Opinion

Newton Emerson: Acts and language matter, not only in Irish

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson

Newton Emerson writes a twice-weekly column for The Irish News and is a regular commentator on current affairs on radio and television.

Don't expect the RHI Inquiry, chaired by Sir Patrick Coghlin, pictured, who reported on its progress this week, to report any time soon. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker.
Don't expect the RHI Inquiry, chaired by Sir Patrick Coghlin, pictured, who reported on its progress this week, to report any time soon. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker. Don't expect the RHI Inquiry, chaired by Sir Patrick Coghlin, pictured, who reported on its progress this week, to report any time soon. Picture by Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker.

THERE was never any prospect of Thursday's Stormont talks 'deadline' being met, or of more time not being granted.

The DUP-Tory deal at Westminster only added to this week's impossible workload - and while it has improved the prospects of restoring devolution over the next few months by putting pressure on Sinn Féin, it has also dropped a fly in the ointment.

The triumph the DUP has just enjoyed in London would go to anyone's head - bad timing when the party needs to show some humility in Belfast.

Arrogance in deed and manner were the DUP's sins in bringing Stormont down. A change to both may be the minimum requirement to put Stormont back up again and there is scant sign of that being recognised.

On an Irish language act, for example, the DUP is clearly about to do the deed, yet this is only worsening its manner - with former leader Peter Robinson mocking Sinn Féin's stance as "pitiful and absurd".

It is a fitting illustration that acts and language matter.

**

Liberal England has chosen abortion as the subject on which to avenge itself against the DUP. A clever Westminster manoeuvre bounced the British government into funding terminations for Northern Ireland women on the English NHS, within days of ministers insisting this could not be done due to a Supreme Court ruling and "respect" for devolution.

The DUP will be most displeased but it could have been worse - liberal England could have focused on same-sex marriage instead, an issue on which the DUP is uniquely isolated in the UK and Ireland, while its stance on abortion is not significantly different from almost every other party in both parts of Ireland.

A unionists' rebuke to Britain along these lines would be quite the rhetorical achievement.

**

London's Evening Standard, now edited with vengeful glee by ex-chancellor George Osborne, has printed a column claiming the DUP-Tory deal would have failed without "the discreet diplomacy of Lord Caine" - a special adviser who deserves to be much better known in these parts.

Lord Caine, first name Jonathan, has served every one of the last six Conservative secretaries of state, going all the way back to Tom King in 1988. The Tories have nobody more experienced in Northern Ireland to call on, and they have never needed that expertise more.

**

The DUP has accused the Irish government of hypocrisy for backing nationalist calls for a standalone Irish language act while telling the British government to be - in the DUP's words - "neutral".

This reflects a widespread misunderstanding of the Good Friday Agreement, which only requires the "sovereign government" in Northern Ireland to exercise its powers impartially.

So London does not have to be neutral, while Dublin need not even be impartial.

**

Victims campaigner Raymond McCord is seeking a judicial review of the border poll mechanism in the Good Friday Agreement.

Clarity on the issue would be welcome, as the Agreement merely states the secretary of state "may" call a poll "if it appears likely to him" that nationalism would win.

This is a ludicrously ill-defined basis for such a critical matter.

However, the courts may not be the best place for a remedy. A judicial review can only find inconsistency and there is no obvious law, treaty, policy or precedent to compare with the Agreement's relevant section, while the very vagueness of the border poll trigger seems to prevent it being inconsistent with itself.

Part of McCord's case is that the authority for such a constitutionally significant decision should not rest with one person.

Yet that is all the Agreement says, so a judge alone can hardly say otherwise.

**

The inquiry into the Renewable Heat Incentive (remember that?) has obtained a promise from the director of public prosecutions that witness testimony will not be used in criminal cases, or even to decide whether to bring criminal cases.

This can only be seen as a desperate move by the inquiry to stop people refusing to cooperate on the grounds that they might prejudice a criminal investigation - a standard excuse from civil servants in particular, which scuppers all inquiries as soon as police might get involved.

RHI was referred to the police by the UUP in January. Two months ago the PSNI refused to comment on how its investigations were proceeding, saying in effect it did not want to prejudice the general election.

One thing already clear from this mess is that there is no hope of an inquiry verdict for years - quite possibly four or five years.

**

A Wesley Somerville UVF banner on display in Moygashel, Co Tyrone. Picture by Hugh Russell.
A Wesley Somerville UVF banner on display in Moygashel, Co Tyrone. Picture by Hugh Russell. A Wesley Somerville UVF banner on display in Moygashel, Co Tyrone. Picture by Hugh Russell.

Police have arrested a man on suspicion of theft for removing a UVF flag and banner from a lamppost in Moygashel, Co Tyrone.

Unlike in Belfast, where the '1912 UVF' is cited in flag-row sophistry, the Moygashel regalia are unquestionably Troubles-related.

The flag features 1970s paramilitaries, while the banner 'honours' Miami Showband murderer Wesley Somerville.

Displaying such emblems could easily be seen as offences of harassment, intimidation, glorifying terrorism or attempting to provoke a breach the peace, none of which the PSNI seems remotely interested in pursuing.

newton@irishnews.com