MAZE/LONG KESH DEADLOCK COSTING MILLIONS

BtP have previously covered the impact on the public purse of the deadlock involving the large Maze/Long Kesh site outside Lisburn which was once touted as a breakthrough development, hosting a Conflict Resolution Centre and a world-class multi-sports stadium.  

It is now just over seven years from the decision by then-First Minister Peter Robinson to halt all development on the site in a letter to his DUP colleagues on 15^th August 2013, prompting a rebuttal by the late Martin McGuinness that there would be no development without agreement. 

Unionists were concerned the site would become a ‘terrorist shrine’ especially with the retention of the former prison hospital, where Republican hungerstrikers were sited during the 1981 strike. 

The site is still home to the Ulster Aviation Society and has hosted the Balmoral Show in recent years, but it has struggled to bring any longer term tenants to the site, yet despite this, the cost to the public purse of maintaining the Maze/Long Kesh Development Corporation set up to develop the site has ballooned into millions of pounds. 

We can reveal that despite the steady drop in staff numbers at the Corporation, headed by chairman Terence Brannigan, former Chairman of Glentoran, salary and pension costs have cost the public over £5 million pounds. 

With currently only four members of staff, the bill for the Commission in salaries and pensions for 2019-20 is over half a million pounds. 

This might sound excessive even for a busy public entity with responsibility over a flagship development programme, but Maze/Long Kesh remains a dead zone. 

In fact, the number of queries for tenancy on the iconic site has never even reached five.  In 2016-17 only two queries were made, with one query each in 2017-18 and 2019-20. 

Why then have we spent £5.05 million pounds in salaries and £549,000 in pension contributions?  This is especially significant given the lack of an Executive for a protracted period when there was absolutely no chance any further major development would be made possible on the site. 

Let’s put that in perspective – that is the equivalent of 216 full-time registered nurses in our health service.   

With the political deadlock on the issue seemingly no longer bubbling to the surface on this issue, is it time to either move forward with a shared vision on the site or sell it off? 

Creggans policing problem

Earlier this week, I was shocked to learn of a police operation in Creggan involving armed officers who had entered a house in relation to an investigation around illegal lotteries, purportedly being managed by either Saoradh or the Irish Republican Prisoners Welfare Association. 

Now I have no love for that particular party, and frankly at first glance many people will have switched off when their name was mentioned in relation to this particular operation.  That all having been said, I watched a video of two young people being led from the property in question.  I am told at least one was 14 years of age and autistic, and I have no reason to disbelieve that. 

Prior to being escorted to a police car by officers, the camera recording the incident panned to the young persons neck, where it was plainly visible that immense pressure marking had taken place.  This young person, I hope they will not mind me saying, was far from big enough to be a threat to the police officers, armed as they are with high velocity weapons which were on site. 

If, as has been alleged this young person was manhandled and even assaulted by police, there are serious questions to answer.  Not only why there were at least seven police assets and a dozen visible police officers to seemingly arrest a minor, not only that it was clear to me that he was subject to some form of physical restraint but that that young person is autistic, bearing in mind the sensory complexities involved, which could leave lasting psychological damage. 

Last night, there was then an obviously orchestrated campaign of hijackings of vehicles belonging to our own community, keeping drivers in jobs at a time when we have never needed them as much.  There is absolutely no justification for that action, not even what happened to that young person. 

However, it is clear that there is a policing problem in Creggan and there has been for some time.  The police seem intent on creating the perception that they are clamping down hard on those they believe to be connected to dissident republican groups, but by doing so are utilising tactics that are simply unacceptable.  I have always spoken out about the use of stop and search powers, this blog in particular demonstrates that.  Arresting minors and undertaking arrests that regularly result in release without charge to the point where the whole process becomes a laughing stock and makes a mockery of the impact of crime on victims right across the city who don’t see the same vigilance being focussed on drugs, antisocial behaviour and burglaries. 

I have no love for the police due to their actions, but I know that society must be policed.  The actions of the PSNI in Creggan is making it increasingly difficult to engage with them as a Nationalist. 

