David Ford is my guest for "Inside Politics" this weekend. I ask him if there is any "wobble room" in his party's previous rejection of the notion that they could provide a compromise candidate to head a future Justice ministry. Mr Ford says Alliance would attend any inter party talks held on the matter in the autumn. He points out that if the issue is dealt with by the Assembly Executive and Review Committee then Alliance would be absent as it isn't included on the body.
Alliance will actually discuss criminal justice matters with the NIO Minister Paul Goggins next week. I think the SDLP are also due a meeting and slots are being arranged with other parties. Before anyone portrays these as crunch talks on the impasse, it should be noted they were arranged some time ago, although it would be logical for the arrangements for transferring justice powers to come up.
If you want to hear the interview with David Ford, it's on Inside Politics on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Ulster at a quarter to one tomorrow.
Whilst their ministers are battling over nomenclature, Sinn Fein and the DUP's West Tyrone MLAs are clashing over the colour of the local post boxes. On the eve of a Royal Black Preceptory parade, the DUP's Tom Buchanan complains that not only have "Republican vandals" painted the post boxes in Strabane and Sion Mills green, but Sinn Fein's Barry McElduff has commended them for their actions.
"No amount of green postboxes" says Tom "will hide the fact that Northern Ireland is part of the United Kingdom and will remain so.....Is Mr McElduff prepared to arrange for the repair of public property and will he foot the bill to have these repairs carried out?"
And was the paint paid for out of the budget for the Regional Development Strategy?
I was woken from my slumber at about 6.30 a.m. to be told about the on a new crisis, sorry, kerfuffle in the Executive. Half asleep, I learned it involved the Regional Development Strategy and got worried in case it meant getting across highly technical matters which I might not understand even when wide awake (e.g. what is the correct diameter for Belfast's sewerage, what should be the camber on any new motorway).
However after a couple of phone calls I got my head around it. The row over involved references to "Northern Ireland" being changed to "the North" and so on.
Jim Allister complained about the language in the document back in August. Now Peter Robinson has written to Conor Murphy expressing his anger at what he says are 157 changes made to the text as agreed by the Executive.
In one sense, I suppose this could be construed as fundamental, given that Sinn Fein's Regional Development Strategy is to strategically develop this region into being part of another jurisdiction. On the other hand, I can see why Naomi Long calls it breathtaking "pettiness".
Either way, I want my 30 minutes sleep back...
UPDATE: A senior Stormont source told me this latest row is indicative of the increasingly poor personal chemistry between ministers and expressed concern that the DUP and Sinn Fein might be getting themselves into positions from which it is difficult to back out. So maybe I am due more rude awakenings...
Our Deputy First Minister is currently on leave. I think Martin McGuinness is staying close to home, but after his recent package holiday in Baghdad is predicting that his next stop could be the Philippines. Why? Well, the UK Ambassador in Manila has pledged to share our expertise in conflict resolution as part of an attempt to arrest the downward spiral in the region of Mindanao.
Somewhat belatedly, I have just seen a copy of an article which appeared in July's issue of the ENDS Report, a monthly journal which deals with environmental policy and business across the UK. The journal quoted several local senior scientists criticising our Environment Minister's view on climate change, and its editorial referred to him as "daft Sammy". The most stinging quote came from Sir Bernard Crossland, Emeritus Professor of Engineering at Queen's, who opined that "Sammy Wilson is ill informed on the reality of the situation, but I guess that he will not believe much of our present climate change is man made until the water is lapping up his knees in East Belfast". That quote obviously predated the most recent flooding. As the appears to be subscriber only, I shall put the relevant article in the extended entry.
Read the rest of this entry
This morning I interviewed the First Minister about the latest comments from Sinn Fein T.D. CaoimhghÃn Ó Caoláin threatening to withdraw ministers from the Executive if the stand off over devolving policing and justice is not resolved. Peter Robinson vowed not to respond to threats, then warned of "serious consequences" if an Executive meeting scheduled for September 18th does not go ahead as planned.
