Sinn Fein? They have gone away, you know.

[Rossfan]

There wasn't much evidence that it was the Provo IRA that killed Robert McCartney or young Quinn 

Correct
Neither were sanctioned by the IRA

You seem quite knowledgeable about what what operations the IRA have sanctioned.

He likes to think he is, he knows as much about it as Joe Bloggs

Joe Bloggs has categorically denied he was a member of the IRA.

And had nothing to do with the Northern Bank job 

[Maguire01]

Anyone would think there are elections on the horizon...

June 2013:

All Stormont MLAs take pay rise except SDLP

Thirteen SDLP representatives have refused a £5,000 increase in their MLA salaries, becoming the only party that did not accept the money.

All other Stormont MLAs who are not MPs have accepted the rise, saying they needed it to cover a shortfall in office funding.

The 11% pay rise was recommended by an independent panel in March and took effect in April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22871037


January 2015:

Sinn Fein calls for 15% pay cut for Stormont MLAs and ministers

Assembly Members and ministers should take a 15% pay cut in the next year, Sinn Fein has urged.

The party says politicians must be seen to "share the pain" of the public which votes for them, and urged all parties to consider the move.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/sinn-fein-calls-for-15-pay-cut-for-stormont-mlas-and-ministers-30943611.html

[Maguire01]

Sinead's not in. From her Facebook:

Ok. I met with Sinn Fein's Sinead Nii Bhrion and Ken O'Connell during the week. They persuaded me that I'd be bored shitless, pretty much waiting for them to get into government before being able to help generate any national discussion on the issue of ending partition.

There aren't any plans for such national discussion to be generated in the Republic anytime soon, which seems pretty silly when you consider the fact that we're all going to have to vote on the issue at some point, according to the terms of The Good Friday Agreement.

I would have thought it sensible to have such discussions sooner rather than later, since there's a lot of persuading to be done in the Republic as to why people should care enough to vote at all, never mind vote to end partition.

But it became clear too me during the meeting that the end of partition isn't anywhere on any Irish political party's agenda apart from Sinn Fein's and it's such a taboo subject that Sinn Fein actually have to play down the fact its anywhere on theirs, and put it very last on their list of things to talk about in public apart from with the already converted, the vast minority.

It was said to me that people like myself are more useful "working alongside" since we can say what we like, and that the same applies to a well known rugby player, who's name I can't remember and who turned down invitations to join. It was said to me that being a member would have limited his freedom of speech and that consequently he is more helpful, he can say things which members of the party can't say.

So because I can say what I like, can I just say I think its dreadfully unfair that conversations about the end of partition can't be had on a massive public scale in the Republic of Ireland until it suits everyone up North and until Sinn Fein are in Government in the Republic?

It isn't right that the people of the Republic are hostage to such conversational time frames, things have changed here. Such that the issue of partition needs more urgent discussion than the good Friday Agreement could possibly have perceived.

It makes no sense for Sinn Fein to speak of sovereignty and water but not speak of ending partition.

It makes no sense to plan now for next year's centenary, while not speaking now about the end of partition.

I think Sinn Fein could risk being braver.

If you seem afraid of the subject how on earth are you gonna convince anyone who is more afraid? i.e. the vast majority of residents of the Republic.

[Franko]

Anyone would think there are elections on the horizon...

June 2013:

All Stormont MLAs take pay rise except SDLP

Thirteen SDLP representatives have refused a £5,000 increase in their MLA salaries, becoming the only party that did not accept the money.

All other Stormont MLAs who are not MPs have accepted the rise, saying they needed it to cover a shortfall in office funding.

The 11% pay rise was recommended by an independent panel in March and took effect in April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22871037


January 2015:

Sinn Fein calls for 15% pay cut for Stormont MLAs and ministers

Assembly Members and ministers should take a 15% pay cut in the next year, Sinn Fein has urged.

The party says politicians must be seen to "share the pain" of the public which votes for them, and urged all parties to consider the move.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/sinn-fein-calls-for-15-pay-cut-for-stormont-mlas-and-ministers-30943611.html

That's actually laughable...!

[orangeman]

Anyone would think there are elections on the horizon...

