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Ireland's political and cultural magazine
21
No poodle
Red Hand admires the Conan Doyle character,
The Dog That Didn’t Bark, from ‘Silver Blaze’. This
particular dog made an appearance during the
Queen’s visit to the North. The Republican dissi-
dents spectacularly failed to bark, let alone bite.
The visit was tailor-made for a day of disruption
across the North. The dissidents were unable to
produce even one decent bomb scare. Meanwhile
the DUP is warming to Martin. One DUP insider,
who was less enthusiastic about Sinn Féin minis-
ters generally, told Red Hand McGuinness “likes
to get things done”. Didn’t he always?
Kum Ba Yah
Martin McGuinness isn’t the only public figure
to have mellowed. Jim Wells used to be one of the
DUP’s fire-eaters. In the Assembly he raised cudg-
els on behalf of the SDLP’s Dominic Bradley during
the debate on funding Irish-language organisa-
tions. Sinn Féin’s Culture minister Cearál Ní
Chuilín told Bradley: “Well, I have heard enough
from you”. That brought Wells to his feet: “On a
point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker. That was an
absolutely disgraceful remark to someone who
was making a very valid point. I ask her to con-
sider her comments and withdraw them”.
Murphy off, O’Dowd up
The fall of Sinn Féin’s former Regional
Development Minister, Conor Murphy, has been
quiet but steep. Murphy was seen as a future leader.
However, on his ministerial watch too much went
wrong: the Big Freeze in the winter of 2009-10
left tens of thousands without water: he mishan-
dled changes to the board of Northern Ireland
Water: the chairman he trusted turned out to be
a convicted fraudster: he was dogged by contro-
versy over the murder of teenager Paul Quinn by
IRA members: and, finally, he has been found
guilty of religious discrimination in the appoint-
ment of Seán Hogan as chair of Northern Ireland
Water.
Now he is being sent from the heat of the
Assembly to the abstentionist political Siberia
of Westminster. Meanwhile, the political star of
Education Minister John O’Dowd is rising. He is
increasingly seen as the coming power within
Sinn Féin.
Losing and winning
It was significant that Belfast City Council erected
a big screen outside City Hall so fans could watch
the (Republic of) Ireland vs. Croatia game. Less
than 10 years ago, this would have occasioned a
riot: Loyalists would have attacked, and Republic
of Ireland fans would have been prepared for them.
Now, for some reason, Loyalists saw it as no big
threat. Perhaps it was the quality of the football.
Golf everywhere
The Giant’s Causeway is the North’s only World
Heritage Site. Last month, Environment Minister
Alex Attwood announced he was granting plan-
ning permission for a major golf resort a mile
and a half from the Causeway. The National
Trust is considering seeking a judicial review of
the Minister’s decision. It has raised a level of
ire normally associated with its sister, An Taisce,
further south. Baby Doc Paisley, who apparently
comes from a different environmental tradition
than the Trust, has thundered that the challenge is
“a disgrace to Northern Ireland.” SDLP Councillor
Donal Cunningham joined in, in the same vein,
announcing “the National Trust appears to be
trying to sabotage our tourism prospects; their
timing really couldn’t be worse.”
There is a strange belief that the recent suc-
cess of Northern golfers will draw large numbers
of rich golfers, particularly from North America,
to the course. There has to be a question mark
about this. The Lough Erne Resort in Fermanagh
featured a top-class golf course, targeting golfers,
celebrities and high-spending leisure seekers but
last year its operating company was placed into
administration.
Roads collapse under weight
of maladministration
There has been more bad news for the Northern
environment in a damning report from the
Ombudsman into the Planning Service’s handling
of Ireland’s only gold mine, just outside Omagh.
The Ombudsman found the Service guilty of
maladministration. “My investigation has high-
lighted the failures of the Planning Service to
effectively monitor and enforce planning con-
trol/conditions at the precious metal mine”,
Ombudsman Tom Frawley said.
Despite receiving several complaints, it took
the Planning Service more than a year to issue
an enforcement notice telling the company to
stop the unauthorised removal of 8,000 truck
loads of rock. At one stage, 145 lorries per day
were removing rock from the mine, along narrow
country roads. Several stretches of road collapsed
under the weight.
SF Foyled
Sinn Féin’s move of Martina Anderson to their
Northern Ireland seat in Europe hides an impor-
tant admission: they have no candidate they see as
capable of capturing the Foyle seat at Westminster
in the foreseeable future. Mark Durkan of the
SDLP is relatively safe, though at the last election
Sinn Féin were so confident they had actually
prepared a location in the city ready for a vic-
tory celebration. However, perennial candidate
Mitchell McLaughlin was 6,000 behind Durkan.
Wags in Derry say the Shinners forensically
cleaned the celebration venue.
SDUP
Ballymena Council is the DUP’s heartland. Ian
‘Papa Doc’ Paisley was raised in the town. A sign
of changed times is Ballymena’s first nationalist
mayor: the SDLP’s PJ McAvoy is widely acknowl-
edged as very inoffensive, and well-liked across
the community. Although the DUP has 12 of the
24 councillors, McAvoy was elected unanimously.
Even the two Traditional Unionist Voice council-
lors did not oppose.
Craigavon and Antrim Councils are now the
only two Northern councils not implementing
powersharing. UUP Councillor Adrian Watson
said “pigs will fly” before Antrim Council had a
Sinn Féin Mayor.
Red Hand
A regular miscellany from the North
ÄãÊÄÃ
SDLP’s PJ McAvoy
- Ballymena’s first
nationalist mayor
-
ÄóÝ
