OFMdFM – Page 3 – Slugger O'Toole

“Something, Something, Something, Dark Side…” – redux

Pete Baker on May 1, 2014, 7:02 pm

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More sound and fury from Sinn Féin over the continuing, agreed, questioning of party president Gerry Adams, TD, about the abduction, murder and secret burial of Jean McConville in 1972. This time the Northern Ireland deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness, is recycling a 2011 phrase from his party chairman, Declan Kearney. And, apparently, he has super-sekrit sources… Mr McGuinness, Northern Ireland’s Deputy First Minister, told a press conference at Stormont that the arrest of his party leader and “friend” was politically …

Gerry Adams: “I have no recollection of that whatsoever.”

Pete Baker on April 23, 2014, 11:13 pm

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A couple of points to note about the BBC report of the interview with former Provisional IRA member Peter Rogers. From the BBC report An ex-IRA man has made new allegations about Gerry Adams, in which he raises questions about the Sinn Féin leader’s claim to have never been in the IRA. Peter Rogers has alleged that Mr Adams and his Sinn Féin colleague Martin McGuinness ordered him to transport explosives to Great Britain in 1980. Both Sinn Féin men declined interviews …

“a claim on behalf of Mr Green against Sinn Féin has been registered with the Fair Employment Tribunal…”

Pete Baker on April 8, 2014, 3:03 pm

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When Sinn Fein’s political director at Stormont, Leo Green, failed to appear at the party’s Ard Fheis in February, both Mr Green, whilst confirming that he was no longer their northern political director, and the party were keen to play down suggestions of a dispute. As Liam Clarke noted at the time Green said he had renewed his membership of Sinn Fein on January 24 and that he had not left over any single issue. We are none the wiser except that this …

“the electoral prospects of individuals are not strictly a relevant factor when weighing the public interest in the disclosure of information…”

Pete Baker on April 2, 2014, 3:29 pm

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Another week, another ruling by the Information Commissioner that the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers acted against the public interest in refusing to disclose information in response to a FoI request. The request, from the News Letter, was for disclosure of OFMDFM’s corporate risk register – a list of the issues “causing concern” within OFMDFM. As the News Letter report notes of the commissioner’s decision …the Information Commissioner, the watchdog which enforces the open government law, has dismissed …

Belfast City Council: “what happened on Saturday evening is a clear breach of our terms and conditions of hire.”

Pete Baker on April 1, 2014, 4:16 pm

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The News Letter has an updated comment from the spokeswoman for Belfast City Council about the (Provisional) IRA commemoration at Whiterock Leisure Centre on Saturday night. From the News Letter report Belfast City Council says a republican event in one of its leisure centres was clearly in breach of terms and conditions, after critics objected to use of a Sinn Fein banner, replica weapons and paramilitary flags. The event, in Whiterock Leisure Centre on Saturday, was strongly condemned yesterday by …

OFMDFM: “open and transparent…” – redux

Pete Baker on March 29, 2014, 4:44 pm

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Via The Irish News. As UUP leader Mike Nesbitt says, “We’re not North Korea…” [Thankfully… – Ed] ANYhoo… The UUP leader has welcomed a recent (27 March) decision by the Information Commissioner (not yet online) that the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers were wrong to refuse to release the results of market research, that they had commissioned, into the proposed Peace Building and Conflict Resolution Centre (PbCRC) at the site of the old Maze Prison. From the UUP press …

Cartoon – With friends like these

Brian Spencer on February 7, 2014, 4:10 pm

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Who needs enemies? And of course it’s been said: “I fear the real danger for Unionism lies not in what our opponents would seek to do to us but in what we do to ourselves.” Brian SpencerBrian is a writer, artist, political cartoonist and legal blogger. Actively tweeting from @brianjohnspencr. More information here: http://www.brianjohnspencer.com/ www.brianjohnspencer.com/

NI Justice Minister: “I trust that the executive will recognise that it is the right decision, and that I was right to make it”

Pete Baker on January 31, 2014, 4:46 pm

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In the aftermath of the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers/Executive/Assembly/Policing Board members semi-detached polit-bureau’s kerfuffle over the NI Justice Minister’s proposed changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, Liam Clarke reveals some significant correspondence on the matter. Firstly, the Chief Executive of the NI Policing Board, Sam Pollock, tries his hand at herding cats to put some manners on members of the Board. In his letter to Policing Board members, Mr Pollock wrote: “I am disappointed in the …

NI Justice Minister: “It is important to note that, in setting some minimum standards, I am not prohibiting the Board from adding to these minimum criteria…”

Pete Baker on January 28, 2014, 2:39 pm

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Whilst Brian may regard them as “surely sensible” changes to the criteria for the next Chief Constable, and they may well be, as I mentioned in updates to a previous post, no sooner had the Northern Ireland Justice Minister, the Alliance Party’s David Ford, announced those changes than the NI First and deputy First Ministers promptly agreed to exercise their prerogative to call his decision into the dysfunctional NI Executive semi-detached polit-bureau [Where it will be put to the sword… – …

Meghan O’Sullivan: “how do we make it possible for the others to deliver on the agreement? . . . I don’t know if there was enough of that in the room this time.”

