Walkout?
When is a walkout not a walk out? Some rumbustious scenes at the Education Committee this morning when Caitriona Ruane cut her appearance dead when her allotted hour expired. She pointed out that some MLAs had been late turning up, whilst she had got up at 6.30 to ensure she began giving evidence on time. But not all the Committee members were happy. After she left the Senate Chamber they grumbled on camera about what they regarded as a discourtesy. The Committee chair, Sammy Wilson, reckoned the fact that the minister had taken her first 27 minutes in making an opening statement amounted to an abuse of the hearing. Other MLAs chimed in before Sinn Fein's Paul Butler sprang to the defence accusing Sammy Wilson of taking a partisan approach to his chairmanship.
Safe to say, after this somewhat confrontational performance, relations between the Minister and the Committee cannot be said to have improved.
I'm 
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Are the boys on the Education Committee being bullied by the Minister, Ms Ruane?
Perhaps we need a Commissioner for Adults. We have one for children.
Poor wee Sammy. He has been scolded and told not to speak back to the Head. He also receives 100 lines which are to be in his best writing and handed in before Assembly in the morning, or he will be suspended and can visit the tuck shop with his friend Iris. What a cheeky boy鈥
sigh... but still no coverage on what the actual proposals are? is this charade designed to distract us from what is being proposed? I seriously doubt Ruane has everone's interests at heart, her approach is bipartisan and I find her remarks to Sammy Wilson ironic. It is he who is correct in this instance. One question, if this meeting was so significant why was only 1 hour scheduled and who made that decision? Investigative journalism Mark?
I think no matter what Catriona Ruane had done some DUP members would have been unhappy especially in front of camera. Sammy clearly lacks basic manners. He would have been better to say nothing. What is the point of these committees anyway? They are a waste of time and money.
Mark
FASCIST IN-FIGHTING AT EDUCATION COMMITTEE MEETING IS ALL PART OF THE TRADE-OFF GAME
Too much significance has been attached to the brouhaha witnessed during Ms Ruane鈥檚 attendance at the Education Committee meeting on 31 January, 2008. Her imperious performance and the raging response by the DUP鈥檚 backbench Boo-boys were a predictable sham. The theatrical hardball was simply a case of the two Fascist Parties in the Coalition vying to achieve superior negotiating positions in advance of hard decisions on a range of contentious issues.
Along with a decision on Academic Election/Selection there are other key areas that vex both Parties, notably, transfer of Policing & Justice, Irish Language and Maze development. Other issues will also bring tensions to test the sturdiness of the cosy Fascist Coalition. The Victims鈥 Commission is a political car crash waiting to happen; the [H]Eames/Bradley Group Report on dealing with the legacy of the past will be an impenetrable tome of nothingness; there will be further revelations about dubious sales of publicly-owned land that the DUP will not be able to ignore; and ongoing Provisional Army Council activity will test DUP patience to breaking point, made worse by the forthcoming IMC Report confirming again that the South Armagh Brigade of the PIRA slaughtered Paul Quinn. Inevitably, Sinn Fein will also bring the 鈥榦n-the-runs鈥 back into the mix. In addition, information on side deals (other than those negotiated by Junior) at St Andrews will surface and will cause huge tensions within the DUP/Sinn Fein Axis.
The DUP and Sinn Fein are determined to work through these problems to keep the Assembly Show running. Both Parties will hammer out compromise solutions to all the difficulties. To that end, both Parties will accept collateral damage. For the DUP, the main casualty will be Paisley Senior who, citing 鈥榯ime and tide鈥, will bow out with at least some dignity. Not so his son. Post Paisley Senior, Junior Paisley has no need to worry that the problems he has caused the DUP will lead his colleagues to deliver the proverbial 鈥榮tab him in the back鈥. Au contraire, he can expect the blow straight to his chest and thereafter may look for a career beyond politics, say, Lobster Farming off the North Antrim Coast. Free of the Paisley millstones, Peter Robinson will become 鈥業l Duce鈥 of the Coalition as of right. Will that make Iris (aka 鈥楥ruella鈥) La Ducessa?
For Sinn Fein, recognising that she has overcooked her disdain for the DUP and that the cock-ups (aka educational vandalism) over academic selection have left the Education System in freefall, Ms Ruane will be sacrificed, in a humane way, but go she will. The most difficult compromise for Sinn Fein will the giving up of three or four IRA foot soldiers for the slaying of Paul Quinn. They will see this as a necessary start to the process of bringing the Cullyhanna constituency back into the Republican fold.
So, all-in-all, there are difficult times ahead but the levers of power are a powerful opiate to which the DUP and Sinn Fein have quickly become addicted. The pretence of stable, democratic Government can be maintained providing they get their daily fix and as long as the Voters turn a blind eye to, inter alia:
路 the autocracy of the Fascist Coalition;
路 IRA sanctioned Murder;
路 ongoing criminal activities of paramilitaries;
路 a Police Service more concerned with appeasing its political masters than solving crime;
路 Victims & Survivors being fobbed off with an overpriced PR-centric Victims鈥 Commission and the Mickey Mouse Eames/Bradley Consultative Group, peopled by self-publicists and ersatz do-gooders driven by personal aggrandisement;
路 dubious sales of state-owned land;
路 an education system going down the tubes.
Finally, I suggest the DUP members of the Education Committee start to learn the Irish Language as a matter of urgency. My Irish is a bit rusty but I believe there were times when Ms Ruane was speaking to them in the Gaelic that she was definitely not talking about education issues. The following is my translation of part of Ms Ruane鈥檚 opening statement, sanitised on grounds of taste to spare the feelings of sensitive readers of the Devenport Diaries:
鈥淪ammy Wilson you are the greatest that was ever created. Your * was a and no wonder you are the biggest the World has ever seen. As for you Mervyn O鈥橲torey, you have shown by your contribution to this Committee that you are a of the highest order and it has been my misfortune to have to deal with a * like you. If I get the chance I will **** the whole lot of ye ** *** ** **** *** twice!鈥 +
+ A box of Belgian Chocolates for anyone who can fill in the missing words correctly.
Sl谩n go f贸ill
Susie
Carryduff
I am quite sure Susie Flood could write a Greek tragedy out of the whole debacle
I think no matter what Catriona Ruane had done some DUP members would have been unhappy especially in front of camera. Sammy clearly lacks basic manners. He would have been better to say nothing. What is the point of these committees anyway? They are a waste of time and money.