Reactions to Sands’ death

A compelling weekly bulletin from the Northern Ireland Office (file NIO/12/194A) describes the first week of May 1981 in grim detail. The medical prognosis of the hunger strikers had a direct bearing on the security situation outside the jail.

“As anticipated in the last bulletin Sands’ condition became critical at the weekend when he lapsed into a coma on Sunday morning [3 May],” it records. “He did not regain consciousness before his death at 01.17 hours early on Tuesday 5, the 66th day of his fast.”

Secretary of State Humphrey Atkins regretted a “needless and pointless death” before adding: “We should not forget the many others who have died.” Atkins urged the people of Northern Ireland to “recognise the futility of violence and turn their faces away from it.” A press statement from republican prisoners blamed the British Government “primarily” for his death but also condemned “politicians and other leading people” for their alleged “timidity and lack of courage”.

The document goes on to report “rioting for most of the day in Belfast” on 4 May and “heavy petrol bombing of RUC targets plus factories, commercial premises and a Methodist church” after Sands’ death. An RUC officer was shot dead in North Belfast on 6 May and an INLA terrorist killed by his own bomb.

A “marked increase in shooting incidents overnight” (6-7 May) suggested that “[IRA] terrorist action will be stepped up to maintain the campaign impetus.”

Robinson’s prison hostage offer

Peter Robinson was prepared to take a government offer to loyalist prisoners holding four prison officers hostage, according to NIO notes (file CENT/1/10/91). The incident happened at Crumlin Road jail and was discussed at a meeting at Stormont Castle starting at 9.15pm on 11 December 1981.

Robinson met NIO Minister of State Adam Butler as part of the Ulster Loyalist Prisoners’ Rights Committee. He warned that “the prison might be burnt down” and said he had been “shouting up to some of the prisoners taking part in the protest and had been told the hostages were being well treated.”

If the committee members could meet the prisoners and take an offer from the Government, he expected that the warders would be released. A Mr McDonald, also on the committee, was “concerned [that] the irresponsible element in the prison would take over completely.”

Butler insisted that third parties could not negotiate with protesting prisoners. “It was a matter for the prison authorities to handle,” as had happened in Great Britain. However, the committee “bore a heavy responsibility if they had the prisoners’ trust and it was essential that they should try to encourage and influence the situation to reduce tension.”

Robinson countered that another NIO Minister, Lord Gowrie, and “all sorts of people” had gone to the Maze to ask the hunger strikers to call off their protest. He warned that if anything happened to the warders, “it would be on the Minister’s conscience.” Ulster Unionist John Carson, a UUP councillor and former North Belfast MP, added: “Protestant feelings were running very high especially when it seemed that Republican prisoners had won all their demands, whilst Loyalist prisoners were being ignored.”

Butler suggested that the committee make an appeal on radio to end the protest, but this was rejected as ineffective. After two and a half hours, both sides agreed that the committee would tell prisoners, through a loud hailer, that they could meet elected representatives if the protest ended; the Government would announce a review of conditions at Crumlin Road for remand prisoners; Lord Gowrie would meet “conforming prisoners” at an early opportunity.

The prison officers were subsequently released.

Leading profiles

Frank profiles of political and church figures by NIO staff (file CENT/1/10/36A) indicate their fears that moderate figures were being overshadowed by loud hard line voices.

Ian Paisley “gained his reputation as a fundamentalist preacher with violently anti-catholic views” in the late 1950s and was “far removed from the old traditional middle class unionism”. His majority in North Antrim was “impregnable”.

Catholic Primate Tomás Ó Fiaich was clearly resented: “His public pronouncements tend to gain him notoriety, believing in a phased British withdrawal from the North. He rejects violence, but has on occasion been far from helpful on the prisons issue.” The main Protestant church leaders, all seen as ecumenical, were viewed much more positively.

John Hume had been “an effective Minister of Commerce” and is described as: “Altogether an academically minded, moderate politician.” Jim Molyneaux is curiously listed third out of the four main political leaders, perhaps reflecting NIO frustration: “Rather lacking in populist appeal, his lack of flair may have contributed to the UUP’s steady loss of support to the DUP.”

The DUP had narrowly overtaken the UUP, in first preferences, at the local elections on 20 May (26.57 per cent to 26.56 per cent), more than doubling its vote from 12.7 per cent in 1977. “Not a charismatic man, but an effective leader” was the summary for Alliance’s Oliver Napier.

In economic terms, Northern Ireland was a “uniquely distressed region of the UK” with “exceptionally high unemployment” (17.6 per cent and 101,522 persons in May 1981) and a “high degree of dependence on declining staple industries”. Several factories were at risk of closure, according to official predictions, and the futures of “Shorts and especially Harland and Wolff are not assured in the longer term.”

‘Catholic support’ for shared college

Many Catholic teachers supported a shared teaching training centre, but feared speaking out “because it might harm their job prospects.” The claim was made by Mr Mallaghan from All Children Together (a pro-integrated education group) when it met Education Minister Lord Elton on 26 February 1981.

The interim Chilver report, in June 1980, called for a Belfast Centre for Teacher Education, which would include a Catholic college, Stranmillis College and Queen’s University’s School of Education on the Stranmillis site. According to the official note (file ED/13/2/544), Mr Mallaghan “suggested that the Roman Catholic Church had orchestrated a response to the report and that many people were not aware of what was in it.”