June 2013:

All Stormont MLAs take pay rise except SDLP

Thirteen SDLP representatives have refused a £5,000 increase in their MLA salaries, becoming the only party that did not accept the money.

All other Stormont MLAs who are not MPs have accepted the rise, saying they needed it to cover a shortfall in office funding.

The 11% pay rise was recommended by an independent panel in March and took effect in April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22871037


January 2015:

Sinn Fein calls for 15% pay cut for Stormont MLAs and ministers

Assembly Members and ministers should take a 15% pay cut in the next year, Sinn Fein has urged.

The party says politicians must be seen to "share the pain" of the public which votes for them, and urged all parties to consider the move.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/sinn-fein-calls-for-15-pay-cut-for-stormont-mlas-and-ministers-30943611.html

That's actually laughable...!

That's politics. Politicians will say almost anything to get elected and will row back as soon they get into power.

[Feckitt]

Sinead's not in. From her Facebook:

Ok. I met with Sinn Fein's Sinead Nii Bhrion and Ken O'Connell during the week. They persuaded me that I'd be bored shitless, pretty much waiting for them to get into government before being able to help generate any national discussion on the issue of ending partition.

There aren't any plans for such national discussion to be generated in the Republic anytime soon, which seems pretty silly when you consider the fact that we're all going to have to vote on the issue at some point, according to the terms of The Good Friday Agreement.

I would have thought it sensible to have such discussions sooner rather than later, since there's a lot of persuading to be done in the Republic as to why people should care enough to vote at all, never mind vote to end partition.

But it became clear too me during the meeting that the end of partition isn't anywhere on any Irish political party's agenda apart from Sinn Fein's and it's such a taboo subject that Sinn Fein actually have to play down the fact its anywhere on theirs, and put it very last on their list of things to talk about in public apart from with the already converted, the vast minority.

It was said to me that people like myself are more useful "working alongside" since we can say what we like, and that the same applies to a well known rugby player, who's name I can't remember and who turned down invitations to join. It was said to me that being a member would have limited his freedom of speech and that consequently he is more helpful, he can say things which members of the party can't say.

So because I can say what I like, can I just say I think its dreadfully unfair that conversations about the end of partition can't be had on a massive public scale in the Republic of Ireland until it suits everyone up North and until Sinn Fein are in Government in the Republic?

It isn't right that the people of the Republic are hostage to such conversational time frames, things have changed here. Such that the issue of partition needs more urgent discussion than the good Friday Agreement could possibly have perceived.

It makes no sense for Sinn Fein to speak of sovereignty and water but not speak of ending partition.

It makes no sense to plan now for next year's centenary, while not speaking now about the end of partition.

I think Sinn Fein could risk being braver.

If you seem afraid of the subject how on earth are you gonna convince anyone who is more afraid? i.e. the vast majority of residents of the Republic.

God, I love Sinead!!  She's 100% right.  Again!

[Tony Baloney]

Anyone would think there are elections on the horizon...

June 2013:

All Stormont MLAs take pay rise except SDLP

Thirteen SDLP representatives have refused a £5,000 increase in their MLA salaries, becoming the only party that did not accept the money.

All other Stormont MLAs who are not MPs have accepted the rise, saying they needed it to cover a shortfall in office funding.

The 11% pay rise was recommended by an independent panel in March and took effect in April.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-22871037


January 2015:

Sinn Fein calls for 15% pay cut for Stormont MLAs and ministers

Assembly Members and ministers should take a 15% pay cut in the next year, Sinn Fein has urged.

The party says politicians must be seen to "share the pain" of the public which votes for them, and urged all parties to consider the move.

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/local-national/northern-ireland/sinn-fein-calls-for-15-pay-cut-for-stormont-mlas-and-ministers-30943611.html

That's actually laughable...!

That's politics. Politicians will say almost anything to get elected and will row back as soon they get into power.

15% to be topped up via research grants.

[Minder]

Sinn Fein must be getting dizzy with the Welfare Reform spinning -

@newbelfast (Máirtín Ó Muilleor) In chamber 4 Welfare debate. Taking me lead from Seamus McAleavey of NICVA: said this is a good deal. We have blunted worst of Tory agenda.

@sdlpcllrharding (Brian Harding) NICVA say Welfare cut are a good deal. Where and when did Seamus say this?

