OK Martin, now over to Michelle

The campaign for the presidency of the Irish Republic is now underway and already Martin McGuinness has come under pressure as journalists and commentators scrutinise his record, in a way that has not really happened in Northern Ireland.  That is to be welcomed.

Already he has described the Remembrance Day bombing in Enniskillen, which took place on 8 November 1987, as 'atrocious'. 

But where does that leave other Sinn Fein members?  What is the view of Michelle Gildernew, the MP for Fermanagh and South Tyrone and therefore the MP for the constituency in which the atrocity took place?  Perhaps our journalists will now ask her about her view of that appalling terrorist atrocity.

Martin McGuinness will say many things during his campaign but they should not be allowed to stand in isolation.  His candidacy is on behalf of a party which supported the IRA's terrorist campaign and the wider party leadership has questions to answer as well.

99th anniversary of the Ulster Covenant

Last night I attended an event organised by the Ulster-Scots Community Network to mark the 99th anniversary of the Ulster Covenant.  This was the third of their annual Covenant events and it is most appropriate that it was organised by the USCN. 

The Covenant was inspired by the old Scottish covenants and the author was Thomas Sinclair, the leading Liberal Unionist, the foremost layman in the Presbyterian Church and an Ulster-Scot.  Indeed most of the Unionist leaders in Ulster were Ulster-Scots and they were proud of their ancestry.

The speakers last night looked at four topics including the Presbyterian Anti-Home Rule Convention and the role of Andrew Bonar Law, the Ulster-Scot who was the leader of the Conservative Party. 

As well as organising lectures, the USCN has also produced several excellent booklets on aspects of the Covenant and they have proved to be extremely popular.

The Ulster Covenant brought together the various strands of Unionism - Conservative, Liberal and Orange - and provided them with a common platform, affirming their commitment to the Union and setting out the reasons for that commitment.

As we approach the centenary of the Ulster Covenant and the start of a decade of centenaries that will lead on to 2021 and the centenary of Northern Ireland, we do well to reflect on the principles embedded in the Covenant.  They are just as valid today as they were all those years ago.

Rosh Hashana

Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year  and this year it is celebrated on Thursday 29 and Friday 30th September.  A shofar (ram's horn) is blown in synagogues around the world to announce the new year, to proclaim divine kingship and to awaken worshippers to repentance.

The great Baptist preacher C H Spurgeon once said that in proclaiming the gospel, preachers should blow the rough ram's horn of divine law, to convict men of their sin, and the sweet silver trumpet of divine grace, to show them the answer to their sin.

Culture Night in Belfast

Last night I attended this year's Culture Night in Belfast.  It was based around the Cathedral Quarter and attracted a large number of people, including many families.  The chair of the Cathedral Quarter Steering Group, Paul McErlean, led a group of city councillors, MLAs and other guests on a tour of some of the performances and I was able to join the group.  Unfortunately his task was rather like that of herding sheep and we tended to wander off on our own to see some performance or other that took our attention but his efforts were appreciated.

With around 90 performances or events in the programme there was something for everyone - from a poetry reading on the pavement in Hill Street to art exhibitions, folk music, singers, dance, choirs, circus, magic, a Belfast rap artist in a car park off Talbot Street and even some performances that defied description!

Some of the performances were in the open-air in locations such as Writers Square and others were indoors in venues such as the Black Box, Belfast Cathedral, Oh Yeah and St George's Church.  The War Memorial museum in Talbot Street was also open and they had music from the 1940s to set the scene.

The Queen's Island Male Voice Choir were performing in the Cathedral and the Royal Scottish Country Dance Society were encouraging people to join in with them in St George's parish hall in High Street.  I was pleased to see the inclusion of these two new elements as it enhanced and expanded the diversity of the programme.

Last year I met with Paul and some others to talk about the inclusivity of the programme and suggested the inclusion of aspects of our culture such as Ulster-Scots and male voice choirs.  The fact that the meeting had even taken place drew some criticism from people I can only describe as cultural fascists but it was a useful meeting and last night showed that the organisers of Culture Night had recognised an opportunity to expand the range of events.

We have a rich cultural diversity in Northern Ireland but in the past some elements of that diversity have been marginalised, and the Ulster-Scots tradition is an obvious example.  The inclusion of Scottish country dancing is very welcome and I am sure it will encourage other performers from the Ulster-Scots tradition to get involved next year.  If we are to build a 'shared and better future' in Northern Ireland then the programming for major cultural initiatives, which are intended to reflect diversity and inclusivity, should include as much of our diversity as possible.

The nature of the night is that equipped with a map showing the location of all the performances you wander round the area from performance to performance and in the course of the night you will see a wide range of art forms.  The inclusivity of the programme is therefore important in contributing to the creation of that 'shared and better future' through enabling people to see and experience art forms they might not normally encounter.  When I went to St George's parish hall I saw several people I knew taking part in the country dancing.  They are not regular country dancers and for some it may have been their first time but they clearly enjoyed it.

