MLAs had been due to debate health matters today, with the DUP proposing two motions critical of the Ulster Unionist Health Minister Michael McGimpsey. However both had to be dropped at short notice as the minister had more urgent business - a video conference with Downing Street and his counterparts elsewhere in the UK on the threat of "swine flu".
Proceedings were therefore curtailed this morning after an Agriculture statement from Michelle Gildernew, with MLAs breaking for an early lunch about 11.30 am. Not before, however, the Deputy Speaker David McClarty got into a spot of bother with the DUP and Sinn Fein. Edwin Poots accused Mr McClarty of discriminating against him because he had not called the Lagan Valley MLA to speak even though he had made it into the chamber just as Ms Gildernew was drawing to a close.
With Sinn Fein also weighing in, the row boiled down to whether an MLA had to be present for a "substantial part" of a minister's statement or just a "part". The matter will be passed on to the Speaker for his judgement.
Over at the Electoral Office, near St. Anne's Cathedral in Belfast, the European campaign is now officially up and running with a number of the candidates handing in their nomination papers. Over the next few weeks we shall be hearing much more about Steven Agnew of the Greens, Jim Allister of the TUV, Bairbre De Brun of Sinn Fein, Diane Dodds of the DUP, Alban Maginness of the SDLP, Jim Nicholson of the Ulster Conservative and Unionist New Force and Ian Parsley of Alliance. Who will top the poll? Who will retain their seat? Will Colin Duffy's name be added to the ballot paper?
UCUNF have settled on "Conservatives and Unionists" as a short hand description. Which may be just as well as they wouldn't want to get confused with any of the which have previously surfaced elsewhere in Europe.
Having called the dissidents "traitors", Martin McGuinness now seems to have settled on a new description: "imposters". he used the term during a "doorstep" at Free Derry Corner on Friday, then again during his interview with me for today's "Inside Politics". He made it clear that he believes the "Real IRA" is behind the threat, and again insisted he wouldn't be deflected from the path he has chosen.
My guest, Sunday World columnist Roisin Gorman, pointed out the obvious difficulty facing Sinn Fein in criticising the dissidents whilst justifying past IRA violence. Professor Rick Wilford thinks that if Colin Duffy stands in the European election it will be a useful way of quantifying dissident grassroots support.
Martin McGuinness told me that Sinn Fein wasn't consulted before Downing Street announced its exemption for Northern Ireland from the proposed MPs' attendance allowance. Rick Wilford thinks the proosal may well be dead in the water given the opposition it has run into from the chair of the Committee on Standards in Public Life and the other Westminster parties.
The Politics Show has an interview with Sir Reg Empey and a report on the Green Party conference. That's on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳1 at 3.30 pm today. And Stormont Live will be on air as ever on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳2 tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 pm.
The Ian Paisley Junior Billy Wright inquiry case was back in court today. Recently the North Antrim MLA helped a constituent out on an employment tribunal. The grateful constituent told Ian Jr. she had a present for him. Then she presented him with her potentially useful gift - a "Get out of Jail Free" card from a Monopoly set.
In response to Shandon397 and all the commenters on "A Sop?" and other recent posts who want to see my colleague Martina Purdy's recent exchange with the First Minister, I have been making some inquiries. The process wasn't made any easier by the fact that during the week concerned I was on leave (strolling if I remember aright through the Seaforde Butterfly House, where things were much calmer). But I gather having spoken to those more technically adept than me that the clip did go up on the news website at the time. Admittedly It might not have been easy to find (it didn't pop up for me when I searched for it) but with the help of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ boffins
I talked to Nigel Dodds today after the Executive mulled over the details of yesterday's budget. He took the view that the budget could have been "much worse" for Northern Ireland, with the £122 million in expected savings next year offset to some extent by increased provision of £116 million over the next couple of years.
Challenged over where savings might be found, Mr Dodds pointed to the layers of bureaucracy at Stormont. He reckons £40 to £50 million a year could be saved by halving the number of departments. Over the Easter period Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness accelerated the review into the numbers of MLAs and departments.
My colleague Martina Purdy has a report going out on examining the implications of root and branch reform.
So far as MLAs are concerned, the current crop of 108 cost around £12 million a year in wages and allowances. If you had just 4 MLAs per constituency that would bring the number down to 72, yielding a potential £4 million saving every year.