The Minister was sceptical about public demand as he had received “no such approaches” from members of the public. Lagan College was opened in September 1981 as the first formally integrated school, with 28 pupils. That said, several schools had educated Protestants and Catholics together earlier in Northern Ireland’s history e.g. the mill schools of County Down.

Hunger strike support assessed

The hunger strike had generated “substantial international interest, notably in the US, the Holy See and Western Europe” (file CENT/1/10/36A). The UK had “encountered no difficulties from allied governments over the hunger strike, although it remains to be seen whether President [Mitterrand] will succumb to left wing pressure in France.” Mitterrand’s government included ministers from the French Communist Party.

May was a turbulent time in Europe. Bobby Sands’ death (5 May) was followed by the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II (13 May) which, the NIO surmised, “has probably had the indirect effect of reducing sympathy abroad for terrorist prisoners in Northern Ireland.” However, officials expected interest to revive when the European Commission of Human Rights (a legal tribunal) declared two complaints by prisoners to be admissible.

Some US television coverage had been “unhelpful” but there had been “some attempt at balance” in recent days. The southern Irish and French media were “notably hostile”.

The Taoiseach (at that time Charles Haughey) had urged the British Government to be “flexible on prison conditions” but was also “careful not to associate himself with the prisoners’ demands for political status.” The briefing warned that “Provisional Sinn Féin sympathisers” could take six seats in the Irish general election, which was held on 11 June. Two Anti H-Block candidates were subsequently elected (hunger striker Kieran Doherty and fellow prisoner Paddy Agnew). Haughey was unable to form a government and was succeeded by Garret FitzGerald. Doherty died on 2 August 1981.

In the USA, dockworkers announced a 24-hour boycott of British ships entering US ports on 7-8 May and Irish bars in New York were closed for two hours as a mark of respect (file NIO/12/194A). The East German Communists described Northern Ireland citizens as “suppressed and subject to discrimination”. Anti-British pickets and arson attacks were reported in several countries.

A Safeguarding Board for Northern Ireland is to be established in April 2012 after the Safeguarding Board Bill was taken forward by former Health Minister Michael McGimpsey and received royal assent on 10 February 2011.

While voluntary and statutory organisations currently work together to safeguard children (for example on the Regional Child Protection Committee), this is now a statutory requirement. The Safeguarding Board will replace the committee. It will be sited within the Public Health Agency premises and £750,000 has been secured within the existing departmental budget to set it up and cover running costs.

The objective of the board will be to co-ordinate and ensure the effectiveness of what is done by each person or body represented on the board to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. Policy development and reviewing information on the deaths of children will also be within the board’s remit.

Board members will include the Health and Social Care Board, the Public Health Agency, the five trusts, the PSNI, the Probation Board, the Youth Justice Agency, the NSPCC and district councils.

The former Director of Social Services in the Eastern Health and Social Services Board, Hugh Connor, was appointed as Chairman-designate of the Safeguarding Board by Edwin Poots on 30 June for a four-year term, receiving an annual salary of £34,333. As well as the above organisations, the board will include between two and four lay members appointed by the department, a safeguarding director, a professional officer and an administration officer.

The Safeguarding Board will be supported by five safeguarding panels, one located in each of the trust areas. It will also have a child death overview panel and a case management review panel.

An annual report will be given to the Health Minister who must then present it to the Assembly. Edwin Poots has said this represents a clear line of accountability between the Safeguarding Board and the Executive, adding that the board will also be open to scrutiny by the Assembly Health Committee.

Relevant bodies must comply as quickly as possible with requests for information from the board, only if they are responsible for that information and if it will help the board in carrying out its functions.

“Today many agencies are working with families who very often are overwhelmed by difficulties such as financial problems, domestic or sexual violence, physical or mental health problems, or because of dependence on alcohol or other substances,” the Minister has said.

Over 21,000 children are referred to social services in Northern Ireland every year. As of March 2010, there were 2,357 children on the child protection register, 2,606 children were being looked after by authorities and 1,653 were in care.

“It is important that we invest in the future fabric of our society so that fewer families reach crisis point and fewer children suffer harm. This Bill supports the wider safeguarding agenda which includes prevention and early intervention,” Poots stated.

England and Wales already have local safeguarding children’s boards which were set up in 2006.

In Scotland there is a children’s hearing system, which looks after children and young people who need welfare support as well as looking after those that appear before the courts. The Child Welfare and Protection Policy Unit carries out a similar role in the Republic.

Sinn Féin’s Assembly manifesto said it would “closely monitor” the implementation of safeguarding legislation for children. The SDLP’s manifesto welcomed the Bill and said it would encourage trusts to continue developing family support services for children in need. During the Bill’s final stage on 25 January 2011, Alliance’s Health Spokesman Kieran McCarthy commented: “Every family should welcome the Bill. This is what devolution is about, and it is a good news story.”

Ministers have insisted they will deliver on the new Programme for Government, after a poor track record over the last four years. However, the process has already been dominated by delay with the draft published six months after the May election.

A final version will only be ready after 22 February 2012, when consultation ends.

Northern Ireland’s grindingly slow political system compares badly with direct rule. Furthermore, the province risks being left far behind as global competitors recover from the recession.

This draft Programme for Government was published later than the 2007 version (17 November compared to 27 October). Scotland had its final programme on 7 September and Wales on 27 September. The current UK and Irish Governments both agreed their programmes in nine days.

