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LAST UPDATE | 14 Mar 2022
DUP LEADER JEFFREY Donaldson wants calls for his party to nominate a First Minister to be “parked” to focus on releasing £300 million to ease the cost of living crisis.
The DUP has been under pressure from the other parties to nominate a First Minister to allow the Executive to function for the final weeks of the Assembly term before it is dissolved for fresh elections.
Paul Givan resigned earlier this year as part of the DUP protest against the Northern Ireland Protocol, a move which also removed deputy First Minister Michelle O’Neill from the joint office.
Sinn Fein Stormont leader O’Neill said nominating a First Minister is the only way the Executive can agree a budget and release the £300 million.
Donaldson has rejected this, saying there are other options.
He has suggested household rates bills could be cut to help households amid the cost of living crisis.
And speaking to The Journal in New York today, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the fact Donaldson is refusing to nominate is “astonishing”.
McDonald said today that the £300 million cannot be disbursed, adding that her party have told Donaldson and the DUP that they need to re-nominate.
“We want an emergency exceptional meeting simply to disperse this money at a time when people are under pressure,” she said.
In the absence of an agreed budget, departments will have to rely on emergency arrangements to keep day-to-day services running in the 2022/23 financial year.
On Friday, party leaders were briefed by Department of Finance officials on the legal authority of parties to allocate money without Executive approval.
It is understood they were unable to agree how to allocate the £300 million.
On Monday morning, Donaldson wrote to the Executive party leaders to ask for details about bids from the different departments for the money, the PA news agency understands.
He also asked how much of the £300 million each leader wants to ease the cost of living crisis.
In his letter, Donaldson asked leaders to “park” the debate about whether a First Minister is needed and to reach an agreement on what the allocation amounts will be.
Meanwhile, the SDLP is set to try to introduce emergency legislation at Stormont to release the £300m.
McDonald has said Donaldson continues to “dodge” the question as to whether the DUP would be happy to govern in the North should Sinn Féin emerge as the largest party after the next election and with Michelle O’Neill has First Minister.
In “the here and now”, the institutions actually have to work, she said, stating that means the Executive has to work.
“It also means that whoever emerges as the largest party, and there is a chance that might be Sinn Féin for the first time, well then, you know, you respect that, just as we have respected,” she said.
She recalled when Martin McGuinness went into power with Ian Paisley the first time.
“People were looking to the skyline to see if they were going to see pigs flying along it, but we made that work. The institutions have to work and that requires good faith from everyone,” she added.
Speaking at the Council of Foreign Relations in New York this afternoon, she also said that “democracy has to be respected”.
After the election in May, it will be the case of “assessing the result, agreeing a programme for Government, rolling up the sleeves and getting back to work,” McDonald said.
The DUP argue for their right to remain within the union of Britain, while her party argues for a united Ireland, she said, adding that “what we both must do is, we have to play by the rule book and the rule book is the Good Friday Agreement”.
The GFA “must be defended. Nobody gets to put it through the shredder because it doesn’t suit them anymore”, McDonald added.
With reporting by Political Correspondent Christina Finn in New York.
TheJournal.ie will be bringing you all the latest updates from Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s visit to Washington DC this week including his meeting with US President Joe Biden on Thursday.
Stay up-to-date by following @christinafinn8, @thejournal_ie or @TJ_Politics and TheJournal.ie’s Facebook page.
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I’d gladly piss in a bucket for a grand not to mind a million!
1.25 million is all the therapy I need
Trump will pay that much to watch.
Lol
I’d love to know what the school rule was that the teacher thought she was implementing properly.
Probably insurance risk. Kid wandering the hallways on its own. No one monitoring the halls for accidents.
@James Darby: Damned if you do and damned if you don’t I condone going to the toilet in a bucket but last year we’d these two incidents.
1) A student was allowed to the toilet, spend 30 minutes out of class, went up to the town and to the shop. The student was caught and the parent defended the child saying they shouldn’t have been allowed out of class unsupervised and it was the teachers responsibility to monitor the children. Her son did wrong because the of the teachers lapse in judgement. The BOM agreed and the suspension was lifted.
2) A teacher didn’t give a pass to a student because they were 10 minutes late to class and said they were at the toilet. Half way through the class the student asked to go use the toilet and was refused. The parent complained and the teacher was told to always let a student to the bathroom.
Both issues were brought up at a staff meeting and we were told “use your own judgement”. Both of my colleagues used their judgement and in my opinion were both right but the parents with rose tinted glasses think that by defending their “precious babies” even if their wrong is good parenting. All their taught is that if you can do wrong and get away with it then it’s ok.
What’s the answer then? Go in a bucket? In classroom toilets?
She only wanted to spend a penny.She now has $1.4m to spend.
I think you’ll find she didn’t want any of this. Everyone here can only see the money and not the tremendous humiliation and shame of a 14 year old girl having to pee in a bucket. Her high school years, the most formative in your life, was hell and four years and a suicide attempt later and she is still in therapy. If I was her mother I would have done time for that teacher!
$1.25M Not quite $1.4M
Only $1.25M? Jaysus, it turns out she was robbed!
What wonderful fellow students who instead of showing solidarity with her for being subjected to this treatment, bullied her to the extent that she attempted suicide. Surely that should be the bigger story
“Teenager gets bullied in school” doesn’t make international news.
@Anne Marie Devlin:
They were teenagers in school, it would be completely the norm to get some slagging for that.
@Awkward Seal:
Pissing is a bucket at school and getting over 1m $ does make international news.
