´óÏó´«Ã½

Much of the publicity associated with today's publication of the Bill of Rights Forum's final report has concerned the boycott by some Forum members, such as the Catholic representative Fr. Tim Bartlett and the DUP elected representatives. I have to confess that I did my own little bit to disrupt the launch of the Forum report, by telling my colleagues it was happening at Hillsborough rather than the Belfast Hilton. Fortunately Martina Purdy discovered the truth in time to divert.

Having failed to black out the Bill of Rights launch, I think it's only fair that I should point those of you who saw the draft document on this blog over the weekend to the final report, which you can find on this website.

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We had a distinctly catty exchange in the Assembly this afternoon between Jeffrey Donaldson and Basil McCrea during discussion of the new Commission for Victims and Survivors Bill. Jeffrey lectured Basil on being a latecomer to politics here. Basil responded by claiming that some of those who had spent longer in politics than him had delivered nothing. He then called Jeffrey "an expert in hypocrisy". This prompted an intervention from the Deputy Speaker John Dallat who ruled that calling a member a hypocrite was unparliamentary. I can hardly wait until the next Lagan Valley election.

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Arlene Foster has disappointed Jim Shannon. She has assured her party colleague that we have no wildcats here. According to the Environment Minister, the Wildcat (Felis sylvestris) is a native species of the British Isles but is restricted in its range to the North of Scotland. Advice to Scottish wildcats - stay where you are, Jim is asking about you...

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With the ´óÏó´«Ã½'s search for a Nancy and an Oliver generating acres of newsprint locally and in the London press, ´óÏó´«Ã½ Newsline has an interesting take on it tonight. Julie McCullough interviews the Executive Minister who once starred as the Artful Dodger. Here's a clue: he now considers himself at home somewhere different to where he used to reside politically.

And my colleague Gareth Gordon gets a mention too, in relation to his cameo role as a Bow Street Runner.

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I have just returned from Belfast's Wellington Park Hotel where 30 or so members of the Bill of Rights Forum are slaving over their draft report on what a new Bill should contain. They are expected to advocate a prohibition on slavery and forced labour but this does not, it seems, stop Forum members working away over the weekend in the dimly lit McWilliam suite (not named, I think, in honour of our Chief Human Rights Commissioner).

I was at the Forum to record a discussion between 3 Forum members, Sinn Fein's Martina Anderson, the UUP's Paula Bradshaw and the Committee on the Administration of Justice's Aideen Gilmore. This will be broadcast on Inside Politics at a quarter to one tomorrow and we range across the right to march, abortion, the promotion of women in public life, and the right to define yourself in any way you want, rather than being categorised as a unionist or nationalist.

The Bill is still in draft form and members are going through the text line by line indicating their support or opposition. But one draft I have obtained sets out the following categories:

1. Dignity and Equality
2. Personal Integrity (including the Right to Life)
3. Freedoms (including Rights to Liberty, Privacy, Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion, Freedom of Expression, Freedom of Assembly and Association, Right to Self Identification, and Right to Nationality)
4. Social Participation (various Social, Economic and Health related Rights)
5. Justice (Right to a Fair Trial, Rights of Victims and Witnesses and the recommendation on the age of criminal responsibility which has previously caused controversy)
6. Citizen's Rights (Right to participation and Good Governance, Freedom of Movement)
7. Rights Particular to Specific Groups (Rights of Children and Young People, who amongst other things, have a Right to Play, and Rights of Women and Victims)

With unionists generally far more sceptical about the proposed Bill than nationalists, there will not be any agreed text presented by the Forum Chair, Australian lawyer Chris Sidoti, to the Human Rights Commissioner, Monica McWilliams, on Monday. Instead the document will reflect a majority view with the opinions of those who dissent being recorded. Proposals for the Bill will eventually go from the Human Rights Commission to the Secretary of State Shaun Woodward, whose job it will be to put the Bill into Westminster legislation, bearing in mind the views of the Assembly.

As the draft document I have seen is very long I am putting it in the extended entry for your delectation. I should stress again that this is a working text. The final version is due to be published on Monday. As I sat in on the Forum's meeting, I could see some of the language being changed in front of my eyes.