The DUP and Sinn Féin claim that the process is harder in a five-party Executive but it was reasonable to expect more speed after four years’ experience in government.

Significantly, the legislative programme, setting out exactly what laws the Executive will introduce, is missing. Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness published this alongside the draft in 2007 but ministers are still working on it. Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the British Isles without one.

Delivery on the last Programme for Government was modest at best. An official progress report up to 30 September 2010 showed that just six out of 66 promises had been fully kept:

• free public transport for over 60s;

• a careers advice service for disabled people;

• the Project Kelvin telecoms link to America and Europe;

• introducing employment and support allowance;

• central Belfast’s new sewer project; and

• helping “up to 4,700” farmers meet the Nitrates Directive by 2009 (DARD offered 4,360 grants and 3,933 farmers completed projects).

In addition, the Executive froze the regional rate, streamlined the Health Service and stopped water charges. The programme’s key failures, partly caused by the recession, included:

• a rise in child poverty (after an unrealistic target to halve it in two years);

• no single education authority (originally due in 2009);

• no merger of local councils (due by 2011); and

• the delayed Belfast rapid transit project (where work was due to start this year).

Forty-four per cent apathy in the Assembly poll was interpreted as a sign of contentment by some MLAs but clearly indicated falling interest in Stormont.

Introducing the programme, Peter Robinson focused on economics and integration while McGuinness took up its themes on poverty and the environment.

Robinson called for the “full and enthusiastic participation and support of people across society, including the public, private and voluntary sectors” but later added that this was “not a fixed and final document” with room for improvement.

The deputy First Minister said that all politicians had to raise their game on the economy, and equality was a key factor in economic growth. McGuinness looked forward to seeing more “shared spaces” and promised to bring forward labour-intensive schemes in the accompanying Investment Strategy.

McGuinness had just run for the presidency of Ireland but the programme contains no plans to expand the North/South Ministerial Council. A review started in July 2007, following the

St Andrews Agreement, and decisions are due in June 2012.

The stamp of the Civil Service is clear in the language. Many issues will be addressed rather than problems solved. Ministers mentioned a child poverty reduction pilot study, non-departmental members of stakeholder forums, and interventions to deal with multi-generational poverty.

agendaNi provides a full analysis of the document over the following pages.

Tom Elliott said that the UUP had stayed the course on corporation tax while other political reactions to that policy “ranged from lukewarm to sceptical to downright hostile”. Alasdair McDonnell questioned what a “poverty outcomes model” would mean on the Shankill, Falls and Lower Newtownards roads.

David Ford championed it as a “major improvement on previous programmes for government”. The debate, though, was limited by a lack of opposition.

Opposition

Alliance can take some credit for the shared future focus in the document but its decision to enter the Executive leaves the Assembly with three opposition MLAs to 105 in government.

Jim Allister sensed “politburo politics” as Speaker William Hay only allowed questions from government parties. OFMDFM confirmed that impression by refusing to respond to criticism from Allister or Steven Agnew. Their parties represent 22,511 voters.

For the record, Allister would have asked why the public should have confidence in the programme given the “unmet targets and undelivered promises” in the last one.

Agnew welcomed the aim to cut CO2 emissions by 35 per cent by 2025, but noted that this was the lowest target for any UK region. He questioned the Executive’s commitment after cutting funding to the Carbon Trust, which advises businesses on reducing CO2 emissions.

“Too little, too late, too slow and too timid” was ICTU’s dismissive verdict.

“There is no grand vision and little hope for thousands of families across Northern Ireland,” said its Assistant General Secretary Peter Bunting. He called for ministers to put more pressure on UK Government to change course, and questioned when the economy would be a resignation issue.

On the opposite side of the political spectrum, the Northern Ireland Conservatives described the document as a “marketing exercise … much of which consists of old announcements which have been repackaged.”

The debate will continue over the next two months but time is short and the public expects results.

Once the final programme is signed off, the Executive has three years to prove it can bring about real change for Northern Ireland residents facing increasing hardship.

Stephen Farry sees his brief as a “huge opportunity” despite DEL being the last department handed out under d’Hondt. “It was very much something that was in our minds because we regarded DEL as being a major economic department,” the Alliance Party Minister comments, “and indeed a department that’s actually central to the long-term economic transformation of Northern Ireland, particularly through skills.”

Pressed on Alliance’s Assembly manifesto commitment to abolish DEL and merge it into a single economy department, he says there’s a “parallel discussion” on reforming government. However, he reiterates that as the system stands, Alliance saw DEL having a “central importance” to the economy.

“We never really regarded the tuition fees issue as being a reason not to choose DEL, which seemed to be the approach taken by some other parties,” Farry remarks. The 15-page section on skills in the Assembly manifesto confirms that choice.

His first responsibility is to ensure investment in the skills required for a “changing and growing” economy. He is admittedly entering office in a “very challenging time” with the economic downturn but also has his eye on how to “rebuild and rebalance” the economy, which he hopes will include the devolution of corporation tax.

Farry continues: “To all of that, skills are important, whether you’re talking about some of the more immediate problems in terms of basic employability skills … right through to discussing what are going to be the future skills needs of the economy in the context of an opportunity to get a lower rate of corporation tax, because that in itself will change the environment in which we’re operating.”

