Sammy’s Weekly Column – 4th January 2010

With Westminster and the Assembly in recess, I had most of last week off and spent a good deal of it working in my garden building a dry stone wall – a wall in which no cement is used and the stones are just set on one another. Whilst the weather was not the best due to the fact that it was freezing every day nevertheless the peacefulness of the garden, the chirping of the birds attracted by the bird feeders, the beautiful scenery over Larne Lough and the sense of achievement as the wall took shape, made them the most pleasant few days I have spent for a long time.

When the 30 tons of stone were dumped at the entrance to the forest I planted at the bottom of the garden I really did wonder what I had let myself in for. Apart from the physical effort required to move the stones some of which appeared at first to be immovable because of their size, dry stone walling requires patience, and a willingness to accept that some of the work you have done will have to be undone because you cannot find a stone which will sit on top of one which is perfectly sound. Don’t take short cuts – if a stone is wobbly don’t build on it take it out and try another otherwise you can be sure that the wall will fall the first time pressure is put on that spot. You often need to accept that your first choice of stone may not be the right one, so you have to go at the section of wall another way. You also learn the importance of placing stones in the right way. The largest stones should form the base and they are built on with smaller ones saving the flat stones for the top. The gaps in the middle need to be dealt with properly and this is where small stones become important. Indeed sometimes the small stones are key to the stability of the wall. I am only an apprentice wall builder but these are some of the lessons I learned over the last week.

As I sat admiring my work – I did a lot of that and trying to thaw my fingers out around a warm mug of tea, I engaged in an activity I often witnessed my Dad doing. He was a preacher and often used the ordinary things he did in life to illustrate points he wanted to make in his sermons. It is not hard to see the parallels between what we are trying to achieve politically in N.I. and dry stone walling, as we try to build a political system capable of delivering good government for the future and put in place sound policies which will stand the test of time.

Some stones seem immovable. I don’t know how many stones I christened Catriona Ruane !! Some parts of the wall took about six attempts to get right, stones which I would have loved to keep in had to be removed and different ones put in their place in order to make the wall stable, a bit like the frustrating budget process I have been going through since last September as Finance Minister. It is a lesson the Education Minister could learn in dealing with the bill she is trying to get through on education administration

On a few occasions I regretted not being more patient as I saw a piece of the wall falling because I had risked leaving a stone which was a bit wobbly. As we approach the issue of the devolution of policing and justice in the New Year we should remember the importance of patience and getting all the stones built in such a way as to give maximum stability when the powers are devolved. Threats of pulling the Assembly down are not the way to proceed and if we give in to such impatience and petulance we will pay the price of an arrangement which will not stand the test of time.

On a few occasions I had identified stones I wanted in the wall at a certain place. I knew in my head what I wanted it to look like, but sadly it did not prove possible to use the combination I had in mind. This is true of some of the political problems we wrestle with. On the whole question of transfer from primary to secondary school almost everyone has a view as what the process should look like. Given the political differences none of the solutions being put forward are deliverable. However as a result of the safeguards secured by the DUP when the Assembly was set up, those schools which wished to use academic selection can now do so and have done successfully whilst those who wish other means have been free to apply them. Parents and children have had the freedom to opt in or out of taking tests. It is a different solution from that which most envisaged but if it is working should we not accept that the issue has been sorted out albeit the shape is different than we first envisaged.

One person I spoke to about my wall building laughed when I told him I had finished. He said that I would be back at it again because dry stone walls by their nature required constant attention. Not all that different from our political institutions and arrangements we put in place for the range of things government provides. It should not be seen a a sign of failure if we conclude that we have to do some knocking down and rebuilding it will be a requirement of keeping our political dry walls in good condition. The DUP has already signalled a necessary revamp of the number of Assembly Members, government departments and voting arrangements at Stormont all part of ensuring that the institutions remain fit for purpose.

Of course there are the armchair politicians, the ill-informed, mischievous, cynical and contrary political commentators and columnists as well as the political chancers of this world who will pedal the simplistic solution to every problem which faces us. If it was as easy as they say we would not skinning our fingers, tiring our muscles and trying our patience in building a better future for N.I. we would go with their instant solutions. Sadly they do not offer a realistic way forward so we all must put our backs into political dry stone walling in 2010.

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