The red hour is coming up fast on devolution and there is only one party to blame – Sinn Féin.
They falsely state it was over the RHI scheme, but the truth is far removed. Brexit was the sole reason why Sinn Féin refused to nominate a first minister and took down Stormont.
Then they came up with another obstruction in the shape of the RHI issue and the moribund Irish language which has as many opponents in the Republic as it does in Northern Ireland and more so.
It is obvious too that Gerry Adams is still calling the tune for the republican movement in giving out ultimatums in saying that if there is ‘no Irish language there will be no Stormont’.
Sinn Féin are in a highly obstructive mode and will soon find themselves out in the cold again as they did before the talks for the Good Friday Agreement began.
Sinn Féin looked for accommodation and were given it, now they are making demands.
Unless the SDLP or another party can vote out Sinn Féin at the polls, devolution is finished and finished for all time.
Sinn Féin’s mission and that of the Irish government as recently seen with the border issue, is to take Northern Ireland out of the United Kingdom. They have no interest in government because they fundamentally object to the British having any say over Northern Ireland.
Of course if Northern Ireland was under Irish rule or Sinn Féin rule it would be as sterile as the Republic.
Sinn Féin and the Republic have nothing to offer. It is a post colonial nightmare in the Republic which has driven out thousands. It is estimated that there are 40 million Irish in other countries, while only 5.7 million people reside in the Republic’s jurisdiction. It is a failed state and any concept for a united Ireland would yield similar results for Northern Ireland.
Jim McAllister of TUV is correct when he says the “institutions are not going to work”. There is not a hope in hell they will and time has shown they will not.
Sinn Féin want one thing and one thing only – the British out.
They started the military/bombing campaign which failed and now they are playing the obstructive game at Stormont. They are still fighting in the trenches and getting nowhere. They will never achieve a united Ireland or anything else for that matter. Northern Ireland is better under direct rule, than playing around with Sinn Féin in the hope, not in the expectation, that things can work with the political wing of the IRA.
Looking down the line with the concept of devolution and the litany of issues which could be brought up by Sinn Féin to obstruct and obstruct, no-one could realistically believe that devolution is going to work and most certainly not a united Ireland.
Forget it.
MAURICE FITZGERALD
Shanbally, Co Cork
Review of Northern Ireland’s drug problem is badly needed
The Northern Ireland public needs to wake up to the level of drug taking within our society. The recent unfortunate deaths have brought it again to the headlines, but my fear is that once the media attention moves on our young people will again be thrown to the wolves. It reminds me of the indifference of general society in the south during the 1970s to the level of heroin abuse in working-class areas. Few cared. It wasn’t until addicts started breaking into middle-class homes, that the guards and civic society started taking notice.
Anyone that has been around working-class areas in Northern Ireland in the past 20 years will clearly know of the growing drug problem sometimes ‘managed’ by paramilitaries of various hues, but now also includes local and foreign villains. I sometimes recall the words of the late David Ervine who stated that the police and middle-class society were quite happy for working-class areas to be destroyed by drugs, as it would deflect any wrath of working-class people away from them.
I believe a root and branch review of the drug problem in Northern Ireland society needs to take place. I would suggest that a substantial portion of the largesse the DUP is receiving from the Conservatives is directed to police and justice systems. It is appalling that solicitors are standing up in court and saying alleged offenders have less chance of falling prey to drugs outside prison than inside it. The police force must be enhanced and more extensive cameras placed around city centres. I have noticed drug transactions occurring around the city centre and I am in my sixties. If we can have cameras located strategically to fine me if my front wheel goes into a bus lane, then with a bit of thought we could place cameras around locations that dealers are known to operate.
The legal system must also have a clear set out minimum sentences for dealing in drugs and these sentences must be severe. I know that initially this will cause an increase in our total prison population, but this short term demand on resources must be endured for the long-term gain.
The remainder of the largesse should be targeted on the most deprived areas for health and social care.
Surely our aim should be to reduce dependency on these and other services by having not only a robust legal and justice system, but also to have appropriate care and support directed immediately it is needed and thus reduce untimely deaths and life time dependency.
TED GALLAGHER
Belfast BT12
Adjectival infelicity
I thought it odd the first time that I noticed it. Perhaps it was in one paper three or four years ago but now it’s commonplace in the media even though it’s gross in print and speech. It’s ‘Northern Ireland’ used as an adjective as in, ‘a Northern Ireland person’, ‘a Northern Ireland politician’ or ‘a Northern Ireland woman’ etc, etc.
If someone was heard referring to ‘a France woman’ or ‘an Ireland man’ we might suspect the speaker to be foreign. I can think of no other example of a country’s name being used in this descriptive way.
In former times one might have referred to a ‘Chinaman’, but that’s now considered ignorant. Presumably the popularity of the expression in the local media is attributable to sensitivity about identity in this part of the province of Ulster even though most of us of this sod, whether Irish or British, can tolerate being referred to as northern Irish. Of course another reason for the adjectival infelicity might be that, strictly speaking, Northern Ireland is not a country but a region and in that sense its use would be quite normal, as in, ‘a Munster man’, or ‘a Yorkshire lass’.
WES MACKEY HOLMES
Belfast, BT14
Expensive way to do a bad job
As a citizen of Northern Ireland I find Sinn Féin deeply disengenuous when they say with reference to an Irish language act that what is good enough for other countries should be good enough for Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland an act would discriminate against the majority community who did not learn Irish in schools. The money invested in translation, the civil service jobs limited to one community. The preservation of a language is desirable but the evidence that a Welsh language act was helpful is minimal. This is an expensive way to do a bad job. Wood chip with added discrimination.
WENDY ANDERSON
Crawfordsburn, Co Down
Commendable thoughts
AntÁn Ó Dála and Rí (August 25) states that all statues of Robert E Lee and other southern generals of that terrible war between the northern and southern states of America and statues of Edward Carson and others here in the six counties should be taken from their places of dominance and housed in various museums. Antán’s thoughts are very commendable but I just wonder does he include the statue of the great republican John Mitchell who approved of slavery. Just a thought.
VAL MORGAN
Newry, Co Down
