Northern Ireland

ANALYSIS: After a predictable day at Stormont the focus shifts to Westminster

Daíthí Mac Gabhann is at Stormont with his mum Seph at Parliament Buildings. Picture by Hugh Russell
Daíthí Mac Gabhann is at Stormont with his mum Seph at Parliament Buildings. Picture by Hugh Russell Daíthí Mac Gabhann is at Stormont with his mum Seph at Parliament Buildings. Picture by Hugh Russell
By John Manley

AS Tuesday’s proceedings in the assembly chamber concluded, someone was heard to shout “joke” from the public gallery. It was one of the more insightful remarks in an hour’s sitting, half of which was taken up with the drudgery of Stormont’s antiquated voting system.

It was the sixth occasion in the past year that MLAs had returned to Stormont in an effort to elect a speaker. The purpose this time, ostensibly at least, was to get Daíthí’s Law over the line, 12 months after the legislation was approved in the assembly.

The outcome was predictable and the proceedings mundane, enlivened only when contributors chose to go off subject – Jim Allister to rant against the “union-subjugating protocol” and Gerry Carroll’s colourful characterisation of Stormont as a “bastion of unionist dominance [that] is now a vestige to unionist obstructionism”.

Young Daíthí Mac Gabhann, fresh from last week’s exploratory operation in England, watched the proceedings from the gallery alongside his parents Máirtín and Seph. The family had known for days that MLAs wouldn’t deliver the desired outcome but nonetheless they must have felt dismayed watching each party’s sole contributors heap praise on their campaign while knowing it was all just words. There’d be no speaker and no secondary legislation paving the way for a rollout of the organ donation opt-out. Most people blame the DUP, which in turn blames the protocol, and around-and-around we go.

It’s been an unedifying few days for politics generally and for the Sir Jeffrey Donaldson’s party especially – the same party that in the past has complained about Westminster interference but is now pinning its hopes on MPs passing Daíthí’s Law. The secretary of state has thus far resisted embracing the idea that the Organ and Tissue Donation (Deemed Consent) Bill could be tagged on to his Executive Formation Bill at Westminster next week.

The Northern Ireland Office stresses that Chris Heaton-Harris’s bill, which will extend the deadline for calling an assembly election until next year, consists of one substantive clause only. The secretary of state’s officials insist the scope of the legislation is too narrow and that amendments unrelated to its clear aim are unlikely to be allowed.

Meanwhile, Sir Jeffrey Donaldson is understood to have told his assembly team on Tuesday morning that he’d received assurances from the Westminster’s speaker’s clerk that his amendments could easily be adopted. There’s a lot riding on for the DUP leader, who has brazened out the concerted coercion of recent days by insisting MPs can get Daíthí’s Law over the line quicker than the assembly.

If there is one consolation arising from the events of the past week, it’s been raising the profile of organ donation and the need for families to have that often challenging conversation around the dinner table. The politicians may not have emerged smelling of roses, but as always Daíthí Mac Gabhann and his parents have remained steadfast in their aim and dignified in their demeanour. To let them down a second time would be unforgivable.