{"id":4551,"date":"2019-01-15T10:11:24","date_gmt":"2019-01-15T10:11:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4551"},"modified":"2019-01-15T10:12:53","modified_gmt":"2019-01-15T10:12:53","slug":"politics-blind-in-its-brexit-bubble-by-brian-rowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=4551","title":{"rendered":"POLITICS BLIND IN ITS BREXIT BUBBLE \u2013 By Brian Rowan"},"content":{"rendered":"

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On this Stormont map we have lost the place of working politics.<\/p>\n

Yes Parliament Buildings still stands at the top of the Stormont hill \u2013 but in name only; and, in a week, when Martin McGuinness and David Ervine were remembered, there is no sense that the brokenness can be mended; certainly not yet and not now.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that courage was a characteristic of both Martin McGuinness and David Ervine that is sadly lacking in many of today\u2019s politicians,\u201d Dr John Kyle of the Progressive Unionist Party told this website.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were prepared to take risks for the benefit of their people, and the people generally, even though they knew they were saying things that for their own constituencies were difficult to hear and were challenging and would not make them popular, but they had the conviction that it was the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Dr Kyle attended a memorial event for David Ervine in east Belfast, twelve years on from his sudden death in 2007.<\/p>\n

The following day \u2013 January 9th \u2013 marked two years since the resignation as deputy first minister of the late Martin McGuinness.<\/p>\n

Politics has been in free fall since.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any short-term change because I don\u2019t see any evidence that people are prepared to take hard decisions or even to reach out to each other or to compromise,\u201d Dr Kyle continued.<\/p>\n

Inside that Assembly building on the Stormont hill, there is a sense of emptiness \u2013 hopelessness \u2013 left \u201cto wither on the vine\u201d was how SDLP leader Colum Eastwood described things there.<\/p>\n

He was speaking after a meeting with Tanaiste Simon Coveney on Thursday \u2013 one in a round of meetings the Irish Government held with the parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the last few months and couple of years, the prospects for even getting started don\u2019t look good at the minute,\u201d Eastwood told the\u00a0eamonnmallie.com<\/a>\u00a0website.<\/p>\n

He is talking about new negotiations.<\/p>\n

That process will be made all the more difficult by the DUP\u2019s decision to collapse talks last February and to deny a draft agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not credible,\u201d is how one observer dismissed the DUP often-stated position of being prepared to return to government immediately.<\/p>\n

It ignores too much \u2013 not least RHI.<\/p>\n

Nobody wants government by those standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this is going to be solved, the only way to do it, is the two governments saying [to the parties]: \u2018if you don\u2019t do it, we\u2019re going to do it\u2019,\u201d Eastwood added, but he accepts \u201cthere\u2019s no evidence that the British Government are prepared to act as a co-guarantor for the Good Friday Agreement\u201d.<\/p>\n

There is too much going on in London \u2013 inside the Tory Party and too much still depends on that Westminster relationship between the Conservatives and the DUP.<\/p>\n

Nothing will change here until something changes there.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an excitement and a media focus on the Brexit battle,\u201d Dr Kyle commented \u2013 \u201cbut it does not address people\u2019s needs, well-being or interests and concerns,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIssues such as hospital waiting lists, universal credit chaos, the business need to plan for the post-Brexit future and the mental health crisis are all being neglected. Politicians seem blind to these issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kyle will again be a candidate in the May elections here: \u201cBrexit and the constitutional issue should not be relevant to local government,\u201d he said \u2013 \u201cbut the two main parties will inevitably try to turn it into an Orange versus Green election.<\/p>\n

Last year, Kyle and others \u2013 including Winston Irvine and Julie-Anne Corr Johnston \u2013 were involved in a tough dialogue with republicans; a series of meetings facilitated by Professor John Brewer of the Mitchell Institute at Queen\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Now, months later, Kyle said: \u201cI can detect a policy shift by Sinn Fein. The focus on reconciliation, difficult conversations and stamping out sectarianism has been replaced by a call for a border poll and a focus on the \u2018New Ireland\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also makes this observation on events in London.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe DUP have been very short-sighted exploiting their influence in Westminster at the cost of creating a cohesive, settled, peaceful Northern Ireland,\u201d he told this website.<\/p>\n

In the here and now, there is also a focus on the future of the SDLP and a possible merger with Fianna Fail, which meant some reading between Eastwood\u2019s lines earlier this week.<\/p>\n

This is how I read him \u2013 that the SDLP will run in the May elections keeping that party title, and that what we might see in the near future is a move on policy initiatives and partnerships involving both parties. All of this is to be confirmed.<\/p>\n

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As for Stormont and functioning politics there, it will be a long road back. Brexit, RHI, those May elections and the outstanding issues in relation to rights are huge barriers in the way of a return to government.<\/p>\n

Legacy has become a war \u2013 not a healing process. The Northern Ireland Office has not yet given its response to the recent consultation.<\/p>\n

On this website, Sinn Fein vice president Michelle O\u2019Neill recently wrote \u201dIt is imperative that we arrest the political drift in which we find ourselves currently and stop the attempts to unravel the Good Friday Agreement and its political institutions before it becomes unsalvageable.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a stark warning that there is little time to mend what is broken \u2013 perhaps one more attempt with the how and when of that still to be worked out.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Brexit could still change everything and further accelerate that conversation and debate of Union versus Unity.<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on EamonnMallie.com<\/p>\n

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