Of course any change would have political as well as financial implications. If voters in the last Assembly election had been choosing a 72 strong Assembly, the Alliance Party's Executive Director Gerry Lynch reckons it would have looked like this:
DUP 26 (-10)
SF 20 (-8)
UUP 11 (-7)
SDLP 9 (-7)
All 6 (-1)
Ind 0 (-1)
PUP 0 (-1)
Green 0 (-1)
Such a line up would obviously increase the bias towards the big two, and if the Executive had just six departments Mr Lynch thinks the SDLP mjight miss out on a ministerial seat altogether.
When Stormont Live began this afternoon I wasn't sure how the government's proposals on MP allowances would impact here. As the programme ran on, I looked at the detail of the and realised that Northern Ireland was potentially being exempted from the second home change. Jim Nicholson reckons that's a sop to Sinn Fein, who would balk at an attendance based flat rate if that meant they had to take their seats. Conor Murphy argues that the public should be more exercised about those MPs who are using allowances to employ relatives and pay mortgages on second homes.
This should make the deliberations of the Committee on Standards in Public Life, fairly interesting for observers here. The Commitee is charged with deciding when the flat rate is introduced here and with examining the rules on employing spouses and other relatives.
Apparently that's what an HBO producer suggested as a "crappy" tag line for their new TV series "Game of Thrones". The pilot for the series will be filmed in the Paint Hall studios in Belfast's Titanic Quarter. Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness announced the project this lunchtime. Like the Universal Studios' medieval comedy confirmed over the Easter, this is one of the projects they discussed during their recent trip to California.
I can't claim to be an expert on the seven book saga on which the TV series will be based, but it seems to involve civil wars and rival princes struggling for power. Sounds familiar, eh?
Wikipedia notes that "most of the characters are human, but as the series progresses other races are introduced, such as the cold and threatening Others from the far North..." Could they be inhabitants of Storm Mount?
Sinn Fein's Cathal Boylan appeared on Stormont Live today to tell us about figures he had obtained on the cost of Stormont Committee visits since the restoration of devolution. The Committee travel and hotel bills have topped £140,000 since then, with a sharp disparity between committtees. In the last financial year the Social Development Committee's bill was more than £35,000 whilst the Procedures Committee kept their costs below £150. You can find the breakdown
The figures run to the end of the financial year meaning they won't include the Employment Committee's visit this week to Boston, Washington and North Carolina.
There have been a lot of rumours today about the possibility of Colin Duffy, who is being held on remand charged with murdering two soldiers at Antrim, standing as a candidate in the European elections. Some sources I have spoken to say that members of the Duffy family are keen on the idea and a meeting has been arranged for Thursday night to discuss it. Others suggest there's still disagreement about the plan.
Nominations don't open until April 28th and are due to close on May 7th. Our understanding is that Colin Duffy would be eligible to stand, although if he was elected, and then subsequently convicted and sentenced to more than a year in prison, he would automatically lose his seat in the European Parliament. Given the low level of the anti-power sharing republican vote in the last Assembly elections taking a seat seems a fairly unlikely scenario. However a candidacy would provide an interesting opportunity to test what public support the dissident message have.
UPDATE: I have just talked to Colin Duffy's brother Paul who told me the family is seriously considering this. They won't make their final decision for about a week, after they have assessed the likely costs, how much support they can muster, and how to mount an effective campaign.
I've just come off air with this Sunday's "Inside Politics". used his interview to emphasise that local dialogue is necessary to ensure this summer's marching season is not exploited by dissidents. He stopped short of calling the Garvaghy residents intransigent, but urged them to start talking to the Drumcree Orangemen, who broke with the Order HQ's approach of no dialogue with his commission.
I think there's a story in the delay in the adoption of the proposal made by Lord Ashdown's team for replacing the Parades Commission. My Sinn Fein sources tell me it remains "a work in progress", but others suggest republicans have been linking it to either the completion of the devolution of justice or the affirmation of a "right to protest" against parades in a future Bill of Rights.
My guest Fionnuala O'Connor didn't appear that impressed, in any case, by the Ashdown suggestion of involving the First and Deputy First Minister's office in appointing new ad hoc parades tribunals.
