Sammy’s Weekly Column – 18th January 2010

The last week was one of the most exceptional weeks in the history of N.I. for some time. The press and some political parties tried to move what was a story about a personal scandal to a political crisis. Some clearly thought that the personal problems of the First Minister could be used as a lever to obtain a quick resolution to the issues around the devolution of policing and justice and raised the temperature by introducing deadlines for the completion of this project.

I have no difficulty with setting a time in which to get a piece of work done, in fact it is a good discipline and something which we all have to do in our work and daily lives, but if it is used as a threat or is set at an unrealistic level, it becomes a barrier to achieving the desired goal. There is a real danger that the unrealistic deadline tactic used by Sinn Fein will do just that.

I got some respite from all the hype when I headed to Westminster after presenting the Draft Budget – not the daft budget as I said in the Assembly Chamber in a slip of the tongue which caused much to the amusement of the members present, on Tuesday. Obviously the chief topic of casual conversation with members was the situation back home with a lot of sympathy being expressed for Peter Robinson and a great deal of concern about the future of the Assembly. Three former NIO ministers, all of whom shall remain nameless volunteered to come back because they loved their time here and as one said not entirely in jest either “it was good because you could get on with doing things without worrying about the electoral consequences”.

I thought that the statement summed up the real danger confronting us. If the personal crisis of the Robinson family becomes a political crisis for devolution we are going back to a system of government which is basically unaccountable and run by good and well meaning people but people who can make decisions without a great deal of reference to the views of the people of N.I. In the past that has resulted in the Unionist community especially, being at the brunt of unsympathetic decisions by London working closely with Dublin. It might well be that after the next election we will have a Conservative government at Westminster so direct rule might be less green but that is no comfort. Do unionists or nationalist really want an outcome which has a few unelected ministers from England running N.I. knowing that the sole focus of the government will be the national issue of restoring the country to a sound financial basis. Rest assured that the important issues to people in N.I. will not be properly addressed not because the direct rule ministers will be bad but because they will not be as focussed as local ministers can be.

I think of my own time as a minister and the amount of energy spent on rural planning, the problems caused to farmers by wet weather, the problems with the treasury over conacre, the PMS issue, transport for nurseries and child minders, bank lending to small businesses, rates policy and the recent shaping of the budget for next year to name but a few. Some of these issues are specific to small groups some apply to everyone but they require time and dedication which will not be possible from four direct rule ministers whose party has much bigger fish to fry.

So while some on the unionist side may argue that we should not be concerned about the consequences of no resolution of the policing and justice issue even if it collapses the Assembly I believe they are wrong and after the smoke of their reckless actions has cleared there will be angry questions from the electorate. Equally for those on the republican side who may be contemplating pulling the Assembly down if they don’t get an unrealistic deadline met, they should realise that it might not be easy to put the Assembly together again. The issues which brought it down will still have to be resolved and they need to contemplate the impact on those within the republican community who still believe violence is the answer, if by their actions they show that politics is not working. For parties at Westminster who might wish to force the issue they have to ask themselves do they really want to oversee another prolonged period of direct rule with the dangers that a political vacuum can cause. Finally I would ask the press who seem to like nothing better than stoking up a crisis regardless of how irresponsible that may be, are today’s sensational headlines going to help us make progress, and do those in the press who pontificate about irresponsible politicians not equally have a duty to moderate their behaviour.

The problems still to be resolved around getting a good sound foundation for the devolution of policing and justice are not insurmountable. Sinn Fein must know that the turmoil of the last two weeks will not make it any harder or any easier to move the DUP towards a position which will resolve those issues and the TUV who only wish to wreak devolution must know that we will not be looking over our shoulder at them before we decide on this issue. Their attempts to generate disquiet amongst unionists by claiming that Sinn Fein will be able to dictate policing policy in N.I. are pathetic. They know that there cannot be a Sinn Fein minister for policing and justice and isn’t it ironic that Jim Allister when he was in the DUP insisted that one of the conditions for the reestablishment of the Assembly with Sinn Fein was that they should fully support the police and take part in the institutions set up to run the police. The fact of the matter is that Sinn Fein members of the police board have more of a direct input into policing than any Sinn Fein member of the Assembly or the Executive will under any devolved arrangement.

The next number of weeks will call for cool heads, responsible behaviour and focussed attention on the work which needs to be done on the devolution issue. The mood for resolving the issue could be helped if at the same time other matters which the Assembly has not resolved and for which it is responsible especially education issues could also have progress made on them. This would be the best rebuttal to those who argue why give more powers to the Assembly when it has not properly exercised the powers it already has.

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