Fees

Of course, his most significant decision to date has been freezing tuition fees for local university students, subject to rises in line with inflation. There was a “considerable urgency” to take the decision. A consultation had been started by his UUP predecessor, Danny Kennedy, on 15 March and finished on 10 June. Farry and his officials “rapidly sat down after that” and put together an initial paper on the way forward for the Executive.

“To my mind, the issue of tuition fees, and what level they would be at, wasn’t actually my starting point,” he adds. “My starting point was about ensuring that we were properly funding our local universities and ensuring that they were internationally competitive because the future of our economy, particularly when we talk about a knowledge economy, depends upon investing in a number of key drivers.”

Skills and R&D are two of those main drivers. Higher education accounted for £161.8 million (or 31 per cent) of Northern Ireland’s R&D spend in 2010, up from £143 million in the previous year.

It was “critical” to maintain levels of investment in the two universities “and to do anything other than that would undermine our whole economic narrative”. Simply keeping fees to inflation, and therefore reducing the cash flow to universities, would mean people benefitting from a “cheaper education but getting a cheaper product”.

The final deal involved transferring funds from other departmental budgets (except health, education and justice) and £6 million from the Executive to create 540 new student places in STEM subjects.

While Alliance was politically flexible (opposing “unfair rises” in tuition fees rather than any rise), he notes: “It was clear going into the election and afterwards that there was a political consensus in Northern Ireland. We didn’t want to increase fees above the level of inflation.”

The budget he inherited assumed fees of £4,500 and the real debate was how to close that funding gap. Passing that on to the universities would have had “catastrophic consequences” for them and the economy.

Fairness

It is put to him that Alliance’s real starting point is a commitment “in principle to abolishing tuition fees for Northern Ireland students, as in Scotland, at the earliest opportunity.” The apparently populist quote is contained in its 2010 general election manifesto, which could be interpreted as binding up to 2015.

Farry counters that “in an ideal world we wouldn’t have tuition fees” and claims that the reference covered a different financial context. “You also have to bear in mind that that was a manifesto for Westminster and decisions that we’re taking in Northern Ireland are in response to decisions that are being taking at a UK-wide level,” he states.

“Obviously if the UK Government had not gone down the line of a major increase in tuition fees, we would be in a much different context in Northern Ireland vis-à-vis what happens in the rest of the UK.”

The Minister is also a member of one of those governing parties, the Liberal Democrats. Alliance and the Lib Dems have a “very close relationship” but make decisions independently “so we are not beholden to their policies, and while we share a philosophy, we don’t always endorse the same policy direction.”

Alliance has for years called for Northern Ireland to become more outward-looking but it was willing to allow higher fees for students from Great Britain, which may deter migration. Those students will be charged £6,000 at the University of Ulster and £9,000 at Queen’s. He rejects the ‘deterrent’ argument, pointing out that the first priority under devolution was to make decisions according to local circumstances.

“If we didn’t take a decision to have a different fee level for GB students, we would have had a massive influx of students from GB coming here based on price rather than [the] quality of the institutions,” Farry states. This would have “potentially flooded the local market” and resulted in more Northern Ireland students moving across the Irish Sea “with the danger that we wouldn’t have got a critical mass of them back again.”

When a £4,500 limit for GB students is suggested, he questions the revenue that would be raised from that move. Farry also contends that those students are “not actually being asked to pay more to go to Northern Ireland” when they compare local universities with their competitors in Britain. He is also “very much open” to encouraging people to study in Northern Ireland.

Skills

On skills, the main priority is to match skills to what the economy needs today and in the future. He stresses the need for flexibility as “you can only anticipate so far” ahead.

The province has a mixed picture, with a considerable number of people either achieving high skill levels (though less than other competing regions) or having low levels of qualifications or none at all. Farry warns: “In that context, that is a missing opportunity because some people are not having the opportunity to develop to their full potential and your economy also suffers as a consequence from that.”

An updated strategy, entitled ‘Success through Skills – Transforming Futures’, was launched on 25 May but no implementation plan had been published by the time of interview in mid-November. Farry defends the gap, claiming that it was important to set the direction of travel “rather than having a vacuum” and he wanted the final plan to “tie together everything the department is doing”.

“There’s a lot happening in terms of higher education,” he continues, citing the fees decision, proposed increase in places and a forthcoming separate higher education strategy. “One thing you can’t criticise the department for is inaction. There’s been a lot of activity generated.”

The Minister therefore wants observers to judge his performance after his first year rather than his first six months. By May 2011, Farry expects to have a set of strategies covering skills, higher education, educational maintenance allowance and young people not in employment, education or training (the so-called NEETs).

In an implicit criticism of the UUP, he contrasts that “volume of product” with the output in previous years: “I’m not sure if it’s an issue of the Ulster Unionist Party or if it’s an issue of timing, I just know I inherited a lot of consultation documents that required decisions and then require strategies to be finalised.”

A higher education strategy is close to his heart given his academic background. Centrally, he wants local universities to remain internationally competitive and increase the teaching of STEM subjects. Degrees could be delivered more flexibly than the 3-4 year model, and he wants to encourage more work placements.

Future challenges

Funding is a “constant battle” and while he is pleased with his settlement in the Executive, Farry notes that universities in Great Britain will be able to raise additional funds through fees.

