When going through the motions stifles real debate
A LITTLE-reported Stormont debate during the recent election campaign saw cross-party support for a motion which called for the impossible.
On April 19, MLAs united behind a motion which called for St Patrick's Day to be designated a public holiday.
That they did so exposes some of the pointlessness of a what has become a staple of Stormont sittings - the private members' motion.
The motions allow any MLA to table a motion which can be debated for an hour and a half and a vote taken.
However, the motions are not legally binding, as was starkly demonstrated when the Assembly backed a motion in 2008 calling for education minister Caitriona Ruane to introduce a temporary post-primary transfer test but the minister ignored the assembly's vote.
All of the MLAs who spoke during the April 19 debate on St Patrick's Day expressed support for the motion tabled by Alliance MLA Kieran McCarthy and it was passed unanimously.
Yet the unanimously-applauded motion called for something which already existed, as St Patrick's Day is already an official holiday in Northern Ireland.
SDLP, Sinn Fein and Ulster Unionist MLAs lined up to back the motion which urged the secretary of state to "proclaim St Patrick's Day a full and permanent public holiday".
But the official government website for Northern Ireland - NI Direct - explains that St Patrick's Day is already a bank holiday, the only official UK designation for a public holiday.
The gaffe is embarrassing for the MLAs who spoke and voted for the motion, but, as with all private members' motions, the result is largely meaningless.
The motions, which have long been a favourite with MLAs of all parties and none, give them an easy chance to raise what sometimes are important issues.
But the sheer bulk of the motions and the fact that many are either trivial or dealing with issues beyond the remit of the assembly gives the legislative chamber the unhelpful appearance of a debating society.
Ulster Unionist deputy leader Danny Kennedy is currently trying to persuade the Assembly authorities to allow discussion of a motion calling on the assembly to send a message of support to the England football team at the World Cup.
And last Friday independents Kieran Deeny and Gerry McHugh forced the emergency recall of the assembly to discuss the situation in Gaza, despite Stormont having no foreign affairs remit and being unable to resolve a host of issues for which it has responsibility.
In a bizarre twist, Dr Deeny did not attend his own 'emergency' debate, arguing that as he still works as a doctor he could not make it to Stormont.
On Monday, when the Gaza motion was eventually voted on and predictably defeated, tempers flared.
Although it was not recorded as such in the official Hansard account of what takes place in the Assembly chamber, the Speaker, clearly frustrated, was heard on mic saying: "Let us move on with the business of the House...whatever that is.”
But a problem for the assembly authorities is that without the private members’ motions, it often struggles to fill its day - even though it only sits on a Monday and Tuesday.
On Tuesday past, when no private motions were on the order paper, the assembly met at 10.30am, broke for lunch at 12pm, resumed at 3pm and adjourned for the week at just after 4pm - a total of two-and-a-half hours’ debate.
During the months when Sinn Fein refused to let the executive sit in 2008, there was nothing but private motions to discuss in the assembly, as no legislation was coming out of the executive.
Of course not all private members’ motions are worthless and, as in all legislatures, it is important for members outside the government to have some formal avenue to express their opinions and bring forward ideas for legislation.
But in the Stormont system, where only four of the 108 MLAs are outside the government parties, it could be argued that almost all MLAs have the means to make most of the legislative changes they call for in motions which are able to achieve consensus.
Many motions, however, are optimistic about their ability to attract support.
A recent DUP motion to recognise the service of the B Specials, while it will have widespread support from readers of this newspaper, was never going to pass Sinn Fein’s veto.
The DUP knew that republicans were never going to back the motion and it merely gave them a platform from which to make the predictable allegations of collusion against the security forces.
Likewise, Sinn Fein’s motion calling for an all-island economy appears rather foolish from a party of government which can use its ministerial positions to work towards cross-border economic harmony, rather than debate a motion which - whether passed or not - will change nothing.
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Tuesday 29 May 2012
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