Is Sinn Fein still serious about the Assembly and the political process which supposedly blossomed from the Belfast and St Andrews' Agreements? I only ask because its present behaviour suggests that it is, at best, ambivalent and, at worst, actually determined to run the whole thing into the ground.
Now, while the DUP clearly deserves some of the blame, the fact is that it is Sinn Fein which is primarily responsible for the ongoing failure of the Executive Committee to have met since June 19. Northern Ireland is in the grip of an economic downtu
rn which will hurt rich, poor, unionist and republican alike; and public confidence in local political institutions and elected representatives is collapsing by the day.
From what I understand there appear to be a number of issues which Sinn Fein want addressed and resolved – the Irish Language Act, policing and justice, a national stadium and the transfer test being key among them. But why hold the Executive Committee to ransom (and there really is no other word for it)? There is a mountain of other issues which need an official go-ahead from the Executive and there are many elements within Northern Ireland's business, planning, housing and educational sectors which are being seriously inconvenienced by this lack of progress.
If Sinn Fein were serious about reaching agreement on a range of issues wider than their own personal agenda and cooperating with, rather than facing down, their political opponents, they might discover that it was easier to reach deals on the more controversial matters. Indeed, it's hard to escape the conclusion that confrontation and crisis are the deliberately chosen features of their present strategy.
It strikes me, too, that their approach to next Sunday's Homecoming Parade is calibrated to no higher purpose than that of offending the pro-Union community. The DUP and UUP, along with the broader unionist electorate, has accepted that policing and justice should be devolved to the Assembly, and has even accepted that the Department could one day be headed-up by a Sinn Fein minister. But that unionist electorate also wants some pretty convincing evidence that they could have real confidence in Sinn Fein's ability to handle the role.
But how, exactly, can they have that confidence when Sinn Fein is determined to politicise a Homecoming Parade and turn what should be a quiet tribute into a focal point for tension, hostility and potential violence? Republicanism has a veritable pantheon of "heroes" whom they commemorate and celebrate on a regular basis; so why their difficulty with a welcome home for the Royal Irish, many of whose members are drawn from Roman Catholic backgrounds and from south of the border? And where, for example, would a Sinn Fein Minister for Policing stand on the issue of policing this Sinn Fein protest?
As it happens, I have no difficulty with dignified, silent protest. It is an important and cherished right in a democracy. And I know that there are many people in the pro-Union community who have personal reservations about our troops being in Iraq or Afghanistan. But those reservations should never extend to the Services' personnel themselves, who are members of an internationally recognised and legitimate standing army.