“The last thing I want to do is micro-manage the universities,” he says, “but equally, as an Executive and also as the department, we have a responsibility to ensure that public money is used towards public interest outcomes [i.e. upskilling and improving Northern Ireland’s research base] so we will have a natural dialogue with universities around the type of direction of travel we want to go down.”

Welfare reform, in his view, is one of the major challenges facing the entire Executive. Universal credit could incentivise some work for job seekers without a tax or benefits penalty.

DEL’s new work programme, to operate from April 2013, will focus on paying contractors by results. It will be hard to transplant that model from Great Britain but Northern Ireland’s coherent size is an opportunity. The real danger is that Northern Ireland recovers more slowly, thus limiting the number of new jobs for the unemployed.

Asked for his motivation as Minister, he replies: “It’s all about making a difference.” Farry concludes: “It’s not about getting office. It’s not about just getting elected. I mean, those are only a means to an end. It’s about taking the opportunity to apply your vision, your ideas, as to how things can be done differently and done better.”

Profile: Stephen Farry

Stephen Farry was first elected to the Assembly in 2007 and was a councillor for Abbey on North Down Borough Council from 1993 until 2011. He was previously Alliance’s General Secretary (2000-2007) and spoke on justice and finance in the Assembly’s last term.

Academically, Stephen studied politics at Queen’s University Belfast and obtained a PhD (also from Queen’s) on the United Nations in the post-Cold War era. He has also worked with two Washington-based think tanks: as a trainer for the National Democratic Institute in Croatia, Bosnia and Romania; and a senior fellow at the United States Institute of Peace. Married to Wendy, his interests are quizzes (having appeared on University Challenge in 1994), reading history and biography, and travel.

A viability audit within six months will identify schools experiencing difficulties in enrolments, standards and financial feasibility, following an announcement by the Education Minister.

Schools will be judged against the six principles in the sustainable schools policy which have not been implemented rigorously to date: quality education, a stable environment, a sound financial position, strong leadership, strong links to the local community, and stable enrolment trends. This overhaul comes as the region faces “the most challenging budget settlement in modern education history.”

In the absence of an Education and Skills Authority (delayed due to political wrangling between Sinn Féin and the DUP), the strategic planning of the schools estate cannot be put off any longer. Therefore, John O’Dowd has commissioned the five area boards and the Council for Catholic Maintained Schools (CCMS) to work together on a strategic exercise that will shape the future pattern of education delivery. They will look at the post-primary sector first. The CCMS’ post-primary review and previous reports by the boards will contribute to the exercise and it will be completed in six months.

As schools identified in the audit could close, proposals on safeguarding the education of children at those schools will also be made in six months.

The region has 85,000 spare places; one- third of the 863 primary schools have less than 100 pupils and that one-fifth of 217 post-primary schools have fewer than 400 pupils. However, O’Dowd said this was “not a numbers game.”

He quoted the 2006 Bain report which stated that Northern Ireland’s education provision is both educationally and financially unsustainable.

On oversubscribed schools, O’Dowd said they would be allowed to grow, only if they “accept the responsibility to provide a curriculum that meets the needs of all the pupils it accepts.” He added that pupils being asked to leave schools because they don’t meet the needs of a school is “untenable”. Future provision would be dictated by the needs of the 21st century i.e. “an economy that requires a diverse, educated workforce with an array of skills.”

Targeting social need is not sufficiently considered in the current funding scheme, and a major review will be undertaken. Its recommendations will be implemented before the 2013-2014 school year.

Criteria for new build projects will be outlined soon and will be based on the sustainable schools criteria. New school builds will need to be part of an area- based plan, agreed by the sectors and approved by the department. A new process for capital planning will be put in place and all proposals for new builds, including those in the investment delivery plan, will be assessed accordingly. The Minister clarified that schools could consider amalgamations and must remember that “we simply do not have the resources for a new build solution on every occasion.”

The impact on teachers’ jobs will be discussed at a later date, O’Dowd claimed, however, a “flexible school workforce” will be a necessity.

The entitlement framework will be phased in because of Budget constraints. From 2013 it will be put on a statutory basis and schools will be required to provide between 18 and 21 courses. This will rise to24in2014andto27in2015.

Alliance education spokesman Trevor Lunn noted the absence of a reference to segregation, claiming it is “the elephant in the room [that] must be addressed.”

SDLP’s spokesman Conall McDevitt claimed that 380 schools “face the axe”, which the Minister denied.

DUP MLAs Mervyn Storey and Jonathan Craig called for fairness when deciding closures. The Minister replied that he has made CCMS and the boards work together because he wants a concise policy across the board which will ensure “equality of educational provision for young people regardless of what sector they attend.”

Capping student fees at £3,465 will cost the Executive £85 million over the next three financial years: £15 million in 2012- 2013; £30 million in 2013-2014; and £40 million in 2014-2015. The recurring shortfall will then be £40 million.

The Department for Employment and Learning will contribute £41.5 million. This will be matched by the Executive by ‘top-slicing’ the budgets of eight other departments (health, education and justice are exempt). Overall, DEL must save £150 million by 2015, when previous budgetary commitments are factored in. This will be done through better estate management, controlling staff vacancies and travel and subsistence, according to Employment and Learning Minister Stephen Farry. In practice, this means managing vacancies as they arise, leaving posts unfilled and less office accommodation.