And when we got on to talking about Sir Hugh Orde's replacement, Seamus Close questioned the ACPO guideline which appears to rule out any home grown candidates. According to today's Sunday Life, quoting the odds given by the bookmaker Paddy Power, three senior garda officers could be in the running. Why, wondered Seamus, is it alright to have served in any other force, but not the PSNI?
The Stormont politicians are back from their Easter Break next week. if you want to see what they are up to join me and Jim Fitzpatrick for Stormont Live tomorrow afternoon at 2.30 on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳2.
Not the about General Motors, but a hint at the main guest for this weekend's Inside Politics, now I am back from my Easter break.
This week saw the departure of as Chief Constable. With a few exceptions (Jim Allister called him a "peace process peeler") most politicians were very complimentary about the top cop.
Not so when the Parades Commission chair, Roger Poole, announced he was leaving earlier this month. Although the Security Minister Paul Goggins praised the former trade union leader's contribution, the politicians who bothered to put out statements, the DUP's Diane Dodds and the Ulster Unionist Michael Copeland. rubbished his role, with Mr Copeland claiming that the Commission during his time made "the Keystone Cops look like a disciplined unit."
In his first interview since confiming his departure, Mr Poole answers the critics and sets out his hopes for this year's marching season. That's on Inside Politics on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Ulster at five past one on Sunday afternoon. And I shall also be discussing the other political developments of the week, such as Sir Hugh's departure and the worrying rise in racist attacks with my live guests.
The assembly is back on Monday with the First Minister facing questions. Jim Fitzpatrick and I shall be back with Stormont Live as usual at 2.30 pm on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳2.
We've just finished our first Inside Politics on a Sunday, with Peter Robinson as the main interviewee and Fionuala O'Connor and Seamus Close as my live guests. If you heard it, let me know what you think.
On Easter Sunday, in the new Inside Politics slot, there's another chance to hear my Peace Work documentary, which was first broadcast on Radio 4.
The following weekend we shall return with our new format, featuring a political interview, live guests and a diary item from our political reporter Stephen Walker whose brief covers Westminster.
I'm off on leave for a few days over Easter, and so, with the Assembly in recess, the blog will take a short break.
I'm getting ready to spend this Sunday at work, presenting the first Inside Politics to be broadcast in its new slot, at five minutes past one. The programme will be ten minutes longer, and will include some live discussion with two guests and a Westminster diary piece from our political reporter Stephen Walker.
Stormontspy, I like your idea of the blog providing an opportunity for people to suggest questions. However that would depend on me knowing who my political guest is some time in advance of recording the interview. And that is rarely the case. But when possible we shall try it. During the run up to the European election, for example, we are likely to schedule slots for candidates in advance, and that should provide an opportunity for suggesting questions.
So far as this weekend is concerned, I have my political interview "in the can". But I wasn't sure I'd get it until a few hours before the recording. Appropriately, given that this is the first "Inside Politics" on a Sunday, we have another first for you, the First Minister Peter Robinson.
To hear his thoughts on the economy, dissident violence, devolving justice and other matters, tune in to the programme straight after the One o'clock news on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio Ulster this Sunday.
Was the honorary knighthood bestowed on the veteran Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy earlier this month a cause for "congratulation" or something which is in"poor taste"?
I only ask the question because the DUP MP Sammy Wilson has tabled a expressing concern about the honour, and mentioning both the Senator's support for Sinn Fein and his troubled history related to the incident at
I am assuming the motion is a counter blast to an earlier congratulating the Senator, signed by 30 MPs, including the SDLP.
All of which would be fairly predictable if Sammy Wilson's party colleague, the DUP Euro candidate Diane Dodds, hadn't put out a press statement a few weeks back congratulating Senator Kennedy on his elevation. True, it was a heavily qualified congratulation in which Mrs Dodds welcomed the fact that someone with a "long history of supporting Irish nationalist causes is content to be the recipient of one of the highest honours our Queen can bestow". She used this to bolster her argument that devolution was changing nationalists' "United Ireland mindset".
Of course you cannot please all the people all the time. The SDLP's Alasdair McDonnell attacked Mrs Dodds' original statement as "vindictive and typically narrow minded", arguing that she had used the knighthood to sneer at the Senator. By contrast, the TUV's Jim Allister assailed Mrs Dodds for being "easily taken in" by assuming the Senator has "morphed into some compliant Brit". The TUV leader quoted Lord Tebbit criticising the Senator's personal life.
