The North is crying out for an end to this bitter impasse
THE first anniversary of the collapse of the Stormont executive should have given Sinn Féin, the DUP and the two governments an ideal opportunity to renew their efforts to resurrect Northern Ireland’s powersharing institutions.
However, a number of unforeseen circumstances have militated against this.
The nonsensical and gravely insulting video by Sinn Féin MP Barry McElduff, on its own, would have been enough to halt any possibilities of getting the two main parties talking.
The Sinn Féin leadership must have been apoplectic over the antics of their West Tyrone MP, yet it is generally felt the ‘punishment’ meted out by them to McElduff was mild, to say the least.
They know full well that the posting of the video gave the DUP a political open goal. It handed Arlene Foster and her colleagues an opportunity to turn the tables on Sinn Féin when it came to talking about respect for victims of the Troubles.
Referring to what she regarded as Sinn Féin’s disrespect to the victims of Kingsmill and other atrocities, she said: ‘We have listened to lectures on respect for a whole year and it’s very easy to demand respect, but apparently it is not very easy to give respect.’
It also allowed Foster and the DUP to refer again to the lauding of IRA members at recent Sinn Féin gatherings.
While it could be said that the DUP are going overboard about these incidents, it is a fact that in Northern Irish society, despite the relatively calm security situation, emotions are still very raw on both sides.
IT must also be remembered that virtually every one of the leading members of the DUP have had instances in their personal lives, whereby the IRA attempted to murder either them or members of their families or friends. For instance, in 1996, a plainclothes RUC officer guarding Nigel Dodds was shot and injured by members of the IRA dressed up as health workers as Dodds visited his ill son (who subsequently died) in the intensive care unit of the Royal Children’s Hospital in Belfast.
The IRA also attempted to kill Arlene Foster’s father, an RUC reservist. He was seriously injured and her family, subsequently, had to leave their home in the Roslea area of Co. Fermanagh.
Foster herself was on a school bus that was bombed by the IRA. A friend sitting beside her was seriously injured.
So, if one tries to put oneself in the shoes of any member of the Unionist community, it is easy to see how they could be appalled at some of the recent crass antics by Sinn Féin members.
On the other hand, and trying to rise above all of the tit-for-tat blame game, it is clear that implementation of commitments that had previously been made, especially under the St Andrews agreement of 2006, have been strung out over the last decade or so, mainly due to the intransigence of the DUP.
Promises on the issues of the Irish language, equality and human rights have been fudged, with the acquiescence of successive British governments. Sinn Féin are within their rights to insist that these commitments should be properly dealt with.
The principle of ‘parity of esteem’ is a two-way street. The foot-dragging attitude of leading members of the DUP on these issues has caused much unease within the wider nationalist community in Northern Ireland, and not just within Sinn Féin.
Just over a year ago, the DUP Minister for Communities, Paul Given, withdrew £50,000 in funding earmarked for an Irish-language bursary scheme.
As I said at the time, this proved to be the ‘final straw’ in regard to the political crisis at the time, mainly dominated by the ‘cash for ash’ difficulties.
The unfortunate resignation of James Brokenshire from the position of Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, due to ill health, is yet another event which may delay any efforts to resuscitate the political institutions in Northern Ireland.
The quick appointment of his replacement in Karen Bradley MP is welcome; but quite obviously, it will take her a considerable amount of time to read herself into the brief.
Another complication is the fact that Arlene Foster is to be called to give evidence to the ‘cash for ash’ public inquiry much earlier than had been planned. It is expected that she will appear within the next month or two. One way or the other, this will further raise political tensions between Sinn Féin and the DUP.
Ultimately, the losers in all of this are the people of Northern Ireland. The administration of government is, from a political point of view, rudderless.
Day-to-day decisions are being made by faceless civil servants.
Missing is the political input as to how resources are expended. In any healthy democracy, it is vital that there is an element of public accountability as to how decisions are made, especially in regard to where taxpayers’ money is to be spent. Additionally, there is no credible voice coming from Northern Ireland articulating the fears about the downsides of Brexit for the people of the area.
This time last year, I suggested that the stand-off between Sinn Féin and the DUP may last a long time. It is in the interests of Sinn Féin to have a devolved government in the North, particularly in view of their Westminster abstentionist policy.
On the other hand, it has always my opinion that the DUP, despite what they say publicly, are not that exercised about resurrecting the devolved institutions, given that they are a party which looks primarily to Westminster as the centre of power.
AS always, in the politics of Northern Ireland, if one side is demanding something, then the other side tends to go the other way. One unfortunate downside of political events since the Good Friday Agreement is that the middle ground, made up of the SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party, has been replaced by the parties at either end of the spectrum, Sinn Féin and the DUP. It was always going to be a difficult political equation to solve, asking opposites to come together, particularly because of the personalities and history involved.
This is why the two governments have an even greater onus upon them than ever to pressurise the parties to come together.
It is a fact that recent British governments have virtually taken their eye off the ball as regards the necessary nurturing of the peace process. Because of this, recent Irish governments have not been able to get the same attention paid to the Northern situation as was the case a number of decades ago.
Theresa May’s government has enough on its plate at the moment and it is unlikely that Downing Street will be able to exert pressure on the two main parties in Northern Ireland.
A complicating matter is the fact that the Conservative government is reliant on the DUP’s votes in Westminster.
Recently, the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Simon Coveney, have made comments regarding a united Ireland which may have gone down well with some elements across the island but, in the context of being seen as ‘honest brokers’ and guarantors under the Good Friday Agreement, they have given unionist figures an opportunity to retreat into their ‘siege mentality’ mode.
All in all, recent events have not augured well for progress on the restoration of the northern institutions. Given the fact that the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is coming up in April, in the interests of the ordinary citizens of Northern Ireland, all parties involved have an opportunity to recommit to the principles of powersharing.
They owe it to the thousands of people who were adversely affected over the four decades of the Troubles.