(Ar)Lean times in North - Village Magazine

December - January 2017 1 9

IX MONTHS have been a long time in

politics for Northern First Minister

Arlene Foster, as storm clouds have

gathered round her ascetic political

persona. In May she consolidated the

DUP vote and seat numbers in the Assembly

elections.

She seemed master of the political scene, just

like newly-minted British Conservative leader,

Teresa May.

Like May, she is now facing multiple problems.

She inherited NAMA in the North One from Peter

Robinson’s time as First Minister. No criminality

has been proved. However, NAMA’s Northern

portfolio was sold for less than a third of its

value: and a Northern politician, still un-named

though implications are heavy, was due to ben

efit from at least part of a £Stg7m payment.

Several of those involved have strong DUP

connections.

Foster has fumbled the inherited issue of UDA

commander Dee Stitt. Stitt is Chief Executive of

Charter NI, a community organisation based in

East Belfast, which is overseeing a £1.7m social

Investment Fund. In Northern Ireland one can

just about get away with being a senior UDA

member and convicted armed robber, and chair-

ing bodies that get large sums of money from

government. There is a certain feeling in the

Protestant community that community projects

linked to mainstream Republicans have received

funding so projects from ‘their’ community

should also be funded.

However, he behaves as a clownish caricature

of a paramilitary, for example describing the

North Down Defenders flute band as "our home-

land security”. Police have added to the

pressure, by saying that UDA members involved

in Charter have also recently been involved in

paramilitary activity.

In October, Foster told the Belfast Newsletter:

“I do welcome the fact that he (Stitt) is stepping

down”. However, Stitt failed to stand down. More

recently she said it was not for her to advise the

organisation on employment issues. At time of

writing, it is clear Stitt’s position is untenable.

The Renewable Heat Incentive scheme cost

the Northern Executive at least £400m and was

instigated when Foster was Minister for Enter-

prise and Investment. In 2012 she launched the

scheme, offering grant aid to shift Northern

businesses away from using oil for heating and

towards renewable energy in the form of wood

pellets. There was no ceiling to the level of grant

to be paid. Thus, businesses found they could

profit by permanently heating empty buildings.

The civil servants involved wrongly believed

the UK Treasury would cover the costs: in reality

these were to come from the North’s Block Grant.

BBC Northern Ireland’s 'Spotlight' programme

has revealed that a whistleblower approached

Foster in 2013, explaining how businesses were

profiting by wasting energy. She was referred on

to the civil servants involved. It took almost

three years for the scheme to be wound up.

It was monumental incompetence, with there

being no suggestion of fraud but a general air of

embarrassment about the lack of seriousness of

purpose in the North towards the environment.

There is another potential problem. At time of

writing, it is unclear how serious Deputy First

Minister Martin McGuinness’ illness is.

Through all storms, McGuinness has been a

sturdy mudguard for first Robinson, then Foster.

While Sinn Féin has criticised, it has been in

deftly measured tones, falling far short of col-

lapsing the institutions, or seeking heads,

though this magazine has noted that Adams tel-

egraphed to Robinson that if he collapsed the

executive Sinn Féin would look for his head over

the NAMA dodginess.

There is now significant disquiet in the Nation

alist community. Many feel the DUP is being

allowed to call the shots in the Executive. There

is also a widespread feeling that, except for the

important absence of political violence, there

has not been a peace dividend for working-class

areas. Instead, there have been cuts to public-

sector jobs and services. This was significantly

reflected the topping of the poll by Gerry Carroll

of People Before Profit in Sinn Féin’s West Bel

fast heartland in the Assembly election.

McGuinness has an authority among the

Republican base, and also among the wider

Nationalist electorate. He has been able to gain

at least tolerance for measures once thought

unpalatable.

Clearly, Sinn Féin is planning its transition.

However, all of the mooted future leaders – the

Northerners John O’Dowd and Conor Murphy,

the Southerners Pearse Doherty and the ascend-

ant Mary Lou McDonald – will find holding the

line among their own supporters much more dif

ficult, at best: and particularly difficult if health

issues force an unexpected transition in the

North.

(Ar)Lean times

in North

No more chuckles as Foster

ﬂounders and McGuinness

weakens

by Anton McCabe

A whistleblower

explained to Foster

how businesses were

proﬁting by wasting

energy but it took 3

years for the scheme

to be wound up

Chuckle-free