Here is a cracker of an article which was published in today’s North Belfast News. It’s the SDLP’s European candidate Alban Maginness summing up the current situation with the NI Executive.

SINN FEIN’S GERRYMANDER  OF JUSTICE MINISTRY IS BLATANT DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE SDLP

Banks are crashing, fuel prices are rocketing, mortgages are disappearing and dole queues are lengthening, and still the Executive is being prevented from meeting. We face a hard winter when the elderly and the vulnerable will be forced to choose between heating and eating, but three months have been wasted and soon it will be four. We need to cut through all the spin and lay the blame squarely where it belongs – at the door of Sinn Fein and nowhere else. They are in a mess of their own making.

Sinn Fein are trapped in what is called the ‘Triple Lock Mechanism’ which was a gift they condeded to the DUP three years ago at the now infamous St Andrews negotiations, when Paisley wiped Gerry Adams’s eye. Now Gerry  Adams may repeat the endless mantra that the DUP committed itself to the devolution of policing and justice by May this year, but that is simply untrue. It was the British and Irish governments which agreed that target date – Paisley signed nothing. But Adams agreed to the Triple Lock, which means that in order for policing and justice to be fully devolved, three things must happen:

1. The British government must agree
2. The First Minister and Deputy First Minister must propose devolution to the Assembly
3. The Assembly must approve it by cross-community vote.

You don’t have to be a political genius to work out that even if the British government is pushing devolution, there is no way to force Peter Robinson to propose it or the DUP in the Assembly to vote for it,  as they must if a cross-community vote is to pass.

So how come Sinn Fein negotiated something so stupid? It was not accidental – we warned them before, during and after St Andrews. We told them that the DUP like vetoes and if they got one they would use it – as they are doing. We told them that they were selling out the interests of the nationalist community, not just on policing and justice, but also on the Irish language and the reform of secondary education. Remember, the DUP got a further veto on that issue . But they walked blindly into it – why?

Sinn Fein are fixated on this devolution issue, but they don’t seem to understand it. Basically, the part that really matters to most people – policing – is already devolved and has been for more than seven years. For almost six of those years Sinn Fein refused to get involved in policing and bitterly attacked the SDLP for pioneering accountable policing and the Patten reforms. When they finally went onto the Policing Board without getting any additional changes or reforms, they were desperate to convince their dubious members that there was more to be got, that all the stalling had a purpose.

The SDLP wants justice to be devolved as soon as possible for many reasons, but it will not make any significant difference in policing, where the Policing Board, DPPs and Ombudsman’s Office will all continue their work.

The Triple Lock sell-out was bad enough, but now Sinn Fein have done far worse. In desperation to cut a new deal with the DUP during the summer, they agreed that neither party should take the Justice Ministry. However, they went even further. Sinn Fein’s own ministers are appointed by the power-sharing d’Hondt formula, but Sinn Fein have agreed with the DUP that this Minister will be appointed by a cross-community vote. That’s a vote with a built-in DUP veto. Sinn Fein have conceded that now and for the future, the Justice Minister must be a unionist or a nationalist who is satisfactory to the DUP. How’s that for the 40th anniversary of the civil rights campaign?

By blocking Executive meetings, Sinn Fein are punishing the most vulnerable in our community for their own negotiating incompetence. By excluding nationalists from such an important ministerial position, they are punishing a whole community for their own negotiating incompetence. And by agreeing to yet another DUP veto they are punishing future generations of nationalists for their own negotiating incompetence.

We have some serious questions to be asked about this ministerial position. Will the Minister be a full and participating member of the Executive? Will the First Minister and Deputy First Minister have the power to fire the Minister? What will be the relationship with MI5? Will the Minister be free to develop North South co-operation on justice? Will the autonomy and finances of the Policing Board be guaranteed?

Sinn Fein are not providing any answers and indeed seem to have little interest in the questions. But they are absolutely certain of one thing. They will not permit the power-sharing mechanism to be used because that could result in an SDLP minister being appointed. They can’t afford to be shown up by yet another competent, successful minister such as Margaret Ritchie. And they are prepared to collaborate in any way with the anti-powersharing DUP in order to hide their incompetence.

In summary Sinn Fein, by gerrymandering the rules of ministerial appointment for a new justice minister, are committing a blatant act of political discrimination against the SDLP. So much for their commitment to civil rights.

Tags: Alban Maginness, North Belfast News

This entry was posted on Friday 3rd October 2008 at 5:39 pm and is filed under Blog Entries, SDLP Party. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.