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I gave Alliance's Stephen Farry a ring this afternoon to chat to him about the forthcoming Northern Ireland Bill of Rights. Would it enshrine a suspect's right to remain silent? Should a supect be released if not charged within 24 hours? What would the Bill say about the age of criminal responsibility?

All of these questions were on my list, and I was ringing Stephen in his capacity as a member of the Bill of Rights Forum. However I was somewhat taken aback to discover that the Mayor of North Down was sitting in the clink. He wasn't being subjected to any inhuame and degrading treatment (indeed the officers at Bangor police station appeared to be feeding him a constant supply of tea and biscuits). However he was indeed behind bars.

If you want to know why, try following this link, which reveals that the DUP's Alex Easton is also due to do some porridge. Farry and Easton, eh. Which one is Fletcher and which one is Godber?

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Anyone who listened to today's Northern Ireland Questions would have come to the conclusion that the date for policing and justice powers coming to Stormont is receding. But in one respect the Police are getting closer to the Assembly building. Sting, Andy and Stewart were due to be playing their summer gig elsewhere on the Stormont estate. But they have now shifted up the hill to play with the imposing backdrop of Parliament Buildings behind them. So that's the Police sorted. Policing is another matter.

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Further to yesterday's comment on Gordon Brown and the union, Downing Street has pointed out that whilst the paper version of the article didn't mention Northern Ireland, page 2 of the online version did, referring to continuing reforms here. Questioned at today's PMQs by Nigel Dodds, Mr Brown pointed this out. But unionists don't appear convinced - Gregory Campbell has tabled a question asking about the geographical criteria used in framing the article.

In an exchange yesterday with Jack Straw over new rules on the flying of the Union flag which won't apply to Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson claimed the government treated people here as "children of a lesser God". So more trouble may be brewing there.

In Northern Ireland Questions, David Simpson asked Shaun Woodward about President McAleese's comments linking a Royal visit to Dublin to the devolution of justice. The Secretary of State said the timing of a royal visit would depend on contacts between Buckingham Palace and the Irish government and would be "at a time of her choosing". Methinks the Irish government will have a rather large say on that timing.

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Back after an Easter break spent egg trundling at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, I turned to today's Daily Telegraph and Gordon Brown's sterling defence of the union . Before the DUP and UUP take too much heart from having such a staunch ally, they might note that the PM mentions England, Scotland and Wales a few times, but this corner of the UK seems strangely air brushed out of his picture.

On the topic of the union and its citizens, my colleague Ruth McDonald pointed me to a Westminster Early Day Motion from the Islington Labour MP Emily Thornberry taking the former Attorney General Lord Goldsmith to task over his suggestion that Irish citizens resident in Great Britain should lose their right to vote in Westminster elections. Amongst other things, Ms Thornberry castigates Lord Goldsmith for not consulting with representatives of the Irish community or the Irish government

I looked back at Lord Goldsmith's review, published earlier this month. He makes it clear that he doesn't want to take away the right to vote in Westminster elections from anyone from Northern Ireland who is exercising their right to Irish citizenship under the Good Friday Agreement. Instead he says " it would be necessary to distinguish this group of Irish citizens from others. I have not been able to examine the different practical means of doing this but this would have to be part of further consideration of the issue. My proposal is dependent on finding a satisfactory means of distinguishing the two categories in a way that did not affect the position of those exercising rights under the Good Friday Agreement."

He adds "the restriction of the right to vote in Westminster elections should be phased, so that no person who is already resident or registered to vote in the UK loses the right to vote". Where this would leave, say, our Education Minister Caitriona Ruane, who lives in the Irish Republic but would like to be the MP for South Down, I don't know. Apart from the response from nationalists (Mark Durkan has signed the EDM), I can imagine the Irish government could get exercised on this topic - presumably any move by Westminster to remove the right to vote from Irish citizens would provoke Dublin to review the reciprocal arrangements which allow British citizens to vote in Dail elections.

