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Updated at 6.30pm
THE UUP’S DECISION to leave the Northern Ireland Executive is all about playing politics, so says First Minister Peter Robinson.
Writing in today’s Belfast Telegraph, the DUP leader says that the UUP’s decision was “not one of principle but of political expediency”.
“Playing party politics in these highly dangerous circumstances is irresponsible. Doing it in a ham-fisted manner is both irresponsible and illogical,” he said.
The UUP voted unanimously on Saturday to withdraw its one member from the 13 man executive.
Party leader Mike Nesbitt cited his party’s “disgust” at Sinn Féin’s reaction to the potential involvement of the Provisional IRA in the murder of Kevin McGuigan.
And responding to Robinson’s article today Nesbitt said the First Minister’s stance was “remarkable”.
‘Fleeing the battlefield’
Robinson wrote today that republicans had indeed “precipitated the crisis” but argues that the UUP’s decision has the potential to benefit Sinn Féin.
“It should be republicans and not unionists who pay the price for the misbehaviour of the IRA,” he said, later adding that “this is not the time to flee the battlefield”.
In the course of the piece, Robinson accepted the PSNI’s assessment that some IRA structures remain in place. He notes, however, that it is unknown if the murder of McGuigan was sanctioned by the leadership:
“It is the Chief Constable’s view that there is no evidence thus far that the murder of Kevin McGuigan was approved by the republican leadership.”
This, he said, could point to a “horrifying scenario” where the “leadership of the republican movement cannot control the organisation they lead.”
Robinson says that it could be argued that no sanction could be applied to Sinn Féin if the killing was not sanctioned.
He does say, however, that Sinn Féin is in denial about their responsibilities towards IRA activity.
“The Sinn Fein leadership indulges in hand-wringing and lives in utter denial,” he claims.
As for the timing of the UUP’s decision, Robinson notes that it comes less than a year out from elections at Stormont.
“One would have more respect for the decision if there were even a degree of honesty about the motivation behind it,” the First Minister adds.
Robinson’s return
Leaders north and south of the border are set to step up efforts to resolve the crisis in Stormont in the coming week, following Robinson’s return to the scene after a holiday break.
The First Minister is set to travel to London tomorrow for talks with Prime Minister David Cameron. Foreign Affairs minister Charlie Flanagan will also be meeting with Northern Ireland Secretary of State Theresa Villiers.
Responding to Robinson’s op-ed today, Mike Nesbitt said it was remarkable that the DUP leader “cannot agree with me that enough is enough and take a principled stand”.
With reporting by Daragh Brophy.
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Sounds more like censorship & who would decide what’s ” Fake news” . I haven’t heard many people complaining about the way we vote so maybe just leave things the way they are!
@Colette Kearns: Sometimes we have short memories in Ireland.
There have been ongoing issues with the manual electoral process we have for years – one major contentious point is the payment of those in counting centres which seems to go to the same people in every election and the process of how people are selected is always controversial, not to mention how slow some counting centres are.
In 2002 we tried to bring in electronic voting for the Nice treaty, trialed in Dublin, was an expensive disaster and was never rolled out out, we still have a load of the machines in warehouses in Dublin.
Ireland has needed to modernise the electoral process for years, e-voting, at minimum needs to be effectively brought in so a commission to plan it should be welcomed
@Colette Kearns:
Yeah because who’s to say if Kevin Sorbo’s claims that the Trump rioters were all Antifa insider’s is really true… Some things are plainly untrue and fake news. Reports based entirely on conjecture and speculation, or claims which are demonstrably untrue, are not news.
Convincing people that the line between real and fake news is somehow unclear, or that legitimate political expression is somehow endangered by attempts to control it, is one of Trump’s biggest accomplishments, and likely to be his most enduring “legacy”.
@Gerard: Can you prove that there were absolutely no Antifa members at the Capitol Hill riots? It works both ways, I’m sure when he made that claim about Antifa members you asked if he had proof, well what about you. Can you prove your theory?
I’m not saying I agree or disagree, just playing devils advocate, we should apply standards equally, not on a sliding scale based on how well they for in to someone’s view and provide confirmation bias for a certain opinion
@Gerard: It’s not just about whether information is true or false. For me, it’s also about what is not reported. This is a big issue in Ireland, RTE and Irish MSM are notorious for not reporting issues or resorting to a particular narratives.
Those of us who grew up with the Troubles as the background score to our lives are now finding out what really went on in NI. It’s what was omitted that’s the real issue.
Don’t start me on the Catholic Church and state institutions and the abuse of women and children, all of which went unreported for decades. As did the unreported crimes of cronyism, corruption and lack of accountability of our state institutions, judiciary and politicians.
If Michael Martin thinks the public would support MSM by a tax, he’s mistaken because many of us see MSM as the problem
Allegations of fake news is just a cop out as we have been living with fake news/official narratives for decades and anything put forward to challenge this will be even more destructive.
@Simon Carroll: the default case is that something is untrue and must be proven to be true. Which a couple of blurry photos of tattoos of one do not do.
The fact that there were Trump supporters there is undeniable and there is ample evidence of it. Trump even accepts this as fact in his praise of the rioters. Anything else is conjecture and wishful thinking.
It actually doesn’t work both ways. The presumption is false until proven true.
I recommend watching John Oliver’s segment about voting machines in America (from his ‘Last Week Tonight’ HBO show): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svEuG_ekNT0
As for Fianna Fail’s voting machines, while I cannot prove anything and I do not actually know for a fact, I cannot shake the suspicion that this was another of FF’s attempts to manipulate elections, after their attempts to redraw constituencies (TWICE) to ensure they would always gain the majority of elected TD’s were roundly rejected.
@David A. Murray: Yet when American Republicans put forward such points about e-voting they are deemed crackpots?
@David A. Murray: so you’ve no evidence of anything.
@Cosmos20202020: That was what I said. I suspect based on previous attempts by FF. I said I have no evidence. I’ll go further. I have never heard of anyone who claimed to have evidence. It was my opinion.
@Thomas O’ Donnell: You might want to check up (even a little) on which states have bad records for voter suppression and flawed use of voting methods. The cross-reference with the periods of time and which party the Governor and Election Officials were in office. Not always, but usually (over the last 40 years) it’s been Republican more than Democrat. Also, Republican Election Officials have been targeted and fired for not towing Trump and his cohorts propaganda in 2020 about a ‘stolen election’.
@David A. Murray:
You’re talking absolute nonsense. After every census constituencies are redrawn to reflect changed population densities. You have no idea what you’re talking about and your conspiracy talk is laughable. Think you should move to the US you might find more of your bedfellows over there.
Quantum computing when developed a bit further will blow blockchain encryption apart. I don’t know what will happen then but I wouldn’t want out voting system to be in the middle of it. Paper voting works. We have no fraud. Waiting for the count is not a big deal.
And if you’d don’t t have a smart phone?
Good article Senator. The government’s proposed draft legislation for an electoral commission is already outdated because it is focused solely on reform of the electoral register. It is completely silent on issues like social media regulation, the use of online crowd funding to finance campaigns and even revised rules on postal voting. Our elections are key to ensuring public confidence in our democracy and failure to comprehensively reform the regulatory framework to take account of these issues is a risk we cannot afford to take.
A change is needed. The current system where a voter can be registered in multiple areas is “an open door” for manipulation! What other major system would remain unchanged for so long?
Wanna have hot-lovin’ conversations? You’re on the right way! – chatie.club/xxx
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