Opinion

Newton Emerson: Looks like Mary Lou McDonald has been pulled back into line by Belfast hardliners

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.

 Mary Lou McDonald said no border poll should be held amid uncertainty over Brexit
 Mary Lou McDonald said no border poll should be held amid uncertainty over Brexit  Mary Lou McDonald said no border poll should be held amid uncertainty over Brexit

Sinn Féin has quickly backtracked on statements from Mary Lou McDonald, its official leader, that a border poll should wait for “stability” and “economic and social certainty” in Northern Ireland, rather than take place amid a “crash Brexit”.

Had this policy lasted for more than 24 hours it would have marked the end of Sinn Féin’s general chaos strategy, associated with McDonald’s predecessor Gerry Adams and indeed every nationalist and republican leader who ever saw England’s difficulty as Ireland’s opportunity.

In theory, it would also have turned the DUP’s Stormont veto into a unionist chaos option to block a border poll, just as Sinn Féin has used its veto to press for one.

There are many fascinating ideological out-workings to ponder but the most immediate impression is that McDonald was reined in pretty sharply by hardliners in Belfast, which carries somewhat chaotic overtones of its own.

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Responding to hints from Dublin of Stormont talks in the autumn, DUP leader Arlene Foster said it was the first she had heard of it, adding the DUP will never accept an Irish language act, this is “non-negotiable” and “that has been told to Sinn Féin on a number of occasions.”

Presumably these were occasions after February, when both parties negotiated a draft agreement including Irish language legislation, or in the six months after last year’s Stormont election hammering, when the DUP repeatedly mentioned a “cultures act” to include Irish language legislation.

There have been at least two occasions - in February and on the Twelfth of July - when the Orange Order told the DUP it will not accept an Irish language act of any description. That appears to be what is really non-negotiable.

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Labour’s leadership has embarked on a purge of its five pro-Brexit rebel MPs. This has nothing to do with softening Brexit - the leadership is even more anti-European than the rebels. It simply does not want them propping up the Tories as they scrape through critical votes by margins as low as three. The abstentionism of Sinn Féin’s seven MPs is only going to become more decisive as this purge unfolds. How ironic for republicans to be keeping their old ally Jeremy Corbyn out of power.

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The Charity Commission for England and Wales is investigating the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust over £275,000 it awarded to Teach na Failte, a west Belfast group that says its main role is providing support to INLA ex-prisoners and their families.

Its offices were raided earlier this year in a police operation against extortion, paramilitary assaults and prostitution.

The commission’s action has made headlines in Britain, where the trust has become controversial for funding alleged Islamist groups.

There are certainly questions to answer about its approach to Northern Ireland. However, they are exactly the same questions that could be put to Stormont about the Social Investment Fund, or to the political establishment in general about peace processing ‘community groups’.

Watching the national media get into a tizzy about this mainly reveals how those questions are otherwise never asked.

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Ahead of delivering a lecture at Belfast Pride this week, entitled Marriage Equality: Winning at Westminster, Scottish Labour MP Ged Killen said: “When I take off from Glasgow Airport I am a married man, but when I step off the plane in Belfast my marriage will no longer be recognised”.

Oddly, this makes Northern Ireland sound a lot more fun than it is.

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Four weeks ago, Lisburn DUP councillor Luke Poots - son of former minister Edwin - made a complaint to the police alleging harassment after BBC journalist Kevin Magee reported a planning application at Poots’s home had been made by his mother using her maiden name.

The PSNI has now declared it has found no evidence to support an allegation of harassment. It could hardly have found otherwise, without implying all investigative journalism is an offence. So why go through the motions of humouring the complaint then sitting on it for a month?

There was an enormous scandal in London four years ago when the Metropolitan Police issued a notice of harassment against a local newspaper reporter for investigating alleged fraud. The Met rescinded the notice after a high-profile legal challenge in which it was justifiably humiliated.

The PSNI should be aware that indulging awkward complaints is not a risk-free option.

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Steven Agnew has stepped down as leader of the Green Party in Northern Ireland to spend more time with his family. He has not stepped down as an MLA, however, as that job currently allows you to spend as much time with your family as you like. Stormont’s absence combined with Agnew’s departure raises the interesting question of from whence the Greens in Northern Ireland are led.

In 2006, they managed to switch from being a regional branch of the party in England and Wales to being a regional branch of the party in the Republic of Ireland, without causing the slightest controversy or affecting their cross-community vote.

Perhaps Mary Lou McDonald should ask them for advice.

newton@irishnews.com