Holylands needs long term solution as well as CCTV

I am very happy to see the CCTV in operation in the Holyland areaof Belfast. It will provide a necessary deterrent to anyone looking to cause trouble this coming St Patrick’s Day.

It will also help the community at large and the police to combat the rise in crime, some of which has been violent, in this part of the city.
 
We also need a long term plan to tackle the breakdown in relationships in the area and make sure the Holyland has a future as a sustainable welcoming place for all sections of our community to live in. That’s why I am calling for an all party approach to the reconstruction of this community and for a long term commitment from MLAs and councillors to tackle the big issues as well as managing the crisis.

New SDLP face for Fermanagh and South Tyrone

The SDLP has a new face in Fermanagh and South Tyrone and he will be well known to you. Fearghal McKinney is seeking the nomination to contest the next Westminster Election on behalf of the SDLP.

I’ve known Fearghal for a long time and know this is something he has been thinking about for nearly a year.

He wants to play a role in rebuilding the SDLP and be future evidence that we are party with a new generation ready to reconnect with people across our region.

His will be a platform for change in his home county.

A big to do – meantime no progress on education, health parades or a shared future

What a manufactured crisis.

The DUP say the need to the UUP to vote yes but the truth is they don’t.

Sinn Fein say they are the party of equality yet every big decision they have taken in the past year has been built on inequality like denying nationalism a seat at the Executive table.

But that is not the point today.

The point is we need to take a decision in principle to bring these powers to Northern Ireland. It is another small step on the road to real politics here. I’ll be joining my SDLP colleagues to vote yes to that but we will return to the detail in the weeks ahead and argue that the government of policing and justice could be much better.

Not to mention the lack of progress on education, health, a shared future or parades.

The day before the over-hyped vote

If ever you wanted an argument for devolution of more power to the NI Assembly, this morning’s interview with Secretary of State Shaun Woodward was surely it.

He subjected us all to what could only amount to emotional and political blackmail threatening the future of the Assembly if all MLAs did not vote for the devolution of Policing and Justice tomorrow. It was the perfect encore for Naomi Long who in did the Alliance-NIO talking yesterday also threatening the stability of the region if everyone did not get into line and fast.

The DUP and SF do not need the SDLP or UUP’s support to win the vote tomorrow. They have enough votes of their own. My point – if the DUP and SF want to proceed with devolving power they can!

I am not sure the UUP are right in opposing the principle of devolving policing and justice powers which is what tomorrow’s vote is all about.  Personally I can’t wait to get Mr Woodward and his like out of our hair although that will be easier said then done given that the DUP and SF have agreed to let him remain in control of key aspects of security policy.

We were promised at Hillsborough that things would get better on the real issues that matter to people here. So far there is no evidence that . No paper on a Shared Future, no paper on parades, not a line on education, the budget crisis or health.

Even on the inside the DUP-SF axis looks more like a panto then a serious power sharing government.

Regional action on ‘legal highs’ needed

It was disappointing to get news yesterday that the Health Minister has missed the second British Irish Council meeting in a row to discuss the misuse of drugs in Britain and Ireland .
 
He is sending out all the wrong signals about tackling the drugs trade and consumption across these islands. Last week’s meeting of the British Irish Council discussed the availability of legal highs as well as the drugs crisis in prisons.
 
Minister McGimpsey should have been present for this important discussion to demonstrate his commitment to tackling this problem. He needs to send a much stronger message about the need to deal the drugs crisis, which is particularly severe here in Northern Ireland .
 
Some paramilitaries are now taking matters into their own hands against legal high outlets.
 
Along with the justice agencies, the Minister needs to take much greater control over this issue and move very quickly to control the import and distribution of legal highs as well as educating young people as to the serious health risks these present.
 
The British Irish Council will not meet to discuss drugs for another year.
 
It is time for the Minister for Health to bring forward proposals immediately to deal with legal highs.

Alliance Party fail to support Bill of Rights in key Assembly vote

The Alliance Party engaged in some political gymnastics yesterday to avoid having to support a motion calling for a strong Bill of Rights.

