IS being decent and professional in our local politics now a vote loser?
It appears that many in the unionist parties think so, and after the departure of Mike Nesbitt it feels all the truer.
Mike Nesbitt was one of the few unionist leaders in recent years who made a habit of listening rather than positioning. It led him to being widely respected and liked by ordinary people who came across him. He didn’t pretend to be something he isn’t. He didn’t try to grab the soundbite before he could chew on the issue. He didn’t try to treat people unfairly so he could do a game of one-upmanship. These should not be unusual values for a public representative, but it did make his service stand out.
When this Assembly term ends in the spring and the election proper gets going, we are all going to feel a little weary as it has felt that there has been an 'election mode' for all of this term. Scrutiny committees have by and large become point-scoring bear pits, rather than considerate, thoughtful spaces for accountability. None more so than the Executive Committee. There are few who will point to moments of true scrutiny of cross-cutting public policy which has benefited the public discourse, but many will be able to think of the moments when that was replaced by point-scoring and hurtful, meaningless commentary.
A case in point was the committee hearing when Declan Morgan and Peter Sheridan of the ICRIR appeared. The two men came in front of the committee, whose charge includes examination of delivery to victims and survivors, in the wake of the devastating report finding comprehensive governance failings in the ICRIR, and millions of pounds squandered. The TEO Committee could have interrogated this body’s lack of delivery to those seeking truth and justice, its human rights incompliance, and general disdain for governance responsibilities. But instead, the Committee spent its time having the DUP and TUV members attacking the Irish government, with Declan and Peter joining in and the rest of the members watching on. It was disgraceful and a waste of opportunity, but completely predictable in the context of this committee’s track record and an evident scandal that has barely caused a mouse to squeak, and when victims' and survivors’ rights, experiences and voices are readily discarded.
When a public servant like Mike Nesbitt and his decency are treated so appallingly, when the accountability structures don’t function, and when trying to deliver meaningful change is not rewarded, but rather regarded as meat for the pit, is it any wonder so many feel devolution is finished?
This term was meant to be a new beginning. It is worth pulling out the speeches of Michelle O’Neill and Emma Little-Pengelly to read the commitments to working together and building a better future, even within the restraints of devolution. Instead, we have seen rampant and unchecked misogyny, sectarianism, anti-Irishness, cruelty, homophobia, facilitation of racism, and an assault on common decency as unionism races to the bottom, and the far-right agenda dictates the lack of meaningful progress.
For the rest of us there can be sadness or disappointment, or more often a switching off, and a real desire to get on with planning for an actual national democracy which actually delivers to all of us.
