The media have long ago lost any sympathy with Education Minister, Caitriona Ruane, but the alienation was completed this week when she called a press conference at Stormont and preceded to announce – nothing. Worryingly for the Minister, she appears to have united all the other political parties against her. Even those in the education sector who would agree with her views on academic selection are becoming exasperated with her failure to make her a decision.
Apparently the Executive is to be presented with her detailed proposals in two weeks time. Meanwhile, the Ulster Unionists have apparently tabled a motion calling for the issue to be dealt with by an Executive sub group.
Friday, 2 May 2008
Maze Stadium decision to be made by Peter Robinson
There has been a growing suspicion for several weeks now that the DUP are going to block the idea of a new stadium at the Maze. Rumour has it that the decision will be made by Finance Minister Peter Robinson. His department is supposed to be considering the Business Plan for the proposal – before Robinson moves on to become First Minister. Whether that happens remains to be seen, however, Nigel Dodds, who is expected to replace Robinson at Finance, is not believed to be a fan of the stadium proposal either.
Parades Commission to be abolished
The ‘fallout’ from Lord Ashdown’s review of parading continued this week, following the official publication of its report. Nationalists, who seemed generally unhappy with the proposals, consoled themselves with the fact that the report cannot be acted upon by the Executive until policing and justice matters are devolved.
IRA cleared of ‘corporate’ involvement in Quinn murder.
The International Monitoring Commission reiterated its previous opinion that the murder of Paul Quinn in a cattleshed in Co. Monaghan in the Republic was not ordered by the IRA leadership. However, it suggested that some IRA members, or former IRA members, may have been involved. Sinn Féin issued a statement denying any IRA involvement.
Decisions, decisions?
This month could be an interesting one. Decisions are expected on PPS 14 (the controversial planning guidance for the countryside), the Maze Stadium (see above) and the way forward on academic selection (see above). Of course ‘May’ is the month in which Sinn Féin and the two governments agreed to devolve policing and justice.
Conservatives jubilant, Labour dejected
The local elections in England and Wales may mark an important watershed in UK politics. This may have implications for Northern Ireland. The Labour Party will be very concerned about the next General Election. Gordon Brown, who has never shown great interest in Northern Ireland, will be very reluctant to devote any time or resources beyond the absolute minimum. Unionists, particularly those in the DUP, have often seemingly based their entire strategy for dealing with the UK body politic on the chance that they might hold the balance of power at Westminster. The chances of this happening, which were always extremely slim, seem to have receded across the horizon. Perhaps this will lead unionist parties to reassess their future strategy regarding how they approach UK national politics.
Friday, 25 April 2008
Education, education and education
When Tony Blair was standing for election he famously said that his three main priorities would be education, education and education. Thankfully none of the party leaders made such a commitment in Northern Ireland. Education and the future arrangements for academic selection caused ill tempered exchanges in the Assembly Chamber and considerable press comment this week – but we remain nowhere near a resolution.
The Education Minister, Caitriona Ruane, wrote to Lumen Christi, the Catholic grammar school which announced its intention to set its own entrance exam, and its feeder schools to warn them of the consequences of essentially ‘opting out’ of Department endorsed transfer arrangements. The pro grammar school lobby, the Association for Quality Education has announced that 31 grammar schools are to press ahead with forming a company to run their own common entrance exam. It is understood the new company may outsource the test from England or develop a new exam based on the Northern Ireland curriculum. It will finalise firm plans for the new test by June. The exam will be taken for the first time in 2010 if no alternative selection method is proposed by the government in the interim.
Ms Ruane was also under attack from primary school teachers for failing to narrow the funding gap between primary schools and post primary schools.
The Education Minister, Caitriona Ruane, wrote to Lumen Christi, the Catholic grammar school which announced its intention to set its own entrance exam, and its feeder schools to warn them of the consequences of essentially ‘opting out’ of Department endorsed transfer arrangements. The pro grammar school lobby, the Association for Quality Education has announced that 31 grammar schools are to press ahead with forming a company to run their own common entrance exam. It is understood the new company may outsource the test from England or develop a new exam based on the Northern Ireland curriculum. It will finalise firm plans for the new test by June. The exam will be taken for the first time in 2010 if no alternative selection method is proposed by the government in the interim.
Ms Ruane was also under attack from primary school teachers for failing to narrow the funding gap between primary schools and post primary schools.
Who runs Northern Ireland?
There was drama aplenty at this week's Employment and Learning Committee regarding the proposed merger between Stranmillis teaching college and Queen's University. Members' voiced their 'disgust' at the treatment of the Committee by the colleges, regarding a lack of notice and consultation. A merger claimed last week to be a 'done deal' by Stranmillis seems anything but.
