A Toxic Shock
I drove down to Dublin, stopping at the Drogheda bridge toll station to fumble around for some euros, and wondering whether my journey would prove worthwhile. I'd been tipped off already that Messrs Robinson, McGuinness and Cowen would be announcing some new money for the A5 and A8 road improvements. But whilst 8 million pounds might be very welcome as a statement of intent from Dublin to complete these north south infrastructure projects, it doesn't buy you a lot of tarmac.
However when the news conference began at Farmleigh house it became clear that rather bigger sums had been under discussion. The ministers had been discussing Dublin's plans for a National Asset Management Agency, a so called "bad bank" due to take on up to 90 billion euros of so called toxic assets run up by Irish banks. I have to admit I wasn't familiar with the acronym NAMA, but on enquiring further about this aspect of the discussions I learned that an estimated 30 billion euro worth are outside the Irish Republic, and anything between 15 and 20 billion of these assets could be in Northern Ireland (if the language here sounds vague it's because the officials are dealing in guesstimates - they still don't know exact figures for the toxic assets).
Clearly a sudden move by NAMA to try to claw back cash by selling northern assets could have a sudden negative impact on overall property prices. Certainly the figures involved dwarf the roads money, and once again emphasise the thin economic ice we all appear to be skating on.
On the margins of today's North South Ministerial conference I asked Peter Robinson about the Jeffrey Donaldson expenses story. The DUP leader said Jeffrey was right to be repaying around £680 to the Commons authorities. Back at Stormont my colleague Martina Purdy was asking the Lagan Valley MP about which films he had watched. Jeffrey said they were all blockbusters and family entertainment and gave as an example "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe".
Having once starred as "Mr Beaver" on the Edinburgh fringe, I think I picked the wrong story. I was following the Yellow Brick road from Dublin to Donegal, when I should have been concentrating on the White Witch and her Turkish delight.
I'm 
© MMIX~RS~q~RS~~RS~z~RS~11~RS~)
Comments
Sign in or register to comment.
Or perhaps in Jeffrey's case Mark 'A Toxxxic Shock'. The lion, the witch and the wardrobe! Ah bless.
Complain about this comment
Mark
IT'S PAYBACK TIME FOR MORE THAN DONALDSON
The following is an extract from Jim Allister's news release of 7 July:
"Now that film buff, Jeffrey Donaldson MP, is repaying unwarranted entertainment claims to the House of Commons, I call upon the DUP leadership to clarify who, if any, of their other MPs have or will be making repayments. In particular I direct attention to the fact that for every month but one (July 2005) the North Antrim MP claimed the maximum possible for food (£400 per month) over the period 1st January 2004 to 29 February 2008*. Given that Dr Paisley was ill and hospitalised on occasions during this period and that it regularly covered periods when Parliament was not sitting, can the DUP state if it anticipates any repayments in this regard?"
Definitely a pertinent question and one that perhaps you or Martina might care to run past Paisley Senior (that's if you can find him).
Susie
Carryduff
Complain about this comment
Susie we could keep going round in circles but I suggest you read comment fifteen on 'One Relative Only'. link at the bottom of this page!
Parliamentary expenses are not only valid for sitting, speaking or voting in the Commons but on all parliamentary duties, in line with the green book.
Pity you didnt apply the same vigour to Jim Allisters expense claims...the man has a cheek to talk about anyone else.
Anyone who knows Paisley knows that he is honest: to insinuate otherwise is certainly cheap, gutter politics.
That said the fact Jeffrey did't think it was important to seperate out the cost of the room, from services availed of is a let down.
Complain about this comment
Madge,
You say Ian Paisley is honest. Prove it. Susie has listed above a very pertinent point. If Mr Paisley is innocent why not come out and dismiss Mr Allister? I find when a politician stays silent they are normally guilty. The biggest joke has to be Gregory Campbell giving evidence to Sir Christopher Kelly's inquiry into expenses. Remind me again Madge who owns Gregory's constituency office. Is it Gregory, his wife, unknown or the Flintstones!!!
Stormontspy
Complain about this comment
This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the House Rules.
This blog is ridiculous
I question Paisleys honesty as a politican (inparticular his "honesty" before the last assembly elections) and my post is deemed to break the "house rules"?
Quite unbelieveable
Complain about this comment
I don't have to prove honesty. read the manifestos of the DUP, watch the videos he took part in. I studied politics for A level when the assembly was up then down then up again. So I have a fairly intensive brief on politics from 1994 onwards.
