Martin McGuinness to resign as NI Deputy First Minister
7 replies, posted
Not [I]nine days in[/I] and we're about to possibly see one of the biggest news stories to come out of the island of Ireland this year.
[URL="http://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0109/843680-martin-mcguinness-resignation/"]http://www.rte.ie/news/2017/0109/843680-martin-mcguinness-resignation/[/URL]
[QUOTE]Sinn Féin's Martin McGuinness has announced his resignation as Deputy First Minister of Northern Ireland in protest at the Democratic Unionist Party's handling of a botched renewable energy scheme.
The move, which will come into effect at 5pm, is likely to lead to a snap Assembly election in the region.
Mr McGuinness announced his decision after his partner in government, DUP First Minister Arlene Foster, repeatedly refused to step down to facilitate a probe into the ill-fated Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) - a scheme that has left Stormont facing a £490 million overspend.
In a letter, Mr McGuinness said he was resigning with "deep regret and reluctance".
"The First Minister has refused to stand aside, without prejudice, pending a preliminary report from an investigation.
"That position is not credible or tenable."
He made clear that Sinn Fein would not replace him in the role.
As a consequence, the collapse of the institutions and an election are now inevitable.
"We now need an election to allow the people to make their own judgment on these issues democratically, at the ballot box," he said.[/QUOTE]
All in time for Brexit in March.
Letter that announced this:
[media]https://twitter.com/markdevenport/status/818469829036441600[/media]
This has occured because of the controversy of Arlene Foster's role in a controversial scheme that lost the Northern Irish taxpayer about half a billion, explained [URL="http://www.thejournal.ie/arlene-foster-explainer-3169345-Jan2017/"]here.[/URL] She's claiming that a lot of the controversy is because she's a woman, which is tripe. (Warning: my source might be biased and I am, of course, biased).
One can only hope this ends well...
Good news, now we can only hope this motivates Arlene to fuck right off
[QUOTE=Killzone(Dylan);51644898]Good news, now we can only hope this motivates Arlene to fuck right off[/QUOTE]
We should be so lucky... Arlene's quite happy to play into the partisan politics that the DUP and SF have got going for themselves. Martin McGuinness is calling for an election, but both his party and the DUP ride on the fear of "the other side" getting into power and controlling the Assembly. Only way we can get rid of this old way of thinking is to vote for non-extremist candidates, but Joe Public consistently votes otherwise, just as he's told.
I'd ask the question of why western governments seem so calcified as of late but then we are resembling russia more and more every day with a super rich ruling class, a political class who caters to them, and everybody else being misdirected against each other
That farmer pocketing 1million for heating an empty shed is both hilarious and deeply troubling.
What would an election even achieve?
NI politics are so polarised that the elections pretty much change nothing, in the last election only 3 seats out of 108 changed hands.
[QUOTE=The mouse;51649980]What would an election even achieve?
NI politics are so polarised that the elections pretty much change nothing, in the last election only 3 seats out of 108 changed hands.[/QUOTE]
Its hard to know. While politics are deeply polarised I would assume the latest scandal has increased frustration with the main parties, particularly the DUP. That and there are only going to be 90 seats in this election - people will lose their seatsm
What is really interesting to see if the DUP or Sinn Fein get 30 seats - and so whether they can use the petition of concern or not.
The election results will be the same as always. He only resigned so big Arlene would lose her power with him.
Maybe the Dup will be """smart""" enough to choose a new first minister when they inevitable get the most votes again but I highly doubt it.
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