It's one thing to sing off a different political hymn sheet from your opponents. But it's rather different if you are hitting a different note from your own party members.
Not that the 77 year old Senator, whose honorary knighthood does not entitle him to call himself "Sir Ted", is likely to be following any of this. According to his website, he was in Washington this week presiding over the confirmation hearing for the new The Senator referred to his own battle against a brain tumour, telling Congress "over the past ten months, I've seen our health care system up close. I've benefitted from the best of medicine".
Political correspondents gathered at Stormont Castle this morning for a briefing with the First and Deputy First Ministers where we had expected to ask about dissident violence, the prospects for devolving justice, education and so on. However as we arrived the rumours began to fly around about 1000 jobs going at Bombardier. Inevitably the briefing was overtaken by events.
Martin McGuinness talked about the need to "weather the storm which is raging out there". Peter Robinson reckoned that when this week's redundancies filter through they will increase our local unemployment rate from just over 5% to 6%. Although, he pointed out, the comparable rate is 11% south of the border.
The FM and DFM were in Brussels earlier this week lobbying for state aid for the new Bombardier C series commuter jet project. But that is yet to get going and they seemed powerless to stave off the latest job losses.
Martin McGuinness repeated his denunciation of the latest dissident violence. He seemed convinced last night's punishment style attack in Creggan was the work of the INLA. Referring to Sinn Fein's condemnation of the violence, Peter Robinson argued that recenmt events "will have improved confidence in the community" over the prospects for devolving justice. Neither politician was getting drawn into discussing dates for the transfer of powers (not least because Peter Robinson in particular emphasised the need for adequate financial resources). But that positive remark about community confidence did nothing to put us off the notion that progress might be made in the autumn.
On community relations and tackling sectarianism, the two men pointed to the symbolism of their appearance alongside Sir Hugh Orde. Questioned about whether they planned similar symbolic shows of unity, Peter Robinson cautioned against "gimmicky" stunts. But he said they were working with people on interfaces in the hope fo eventually bringing down some peace walls. Mr Robinson also noted the restraint showed by loyalists in the face of the recent dissident violence. In an earlier period, he pointed out, there would have been tit for tat killings. However the loyalists, who he has been talking to, did not fall in to the dissident trap.
Whilst both politicians insisted they were ticking off the stages towards devolving justice and taking difficult decisions every day, there was no sign of any breakthrough on academic selection. Martin McGuinness expressed the hope that the siutaion would "evolve" and "settle down", but Peter Robinson put it bluntly, "we disagree, it's as simple as that...if agreement is going to come about it will not be on the basis of the proposals now on the table."
Yesterday Shaun Woodward declined to take Ian Paisley Junior's "virility test" of proving the government's committment to devolving justice by confirming that he has raised the supposed £660 million shortfall in the policing budget with his cabinet colleagues.
Instead the Secretary of State cited Gordon Brown's support for the process here, as illustrated by his short visit after the dissident murders, as proof enough that Number Ten wishes to see the political process succeed. Mr Woodward vowed that Whitehall would not bequeath local politicians an underfunded police service and argued that completing devolution is the best answer to the dissidents' violent campaign.
But is everyone in Number Ten across the details of the policing and justice issue? Not if a letter to the formner teacher David Bell is anything to go by. This blog reported on Mr Bell's campaign to clear his name back in February. Mr Bell had his request for a royal pardon turned down by the Justice Minister Paul Goggins, so wrote to the Prime Minister.
A week ago Number Ten wrote back telling him "a careful note has been made of your comments. However, as you may be aware, the subject of letter falls within the responsibility of the Northern Ireland Executive which is a devolved administration. You may wish to write to them directly."
Obviously that note was not careful enough, as Mr Bell's request is, whatever view you take of it, a matter of criminal justice, which is a responsibility not yet transferred to our local politicians.
The teacher wrote back "I am indeed aware that the Northern Ireland Executive is a devolved administration, with the notable exception of the Justice Ministry which advised negatively regarding my request for the exercise of the Royal Prerogative. It is because the present incumbent of that office, Mr Goggins, is not democratically accountable to anyone in Northern Ireland that I have been obliged to take my case directly to the UK Prime Minister. In light of these anomalies in your reply I can only conclude that my comments did not receive the careful consideration claimed and would respectfully request that they now be afforded this."
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