Carál Ni ChuilÃn is the New Culture Minister for Northern Ireland
All change at Stormont today, with the newly elected Northern Ireland assemblyÌýmeeting for the first time sinceÌýthe elections a fortnight ago. I was listening to the radio asÌýMarkÌýCarruthers on "Good Morning Ulster" pushedÌýSinn Fein's John O'Dowd to seeÌýwouldÌýtheÌýDepartment of Culture, Arts and LeisureÌýminister be Martina Anderson? It made sense. Derry born and bred, with theÌýinaugural UK CityÌýof Culture there in 2013.ÌýBut no. While it is a female minister at DCAL, it is a West Belfast woman,ÌýNew Lodge woman, born and bred. CarálÌýNà ChuilÃn. Do a Google search and you can see that she'sÌýa former Belfast City Councillor, an MLA since 2007 and a former IRAÌýprisoner. Today, she took the political office of the Minister for Culture, Arts and Leisure.Ìý I spoke to her todayÌýjust hours after the announcement and she seemed all too aware of the job ahead, but telling me she was delighted. She told me today sheÌýwon't interfereÌýin the artistic side of any festival programmingÌýor museum exhibitions. This was in answer to howÌýshe would steer away from the controversy surrounding the previous Minister Nelson McCausland and his intervention inÌýthe BelfastÌýFestival at QueensÌýprogramming inÌýwhich heÌýasked the festival toÌýconsider includingÌýpro-Israel points of view and Christian music. This came off the back ofÌýpreviousÌýcomments aboutÌýmuseumsÌýgiving more prominence to Ulster-Scots, the Orange Order and alternative views on the origin of the universe.
SoÌýas she digests her brief tonight, she couldÌýcatch up on a few episodes of the HBO/Belfast made tv mini series"Game of Thrones", familiarise herself with the funding situation and looming cuts, Ìýand then get in touch with her inner Picasso andÌýenter aÌýself portait for a competition for MLAs being run by the Metropolitan Arts Centre, the MAC,Ìýwhich will be judged by ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster'sÌýWendy Austin and NI'sTweet King political journalist Eamon Maillie.
Talking of tweets, the new Minister has been tweeting her musical taste, includingÌýRod Stewart,ÌýLed Zeppelin and Seasick Steve. Now there's a concert line up, if a Culture Minister wanted to influence!
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Comment number 1.
At 20th May 2011, James McAnespy wrote:You didn't mention Mr McCausland's complaints about Black Watch, a gritty play about front line soldiers, which he felt contained too much swearing!
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