The DUP leader refused to spell out what those consequences might be, but a couple of possibilities appear to be in the air. In the old Executive Sinn Fein took David Trimble to court for refusing to nominate their ministers to go to North South council meetings. Perhaps Sinn Fein could be on the receiving end of similar legal action.
Another option might be resorting to the Independent Monitoring Commission. The IMC's headline role has been, until now, to keep an eye on paramilitary ceasefires. However they were also given a potential role overseeing if politicians at Stormont kep to their pledges. At the time it was speculated this might be deployed against the DUP's "empty chairs" tactic, but now the DUP could resort to the IMC in their battle with republicans.
Finally the Stormont Assembly and Executive Review Committee had been due to take the policing and justice negotiations forward. If there's no September 18th meeting that could be pulled.
I would call this a crisis, but out of deference to Barack Obama (see below) I think we should henceforth refer to difficulties at Stormont as a "kerfuffle".
With all the focus on Barack Obama's Democratic party bash in Colorado, the US Ireland Alliance brought my attention to a from his campaign team. It deals with Ireland, Northern Ireland and Irish America. Apart from reminding everyone that his great great great grandfather, Falmouth Kearney, emigrated to America from Ireland in 1850, the candidate goes on to question whether the US should continue to appoint a Special Envoy, now that - in his words "the crisis period..has passed".
My guest for tomorrow's Inside Politics is the SDLP Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie. We discuss the Executive's response to last weekend's floods, her initiative to promote shared housing and the SDLP's views on the DUP-Sinn Fein plans for a future justice minister. You can also hear why she believes Shaun Woodward is now playing catch up with her over loyalist decommissioning.
Inside Politics is on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Ulster tomorrow at 12.45 p.m.
After some Scotland fans booed "God Save The Queen" before Wednesday evening's soccer friendly against Northern Ireland, the two main unionist parties are falling out over the anthem. The DUP's Edwin Poots has accused the UUP's Basil McCrea of demonstrating "anaemic" unionism, by suggesting that the NI team could do with something else. Former Minister Poots calls the UUP a "blue-tinged centrist grouping without Unionist principles or convictions." So this reads like an extension of the DUP's assault on the UUP-Tory alliance.
So far as the anthem is concerned, the NI team at the Commonwealth Games uses "Danny Boy". Any suggestions out there for new anthems for the soccer team?
Belfast councillors on the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee are meeting behind closed doors to discuss holding a reception for members of the armed forces taking part in the "Homecoming Parade" from Iraq and Afghanistan scheduled for November 2nd. The DUP Councillor Robin Newton says he hopes "those who feel they are unable to vote for will at least not vote against. The worst thing for the city will be if this issue becomes a political football".
Cllr Newton quotes Sinn Fein's Michael Browne, welcoming Belfast's gay pride events, as saying "all citizens of Belfast should be treated with respect".
So are we in for a bit of political football or not?
UPDATE: The committee has narrowly voted to give the armed forces a reception. The proposal - which was backed by unionists but opposed by the SDLP and Sinn Fein - was carried by two votes. It now has to go before the full council next month for ratification.
As was pointed out at yesterday's Stormont Regional Development Committee, we could have easily been looking at a loss of life in the Broadway Underpass. But given that we didn't, the wags have already got going with their jokes about Olympic rowing facilities etc... and here is a postcard from Belfast's latest tourist attraction which has been doing the rounds on e-mail.
Ian Paisley Junior's comments that the police should adopt a "shoot on sight" policy towards dissident republicans have caused a predictable furore, with Dolores Kelly, Alex Maskey and Basil McCrea lining up to criticise the former junior minister.
Given Ian Jr.'s clarification that he is not calling for a revival of a "shoot to kill" policy (which was alleged to involve pre-planned ambushes of suspects, rather than attempts to arrest them) it's hard to know what, in practice, this debate is all about. A police officer confronted by an armed assailant already has the right to use a personal protection weapon.
The "shoot on sight" comments were provoked by the failed rocket attack on a police patrol at Lisnaskea. The Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton has confirmed that the warhead contained semtex from what he called "old stocks". Indeed it's thought the rocket launcher itself was an old Provisional IRA weapon.
