Is Nelson The New Tony?

[full back]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7708163.stm

DUP suspension over Adams claims 

Nelson McCausland was ordered to leave the Assembly for the day
DUP assembly member Nelson McCausland has been suspended from Stormont for a day over allegations about Gerry Adams.

He claimed the Sinn Féin president had been the IRA leader who set up secret units to murder suspected informers and dispose of their bodies.

Mr Adams denied the claims made during a debate on the Disappeared at the Assembly on Monday.

On Tuesday, Mr McCausland refused to withdraw his words and speaker Willie Hay ordered him to leave the chamber.

"These allegations were very clearly denied and refuted by the member concerned in the house here yesterday, Mr Adams," the Speaker said.



Speaker William Hay asks DUP party colleague Nelson McCausland to leave

"I regard the remarks as being unparliamentary and I would call on Mr McCausland to withdraw the remarks."

Mr McCausland said: "The statements were based on extracts from Ed Moloney's book, A Secret History of the IRA, which is available in book shops and in the library of this assembly.

"I will not therefore be withdrawing the statement. Since Mr Adams keeps calling for truth recovery I think it is important that we get to the truth on this matter."

Mr Hay ordered the North Belfast assembly member to leave the chamber. As he walked out Mr McCausland was applauded by his DUP colleagues.


Just like the big man from the 'Pass, Mc Causland has been suspended

Seriously, is this all our elected members have to do?
Its a f**king joke IMHO
Especially the last line

[billy the kid]

The DUP always were a joke, a very poor sectarian bigotted joke.

[ziggysego]

Got to hand it to Hay, both Nelson and Robinson.

[nifan]

He should just chuck the lot of them out

[ziggysego]

He should just chuck the lot of them out

Where would we get our laughs from then?

[Orior]

Hijack.

Hay is so goddam famous that everytime Crusty the Clown appears on the Simpons he says his name three times.

Fair to play Hay though...


NIO big wig: "Okay Mr Hay you got the job as Speaker in Stormont"

Hay: "Great, now as I live in Derry hi, you'll have to put me up in a Belfast hotel 4 nights a week"

NIO big wig: "What? That'll cost us a fecking mint. We'll give the job to the other guy"

Hay "You cant. He's a taig"

NIO big wig "Ah feckity feck. Thats right"

Hay "And in six months time i want my own apartment in the Stormont estate with lavish furnishings etc etc"

NIO big wig "You bastard Hay"

Hay "Why thank you".

[bignifanatic]

The DUP always were a joke, a very poor sectarian bigotted joke.

We are far from a joke, at one time we were the biggest party in Northern ireland and we will be again. we are not sectarian, we have fundamental beliefs that differ completely from Roman dictat.

[ziggysego]

The DUP always were a joke, a very poor sectarian bigotted joke.

We are far from a joke, at one time we were the biggest party in Northern ireland and we will be again. we are not sectarian, we have fundamental beliefs that differ completely from Roman dictat.

Aren't the DUP still the largest party in the North, or have I missed something?

[Donagh]

The northern FF? Looks like another of them has been caught with the hand in the till...

Sammy Wilson lobby row escalates



By David Gordon



A Government leak investigation has been ordered after Belfast Telegraph revelations on Minister Sammy Wilson's lobbying of his own planning officials.

In a further twist to the controversy, it has been discovered that the Department of the Environment failed to disclose high-level email messages about the lobbying.

These emails involved two of the DoE's most senior officials and reflect internal unease about Mr Wilson's representations on constituency planning cases.

But the messages were not included in a freedom of information disclosure on the subject.

According to the DoE, they may have been deleted as part of "routine IT housekeeping".

An assurance had previously been given that all relevant material held by the Department had been issued.

The DoE leak inquiry is one of two ordered by Permanent Secretary Stephen Peover in relation to recent press stories. The other relates to a Sunday Life report about the Minister being fined for riding a motorbike without tax or an MOT.

A spokesman for the Department confirmed: "An investigation was ordered by the Permanent Secretary into the origin of the Sunday Life story of October 19.

"The Permanent Secretary has also ordered an investigation into a series of stories on planning related matters in the Belfast Telegraph."

This newspaper revealed in September that Mr Wilson was continuing to lobby DoE Planning Service staff on individual cases, despite being in overall charge of planning as Environment Minister.

