Muscular Dystrophy Campaign

I am speaking at the AGM of the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign this morning.

There has been some good news for the sufferers of this awful disease over the past year. A dedicated Consultant Paediatric Neurologist has been appointed however there is still no multidisciplinary team equipped to deal with the emotional and practical support needed for carers. Another major gap is the lack of access to rare genetic testing of blood and muscle to confirm suspected hereditary muscle diagnosis. Nor are there any speech and language therapists specialising in MD here in NI.

The campaign’s big objective at the moment is the appointment of a dedicated Muscular Dystrophy Care Advisor for Northern Ireland which is currently with the Belfast Trust for funding.

The Minster has much work to do before he can claim services in this region are on a par with those in other parts of these islands.

Assembly group discusses overseas development

Mike Foster MP visited the Assembly today to meet with the All Party Group on International Development.  Mr Foster came to prominence for being the sponsor of the Westminster Bill to ban fox hunting back in the late 90’s and is now and international development minister. We discussed how our region could work with the British and Irish governments to develop a regional aid programme. Its about figuring out how we could develop a strategy which will allow us  to play an active role in the response to disasters and the reconstruction of countries such as Haiti.

The All Party Group does not enjoy the same status as a statutory committee and so does not receive any finance from the Northern Ireland Assembly as it remains within the jurisdiction of the British Government.

The group, under Carmel Hanna’s leadership, met with their counterparts in the South including Overseas Development Minister Peter Power TD to discuss ways in which they could contribute to Irish Aid’s efforts in assisting with international development.

We have many people from this region involved in overseas aid work though our numerous charities, the British and Irish Governments. I believe the time has come to look at how we can make a contribution of our own. To allow this region to take its place amongst other regions around the world and formally recognise the many thousands of our people who play such a big part in overseas development.

Thanks

A big thanks to the hundreds of you who have sent me congratulations and good wishes during the night and this morning.

Last night the SDLP in South Belfast voted for a new generation, for renewal, and for the conversation about a different type of politics to begin.

There was a real desire in the room to for the party to seek out new partnerships in order to provide the electorate with an alternative to the SF-DUP coalition at the next Assembly election.

I’m going to keep blogging and hopefully bring some new politics to this new media as well as this region.

The SDLP, renewal and a new nationalism

Carmel Hanna has announced she will be stepping down from the Assembly in the coming months. The party owes Carmel a lot. She has excelled in office and as a constituency representative. The party’s representation has grown in South Belfast during her tenure and the SDLP is now the largest party in the constituency with Alasdair McDonnell MP for this increasingly diverse part of the city.

There will be an internal party process to replace her which will culminate on December 9th. All members resident in South Belfast will have a say in who takes up the role. That’s over 300 people and I know there will be great debate over the coming weeks about who should take on this important role. I will be asking members whether they think I am the sort of person they would like to see succeeding Carmel. So far the feedback has been very positive.

In today’s Belfast Telegraph I argue the SDLP does have a big future if it renews polticially and in personality terms.  The full text is below.

Has the power sharing brand been damaged?

Today’s Irish News piece considers the damage to the standing of power sharing as a system of government after 152 days of political stagnation.

The word on O’Conall St and on every other street for that matter is that there will be a meeting of the Executive on Thursday. It is being reported that our ministers will address the economic crisis. This is a very welcome step forward. It will, however, take months if not years however to win back the public confidence. I should point out that the article was written before yesterday’s news of a breakthrough.

Here is my full Irish News article:

How mad are you are the political impasse in our Executive?

Very mad, mad, sort of mad, don’t really care mad or not mad at all?

I’m in the “very mad” group as are very many I meet in business, the NGO sector and the media. This is not a partisan madness, it is 152 days of no government madness. I have no problem with a power sharing executive led by whichever two big parties the people choose. I don’t believe the system is broken like Jim Allister MEP does, nor do I buy into the argument which Sinn Fein appear to be making that the devolution of justice is more important then the 11plus, health policy, the global economic crisis or functioning government for that matter.

What I do believe in is government for the people and by the people. Here in the North of Ireland that means sharing power between our two communities for the benefit of both communities and those who belong to none.

It means putting people before party interest and issues before matters which should be dealt with by separate political processes. In simple terms, it means a working Executive and Assembly delivering an agreed Programme for Government and building on the common ground of bread and butter politics tackling bread and butter issues.

What has this got to do with PR? Everything. You see many of us who make a living from Public Relations do so by providing services to the private sector. We create jobs by growing our business and staying ahead of the curve. Over the past couple of years there has been considerable growth in digital communications practices as well as public affairs. The latter of which relies not just on a vibrant private sector but also on a functioning government.

Next year there will be job losses in my industry. That’s not me being pessimistic; it’s just a statement of fact. And for PR read law, accountancy, architecture, journalism or advertising for that matter. This is not a good place to be looking for a job and our political shenanigans could not send out as worse message to those thousands of graduates considering whether to stay or emigrate, not to mention potential investors.

The expectation of a functioning government is a reasonable one. Access to accountable representation is a right, not a luxury. There is another PR dimension to all this. By engaging the crudest form of party politics our leaders are themselves devaluing the reputation of politics and government.  They are presiding over a ‘brand assassination’ of power-sharing which is leaving the vast majority of our people disillusioned and disconnected from those who should be providing them with hope and opportunity at this time of need.

I want to see the devolution of justice here. For that matter I believe we should devolve taxation and broadcasting too. The closer government is to the people the better. That said, we can’t expect the public to entrust politicians with more powers when they seem incapable of sharing the authority they already have.

The Good Friday Agreement is premised on the assertion that victories are not solutions and that by working the common ground confidence can grow between our communities. It is not the institutions that are failing; the issue is the apparent unwillingness of the two big parties to share power.

As for PR. We will knuckle down and focus on delivering the very best for our clients. We have our big awards night later this month; a time to celebrate the very best in our industry. One thing I am sure of though. There will be no prizes for the political spin doctors this year.