Barriers

Students from Northern Ireland will be more inclined to study here as opposed to the rest of the UK now that student fees won’t be increased. The number of students from Great Britain studying in the province (1,530 in 2009-2010) is expected to decrease because they will not be eligible for that fee. Instead, they will be charged up to £9,000.

Parliament voted in December 2010 to allow English universities to increase their fees from £3,375 to up to £9,000. This was in response to the economic crisis and a review of higher education funding by former BP Chief Executive Lord Browne.

In spring this year, English, Scottish and Welsh universities announced how much they would charge students entering from September 2012. However, the Executive only announced its decision on 12 September; UCAS applications for 2012 entry were due to begin in mid- September.

Alliance had prepared for the prospect of increasing fees by stating in its manifesto that it would resist increases to the levels in place in England. However, the decision was essentially taken out of its hands by the DUP, which continued to oppose an increase in tuition fees and Sinn Féin, which pledged to block any attempts to increase fees.

The Scottish Parliament decided to retain free fees for Scottish students and Welsh students will pay fees up to £4,000 but their universities will charge up to £9,000 for others.

Students from other EU countries (including those from the Republic) can’t be charged any more than local students in each jurisdiction due to the EU Directive on the free movement of citizens within member states.

Students from Northern Ireland studying in the Republic are subject to the €2,000 registration fee and this is paid for by DEL.

The consensus in the Assembly is that keeping fees at £3,465 will ensure participation from students from poorer backgrounds and that the future workforce will be up-skilled. The UUP and DUP have clashed, with the former accusing the latter of parochialism by protecting local students at the expense of other UK students, which could weaken the union. DUP MLA David McIlveen claimed that this was “a good deal” for local students, who otherwise would have been “saddled” with excessive debt after leaving university.

Farry contended that he wanted to “protect the market for local students” by avoiding a flood of English, Welsh and Scottish students. Losing the opportunity to upskill local graduates and encourage them to work in the Northern Ireland economy would have been “absolutely catastrophic,” according to the Minister.

An English public interest lawyer is brining a legal challenge against the Scottish Parliament, claiming that its decision to charge UK students while Scottish and European students get free fees is discriminatory. When questioned about whether he has taken legal advice on this anomaly, the Minister said he has been assured that DEL’s actions are legal. The department does not expect a large influx of students from the outside the UK because their fees are largely paid for by their governments.

DEL’s savings

Farry assured the Employment and Learning Committee on 14 September that the £40 million funding gap in 2014- 2015 will be met. When pressed by Jim Allister, the department’s Permanent Secretary, Alan Shannon, conceded that the overall shortfall from 2012-2015 is £85 million.

The Minister explained that “the reason why we talked about a gap of £40 million is, in many respects, about trying to explain the gap as simply as possible.” As students will enter university in 2012- 2013 and work their way through, “the pressure will build up over the next three years.”

He added: “That £40 million pressure, in essence, will roll forward through the system as a recurring pressure.”

The following departments will face cuts in order to match the amounts coming from DEL: DARD, DCAL, DETI, DoE, DFP, DRD, DSD and OFMDFM.

If these cuts had not been agreed, the shortfall would have been left to the universities, resulting in further staff cuts and course closures.

The Executive has also agreed to provide £1 million in 2012-2013, £2 million in 2013-2014 and £3 million in 2014-2015 to create a number of extra student places. These are estimated to be “in the low hundreds” and only in STEM subjects.

Savings made following a review of education maintenance allowance are expected to between £4 million and £5 million.

Future student flows will highlight the impact this decision has had. The department will continue to fund loans for local students who wish to study in Britain but this could be reviewed in the future.

Queen’s Pro-Vice Chancellor Tony Gallagher has welcomed the freeze as a “spectacular success.” He said the university will have certainty for the next number of years and can get on with plans to provide “a quality student experience and make the best possible contribution to the economy of Northern Ireland.”

University of Ulster Vice-Chancellor Richard Barnett also welcomed the decision, saying: “This is leadership. Let’s be clear, if we had direct rule our students would now be facing fees here of up to £9,000.”

He also called for the Minister to “make a positive announcement” on the university’s bid to replace its Magee campus in Derry, considering the expected high demand for places.

Leading public services provider Amey is helping to create ‘Libraries of the Future’ across 99 sites in Belfast, where state-of- the-art technologies will improve the customer experience and generate efficiencies around the clock.

As public libraries face unprecedented financial pressures, Amey and Libraries NI are implementing a single computerised library service. New technologies will allow customers to check multiple items in at once, pay charges and return items without assistance from library staff. This means staff are freed up to provide additional support to customers.

Amey also expects to save 520,000kg of carbon emissions in one year, through introducing power-saving software in around 2,000 computers.

It forms part of the Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland project, which is aimed at improving customer satisfaction through creating a single, computerised library service with a common catalogue and stock, providing free internet access in every library and expanding public access and learning opportunities.

Amey, which employs 250 people in Northern Ireland, has been responsible for managing the entire library information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure across 99 sites for the past 10 years through a contract with Libraries NI.

This approach means Amey can use the most innovative solutions to make efficiencies and manage thousands of assets in the Libraries NI estate.

In 2002 the contract was recognised by the Office of Government Commerce as an exemplar ICT PFI. It was the first contract of its kind in the UK to share between library authorities, a single network infrastructure across all areas of business.