Back in General De Chastelain reported that the IRA had destroyed all its weapons. His team made an inventory of the weapons and compared it with one given them by the British and Irish security forces the previous year. They reported that "our inventory is consistent with these estimates and we believe that the arms decommissioned represent the totality of the IRA's arsenal".
The security force estimates were never published. In the light of Lisnaskea, various unionists, not just Ian Paisley Junior, have been asking how much of the IRA's semtex might have found its way to the dissidents. Presumably the security forces have an up to date estimate. However, given that such intelligence might be based on tip offs from informers, it seems unlikely that they will be any keener to publish their figures than they were back in 2005.
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I'm just back from covering an emergency meeting of the Regional Development Committee at Stormont. The Committee was quizzing the Roads Service, Water Service and Rivers Agency about their response to the weekend floods. Headlines included the appointment of outside consultants to report on what went wrong at the Broadway Underpass and confirmation that a private company, Steria, has been employed to work on the long promised single flooding emergency line. The target date for this to become a reality is the end of October. And the DUP's George Robinson told us how he just managed to navigate his car through the increasingly aquatic underpass before it filled up with water.
Construction work at Stormont over the summer meant that the hearing could not be held in the Senate Chamber, which is equipped with fixed cameras. At one point the committee tried to switch the hearing to the more spacious Room 21, where the old Executive used to meet. But they couldn't use the room because of a leak.
Candidates for the Fermanagh by-election, due to take place on 17th September, have been handing in their nomination papers today and can continue doing so tomorrow. A few new names have entered the fray. Karen McHugh, daughter of the Independent Republican MLA Gerry McHugh is in the race, as is Dr Kumar Kamble, an anaesthetist working at the Erne Hospital. He is standing for Alliance. The SDLP is fielding Rosemary Flanagan, an education adviser who chairs their Enniskillen Branch, whilst Sinn Fein's candidate is care assistant Debbie Coyle. They join the Ulster Unionist Basil Johnston and the DUP candidate Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster who is endeavouring to hold the seat which fell vacant after the death of Nigel Dodds' father Joe. So it's a packed field, even without the TUV.
No, not a resumption of hostilities, but just the sight of a lot of six foot plus Americans touring Stormont earler today, which for some inexplicable reason got my colleague Ms Purdy in a fluster. They were the "Fighting Irish" aka Notre Dame University basketball team, one of the USA's most celebrated college squads. They made quick work of an team at Antrim Forum last night, and are playing Poland at the Forum tonight.
When East Belfast and other areas were hit by flash floods last June, the Executive won some plaudits for its response. Having only just come to power local ministers could hardly be blamed for previous flood planning, and although the cynics might have pointed out that it helped that the then Finance Minister Peter Robinson was also the local MP, most people applauded the speed with which a local compensation package was put in place.
One year later, that precedent means the promise of compensation came without delay. But now they have been in power for a year ministers will find it more difficult to dodge any blame. I glanced back at the Assembly debates after last year's flash floods and they make interesting reading. On Ian Paisley Junior, speaking on behalf of the OFMDFM, said "Ministers are determined to learn any lessons that can be gleaned from the experience. The Executive have decided to set up a single telephone number for those affected by future weather-related and other emergencies. The number will be supported by a call-centre facility.". This morning Conor Murphy said the single emergency line would not be ready until October.
On Sammy Wilson was a DUP backbencher. This morning, as Environment Minister, he was keen to stress that there are limits to what any government can do in the event of such torrential rain. But last year, he picked up Conor Murphy's assertion that the flash floods were "exceptional circumstances" arguing that "in the past eight years, it is about the eighth time that I have heard - from various Ministers, not just from the current Minister - that those are one in every 100 or 150 years events. It seems that we have had 1,000 years of disaster all wrapped up in the past eight years.
As such events are not now considered to be exceptional circumstances, will the Minister give an assurance that emergency planning is being strengthened so that the Department is aware of where floods are likely to occur? They seem to happen in the same places time and time again. Will the Minister also give an assurance that data on the locations of floods will be collected and that the Department will liaise closely with the weather forecasters so that early intervention, such as the distribution of sandbags, can occur before the flooding even starts?"
