Advertisement
BBC BLOGS - The Devenport Diaries
« Previous | Main | Next »

What they don't say...

Martina Purdy Martina Purdy | 10:32 UK time, Monday, 20 July 2009

I returned to work this morning to find a press statement from the Deputy First Minister congratulating Tyrone following their victory in this year's GAA Ulster football final. I didn't notice the First Minister's name on the release. Is Peter Robinson an Antrim fan?
He did manage a joint congratulations with Mr McGuinness for Antrim teenager Michael McKillop when he won the gold medal in the 800 metres in the paralympics in Beijing. And both ministers jointly congratulated the Irish Rugby team on their Grand Slam win in Cardiff in March.

So I was wondering what happened? Is there a protocol for these things? I notice there is now a protocol for Derry/Londonderry as evidenced in their joint statement last week on the funding for festivals.

I did ask the DUP. And this was the response:


A DUP spokesman said: "Politicians are usually criticised for what they do say rather than what they don't. But as we are in the mood for looking for congratulations all around, we look forward to hearing the chair of the D-CAL committee congratulating the organisers of Orangefest for a hugely successful Twelfth of July."

Comments

or register to comment.

  • 1. At 3:00pm on 20 Jul 2009, FermanaghUnionist wrote:

    Maybe Peter should start following Antrim. The DUP are on their way down as are his football team Chelsea, so backing a winning side, even if it is GAA, might not be a bad move.

    Complain about this comment

  • 2. At 10:11pm on 20 Jul 2009, Stormontspy wrote:

    Martina,

    Hi again.

    Did you see that the SDLP Leader Mark Durkan has signed an Early Day Motion at Westminster calling on the government to take action to speed up the process of pension credit payments so that pensioners do not have to wait for up to four months to receive their entitlement.

    Is this not the responsibility of DSD in Northern Ireland to which their party colleague is Minister? Another display of incompetence by the SDLP

    Stormontspy

    Complain about this comment

View these comments in RSS

Explore the BBC

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.