I should at this point be clear that there are criticisms to be levelled at both ‘sides’ of this on-going jostle in Creggan.  Firstly, ordinary people in Creggan do not want violence, and they don’t support groups who are engaged in it.  Lyra McKee’s murder and its aftermath demonstrated that, and so did last night.  Political parties are indeed entitled to put across their point of view but the time where they can hold society to ransom is long over.  Every election in the last few years have demonstrated overwhelmingly that people support parties who support policing.  That is a fact.  Videos purporting to show stop and searches or police operations in the aftermath of violent actions in Creggan or anywhere else are to be expected – and the violence that took place last night contaminated the message of the young persons arrest I referred to above.  People in Derry will not stand for the tactic employed by the police that result in a vulnerable young person being hurt, but they equally will not give quarter to those engaging in violence. 

I read a social media post earlier regarding police accountability and it contained some elements of truth. Nationalists signed up to policing only after extensive discussions around transparency and accountability.  I could not, hand on heart, say that the same politicians that promised these have delivered on them.  Perhaps admitting that there are problems with policing is akin to admitting that those parties have failed to exercise their oversight roles correctly.  That having been said, I think it is fair to say that if parties did everything possible to hold the police to account, it would never be enough for some critics, because their aim is also partially political. 

There needs to be a serious, cross-party focus on policing in Creggan, not just for incidents like the one I have described, but for the use of resources, the effectiveness of police when it comes to crime such as domestic violence, drugs, burglaries and so on.  It is the responsibility of those who lead us to be seen to tackle this growing problem or we are looking at a scenario of young people who are at the blunt end of policing abandoning all hope of change. A real effort will also serve as a reminder to others who seek to engage in violence that politics here can work, that it can react to its people and make change.   

#GE19 – Foyle under the microscope

Now that the General Election is over, we can rake over the coals of the figures in our home constituency of Foyle which proved to be one of the most anticipated – and most surprising fights of the campaign.

We are fortunate in that we have two elections relatively close together where we can attempt to compare and contrast the numbers – the General Election in December and the May Council elections. First, some housekeeping, both use different electoral systems, Westminster being FPTP and Council being PR. Still, some interesting tid bits to be found.

Naturally, the fight in Foyle came down to the SDLP and SF – the latter having snatched the seat away in a shock result in 2017 by a minute margin. It was thought this time around the race would be too close to call, and local polls reflected this. No-one expected that the SDLP would romp home adding 8,794 votes to its 2017 total, against an almost equivalent drop in the Sinn Fein vote (-8,485).

There are only three parties who have had an increase in their vote since the last Westminster election – SDLP, Alliance (+420) and Aontu who contested the election for the first time.

What is much clearer is the pattern of support from the May elections for Council to the 2019 General Election. Some parties dropped significantly in one a number of months. Here are the results of each party from the May Derry City and Strabane District Council election and the difference from their GE result:

SF 17,062 (-7291 on WM)
SDLP 15,458 (+11,423 on WM)
DUP 8,923 (-4,150 on WM)
UUP 4,126 (-3,038 on WM)
PBP 3,590 (-2,258 on WM)
ALL 2,852 (-1,585 on WM)
AON 1,032 (+1,000 on WM)

Clearly, only two parties have increased their vote since May – the SDLP and Aontu. Between all those who lost votes, 18,322 have evaporated. Aontu have added 1,000 to their tally from May, no small feat for a new party, yet a party that had achieved two seats in Council – People Before Profit, has seen its vote drop massively – down 37.1% in only eight months would indicate a very unstable base.

Even the mighty Alliance surge failed to materialise in Foyle, losing 1,585 votes since May. The UUP are an enigma given half of their council team is based in the Derg ward which is in the West Tyrone constituency.

Some genuine food for thought for parties in Foyle.

PSNI ‘TERROR’ AGENDA A SHAM?

Chief police officers of the PSNI have consistently outlined that the threat of terrorism, particularly from dissident republicans remains ‘severe’ across the region.  This being the case, it may be expected that tools used by the PSNI to tackle terrorism such as section 41 of the Terrorism Act or the Justice and Security Act, may have resulted in a spike in arrests and charges in areas all across NI.

