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LAST UPDATE | 27 Oct 2022
TAOISEACH MICHEÁL MARTIN has said there’s “still time” to avoid fresh elections in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to reporters in Trim, Meath today, he appealed to the DUP to make a return to Stormont.
When asked about the mechanism that might require joint authority of Northern Ireland by Britain and Ireland, he said Ireland’s role in the governing of Northern Ireland is a consultative role on non-devolved matters.
When there is no devolution then that broadens what non-devolved matters means and encompasses in the event of no Stormont breakthrough by tomorrow, he said.
He said there will be meaningful engagement” in the context of what the Good Friday Agreement framework sets out.
However, he called for the restoration of the Assembly “as quickly as possible”, adding that he believes people in Northern Ireland are losing patience with abstentionism and lack of action on cost of living crisis.
MLAs will return to Stormont in a last-gasp bid to restore the Northern Ireland executive before fresh Assembly elections are called.
The sitting will see an attempt to elect a new speaker – a prerequisite before an executive can be appointed – but that bid is set to fail as the DUP will use its veto to block it.
The special sitting at midday comes just hours ahead of a deadline for calling another election.
A six-month legislative time frame to form an administration expires just after midnight early on Friday.
If no ministerial executive is in place by then, the UK Government assumes a legal responsibility to call another election.
DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson said that unionists will not accept a joint authority arrangement instead of direct rule from London in the absence of the Stormont Assembly.
“I think the Irish government needs to hear this loud and clear, unionists will never accept joint authority, if joint authority is imposed upon us, the Good Friday Agreement is dishonoured completely and is not therefore a basis for us moving forward,” he said.
“If the Irish government thinks that by threatening me or my party with joint authority that that will help us get to a solution quickly, that it will move us forward on the basis of mutual respect and understanding then I’m afraid the Irish government is deluded.
“Unionists will not accept joint authority. Joint authority would be an abandonment of the Good Friday Agreement and if that’s what the Irish government want to do, then let them be honest and say.”
Honouring the mandate
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar was critical of the DUP for blocking the return of both the Assembly and Executive, saying that the public expect political parties to honour their mandates.
“It’s exactly as the Taoiseach says, is that the DUP and all other parties ought to honour their mandate.
“You get elected by people, people come out on Election Day and put a number or an ‘X’ beside your name because they want you to be a government, they want you to make decisions.
“And I would like to hear the voice of the DUP in Northern Ireland government but that’s not possible at the moment”
He added that Brexit would have been managed “much better” had the Assembly and Executive been up and running.
Varadkar also said that there could not be a return to previous direct rule arrangements, saying it “wouldn’t be acceptable” as “things have moved on so much in Northern Ireland”.
SDLP MP Claire Hanna described it as “the worst possible way to resolve issues in Northern Ireland”, saying that the UK government has placed the region on a “cliff edge [by] sending people back to the trenches”.
“More worrying, I think it just increases the cynicism of people here, their lack of belief in normal processes,” she told RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland, adding that a General Election is inevitable.
“They had their say in May and that hasn’t been respected. And there’s absolutely no indication that there’ll be a particular change of heart or that there’s a plan B when we come back at the end of December with essentially the same cast and the same challenges,”she said, referring to any outcome of a likely General Election.
The South Belfast representative criticised Secretary of State Chris Heaten-Harris, who was reappointed to the role by new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Hanna said he is “new in the job with a limited grasp for Northern Ireland” and has been “distracted” by turmoil in the Tory Party in Britain.
Discussions have also taken place between Sunak and Taoiseach Micheál Martin on developments in the north.
Yesterday evening Sunak told Martin he prefers a “negotiated outcome” to issues caused by the Protocol.
In their first conversation since the Tory MP became the country’s leader, both agreed on the importance of EU-UK engagement to find agreed solutions to the issues around the Northern Ireland Protocol
Martin said they discussed the need to find “agreed solutions” on the protocol.
Pleased to speak to @MichealMartinTD tonight, discussing how the UK and Ireland as close neighbours & friends can work together in the coming months.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 26, 2022
I also thanked him for Ireland’s steadfast support for Ukraine.
Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has repeatedly warned that he will call a Stormont poll if Friday’s deadline passes without a devolved executive being formed.
Heaton-Harris met with Northern Ireland political party leaders on Wednesday and reiterated the importance of restoring the executive.
He said: “Since I have become Secretary of State, I have consistently been clear that if the Executive is not formed by October 28, I will call an election.
“Time is running out, and people in Northern Ireland deserve locally elected decision-makers and an executive who can respond to the issues facing people, families and communities across Northern Ireland during this challenging time.
“We are clear that people deserve an accountable devolved government and that was my message to party leaders.”
The DUP has refused to engage with the devolved institutions in Belfast in the wake of May’s Assembly election, meaning it has not been possible to form an executive.
The party’s boycott is part of a campaign of opposition to Brexit’s Northern Ireland Protocol and the DUP says it will not return to powersharing until decisive action is taken to remove the protocol’s economic barriers on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The Government has vowed to secure changes to the protocol, either by a negotiated compromise with the EU or through proposed domestic legislation – the Northern Ireland Protocol Bill – which would empower ministers to scrap the arrangements without the approval of Brussels.
During the Stormont recall, MLAs are set to debate a motion, tabled by Sinn Fein in consultation with the Alliance Party, that will focus on the cost-of-living crisis, the instability at Westminster and the absence of devolved government at Stormont.
The first failed attempt to elect a new speaker came in May following the election.
The Assembly has been recalled on two further occasions since, most recently in August.
