Andrée Murphy

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Arlene’s got it right on Chief Constable – but in the wrong way

SO the place is in a meltdown over Bobby Storey’s funeral again. We have Arlene Foster calling for the Chief Constable to go. We have a respected commentator saying the whole Executive will have to come down. And we have the stoic Simon Byrne at a podium saying he is staying where he is, with the background predictable, unfailingly flawed narrative that the PSNI is “caught in the middle”. Well, this time Arlene is right – but not for the reasons she thinks she is. Byrne is not caught in any “middle” and should go. Simon Byrne’s position as Chief Constable has been fundamentally called into question in the context of dealing with the past. In recent months his response to the murder of a human rights solicitor and the response to the assault of a dignified and socially distanced memorial service and the subsequent arrest of Mark Sykes have placed him full square in the public eye. And his position with it. Or should have. Following the appalling vista on the Ormeau Road Byrne asked to meet the families affected by the atrocity in which five people died and seven were injured. They said they would meet him if assured of the status of Mark Sykes, and that he was not under threat of prosecution. The Chief Constable refused to give such an undertaking. He refused to say that Mark Sykes was not guilty of any offence on the day he was laying flowers at the Sean Grahams bookmakers and officers of the PSNI double-handcuffed him, drove him around Belfast in the back of a car for an hour and released him without charge. The families refuse to meet him with such mendacity hanging over their dignified heads. Simon Byrne had in November reacted to the Secretary of State’s  egregious response to the UK Supreme Court with eye blinking patheticness. When Brandon Lewis made his statement to the House of Commons refusing a public inquiry and saying the PSNI would look into the killing, Byrne’s chop suey of a response was to try to be all things to all people. Ultimately, he sidestepped his human rights obligations to the Finucanes and the rest of us. 

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Growing support for Irish unity can’t create new unionist veto

I WRITE this piece in the sure and certain knowledge that there has never been a time in my memory that constitutional change on this island was more possible. Monday night’s RTÉ Claire Byrne special on a united Ireland was unprecedented in content and in tone. To have the three largest parties interviewed live on a prime time spot – the leader of the opposition, An Tánaiste and An Taoiseach – with the words United Ireland in 10 foot letters behind them was breathtaking. We ain’t in Kansas now, Toto. But far more interesting than the optics was the content. There was considerable care and concern for those for whom this debate will feel less comfortable, those with British and unionist identity and background. The voices of Sarah Creighton and Andrew Trimble were as informative as they were important. But more than that all of the panellists took time to acknowledge what they were hearing from them.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Legacy is very clearly not a job for the PSNI

Our columnist Andrée Murphy wrote this article before the shocking scenes on the Ormeau Road when the PSNI arrested Ormeau bookmaker's massacre victim Mark Sykes.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Unbreakable families make their voices heard

THIS week the British government responded to the House of Commons Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (NIAC) commentary on legacy. The Committee’s pre-Christmas commentary on the unilateral move by the British government to tear apart the Stormont House Agreement was surprising as it was actual criticism. 

ANDRÉE MURPHY: 'Foster's vipers' undermining war on Covid

THE anniversary of Stormont’s resurrection this week came as the tensions and frustration were visible for all to see. There was no New Year’s cheer with Covid rates soaring, hospitals creaking under pressure, the DUP messing around with kids’ exams, and supermarket shelves going bare as Brexit kicks in. But then came the intergovernmental, inter-party meeting on the anniversary and everyone released statements to say five-party government is tough, but it is an achievement that we can do it at all and we do manage to make local things happen. That is true and reasonable, but for many people the lack of enthusiasm towards Stormont hasn’t been assuaged by the past 12 months. 

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Scrimping on vaccine and scrimping on sense

THIS is the winter our souls and bodies will be tested. And coming out the other side needs to be more meaningful than the number of boxsets we watched. I realise I’ve never felt less rested after a Christmas, or less energised facing into the challenge of a New Year. And I say that as someone who spent many Christmases with toddlers, a few with fresh grief, quite a number with work deadlines and more recently with the heaviness of ill health. 

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Going with the flow in uncertain times

2021 what will it bring? In these uncertain times I suppose we have got used to just rolling with whatever comes up. There is such little point in planning at this stage we just have to go with change, as worrying about it hasn’t helped a great deal.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Has Stormont finally started delivering for people?

