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IN AN EPISODE of the UK satirical show ‘Yes, Minister’, civil servant Bernard mentions that it’s been “difficult” to run the Department while the minister has been away.
His superior, permanent secretary Sir Humphrey Appleby tells him: “A minister’s absence is a godsend! You can do the job properly for once.”
That might be the assessment of some after a year’s stalemate at Stormont, but legislation has been stalled and public services are now being funded by a Westminster-approved budget.
Both the DUP and Sinn Féin have been blaming each other’s lacking appetite for compromise for the absence of an Assembly, while both the UK and Irish governments remain hopeful that these two sides can end the “hamster wheel of talks” in the next two weeks.
Yesterday, the newly appointed Northern Ireland Secretary Karen Bradley repeated Tánaiste Simon Coveney’s comments last week when he said that there were few differences between the parties and that “we’re talking weeks, not months” as the timeframe to restore the Assembly.
The Northern Ireland secretary told Morning Ireland yesterday that “the differences between the parties are narrow” and “can be bridged”.
To be clear we’re talking weeks not months and there is an urgency about this… I am determined to make a success of these talks and getting devolved government up and running. I really do sense a willingness from all parties they know they need to deliver for the people who elected them.
But one political commentator said that of the party members that she’s been speaking to, none of them are overly optimistic that there will be a deal.
“I feel like [Simon Coveney and Karen Bradley] have to make those kinds of statements,” Allison Morris, political columnist with The Irish News told TheJournal.ie.
During 2017, rounds of talks between the main parties were held, and then collapsed. Four separate deadlines for a resolution were set, and all four passed without a positive result. After talks caved in mid-November, Westminster was forced to pass a budget for the North, a move that was labelled one step closer to direct rule from the United Kingdom.
A quick reminder of how we got here
In January 2017, Martin McGuinness resigned from politics, and announced he would not seek re-election amid the ‘cash for ash’ scandal. This collapsed the Stormont Assembly, and triggered a snap election in the North.
In March, the DUP won 28 seats and Sinn Féin won 27 out of a total of 90, in what was hailed as a significant gain for Sinn Féin.
One of the bones of contention for forming a new Assembly in the aftermath of the vote was the aforementioned ‘cash-for-ash’ scandal. Sinn Féin members were calling for the resignation of DUP leader Arlene Foster, who headed up the Department that was overseeing the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
The cash for ash scandal resulted in at least €500 million in taxpayers’ money being wasted as part of the RHI. Homes and businesses could apply for a grant if they used renewable energy to heat their homes and premises, but some wasted energy – leaving windows open and the heating on all day – to avail of the grants.
One politician, Jonathan Bell, alleged that Foster knew about the loophole in the scheme – that there was no upper limit to the grant – while in the Department but didn’t do anything about it.
During the past year, Sinn Féin has repeatedly called on Foster to step aside or resign as First Minister until the inquiry into the controversy has been completed. She has steadfastly refused, saying that it would be an admission of guilt when she has done nothing wrong.
In June, the UK’s snap election was held. Theresa May, who was hoping to increase her Conservative party’s majority instead lost it, resulting in her forming a coalition government with the DUP, giving the party significantly more leverage.
According to Morris, added to the fact that elections in Northern Ireland are very “polarising”, the DUP entering government with the Tories then “completely changed the political landscape of Northern Ireland”.
Sinn Féin and the SDLP then accused the UK government’s representatives of being unfit to chair the talks, and unable of being impartial.
On 14 November, Westminster was forced to approve a budget for Northern Ireland after talks broke down again and public services in the North were on the brink of running out of funds.
The leader of the SDLP Colum Eastwood says that both the Irish and UK governments have indulged both parties for far too long, and need to pressure them to make a final agreement for the sake of those they represent in Northern Ireland.
“We need to get a deal. We need people to take decisions about the crisis in the healthcare service, in education… This is something that’s not easily solved – civil servants can’t make those decisions,” he told TheJournal.ie.
Although the details of what has and hasn’t been agreed yet haven’t been disclosed, the issues that remain unresolved between the main parties are understood to include the Irish Language Act; same-sex marriage; and the fallout from the cash-for-ash scandal.
“In November we were told that we were very close to a deal, but we didn’t get it,” Morris says, adding that although there were a series of deadlines, there was a lack of repercussions attached to them, meaning the stalemate was allowed to run on.
The sticking point seems to be the Irish Language Act… I think [Sinn Féin have] backed themselves into a corner on it. The DUP are becoming more and more against it and they’re in a difficult position now with no wriggle room.
Northern Ireland-based journalist and commentator Amanda Ferguson believes the DUP has already lost the debate on same-sex marriage.
“Several commentators have pointed out that the key to unlocking much of this is reforming the Stormont ‘petition of concern’ mechanism which has, for example, given the DUP a veto on marriage equality.
