Post by Old Badger on Jan 11, 2020 15:38:34 GMT -5
One good outcome of the Brexit mess: Northern Ireland has a new government three years after the last one collapsed. The DUP and Sinn Fein agreed to renew their power-sharing arrangement, and convinced the other five main parties--even the ultra-unionist UUP--to join them. No doubt this was spurred by the sharp losses both the DUP and SF suffered in last month's general election, which saw a big shift to the centrist and cross-community Alliance party; nothing galvanizes politicians' attention like losing. Under the new deal the DUP leader will become First Minister, SF's Deputy Leader takes the Deputy First Minister slot, and another SF member becomes Speaker. Meanwhile, the Alliance gets the key Justice Minister post, which oversees the police and courts.
Both the UK and the Republic are contributing to make this work: "At the core of the deal that has revived devolution was a plan by the British and Irish governments to create two new 'language commissioners' as part of a cultural policy to put Irish on a legal par with English while protecting Ulster British culture." link You can read that lots of different ways, but it looks very much like a step toward further integrating NI into the Republic, with a sop for the Unionists. Given that NI effectively will remain in the EU while the rest of the UK leaves it's hard to see it any other way. Normally, cultural protection programs are designed for minority cultures, but in NI the Ulster Brits are a majority; within the Republic, however, they'd be a minority. So...
Johnson's also promised to throw a bunch of money at NI's health service, schools, and development programs as a sop. But many in his party have said they'd shed no tears if NI left to join Ireland; basically, the Brexiteers are mostly Little Englanders, who would just as soon be rid of NI and Scotland, too. They may get their wish. But for now it's good news that NI is going to have a working local parliament.
Both the UK and the Republic are contributing to make this work: "At the core of the deal that has revived devolution was a plan by the British and Irish governments to create two new 'language commissioners' as part of a cultural policy to put Irish on a legal par with English while protecting Ulster British culture." link You can read that lots of different ways, but it looks very much like a step toward further integrating NI into the Republic, with a sop for the Unionists. Given that NI effectively will remain in the EU while the rest of the UK leaves it's hard to see it any other way. Normally, cultural protection programs are designed for minority cultures, but in NI the Ulster Brits are a majority; within the Republic, however, they'd be a minority. So...
Johnson's also promised to throw a bunch of money at NI's health service, schools, and development programs as a sop. But many in his party have said they'd shed no tears if NI left to join Ireland; basically, the Brexiteers are mostly Little Englanders, who would just as soon be rid of NI and Scotland, too. They may get their wish. But for now it's good news that NI is going to have a working local parliament.