THE next Assembly election is May 2022. Since the last time we gave MLAs their electoral mandate the Assembly remained collapsed for nearly three years and then within weeks of its restoration there was a pandemic. By now we might have expected every political decision to be framed by electorally diverted eyes. The last 18 months of mandates can imply that no decisions are made in case they imply electoral disadvantage. Big politics are often sidelined, as making strategic decisions can risk constituency displeasure. Hence the failure to implement the Bengoa Report in healthcare – political cowardice pure and simple. Perhaps we will see Robin Swann, a man whose political gravitas has grown exponentially, grasp the nettle once Covid passes. It can certainly do his ailing party no harm and courage may well be rewarded. Indeed, strategic politics may well build a head of steam for parties more widely.In particular for Sinn Féin. They are in power in the north and are within a hair’s breadth of power in the south, on the basis of promise of radical transformation. Their political opponents in the south regularly point north and ask questions about delivery and the party’s capacity to make change. Of course, those comments are infuriating as they never acknowledge the limitations to make change due to Westminster legislative and monetary constraints, and the obvious issue of sharing power with the DUP. Nonetheless the attacks sting. For the current incumbents in the Department of Communities, however, strategic thinking is the standard. There was no napping with Covid. The immediate and hands-on response won praise from all quarters as application for benefits became remote and streamlined. There were also initiatives to complement the Hurculean community efforts to support the vulnerable. But this week’s announcement on housing leaves that looking like small potatoes. The statement by Minister Carál Ní Chuilín was billed as radical by her party and it is no hyperbolic claim. If by the elections in May 2022 even a third of those reforms are passed and there are JCBs and cranes on building sites with social contract and affordable homes being built, and tenants in the private sector are protected to the extent she envisions, she will have demonstrated commitment and delivery on those radical policies in an unprecedented way. And it will chime with the southern political platform of delivery on housing perfectly. It is as politically savvy as it is badly needed. If implemented, the Ní Chuilín housing reforms will deliver in meaningful ways to the most in need in our communities. Housing allocated on the basis of need. Security of tenancy for all of those renting. Decent standards of housing for all renters. And most of all, significantly more homes in areas where they are desperately needed. Like the very best policies they will be understood by everyone, recognised for their significance, embraced by all and will be impossible to reverse out of by anyone who occupies the chair after her. After nine months in the department it is possibly the most important policy piece since devolution 2007 and a marked statement of intent in the No Return to the Status Quo Assembly. If these reforms and Bengoa are under way by May next year, it would mark this short term of sitting devolution as the most successful to date.

ANDRÉE MURPHY: Poots’ rancid Covid sideshow deeply damaging

THE political response to the latest rise in incidences of Covid-19 on this island has been ill conceived and lacking in coherence. Two weeks ago, south of the border the once venerated Chief Medical Officer Tony Holohan returned from a leave of absence to care for his ill wife to recommend that the southern 26 counties move to Level 5 restrictions. This advice was leaked, manipulated in the media, dismissed at a cabinet meeting, and to top it all Leo Varadkar trashed the reputation of Mr Holohan on live television. It all left a very bad taste in most decent people’s mouths. Last night Mr Holohan’s judgement was vindicated as a “national” lock down was announced by a sombre Taoiseach, who in fairness to him acknowledged the weariness of a population, if not taking any responsibility for it. Of course, the south’s CMO will take no pleasure in that vindication. It means that there are people who will die in the coming weeks who might not had the measures been taken earlier and on his advice. And it means Level 5 will last for six weeks instead of four as was also first recommended. In the north we have fared little better. As the rates of Covid have soared the political response has been clumsy and faltering. We know that at the heart of this has been the reluctance of the DUP to see any significant measures, and once Westminster announced that they would provide (limited) funding for workers who had to stay at home and businesses forced to close, they had no hiding place, so the four weeks of measures were introduced. Sadly, almost as soon as the ink was dry on the regulations the briefing against them began.

OPINION – ANDRÉE MURPHY: Tough decisions on victims’ payments lie ahead

THE letter of Westminster Law has meant that Michelle O’Neill must accede to designating a Stormont department to administrate the injured victims’ payment scheme. She had delayed doing this due to issues of eligibility to and financing of the scheme, issues which remain unresolved.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Police Ombudsman not given the necessary tools

THE new Police Ombudsman is a woman of substance. In her former role as the Public Services Ombudsman she was renowned as a tough cookie, being fastidious about due process. She also held the statutory offices of Local Government Commissioner for Standards and Judicial Appointments Ombudsman. She knows about processes of accountability, and she knows where people go to hide from accountability.

No new language needed for old memories

THE Covid culture has brought words into our vocabularies that this time last year we could never have imagined we would use so frequently, or easily.

OPINION - Andrée Murphy: Time to decommission the Victims' Commission?

THE news that Victims Commissioner Judith Thompson will not have her contract extended caused a mild flurry of media attention when announced last week. Of course, even a cursory look at the teacup’s storm would have recognised that Ms Thompson had already had her four-year term extended and another extension was unlikely.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Meaningless sloganising by Taoiseach Martin just doesn't cut it

I SEE our new Taoiseach thinks that the Good Friday Agreement settled the constitutional question. It’s an interesting interpretation of a compromise for peace after 800 years of conflict.

OPINION - ANDRÉE MURPHY: Permission to take a break is a gift to yourself