The SDLP has reportedly discussed “leaving the stage” - an extraordinary move, however long in the offing, by what is still the third-largest party by vote share in Northern Ireland.
If the aim is to usher Fianna Fáil onto the stage it could be a bit-player for years. Building an electoral base is a generational project.
So the immediate pressure would fall not so much on Sinn Féin - Fianna Fáil’s presumed target - as on the UUP, which faces the same arguments for departure as the SDLP and which would be even more squeezed and superfluous in the SDLP’s absence. The logic of Stormont designation and post-Agreement politics in general is for only three parties - one unionist, one nationalist and one unaligned. We are often told the DUP and Sinn Féin drive each other to extremes but the self-contained contests within nationalism and unionism seem to drive this at least as much - Sinn Féin and the DUP are hardly chasing each other’s voters. Perversely, could a clear-out of the centre ground make space for more moderate politics?
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Sinn Féin did not blink in supporting the police after arrests at an un-notified dissident parade in Lurgan, followed by children throwing petrol bombs in Derry - the only reaction the entire dissident movement seemed able to muster.
But a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, to quote Ralph Waldo Emerson (no relation), so Sinn Féin’s Gerry Kelly had to ask why an impromptu UDA rally in Bangor was not also interrupted by police.
Meanwhile, various unionists demanded to know why officers did not stop an un-notified dissident parade through west Belfast.
Strangulated replies from the PSNI about “gathering evidence” for “consequences through the criminal justice system” reveal that the point of consistency on policing parades is a judgment about what is practical without making things worse.
From this we can tell that the UDA in Bangor and Saoradh, who organised the parade in west Belfast, are not yet able to be faced down on the ground - but Republican Sinn Féin, which organised the parade in Lurgan, has now been adjudged safe to shove off the stage.
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An unmissable feature of dissident parades is that Ireland’s stoutest defenders are becoming increasingly stout - a phenomenon I once saw described as the 32-stone sovereignty committee. Basing your uniform around a green jumper you wear once a year only emphasises the problem. A looser, darker outfit would be advisable, providing you do not end up described as the Black and Kaftans.
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There have been further demands for consistency after two DUP twitter scandals, most notably one involving Ian Paisley jnr retweeting an insult to Islam from the commentator Katie Hopkins - for which he has apologised.
Comparisons have been made to January’s ‘Kingsmill’ twitter scandal, when Sinn Féin’s Barry McElduff was sacked and the DUP demanded others be sacked for retweeting him.
The most interesting aspect of this comparison is that Paisley fills a similar role to McElduff - that of a local vote-winner but class clown with no wider power-base - and is held in equally low regard by his party leadership, which if anything considers him a more serious liability. Yet getting rid of Paisley is out of the question under almost any circumstances, let alone over a twitter gaffe, because the DUP leadership is so weak.
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SDLP MLA Nicola Mallon has raised planning concerns over reports that John Bell House, a privately-run student accommodation block in the old Belfast Metropolitan College, is also being marketed as a “short break base.”
Roost Housing, who recently purchased the building, say the same thing happened under previous owners and the company is certain short-term lets to non-students are compliant with its planning permission.
Planners do often ban such lets in student blocks and Roost adds it always observes this where applicable.
But perhaps planning compliance should not be the concern. Safeguarding of young adults, while not a legal requirement for over-18s, remains a key duty of care for universities. No university would permit stag parties, for example, to randomly occupy spare rooms in campus accommodation. If private firms are taking a radically different view, students - and bill-paying parents - should be kept informed.
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Brace yourself for the phrase ‘customs partnership’, London’s big idea to resolve Brexit. This is not a new idea - it has been circulating since last summer - but Dublin has just given it a cautious welcome, despite long-standing Brussels criticism of it as “magical thinking”.
Has London finally succeeded in splitting Ireland off from the rest of the EU? Not quite. A customs partnership would mean all goods entering UK ports being charged the higher of UK or EU tariffs, with the difference refunded on goods not shipped onwards to the EU.
Brussels has pooh-poohed this because the same thing would need to happen all around the EU - but what if it only happened around Ireland?
The phrase ‘customs partnership’ would then simply have replaced the phrase ‘sea border’...
newton@irishnews.com
