Arlene Foster and the RHI scandal

FrancieBrady

A Little Pony wrote: »

We can't ever forget.

As a soldier consoled a defeated King James on the banks of the Boyne...'sure, don't worry about it, they'll forget all about it in a few weeks'. :rolleyes:

Zubeneschamali

A Little Pony wrote: »

You won't find large amounts of sympathy within the Unionist people.

You are not wrong there. :pac:

flutered

A Little Pony wrote: »

Who are all dead now. Mcguinness isn't. You won't find large amounts of sympathy within the Unionist people. We can't ever forget.

so by your mindset its doubtfull if the nationalists will forget either

flutered

A Little Pony wrote: »

Who are all dead now. Mcguinness isn't. You won't find large amounts of sympathy within the Unionist people. We can't ever forget.

or even dont ever want to forget

FrancieBrady

flutered wrote: »

or even dont ever want to forget

They only want to forget their own responsibility for what happened.

A Little Pony

flutered wrote: »

A Little Pony wrote: »

Who are all dead now. Mcguinness isn't. You won't find large amounts of sympathy within the Unionist people. We can't ever forget.

or even dont ever want to forget

Its hard when they want to bomb you out of existence. I can understand people having some sympathy for Mcguinness but he isn't a normal guy off the street is he. It would be like me complaining about the people who had no sympathy for Ian Paisley who nationalists didn't like. 

I just don't think you will see many Unionists showing much sympathy towards him regardless of what happens ultimately.

billy few mates

FrancieBrady wrote: »

They only want to forget their own responsibility for what happened.

The war is over son, you need to move on...

FrancieBrady

billy few mates wrote: »

The war is over son, you need to move on...

The war the subject of this thread used as a reason why she was being asked to account for 500 million?
I know that war is over.

FrancieBrady

They are just taking the proverbial now.
http://www.irishnews.com/news/2017/01/11/news/minister-unable-to-provide-geographical-breakdown-of-rhi-claimants-878929/?param=ds12rif76F

THE Economy Minister has said he is unable to provide a geographical breakdown of claimants to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme.

Simon Hamilton said that his department "does not hold a geographical breakdown of applications by district council area".

The outgoing First Minister, Arlene Foster, said on Tuesday that Mr Hamilton would "have more to say on both transparency and cost controls" later this week.

It comes after the minister had refused to provide a cost for 14 applications to the RHI scheme which had been considered as falling into the most serious category where fraud was suspected.

Mr Hamilton has also declined to release the names of applicants, citing data protection issues.

Jayop

This is the person who a poster here said he had more respect for now because of her honesty and transparency. What a joke.

FrancieBrady

More sterling behaviour from the 'Democratic' Unionist Party.

http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/speaker-newton-personally-blocks-release-of-advice-to-the-news-letter-1-7775067

A Little Pony

Stormont going to collapse, absolutely brilliant news.

FrancieBrady

Somebody suggested last night on BBC Politics programme that there was much more of this to come.

http://www.irishnews.com/news/2017/01/16/news/dup-community-hall-grant-scheme-criticised-886533/

What has Arlene done!

A Little Pony

She is an idiot. Should have given it to Ian Paisley Jr instead.

FrancieBrady

A Little Pony wrote: »

She is an idiot. Should have given it to Ian Paisley Jr instead.

It wasn't and it is more than her involved it seems.

A Little Pony

Ian Paisley jr should look to reclaim the party after they robbed his dad of the party he built.

munsterlegend

A Little Pony wrote: »

Ian Paisley jr should look to reclaim the party after they robbed his dad of the party he built.

You are joking? He is completely unstable and is merely elected due to his father's unfortunate popularity.

Anatom

I'm not a massive fan of his, but Fintan O'Toole makes an interesting point in today's edition of The Irish Times about a potential alliance between the UUP, SDLP and the Alliance on the topic of Brexit, and them potentially making it a big election issue.

I'm not sure whether this alliance could happen, but there's a chance it could. The problem might be SF taking the lead on the topic as well and stealing their thunder. If nothing else though, it could very easily sideline the DUP...

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-dup-must-be-punished-for-its-brexit-folly-1.2938690

Fintan O’Toole: DUP must be punished for its Brexit folly

A funny thing happened on the way to the Brexit vote last June and it has important resonances for the Northern Ireland elections.