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This week I took a walk back down memory lane revisiting Castle Buildings, the non-descript office block on the Stormont estate which was the venue for so much drama in the run up to the Good Friday Agreement nearly ten years ago. Like the rest of the Belfast press corps I spent hour after hour in the car park outside waiting for any news of a breakthrough or a breakdown. Given that the DUP and UK Unionists had long since walked out of the talks, the politicians with the toughest choices facing them were the Ulster Unionists. Their press officer was David Kerr and, revisiting his old haunts with me this week, he summoned up the mood inside the talks room as the UUP faced its moment of decision a decade ago, with Ken Maginnis making an impassioned speech in favour of the deal, whilst Jeffrey Donaldson set out his concerns in relation to prisoner releases and decommissioning.

As we all know now, David Trimble did the deal, but Jeffrey Donaldson walked away. The Lagan Valley MP is my guest this weekend on Inside Politics, fielding questions about the events of 1998, if David Trimble deserves praise for his pioneering work then, Jonathan Powell's revelations about an alleged back channel between the DUP and Sinn Fein and Mary McAleese's comments linking a visit by the Queen to Dublin to the transfer of justice powers.

As usual, the programme goes on out on ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster at 12.45 on Saturday afternoon.

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Chris Thornton has an entertaining report in the Belfast Telegraph today documenting the to and fro between civil servants over whether Martin McGuinness is the Deputy First Minister, or (as it says in this excerpt from the our deputy FIrst Minister with a small "d".

This matter of state is important to our number 2, apparently, because sticking to a small "d" emphasises he is really not number 2, but joint number 1.

This follows shortly after the Irish News reported that our Education Minister wanted correspondence to be sent to her at caitriona.ruane@deni.eu, rather than her gov.uk address.

Is there a solution to the standoff over completing devolution here? Could we get a new department of justice, with a small j to appeal to nationalists and a gov.uk address to keep unionists happy? Perhaps it could be jointly led by a Justice minister and another justice Minister.....

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I have been away for a couple of days, so I am playing catch up back in the office. So what happened whilst I was away? Well President McAleese spelt out what the Taoiseach has already said a few times - that a ground breaking visit by the Queen to Dublin is conditional on the devolution of justice. Unionists fulminated about what Danny Kennedy called an "unwelcome, unwise, clumsy and ill-judged" attempt to embroil the Queen in political controversy. I am simply perplexed. Are the DUP so desperate to see the Queen visit the Republic that this will act as a lever on them to do a deal? Has Peter Robinson been handed the right of veto over any future Royal visit?

I think someone will have to open up a back channel between the Aras, Buckingham Palace and DUP HQ to sort this one out. Which brings me, of course, to Jonathan Powell's book. There were strong rumours about a DUP-Sinn Fein back channel between the Leeds Castle talks and last year's deal. A colleague made good progress investigating it, but never got to the point where we felt there was evidence which would stand up in court. However now we have a Powell confirmation and a DUP denial. We also have an assertion that a journalist was involved. All I can say is "not me, guv."

Although I have been away, the main website has published a couple of pieces I prepared earlier, dealing with the tenth anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Here is one on the contested nature of the anniversary.

Here is another about the fate of some of the agreement's brokers.

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Good to see the standard of political rhetoric remains as high as ever. At a weekend speech to the DUP's South Antrim Association, Peter Robinson launched an attack on Jim Allister suggesting the MEP "may live in a parallel universe with a brown paper bag over his head divorced from all the unpleasant realities of political life". Jim hit back, insisting "it's not me who has the penchant for strange headgear, but the balaclava brigade who are now his partners in government".

I think we shall need to appoint a Millinery Commissioner to sort this one out.

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No, not one of the eleven new super councils. Instead I am thinking of commenter Susie Flood's 12th council, the one still ruling the IRA. Tony Blair's Chief of Staff, Jonathan Powell, writes in his book, serialised in today's Guardian, about the PM offering to talk to the masked men of the IRA Army Council. Gerry Adams would always say the "time was not quite right, and maybe we should do it later".

