THE WEEK THAT WAS….
“We’re forever blowing bubbles, pretty bubbles in the air. They go so high, they reach the sky, then like my dreams they fade and die”.
So goes the refrain on the Bobby Moore stand as West Ham fans console themselves with another disappointing home performance. ‘Bubbles’ are by no means a preserve of the jellied-eel brigade from London’s East End.
A bubble in the muddy foundations upon which most of Belfast is built led to a rupture one would normally associate with an earthquake in Belfast’s Cromac Street. The ‘glass half empty’ faction of economists are concerned that an asset bubble in the Far East may pop the nascent recovery while the political bubble in Stormont is in real danger of bursting on the sore point that is Policing & Justice.
One would have hoped that locating Stormont on the Craigantlet foothills would have given the institution a sound footing. Evidently not. Cracks in Cromac Street, cracks in the Berlin Wall and cracks in the DUP’s position on P&J – it’ll not be too long before there are cracks in the Long Gallery.
The decision by the Chief Constable to disband the Full Time Reserve seemed to set the pigeons flying in the DUP bird house. Some thought it was a deal breaker, some thought not, some seemed to hold to the view that it was simultaneously both.
Meanwhile, dark mutterings from Sinn Fein that the entire devolved edifice is potentially headed for free fall are starting to develop a ring of truth. The raid on a South Armagh Republican by the Serious Organised Crime Unit has further sharpened differences about P&J. The gentleman in question – whose wife sits as an independent on the local District Policing Board – has been backed publicly by Sinn Fein’s DRD Minister while Sinn Fein’s DARD Minister has suggested it was a politically motivated raid. Not quite what Unionists meant by community confidence.
The Assembly may have debated the Justice Department Bill until midnight on Tuesday, but that’s rather a lot of energy to expend on a concept which may be strangled at birth.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Oral Questions
The DoE Minister dominated proceedings (that’s not a phrase you’ll hear too often) on Monday with two statements and Question Time. Questions covered included Planning Reform, a Single Waste Authority, Recycling and Plastic Bag Levies. The Deputy First Minister reiterated his support for the Presbyterian Mutual Society and noted that a prototcol on flags is still under review nine months after it started.
Over at DFP the Minister noted that local quangos spend almost £10bn annually and re-emphasised his view that paying to relocate public sector jobs in the current economic climate was unfeasible.
Written Answers
OFMDFM noted that under current rules it will be 30-years before Executive papers are published and the Education Minister disclosed that she has visited three times as many Maintained / Integrated schools as she has Controlled schools.
The DETI Minister was asked to outline her plans to commemorate the Titanic’s centenary in 2011 and revealed that 8.9% of NI’s energy consumption is currently provided through renewable sources. DRD paid out £310K this year to people injured by uneven pavements in its Belfast North region; claims in Belfast South totaled £147K and zero in Cookstown – the locals must have better balance in Mid-Ulster.
COMMITTEES
DARD dug into details on a Forestry Bill, DFP was scrutinizing the Department’s performance against its business targets while DEL was occupied with UNISON’s Women’s Committee.
DRD had to waft its way through a research paper on Septic Tanks, OFMDFM contemplated pensioner poverty, DoE was doing its bit to preserve the Irish Hare and DCAL jumped on the information superhighway to be briefed on the UK’s Digital Economy Bill. DETI considered a number of written briefings ranging from sustainable energy to billing and metering.
AND FINALLY….
Alright, so no-one can agree anything to do with policing, but the disparate strands of the political spectrum are at least united on one thing.
In days gone by Nationalists complained that Northern Ireland was a cold house for them. Unionists are now complaining that Stormont is now a cold house for them. Not metaphysically mind you, but physically.
Despite the copious amounts of hot air produced by the hours and hours of debate on the Justice Bill, it failed to warm the Chamber. Fortunately, Lord Morrow’s chill was shared by Sinn Fein’s benches.
Don’t be too alarmed though, normal service was maintained and there was no prospect of the two groupings cosying up to share a bit of body heat.
