Governance: Cutting freedom of information
Monday, April 30th, 2012Peter Cheney analyses Civil Service plans to name and impose charges on the senders of freedom of information requests. Civil Service departments want to charge citizens for making freedom of information requests and name the requesters, thus limiting scrutiny under the Freedom of Information Act. If the plans go through, civil servants will remain anonymous as their names are redacted to protect their identity. TUV leader Jim Allister found the proposals (combining a range of views across the Civil Service) in a volume of written evidence to the House of Commons’ Justice...[full story]
Assembly: Alliance Party conference
Monday, April 30th, 2012David Ford turned against all four larger parties at his conference as he sought to hold its ground in government. Peter Cheney summarises Alliance’s current status. For a leader of a moderate liberal party, David Ford’s conference speech at the La Mon Hotel was sharp and combative, reflecting Alliance’s growth but also the threats to its position in power. Gaining East Belfast, two Executive seats and 14 extra councillors were major achievements. Eight MLAs were returned last May and two other candidates narrowly missed out in North Down and East Antrim. ...[full story]
Westminster: The Home Rule Bill centenary
Monday, April 30th, 2012One hundred years ago, a third Home Rule Bill for Ireland was debated in Westminster. Its consequences are still felt. Stephen Dineen examines the debate’s content and context. At 3.05pm on the afternoon of 11 April 1912, Herbert Henry Asquith introduced the Government of Ireland Bill to the House of Commons. The Prime Minister told the House that “amid all the varying phases and fields of our electoral and Parliamentary campaigns, one thing has remained constant, subject neither to eclipse nor wane.” This was “the insistence and persistence of the Irish demand.” Asquith...[full story]
Trades union desk: Regionalising poverty
Monday, April 30th, 2012John O’Farrell argues that regional pay will drive down demand and prolong the recession. Sammy Wilson does not always see eye to eye with the unions but we are at complete agreement that the Chancellor George Osborne’s latest wheeze is “pernicious”. The Chancellor has pre-empted the study being carried out by the UK’s independent pay review bodies and announced in the Budget that he wanted to make regional public sector pay more “responsive” to private sector wages, with some government departments given the option to move to regional pay structures for civil servants...[full story]
Public Affairs: Nesbitt takes UUP reins
Monday, April 30th, 2012Peter Cheney assesses the UUP’s mood as it chooses its 15th leader. Mike Nesbitt’s comprehensive victory as Ulster Unionist leader puts him in a strong position as he takes up the post, but he will be under pressure to take rapid action after years of decline. Nesbitt enjoyed strong backing from the party establishment and the bulk of the key Fermanagh association. His 536 votes added up to a 80.6 per cent winning share. One UUP source remarked that opposition has “very significant minority support” within the party. The difference between support for Basil McCrea...[full story]
Obituary: Henry Clark
Monday, April 30th, 2012Henry Maitland Clark 11 April 1929 – 24 March 2012 MP for North Antrim 1959-1970 One of the last of a generation of gentlemen unionist MPs, Henry Clark is mainly remembered for his defeat by Ian Paisley in the 1970 general election. A jovial character from among the Clarks of Upperlands, a renowned linen family, he was educated at Shrewsbury School, studied economics at Trinity College Dublin, and prepared for the Colonial Service at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. His colonial career included postings as a district officer and district commissioner in Tanganyika, which...[full story]
Europe: Brussels to Belfast
Monday, April 30th, 2012Local views on the Fiscal Compact Treaty The Irish Government will hold a referendum on Fiscal Compact Treaty on 31 May. The treaty will require countries to limit their annual government deficits to 0.5 per cent of nominal GDP. Crucially, countries that do not ratify the treaty will not have access to future European bail-outs. DUP MEP Diane Dodds has said that it is “tantamount to a gross erosion of national sovereignty.” The Irish vote “will be a test of the democratic process in the EU,” she claimed. Sinn Féin’s Foreign Affairs and Trade Spokesman Pádraig MacLochlainn...[full story]
Governance: Standards for press officers
Monday, April 30th, 2012Executive press officers are rejecting a code of conduct used in all other parts of the UK. Peter Cheney reports. Northern Ireland Civil Service press officers are not regulated by an official code of conduct for their profession, agendaNi can confirm. Professional journalists are bound by the Press Complaints Commission code of practice, the National Union of Journalists’ own code (also used informally by non-members) and their outlet’s own editorial guidelines. Press officers, by comparison, are often seen as unregulated despite their growing size and influence. However,...[full story]
Public Affairs: Westminster notes
Monday, April 30th, 2012Diamond jubilee address Both Houses of Parliament gathered in Westminster Hall in March to hear the Queen’s diamond jubilee address. There was humour in the Queen’s speech. She remarked that “in an era when the regular, worthy rhythm of life is less eye-catching than doing something extraordinary, I am reassured that I am merely the second sovereign to celebrate a diamond jubilee.” Recalling her long history with the Palace of Westminster, she said that “at the last count” she has had the “pleasurable duty of treating with 12 prime ministers.” This drew laughter...[full story]
Westminster: The NIO’s changing role–Julian King
Monday, April 30th, 2012Rebalancing the economy and helping the Executive deliver are two key goals for the NIO, Director-General Julian King tells Peter Cheney. Northern Ireland, he says, can also play its part in the renewed British-Irish relationship. Times have changed for the NIO. Once the central department for security and political policy, it passed most of that remit to the devolved Department of Justice in April 2010. Its workforce, in turn, dropped from 2,244 staff to 196, and down to 180 at the end of last year. agendaNi met its Director-General at Stormont House, a quieter...[full story]