Paisley has been honest with the people all the time. In the talks 1996 the DUP walked away because the UUP said one thing to the people in elections but when push came to shove they went ahead into the talks without decommissioning. Again at the first assembly elections the DUP were clear where they stood, the UUP said no guns no govt. Does anyone think they kept that?
The DUP made it crystal clear even then that decommissioning was a red herring in a sense, because more guns could be bought the next day. The policy of the DUP was to build unionist confidence should Sinn Fein commit to peaceful democratic means. The strategy to get that confidence was visible decommissioning.
Now fast forward to 2007. Richard Haas the US envoy is credited with pushig Sinn Fein to accept the pledges of office, the public support for police courts and rule of law the DUP demanded. The DUP had quite clearly said that this was better than decommissioing. Guns can be replaced....once Gerry Adams accepts a british court, police service and encourages republicans to engage with the police that cannot be undone. Did Bobby Sands die so republicans could accept the British state and security forces here in Northern Ireland as part of the UK? Look how far the DUP have pushed republicans!
With this kind of thing building unionist confidence the requirement for visible decommissioning was no longer a make or break decision. This was all open and in the policy documents and public statements placed in newspapers and other media...and folks still available on the DUP website. The DUP did not back flip on sharing power with Sinn Fein. They always said they would share power with any democratic party and that if Sinn Fein committed to open democratic politics only then they would wotk them. Paisley and Robinson said that at a Rally outside Stormont the day the Agreement was signed...I was there. They maybe didn't think Sinn Fein would move this far but they have.
That also doesn't take away from the DUP opposition to mandatory coalition...for they also made it clear both in policy documents and the media that they would only accept this form of govt if it were forced un us by the British govt and even then only until the institutions bedded down and society normalised.
PS maybe Paisley doesnt think much of Allister given his massive change in heart over sinn fein and mandatory coalition, his abandonment of his manifesto of 2004 and subsequent accusations daily many of which are questionable. If i was paisley I wouldn't respond at all to Allister ever.
And Mark how come Allister gets a free reign...when is he going to be pulled on Devolution Now which he was once proud of? He has completely changed his position since he rejoined the DUP and fought an election on their policy?
Complain about this comment
Madge,
Thanks for your trip down memory lane!!! Maybe next time you can take us somewhere with better weather!!!
You say Ian Paisley is honest. Then clarify this -
I will never sit down with Gerry Adams
Ian Paisley
Independent, February 13 1997.
"You can't build the bridge of trust with the scaffolding of lies and underhand deals pre 2007
We are not going into government with Sinn Fein.
Ian Paisley
September 27 2005, after the confirmation of IRA's decommissioning of its arms.
Stormontspy
Complain about this comment
We are not going into government with Sinn Fein,
Come Friday, the world will see what the Protestant people really think of this so-called peace process, which is really a surrender process.
"I will never sit down with Gerry Adams . . . he'd sit with anyone. He'd sit down with the devil. In fact, Adams does sit down with the devil."
"It would be naive to take the IRA at its word."
"power sharing with Sinn Fein would be "over our dead bodies"."
All direct quotes from Big Paisley
I will let people on here make their own minds up when they see these. Honest I will ;)
Complain about this comment
Stormontspy,
Good minds think alike eh
We could dig up quotes all night which proves how dishonest Paisley was to his electorate and the people for decades
People should "NEVER" forget how dishonest the DUP and its leader has been. It was a sustained period of dishonesty which lasted until they became "top dogs" and destroyed their real target (ie the UUP).
The DUP was only ever a interested in itself. It cares not about Northern Ireland or what is best for its people.
Complain about this comment
madge - Paisley claimed the £400 food allowance (the maximum available without receipts) consistently every month over many years, as indeed did quite a number of the DUP MPs, irrespective of how often they were in London. As the Daily Telegraph put it "Who ate all the pies?"
Now what is your DUP Press Office spin on that?
Complain about this comment
Madge,
Has the DUP nothing to offer? Have you accepted Paisley is guilty and cannot defend him? Or possibly you are thinking of another PR stunt following the talks between big Peter and the Orangemen and Garvagh Road Residents?
Stormontapy
Complain about this comment
For any comment to be taken out of context makes it a pretext.
Ian Paisley saying in 1997 that he would never sit down with Sinn Fein does make him a liar.
