Opinion

Newton Emerson: Unionists allow themselves to be riled by Richie Neal

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.

A US delegation led by Congressman Richard Neal arrives at Stormont to meet the five main parties. Picture Mal McCann.
A US delegation led by Congressman Richard Neal arrives at Stormont to meet the five main parties. Picture Mal McCann. A US delegation led by Congressman Richard Neal arrives at Stormont to meet the five main parties. Picture Mal McCann.

America’s part in the peace process is often misunderstood. From the first ceasefires until the 2010 Hillsborough Castle agreement, successive US administrations found themselves mainly in the role of leaning on republicans - to stop violence, decommission, disband and recognise policing. Washington’s interventions, while usually informal, were also usually decisive. This gradually caused unionists to lose their antipathy to Irish-America, which had been intense during the Troubles.

The leaders of the DUP and UUP were among the many unionists and loyalists who allowed themselves to be riled this week by Congressman Richard Neal, as he led a US delegation around Ireland to lean on the UK over the protocol.

It would have been better to ignore Neal’s old-fashioned nationalist pronouncements and remind him of his country’s true record as a ‘co-guarantor of the Good Friday Accords’.

Former UUP leader Steve Aiken claimed the US state department was briefing people to ignore Neal, which is entirely believable. However, it suited the DUP to keep cranking up the old-fashioned unionist anti-Americanism - a minor tragedy, after all the years of quiet effort to turn it down.

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Ways are increasingly being found around the DUP’s Stormont boycott. UUP caretaker health minister Robin Swann has asked other parties to nominate MLAs to question him, in effect creating a shadow assembly health committee.

A Sinn Féin recall petition will bring members back to the chamber on Monday to appoint a speaker, which by law must be a new assembly’s “first business”. This has the potential to do more than highlight DUP obstruction. Stormont’s standing orders permit “a debate relevant to the election” of a speaker. If no nominee is elected by cross-community vote, the cycle of nomination, debate and vote can repeat, under the outgoing speaker or the oldest MLA as acting speaker, an honour held by the UUP’s Alan Chambers. Even the short debate after this month’s assembly election ranged quite widely on the reasons for Stormont’s collapse. The range of ‘relevance’ could widen further.

Amusingly, the DUP has to turn up for all such debates to stop the UUP passing a cross-community vote without it.

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Five weeks ago, DUP caretaker economy minister Gordon Lyons wrote to P&O Ferries accusing the company of “disrespecting” the Stormont executive over the sacking of staff at Larne.

The Department for the Economy is now complaining P&O has not written back, despite replying “to GB ministers when they raised similar concerns”.

Perhaps P&O is unsure how to respond to an accusation of disrespecting the executive from a party that withdrew its first minister in February, downgrading Lyons to caretaker status, and has refused to return after an election.

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New Decade, New Approach agreed there would be two new commissioners: one “to recognise, support, protect and enhance the development of the Irish language”; and another “to enhance and develop the language, arts and literature associated with the Ulster Scots/Ulster British tradition”.

Language legislation was delayed at Westminster from late last year because the DUP wanted the second post called the Ulster British Commissioner and Sinn Féin wanted it called the Ulster Scots Commissioner, presumably suspecting a Trojan horse to sneak the whole of unionism, orange parades included, in through the gates.

The matter has not exactly been resolved.

In the language bill, finally published this week, one commissioner is referred to throughout as “the Irish Language Commissioner” and the other as “the Commissioner for the enhancement and development of the language, arts and literature associated with the Ulster Scots and Ulster British tradition”.

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A judicial review into Northern Ireland’s hospital waiting lists, brought by two patients left untreated for years, has the makings of a landmark case. Expert submissions to Belfast High Court have raised a key point long ignored: there are no consequences for failure by health trusts or the Department for Health.

“There is no urgency, no sanctions for poor performance, targets are repeatedly missed and simply replaced with new ones,” according to Prof Deirdre Heenan, who has advised Stormont on health reform. She added funding and budgeting issues do not explain the mismanagement.

The department counters it is doing all it can “in good faith” with the resources available, so the matter is political and should not be in court in the first place.

There are implications here for the resurrected debate on a bill of rights. Proponents advocate a justiciable right to healthcare “to the maximum of available resources.”

Would that impose discipline on health management? Or would it be just be another excuse for the status quo?

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It would be “tragic and stupid” if views of the Titanic Visitor Centre were obscured behind waterfront apartments, Belfast City Council planners have been told by some residents in nearby Abercorn Basin, who are objecting to the new Lotflines development.

It does seem odd that the landmark is to be hidden behind flats but it is hardly a surprise. This has all been in the masterplan for Titanic Quarter from the outset, almost two decades ago. Even more and taller apartments around the visitor centre already have outline approval. There will eventually be no clear vista of it except from the old slipways on the seaward side.