O’Conall Street

Another Thursday, another surreal debate on Hearts and Minds, talk about fiddling while Rome burns.

This time it was Conor Murphy’s turn to explain how meeting would damage partnership and how tackling the real issues of concern to ordinary people undermines equality.

We were discussing Sinn Fein’s bizarre approach to government on O’Conall Street today. Given we could not get our head around their position or their definition of partnership and equality we thought we might offer up our own solution to the current impasse.

Simple.

Lets have a ‘Facebook Executive’. No meetings, no face to face contact, no process blockades just effective open government. And what better way for the Executive to respond to the current economic crisis.

The other nine Ministers would have to join Margaret Ritchie on Facebook. They set up a closed group and get on with posting papers on the ‘wall’ and then use the discussion board for real debate. Surveymonkey.comcould be employed any time a vote was needed. Nothing complicated or requiring any personal contact just a simple click and the Fuel Poverty Strategy would be agreed for civil servants in Omagh and Ballymena to deliver.

The Assembly could get on Facebook too with some public pages for us ordinary mortals to take a peak at the work.

As for the North South Ministerial Council, I am sure now that Facebook is setting up shop in Dublin they might be able to think of a new network called ‘island of Irish’ or something like that to get the two cabinets talking.

The great unwashed could set up groups calling for anything from an Executive Meeting to free prescriptions for pets. And those really committed to this value for money democracy could blog on the side and launch petitions to the First and Deputy First Ministers.

Now for the real good news. No more standing in the wind waiting to get into the Assembly to witness no business. No more personal protection officers lurking about with bulging jackets. No fleet of ministerial cars pumping greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and for those young mothers at the Executive table some real work - life balance.

I could not lay a figure on the current cost of running the Assembly but do know the bill during the last period of suspension was a staggering £110millon.

A Facebook group is free.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 7:48 pm and is filed under Business, Good Friday Agreement 10 years on, Politics, Public Affairs, Technology, The Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.