Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
POLITICS ON ITS hill at Stormont has always been a hard climb. That has been the story of the 25 years since Good Friday 1998; how politics has struggled in the peace, how it has rarely had the ease or the freedom of a run downhill.
There has always been something; some reason – some row – to make things difficult. It has been arduous, tiring, work.
That is how it began, and how it continues, from the starting point of the arguments over decommissioning and the phrase ‘no guns – no government’ that described those early battles after Good Friday; and how, in unionist thinking then, the IRA made government impossible, and how there was a choice to be made between politics or the ‘private army’. It could not be both.
A message from Stormont
Last month, a message was sent to me, including a line that my “longstanding prediction about the final death of Stormont may be right this time”.
I’m not sure that I have predicted that outcome but rather argued that it has had too many of these crisis moments. And, after the last rescue mission of 2020, I said that if it failed again, then it should fail forever. I wrote that in my book ‘Political Purgatory’.
But Stormont, it seems, is always allowed another chance and more time.
That is why it is still there; allowed these things, because if it collapses entirely, then it says the ‘peace’ has failed.
All of the talk in the here-and-now is about the autumn. If Stormont is to be put back together again, it will be then. Or will it?
That message that was sent to me last month was from an MLA: “I can’t see Jeffrey [Donaldson] doing it,” they wrote, “too much of a stretch and not enough courage.”
Politics has been swimming in the turbulent waters of the ‘sea border’ that became part of the post-Brexit trading arrangements, and that has made Northern Ireland different from the rest of the United Kingdom.
At a Feile Derry event last week, I said that those who shouted loudest for Brexit cannot now wash their hands of the Protocol and the Windsor Framework. Politics is both what you demand and what comes with it. It is what has made this latest Stormont mess.
So, we have had another year-plus standoff; more uphill politics, more climbing and a mountain of statements that the Executive must be restored. It hasn’t shifted the DUP. And, from others, there has been the argument that there should be no return to an “unreformed Stormont”.
In other words, the current system of government does not work and won’t work and has to change. The so-called news conferences on that hill and elsewhere, are not news. They are ‘repeat’ conferences, old hat, a waste of time.
On Tuesday, I tweeted: What does back to Stormont mean? If it is having Stormont for the sake of it, then we should forget about it. So much that is broken here, stems from the failure of that place.
What does back to Stormont mean? If it is having Stormont for the sake of it, then we should forget about it. So much that is broken here, stems from the failure of that place https://t.co/Sgg4kLjUDq
— Brian Rowan (@BrianPJRowan) August 22, 2023
A tweet from the veteran political editor Ken Reid on Thursday morning said it all:
Magnificent view over Belfast from my hospital room in the City Hospital. Stormont in the distance . A lot more activity in this ward than on the hill. The pressure on staff is unrelenting. What a contrast.
— Ken Reid (@bigkenreid) August 24, 2023
Stormont has to be something more than a building. It has to prove itself; show that politics can work, that it is worth having.
The sea border is the latest in a long list of reasons why politics has struggled – struggled from decommissioning to ‘Stormontgate’, from the arguments over the Maze Peace Centre project through welfare reform, flags, parades, the Past, RHI and the fallout from Brexit – these, the endless battles of politics, the many disagreements – the damage.
Yet, politicians and others, from all places, still come to Northern Ireland, to see the peace, to look at it, to talk to us, to ‘learn’. It’s incredible.
That year changed everything. Follow the electoral trend since then:
Sinn Féin now the largest party at Stormont;
Michelle O’Neill waiting to be First Minister;
Sinn Féin the largest party in the local government elections;
Unionists no longer hold a majority of the Northern Ireland seats at Westminster.
That shift, as much as the turmoil of the sea border, has created the political storm.
The last time Stormont was saved was in January 2020 when Julian Smith was Northern Ireland Secretary of State and Simon Coveney was Tánaiste and Irish Foreign Minister.
It was their ‘joint’ work and effort (not joint authority) that made the New Decade – New Approach Agreement possible – that brought the parties back into the Executive after a three-year absence.
It did not last long, and this is the issue – if it is rescued again, how long before its next fall?
And how many Stormont falls before we finally realise that it doesn’t work? Recently, in a podcast for the Belfast Telegraph, I was asked about Stormont and when it might return, and I said I didn’t care.
It has failed too many times; perhaps the biggest failure of the peace process. Stormont for the sake of Stormont, is not worth having.
There has to be good reason to bring it back. What colour will the leaves be then? I just don’t know.
In this broken place, there is no such thing as urgency or a deadline.
But, even when it is stuck, politics is moving. For many, there are more important things than Stormont.