The Irish in the North are denied the rights enjoyed by people on the rest of the island, and British people in Northern Ireland are denied rights enjoyed in the rest of the UK.
“It’s not a sustainable position and is hugely damaging to the LGBT community.”
The next round of talks are scheduled to start today and run for two weeks until 6 February, when we’re expected to hear whether we’ll see a return of the Stormont Assembly.
If the talks continue without a resolution, direct rule is the next stage. During her Morning Ireland interview yesterday, Bradley refused to say when the deadline for direct rule might be.
“I am pragmatic and I want these talks to succeed,” she said.
Eastwood says he understands that all politicians and political parties have issues they won’t compromise on.
“But none of those are served by a never-ending stalemate,” he says.
And if we return to direct rule because the parties couldn’t agree on a deal, then that would be a very strange place for Sinn Féin to have led us.
So what’s likely to happen next?
Absence is becoming infectious, it seems.
The DUP’s Edwin Poots, who is a former minister at Stormont, has said he’s considering “looking at other [work] options” after the past year.
“Limbo is not a good place to be,” he told BBC News Northern Ireland.
The last year has not been a year that has had much fulfilment for any politician.
I think it’s something most wise politicians would be looking at now that the future is uncertain.
The SDLP’s Daniel McCrossan also told the BBC previously that he might return to a career in the law.
Elsewhere, politicians have been occupying themselves with other political duties.
Morris says that during the past year, the balance of power has shifted to Westminster for the DUP, where 10 of their members hold seats in the House of Commons, and to Leinster House for Sinn Féin.
“The DUP are keen to get the Assembly up and running, Arlene Foster was the First Minister but as such doesn’t have much power – she’s not an MP,” she adds.
“Sinn Féin would happily return to the Assembly if they can get what they want, but that’s not how politics works.”
Ferguson says that a Stormont deal seems “as far away now as it did last time”.
“I could be wrong but given the severely damaged relationships between the parties involved, combined with all the other factors, I very much doubt government in the north will be restored any time soon, and certainly not on the basis that it operated previously.”
She added:
Masses of people are not marching to the steps of Stormont because they miss what has gone before.
And now that we’ve had a year of political inaction in the North, even if they were to strike a deal in the coming weeks or months, how likely is it that it will stay?
“You’ve got two parties who are in opposite sides when it comes to the constitution,” Morris says. “It’s hard to see how they can form a long-term agreement. If they were to get a deal, it would be a sticking plaster.”
Three or four out of ten, is her score on how likely a resolution is from this fresh round of talks.
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Does anyone really give a fiddlers about Stormont ? Its a failed entity, probably designed to fail, a bit like Cyprus this will never end, groundhog day for the last 20 years, parties are just drawing their money, its like signing on the dole but with extra benefits for them. The Brits should just withdraw all funding, our crowd the same and let them off, they won’t be long talking then.
@zippo: Its a circus alright but extremely entertaining. Nordies exist purely for r ouentertainment, they never disappoint LOL
@frank murphy: that is not true. N.I is at the frontline between two conflicting states. The Irish Catholic one and the British Protestant one. The people are caught in the middle.
N.I people are talented and hard working and they will sort out their differences.
@hallelujah: Jasus…they’re taking their time about it, the Palestinians and Israelis will be eating together before this lot start walking on the same side of the road.
Two protest parties treating responsibilty like a hot potato.
@Cheeky Bums: Ah the ‘they’re as bad as eachother’ line. An easy one to trot out but it does demonstrate a shockingly gross misunderstanding of the reasons for the collapse of Stormont.
@Tír Eoghain Gael: Which, obviously, are all the fault of the DUP according to you.
@Tyrone Brit: The only thing as bad as the shinners is the DUP. It’s a perfect marriage and beautifully entertaining. Never have two cults deserved each other more.
@Brendan O’Brien: Ah if if it isn’t my little shadow.
To answer your question: Primarily, yes. Unless SF also reneged on what they promised to do in commitments made as preconditions to power sharing, back at St Andrews? And unless SF is also refusing to enact a Bill of Rights as was agreed in 1998 in the GFA? And unless SF is blocking sex marriage, despite the majority of MLAs being in support of it? And unless SF also took £500m of tax payers money and burned in in wood pellet boilers and then refused to see their leader, who oversaw this scheme, to take responsibility for it and resign?
@Tír Eoghain Gael: foreign country, thankfully :)
Good article. The assembly is unstable by design.
@Shane Gleeson: but very funny
April 10 is the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement. And it’s going to look very silly indeed without the Stormont Assembly restored.
@Mick Tobin: i think it should be renamed to something more suitable like ‘The Pancake Tuesday Agreement’ LOL
The voters were sold a pup for the GFA. All the side deals to appease the paramilitaries were never included in the agreement put to the electorate. SF, what is basically a Northern party, are in the South trying to tell us how the govern and at the same time avoiding their responsibility to the Northern electorate.