The Library of the Future

Under this scheme, Amey provides a number of ICT services, including IT infrastructure and network managed services, desktop and network management, software technical support, network security and disaster recovery, public user authentication, 3G and satellite technology and RFID which allows library customers to check multiple items in at once without assistance from library staff.

Delia Campbell, account manager at Amey said: “Libraries are not just about books; they’re multimedia centres. We believe in continuing that modern approach throughout the service to generate the best experience for customers as well as create efficiencies, at a time when budgets are being tightly squeezed.”

Radio Frequency Identification

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology allows a device to read information contained in a wireless device, and provides a method to transmit and receive data from one point to another.

Amey, in partnership with Intellident (the leading provider of RFID solutions for libraries in Europe) successfully proposed the installation of the innovative RFID solution into two libraries as part of a pilot: Bangor Carnegie Library and Antrim Library. Amey manages the solution after installation.

The benefits from implementing this technology include significant savings on operating costs by maintaining current staffing requirements despite the increase in library size. Staff can now interact with customers more and provide activities and programmes, making better use of the libraries resources, as traditional library duties are controlled and monitored by RFID technology.

RFID technology allows library customers to check multiple items in at once and pay their library charges as well as return items without assistance from library staff. This provides staff with extra resources to offer additional learning services to customers.

Power Management

In April 2011 Amey implemented an innovative and sustainable power management solution across the entire Libraries NI estate to allow for a more energy efficient ICT network.

Amey has installed Verismic software in around 2,000 computers enables them to enter a low-power sleep mode when the library is closed. Amey regularly monitors these machines and report savings to Libraries NI. Current predictions for the 12 months since installation suggest carbon savings of over 520,000kg and a 56 per cent reduction in inactivity time.

Virtual Data Centre

Virtual Data Centre (VDC) on-demand delivers the benefits of cloud computing. It lets organisations create, use, monitor and manage their VDC service through a secure portal.

Deployed out of a BT data centre, the system gives Amey 99.9 per cent service availability and a disaster recovery solution that can fully restore data in days rather than weeks. Amey is the first full deployment in Ireland of BT VDC.

From its Belfast office, Amey can create, deploy, monitor and manage the library disaster recovery (DR) service through a self-care portal. A crucial part of BT offering, it means services can be stopped or started in minutes. Virtual servers are deployed in less than an hour, giving Amey the agility to ‘flex’ the business up or down to meet the needs of the libraries.

“Electronic Libraries for Northern Ireland is one of our most exciting and innovative projects, dramatically changing the way libraries are run in Northern Ireland. The Amey team in Belfast has formed a key part of facilitating the delivery of library services across Northern Ireland.” Desi Curry, Head of Intelligent Customer Unit, Libraries NI.

For more information visit: www.amey.co.uk

An updated Infrastructure Strategy for Northern Ireland (ISNI3) has been drafted and approved by ministerial special advisers. However, until the Programme for Government is released it is unclear which infrastructure projects will get the green light.

ISNI2 was released in 2008 and outlined infrastructure spending from 2008 to 2018. ISNI3 is required because of the economic downturn and budget cuts and will cover infrastructure spending over the 2011 to 2015 budget period.

The departmental spending plans are a good indication of where funds will be directed.

Following the UK Government’s spending review the draft Budget allocated £5.21 billion to capital spending. This was increased by £167.4 million to £5.38 billion in the final version. This is less than half of ISNI2’s indicative spend of £13.4 billion for 2011 to 2018.

Each department began with a zero baseline and was given sufficient funding to cover their existing contractual commitments. Future allocations will be determined on an individual project basis.

Public and private sector organisations have called for the Executive to quickly publish a Programme for Government and ISNI3.

Education

Already, the impact of the austere Budget is showing. Education Minister John O’Dowd has stated that plans for new school builds “which may prove not to be viable or possible” will no longer be processed by his department. In addition, all new build projects in planning have been suspended at their current stage until a financial assessment is made. However, the ambitious £100 million Lisanelly shared educational campus is to go ahead, according to O’Dowd.

Health

Five of the 10 key milestones identified in ISNI2 were completed on schedule: the Downpatrick enhanced hospital; Castlereagh, Grove and Portadown health and care centres; and the Ulster Hospital redevelopment phase. The Enniskillen- based South West Acute Hospital is under construction, while the Andersonstown and Shankill health centres are due to open this year.

Delays have been experienced on the Gransha mental health crisis centre, which was due to be completed last year, and the Omagh enhanced hospital.

The Omagh enhanced hospital and the Altnagelvin radiotherapy unit are further priorities.

Transport

Regional Development Minister Danny Kennedy has said that £800 million of the £1.2 billion allocated for capital spend from 2011-2015 is allocated to the A5 and the A8. Therefore, “a range of competing priorities would have to be considered for the £60 million of additional funding received for major road projects in year four [2014-2015] of the Budget period.”

Decisions on which schemes will begin in 2014-2015 will be dependent on the funding made available beyond the current Budget period and “that will not become clear until further work has been completed to develop the third edition of the Investment Strategy for Northern Ireland, which is due to conclude this year.”

A spokeswoman from the Department for Regional Development said that £20 million will be made available to ensure that the £75 million Derry to Coleraine line can begin construction in 2014.

Justice

The Department for Justice’s capital allocation over 2011-2015 is £276.6 million. This will include £30 million for the new training college and £27 million for prison refurbishment, to be provided by the Executive.

