NORTHERN IRELAND PARTIES Sinn Fein

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SINN FEIN (party website; official manifesto document). Googles: BBC Sinn Fein policy; Guardian; Irish News; Belfast Telegraph; The Independent...

CURRENT AFFAIRS:

Belfast Telegraph: NI leader Michelle O'Neill states "the IRA does not exist" and argues that the PSNI and Garda reports to the contrary are part of the misognyny she faces, and that SF is an exceptionally democratic party 

NORTHERN IRELAND party policies general resources

 The CCEA's own guide is your key resource.

(For the big UK parties, this manifesto tracker is a handy guide)

CAIN keep an updated hyperlinked list of NI manifestos.

The BBC published very useful guides for the 2019 general election. They also did this overall summary of the 5 parties' key policies.

You can read through, or do a CTRL-F/CMD-F search for a keyword like immigration:

SINN FEIN (party website; official manifesto document). Googles: BBC Sinn Fein policy; Guardian; Irish News; Belfast Telegraph; The Independent...

SDLP  (official manifesto document). Googles: BBC SDLP policy; Guardian; Irish News; Belfast Telegraph; The Independent...

ALLIANCE (party website: manifestos; official manifesto document)

UUP (party website manifestos; official manifesto document)

DUP (party website; official manifesto document)

The Humanist Society produced their own distinctive guide, especially useful on education.

NORTHERN IRELAND Human Rights Commission

A body with the UN 'A' designation as a top-level human rights organisation. January 2021 saw a combined formal cpmplaint from over 90 NGOs that the process and selection of 6 new commissioners (several have NI police backgrounds) will reduce the status of the NIHRC. Guardian.

NORTHERN IRELAND Education

GREAT OPINION PIECE WRITTEN BY A STUDENT FRUSTRATED OVER THE FOOT-DRAGGING ON THE LEGAL COMMITMENT TO FOSTER INTEGRATED SCHOOLING

Guardian.

NI SCHOOLS SUED FOR RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION (News Letter, Nov 2021)

The big issues in NI education are:

- the role of the church and segregation on religious lines (the Catholic church runs many schools, though they are state-funded, while many 'state' schools are largely Protestant - with religious assemblies but no Protestant church involvement); integrated schools with no religious demographic are STILL a small majority

- selection/grammar schools. NI children mostly have to sit entry exams aged 11 (the 'eleven-plus') in order to get into a grammar school. Those who fail will have access to a narrower range of academic subjects and sit foundation GCSEs, maximum grade C/5. SDLP, Alliance, SF all oppose selection by test.

Other issues:

- the History syllabus is always going to be contested

- likewise the texts/writers chosen for the English/Literature syllabus

- Citizenship/PSE become controversial in NI too, with the ultra-conservative DUP plus Catholic church opposed to teaching elements of basic sexual and reproductive health 

- the status of Irish language, which is traditionally compulsory in Catholic schools but not taught in state schools

MOMENTUM BEHIND INTEGRATED AS 69% SUPPORT END TO RELIGIOUSLY SEGREGATED SCHOOLS

Guardian article shows that behind the negative headlines a more integrated NI is emerging.

THE UK PICTURE - 20%!!!!

I usually avoid Fiona Millar's opinion pieces, but there's a statistic in there that was an eye opener to me - a full '20% of pupils in England feel the impact of the 11-plus tests'.

JANUARY 2021: ROW OVER 11+ COVID CANCELLATIONS

This is brewing into a big row, with the DUP blocking attempts by SF, SDLP and Alliance to order the cancellation of all of these, as in this BBC article (here's another opinion piece on the 11+ exam from Belfast Telegraph, including its history). Since my schooldays an already questionable system has intensified - most kids now sit multiple tests in formal exam conditions from two exam boards on multiple Saturdays, and pay for the privilege of this extreme stress and life-changing judgement of young children. 

My memory of this is the whole final year of primary school being centred on preparing for this test - and being alone in my circle of friends in passing it, meaning we went to different secondary schools. As with A-Level exams (as distinct from coursework, which the Con government/Michael Gove have sought to undermine and minimise) there is a clear link between social class and success, with many middle-class parents paying for additional private tuition outside of school.

I credit my younger sister HB here for briefing me on how it works today - but also note that I get a lot of useful stories and updates through my Google news feed: if you open the Google app and look down you'll have a customisable news feed.

This came through that news feed - an article about (non-sectarian) street/wall art/murals in Belfast, known for the Provo/UVF displays but actually now home to increasing art displays. That development certainly struck me on my last pre-covid stay in Belfast. 

