Democracy,
Governance and Governmentality: the Role of the Voluntary Sector in the
Democratic Renewal of Northern Ireland
by John Morrisson
5 In Wales the First Secretary has estimated that there are about 25,000
organisations directly employing some 13,000 people with 1.9 million volunteers
contributing the equivalent of 15% of gross domestic product in Wales. (The
Official Report of the Welsh Assembly 21st July 1999 at p. 59.) In Scotland
too there is a view that the voluntary sector has "a long and proud" tradition.
The Deputy Minister for Communities suggests that there are more than 44,000
voluntary organisations and more than 50% of the adult population volunteers
on a regular basis with an overall contribution representing 3% of Scotland's
gross domestic product. (Scottish Parliament Official Report, vol. 2, No.
8 (23rd September 1999) at col 769.
6 Local authorities, seen by civil rights campaigners of the 1960s as epitomising
unionist domination and abuse of powers, were effectively stripped of all
powers except for the most minor in areas of environmental health, tourism,
recreation and refuse collection in the McCrory Review of 1972.
7 See further, B. Hadfield "Legislating for Northern Ireland as Westminster"
in Public Policy in Northern Ireland: Adoption or Adaptation , M. Connnolly
and S. Loughlin (eds.) (Belfast, Policy Research Institute, 1990) pp.55
-75.
8 See, e.g., how provision for personal social services developed through
statutory bodies, quangos and voluntary organisations (B. Caul and S. Herron,
A Service for the People: Origins and Development of the Personal Social
Services of Northern Ireland (1992). This was in line with more general
trends (see, e.g., Central Personal Social Services Advisory Committee,
Report of the Sub-Committee on Support for Voluntary Organisation DHSS 1979)
but arguably had particular application in Northern Ireland.
9 Arguably the special circumstances of Northern Ireland meant that the
although the Thatcher revolution did not bypass the region, its impact there
was reduced and uneven. (See further, F. Gaffikin and M. Morrissey Northern
Ireland: The Thatcher Years (1990).) This greater willingness to spend money
on various social problems so as not to exacerbate the effects of the Troubles
may have had the effect of ensuring relatively good relations between the
voluntary sector and successive direct rule administrations.
10 P. Sweeney, "A View from the Voluntary Sector" in People and Government:
Questions for Northern Ireland (Belfast, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and
Chief Executives' Forum, 1998) p. 60.
11 Department of Health and Social Services, Strategy for the Support of
the Voluntary Sector and for Community Development in Northern Ireland (1993,
HMSO).
12 See further, J. Kearney "The Development of Government Policy and its
strategy towards the Voluntary and Community Sectors" in N. Acheson and
A. Williamson (eds. supra n.21) pp.11-32.
13 See further the analysis provided by the sources cited at supra n. 24.
14 The then Secretary of State Douglas Hurd stated in a parliamentary written
answer (Hansard 27th June 1985) that it was not in the public interest to
give grant aid to organisations that had "sufficiently close links with paramilitary organisations to give rise to a grave risk that to give support .... would have the effect of improving the standing, or furthering the aims of a paramilitary organisation, whether directly or indirectly". This had the effect of cutting off grant aid from about 30 organisations including
Irish language classes and pre-school playgroups and creating a suspicion
of inept government vetting.
15 See further J. Hughes et al Partnership Governance in Northern Ireland:
The Path to Peace (Dublin, Oak Tree Press, 1998).
16 See further J. Morison and S. Livingstone Reshaping Public Power: Northern
Ireland the British Constitutional Crisis (London, Sweet and Maxwell, 1995)
pp. 138-149. |
