submitting these to the Minister, the Assembly Education Committee and all party leaders in a report drawn up from the meeting.

 

It is quite clear that Sinn Fein and the DUP have to shoulder a massive burden of blame for this mess. But both the State and those Catholic grammar schools that by their stubbornness have contributed to this situation must also equally shoulder a share of the responsibility. 

 

School children deserve better than this, better than the unregulated, unfair and unstable system. The SDLP will be keeping pressure on all the parties involved in this mess.

 

 

Sinn Fein failed to turn up which was noticed by those in attendance.

 

 

While claims where made (after the event) that this debate was an exercise in trying to make SF look bad on this issue, this couldn’t have been further from the truth. But in anycase, their failure to turn up clearly highlights a nervousness in SF around this issue, argubly demonstrated by their own exercise in distorting the Departmental consultation around the Ministers guidelines as well.

Posted in Assembly, Education, Matthew McDermott, SDLP, Sinn Fein, West Belfast | 2 Comments »

Real effects of doing nothing

Friday, April 17th, 2009

I attended the rally today at City Hall in support of workers who are suddenly finding themselves out of work.

There was a small turn out - when you compare the rally here to the rallies across Ireland and Britain, coupled with the fact that we here in NI are going to be hit worse than England, Wales or Scotland in terms of job loses - the turn out was disappointing. It is all of our responsibilities to ensure that workers have their rights protected. Anyone could be next.

It’s in our nature here, until it affects us we generally don’t pay attention. We vote for the same politicians who consistently fail to help us, and we will again when the EU election comes along.

Our political leaders, the First Minister and deputy First Minister’s response to the economic crisis: attack the Belfast Telegraph for raising the issue. Are they for real? Notably the National Union of Journalists attended the rally – no doubt to sent that same message to our so-called leaders.

While the speakers where very good, they consistently failed to call up those that have the biggest responsibilty here to deal with job losses.

Sinn Fein and the DUP!

They didn’t name Robinson or Maguinness – SF representatives told us on easter that they have co ownership of the institutions, well they must accept then, along with that comes co-responsibility and co-failure to act. As well as co-blame for the executive turning a blind eye to what is happening.

It’s time to get real, people are losing their jobs, homes are being repossessed, people are being taken to court, employers are walking all over them.

Time to turn up the pressure. Time to put Mr Adams and his co-ownership rhetoric to the test.

Time for a new budget and programme for government.

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Time for help for our workers.

Time to help the economy. 

Time for movement.

Time for action.

Posted in Assembly, Constituents, Economy, Executive, SDLP, Sinn Fein, West Belfast, Workers Rights | 1 Comment »

IT’S THE ECONOMY STUPI(DUP) – PART 2

Thursday, April 9th, 2009

The economy is finally beginning to get some attention after months of the DUP/SF axis burying their heads in the sand and pretending we weren’t in any type of crisis. The SDLP launched a discussion document on the state of our government’s budget and spending priorities, identifying where we think £400 million can be found, and starting a much needed and long overdue conversation. 

As I mentioned in a previous post, all over the world governments are reprioritising their budgets and spending priorities. Not here, oh no, that would be just too normal. We only need to look at the Environment Minister and we soon realise how serious some parties are at actually governing the north. Or indeed our Education Minister for that matter.

But now significant pressure is being brought to bear on DUP/SF and I think it’s only a matter of time before they have to acknowledge the reality. Well you would think wouldn’t you? Every day they delay the inevitable is a day that we all have to suffer.

I was at a debate recently and a DUP politician told the audience that I had to defend the SDLP’s policy on fixing the economy. Yes, you read that right. He failed to acknowledge that his party holds the finance ministry, the enterprise and trade ministry and the post of First Minister, he failed to acknowledge that they are the majority party in government and the assembly, that there is going to be a £1 billion black hole in the budget, that people are losing their jobs, that businesses are going under, that we are in a bad financial state at all. But I had to defend my party’s position!

Bear in mind, this was before we launched our economic discussion document this week (available below). This was simply when we where calling for a reprioritising of our spending in these worsening financial times. So apparently we needed to defend the fact that we are facing up to what everyone is facing up to-we are in a crisis, time for solutions, time for some action.

The DUP Finance Minister’s stance on the economic situation is very much like the DUP Environment Minister’s stance on our contribution to global warming. They deny it is happening. This is what we are up against (with not a word from SF). But, let the debate at least start, and lets get on with it.

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Posted in Assembly, DUP, Economy, Executive, SDLP, Sinn Fein, Workers Rights | No Comments »

IT’S THE ECONOMY, STUPI(DUP) PART1

Sunday, March 22nd, 2009

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It’s the economy, stupid, or so it goes.

 

We’ve seen over the last number of weeks a great and welcome sense of unity shown by our politicians over the ‘dissident’ murders – the message went out loud and clear, ‘peace is here to stay.’