Whilst the army did hand out sandbags in South Down after the latest flooding began, I'm not aware of any sandbags being handed out in advance, Perhaps this is something Sammy will discuss further with Conor.
P.S. On the Nolan Show, Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd rejected the idea of the British army being called out to nationalist areas to help respond to the flooding, arguing that an "army of occupation" would not be welcome. But according to my colleague Martina Purdy's book "Room 21" this contrasts with the attitude of Martin McGuinness during the foot and mouth crisis in 2001. Martina says Brid Rodgers needed the army to enforce an exclusion zone near Ardboe. "She rang the area's MP, Martin McGuinness, who was also a fellow minister. She told the leading republican that she needed cooperation with the British army. "What have you got to say about that?" she asked him. "If it has to be done, it has to be done," he told her. She was relieved by McGuinness's pragmatism."
My guest for this weekend's Inside Politics is the Traditional Unionist Jim Allister. Our conversation covers the Omagh bombing, the devolution of justice, why the TUV isn't contesting the Fermanagh by-election and why the MEP thinks the DUP are vote splitters.
That's Inside Politics on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Ulster at a quarter to one on Saturday afternoon.
Unionists have been piling in to the former Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan over her remarks on yesterday's Woman's Hour suggesting that Protestants taught their children to distrust Catholics.
Although Mrs O'Loan has sought to clarify her comments, explaining that she was told this by others, rather than experiencing it first hand, the reaction has evoked memories of previous controversies over remarks from President McAleese and Father Alec Reid.
Ian Paisley Junior has accused Mrs O'Loan of engaging in an anti-Protestant fest, whilst Jim Allister demanded to know what she taught her own children.
On the Nolan show some Protestant callers denied any Protestant parent did such a thing, but others rang in with personal testimony supporting Mrs O'Loan's assertion. Many conflated the notion of "distrust" with "hate". But one caller distinguished between the two, pointing out that, during the troubles, people who had security force members in their families exercised understandable caution about trusting others on the basis that careless talk could cost lives.
Was Nuala O'Loan unwise to make a statement on the basis of hearsay evidence which would not have stood up in one of her own inquiries? Did she just phrase her idea badly, in a one sided manner, or, as Ian Paisley Junior argues, is this another insight into what "the informed, educated Roman Catholic elite actually think"?
Perhaps Mrs O'Loan should have a chat with Liam Neeson who is asked in today's Independent about the furore he caused a few years ago when he told a US magazine that growing up as a Catholic in Ballymena made him feel like a "second class citizen". The film star tells the paper "that was a bit rash. The trouble with Northern Ireland is that you're cursed if you speak and you're cursed if you don't."
When I broadcast a report in the spring on predictions that our MLAs could be in line for a 16% rise the Assembly said a recommendation from the Senior Salaries Review Body would not be made until the summer. I have been keeping tabs on this and it seems to be slipping back. Today the SSRB said the report would be ready "soon", by which they meant maybe next month or, possibly, October.
Downing Street has responded to the 15,703 people who signed an e-petition calling on the Prime Minister to reprimand Iris Robinson over her remarks on homosexuality. Not surprisingly they say for the PM to reprimand individual MPs.
The DUP, the Ulster Unionists and the Northern Ireland Tories are engaged in a three way tussle over the Orange Order. As part of their continuing assault on the nascent UUP-Conservative Alliance, the DUP has unearthed comments made back in March on the local Tory website in which leading local spokesmen Jeffrey Peel described the Order as a "backward facing history obsessed parish pump society". The DUP wanted to know if the UUP shared those views.
Mr Peel says the comments, which have now been taken down from the website, represent his own personal opinion not Conservative policy. The UUP's Tom Elliot, who is a senior Orangeman, says his party continues to believe that "the Order contributes to the rich cultural diversity of Northern Ireland and has a very significant role to play in our society".
