Council spat on DUP motivation for restoring Assembly

The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) decision to re-enter the Assembly received a mixed reception by Derry City and Strabane District councillors.

The DUP re-entered the Assembly on Saturday having agreed a package of measures with the British Government, which leader, Jeffery Donaldson said effectively removed the 'Irish Sea border' for goods moving from Britain and staying in the North.

Speaking at January’s full council meeting, Cllr Christopher Jackson (Sinn Féin) said the North had “gone too long without “devolved institutions functioning”.

Following the Assembly recall on Saturday (February 3) Michelle O’Neill, Sinn Féin vice president assumed the role of First Minister in the new Executive. Emma Little-Pengelly assumed the role of Deputy First Minister.

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Cllr Jackson added: “Hopefully, as we move forward now, we can start working together to address the many challenges that citizens in this city and district and much further afield have been facing due to a lack of government.”

Cllr Shaun Harkin acknowledged a lot of people would be eager to see a return of a government in the North.

He said: “I think that the last few years have been a disaster for the vast majority of people, with rising levels of poverty, with workers not getting basic pay awards, with our health service, our transport system, our schools, all under massive pressure - on the verge of being decimated in some ways.

“I think it is disgraceful we don’t have a government and I think whether the government is good, bad or other, people are right to expect  to have a government. 

“Anger has built up for two years at the failure of government. What it has meant is we have had a Tory Secretary of State who has put through cut after cut after cut, really making people’s lives a misery. 

“Those proposals now go further where he wants water chargers, he wants prescription charges, he wants tuition hikes. If there is going to be a restored executive, it has to be on the basis they are going to reverse Tory cuts; they are going to block these regressive revenue raising measures the Tories want to introduce,” said Cllr Harkin.

Cllr Harkin cautioned: “We can’t go back to the way Stormont has been acting over the past 20 years, pushing through public sector cuts, pushing through massive cuts for our public sector institutions; voting down trade union rights in the Assembly; failing to implement an anti-poverty strategy. 

“There are a lot of expectations on a returned Stormont. Unfortunately Stormont when it has functioned has never delivered for the vast majority of people here and many people believe it will continue to do that. 

“If anybody needs thanks, it’s the public sector workers who had a general strike. I think that was the tipping point for the DUP to go back into government and also put pressure on the Secretary of State,” said Cllr Harkin.

Cllr Gary Donnelly (Independent) called it “ironic” the restoration of the Assembly had nearly been forgotten in Chairperson’s Business.

“For the last few years, people in here have been blaming Stormont or the absence of Stormont for every ill in society and maybe there is a point to some of it,” he said.

“But, when Stormont was up and running, it wasn’t the answer to the problems in this part of the island. A number of years ago, when Stormont was up and running, there would have been many, many Republicans who would have been horrified at it. But I think now, speaking for myself, it is irrelevant for me if Stormont is up and running because it is not going to work.

“For almost a century, it has lurched from crisis to crisis and it reinforces that the two state solution in Ireland doesn’t work and it is irrelevant who is in Stormont because, if you imagine it like a train track, you can only drive it from A to B, you can’t veer off. You can only operate within the parameters of Westminster.

“It is a counter democratic programme that is being implemented in this country and that is a new-liberal agenda. 

So, I look forward to the sun coming out and no more illnesses and all our problems being sorted because that was the impression a lot of people in this chamber have been giving over the last couple of years,” said Cllr Donnelly.

The imminent restoration of the Assembly was also welcomed by Cllr Brian Tierney (SDLP), who added it should not be celebrated, however.

“In reality, the DUP should have taken that decision two years ago. MLAs should have been in the Assembly two years ago,” he said.

Cllr Tierney added: “The mandate that was received at the last Assembly election should have been respected but it wasn’t. Throwing all this great praise on the DUP is sickening for public sector workers.

“I have spoken to some over this last number of days who are now looking at Stormont to say, ‘When are we getting our money?’. That is the big question people are asking. It is not about whether Jamie Bryson was right or wrong about everything that was going on in the DUP meeting the other night. It is about how this is impacting people's lives, that is what people are interested in.

“The reality is, that money was held back because we had no functioning Assembly. 

“If you create a problem, you should not be celebrating the fact you have realised, ‘We created this problem and we are now going to try and repair it’. You just get on with repairing it,” said Cllr Tierney.

Cllr Tierney referenced the fact Council had a number of “key projects in the system with permanent secretaries in Belfast”. 

“We need answers on these as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Mayor Patricia Logue (Sinn Féin) said the public sector workers would welcome the restored Assembly.

She added: “It will make a difference to those workers when they get their well-deserved pay rise. 

“I know all the ministers who will be going in, will be lobbying the British Government for more money to try and reinstate all those cuts that had to be made because of their lack of investment or budget cuts.”

A scathing Ald Niree McMorris said Jeffery Donaldson was not looking for pats on the back.

She added: “Jeffery has fought hard over the past two years in order to secure the changes he has secured within the last few days. 

“I want to remind everybody the changes he has secured will benefit everybody in Northern Ireland, not just Unionists, not just one particular sector. They will benefit everybody in Northern Ireland.

“Regarding the councillor’s comments that they believed Jeffery Donaldson went back into government because of the strike, Jeffery has been fighting for the changes for the last two years. I don’t think that was the principal reason he went back in. I am sure he was delighted to go back in because he has fought hard to secure the additional funding that was earmarked for Northern Ireland to give the pay increases.

“We welcome the fact they are going back into government and that money will be released,” said Ald McMorris.

Cllr Paul Gallagher (Independent) said workers were entitled to their pay rise, independent of whether Stormont was up or not.

He added: “Saying workers will get their pay rise because Stormont is up and running is incorrect. Workers were entitled, are entitled and should be entitled, not because they were put as a pawn by the British government.

“We should not fall into the trap of saying, ‘It’s great. Stormont is back up again. Look what we are doing for workers’. 

“Workers should not have been put in that position in the first place.”