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LAST UPDATE | 21 Oct 2022
ALL OF A sudden 28 October – this day week – has even more significance on the political calendar of Northern Ireland.
Not just the deadline to try to get Stormont working again or face the prospect of yet another Assembly election.
But the date by which we will know who will be the next leader of the UK Conservative Party and Prime Minister.
The speed of change
The turmoil of the past few days has demonstrated that a week really is a very, very long time in politics.
It means Liz Truss will be the shortest-serving prime minister in British history.
All of that talk of deliver, deliver, deliver and growth, growth, growth now lost in a storm of political events that has turned everything upside down – not just in Britain, but here in the North.
On the front pages of a number of newspapers, Boris Johnson is in the headlines.
Might he find his way back to Downing Street?
Is something as seemingly ridiculous as that really possible in the political farce of now?
Johnson’s name is there alongside Rishi Sunak.
To get in the race they will need the support of 100 MPs.
Is anything impossible right now?
Another headline screams: GENERAL ELECTION NOW.
This, for some, the only path out of the chaos.
These are days when we speak of turmoil. There is so much noise. Uncertainty.
And, in such drama, Stormont is forgotten – less pressing, not as important – once again, a place that can wait.
Except it can’t.
A dangerous delay
It has been waiting long enough – another lengthy period without a fully-functioning government and just a week to go to that latest deadline of 28 October, when without a First Minister and deputy First Minister to lead the Executive, a decision has to be taken.
Northern Ireland Secretary of State Chris Heaton-Harris – here only a matter of weeks – has said many times now that he will set a date for an Assembly election.
The date being talked about is 15 December – 10 days before Christmas and in a cost-of-living crisis, in which for families, food, heat and mortgages are the priorities.
Not the mess and the plays of politics in London.
And not the post-Brexit Irish Sea Border row which means the DUP won’t nominate for the position of deputy First Minister at Stormont.
An election won’t change that party’s position on that.
The standoff will continue.
There is this waiting to see what a better mood and tone might mean for negotiations between the EU and UK.
Talk also that we might get some statement on progress.
No one is suggesting enough progress at this time to allow the DUP to move.
But might all the moving pieces in politics right now, leave room to pause on that election date?
We don’t know.
In these times, it would be unwise to predict anything.
A system in chaos
Crisis is such an overused word in politics, yet it seems to fall short of telling the story of now.
Have we witnessed anything like this before?
This tumultuous post-Brexit period that has been so damaging, both in Britain and here in Northern Ireland; with this sense of things collapsing – caving in, brokenness. At times, hopelessness.
The mess that has been made over a period of years, is unforgivable.
Joke politics – not very funny.
Here, it has made louder the ‘New Ireland’ conversation – that big question of Union versus Unity is very much a part of the debate now.
And, in the waiting for the answer – however long that might take – I wonder can we really hope for stable politics here.
The political ground has shifted and is shifting. The standoff in our politics now is not just that sea border row, but a fear of change that some can’t cope with.
Change at Stormont with Sinn Féin now the largest party.
Change at Westminster, where unionists no longer hold a majority of the NI seats.
More change coming. For unionists, a sense of loss.
We haven’t seen or known politics quite like this – this mad drama in London that is making so many headlines in the here and now, and that, of course, plays into Northern Ireland. Creates further uncertainty.
Who knows what will happen on 28 October – both there and here.
What headlines before then?
Brian Rowan is a former BBC correspondent in Belfast and an author on the peace process. His latest book ‘Living with Ghosts’ was recently published by Merrion Press.
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I be more worried about their victims’ waiting times
Who is caring for/monitoring that woman while she is on bail?
Waiting time for mental health services for the general public is hugely long, why should prisoners be any different?
This government couldn’t care less about the mental health of its people.
@Carm(Orange Vampire): would you really want dangerous people becoming more unwell and even more dangerous! Stemming the progression at the earliest onset is in everyone’s best interest, prisoners and ours
@Jason: most prisoners are on a trajectory that the basic help provided through the prison services is not going to help long term
@Carm(Orange Vampire):
How is every single thing in this country a disaster/over crowded/under funded/long waiting lists etc etc?
Why can nothing run smoothly?
A great little country for American multinationals and hedge funds and a lousy one for its citizens.
@Ronaldo Blanc: hear hear
@Ronaldo Blanc: If these American multinationals were not here we would still be going around on horse and cart and you would have nuns and priests running run down old dilapidated hellholes that nobody would dare visit…..who do you think are paying the bills?, the farmers lol…..kop on and think just a little before you point the finger. Its our rotten government that have the country a mess, them and their public service buddies and private sector criminals creaming every last drop out of the place….
@Ronaldo Blanc: It’s citizens are responsible for the mess they’re in because it’s citizens continue to vote the same degenerates in to govern them. People have to take responsibility for their actions and Irish voters are responsible for voting in the government. You can’t blame corrupt politicians for being corrupt when corruption is all they have demonstrated since the state came into existence. The blame falls squarely on the voters who continually put them in a position to exercise their corrupt ways and “cream every last drop out of the place”. So if Irish people want someone to blame for their woes they need only look in a mirror.
As for American multinationals; since we have no indigenous industry worth a mention we need to generate income some other way and this means prostituting ourselves out to whoever is willing to pay. Thanks to our corrupt politicians this has historically been American multinationals.
It’s not ok to not be ok in Ireland because Ireland inc can’t help you
@Tony Henry: Mental health is way down the government’s list of priorities and they don’t give a flying f***. Ask any parent of a child on a waiting list for a MH service and you’ll see. They just don’t care.
Would like to take issue with your headline of “prisoners with severe conditions” these are people with Mental Heath issues in dire need of Help where they should be classed as “patients” where the services they need are been Starved of resources
@Eamonn Tierney: while they are in prison they are still prisoners. If they move to the CMH they then become patients.
How is every single thing in this country a disaster/over crowded/under funded/long waiting lists etc etc?
Why can nothing run smoothly?
Typical Banana Republic Of Ireland!
An absolute joke of a country!
When the poor, the mentally ill and former prisoners begin to vote regularly, things will change. Politicians feel no pressure to protect these groups.
I was brought up very close to Dundrum ‘Asylum’ as it was called back then. It was a dark dank place to visit and a dangerous one. It was done up and improved but there is always the risk of a sudden burst of violence and some of these people are so ill, that they will kill. Hence not the nicest of environments to work in.
I believe that many political prisioners are psycopaths just as laypeople who are killers are and I believe in Ireland that Mental illness is way down the list of priorities infact a lot of funding has been taken away from Day Centres and call in centres which are preventative, but our Govt is longterm stupid and short term wise.
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