THE WEEK THAT WAS….
There was much talk of Black Holes this week; no, not the 1979 Disney flick which tried to out-do Star Wars, but the debate about the ‘Northern Ireland Assembly’s Supply Resolution, Main Estimates 2009 – 2010’. Alright, so it’s not the pithiest title in the world and the eight hour, two-day debate which included the sequel, ‘Budget (No.2) Bill’, is unlikely to have the masses queuing outside the cineplex, but it’s nothing that a bit of smart editing couldn’t fix.
The plot of the original movie, which I enjoyed no end as a six-year old, involved a mad scientist who captained a spaceship moored on the edge of a black hole that was manned by a crew of zombie human robots. Now, there are certainly a number of MLAs who wouldn’t have any bother with the auditions for those parts, but this isn’t going to be some sort of cheap shot at the shortcomings of some of our legislators.
Budget debates, although technical, complex and dry are probably some of the best debates in the Assembly. Precisely because they are technical, complex and dry, they only tend to attract those Members who actually seem to know what’s going on. Hence, there were worthy contributions from the likes of Declan O’Loan (SDLP), Dr. Stephen Farry (All.) and Simon Hamilton (DUP).
Although there had been much flapping from some Members earlier in the year about a £1bn Black Hole in the Budget, Dr. Farry, who still has concerns about balancing the books, likened the position to being more like a Quasar, which lets in some light as opposed to a black hole which sucks in everything.
The debates may have, however, shed some light on the upcoming DUP reshuffle with Nelson McCauseland (DUP, North Belfast) spreading his well versed interest in cultural issues to talk about the financial benefits of DCAL’s other raison d’être, sport. Hmm, coincidence or groundwork?
Incidentally, in the movie the crew get obliterated. While such an outcome would delight the TUV, vacuous debates are the closest Stormont is likely to come to a black hole.
