Opinion

Patrick Murphy: We live in a flawed democracy but don’t you dare complain about it

Dublin, London, Brussels and Washington are happy to witness what is called democratic backsliding, provided Sinn Féin and the DUP can keep the place under control

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy

Patrick Murphy is an Irish News columnist and former director of Belfast Institute for Further and Higher Education.

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First Minister Michelle O'Neill appeared before the Executive Office committee but refused to answer 'party political' questions

Is Stormont’s unaccountable system of government truly democratic? The Civil Liberties Union for Europe’s classification of governments would suggest not.

It argues that below the rank of full democracies are what it calls flawed democracies.

These are states which have open and fair elections, but they have significant weaknesses in governance and an underdeveloped political culture. Stormont would appear to fit comfortably into that category.

Almost 60 years after the birth of the civil rights campaign for democracy, we are now back where we started – in a flawed democracy, alongside places like Mongolia, Botswana and Thailand.

Welcome to a return to the past.

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Where, you might ask, is the evidence for such a dim view of Stormont? You may have noticed some relevant events last week.

In a farcical system whereby members of a coalition government claim they hold each other to account, the first minister told a “scrutiny” committee that her role in government can be divorced from her party’s politics.

So she refused to answer some questions, but seemed happy with others which the DUP helpfully provided in advance. Presumably to ensure her happiness, the Alliance committee chair met her privately before the meeting.

The Deputy First Minister did not even attend the committee. Perhaps she hoped to avoid questions about the DUP’s secret meetings with Sinn Féin, which was against party policy at the time. Or maybe she feared questions about current meetings between DUP ministers and representatives of illegal, loyalist paramilitary groups.

The PSNI are under so much political pressure that they turn a blind eye to these groups, but to show political impartiality they also refuse to say if the IRA Army Council still exists (even though they confirmed it did, a short time earlier). Democracies don’t get more flawed than that.

This flawed system has serious consequences for Stormont’s administration and policy-making. In administration, the NI Audit Office recently concluded that more than four years after the costly inquiry into the Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI) fiasco, Stormont has implemented only 26 of the 42 recommendations.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) public inquiry released its report in 2020
Stormont has failed to implement many of the recommendations following the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scandal (Liam McBurney/PA)

The remainder will probably never be implemented, which might reasonably be regarded as a significant weakness in governance.

The auditors also found that civil servants have become worse at record-keeping (why bother when no-one is accountable for anything?) and that Stormont has also failed to implement a recommendation that ministers should be required to read a bill before they take it to the Executive. (Literacy levels in Stormont may be to blame for this failing.)

Of course, the Executive ignored the Audit Office report, so what’s the point in having an Audit Office?

In policy-making, the Executive has published a draft Programme for Government (PfG) which did not have a single measurable objective. It was not so much a programme, more a populist, political manifesto on behalf of the four Executive parties. Since its publication, individual ministers have made their own party-political broadcasts which bear no relation to the PfG.

For example, the DUP education minister recently announced plans to effectively raise the school leaving age to 18, even though the PfG contained no plans for the education system. He also excluded west Belfast and Strabane from a programme to raise academic standards and most of his planned capital investment in schools is east of the Bann. (It’s just like old times).

Education Minister Paul Givan
DUP Education Minister Paul Givan (Liam McBurney/PA)

The Sinn Féin economy minister’s planned expansion of Ulster University’s Magee campus received a passing reference in the PfG, but it was not related to any plan for higher education in general. Magee’s expansion will cost about £700 million, but UU still owes £159 million to the Strategic Investment Board.

Despite promised funding from London and Dublin, the project will still be £300 million short. The PfG did not mention this.

Despite these failings, Stormont is supported in Dublin, London, Brussels and Washington. Governments there are happy to witness what is called democratic backsliding, provided Sinn Féin and the DUP can keep the place under control and away from Russian or Chinese influence.

Stormont’s backsliding on democracy has perhaps been best illustrated by a recent comment from the Executive, which shows how remote it has become from the lives of ordinary people.

In reply to criticism about the growing traffic chaos in Belfast (a problem created by the Executive), the response was: “What are you complaining about?”

So stop moaning. If you don’t like it here, you can always go to Mongolia, Botswana or Thailand. You will feel at home there, because they don’t allow any complaining either.