The DUP's Peter Weir accused the UUP's David McNarry of picking up a crate of red herrings from some fishermen who visited Stormont this week. The exchange came during our recording of Inside Politics. The herring bone of contention was the local council shake up and the UUP prediction that it will pave the way towards the greening of Belfast.
If you want to hear the feisty debate tune in to Â鶹¹ÙÍøÊ×Ò³Èë¿Ú Radio Ulster at 12.45pm tomorrow.
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Mark
DUP HAPPY TO LET SINN FÉIN KEEP THEIR OWN COUNCIL
I enjoyed thoroughly the exchanges between David McNarry and Peter Weir. Here was good knockabout debate between two of the more eloquent and reasoned debaters in the Assembly. Mind you they don’t have much competition.
McNarry is absolutely right that Sinn Féin are the winners in the proposed Council shake-up. Whether the DUP were simply goosed by Sinn Féin or the outcome was part of a secret deal is neither here nor there. On top of a carve-up that will entrench sectarianism even more starkly than heretofore, the net effect of the restructuring offers the distinct possibility that Sinn Féin will take overall control of six of the eleven Councils.
By the way, the question of what powers are going to be transferred to the new Councils has had little or no airing in the restructuring debate. For those of us who believe the Housing/Planning System is already heavily corrupted --- [if anyone doesn’t believe that to be the case, have a look out of your front window to see the building monstrosities that surround you] --- the prospect of the Cretans who run our Councils having a free run of planning matters is too horrendous to contemplate.
Oh, and a final ‘by the way’: the number of Councils is being reduced to twelve, not eleven as is being reported. The Army Council is still firmly in place with little pressure from the DUP for change in that quarter. Come to think about it, that will put Sinn Féin in overall control of seven Councils. Even the highly articulate Peter Weir would have difficulty convincing anyone that the Council carve-up was a victory for the DUP.
Susie
Carryduff
17 March. 2008