The context of the time was that Sinn Fein said they would not accept british rule in ireland. They did not and would not accept the police, courts or british rule of law. Brits out etc. Ballot box in one hand, armalite on the other. British forces were 'legitimate' targets.
In that context Paisley said he would never sit with Gerry Adams.
Who would have guessed though that ten years later the republican party, Sinn Fein, would become a constitutional nationalist party like the SDLP where Gerry Adams led the police constable up the Falls to a district policing partnership meeting where both impored the community to engage with the police and allow justice to take its course through british courts! A very different Gerry Adams to 1997.
In 2005 the comprehensive agreement nearly worked but the decommissioning was so vague and as yet Sinn Fein had not agreed to ministerial legally binding oaths to uphold british rule here.
As for the deals that is correct. That is why the DUP set out its position in Devolution Now back in 2003/4. Jim Allister along with all the other DUP representatives accepted that document. Its outworking is the current St Andrews arrangements. And the electorate were given the chance to have their say. The DUP position was clear, certianly to anyone who bothered to read the materials they published.
It always was we won't work with Sinn Fein UNTIL they commit themselves to deomcratic means. That was the reason for the trip down memory lane. An enduring DUP position still the same today, as in 1996.
And for the record I am not a member of any political party let alone a press officer for one.
It angers me when people accuse Ian Paisley of betrayel. He gave his life to work for a better Northern Ireland and as I have stated since 1996 said the DUP would work with SInn Fein when they became a normal political party not affialiated to armed organistions. Some people only heard we will not work with Sinn Fein, they never heard the last bit,...until they commit to peaceful democratic means. Ian has been clear all along.
Complain about this comment
Madge
SELECTIVE AMNESIA IS YOUR PROBLEM
Paisley had nothing to do with Sinn Fein's ditching of their core principles and values. They simply sold out to get into Government; they are now little more than tamed West Britons, taking their political cues from the British Establishment. However, that's not the issue. The debate is about whether Paisley and the DUP have been honest and honourable with the electorate.
Your interpretation of Paisley's ravings down the years as some sort of master strategy to "constitutionalise" Sinn Fein is fictional revisionism, pure and simple. The road to power for the DUP is littered with half-truths, lies and deceit. For example, in their lust to hold onto the levers of power, the DUP have chosen to ignore Sinn Fein/IRA involvement in, inter alia:
- Robert McCartney's Murder;
- Paul Quinn's Murder;
- Denis Donaldson's Murder;
- Northern Bank Robbery;
- Criminality, particularly in Border Areas.
Allied to the treachery outlined above, the DUP now have their snouts deeply in the Westminster, Stormont & Brussels' troughs. That's their bonus and, oh boy, are they making the most of it.
If you're happy with the DUP and Sinn Fein operating and governing jointly by way of a Fascist cartel, in effect a DUP/Sinn Fein Fascist Coalition, I'm pleased that such an association suits your needs and aspirations, but please allow the rest of us to question the validity of the current political stitch-up.
Susie
Carryduff
Complain about this comment
Madge,
There always seems to be one thing in the mind of the DUP. That is money. Policing and Justice is now all about money, at the time devolution was all about money and last but not least those MP's expenses are not far away.
The DUP have betrayed the people over devolution and sitting in Government with Sinn Fein. It was always no. Then the thought of power and money lured them like bee to honey. The fact that Jim Allister secured over 66,000 first preference votes speaks volumes. I agree that Jim Allister went round the world promoting Devolution in 2004 but the reason he turned against it is the same was why 66,000 people voted for him. No matter what fantasy world you live in there is no reasonable explanation to say different.
Ian Paisley is like every other politician - they tell people what they want you to hear. By your admission you must be around 30 years old. Maybe you are still impressionable by what people say.
Has a DUP supporter do you pay tax like the rest of the working population. How do you feel when you read and hear that our politicians have been milking the system for their own benefit? Is it because it is the DUP you just think its ok because let me tell you it is not. For Ian Paisley and others to claim food allowances when chances are they were not even in Parliament is wrong. As the reliable and honest Susie said Ian Paisley was in hospital during this time. To the best of my memory he was in and out of hospital for a while. He must have been unwell. Also with spending a lot of time here in Northern Ireland as First Minister how did he still manage to claim £400 for food in all that time. Another thing Madge. How do you feel when you hear that Iris Robinson tried to claim £300 for a pen? Is that right?