However, this is not entirely the case – indeed in areas that have been subject to high profile anti-terrorism or paramilitary-linked investigations in recent times such as areas of North Down that have been searched by police investigating UDA-linked activity, have had less than five people charged under the Terrorism Act since 2014, BtP can reveal.

Following a detailed request under Freedom of Information legislation, the PSNI have told us that under section 41 of the Terrorism Act – which allows police to arrest without a warrant someone they believe to be a terrorist – 835 arrests have been made, yet only 101 charges have been brought arising from them, or 12%.  This means that 734 arrests under terror laws have resulted in no charges being brought by the PSNI.

The information, broken down by local council area, reveals that from 2014-15, there have been 23 instances where zero charges have been brought under the legislation.  In the Derry and Strabane area, 2015-16 saw 47 arrests made under terrorism laws with no charges brought.  In that same period, a bomb was found in the Currynierin area of Derry, a bomb exploded outside probation offices, a man was shot in the Cecilia’s Walk area, community safety wardens were issued threats believed to be from dissident republicans and the Everglades hotel was firebombed.  A viable bomb was also discovered in the Ballycolman estate in Strabane.

Between 2016 and 2018, only three arrests took place in the Fermanagh and Omagh area, with zero charges being brought in that period.  Between 2018-19 only one arrest was made, with no charges brought, yet months later a bomb exploded in Wattlebridge.

In Belfast, 7 charged were made arising from 78 arrests in 2017-18.  The Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon area is another eyebrow raiser, with only 7 charges have been brought arising from 44 arrests since 2014-15.  This is interesting given the focus on Lurgan as another hotbed of dissident republican activity.

In North Down where it is widely suggested loyalist paramilitary groups remain active, less than 15 arrests under terror laws have taken place in 2014 – with only 4 charges brought. 

As part of our initial request, we also sought the same figures for the Justice and Security Act, but the PSNI withheld this data on national security grounds. This information has to be put in the context of PSNI resources – it has received and continues to receive millions of pounds in ‘security funding’ and an upgrade in support from the Security Service and the National Crime Agency in the form of the paramilitary taskforce, which begs the question all the more – what is going on?

Arrests -v- charges

Belfast City: 16%

Derry City and Strabane: 3.67%

Lisburn and Castlereagh: 8.3%

Ards and North Down: 30.77%

Newry, Mourne and Down: 44.83%

Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon: 15.9%

Mid Ulster: 20%

Fermanagh and Omagh: 33%

Causeway, Coast and Glens: 3.92%

Mid and East Antrim: 7.7%

Antrim and Newtownabbey: 4.35%

Why the Relief of Derry celebrations 2019 was different

I was in the city centre of Derry on Saturday 10th August from just before 9am until after 5pm after the bands had dispersed and supporters either went home or to continue the celebration in the Memorial Hall on Society Street. I wanted to make that clear at the beginning of this piece, given the vast majority of comment about Saturday came from people who were not there.

2019 has to be a turning point in the relationship between the Apprentice Boys and the residents of the adjacent Bogside. I remember the ‘bad old days’ when the march meant violence, no questions asked. Since the mid 1990’s dialogue took place between the ‘Bogside Residents Group’ and the General Committee of the Apprentice Boys which laid the foundations for peaceful marches and some form of normalising of events including loyal orders.

I want to be crystal clear about this – from the first tour of the City Walls at 9am by the local parent clubs of ABOD, their bands and members conducted themselves as one would expect from a group of people who have great pride in this City and its history. Watching the bands and brethren snake their way along the 400 year old ramparts was to witness a feat of discipline and calm.

The next set piece of the day at the Diamond War Memorial mirrored that calm. Respectfully, members bowed their heads to remember those who fell in both world wars. Here’s where the problem starts.

At the ‘Hands Across the Divide’ statue facing into Craigavon Bridge, the Relief Pageant was later underway. A real feat of street theatre with musket fire and carefully practised dialogue to boot. This is where I noticed two things – 1. alcohol had made an appearance, much, it would have seemed, to the annoyance of older brethren whose scowls were clear to see; and 2. not one local politician was to be seen (other than those in the parade).