Above - two images from July 2019 trip to show that, 11+ notwithstanding, there is social change in NI. Non-sectarian public art is flourishing while the traditional boundary marking red/white/blue or green/white/orange kerbstone painting is joined by rainbow kerbs marking a recognised LGBT+ corner. Teaching anything that promotes non-binary or non-hetero as normal remains highly contentious in the NI schooling system decades after Thatcher's Clause 28 was ditched by PM John Major.

NI GFA CHALLENGES Irish Language and Ulster-Scots

A prominent loyalist claims in January 2021 that the BBC NI are trolling him by using a picture of a Belfast street sign in English and Irish (the Irish is similar to his surname).

Just a sign of how this issue, like so much in NI, isn't really fully resolved notwithstanding the deal struck in January 2020 to get Stormont up again.

The DUP are making noises about how upset they are at a policy which means that if any one resident or local councillor objects to an application for Irish (or Ulster-Scots!) street signage, 'just' 15% of local residents can approve it. That may be a low number, but activating that number isn't necessarily so easy! See Belfast Telegraph.

You can read more in an RTE article shortly after the 2020 deal was struck:

The Stormont proposals for legal protection for the Irish language in Northern Ireland are significant because they amount to the first piece of domestic legislation recognising the language north of the border. Irish is mentioned in general terms in the Good Friday Agreement and is also protected under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, but campaigners have long fought for more specific and robust legal provisions at local level.

While recognising the historic advance represented by the agreement, campaign groups such as An Dream Dearg and Conradh na Gaeilge are nonetheless disappointed that the deal covers broader linguistic and identity issues and does not amount to a standalone Irish language act. This stands in contrast with legislation for Irish in the Republic, as well as acts covering Welsh and Scottish Gaelic. However, the legacy of conflict in Northern Ireland meant a similar approach was unlikely to work. 

The Wiki is also useful:

On 11 January 2020, Sinn Féin and the DUP re-entered devolved government under the New Decade, New Approach agreement with DUP leader Arlene Foster appointed Northern Ireland's first minister, and Sinn Féin's Michelle O'Neill appointed deputy first minister.[21] As part of the agreement, there will be no standalone Irish Language Act, but the Northern Ireland Act 1998 will be amended and policies implemented to:

grant official status to both the Irish language and Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland;[22]

establish the post of Irish Language Commissioner to "recognise, support, protect and enhance the development of the Irish language in Northern Ireland" as part of a new Office of Identity and Cultural Expression (alongside an Ulster Scots/Ulster British Commissioner);[6]

introduce sliding-scale "language standards", a similar approach to that taken for the Welsh language in Wales, although they are subject to veto by the First Minister or deputy First Minister;[23]

repeal a 1737 ban on the use of Irish in Northern Ireland's courts;[6]

allow members of the Northern Ireland Assembly to speak in Irish or Ulster Scots, with simultaneous translation for non-speakers,[24] and

establish a central translation unit within the Northern Ireland government.[24]

NI New Decade New Approach Jan 2020

 

WILL DEAL COLLAPSE OVER DUP BLOCK ON LANGUAGES ACT?

The DUP getting angry at the idea of the British government legislating is not new - but Sinn Fein asking a Tory government to use the Commons to pass an Irish Languages Act, as agreed under the 2020 deal to revive the Assembly ... that's pretty weird! See June 2021 Guardian report.

MAY 2021 REVIEW - 500 DAYS LATER...

See BTele.

So, having broken records for non-governance, the DUP and SF finally brokered a deal to relaunch the Assembly in December 2019, signed and finalised in Jan 2020. SF had been insisting on DUP resignations in the light of the Cash For Ash scandal, and made an Irish Language Act their absolute red-line.

The DUP had been set to agree to a language act years before ... only to get a strong message from loyalists that this would be unacceptable and they would lose much of their support base. 

The smart solution - SF quietly dropped the resignation insistence and the DUP agreed to a bill that would give Irish ... AND Ulster-Scots legal parity!

While the Assembly remained shuttered (it requires the support of a portion of both unionist and nationalist blocs to function: it is a power-sharing executive!) the UK gov passed acts to legalise gay marriage and abortion in NI - to the fury of the DUP, who attempted to reopen Stormont early to block this. The more left-wing Sinn Fein blocked that attempt.

Here are some articles to read more:

Official UK gov paper.

BBC summary Jan 4th; and a later more detailed look (Jan 10th).

How the Daily Mail covered it.

A critical opinion piece (Suzanne Breen) in the Belfast Telegraph + an analysis piece.

The Wiki!!!

Guardian editorial (opinion piece); background on how the deal was made; analysis of priorities for the restored Assembly.

Here's a video from the Assembly itself:

Here's a BBC Newsnight video

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