@Nick Allen. Obviously you’ve never seen the aftermath of teen bullying. Try telling parents who have walked behind their kids’ coffins, spent all night at a&e while their kids have their stomachs pumped, stayed up all night trying to soothe children who have been broken that they should have expected some slagging. The girl attempted suicide after a barrage of lewd texts and the spreading of rumours around the school. Doesn’t sound like light-hearted banter to me.
Why , then should teenager gets compensated make international news? It’s click bait to get people riled up over compensation culture and snowflakes. The girl received compensation for the bullying she received as a result of the degrading actions of the teacher. AFP are one of the worst news agencies when it comes to manipulating stories and presenting alternative realities.
@Anne Marie Devlin:
My understanding or knowledge of the results of teen bullying has got nothing to do with the facts. Kids in school slag each other. If a student is forced to take a pee in a bucket then they are going to get slagged. Try dealing with the facts rather then jumping on your high horse accusing me of not understanding the affects of teem bullying.
@Anne Marie Devlin:
The reason it has made international news is that it is a very unusual case insofar as the child got awarded an enormous sum of money for no physical injury and an embarrassment level that one would think that most kids could handle. What bit of this do you not understand?
@Anne Marie Devlin: Bullying is a perfectly natural phenomenon repeated in all and every society. You’ll never eradicate it, you do what the vast majority do, and learn to get over it. What a US court in a civil case, where the threshold for proof and evidence is much lower, may accept as ‘bullying’ may not constitute bullying in many other courts. California is a highly litigious state and usually the biggest awards come from there. It’s snowflake central in the US.
If the bullying was in fact anywhere near what you seem to think it was, then her lawyer wouldn’t have sued for 25k. He would have went much higher. As I said, you need to learn to read between the lines.
@ Nick. No high horse. Simply highlighting the consequences of bullying. What was stated in the article was not a bit of slagging.
Anna dog bites man..no news. man bites dog…news
The school was wholey responsible in this case they caused the issue and then did nothing to stop the resultant bullying. Those are the facts. I do think the resultant payout was exessive but they didnt go to court looking for that amount. Given our history own with industrial schools I’d thought we’d have a little more sympathy. When you send your child to school its a reasonable expectation they they arent going to be made urinate in a bucket in the corner of the class.
@seanmccann:
Where is the lack of sympathy. Stating a fact that kids will slag other kids and that bullying is a natural phenomenon is not showing a lack of sympathy.
@Anne Marie Devlin:
Saying that I “Obviously you’ve never seen the aftermath of teen bullying.” is not simply stating the consequences. It is you getting on your high horse and incorrectly making the assumption that I do not understand the very sad impact bullying has on some kids.
I don’t know, the bigger story has to be about the sheer stupidity of the teacher. Doesn’t say much about their education system if fools without an ounce of common sense are employed.
If everyone who got bullied in school was appropriately compensated, the economy would collapse. Literally.
I’d even drink it for that money.
trump would pay to drink it.
@Aaron Ramsey: A lot of sick people on here
Still undergoing therapy? Bet that’ll finish up today now that she got to say that in court. If not, we have a serious snowflake on our hands here.
@Mr Snuffleupagus: Imagine what she would have been like had she passed through some of our infamous industrial schools or laundries ffs.
Attempted suicide after sustained bullying by her classmates. Definitely a serious snowflake. Those suicidal teens just need a kick up the backside. No need for mental health programmes at all.
@Anne Marie Devlin: yeah, cos everyone who gets humiliated runs off to commit suicide, and this has nothing to do with compo.
@Anne Marie Devlin: And it’s easy to see where she gets it from – her litigious snowflake parents.
@mr Snuffleupagus. You should learn how to read ‘news’. It is obviously AFP’s intention to get people riled up about compensation and snowflakes despite the facts of the story saying something different
@Anne Marie Devlin: And you should learn between the lines.
@Mr snuffleupagus. You’ll get to the media studies module of the junior cert next year. We can maybe have a conversation then when you understand what reading between the lines means. When you’re a bit older, I recommend reading up on critical discourse analysis.
@Anne Marie Devlin: No need I spent 6 years in college doing media and working in Irish media thereafter. I’ve probably forgotten more about media that you’ll ever know, but thanks anyway.
You have obviously forgotten a lot!
Why are you squabbling like petulant children? It seems like you both have legitimate points to make. Just make them.
Still in therapy? God forbid anything really serious should happen in this girl’s life.
My school didn’t even have a toilet. We had the back wall or the ditch. Am I due a payout!!
That’s taking the proverbial.
Must have been an Irish judge.
It’s all trumps fault
Bajasus, nah…she was anticipating Brexit.
So all the red thumbs agree it’s not trumps fault?…yaaayyy .a win for trump..the snowflakes are beginning to see the light..
She’s taking the piss
When I think of all the times I got a “níl” to my urgent request to “an bhfuil cead agam dul go dtí an leithreas? “.
I could have been someone.
How much would she have got for a dump?
New form of Torture liked by Trump but he will leave it to his security experts to decide
@Donal Proctor: __ Piss-boarding?
@Ted Murray: yes, good one.
Piss-boarding, eh? Sounds like a potentially valuable intelligence gathering tool. I will employ some russian prostitutes to facilitate further research.
She was lucky she had a bucket. It was a bit rougher in a rural Irish national school in the 1960′s
Surely “Davy shite in the bucket” is in for a few bob after this ruling.
have your say