The requirement for legislation to go through the Assembly to enact the merger seems to have been a small fact both Queen's and Stranmillis disregarded/forgot about in their discussions. All Members expressed their concern about voting through any such legislation - unionist members due to the prospect of the ending of the 'protestant ethos' of Stranmillis and nationalist members because of the bleak prospects for the future of St Mary’s teaching college, if the merger goes ahead.
The Department of Employment and Learning’s claims that the merger came as a complete shock to them seems somewhat off the mark. On the morning of the merger decision, senior DEL officials briefed Stranmillis and Queen's on how the Department would finance the merger!
Several Assembly questions have been tabled on the matter, specifically on what the Minister, Sir Reg Empey, knew and when. Considering he maintains that he knew nothing, it would seem that this matter is far from over. Either the Minister did know and was ‘economical with the actualité’ or his top civil servants were keeping him in the dark about their plans.
The requirement for legislation to go through the Assembly to enact the merger seems to have been a small fact both Queen's and Stranmillis disregarded/forgot about in their discussions. All Members expressed their concern about voting through any such legislation - unionist members due to the prospect of the ending of the 'protestant ethos' of Stranmillis and nationalist members because of the bleak prospects for the future of St Mary’s teaching college, if the merger goes ahead.
The Department of Employment and Learning’s claims that the merger came as a complete shock to them seems somewhat off the mark. On the morning of the merger decision, senior DEL officials briefed Stranmillis and Queen's on how the Department would finance the merger!
Several Assembly questions have been tabled on the matter, specifically on what the Minister, Sir Reg Empey, knew and when. Considering he maintains that he knew nothing, it would seem that this matter is far from over. Either the Minister did know and was ‘economical with the actualité’ or his top civil servants were keeping him in the dark about their plans.
There is more to life than the Assembly
Those of us who follow the goings on up at the Assembly need to remind ourselves that its powers are limited and the ‘man on the street’ has many other concerns. Some of those concerns are Westminster matters – such as the abolition of the 10p income tax bracket. This move would have impacted particularly heavily on NI but our politicians took the safe option of opposing it – safe in the knowledge they could always blame the Labour Government. Another concern for the ‘man in the street’ is beyond the control of Stormont and Westminster. The dramatic increase in gas prices prompted local politicians to rush to the airwaves to talk about seeing what they could do to alleviate the problem for the less well off and the elderly. In reality the answer is not a lot.
Ministers at Stormont would be right to be concerned about these developments. increasing taxes from Westminster on people and small businesses and rising prices for food as well as energy the decision to delay the introduction of a water element to local rates bills might come back to haunt the Executive. When the increased rates bills ultimately land on peoples doorsteps during these leaner economic times there will be uproar. Prior to that expect to see a lot of MLAs seeking to distance themselves from the Executive. Might this provide the opportunity for the UUP and the SDLP to detach themselves from the Executive?
It is unlikely that the two UUP Ministers in the Executive – who will be 62 and 63 come the next Assembly election - will lead their party into opposition. But might the SDLP (or should that be Fianna Fail?) seize the opportunity? The SDLP could seek to lay the blame for the new bills firmly at the door of Conor Murphy and Sinn Féin. Such a move might put ‘clear water’ between the two parties and surely, after the merger, the party will not be as financially dependent on the Assembly as it is now?
Ministers at Stormont would be right to be concerned about these developments. increasing taxes from Westminster on people and small businesses and rising prices for food as well as energy the decision to delay the introduction of a water element to local rates bills might come back to haunt the Executive. When the increased rates bills ultimately land on peoples doorsteps during these leaner economic times there will be uproar. Prior to that expect to see a lot of MLAs seeking to distance themselves from the Executive. Might this provide the opportunity for the UUP and the SDLP to detach themselves from the Executive?
It is unlikely that the two UUP Ministers in the Executive – who will be 62 and 63 come the next Assembly election - will lead their party into opposition. But might the SDLP (or should that be Fianna Fail?) seize the opportunity? The SDLP could seek to lay the blame for the new bills firmly at the door of Conor Murphy and Sinn Féin. Such a move might put ‘clear water’ between the two parties and surely, after the merger, the party will not be as financially dependent on the Assembly as it is now?
Parades Commission to be abolished
The review of parading chaired by Lord Paddy Ashdown is expected to recommend councils and the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister should take over from the Parades Commission. The report, which is expected to be made public next week, favours splitting the processes of mediation and ruling when a parades dispute cannot be resolved.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)