The DUP - in the shape of former Culture Minister Edwin Poots - has gone on to reproduce a private e-mail Mr Peel sent to a UUP member in which he suggests that the e-mail's anonymous recipient should "take refuge in an Orange Hall somewhere and console yourself that you have faith and there won't be any Catholics in your midst. Because that's your choice and as a Conservative I'm all for choice. Although it's not a choice I'd take."
Again Mr Peel says this is his personal opinion not Tory policy. The e-mail had not been intended for publication. The UUP claims its disturbing that the DUP has been sifting through five month old e-mails. Does this show the DUP is unnerved by the UUP-Conservative alliance or have they hit on a weak spot? Certainly, looking beyond the website controversy, it will be interesting to gauge the temperature of any local unionists attending next month's Conservative conference in Birmingham.
Oh, and if Bobby Saulters invites Ann Widdecombe to join any time soon, you'll know this was a storm in an orange juice cup.
Today's predicts Shaun Woodward could be promoted in an autumn reshuffle, and that this might spell the end of the NIO as part of a much mooted merger into a new department of the regions. I'm still not certain whether this is on the cards ahead of the devolution of criminal justice. However the Belfast Telegraph story picks up on a report late last month in the that the SoS has become an unlikely confidant of Gordon Brown. This is a bit of a turnaround from the same paper's speculation that the millionaire minister would bite the dust.
Either way, the local Tories have been the first out of the blocks to criticise any notion of an NIO merger. Their spokesman David Fry argues that given the fact that the Executive "has not met in ages and the political institutions are still weak" any suggestion that the Cabinet position of the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland should be abolished "is extremely foolish".
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It's that time of the year again when some of our fitter MLAs and councillors jog off to London to pit their dribbling, passing and shooting skills against other parliamentarians. The 2008 First Eleven was captained by the SDLP's Thomas Burns and included the likes of the UUP's Basil McCrea and John McAllister and the DUP's Peter Weir, Simon Hamilton and Clive McFarland.
With the Premier League about to get underway, though, I don't think I shall be picking any of our local heroes for my fantasy team. They lost to Scotland and Wales, but redeemed themselves with a victory over Westminster and - despite Captain Burns sterling efforts - were unofficially deemed the team who took the parliamentary tournament least seriously.
P.S. I see Thomas Burns has taken the Stormont defeat badly. He reckons his team, managed by Pat Jennings, should have beaten Wales, but continues "Scotland were a different proposition though. They were managed by Kenny Dalglish and, as far as I could see, had more ringers than a high street jewellers. I'm sure some of their players were semi-professional footballers. They certainly weren't MSPs. The Scots probably would have tried to bring on Dalglish if they were chasing the game."
Thomas goes on to congratulate the Scots, but you can tell it is through gritted teeth..
I don't know how to break this to you all, but the "injection of glamour" (thanks RJ) is now a thing of the past. Many thanks to Martina, who has once again showed me up by her work rate (as well as by being "reasonably presentable" tut tut Susie).
I'm back from my fortnight being a "surfer dude" in Donegal (translation: two quick forays into the sea with the kids and their body boards, only to emerge, seconds later, teeth chattering).
I'm still reading myself in after deleting 500 plus e-mails. I gather that in my absence the new Justice Minister Naomi Long has officially opened the Cookstown Police Training College, whilst the Prime Minister David Cameron has told the Secretary of State David Trimble to ask the IMC if the UDA Inner Council still exists and, if not, whether he can sign off on Hugh Orde's expenses claim for coffee and biscuits (or did I get something wrong there?)
Whilst I work out what I really want to say, here's a link to last Friday's "Now Show" on Radio 4 which devoted a lengthy section to "Iris and the Gays" about 21 minutes in. Is all publicity, good publicity?
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As Mark Devenport returns from his leave on Monday, this is my last blog. It's been fun musing for the past two weeks. Thanks to all the contributors! It's now back to the political editor, fresh from Donegal where he should have met loads of MLAs and other political types who have plenty of insight into the goings on at Stormont. So long.
The Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams is this week's guest on Inside Politics. Find out what he thinks about the DUP, the prospects for power-sharing and the consequences of failure. That's on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Ulster at quarter to one.