He maintained that he was simply doing his job as a constituency MP and MLA — a stance backed by Departmental chiefs. Mr Wilson also criticised the Belfast Telegraph, claiming that a report suggesting internal DoE concern had been run "without it being substantiated in any way".

Civil service union Nipsa expressed disquiet about officials being placed in an "invidious" position.

A freedom of information (FOI) disclosure last month revealed a series of emails among planning staff on Mr Wilson's ongoing letters on individual cases.

In one of the emails sent in August, Planning Service chief executive Cynthia Smith referred to "similar type concerns" being voiced within the DoE's Environment Agency wing.

The Belfast Telegraph checked with the Department last month to make sure all relevant documents sought under the FOI request had been issued.

In reply, an official stated: "I can assure you that the search for information covered your full inquiry, in that it covers correspondence between Divisional Planning Offices, Planning Service Headquarters, the Permanent Secretary and Minister Wilson.

"No documentation has been held back and copies of all correspondence held by the Department have been issued to you."

But it has now been discovered that further emails were exchanged on the subject during the summer at the highest levels of the DoE.

On July 4, Planning Service chief Cynthia Smith emailed the Permanent Secretary in connection with "Ministerial letters to planning staff".

She noted that Mr Peover had "already raised this" but added that "we need to raise again".

Mr Peover replied later that day stating: "Yes I did speak to the Minister, but clearly we will need a further discussion."

The DoE was asked by this newspaper to explain why this email exchange had not been included in the FOI disclosure.

In reply, a spokesman said a further check had been undertaken and Planning Service had been "unable to find the email".

He added: "It may be that such an email may have been deleted from the Department's email system as part of routine IT housekeeping and this could explain why the document was not discovered when responding to your original FOI request."

The content and frequency of Mr Wilson's letters to officials on constituency cases does not appear to have altered since July, when the high-level emails were exchanged.

In a statement last month reiterating the Minister's right to lobby, the Department said: "As MPs and MLAs, ministers can raise issues relating to their constituencies with divisions and agencies within their departments. A conflict of interest would only arise where a minister is involved in the final decision making process on a particular issue. Any such conflict will be avoided."

The Minister, meanwhile, recently said: "First of all, I would never, ever dream of going in and saying, 'I'm a minister, you get that sorted, you do what I say'. I know where the limits are there and if I did my officials would be equally entitled to tell me to naff off.

"Of course they'll listen to my views and everything else, but I'm not entitled to bully them into making decisions I particularly want them to make."

[nifan]

we are not sectarian, we have fundamental beliefs that differ completely from Roman dictat.

the roman dictat
catch a grip

[mylestheslasher]

The DUP always were a joke, a very poor sectarian bigotted joke.

We are far from a joke, at one time we were the biggest party in Northern ireland and we will be again. we are not sectarian, we have fundamental beliefs that differ completely from Roman dictat.

Sweet mother of jesus, I checked your previous posts and one of them was on a Sunday. Aren't you in danger of a serious breech of DUP law for the like of that. Oh - the DUP most certainly are sectarian and have been for as long as I can remember.

[ExiledGael]

Unbelievable what our elected pricks do when the people of the country are going through the worst economic times in living memory and losing jobs by the thousand every week and PPS 14 denying people the chance to set up a life at home.
Honestly think we've gone back almost five years in the last few months. What the hell is the point in voting?
The whole place would drive you to emigration.

[lynchbhoy]

sammy wilsons antics are disgusting - in such a time of economic constraint

as for mccauseland - he is an idiotic fool left over from the dinosaur apartheidesque era of  the 70's and 80's

its not surprising that his colleagues gave him such a warm applauding send off - and people think that loyalists have moved on

(only when theres money to be earned in dealing with southern Irish/Catholics will they change their stance I'm sorry to say)

dup are as sectarian as ever.

[Main Street]

Why would any 1/2 sane society in the South accept to share a parliament with bunch of árseholes like the DUP.

You'll have to purge every last one of them.

[Evil Genius]

Why would any 1/2 sane society in the South accept to share a parliament with bunch of árseholes like the DUP.

You'll have to purge every last one of them.

I yield to no-one in my distaste for the DUP, but what exactly do you mean by "purge"? Sounds rather Stalinist, or Fascistic, to me. 

Anyhow, if they get elected, should they not be entitled to exercise their mandate, exactly the same as other odious political parties?

[Note to any Southerners wishing to see a United Ireland: it comes as a job lot, not "pick and mix"!  ]