Ulster
deadlock: Drowned at birth in sea of acrimony and blame
From DAILY TELEGRAPH July 16th, 1999
By Toby Harnden, Irish Correspondent
BENEATH the gilded Corinthian columns and walnut panelling of the old Stormont
parliament, a new Northern Ireland government was established yesterday.
But within three minutes of its tenth member being appointed, the body was
dissolved: drowned at birth in a sea of acrimony and recrimination. The
undertaker was Lord Alderdice, the assembly's speaker, who used his best
funereal tones to direct proceedings that Gerry Adams and Ian Paisley, whose
views have seldom been at one, both described as a farce.
It was only as the assembly members were filing into the chamber that news
came through from the Ulster Unionist Party's headquarters that David Trimble,
First Minister designate, and his colleagues would be boycotting the meeting.
Rows of empty blue leather seats faced John Hume, the SDLP leader, and Seamus
Mallon, Deputy First Minister designate, as Mr Paisley and his colleagues
attempted to mount a filibuster to take matters into the afternoon by calling
for a debate on excluding Sinn Fein from government.
Having established that Mr Paisley had failed to secure the necessary 30
signatures for his motion, Lord Alderdice suspended the sitting for 15 minutes
to take instructions from Mo Mowlam, the Northern Ireland Secretary. Employing
all the dignity he could muster in what was a patently ridiculous situation,
Lord Alderdice then called on the absent Mr Trimble to appoint his first
choice as minister, giving him five minutes to make up his mind. There was
laughter as he ordered: "Clerk. The clock." Five minutes later, with Mr
Trimble still absent, Mr Hume was chosen to select a minister.
There was applause from the nationalist benches as Mark Durkan was named
as minister of finance and personnel. After another 15-minute adjournment,
this time at the behest of Mr Paisley, the firebrand preacher rose. "In order to oust Sinn Féin from office in keeping with the wishes of the majority of the Unionist people, I refuse to nominate," he thundered.
A little over an hour after the sitting commenced, Mr Adams named Bairbre
de Brun as minister for enterprise and trade, the first Sinn Féin representative
to take up an executive post in Northern Ireland's history. "Designate",
"Temporarily" shouted the DUP in the manner of schoolboys disrupting an
annual prizegiving ceremony, as Lord Alderdice confirmed her position. After
the SDLP's Sean Farren had been appointed minister for regional development,
it was the turn of Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness.
The Londonderry republican was appointed minister for agriculture and rural
development. Sean Neeson, leader of the moderate Alliance party, refused
to nominate a minister because of the "unforgivable absence of the Ulster Unionists" from the chamber. "Myself and my party are not prepared to be patsies," he said. "Next patsy please," shouted the DUP's Gregory Campbell
as Pat Doherty, Sinn Féin's Scottish-born vice-president, accepted the post
of minister of education.
And so it continued, with the remaining ministers being solemnly appointed
according to a formula drawn up in the 18th century by the Belgian political
scientist Vincent d'Hondt. Bob McCartney, leader of the UK Unionist Party,
turned down a post. "Under no circumstances as a democrat would I consider nominating myself or anyone else in my party to sit in an executive with two members of the IRA Army Council, Martin McGuinness and Pat Doherty,"
he said. Mr McGuinness, who sat smirking on the other side of the chamber,
called out to Mr McCartney: "Minister for Silly Walks." |
