Politics fails (again). Now bring in the governments

The DUP – Sinn Fein spat has become a splat.

As others have noted it will nearly certainly take the British and Irish Government intervention to wet nurse the big two towards some sort of settlement. I can see the big house, the media stakeout, the other parties being brought  in to provide some perspective. High wire, high octane (or maybe not) and all because our big two parties don’t do power sharing. Stand off and flag waving seem to be more their thing – real mature!

I spent yesterday afternoon with a group of upper and lower sixth form girls talking about politics. These teenagers asked me questions about education, identity, and the Good Friday Agreement. The issue of parading or policing wasn’t brought up, nor were parades. It seems these young ladies are very interested in politics but not at all interested in the issues which SF and the DUP are now threatening the institutions over.

Waking up as an MLA for the first time it is clear that the real gulf in our politics is between the big two parties of the past and the hopes and aspirations of our young northerners.

The challenge for all of us is to close it.

Robinson fishing trip lands an old boot

The DUP leader went fishing yesterday for a new type of “more accountable” government for Northern Ireland and all he caught was Martin McGuinness’ old boot.

It had been billed a major speech on the economy and many, including myself, were looking forward to reading what the co-leader of our Executive had to say about our deepening public finance crisis. Privately the DUP have been briefing that it is time to deal with the costs of division and take some hard decisions. However we now understand that the version of the speech which had been cleared with the Deputy First Minister did not deal with Mr Robinson’s own concerns about the lack of progress at Executive level but with the benefits of devolution.

Everyone agrees the DUP-Sinn Fein coalition is not working, but a bad craftsman always blames his tools. If things are so bad is it really because the system is broken or because there is a lack of political will to make cross community power-sharing work?

I will let you answer that question in your own mind.

This much I do know. Starting a debate about the need to change the structure of government could be seen by many as a smoke screen to distract from the serious political failings at the heart of the current executive. 

The Executive meets on Thursday and the real test will not be whether they enter into a protracted process about the renegotiation of aspects of the current settlement or whether they reach agreement on the devolution of policing and justice, the 11plus, sectarianism and the recession to mention just a few.

Is there an election in the air by any chance?

Hatred rules OK

As the DUP set out to smash Sinn Fein and Sinn Fein set out to ‘break’ the old DUP, a man was beaten to death close to his home in Coleraine. Another victim of sectarian murder. 

John Hume went blue in the face saying victories were not solutions yet our current leaders are interested only in ‘defeating’ the other side.

Politicians are entitled to their opinions but surely it is time to accept that there is a connection between the culture of prejudiced based politics which is so prevalent here and the actions of those who killed so willingly this weekend.

DUP heading backwards, not forwards

The DUP has launched a policy document outlining a major programme of government reforms which the party will be seeking to implement. Proposals included in “Driving Forward a Reforming Agenda” include:

·        Reducing the number of government departments

·        Reducing the number of Assembly Members

·        Streamlining the Office of the First Minister

·        Ending the current system of political designations in the Assembly

·        Introducing Voluntary Coalition government, replacing Mandatory Coalition

·        Increasing efficiency in North-South arrangements

·        Abolishing the Civic Forum

·        Abolition of the Parades Commission

·        Tackling public sector absenteeism

So there you go.

The DUP want a return to majority rule, to bring back the old Stormont, an end to North – South Cooperation and to bin equality.

“No Unionism” is back!

DUP say SF not up to the job

The tensions in the DUP-SF coalition spilled over on BBC’s Hearts and Minds last night.

Ian Paisley Junior said he believed Sinn Fein was letting the DUP off the hook on too many issues and that the SDLP would be a much tougher partner in government. As the host Noel Thompson put it ‘Vote SDLP, the DUP want a better fight’.

Can the SDLP go on in the Executive?

Social Development Minister, Margaret Ritchie MLA, has publicly suggested the SDLP may not be able to continue in the Executive if the party’s mandate and her role as a minister are not respected by the DUP and Sinn Fein.

With the SDLP conference little more than a month away this is a conversation we are likely to hear a lot more of after Christmas.

The BBC has the story.

Sinn Fein gun to 60,000 heads

Sinn Fein has indicated that there are ten days to break the deadlock around the replacement of the 11 plus. 60,000 P5 and P6 parents now have a metaphorical gun pointing at their heads yet nobody is any clearer about what the basis for agreement might be and how it can be achieved before the Christmas recess when it has not be possible in eighteen months.

Mervyn Storey (DUP) and John O’Dowd (SF) talked politics at each other for ten minutes on today’s BBC NI Politics Show. There was not a single exchange on policy nor any discussion on the Church Leaders Initiative for example. John O’Dowd’s suggested finding a resolution on this issue was primarily a matter for political negotiation between the DUP and SF.  

There is a lingering question in my mind however. How many people would trust these two parties with their children’s future?

Parents, teachers, trade unions, the business community and the churches are looking for real political leadership and an honest discussion on this issue. Surely presents an opportunity for the UUP, SDLP  and Alliance to agree a common position on this issue and show us all that consensus can be reached when the interests of children are put first.

As it stands it looks awfully like we are heading for a race to the bottom. 

So they have a deal?

The First and Deputy First Ministers’ have outlined their agreement to the Assembly Executive and Review Committee today but there appears to be some devil in the detail. If this was a commercial document you could hardly call it more then and heads of agreement. Certainly not a deal and absolutely not binding.

It’s a process paper outlining a series of milestones which if met will lead to the devolution of policing and justice. Some commentators are already asking what the 152 days of stand off was over as there appears to be little in what has been released today which was not already on the table in May. This could have Sinn Fein on a the back foot in communications terms in the weeks ahead.

I do have a couple of questions on the process paper which has been circulated. In it FM&DFM outline the following actions:

• Consult party organisations and external stakeholders
• Public consultation

I don’t understand what is the difference between ‘Consult party organisations and external stakeholders’ and a ‘public consultation’. Under the Northern Ireland Act stakeholders and political parties are named bodies in a public consultation process. So why then have a separate process specifically for them?

The cynics on O’Conall St might wonder if this will create a parallel political process at a crucial juncture which will effectively give members of political parties a veto over something which may well be capable of passing the test of a public consultation.  

Another loosely worded provision says there will be a stage in the process which will ’secure necessary community confidence for the transfer of Policing and Justice’. This begs the obvious question; how will this be measured or indeed how is community confidence defined?.  

Only time will tell.

In the meantime the drinks will be on John Larkin QC tonight. He is pretty much the only man the two major parties have been able to agree on since they came to power last year. That in my books is some achievement.

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.