The role of the Assembly and Executive

If we were to listen to and accept at face value those in the media who criticise the Assembly and the Executive as ineffective, and who question their value or use, we would mothball both institutions and sack the MLAs.

Yes, there is justifiable frustration at the failure of the institutions to address concerns on health and education and delivery on Casement Park, Saving Lough Neagh, building the A5, delivering for Gaeilgeoirí, tackling poverty and hate crimes and legacy issues alongside problems in our public services. But that is not the fault of the institutions. It lies with the political parties and others who are blocking progress.

Yes, there are problems but it is wrong to tar all our politicians with the one brush and it would also be wrong to hand over responsibility for these issues to unelected civil servants and to the British government. That would be irresponsible and stupid.

Does anyone really want another British Secretary of State running this place? There have been 25 British Secretaries of State, mostly mediocre and forgettable, including some who contributed enormously to the conflict.

We also need to appreciate that the London government is adding to the difficulties faced by an Executive which doesn’t have the financial resources to tackle some of the issues of greatest concern. All of this is an argument for the end of Westminster rule. We need to say that loudly and often. London has never ruled us in our best interests. We who call this place home are the only ones entitled or fit to do that. That includes our unionist neighbours and their representatives. 

The reality is that the Northern statelet was not and is not a normal society.  Partition was a unionist and British imposed response to the demand by the people of this island to independence and sovereignty. The unionist regime at Stormont immediately and successfully deepened political and sectarian discrimination and the inequalities that were part and parcel of colonisation. The Northern state was a place where non-unionists were to have no say in its running and where the institutions of the state were closed to us. 

After 78 years of ‘Northern Ireland’ the Good Friday Agreement began a process of fundamentally changing that system. It is a process. The Agreement was and is a unique arrangement to facilitate conflicting political visions. Republicans decided to enter Stormont – a place that represented all that was wrong with the Orange State – because we believed that a space was needed in which we and unionism could moderate our differences. Other venues were considered but we believed that unionists would be comfortable within the Stormont setting. And we opted for that. 

However, did anyone seriously think that generations and centuries of colonisation and prejudice could be overturned quickly? That the deep rooted antipathy to all things progressive or rights based, never mind nationalist or republican, would disappear overnight or even in the short term?  Only the most naive or stupid among us would have thought the British State would acknowledge its wrong doing and embrace equality and democracy?  No dear readers.  It was always going to be a battle a day- a process that demanded and demands perseverance, doggedness, generosity, resolve and strategic focus. Especially strategic focus.

Cearta Anios. 

In May 2022, 20,000 activists took to the streets of Béal Feirste to demand Irish language rights. This An Dream Dearg mass mobilisation of both young and old was highly symbolic, positive, cheerful and confident. Four days after this protest, the British government took the first step to introduce Irish-language legislation, paving the way for historic social change in the Northern state. This legislation provided for the repeal of the centuries old  penal-law ban on the use of I