Having voted in favour of an SDLP amendment which strengthened the motion, Alliance MLAs with the exception of Stephen Farry made a bee-line for the door to avoid havingto vote on the substantive motion. Mr Farry stayed in the chamber and abstained in person.

Why?

Well I can only surmise that they did not think the amendment would pass and when it did they panicked because it might embarrass their new bosses in the DUP if the the Assembly were seen to support a Bill of Rights.

I thought my colleague Dolores Kelly put it well:

We had generally assumed that Alliance were on the side of the angels on human rights in general and the long, hard struggle for a Northern Ireland Bill of Rights in particular. The motion before the Assembly was critical of the British government’s approach which ignores the work done by local people on the Human Rights Commission and Forum, including Alliance members.

We called on the government to extend the current consultation on a bill of rights and Alliance supported our amendment. But when it came to the substantive motion they suddenly disappeared and it was voted down by the unionists.

The issue of rights strongly protected and enforced in law goes right to the heart what has divided our society, and in our view a Bill of Rights has the ability to take basic human and civil rights completely out of the party-political arena. Today they went back into the arena with a bump due to the increasingly odd behaviour of the Alliance party.  We hope this does not represent some new departure or unionist line-up as part of dropping their claim to be an opposition party. That would be a great blow to our hopes of a shared future.

Derry execution to lead Assembly business

A series of statements on the execution of Kieran Doherty in Derry last week will be the first item of business in the Assembly today.

Mark Durkan will lead and remind the Assembly that the murder bears the hallmarks of the old Provo-style ‘execution’ which people had hoped was in our past.

You can follow it live at noon here:

http://www.niassembly.gov.uk/stream.htm

Come celebrate the Festival of Holi in Belfast today

Today  Belfast celebrates the Festival of Holi. 

A time when Hindu’s celebrate the triumph of ‘good’ over ‘bad’. The colorful festival is a time to bridge social gaps and renew sweet relationships. Its also famous for the ‘colour fights’ when crowds hurl coloured power at each other.

If you want to be part of the fun and celebration get yourself down to George’s Market between 1pm and 6pm today.

Apology for child deportees welcome. Now lets see justice for the children who stayed and were abused

Patrick Murphy was born 16th March 1945 and forcibily sent to Australia from Nazareth Lodge in Belfast three years later. This morning he welcomed the Prime Minister’s decision to apologise to all the children sent to the other side of the world without their consent from the late forties to the early seventies. 

Today’s apology is long overdue and will mean a huge amount to those little children, Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh, effectively deported from their own land by a state with a misguided aim.

Yesterday some of the other boys a girls who lived in Nazareth Lodge in Belfast with Patrick and who allege they were abused by the nuns who were caring for them met with Fr Tim Bartlett. It was the first in what will be many conversations about the past but an important first step.

The Minister for Health and I had an exchange in the Assembly too yesterday about the need for the Northern Ireland Executive to accept it has a duty towards the survivors of Nazareth Lodge and other homes. Whilst I do not for one minute doubt Micheal McGimpsey’s personal desire to see justice for these people, there is no indication as of yet that that his department or the Executive is ready to push the issue hard and send a clear signal to the survivors and wider society that this is a wrong that must be righted and soon.

New health budget needed now

The Assembly is debating the massive increase forecast in dementia numbers in this region today.  The Minister for Health is also making a statement on the North – South Ministerial Council - Health. 

I have asked the Minister to give a commitment to bring forward a Health budget which is capable of protecting front line services and maximising the savings available through closer North – South cooperation. 

We are currently spending £50 million a year on dementia in this region, yet the numbers people suffering from the disease will triple here in the next forty years bringing the total to around 50,000.  Experts estimate we will need to be investing some £200 million in coming decades to ensure adequate support for dementia sufferers.

The Minister’s unwillingness to provide any information on how he proposes to defend front line services and essential research will threaten many patient’s care. The Minister needs to bring forward now a new health budget which can give us all the assurance that the stealth cuts in front lines services will stop and stop now.