THE WEEK THAT WAS….
What a stroke of bad fortune that was. You wait all those years to finally decide that the reform of Local Govt. won’t be happening any time soon, and just as you’re about to explain to the electorate why £9m has drifted off into the ether, along comes the Saville report into Bloody Sunday and hardly anyone notices. Doh! What are the chances!
Such is the robustness of the political process, the implications of Saville were – so far – taken with barely a break in anyone’s stride. The Prime Minister’s fulsome and magnanimous acceptance of the findings drew the sting out of potential nationalist anger, while unionists seemed assuaged by his equally fulsome praise for the role of the army generally and a shying away from calling from prosecutions.
The point that on the day the Deputy First Minister was “probably” carrying a Thompson machine gun that was probably used in previous gun attacks didn’t even seem to cause anyone to break a sweat. Changed times indeed.
Times were also changing on the Floor of the House during the week’s lengthy Budget debates. Not everyone may have accepted the realities of the scorched earth Budget which is coming next week from Westminster, but at least more MLAs than usual spared us their fantasy wish list of services which exist in a parallel universe were the laws of macro-economics are frozen in a state of suspended animation.
That said, despite the fact that the outlook for the NI Budget was “bleak” requiring “tough”, “painful” and “unpalatable” decisions, the delusions remain, not least the stubborn refusal by many to even countenance water charges or the persistent belief that all our ills lie at the feet of those nasty bankers, overlooking the role of individuals and politicians alike who pigged out on cheap money with gay abandon.
There will be no easy solutions. MLAs want budgets to be “scrutinized”, trimmed senior public servant salaries and greater funding for R&D. Given the tsunami of cuts coming, MLAs may as well whistle in the wind; services across the board are going to be sliced. It’s not quite the ‘Shared Future’ we were promised, but it’s all you’re going to get.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS
Oral Answers
The Environment Minister was alluding to cuts of £1.25bn over the next three years which precluded the Executive from paying the upfront costs of Local Govt. reform. He also had a pop at Sinn Fein for not agreeing to the business model which would have delivered the maximum amount of savings from RPA.
Over at DFP the Minister discussed deprivation in West Belfast, noted that all those farmers who had difficulty reading maps for their EU subsidy applications will cost taxpayers at least £3m and warned that raising the regional rate by 20% would only raise £128m. The Health Minister, meanwhile, argued he has no room for further cuts.
Written Answers
OFMDFM defended itself against complaints that it’s taken at least four years to establish an Older Peoples Commissioner, DARD spends £43m annually on the Agri-Food Biosciences Institute annually and DCAL confirmed that £20K has been spent on an Ulster-Scots dictionary.
Almost 70 schools have closed over the past decade according to Education, DEL revealed that NI’s participation rate in Higher Education (50%) is the highest in the UK and DETI disclosed that unemployment is lowest in Strangford and Lagan Valley (3.5%). DoE listed 37 different pieces of legislation dealing with noise issues and highlighted Belfast as the worst recycling council in NI (22.4%). DFP identified Carrickfergus as the council area with the lowest number of suicides in 2009 – two compared to 62 in Belfast.
COMMITTEES
DARD was Equality Screening its Farm Modernisation scheme (are Massey’s being discriminated against?), DoE was flying high with seat sales at Belfast City Airport, DFP is investigating insurance costs and DRD was on the buses with Translink’s planning assumptions.
DoE was focused on Road Safety, DSD was towing the Caravans Bill, DETI was sniffing biogas and DCAL met the movie moguls from NI Screen. Justice is courting popularity by trying to pick the pockets of barristers by cutting back on legal aid.
AND FINALLY….
Budget debates aren’t the same since Declan O’Loan, one of the Assembly’s few financial brains who has progressed from abacus to scientific calculator, was dismissed to the SDLP “naughty step” for a time-out to contemplate his views on nationalist realignment. With no whip, the learned member wasn’t inclined to share his views.
Somebody else on the naughty step is Israel after its abortive raid on a Gaza relief flotilla. They’ve called in former First Minister David Trimble as an independent investigator. With the events of this week still fresh in his mind, he’ll be wary of doing a ‘Widgery’.
Given, however, that some had been tipping him as David Cameron’s Attorney General, Mr. Trimble will have plenty of time on the long flight to Tel Aviv to contemplate what might have been.
Loading ...
