Executive failing womens sector

The womens sector which has played such an important process is being cast aside by the executive according to a number its leaders. They have warned that further job losses are imminent as a result of the Executives failure to release millions of pounds of Peace III funding approved for the women’s sector.

Delays in the full implementation of the Peace III programme have created a climate of uncertainty for many local groups who have been allocated funding under Peace III, with a number of organisations facing closure in the coming days as a direct result of the delays. Initially scheduled to come on stream in mid 2008 the Peace III programme was designed to fund organisations engaged in activity focused on reconciliation. Despite the full approval of £2.8m funding to the Womens Sector via a successful application made by the Training for Women Network (TWN), an indefinite delay in signing off the funding for release into the community by the Executive has now precipitated a situation whereby scores of direct job losses will occur in the coming days across Northern Ireland. These job losses will be further compounded by the subsequent loss of vital training and indirect job losses in some of the most economically disadvantaged communities

The effect of this delay is being particularly felt in the women’s training and education sector where a number of projects due to be funded under the Peace III programme are in a state of limbo, with no real indication of when or indeed if the approved funding will be made available to them. Speaking about the situation TWN Chief Executive Norma Shearer commented “The irony of the imminent job losses is not lost on those directly affected by this logjam in the Executive. In this time of great economic uncertainty within the local economy, with literally thousands of homes across NI losing their means of income due to job losses related directly to the global economic downturn  – here we have a situation where further jobs losses are happening not because of the economic slowdown but because of bureaucratic problems and a failure of the Executive to distribute much needed funding which has already been approved for use within the most economically vulnerable sections of our local community”

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.