While the Taoiseach has ruled out any imminent merger between Fianna Fail and the SDLP, there's still some activity going on. The issue may have been long-fingered but should Fianna Fail come courting, the SDLP will be ready with an answer/strategy. Indeed, the SDLP working group continues to meet. The latest meeting was earlier this week.
Initial reports that Labour Deputy leader and Commons leader Harriet Harman planned to stop MPs from employing their children might have cast a shadow over many a Parliamentary household. Indeed Northern Ireland MPs Peter and Iris Robinson were mentioned in a news item as employing their children. But there's no need to tighten the holiday budget - as it has been made clear that the proposal is not retrospective. However from October MPs will have to provide the Commons with details of their employees job descriptions and contracts.
The SDLP leader Mark Durkan alarmed MLAs and staff at Stormont (and those in such exotic locations as Kuala Lumpur) with his suggestion that the Assembly be recalled immediately. A collective sigh of relief could be heard on the hill when it emerged he doesn't have the 30 signatures he needs to force a return (due to the fact the Executive had failed to meet since mid-June.)
Even if he did, the assembly chamber is being refurbished. So the assembly would have had to gather in the Great Hall - and that I'm told would have taken three days to set up.
Presently, the assembly recess ends on August 31 when committees are due back. The first sitting of the Assembly is not until September 15.
The TUV has decided not to stand in the Enniskillen by-election next month - which must be leaving the DUP wondering why it bothered to select minister Arlene Foster, a Stormont big-hitter, to stand.
Mr DUP MEP Jim Allister, of the Traditional Unionist Voice, said his party had no wish to be dragged into an "unseemly dispute between the two largest unionist parties which could result in a win for Sinn Fein.
Tony Blair seems to have picked up a few new words as one of the key players in the peace process. His secret memo attacking the Gordon Brown (GB) strategy, leaked to a Sunday newspaper, contains the following sentence as he complains bitterly about his successor distancing himself from the Blair record.
He wrote: "The choice is and was always between GB (Gordon Brown) running as the change candidate or as continuity NL (New Labour)."
Was that reference to "continuity" - corrected in some newspapers to read "continuing" - a hangover from his security briefing. What's next Real Labour?
Just back from a Sinn Fein press conference. Gerry Adams clearly in buoyant mood before the press conference started declared: "Why am I so happy?" When asked why, he said he didn't know.
Answers on a postcard.
The TUV Fermanagh Branch met on Friday evening and according to a well-placed source decided not to field a candidate in the Enniskillen by-election next month. The decision will be discussed by TUV officers before a decision is announced. It's thought the TUV will state it does not want to risk handing a unionist seat to Sinn Fein, in a close race. Already the DUP has selected the enterprise minister Arlene Foster - but so far no word on candidates from the SDLP or SF. The Ulster Unionists have selected Basil Johnston.
Of course the TUV may show more enthusiasm if a byelection was called in Kilkeel. The Newry and Mourne Council is meeting this evening to make a decision on co-opting a new councillor following the death of the SDLP's Michael Cole. But if there is an objection, it could spark a byelection.
Sir Reg Empey has told tomorrow's Inside Politics programme that his party's North Down MP, Sylvia Hermon is to join a joint Ulster Unionist/Conservative working group on the formation of a new political and electoral force. Sir Reg - perhaps delighted that news of the joint working group did not leak out before it suited him - would not be drawn, however, on who else was going to be appointed.
The full accounts for the DUP and UUP weren't immediately to hand when I went to air the other day so we used the separate assembly party figures we were able to download. The full accounts make interesting reading. The DUP's general party account for 2007 shows an operating surplus of £40,446 while the cash flow statement shows an overdraft of £108,718. The total income is up to £374,000.
As for the Ulster Unionist party, it certainly needs a rich partner - are you listening David Cameron? Its full accounts contain the admission that it's been a "difficult year" for the UUP, citing the pressures of fighting assembly election in march.
The party's deficit for 2007 was a whopping £405,000.
There was some good news however - membership and subscription fees are up - to £260,000 (from £180,000 in 2006). The campaign expenditure made a dent of £273,000.
I'm 