Two days before the referendum, more than a million people commuting to and around London got their free copy of the Metro newspaper. But it came wrapped in a four-page glossy ad supplement. The front page carried three slogans: “Vote to leave the EU on Thursday”, “We can be even stronger if we take back control” and (for the slow learners) “Vote to leave”.

The rest of the content was the usual pro-Brexit propaganda, including the false claim that Turkey and Albania were about to join the EU and the notorious lie that £350 million a week was being paid by the UK to Brussels. (This already-discredited claim was cunningly adjusted to “the European Union bills us £50 million every single day”.)

But the funny thing is that the wraparound was credited to an entity that must have seemed mysterious to most of those bleary London commuters: DUP. Was that, some might have wondered, short for Don’t Understand Politics?

The Metro does not circulate in Northern Ireland. The glossy supplement was for voters in the London area only.

It was undoubtedly very expensive – newspapers, even freesheets, don’t like to hide themselves inside someone else’s ad so they charge a very heavy price for this kind of thing.

It is safe to assume that this was the most expensive single piece of propaganda ever issued by an Irish political party.

Yet we have no idea who paid for it: Northern Ireland, charmingly, is exempt from British laws on the disclosure of political donations.

At the time, the Democratic Unionist Party’s Mervyn Storey would say only that whatever the cost, it was a “price worth paying” to establish the DUP as a key player in the Brexit campaign, not in Northern Ireland but in the UK as a whole.

Funding
There is a lot we don’t know about the funding of the DUP’s pro-Brexit campaign: the right-wing English businessman Aaron Banks claims the DUP asked him for £30,000 a week to join his Leave.eu campaign but the DUP vehemently denies this.

What is absolutely clear, however, is that the DUP willingly allowed itself to be sucked in to the murkier side of the Brexit movement.

It wanted to express an ultra-British identity (which it is fully entitled to do) but it did so through opaque funding and fake claims. And, more importantly, it did so in a way that was breathtakingly irresponsible.

Arlene Foster and her colleagues knew with complete certainty that a large majority of voters in Northern Ireland wished to stay in the EU.

Foster as First Minister had a duty to represent, not the DUP, but Northern Ireland. She and her colleagues entirely abandoned that duty.

They decided it was far more important for the DUP to cosy up to English nationalism than it was to set out a coherent analysis of the interests of the people of Northern Ireland.

And this is why Foster should not be First Minister and why the DUP should be turfed out of office.

Without diminishing the importance of the “cash for ash” scandal, the cash for politically trashing Northern Ireland’s vital interests is a much bigger question.

Sinn Féin has its own agenda in its war with the DUP, but there is a much bigger agenda: the democratic wishes of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland and the DUP’s open determination to thwart those desires.

The assembly elections may be unwanted but they do provide a fortuitous opportunity to make a clear statement: Northern Ireland wishes to remain in the EU and it is not, as the DUP keep insisting, just another part of the UK.

Non-sectarian alliance
But to make that statement, something big has to happen. For the first time, there has to be a non-sectarian alliance.

The three main Opposition parties, the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and Alliance agree on many things, and by far the most important of them is Brexit. They each opposed it.

And they have a very strong case to make: Northern Ireland needs a government that is committed solely to getting the best deal for its own people.

A DUP-led government is entirely unable to offer that commitment because the DUP is deeply compromised on the whole question. It chose to be part of the heedless and headless adventurism that has created this crisis for Northern Ireland. Even if it wished to do so, it cannot disentangle itself from the Brexiteers in London.

And Northern Ireland patently needs a government that is willing and able to fight its own corner.

So make Brexit the issue. The UUP, SDLP and Alliance have a real proposition to put to voters.

It is negative: the DUP which blithely led us into this crisis cannot get us out of it.

And it is positive: we can offer an alternative government that is not compromised on the biggest question facing us, one that will shape all our futures.

It offers a way beyond the sectarian head-count. And it could do what elections, at their most basic, must do – punish arrogant and incompetent governments.

munsterlegend

Anatom wrote: »

I'm not a massive fan of his, but Fintan O'Toole makes an interesting point in today's edition of The Irish Times about a potential alliance between the UUP, SDLP and the Alliance on the topic of Brexit, and them potentially making it a big election issue.

