I'm doubting a 'dangerous' deal
Am I the only one who thinks that the end result of the "deal or no deal" marathon played out at Hillsborough over the past fortnight was, from the unionist perspective at least, the opening of the one penny box?
For if there is a deal or agreement somewhere in those 21 pages then I haven't been able to find it!
Maybe it's as well hidden as the "clever device" which Peter Robinson says has been embedded to ensure instant retaliation if Sinn Fein show any signs of bad faith.
But why would Sinn Fein display bad faith? They have got the only thing they wanted from Hillsborough, the only thing they have wanted since they brought the Executive to a standstill for 155 days in 2008. In return for absolutely nothing from them they have been given a set-in-stone date for the devolution of policing and justice. They will happily play along with the parading stuff, knowing full well that they can't be held responsible if the new working group doesn't reach consensus within three weeks; and knowing equally well that giving the nod to something at the end of February doesn't stop them from mischief making further down the line.
"The justice minister will have the same status in the Executive as the other ministers...and as with other ministers the operation of the department would be subject to his/her direction and control...and the PSNI will have operational responsibility for policing, and for implementing the policies and objectives set by the Department of Justice." Wow. Doesn't that fill you with confidence? The new justice minister will be free to run the department in exactly the same way as Caitriona Ruane runs her department. Better still, the terms and conditions of the new department have already been drawn up and approved by Sinn Fein. All we are waiting for now is for the strings to be attached to the wrists and ankles of the puppet selected by Peter and Martin.
For almost three years Sinn Fein has banged on about the "unfinished business of St Andrews", while the DUP has insisted that the St Andrews Agreement was "the work of the two governments". So could somebody explain to me why the "First Minister and Deputy First Minister will oversee an exercise of examining the St Andrews Agreement and identifying all matters contained within it which have not been faithfully implemented or actioned...and make recommendations on how progress could be made on those matters which have not been actioned".
Bearing in mind that the outworkings of St Andrews have already included a mutual veto on every aspect of business for Sinn Fein; a guarantee that they get the First Minister's post if they emerge as the largest party; and the enforced opting out of our grammar schools, I really do dread to think what other horrors and side deals are lurking there. It's no wonder that Gerry Adams refers to the Hillsborough document as a "staging post".
To try and buy off and tie-in the UUP and SDLP there is the promise of a working group, co-chaired by Sir Reg Empey and Margaret Ritchie, "to consider any proposals and make recommendations to the Executive for new and improved processes". This, of course, is mere window-dressing. The working group won’t be allowed to address the real institutional and mechanical flaws that bedevil the Executive and the Assembly and the cosmetic changes which they will be encouraged to consider will still be subject to approval or veto from the DUP and Sinn Fein.
For those reasons alone – and added to the fact that neither party has been involved in the policing and justice negotiations which began in the late summer of 2008 – the SDLP and UUP (notwithstanding David Cameron’s unilateral and foolish decision to support the agreement) should reject this latest self-serving stitch-up from the DUP and Sinn Fein. Both parties have been treated with utter contempt since May 2007, so why would they do anything now to endorse what can be best described as the “Agreement-At-Hillsborough-Castle-To-Get-The-DUP-Out-Of-A-Hole-And-An-Early-And-Scary-Assembly-Election”.
Some people have tried to pretend that this so-called “deal” represents the final piece in the peace process jigsaw. Indeed, that’s why the British and Irish Prime Ministers were turfed from their beds and put on the red-eye flight to Belfast: as if the mere sight of them book-ending Tweedledum and Tweedledee would convince us that all was well.
But this isn’t a “deal” at all. This is a mere arrangement to get us over the latest hurdle and you can bet your bottom dollar that we will be back to crisis negotiations sooner than you can say “bad faith”.
Issues like the Irish language, flags and emblems, the Bill of Rights, a shared future and north-south development have the potential to have the parties at loggerheads again: and the ongoing refusal to deal with collective Executive responsibility, individual ministerial accountability, solo runs and lack of opposition will also ensure that trust and cooperation will retain their Holy Grail status.
What do we do if Sinn Fein emerges as the largest party in 2011? What do we do when the sunset clause kicks in on policing and justice and there is the possibility of Martin McGuinness as first minister and Gerry Kelly as justice minister? What do we do about the fact that “us-and-them” will continue to be the standard by which unionism and nationalism set their agendas? What do we do about the fact that unionism and nationalism still have mutually contradictory interpretations of the meaning and purpose of the Belfast/St Andrews Agreements? What do we do about the reality that both the SDLP and Sinn Fein regard the agreements as a “staging post” or “interim settlement”?
I have always contended that the conditions and circumstances are not yet right for the devolution of policing and justice (the most critical powers that any government can possess) and that they won’t be right until all---and I mean all – of the outstanding problems are resolved.
The Hillsborough document – for it really isn’t grand enough to be described as a deal or agreement – is one of the most dangerous and destabilising documents to have been put in the public domain. No unionist worthy of the name could support it: which may explain why the document prefers to talk about “community consultation” rather than “unionist confidence”.
Alex Kane resigned last week as Director of Communications of the UUP
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Tuesday 14 February 2012
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