@Sam Alexander: Have you nothing to say about the side deals which saw the security forces receive an almost blanket amnesty for their murders throughout the entire 40 year conflict?
@Sam Alexander: The DUP are PUP’s
I’ve met plenty working in Dublin over the years.
At first all smug and cocky, after they realise nobody gives a damn about them the embarrassment creeps over them when they realise nobody entertains their baby like attitude in the canteen. Seen it first hand
@Tír Eoghain Gael: Yes but many IRA murderers got amnesty out if this deal too. Personally I think anybody who pulled a trigger during the troubles needs to face a jury.
@phil: The thing is, Phil, you are not exactly comparing like with like. Approximately 25,000 republicans spent over 100,000 cumulative years in prison during the conflict. Care to guess how many British Soldiers saw the inside of a cell for murders committed during the entire 40 years? To give you a clue, you won’t need all of the fingers on one hand to count them. People talk about the so-called ‘comfort letters’ sent to OTRs as though Republicans got some sort of blanket amnesty. I demonstrated above how utter fantasy talk. The only blanket amnesty of the troubles was decided upon in July 1972. That year, 79 Irish people were shot dead by the British Army. The vast majority of these were civilians. That July, a strategic government and security meeting at Stormont Castle was held, involving the Secretary for State William Whitelaw MP, the North’s most senior British Army officer the General Officer Commanding (GOC) General Ford, the Deputy Chief Constable of the RUC, plus Lord Windlesham the British government’s representative in the House of Lords, British MP’s, and senior civil servants from the NIO. Relatives for Justice unearthed a document from this meeting. One of line from the minutes states that: “The (British) Army should not be inhibited in its campaign by the threat of prosecution”. As mentioned, that year 79 people were shot by the British Army. The meeting took place in July. That month the British Army killed 20 innocent civilians. Not one British soldier faced a conviction for ANY of these killings throughout 1972.
@Tyrone Brit: i herd all those british soldiers got medals. How does that make you feel :D
Did you know any of the 8 terrorists that Baron Adams set up in tyrone? excellent work by the british agent LOL
@Sam Alexander: Soon be all the 1 Sam, no more worries then.
Yawn yawn yawn.
@nelly: Did you not know the article was about a subject that didn’t interest you when you read the headline and opened it?
@Tír Eoghain Gael: the subject is laughing at nordies…. as always :D
The DUP and SF are too similar. They both think their side is in the right. The DUP are bigots there is no doubt about that. SF do not want to govern. The DUP will not move on LGBT rights. SF know this so instead of looking for compromise they will hold the whole thing up.
They say they want equality but by not including Ulster Scots in a Language Act they are anything but.
What is the problem with an all encompassing language act for the north ? Where the two languages are protected ?
@phil: Ulster Scots is not a language.
@phil:
“SF do not want to govern”
An odd claim given that that SF have been governing for the best part of the last two decades.
“The DUP will not move on LGBT rights. SF know this so instead of looking for compromise they will hold the whole thing up.”
Bearing in mind that the SF position is shared by a majority of the MLA’s in the assembly, exactly what compromise should they make on equality for the LGBT community?
“They say they want equality but by not including Ulster Scots in a Language Act they are anything but.”
SF have stated they have no issue with a dedicated Ulster Scots act. To quote Michelle O’Neill: “Let’s respect everybody’s identity. Let’s bring forward legislation for Ulster Scots alongside legislation for the Irish Language. They can be two pieces of legislation”
“What is the problem with an all encompassing language act for the north ? Where the two languages are protected ?”
See above. SF are happy for legislation for both languages. You conveniently also ignore the little area of trust being required for a mandatory coalition to work, and the DUP are showing they cannot be trusted, as they already committed to an Irish Language Act at St Andrews, then reneged on it once they got their bums in ministerial seats. I suppose that is just SF’s fault too though?
@Tír Eoghain Gael: Still you have not answered the question. Why not one Language act ?
@phil: Because that is not what has previously been agreed. The two parties made a series of compromises during negotiations in 2006 in order to get the assembly up and running again. One of the DUP compromises was a stand a alone Irish language Act. They then reneged on that agreed commitment. That is where the problem lies. What part of that is so hard to comprehend? When two sides make compromises, it is incumbent on those two sides to stick to their compromises. When one doesn’t, it’s a problem. When the two sides are in a post-conflict mandatory coalition, it is a major problem, and the stability of a mandatory coalition relies entirely on both parties showing that they can trust the other.
