Ministers
blow the dust off their briefs
From NEWS LETTER May 31st, 2000
MERVYN PAULEY
MOST ministers in the power-sharing Executive were back at their desks yesterday,
getting to grips with workloads which have been on hold since February -
and contemplating the shape of things to come. With the DUP indulging in
what one Assemblyite called a ''John Taylor-style waiting game'' over the
fate of its two posts, it was a case of the cross-party ministerial majority
picking up the reins of office on Day One of born-again devolution.
The team - albeit a depleted one - gets together in cabinet mode tomorrow
to try to resolve obvious differences and to pave the way to a resumption
of the vital business of developing a programme of government reflecting
the ''real needs and priorities'' of the Province. The SDLP's Mark Durkan,
Minister of Finance and Personnel, said the priority was to push forward
with the programme of government. It was important for the executive to
pull together as a cohesive unit, he added.
Culture, Arts and Leisure Minister Michael McGimpsey struck an upbeat note.
''We are on the threshold of exciting and challenging times,'' he said as
he returned to his post. There were words of encouragement from well-wishers,
including European Commission President Romano Prodi, who described the
developments as a ''victory for the will of the vast majority of people
in Northern Ireland and further afield''. First Minister David Trimble made
his priorities clear.
Still top of his list of expectations is swift action by republicans in
fulfilling their promises to take confidence-building measures and put their
fearsome arsenal of weapons beyond use. He believes the administration has
a lot of urgent matters to tackle and that people should focus on them and
stop ''scratching the sores'' of issues like policing, which is not part
of the Assembly's remit.
''We are having another go at getting this thing right,'' the UUP leader
said yesterday. For Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon, the most urgent
issue is ''to instil confidence within the people and to instil confidence
in the political process itself''. Later, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams
set out his party's imperatives and, in the process, scratched a sore inflicted
by Mr Trimble when he accused Sinn Fein of not being ''house-trained in
democracy'' yet. Mr Adams branded this a ''racist and provocative'' remark
and said Mr Trimble should withdraw it and apologise.
The Paisley camp also had a bone to pick with the First Minister, who touched
a sore point when he likened the DUP to most democratic regimes in Eastern
Europe. ''It's all done behind closed doors and in a rather autocratic way,
so we wait and see whether there's a puff of white smoke coming out from
wherever they go into conference,'' he scoffed. Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness,
back as education minister, was smiling despite being given a visible reminder
of the flags dispute in which he and Bairbre de Brun featured before suspension.
Arriving at his departmental headquarters at Rathgael House, Bangor, Mr
McGuinness had to run the gauntlet of lampposts festooned with red, white
and blue flags as well as emblems of the UVF. There were shouts of ''IRA
scumbag'' from a handful of people gathered outside the fence.
The DUP's Sammy Wilson blamed David Trimble and his ''treacherous deal''
for McGuinness's return to office. The sad fact was that a man had been
put in charge of running education who was ''not fit to run a bath'', he
protested. Ms de Brun, back as health minister, called for an ''equal partnership''
approach, saying: ''We can make this a new beginning if we work as a partnership
of equals, if we move forward on the basis of inclusivity, equality and
mutual respect.'' |