While Northern Ireland has no first or deputy first ministers, other ministers who served in the previous mandate have remained in post following May’s election, albeit they have been significantly constrained in the decisions they can take.
If Friday’s deadline passes without a full executive having been established, those remaining ministers will cease to hold office.
Additional reporting by Tadgh McNally and PA
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The Gardai refusals I would think have as much to do with the resources they are allocated (ie: available armed Gardai on a given day due to lack of overtime payments) as anything else. But that will never be admitted because it would make the Minister and Government look bad.
Why not do away with the need for armed Gardai. Instead of bringing the prisoners to the hospital, have a doctor and nurse visit each prison once a week. Or have them stationed there permanently, it would be cheaper that transporting them.
The Garda do a good job with limited resources , only for the brave women and men in the Garda the streets would be in anarchy.
We need more of them though
Suzi. That again comes down to finances. As we. Have heard fro the AGSI conference last week the Government are trying to bring in what amounts to “Yellow Pack” Gardai by giving more powers to the Garda Reserve. Similarly they are doing the same in the Prison Service with PASO Grade Officers who are not trained to deal with Prisoners directly.
Mick , I agree , I pity those prison officers and security guards , it’s their lives that are being put at risk .
Hate to agree with Niall Collins – he obviously has a political agenda of knocking present government- but it is quite obvious that this issue comes down to resources/man power. There aren’t enough Gardai so how could there be enough armed Gardai? The second issue here is that these decisions are taken by a Garda desk jockey – probably an Inspector/Superintendent – and a Prison Service desk jockey – neither with a single thought whatsoever for the safety of the Prison Officers. These agencies have an obligation to their employees under the Safety Health & Welfare at work act but surprise surprise – no one to take responsibility for making the decisions and no will to do anything about it. Authorities in both agencies will try to throw a lowly operative under the bus to deflect the blame from the decision makers because we all know that there is no accountability for anyone other than the bottom rungs. Sh*t rolls downhill.
The gardai are too busy collecting tax… I mean, protecting us from bad drivers.
This is a question about the availability of ARMED Gardaí, plain clothes Gardaí.
Traffic Corps etc who deal with Roads/ give out fines etc are not armed or in plain clothes.
And who makes the decision to have so few armed gardai when obviously more are needed? The politicians who are more interested in making the gardai a force for tax collection than a force for protection.
I know perfectly well traffic corps are not the ones who handle this type of requests.
That’s a big army with guns doing nothing but carrying cash around for banks.
They don’t even do that anymore.
Yeah, too busy with deploying overseas to the Middle East and Africa to be worrying about CIT
They do prisoner escorts when requested and subject to certain conditions
Why can’t the prison service have its own in house armed VIP prisoner unit, no messing around ringing/emailing/requesting army/gardai, we bloody love making stuff complicated in this country, send 50 good prison officers to templemore for 2 weeks or whatever and let them do refresher training with eru every 6/12 months as required, problem solved,
Perhaps it is time to arm the prison warders…..It is after all their lives at risk to protect the general public.This almost cap in hand approach to security is shameful. If they request security it would be based on the risk they assess and that should trump any objection /refusal by the Gardai.
This has been high lighed by FF , wht ? are responsible for the state of the public finances or not, I’m confused. …..?
Gardai didn’t refuse to take the jobs. Their bosses refused. Big question need asking. When they don’t refuse gardai being used as security for iw but refuse to escort dangerous criminals. They also sent out how many to arrest a TD a 14 year old and a 16 year old. Do not blame gardai they only go where told to go.
Sounds like a “pass the book” job by the prison service to me…..
Maybe you need to manage the requests better. Maybe send 2 prisoners each time with armed guards and the number of refusals virtually eliminates its self
How about the prison service has a specially trained armed unit for transporting prisoners
Connor. That would work if (and it’s a big IF) both escorts were going to the same place at the same time. Unfortunately that is an extremely rare occurance.
Escorting prisoners is not a military task, the task is purely a tasķ of the dept of justce and is primarily a PO job, this is sheer laziness on the part of prison management and the PO association and it should be tackled under H&S. The army has its own tasks to perform and has only recently got rid of cash escorts. POs should have all the legislation and equip to perform this task safely even if it means a prisoner who is assessed as dangerous has his rights infringed( let the whingers whinge ). It would be fairly easy to enable legislation to enable POs to carry firearms for self protection (no power of arrest needed) when deemed necessarry however I doubt it will happen because of vested interests and restrictive work practices. Leave the military authorities out of it unless there is some kind of national emergency.
What does the army do in this country. Surely tasks such as prisoner transport would be ideal ??
A few guys and girls I know in the FCA would be only to happy to give them an armed escort.
In this day and age all Gardai should be armed and provisions for certain security workers to be armed as well. The insistence that only Gardai should be allowed carry out these functions and then not give them sufficient resources to actually do the job is a recipe for disaster.
Armed guards for handcuffed prisoners… three prison officers v one prisoner I would have thought it was an easy job. Armed guards would not have opened fire on an unarmed runner. Are they saying if they had two more prison officers instead he wouldn’t have got away.
HRH. The Armed Gardai are there in case the prisoner has armed accomplice’s waiting to assist in an escape.
And in the Brockwell case would he have used a knife in the presence of an Armed Garda?
What knife?
With knife guards wouldn’t shoot him. To P.C media would hang them out to dry, look at the fuss they made about shooting an armed man in Abbeylara. And by the way they were right to do that.
Prison transfer guards should be armed. It is a brainer.
I once had an unarmed escort, mad craic! She didn’t have an legs either.
Gar
That will be illegal in June… Why armed escorts lol.
have your say