Where to now? Former Foyle UUP chairman asks

There is enough good sense within the voting and non-voting electorate in Northern Ireland to realise that the latest financial bailout at Stormont is unsustainable, the former deputy chairman of the UUP, Terry Wright said this week.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Oct 2014, 13:00 BST
Terry Wright.Terry Wright.
Terry Wright.

“It used to be ‘Never, Never, Never’ now it is government on the ‘never, never’ and puts the Assembly on budgetary life-support. It inspires the confidence of a toxic bank,” he said, continuing: “The worrying feature is that those who endorse it appear to feel they have acted positively. When you have boxed yourself into a corner any exit strategy is welcome. The problem is that another corner waits close by. It is a qualified positivity contrived in crisis and a symptom of failure in grasping not just financial realities but the rationale of the process and the structures that pertain.”

Claiming measures in place were merely expedient, he said: “The generosity of the Treasury is in all probability due to the desire of the government at Westminster to avoid taking charge at Stormont. Why would they? Any reports that the Secretary of State carries to London must shorten any list of candidates for her job. Any Dublin government in a sober state of mind will hope that unification is distant and the present incumbents must be on board in hoping that the parcel of goodies will serve to pacify or buy time. What more is there to learn about communal segregation, lack of reconciliation and manipulative political posturing that is grinding up everybody’s future?

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“In the circumstances the electorate is cast in the role of spectator of the tragicomedy and if recent polls are to be relied upon, increasingly disaffected, disenfranchised, and disengaged.

Politics need to work and be seen to work. Recovery of the hope and the expectations that enthused so many in 1998 is paramount.”

Maintaining politics is not delivering a secure future, he said the process was in need of reform and impediments also arose from the leadership and the values and tactics of the elected representatives.

MLAs work effectively at constituency level but within the Assembly they are allowing the two bigger parties to manage the power that they also share. The TUV and UKIP have their agendas but it cannot beyond the collective ability of the UUP, SDLP, Alliance, Green and Independent as custodians of the Agreements to create a better way.

Why are they settling for a crisis-ridden status quo?

Related topics:MLAsNorthern Ireland