Letter: The DUP and Sinn Fein thrive on obstruction

The recent calls by DUP for more Westminster money and Sinn Fein’s flat rejection of water metring show the lack of imagination of our political leaders.

What happened to the last £1bn that DUP seemed to get from Theresa May’s government? What has happened to the energy from waste plant proposed for reclaimed land at Duncrue on Belfast Lough which was stopped by SF about a dozen years ago?

These two parties seem to thrive on obstruction, preventing progressive good government , pandering to limited populism, and by their action or inaction causing great waste of taxpayers’ money.

There are several practical projects which if carried out efficiently would improve the whole of Northern Ireland, and each one has been around for years and is increasingly costly, these include the A5 road improvement, the waste disposal plant, the York Street Interchange, the improvement of the health service, and the rationalisation of the education provision.

Of course there will be objections to all these, but history tells us that when completed efficiently the change is usually accepted as beneficial. NI government suffers from the lack of good positive leadership, it awaits and panders to obstruction. Why do we have so many legal objections, reviews, analyses, public consultations etc? Surely governments are meant to govern the whole community for the benefit of the whole community.

It is up to us to demand the politicians to make rational decisions for the whole of NI, and the public servants to implement the changes with speed and efficiency and integrity .

Tom Ekin, Belfast BT9