This was the first time I was able to get to Culture Night and I will certainly go back again next year, to what I am sure will be an even more extensive programme.

Martin McGuinness: past and presidency

Martin McGuinness: past and presidency

This article by the respected journalist Ed Moloney is a useful summary of the role of Martin McGuinness down through the years.

Forty years on

Almost forty years ago, on 11 November 1971, two members of the RUC were murdered by the Provisional IRA in North Belfast.  One of them, Dermot Hurley, was the first Roman Catholic policeman to be killed in the Troubles and the other, Thomas Moore, was a Protestant.  They were shot while they were in a shop at the rear of Oldpark RUC station.

Those were dark days with shootings and bombings night after night, especially in North Belfast, and the murders attracted only limited media attention.  The next day there were more deaths and those of the previous day were pushed off the pages of the newspapers.

Almost forty years later, on 2 March 2011, dissident republicans murdered Ronan Kerr, a Roman Catholic member of the PSNI, in Omagh.  The fact that there has been so much media attention on the murder of Ronan Kerr shows just how much things have changed.  We do not have a daily deluge of death to push this atrocity off the newspaper page or the television screen.

On 9 December 2009 another Roman Catholic police officer, Stephen Carroll, was shot dead by dissident republicans from the Continuity IRA while responding to a 999 call in Craigavon.  This came just two days after the shooting of two soldiers by the Real IRA in Antrim and Stephen Carroll was the first PSNI officer to be murdered by terrorists.  After those three murders Martin McGuinness described the dissident republican killers as 'traitors to the island of Ireland.'  On the Nolan Show on Radio Ulster, Sinn Fein spokesman John O'Dowd, who is now acting DFM, was asked if this was murder and he said clearly and unequivocally that it was murder.

The killing of Dermot Hurley and Thomas Moore by the Provisional IRA in 1971 was also murder and it was totally wrong as were the murders of some 300 other policemen.  During the Troubles 301 active members of the RUC were killed and around 9,000 injured, mostly in terrorist attacks by the Provisional IRA.  Indeed at one stage the RUC was the most dangerous police service to in the world of which to be a member.  The Newry mortar attack by the Provisional IRA in 1985 killed nine RUC officers and this was the highest number of deaths inflicted on the RUC in one incident.

Back in 1971 Provisional Sinn Fein condoned the murder of Constable Hurley just as they condoned the murder of several hundred more.  Forty years later they condemn the murders of Stephen Carroll and Ronan Kerr and encourage young men to join the PSNI.  That must be recognised and welcomed. 

The Roman Catholic Church and the GAA also condemned the murder of Ronan Kerr and they have encouraged young men to join the PSNI.  That too must be recognised and welcomed.  Indeed that message is coming from people right across the community.

However it raises two questions for Sinn Fein.
1. Was it murder when the Provisional IRA shot Dermot Hurley and was it murder when the IRA killed all those other policemen?  Republicans continue to look back to the past and demand the truth about the past.  so we have every right to ask them, 'Were those deaths not murders too?'
2. What can Sinn Fein do to help the situation now?  They have encouraged people in the nationalist community to provide information about recent attacks to the PSNI and again we welcome that.  But is there something more that they could do and the answer is yes.

There is still a lingering ambivalence in such things as Michelle Gildernew's character reference for Gerry McGeough, who was found guilt of the attempted murder of an off-duty UDR man thirty years ago, and the photographs of replica weapons in the hands of children at the Ti Chulainn centre.

Sinn Fein have come so far but there is still some way to go.

Disability Living Allowance (2)

Disability Living Alliance was introduced in the 1990s and there is a need to ensure that the benefit reflects the needs of disabled people in a way that is appropriate for disabled people in the 21st century.

DLA is to be phased out and replaced by the Personal Indpendence Payment and it is planned that the new benefit will be introduced from April 2013 for Working Age customers (Age 16-64).

The aim is to improve support for disabled people and deliver it through an assessment process that is fairer, more consistent and clearer, as well as more straightforward.

The new criteria for the assessment will be designed in collaboration with a group of independent specialists in disability, social care and health and they are being tested on 1,000 DLA claimants.  This is a UK process and Northern Ireland cases are being used in the development and testing of the new assessment to ensure it is accurate and consistent in assessing individuals and has regard to the specific needs of our local customer base in Northern Ireland.

This is one element in welfare reform and the legislation is currently going through Westminster.  Recently I met the government minister who is overseeing this process, Lord Freud, but we will not know the final outcome until the legislation has made its way through parliament.

Nevertheless draft regulations on the daily living and mobility activities test have now been published by the Department for Work and Pensions at Westminster. You can view these draft regulations for PIP on the DWP website at http://tinyurl.com/67a88qp.

You may also find it useful to refer to a summary prepared by the Disability Alliance at www.disabilityalliance.org/f60.htm

A second draft of the regulations should be published in mid-October in time for the Second Reading of the Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Lords. These regulations should include the points system for the first time.  Final regulations should be published next year.

The principle of parity as regards welfare reform means that the same system will apply in Northern Ireland.