 

One of the clearest signals our Assembly and political parties collectively and independently can take is to show everyone that it’s business as usual.

 

The issue facing everyone at the moment is undoubtedly the financial situation we are in and how we are to deal with it. I have met many, many constituents who are finding themselves suddenly out of work. There is no doubt that our government needs to step in, in fact it is long over due. That is what they are saying. That is what we are saying.

 

Yes this is a global crisis. Yes this did start somewhere else. Yes this is a problem bigger than our little government.

 

But no, this is not something our government can’t give ordinary people assistance with. No we should not be sitting on our hands (as the DUP/SF are doing by standing by their failed budget) and no we should not be settling for a budget that was written when economic times where good and not bad.

 

The SDLP say it’s time to budge on the budget. We need a new budget for new times. Our economists are saying so and the DUP’s answer is that the economists are sitting in ivory towers.

 

How arrogant can a party get? I don’t care how precious they think their budget is, the fact is, it’s failing us, it needs changed and the government needs to do more. The reality is that people are seeing no tangible benefits to devolution that they can talk about and that needs to change.

 

The DUP and their SF friends need to stop burying their heads in the sand………..

Posted in Assembly, Constituents, DUP, Economy, Executive, SDLP | 1 Comment »

We won’t let them!!

Wednesday, March 11th, 2009

My thoughts and those of the vast majority of people across Ireland and Britain are with the family and friends of the two murdered soldiers, Mark Quincey and Patrick Azinkar, who where killed in cold blood on Saturday night and the murdered PSNI officer, Constable Carroll murdered Monday.

 

I am the SDLP’s youngest political representative at 23 years old, I am the same age as the murdered soldier Mark Quincey and two years older than Patrick Azinkar. That made me and Mark both 11 years old and Patrick only 9 years old when the last British soldier was murdered here, in South Armagh.

 

Those that carried these attacks out at the weekend have absolutely nothing to offer this society or our people other than misery and pain and they need to be brought to justice. Any true Irish man or woman, Irish nationalist or Irish unionist, Catholic, Protestant or neither, should recognise this and give any information they have that could bring them to justice forward.

 

In Stormont on Monday (09-03-2009) a sense of unity unseen before was shown, which was again shown On Tuesday and today, and I’m sure will continue – showing the dissents that they will not destabilise the peace process or the institutions – and this is very welcome, for it defeats what the dissidents set out to achieve.

 

There is no doubt that my generation owes a great debt of gratitude to the past generation of Hume, Mallon and Rodgers, and others from all parties, for helping secure an end to violence and establishing power sharing institutions – although slow to start.

 

We owe a great sense of thanks to this present generation for getting the institutions back up and running and enshrining democratic politics above all other forms, however rocky.

 

My generation, the future generation, have no desire to go back to the horrific and pointless destruction and murders of the past. We have no desire to revisit the heartache and pain that others had to endure.

 

We grew up at the end of the troubles, as did the murdered soldiers, who at the time of ceasefires where most likely very much like me, interested in football or liked climbing trees, and had no interest in politics.

 

In fact, not only has my generation no intention to go back, we have every intention to go forward, much more forward than ever before in our history and continue un deterred the process of truly uniting our people. We are ‘ceasefire babies’, less tainted by the violence and divisions of the past and we know peace to be normal.

 

What these murderers carried out is to us abnormal, sickening and deplorable and they will not prevent my generation from sowing the seeds of the unity of our people and peace for our people. The next generation deserves nothing less and we will not let so called ‘Irish republicans’ stop that progress.

Posted in Assembly, Matthew McDermott, Peace, SDLP, SDLP Youth, Youth | 1 Comment »

FAREWELL TO THE GOOD FRIDAY AGREEMENT

Monday, March 2nd, 2009

It’s not too often that I agree with the views of Newton Emerson but when I read his column in the Irish News on Saturday I couldn’t help agree…..to a degree.

‘ SO Farewell then to the Good Friday Agreement which has been effectively killed by new legislation on policing and justice. Should the bill rushed through Westminster on Monday pass (which it will) then a whole new method of appointing a Stormont minister will come into law, along with new precedents for removing a minister, replacing a minister and defining a ministerial portfolio…..  28/2/2009 Newton Emerson, Irish News

 

 

I have it on good authority that SF are regular readers of no gloss, just matt, so for their benefit I will explain what Newton means by saying farewell to the Good Friday Agreement.

 

I will outline below a basic lesson on conflict resolution and how SF have been the willing deputy for the DUP and really damaged the GFA ……

 

Conflicts by and large are, in one way or another, centred on three areas of contention, 1) Power and abuse thereof, 2) Human Rights and violations thereof and 3) policing and justice.

 

So to tackle point 1 Cue constitutional power sharing and PR elections. 

 

Point 2 Cue Equality Commission, Human Rights Commission and the proposed Bill of Rights.

 

Point 3 Cue Patten reforms, criminal justice review and the devolution of justice.