I'm not sure whether this alliance could happen, but there's a chance it could. The problem might be SF taking the lead on the topic as well and stealing their thunder. If nothing else though, it could very easily sideline the DUP...

http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fintan-o-toole-dup-must-be-punished-for-its-brexit-folly-1.2938690

Fintan O’Toole: DUP must be punished for its Brexit folly

A funny thing happened on the way to the Brexit vote last June and it has important resonances for the Northern Ireland elections.

Two days before the referendum, more than a million people commuting to and around London got their free copy of the Metro newspaper. But it came wrapped in a four-page glossy ad supplement. The front page carried three slogans: “Vote to leave the EU on Thursday”, “We can be even stronger if we take back control” and (for the slow learners) “Vote to leave”.

The rest of the content was the usual pro-Brexit propaganda, including the false claim that Turkey and Albania were about to join the EU and the notorious lie that £350 million a week was being paid by the UK to Brussels. (This already-discredited claim was cunningly adjusted to “the European Union bills us £50 million every single day”.)

But the funny thing is that the wraparound was credited to an entity that must have seemed mysterious to most of those bleary London commuters: DUP. Was that, some might have wondered, short for Don’t Understand Politics?

The Metro does not circulate in Northern Ireland. The glossy supplement was for voters in the London area only.

It was undoubtedly very expensive – newspapers, even freesheets, don’t like to hide themselves inside someone else’s ad so they charge a very heavy price for this kind of thing.

It is safe to assume that this was the most expensive single piece of propaganda ever issued by an Irish political party.

Yet we have no idea who paid for it: Northern Ireland, charmingly, is exempt from British laws on the disclosure of political donations.

At the time, the Democratic Unionist Party’s Mervyn Storey would say only that whatever the cost, it was a “price worth paying” to establish the DUP as a key player in the Brexit campaign, not in Northern Ireland but in the UK as a whole.

Funding
There is a lot we don’t know about the funding of the DUP’s pro-Brexit campaign: the right-wing English businessman Aaron Banks claims the DUP asked him for £30,000 a week to join his Leave.eu campaign but the DUP vehemently denies this.

What is absolutely clear, however, is that the DUP willingly allowed itself to be sucked in to the murkier side of the Brexit movement.

It wanted to express an ultra-British identity (which it is fully entitled to do) but it did so through opaque funding and fake claims. And, more importantly, it did so in a way that was breathtakingly irresponsible.

Arlene Foster and her colleagues knew with complete certainty that a large majority of voters in Northern Ireland wished to stay in the EU.

Foster as First Minister had a duty to represent, not the DUP, but Northern Ireland. She and her colleagues entirely abandoned that duty.

They decided it was far more important for the DUP to cosy up to English nationalism than it was to set out a coherent analysis of the interests of the people of Northern Ireland.

And this is why Foster should not be First Minister and why the DUP should be turfed out of office.

Without diminishing the importance of the “cash for ash” scandal, the cash for politically trashing Northern Ireland’s vital interests is a much bigger question.

Sinn Féin has its own agenda in its war with the DUP, but there is a much bigger agenda: the democratic wishes of the majority of the people of Northern Ireland and the DUP’s open determination to thwart those desires.

The assembly elections may be unwanted but they do provide a fortuitous opportunity to make a clear statement: Northern Ireland wishes to remain in the EU and it is not, as the DUP keep insisting, just another part of the UK.

Non-sectarian alliance
But to make that statement, something big has to happen. For the first time, there has to be a non-sectarian alliance.

The three main Opposition parties, the Ulster Unionists, the SDLP and Alliance agree on many things, and by far the most important of them is Brexit. They each opposed it.

And they have a very strong case to make: Northern Ireland needs a government that is committed solely to getting the best deal for its own people.

A DUP-led government is entirely unable to offer that commitment because the DUP is deeply compromised on the whole question. It chose to be part of the heedless and headless adventurism that has created this crisis for Northern Ireland. Even if it wished to do so, it cannot disentangle itself from the Brexiteers in London.

And Northern Ireland patently needs a government that is willing and able to fight its own corner.

So make Brexit the issue. The UUP, SDLP and Alliance have a real proposition to put to voters.

