As this newspaper has repeatedly pointed out since Stormont was once again raised from the dead in February, the executive has been good at providing photo opportunities but has failed to deliver a programme for government.
But worry not — work is apparently underway on a draft version. Yes, after almost two years of suspension — during which we were assured that the parties were in discussions with senior elements of the civil service about a PfG — and another two hundred days of a rebooted executive, they are still only at the draft stage...
How can it possibly take so long? Northern Ireland is a smallish place and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a single MLA, MP, councillor, civil servant or occupant of the NIO who couldn’t list the problems requiring executive action.
And let’s not forget the three-year hiatus between January 2017 and January 2020 when we were also told that the parties were beavering away behind the scenes to prepare for the eventual return of government.
So, why the hold-up? There are a number of possibilities. In May 2007, when the DUP and Sinn Féin reached their bespoke deal for restoration, I noted that what the deal actually did was to put two governments in the one executive.
It was a sort of ‘ourselves together’ arrangement which sidelined — then and in future executives — every other executive party. Movement was only possible if the DUP and SF jointly agreed on that movement.
Worse, either one of them could veto movement without any explanation, let alone justification. If the subsequent stand-off led to the collapse of the entire assembly and executive, so be it. If progress in other areas was trashed or shelved, then again, so be it.
The reboot in January 2020 was followed by another collapse in February 2022. If the problem with the long overdue PfG has its roots in another fundamental disagreement between SF and the DUP, then don’t rule out another collapse further down the line. And even if the PfG does appear, it may be so pared back to appease both parties that all it does is kick major decisions into the long grass. Again.
What is required — and has been since the first executive took office on December 2 1999 — is a collectively agreed PfG, underpinned by prioritisation, fully allocated funding in place, the end of silo governance (where the departments are run as offshoots of the political parties which nominated the minster) and, of course, political stability at the heart of the process.
There was a brief period, during the Trimble/Mallon and Trimble/Durkan period, when all of that seemed possible. But I’m not persuaded it is possible now.
I wrote here a few months ago that Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly needed to drop the photo-ops and platitudes and, instead, force their parties into working together for maximum impact. It might help if the media stopped indulging their smiley, giggly routine and refused to turn up with the cameras and microphones every time they decided to cut a ribbon or sink a spade into a piece of ground which had already been softened up for them.
Is there a single person in NI who believes that a smiley photo-op featuring Michelle and Emma makes a damn bit of difference to the avalanche of unaddressed problems?
Children not getting into schools. Huge waiting lists for medical/consultant appointments. Hours on the phone to get to see a GP. The wait for social housing. Pot holes so big they can be seen from space. Gas, oil and electricity prices that confront people with an ‘eat or heat’ choice. Infrastructure literally collapsing around us. Lough Neagh resembling a bucket of cold vomit.
Is there a single person in NI who believes that a smiley photo-op featuring Michelle and Emma makes a damn bit of difference to the avalanche of unaddressed problems? Do they even believe it themselves: or are they simply stuck in a ‘we-have-to-be-seen-to-do-something’ stage of governance?
This present assembly — if it doesn’t fall before then — is due to last until May 2027. The election is likely to be held in the early spring, which means just two-and-a-half years for a PfG to be seen to have made a difference. And that’s assuming that it’s a PfG which is collectively agreed, properly funded and for which SF, DUP, UUP and Alliance are prepared to underwrite with demonstrable joint responsibility. And that, given the history of these things, is a mighty big assumption to make at this point.
For all of us this should be the open the windows and shout out loud moment from Network: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore.” We should be mad as hell: about the delays, the indecisions, the collapses, the in-fighting and, most of all, the utterly, utterly pointless, shifting the focus, photo-ops and platitudes.