Aside from that most fundamental reason – even most unionists admit that Ulster Scots is not a language by any accepted definition. So to lump them together as one piece of legislation, would mean that the level of Irish Language protection would be diluted down to the same as required to protect a dialect spoken by almost nobody, or else money would be wasted in trying to give Ulster Scots the same level of rights that the Irish Language needs in an Act. Given that one is a language, and one is a dialect, then the most effective protection, and most cost-effective protection, would be two separate pieces of legislation.
@Tír Eoghain Gael: poor shinner :D
They should leave it as it is. the sectarians on both sides don’t deserve to be in power.
@Sean Conway: Another genius, trotting out the ‘both sides are as bad as eachother’ line. Take your head out of your @r5e and look into why the assembly actually collapsed, like a good man.
@Tír Eoghain Gael: Or could it be that a dyed-in-the-wool tribalist like yourself will always see ‘his’ tribe as being in the right and ‘the other’ tribe as being in the wrong?
Let’s not forget that you are a Provisional IRA supporter who claims that the Provos were far less ‘depraved’ than Loyalist terrorists and the British army, in defiance of all known facts. That is naked tribalism.
@Brendan O’Brien: You haven’t yet replied to my previous comment, challenging the notion that the assembly collapsed cos ‘both sides are as bad as eachother’. So I’ll just copy and past my previous response here and maybe this time you can read it and stick to the topic, instead of raving about the IRA:
To answer your question: Primarily, yes [it is the DUP's fault]. Unless SF also reneged on what they promised to do in commitments made as preconditions to power sharing, back at St Andrews? And unless SF is also refusing to enact a Bill of Rights as was agreed in 1998 in the GFA? And unless SF is blocking sex marriage, despite the majority of MLAs being in support of it? And unless SF also took £500m of tax payers money and burned in in wood pellet boilers and then refused to see their leader, who oversaw this scheme, to take responsibility for it and resign?
@Tír Eoghain Gael: There was never any good reason for an Irish Language Act to be a sticking point. The wood pellet scheme is not a good reason to refuse to form an executive: matters like these could be addressed within an executive. SF have a responsibility to try to make the system work, just as the DUP have. The two worked together for 10 years or so in circumstances that were really not any less challenging. Both sides are letting the people of NI down.
https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/sinn-f%C3%A9in-has-never-wanted-an-irish-language-act-1.3144266
@Tír Eoghain Gael: SF/DUP is an arranged marriage made in heaven, never have two groups of deplorables deserved each other more.
@Brendan O’Brien:
” There was never any good reason for an Irish Language Act to be a sticking point.”
Except for the small fact that it was a commitment made by the DUP at St Andrews in efforts to get into power, who then reneged on that commitment as soon as they got into power. That despite the fact that an Irish Language Act is backed by 5 parties (and a majority of MLAs), not just SF. That you can’t see how that is not a significant breach of trust in a post conflict, mandatory coalition, says a lot about your understanding of it.
“The wood pellet scheme is not a good reason to refuse to form an executive: matters like these could be addressed within an executive.”
OK, so aside from the fact that to anyone else on the planet, a £500bn burning of tax payers money IS a bit of a major issue and would see the person responsible held to account (resign), the problem was then that the DUP leader, who was responsible for the scheme, refused to resign, was a decision made by her and her party, the DUP. The executive had absolutely ZERO power over DUP party decisions.
“SF have a responsibility to try to make the system work, just as the DUP have”
They have been in government for the best part of the last 20 years trying to make it work. Or did you forget that?
So in your rush to claim that both sides as as bad as eachother, then again tell me, which of these widely accepted reasons for the assembly’s collapse was SF’s fault:
1. The DUP reneging on it’s previous commitment to an Irish Language Act, as supported by the majority of other MLAs and parties
2. The DUP refusing to enact a Bill of Rights as was agreed to in the GFA, and as is supported by a majority of other MLAs and parties
3. The DUP’s denial of equal rights for the LGBT community, by their blocking of equal marriage, as is supported by a majority of other MLAs and parties
4. The refusal to resign from the now DUP leader, for her formation of a scheme which saw £500bn of tax payers money burned into ashes.
5. The ‘straw that broke the camel’s back’ decision by DUP minister Paul Givan, to cut the £50,000 Liofa grant scheme for sending children to Gaeltacht courses – which, because of the relatively tiny amount of money, was widely accepted, even amongst basically every unionist political commentator, as a move motivated purely by naked sectarianism.
6. The DUP community Hall grant scheme, which saw the same DUP minister, Paul Givan, decide that of the 90 successful applications, almost all went to Orange Halls, with only two GAA clubs being awarded any grant aid.
So, which of the above were as much SF’s fault as the DUPs?
@Tyrone Brit: your persecution complex is absolutely hilarious
The nationalists of N.I are a bit like the Sudentan Germans and the Palestinians. They are/were on the wrong side in a war- and ended up on the wrong side of a border. I don’t like Southern Unionists and their N.I brethern. Reason, they are self righteous. They have God on their side. LOL
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