Pete Baker on January 11, 2014, 4:58 pm

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Whilst the Northern Ireland media continue to obsess over digest the parting shot from Richard Haass on the political parties’ failure to agree to his proposals (version 7), the co-chair of those talks, Meghan O’Sullivan, appears to have been delegated the task of addressing the media south of the border. [Partitionists! – Ed] ANYhoo.. In the Irish Times, Dan Keenan’s report includes what is, perhaps, the most revealing comment on the failure to agree. The final draft was written by herself and …

“So in a sense, these resignations were expected.”

Pete Baker on January 8, 2014, 1:57 pm

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In the absence of agreement between the political parties on what happens next, the continuing uncertainty about what new arrangements will be put in place to deal with the past is having, what should have been, an anticipated effect. As the BBC report, “HET: Four officers leave specialist police team“. BBC Northern Ireland Home Affairs Correspondent Vincent Kearney said a question mark hangs over the future of the HET following the inspection report. He said the four officers who left had been …

Arkiv: “in the real world pre-existing themes will skew the integrity of investigation, putting ideology before history”

Pete Baker on January 6, 2014, 2:45 pm

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In an early critique of the Haass proposals (version 7), Brian identified, as a potential problem, the “role [] envisaged for academics and experts especially historians”. A great role is envisaged for academics and experts especially historians, reporting to an Implementation and Reconciliation Group of political nominees . However the academics are naively treated as an on tap resource to be tasked like school pupils for a project . These proposals would need to be redrawn for any hope of implementation. [added emphasis] The Arkiv …

Lord Chief Justice Morgan: “this is a case about political failure”

Pete Baker on December 28, 2013, 4:02 pm

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Not the Haass talks. You can keep your nose pressed against the windowpane with David if you’re hoping for a scrap of comfort from that. No, this is about the continued dysfunctional approach of the two main parties of the Northern Ireland Executive semi-detached polit-bureau to the process of government – as defined under the current administration. Sinn Féin’s pre-Christmas (23 Dec) defence of the Northern Ireland Agriculture Minister Michelle O’Neill’s unilateral decision to re-allocate €137 million of EU funding over the next six …

“must at the very least include a mechanism that makes the broadcasting companies accountable and answerable to this Assembly…”

Pete Baker on November 26, 2013, 4:12 pm

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Speaking of making the media accountable… The Northern Ireland Minister for Culture, Sinn Fein’s Carál Ní Chuilín, has declared that she is “considering options such as appointing a panel of experts to review broadcasting in the North and devolution of responsibility locally with a view to bringing proposals forward for cross-party support”. Here’s a couple of lines from the minister’s press release [NI Culture Minister, Sinn Fein’s Carál Ní Chuilín] “I am considering options such as appointing a panel of experts …

“The fact of the matter is that somebody ordered that Jean McConville be murdered…”

Pete Baker on November 7, 2013, 12:17 am

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The BBC reported that, following the broadcast of the recent BBC/RTÉ programme on The Disappeared, the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister, Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness said The fact that some families still do not know where their murdered relatives were secretly buried by the IRA is a “wound that must not be left to fester” [But whose wound, Martin? – Ed] And on what body… The quote continues, “I understand that these killings happened decades ago and those involved may …

“So, what was British policy?”

Pete Baker on November 1, 2013, 5:42 pm

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John mentioned, in passing, Alex Kane’s column in today’s Irish News. But, in reaching for his hyperbolical conclusion, he missed the more interesting part of the article. From Alex Kane in the Irish News. As far back as 1972 the Heath government introduced the concept of power-sharing, the ‘Irish dimension’ and the constitutional guarantee: and from that moment it seemed inevitable that any deal they would agree to (and hope that the Irish would underwrite with them) would be a deal …

Planning Bill: Or how OFMdFM dropped the ball on their end of the Downing Street economic pact?

Mick Fealty on October 23, 2013, 1:40 pm

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So let’s join the dots a little on yesterday’s crash landing of the planning bill. [Focus people, focus – Ed]. This was the bill intended to fix set up the Enterprise Zones that were so critical to the Downing Street package of cash agreed just before the G8 with David Cameron. That was on 14th of June this year. By 24th and 25th June, OFMdFM had scrambled together two amendments which radically altered the bill the SDLP Minister for the …

Peter Robinson: “We must learn to communicate better…”

Pete Baker on October 18, 2013, 12:35 am

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Interesting comments reported by the BBC from the Northern Ireland First Minister, DUP leader Peter Robinson, speaking at a Co-Operation Ireland dinner at Queen’s University in Belfast on Thursday night. From the BBC report Mr Robinson said that while it is easier and more comfortable for politicians and people in wider society to retreat to safe and familiar ground, that is not the ground where progress will be made. “I am entirely convinced that a shared and united society in …

“His independent role has on occasions required him to take actions against the Executive…”

Pete Baker on October 16, 2013, 2:14 pm

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In the Belfast Telegraph Liam Clarke picked up on this exchange during questions to the Northern Ireland First and deputy First Ministers in the Assembly on Monday. The topic was the review, by Dame Elish Angiolini, Lord Advocate of Scotland until 2011, of the Office of the NI Attorney General, the report on which was delivered to OFMDFM in October 2012. Here’s the relevant section from Hansard. Mr Attwood: Given the current Attorney General’s inclination to join in Supreme Court cases, European …