Hard not to wonder whether the main reason for avoiding such face to balaclava talks was that some of the muffled voices might have sounded awfully familiar to the PM?

Jonathan Powell is not naive. He also writes "of course we knew some of the people we were talking to as Sinn Fein leaders were also leaders of the IRA". But he adds "the two organisations were different. There wasn't a complete overlap in their membership and their political imperatives were not the same. Some in the physical force republican movement were not politically subtle and some in Sinn Fein were not engaged in physical violence."

So, in offering to meet the IRA Army Council, was the PM simply covering all possible bases, or buying too much into the notion of "hawks and doves" within the republican movement?

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The DUP's Peter Weir accused the UUP's David McNarry of picking up a crate of red herrings from some fishermen who visited Stormont this week. The exchange came during our recording of Inside Politics. The herring bone of contention was the local council shake up and the UUP prediction that it will pave the way towards the greening of Belfast.

If you want to hear the feisty debate tune in to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Ulster at 12.45pm tomorrow.

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Earlier this week I recorded an interview for National Public Radio in the USA about Hillary Clinton's claims to have contributed to peace in Ireland. I had to scratch my head to bring back the memories of covering her meeting in the "Lamplighter" with Joyce McCartan and other women from working class areas of Belfast. Also I recalled attending her "Vital Voices" lecture at the University of Ulster. I told NPR she had played a supportive role, but like anyone applying for a job, might be guilty of making the most of her CV. At that time I had not seen her quoted claim that she was "instrumental" in brokering peace. I see NPR quote me as describing the "Lamplighter" occasion as a bit "artificial" given the battery of cameras and reporters in the corner of the room

What I forgot to mention was a memory of my producer on the UU campus at Coleraine being told not to film the First Lady's legs as, allegedly, she didn't like her ankles being shown on TV. This was a whole decade before Carl Bernstein wrote about Hillary's ankles being thick in his biography of the Senator. Personally I have no view on what the physical attributes of any potential leader of the world's biggest super power should be. But my tip to Barack Obama is that if there is something he is sensitive about, don't make such a big deal of it that you flag it up to the press.

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As indicated here last month 7, 11 or 15? eleven is the magic number when it comes to our councils. I am just heading around to Stormont Castle for what I expect to be Arlene Foster's official confirmation of a DUP-Sinn Fein deal on local government. UUP ministers were irked they only got the paperwork at the last minute, but the two big parties have the votes to push their proposal through. See our main website for the map of the proposed council boundaries.

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Whatever happened to the old Civic Forum, the body which was meant to sit alongside the Assembly representing interest groups like the trade unions, business, and the churches?

After devolution was restored the Executive asked members of the original 60 strong body if they'd like to reform. According to an Assembly written answer to the DUP's Stephen Moutray, 32 of them said yes please and 6 said no. The rest wanted to await the outcome of an Executive review of the forum, or else didn't reply.

But the OFMDFM has decided not to take the 32 up on their kind offer. They argued that "although about half of the original members of the Forum were willing to serve while the review was underway, this was not representative of some of the smaller sectors and, given the short remaining lifespan of the existing Forum, it was decided not to recall the members but to concentrate instead on pressing ahead with the review."

I am keeping an eye out for any street protests demanding the Forum's immediate restoration....

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Well we got through "Stormont Live" without our cameras being switched off by the Assembly security staff. The most memorable item in the show was Basil McCrea and Jeffrey Donaldson picking up a furious argument which they had begun earlier on the Nolan show. Normally I try to butt in, assisting Jim Fitzpatrick with a few additional questions, but in this row over whether the Maze stadium is "dead in the water" I simply couldn't get a word in edgeways.

The official DUP line is that no decision has been made, and the Finance Department will present the Executive with unvarnished economic facts before ministers start weighing up political considerations. However the political reality is that, with Ian Paisley on his way, the Maze project appears to have fewer and fewer friends in the DUP. Some senior party sources have expressed grave doubts about the stadium's financial viability and referred to its cross community dimension as "a con" because the different crowds for the different sports will, naturally enough, gather there at different times. So don't put your money on watching any Olympic football at the Maze.