The biggest joke of the week by far was Gregory Campbell giving evidence to the Sir Christopher Kelly inquiry into MP expenses. This is the same man who is top of the league in claiming other expenses. Not even DI Frost or Sherlock Holmes has managed to work out who owns his constituency office. In February 2008 Gregory Campbell stated that he pays his wife rent for the use of the constituency office and he employs his wife full time. Then in May 2009 Gregory stated that no one in his family owns his office and he only employs his wife on a part time basis. With comments like that it summons up why the DUP is losing support. The DUP will not be honest with the electorate.
Stormontspy
Complain about this comment
AMNESIA IS PAISLEY'S PROBLEM...
I totally concur with Stormonspy and Susie, although I think Paisley is the one who suffers from amnesia - probably caused by being hit on the head with a golf ball while at St Andrews in 2006!
Pandora
Complain about this comment
Well at least you admit Allister changed. Thats a starting point.
Now if we can just get you to say Ian APsiley hasn't we are in agreement.
If you admit Jim changed since 2004 and devolution now you admit Jim Allsiter stole DUP votes by being dishonest and saying he held the DUP position when in fact he does not.
By that admission, that he changed, you also then must also agree that the DUP has not, at least since Devolution Now in 2004. So we can stop the stupid allegations that they did. The details I admit have changed but the principle of working with Sinn Fein has not.
If anything this is why the DUp has lost touch. Those 66000 who voted for Allister perhaps never agreed to the DUP position of sharing power when they committed to democratic means, but perhaps thought only the DUP offered good representation generally until Allsiter came along.
Now I don't doubt Allisters ability, really I don't. Generally I quite like the man, but then he takes the hypocritical stance of attacking a position he was elected on...and to me that makes him untrustworthy....wether he represents your views now or not, you have admitted he changed his position.
So Susie do you deny the DUP has said since 1994 it would work with Sinn Fein if they committed to peaceful democratic means? It is well documented, yet your current stance seems to suggest you don't accept that basic undisputable fact!
The events you mention happened before the deal in 2007, before the assembly election and the DUP still was elected to its strongest ever position...no deceit at all...it was all in the open. Jim Allister actually canvassed for the DUP in that election. He saw no problems till a few weeks later.
I have no problem with questoning of current set up, in fact i believe in a strong opposition, however given Jims change of heart his words ring hollow. in the big picture, just as unionism asserts itself again it splinters giving republincanism hope. Jim Allsiter put sinn fein at the top of the european poll. Something they didnt achieve after thirty years of violence. Unionism divided fails.
Complain about this comment
So Stormont spy,
yon don't think the DUP should be concerned about money?
So if we devolve policing and justice, something I really want quickly on a personal level, we shouldn't talk to the Govt about the several hundred million required for the training college to be finished, the state and lack of our prisons, the fact that our forensic service operates out of a mobile huts adjacent to a small inadequate building, the police are underfunded and staffed....but the UUP / SDLP days of not thinking of these things was better?
One minute you snidely attack the DUP over money the next you talk about tax money. Either you like good govt or you don't. The DUP have been immeasurably better at running stormont. But the system is rubbish and bureaucratic. It needs fixed.
So you don't think the new poisitions adopted by Sinn Fein merit a rethink on when policing and justice can happen?
Becuase they havent gone far enough for your idealogical perception of democracy you would prefer people were unable to get justice after a road traffic accident kills family members?
A neutral minister can bring forward much needed reforms and sticter laws, close loop holes and provide a justice system that works for victims not the offenders.
My brother was killed in 2005, then man who killed him was convicted of death by dangerous driving and got an 8 months sentence, he only served 6 weeks.
But lets put hundreds of families though this sham of a justice system becuase Sinn Fein didn't get down on their knees and beg forgiveness for the actions of their past.
Some people are so pig headed they would let the country go to ruin rather than accept people have changed. Sinn Fein have made enough public statements backed up by actions in the nationlist community for me to be happy with devolved policing and justice.
Who would have thought nationalists would stop a republican group bombing an army or police station. Yet it has happened. Accept times have changed and lets get on with running the country right.
Complain about this comment
majesticfilibuster you are either a quite unbleiveable DUP spin docter or quite a deluded soul if you believe Allister has changed and Paisley and the DUP hasnt
I will let you inform us of which one you are
Complain about this comment
Madge,
I would like to know too who or what you are - Are you a DUP fantasist??
Stormontspy
Complain about this comment
View these comments in RSS