It is negative: the DUP which blithely led us into this crisis cannot get us out of it.

And it is positive: we can offer an alternative government that is not compromised on the biggest question facing us, one that will shape all our futures.

It offers a way beyond the sectarian head-count. And it could do what elections, at their most basic, must do – punish arrogant and incompetent governments.

Excellent article. Hopefully this is the first election in the demise of the DUP.

FrancieBrady

munsterlegend wrote: »

Excellent article. Hopefully this is the first election in the demise of the DUP.

I didn't know that about the Metro paper wraparound. That is astonishing really.

munsterlegend

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I didn't know that about the Metro paper wraparound. That is astonishing really.

Yeah neither did I. Blinded by a flag and loyalty to English nationalism who couldn't give a tuppence for them. This is shown by May's complete lack of care or urgency in recent events.

FrancieBrady

munsterlegend wrote: »

Yeah neither did I. Blinded by a flag and loyalty to English nationalism who couldn't give a tuppence for them. This is shown by May's complete lack of care or urgency in recent events.

It's what it reveals about where they see themselves that is astonishing really. Do they see themselves as some sort of BNP, could we see a merger?
Some power play! :eek:

Anatom

I think they're deluded really. They're far too insular and inward-looking, with absolutely no interest in listening to or talking with anyone from the outside world. That's exactly why they're doomed to failure. Not necessarily in this election, but over time.

Unless the DUP opens up and embraces the growing reality that the UK don't care about them and certainly don't want to be paying for them (and also that a large proportion of those in the Republic don't want them either - more for economic reasons than anything), and that the future of Northern Ireland is very uncertain, the better for them and, more importantly, their constituents.

The Metro stunt was a ridiculous and underhand tactic, that can only (because of the significant financial cost involved) have been approved by the leadership.

FrancieBrady

Anatom wrote: »

I think they're deluded really. They're far too insular and inward-looking, with absolutely no interest in listening to or talking with anyone from the outside world. That's exactly why they're doomed to failure. Not necessarily in this election, but over time.

Unless the DUP opens up and embraces the growing reality that the UK don't care about them and certainly don't want to be paying for them (and also that a large proportion of those in the Republic don't want them either - more for economic reasons than anything), and that the future of Northern Ireland is very uncertain, the better for them and, more importantly, their constituents.

The Metro stunt was a ridiculous and underhand tactic, that can only (because of the significant financial cost involved) have been approved by the leadership.

I am amazed that more hasn't been made of it. Maybe that will be campaign fodder. Certainly raises some juicy questions about funding and who authorised it. Not to mention, what they thought they were at.

Anatom

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I am amazed that more hasn't been made of it. Maybe that will be campaign fodder. Certainly raises some juicy questions about funding and who authorised it. Not to mention, what they thought they were at.

I'd say we'll hear all about it over the next few weeks!

blackwhite

FrancieBrady wrote: »

I didn't know that about the Metro paper wraparound. That is astonishing really.

That's one of the most bizarre things I've heard from the whole Brexit mess.

You'd have to wonder how much it cost, and what the wider party membership would think of it (were the wider membership as enamoured by the prospect of Brexit as the party leadership)?

Jayop

Surprised you didn't hear about it. It made the news at the time, but I suppose it was soon swamped with the news of the actual result.

FrancieBrady

blackwhite wrote: »

That's one of the most bizarre things I've heard from the whole Brexit mess.

You'd have to wonder how much it cost, and what the wider party membership would think of it (were the wider membership as enamoured by the prospect of Brexit as the party leadership)?

Why would they see the need to do it. London and the UK was awash with the same misleading info?

FrancieBrady

Jayop wrote: »

Surprised you didn't hear about it. It made the news at the time, but I suppose it was soon swamped with the news of the actual result.

So am I. Been quite a rollercoaster.

Jayop

FrancieBrady wrote: »

Why would they see the need to do it. London and the UK was awash with the same misleading info?

Or will have cost a fortune and it will have been paid for by someone shady but won't have had to be declared by the DUP because of the rules in NI that are different from the UK.

Amazes me always that they constantly declare their overwhelming britishness but won't to have different laws to them when it suits them.

I think their religious beliefs take precedence over their British beliefs. Sadly.