Later in "Stormont Live" we talked to David Burnside, who told the Assembly that Ian Paisley might not have had blood on his hands during the troubles but did have blood on his tongue. A striking, if rather strange, metaphor.

I am away from the Assembly tomorrow, when MLAs will debate a report on the devolution of justice, but normal service should be resumed later in the week.

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The Commission amended its broadcasting ban this morning, clearing the way for our "Stormont Live" broadcast at 2.15pm on ´óÏó´«Ã½2. MLAs are currently crossing swords over the Eames/Bradley group on the past. We should have more of that for you this afternoon, plus some discussion of the Maze stadium, questions to Caitriona Ruane and the sitting today of a Youth parliament which has taken over the Senate Chamber. Unfortunately no actors doing silly voices. So don't miss the programme they tried to ban....

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I spent today recording Inside Politics. Our guest is Sir Reg Empey who talks about the prospects for unionist unity after Ian Paisley and predicts unionists might cooperate with a new British Irish parliamentary assembly.

As usual, the programme goes out at 12.45 on Radio Ulster.

I would also advise you to tune in to Stormont Live on ´óÏó´«Ã½2 at 2.15, but, as things stand, the show could be banned. The new rules drawn up to deal with Sinn Fein's Mairead Farrell event limit filming to the press point in the Great Hall.

Theoretically that means the Chamber proceedings can not be televised and our basement studio would also be a no go area. We would probably have to get in touch with all the actors who used to do the voices for Gerry Adams to re-enact the Chamber debates.

Somehow I don't think it will come to that. The betting is this will all be sorted out before we go on air, but tune in just in case we are replaced by the test card.

Something else I noticed about the new rules is that for an event to be sponsored in the Long Gallery you need 3 MLAs "on a cross community basis". That phrasing was used to accommodate Alliance concerns about specifying unionist or nationalist designations. I wondered, however, what would happen if Sinn Fein's Billy Leonard joined together with some of his Catholic party colleagues to sponsor an event - is that cross community or not? I suspect that, if tested, Assembly officials will return to the political designation system as their baseline.

These interim criteria may well change but for those who want to peruse them I shall reproduce them in the extended entry.

Read the rest of this entry

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Contrary to yesterday's prediction, the Mairead Farrell function was captured on camera. On the face of it this broke the new interim criteria for such events in a party room which state that "such events must be private in nature, with an invited guest list and not open to the press in any official capacity". But since no penalty is specified it's hard to know what, if any, retribution might follow. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the tough new Stormont rules don't prevent us from enjoying the regular UUP finger buffet on a Monday lunchtime.

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The Assembly Commission has just finished meeting to try to iron out the war over the use of the Stormont Long Gallery for controversial occasions. This was sparked, of course by Sinn Fein's Jennifer McCann, who booked the room for a function tomorrow to commemorate the life of the IRA member Mairead Farrell. The Commission, which normally operates on a consensus, put the matter to a vote and Sinn Fein's Paul Butler was heavily outnumbered. The function will now go ahead in Sinn Fein's party office, but the Commission has banned cameras from being taken up the stairs.

So just like IRA decommissioning, we will be told it went ahead, but denied any photographic evidence.

UPDATE: No sooner did I file the above than a Commission source disputed the notion that this went to a formal vote. The source said new interim rules were approved without a formal vote, although Paul Butler registered his objection.

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It's had the feeling of the morning after the night before at Stormont. No debris strewn about the place but plenty of people shaking themselves and wondering whether yesterday really happened. The DUP MPs are all over in Westminster, but the soon to be former First Minister is still striding around the place, performing a non speaking role for the cameras.

He attended a meeting of the snappily named OFMDFM Committee alongside Martin McGuinness,just back from Dubai. Taking questions on the Victims Commissioners' appointments and the Maze the two men would have made essential viewing if the session had not been behind closed doors. Sources say the appearance was businesslike with occasional "lighter moments". I don't know whether that qualifies as a final chuckle.