Forensic Science Northern Ireland is currently housed at Carrickfergus police station since its Belfast premises were destroyed by a Provisional IRA bomb in 1992. It will be provided with a new facility.

Culture and sport

Three regional sport stadia (Casement Park, Ravenhill Stadium and Windsor Park) will receive £110 million for refurbishment. Four new mobile libraries will be provided. Local political pressure makes it hard to close branch libraries.

The Ilex Regeneration project will experience “a landmark year” in 2012- 2013, according to the Budget. It will receive £37.6 million from OFMDFM and DSD for capital works.

Sourced from departments
* £400 million to come from the Irish Government

Supporters of the Lisanelly shared educational campus see it as a ‘swords to ploughshares’ project and a once-in-a- lifetime opportunity for Omagh.

The rationale for the £100 million scheme is based on the need to replace or substantially renovate schools in the town, its relatively good community relations, and the availability of the former military base.

That area has been vacant since 2007 and was gifted to the Executive through last year’s Hillsborough Castle Agreement. The total site is 139 acres: 118 at Lisanelly itself and 21 at the adjacent St Lucia site.

Up to six schools could be located on the site, retaining their ethos and each having its own core building. However, pupils will increasingly be educated in shared classes as they move through the key stages of the curriculum.

In particular, there would be four shared

facilities, which standalone schools could not create on their own:

• a school of performance (music and drama);

• a school of making (art and design);

• a school of activity (sport); and

• an ecology field centre.

The project would also be a major step forward for shared education in the Omagh area. Integrated education is limited in the Western area. Just eight out of 246 schools from the formal integrated sector although some maintained and controlled schools also have shared enrolments.

Significantly, it has the backing of Protestant and Catholic churches. Its working group is jointly chaired by Rev Robert Herron (Trinity Presbyterian Church) and Monsignor Joseph Donnelly (Drumragh parish). Both men minister in the town and Rev Herron also chairs the Western Education and Library Board.

Five schools are prepared to move to the new site:

• Arvalee Special School;

• Omagh Academy;

• Omagh CBS Grammar School;

• Omagh High School; and

• Sacred Heart College.

Phase one is likely to include Arvalee, Omagh High and Sacred Heart.

Another school, Loreto Grammar, was to be relocated to Lisanelly but is currently in a legal dispute with the Department of Education. Loreto was pledged £14.6 million for new buildings by direct rule Education Minister Barry Gardiner in April 2010. The school anticipated a new build by 2010, which would have been delivered through a public-private partnership.

When the Lisanelly site became available, the Department of Education instead concentrated on bringing schools together in the shared campus. The building plans of eight schools, including Loreto, were rejected for not complying with departmental policy.

The High Court found in favour of Loreto on 25 March this year, when Mr Justice McCloskey described the conduct of Caitríona Ruane and her department as an “abuse of power”. The governors’ expectations, in his view, were not properly considered.

An appeal was subsequently lodged by the Department of Education and was being heard in the Court of Appeal at the time of going to press.

Caitríona Ruane strongly backed the project and John O’Dowd is also supportive. O’Dowd has described it as “a template for shared education that could potentially be implemented in many other areas.”

Overall, the capital budget for schools has been cut from £927.4 million over 2008-2011 to £489.2 million over 2011-2015. Lisanelly is the largest project in the system and the Minister plans to keep it at the top of the list.

The steering group first met in April 2009 and an exemplar design team led by Bovis Lend Lease was appointed in March 2010.

A planning application is due to be submitted in November with a decision on outline planning permission expected by summer 2012. A subsequent reserved matters application would be submitted in mid-2012.

Each building will take 12-18 months to construct. The first construction phase is expected to start in January 2013 with the first schools hoping to be on site by September 2015.

North Down MLA Stephen Farry took charge of Alliance’s second ministry in May. First elected to the Assembly in 2007, Farry was a councillor on North Down Borough Council from 1993 until 2011.

Formerly Alliance’s General Secretary, Farry was also the party’s finance spokesman and sat on the Finance Committee in the last term.

The Queen’s politics graduate has been largely put in the spotlight over the issue of higher education tuition fees since his appointment as Employment and Learning Minister.

Addressing educational underachievement will be his main priority, he told the Assembly on 31 May. He said he would endeavor to “meet the needs of individuals, irrespective of their background.”

Growing a “dynamic and innovative” economy requires a skilled workforce “equipped with the competencies and attitudes that are required by employers is absolutely key to future economic success,” according to the Minister.

Achieving this will require dealing with low academic achievement in economically deprived areas such as the Shankill and other parts of West Belfast. Working class Protestant boys in Rathcoole, inner-south and inner-east Belfast, Tullycarnet, and Ligoniel are a particular priority.

The increase of NEETs (young people not in education, employment or training) has been growing problem in the region and the Alliance manifesto had supported a NEET strategy.

Alliance has also pledged to raise the skills of the workforce at all levels, including those already in employment, ensure all individuals are provided with the best careers advice informed by evidence of opportunities, and make sure that skills and training providers are ‘fit for purpose’.

Farry’s previous political interests have included the cost of segregation, the green road to recovery and restorative justice schemes.

He has a PhD in international relations from Queen’s and has worked as a trainer for the US-based National Democratic Institute in Croatia and Romania, looking at democratisation.