 

Everyone knows that it has been a constant feature and desire of the DUP to tear down the structures of  the GFA, and there is evidence of SF assisting the DUP in this:

 

1)St. Andrew’s, for example, by removing inclusiveness i.e. a Ministers ability to disagree with the Executive and stay in government.

 

2) The DUP constantly attack strand II, North/South and the best SF can do is say that it is tactical…because of the EU election. It’s not tactical, it’s strategic, wake up!

 

3) And now we have the Devolution of Justice….

 

SF have aided and abetted the DUP in removing one of the most fundamental pillars of the GFA -  d’Hondt! Why? In my opinion ,because of a lack of judgement, a short term desire to out manoeuvre the SDLP (or so they believe) and bolster themselves (Party before the People – the Sinn Féin way).

 

Now that the DUP have been able to  pick away at one of the most fundamental features of the GFA not only unhindered, but assisted, how can SF argue that they shouldn’t be allowed to do it to any other aspect of the Agreement?

 

Now I know SF are known for putting themselves before the people – but this is outrageous.

 

Therefore Newton is right in a sense, it would be ‘farewell to the agreement’ because of SF’s evident weaknesses, but while the SDLP have representation, the GFA is going no where…..

 

Posted in Assembly, DUP, Executive, Justice, SDLP, Sinn Fein | 2 Comments »

From the House on the Hill

Thursday, January 15th, 2009

I’ve been swamped with work lately, with conference approaching and all that entails, so I havn’t had too much time to post anything West related, so apologies, but every once in a while brief observations will be made on no gloss just matt.

I was in Stormont on Monday for the first time since the break and it’s fascinating to observe the body language and words of the DUP and SF.

A casual read of hansard and what Robinson is saying on the floor of the Assembly confirms my oservations also.

The DUP are confident and cocky while the shinners are unsure, squeamish and silent.

Robinson knows that he runs the house, that he has the measure of SF and control of the civil service. So why wouldn’t he be confident?

There is no date for devolving justice and will not be one in the near future and SF accept.

 They hold a veto on who will get the ministry so ‘no nationalist need apply’ and SF agree.

 Robinson can stall North South development and say that the North South structures are not value for money. SF response? Silence.

 It’s going to start getting embarrassing to watch soon.

Posted in Assembly, DUP, Sinn Fein | No Comments »

WHATS IT ALL ABOUT? SF ATTACK SDLP (AGAIN)

Tuesday, December 16th, 2008

This blog will primarily be used as an insight into what really goes on in the politics of West Belfast; it will be composed of my view of the world and formed by my interaction with the constituents I speak to everyday among other things.

From time to time however, it will be necessary to comment on the wider political front and give my view of what’s happening and I think it only right to have my first post address the current political goings on at Stormont and SF’s bizarre attacks on the SDLP.

It was not a week ago that Carál Ni Chuilin, Sinn Fein North Belfast MLA was attacking Margaret Ritchie for her work on fuel poverty and saying this was not the issue. That the delay was a disgrace, and that ‘vulnerable people in our society’ should not be used ‘to score petty political points’.

 

We also had the bizarre and rather blatant dishonest (read lie) statement that NIE would benefit from any proposals Margaret Ritchie would introduce, something that DSD and NIE have exposed as untrue and misinformed. If that wasn’t embarrassing enough, that Sinn Fein where so misinformed, fast forward a week and what do we get: -

 

Sinn Fein finally accepting that fuel poverty is a major issue, accepting that Margaret Ritchie’s proposals where right and liking them so much that they stole them and claimed them as their own.

 

As for Ms Carál Ni Chuilin, if she had an issue with a delay she really needed to speak to Martin McGuinness, so that he could have gone and spoke to his boss, Peter Robinson (the team leader), and had this important issue put on the agenda. Everyone is aware that everything that goes on the agenda has to be to the liking of the DUP/SF and if fuel poverty was delayed then it was delayed because they wanted it delayed.

 

SF stealing and promoting SDLP policies and proposals as their own, that’s a new tactic isn’t it?

 

Snatching £30 million off DSD and the Housing Executive and hurting the most vulnerable people in society was the result – so yeah the most vulnerable people in our society should not be used to score petty political points. If Caral Ni Chuilin believes that, she should tell Martin McGuinness, so he can tell his leader.

 

Just on a side note, the new phrase coming from McGuinness HQ is that “the executive needs to work as a team”. “Margaret Ritchie is not a team player”. “Team”, “team”, “team”.

 

He’s right, Margaret Ritchie is not a team player, because the team Martin McGuinness is referring to is team DUP, Margaret doesn’t play for them as she demonstrated over C.T.I., SF play for them, promote their ideas and policies and exercise team DUP’s manifesto pledges – no Irish Language Act, no end to academic selection, and the list goes on.

 

Next post West Belfast……………

 

Posted in Assembly, Executive, Margaret Ritchie | 4 Comments »