Martin McGuinness appeared later sans Paisley to pay another glowing tribute. He was asked if - contrary to previous assertions by the DUP leader - the two men had shaken hands. The Deputy First Minister took the fifth, refusing point blank to answer the question, but adding that he would stand by any answer Dr Paisley cares to provide.

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I have just got back to the Assembly after recording my interview with Ian Paisley Senior at Stormont Castle. So after months of speculation, controversies over his son's lobbying and disquiet within the ranks over the "Chuckle Brothers" image of the First and Deputy First, Ian Senior has finally confirmed his departure date. It will be shortly after the US Investment Conference in early May.

The next DUP leader is almost certainly going to be Peter Robinson, with Nigel Dodds as his deputy. Party sources say the succession could be approved by the Assembly party, without needing to go to any wider election involving the party membership.

Did he jump or was he pushed? He vehemently denied to me that his decision had anything to do with pressure from within. But it's impossible to separate this announcement from the rumblings of once loyal allies. With his 82nd birthday looming, the clock was ticking in any case.

So what will the new dispensation be like? The prediction is a couple of "cool dudes" to replace the warmth of the "chuckle brothers" - a business like approach which does not provide too many hostages to fortune for the TUV.

And with no Ian Paisley, new horizons open up for unionism. Recently Sir Reg Empey told me there could be no realignment within unionism whilst Paisley remained. There are more possibilities in a post Paisley era.

A post Paisley era. Even though it's been coming for months and I sat there and heard it from his lips I am still having difficulty believing it.

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Not so long ago he was campaigning against the vast quantity of paper generated at the Assembly. Now Sammy has it in for the bottled water. He has joined together with his party colleague Jim Wells in backing a motion which "notes the environmental impact of using bottled water and calls upon the Assembly Commission to end the use of bottled water at committee meetings and Assembly functions, recognising that tap water in Northern Ireland is safe, drinkable and economic; and believes it is important for the Assembly to set an example in reducing the waste involved in bottling and transporting bottled water."

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The Education Minister came to the Assembly this morning with a statement on area based planning in education, which the DUP's Mervyn Storey had criticised her Leap Day Spinster for failing to deliver by the end of February. In comparison to her previous appearances, the mood at the start of her statement was warm, with the Education Chair Sammy Wilson thanking the minister for a briefing she had provided in advance. It almost sounded like a love-in as the minister joked about not having made a proposal leap day. But Mervyn Storey was having none of the new bonhomie, accusing her of plotting a "shotgun wedding" and warning her that "the mood music is still no different in relation to the matters outstanding" on academic selection.

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Until now the main local interest in the 2012 Olympics has concerned whether our multi-sports stadium will be ready in time to host a couple of football matches. But now Sinn Fein's Daithi McKay has raised the real prospect of a local medal hope. He has asked the Culture Minister Edwin Poots "to outline what plans he has to liaise with the International Olympic Commission in order to encourage the incorporation of Gaelic games as part of the Olympics." Mr Poots doesn't seem to grasp the urgency of the matter. He tells Mr McKay that "the Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) is the governing body of Gaelic games and is responsible for their development and promotion. Any plans to liaise with the International Olympic Commission in order to encourage the incorporation of Gaelic games as part of the Olympics would therefore be a matter for the GAA."

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It's only one weekend old but something tells me that the North Antrim News Blackout is not going as planned. First there was the news that Ian Jr. is backing Seymour Sweeney's appeal against Arlene Foster, then that he has been re-appointed to the Policing Board, then that he spent a night out with the ambulance service. I have an inkling the blackout may have been breached. I am not sure quite who is to blame, but I have my suspicions about those pesky foreign websites.

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A quick note to those of you who have noticed some repeat comments creeping on to the blog, and those disconcerted to find that the number of comments indicated after an entry often does not match the reality. My technical experts advise me that new software is due in April which should sort a lot of this out. I had been processing all the comments myself, but in recent days the task has been taken on by an agency which looks after a number of ´óÏó´«Ã½ blogs. The downside is that I haven't been keeping as close an eye on repetition as before, but the upside is that your comments should be published more quickly as you don't have to wait until yours truly has a moment free.

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