@SeamusMcAleavey to be clear NICVA hasn't said anything of the sort

[imtommygunn]

To be fair you have missed a bit about your man mcaleavy saying they are mitigating some of the worst parts of the cuts.

[Minder]

To be fair you have missed a bit about your man mcaleavy saying they are mitigating some of the worst parts of the cuts.

They are mitigating them by using money from the block grant, they didn't receive an extra penny from Westminster for Welfare Reform. That money taken from the block grant will impact on already stretched public services & in the coming years these various (five I believe) top up funds will be in competition for funding with education, health etc

They are geniuses in Stormont.

[Rossfan]

They'd want to get their 26 Co people up to Stormont right away - they would reduce tax and improve public services!!

[LCohen]

What was it that SF achieved that justified all the grandstanding?

[Maguire01]

Sinn Fein are just demonstrating that the idealism of opposition becomes pragmatism once in power.

If the media and other politicians in the south want to challenge SF, they should forget about their murky past - there's plenty of ammunition (pardon the pun) in what they're doing at Stormont.

[Maguire01]

Analysis: An astonishingly rapid about-turn by SF

The stance adopted by Sinn Fein yesterday was, in many ways, that of a responsible party of government. But it was also astonishing.

Just three months ago, the Assembly was on the brink of collapse because Sinn Fein steadfastly refused to implement welfare reform, and urged the other parties to join it in a campaign to "stop Tory cuts".

Sinn Fein was dismissive when the DUP, UUP, Alliance and others said that such a stance could lead to a return to direct rule, with Conservative ministers implementing welfare reform without any of the 'flexibilities' which were secured by Stormont two years ago.

The clear implication of Sinn Fein's stance was that cuts to welfare were so abhorrent that they should be blocked at all costs.

But yesterday, finding itself outflanked by the SDLP and the Green Party, Sinn Fein found itself making the same appeal to pragmatism which it has until now dismissed on this issue.

In a highly unusual statement, Martin McGuinness savaged the SDLP — which had tabled 22 amendments to the Welfare Reform Bill — saying that it "is prepared to jeopardise the Stormont House Agreement and the power-sharing institutions" by attempting to change the welfare bill.

The logic of the Deputy First Minister's argument is that saving Stormont is more important than making changes to the Welfare Reform Bill to negate some of the Conservatives' reforms — an extraordinary turnaround from Sinn Fein's increasingly bullish stance over the last two years.

As it so happened, the DUP had already tabled petitions of concern to 49 amendements, vetoing changes not brought forward by their minister.

Sinn Fein can point to the fact that it won some concessions in December's talks, particularly by exempting future housing benefit claimants from the so-called 'bedroom tax'.

But although the Stormont House Agreement secured some more money for Stormont, it did not extract from the Government a single additional penny for welfare reform.

And most of the money which it moves across the Irish Sea is borrowed, with the largest loan of £700 million to be used to pay off public sector workers.

Rather than 'stopping Tory cuts', it is now increasingly apparent that what Sinn Fein actually secured in December was the agreement of the DUP to use some more of Stormont's existing budget to top up the benefits of those who will lose money under the reforms.

In coming years, with an already shrinking Stormont budget, increased debt payments from increased borrowings and what are sure to be continued pressures on the NHS, the benefit top-up payments will be fighting with funding for hospitals, schools or the police.

Effectively, everything which Sinn Fein has secured for welfare claimants will come from other Stormont services.

Sinn Fein has pragmatically extracted the best deal which was possible from its perspective.

But that stance goes against two years of rhetoric which led some to believe that Sinn Fein would never allow welfare reform to pass.

So close to an election, this U-turn is either based on extraordinary confidence or desperation.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/regional/analysis-an-astonishingly-rapid-about-turn-by-sf-1-6573007

[babarino]

C'mon Maguire. You can't seriously post an article from the Newsletter as if it is some sort of credible source.  Leaving aside the one man band that is the Greens, the SDLP are all over the shop on this. They along with the UUP and DUP signed up for a far worse deal, when the shinners held out.

Your argument assumes that they are in power, which they aren't. They along with the DUP are part of a devolved administration, with some powers, but without control of fiscal policy, it's not a government.