Brian Rowan is a journalist and author. He is a former BBC correspondent in Belfast. Brian is the author of several books on Northern Ireland’s peace process. His new book, “Political Purgatory – The Battle to Save Stormont and the Play for a New Ireland” is out now at Merrion Press.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The photo doing the rounds of Housing Minister O’Brien socializing with Developers at a FF fund raiser tells us all where priorities are. Photos don’t lie
@Jim O’Sullivan: indeed, it doesn’t make any sense that economists are deriding these new policies!!!….. Are the govt being advised by the dogs on the street? Are they taking any advice from qualified people? Or is it vested interests? ……we deserve better either way
@Jim O’Sullivan: Fianna Fail are the proverbial Leopard.
@another one? what’s going on is the semi state sec:
You better believe they’re taking advice from those with the right qualifications. “It’s a big club” as George Carlin used to say, “and you ain’t in it”
4 billion for housing and feeding Ukrainians though
Is that all, really….nah!?
Sure that’s not far off what the likes of Ronans and McNamaras et al each got away with dumping on the books after the credit crash in 08. They then got paid munzo to manage/massage their NAMA portfolios, bought back in for a song and are since back at the high rollers table with few limits and only token liability!! C’est la guerre…. actuellement!
Whataboutery at it’s finest there.
Slava the BaNAMA Free State!
@: did you think up that all by yourself or did you do some research .. parrot
@: in fairness, now that draft dodging Ukrainian men are coming (40% of 18- 24 year olds arriving are males, the majority of whom would be eligible for the draft) we’ll probably need that four billion. Also, let’s not forget the fund will also provide for those seeking international protection arriving without documents from war torn countries like the UK, Belgium, France, Germany.
@: 4 billion of tax payers money is now whataboutery
@casio shock: not whataboutery that should read
@casio shock: Comparing giving it to developers to justify it is.
@Tomasso San Roque: can you point out the German, French Belgian or UK citizens that have claimed asylum in Ireland?
@Martin Mongan: who said anything about citizens from them countries arriving clown.
@Tomasso San Roque: you did. You specifically listed those countries
And as pictures circulate today of Darragh O Brien cosying up to his big developer buddies at another classic FF golf fundraiser you realise that things really haven’t changed at all since the crash and in the case of FF they never will.
@paulgurney:
Where any/all birdies or better are vultures and all/any worried looking bankers are bogies!
Maybe we could clamp down on the widespread tax evasion by landlords. Large landlords should be tax at a far higher rate. And small cash in hand landlords with every single room in the house split into multiple bed should be find massive amounts. We’ll see how quickly landlords register. Tax is paid and tenants at least get some form of relief….. it’s not tackled because there all at it in the government
@Nathen: stand on your own two feet.
Be interesting to see the comparison of percentage of landlords claiming their tax measure vs renters claiming theirs. I’d say a lot more renters will be furnished leases all of a sudden. This is not a country to be a renter in
Yea true but they had to do something and time will tell if these policys will work. A few million into a state ran construction company and apprenticipe scheme would have been good too
@Dan Danny: how inconsiderate of you towards BAM!
@Kieran Menon: A poor ole BAM is right, will they survive another Christmas
FFG have no interest in housing other than facilitating developers and privately owned foreign investment to gouge us . We pay mor for everything from mortgages to groceries than our so called EU counterparts
There are many people renting without the RTB knowing about it, there are also long term lettings where the landlord forgets to renew the registration after five years. Mentioning RTB when applying to a rental advert is often a sure way to guarantee that someone else will get the place.
Not registering is an all round win for landlords that can pretty much deprive the tenants of all rights because it’s not a proper tenancy. If the landlord dumps properly on the street and changes locks the tenant has nowhere to go.
Another issue is that SUSI when asking a mature student for proof of independent living won’t accept a tenancy agreement, only an RTB letter.
RTB would work better if the tenant did the registering, but it’s a way of extracting money from landlords to pay swivel servants.
Nonsense graph, the ‘wealth’ is not money sitting in the bank, it’s equity people have in their homes after paying mortgages for 15-20 years. Unless you’re willing to become homeless, it’s not available. House valuations now are still lower than 2006, when house buyers had to inflate mortgages borrowed to cover the huge stamp duty being charged at the time.
If they could look at how much it costs to actually build each house and analyse the extortion profit margins that people are gaining from them which is the root of the issue of unfordable houses!
But there is a policy here. It’s to continue to pump more money into demand side measures to ensure that prices continue to go up and up as they can’t countenance a fall in asset prices. The only problem with this is that it can only go on for so long and there will be a fall eventually one way or the other. Property owners have been prioritised over those who don’t own property who have been thrown to the wolves. That’s the calculation that has been made and they are hoping it will be enough to keep the current configuration or something close to it government at the next election.
Assets like a house are not cash in hand but my house is worth 400k and my mortgage is 80k left to pay very hard to feel sorry for most house owners above a certain age, maybe late 40s onwards
have your say