These two factors cannot be understated.

During the first full parade through the city centre following the pageant, observers lined the streets on foot and on seats. Whilst outside the Richmond Centre at around 1pm, I noticed a man dressed in grey attempting to cross the pedestrian crossing (whose lights were green) when he was accosted by a bandsman with what looked like an umbrella and was back on the pavement in a flash, soon to be apprehended by police (9 officers) and taken away. The bandsman was not spoken to by officers. This was caught on camera by a local journalist and by the many body cameras of ABOD stewards.

Soon after, I was half way down Shipquay Street observing a protest by Saoradh. No alcohol here, and one local politician (E McCann) showed up for a total of about three minutes.

During this, it was easy to observe at the top of the street a number of police officers flanking a band navigating around the Diamond. It was clear something was wrong. After a quick bite to eat, the return parade of the parent clubs was yet to come.

Masses of police officers flanked the Diamond area, leftover from the protest with their many forms of video apparatus. A number of people not disposed to the march had been peppered throughout the crowds adjacent to Austins, observing. Shocking for me was the boom of the first band over Ferryquay street to the tune of ‘The Billy Boys’.

Any Nationalist worth their salt knows this is no neutral tune. A group of revellers across the street from where I was standing (but by no means all) were more than happy to hear this song being played and made that very clear with calls of – and I quote: “hope you like that you fenian b*stards”. The police officer three feet from me with one of the many forms of video recording equipment had this pointed at the ground. No doubt a breach of the peace was taking place.

This was clear inconsistency in the police operation. Earlier in the day, a man was spoken to by police and asked to leave the area for ‘giving the finger in the street’. This inconsistency formed part of my complaint to the Police Ombudsman.

Now that we have the chronology in order, the issues. Throughout the entire day, I had seen three elected representatives (who weren’t on the march itself). Two DUP councillors, one I met in the Fountain and one after the main parade who was acting as a steward, and one PBP Cllr who looked to be seeking to talk to Saoradh members at their protest for a short time. Not one Nationalist representative was to be seen the entire day. This is becoming all too frequent. It seems the entire Nationalist political populace inevitably see more value in waiting until the press calls the next day. Leadership on the ground is needed during the summer more in these last few years than since I was a boy.

This may be because the ‘agreement’ in place with the ABOD and ‘Bogside Residents Group’. You’ll notice I continue to place that groups name in apostrophe’s. Well the truth is, its not a residents group at all. It was created by Sinn Fein in the 90’s and utilised as a protest group by them for many years. To this day outside of its spokesperson, I am not aware of any meetings it has held, who its committee is or when they were elected (and I still live in the Bogside).

This lack of leadership on the ground and the idea that a cosy relationship has been formed despite the obvious growing anger about the Clyde Valley flute band – is a recipe for disaster. Nationalist representatives did what they do best – came to the party late, calling for meetings and issuing condemnation whilst the ABOD and the DUP circled the wagons about the ins and outs of the provocative nature of the bands attendance.

Let’s examine this. The band was invited by the General Committee of the Apprentice Boys of Derry. They knew the band was named after the ship that landed arms for the UVF at Larne, and that they nicknamed themselves ‘the Gunrunners’. Talk of an ‘agreement’ between police and the ABOD about provocative symbols etc is being run up the PSNI flagpole (and SF MP for Foyle who said a papertrail exists) but has been rubbished by the Governor of the Apprentice Boys.

A video of the police remonstrating with bandsmen of the Clyde Valley has emerged. Take that in – police negotiating with a band. For a senior officer in the PSNI to decide that the band could continue to march but to flank them with police officers was lunacy. It was never going to be seen other than a band getting their way and protected by police.

A show was put on with officers stopping the bands bus on the way home and cautioning three members – despite it being made clear that those members did not give their personal details. Leave aside the obvious provocative nature of the bands’ uniforms, the fact that police allowed the band to take part in the procession boggles the mind.

The anger from Saturday, either feigned or otherwise, has led to three nights of disorder in and around the Bogside. A group of what seems to me to be young people who likely came from the Fountain estate to mass at the Memorial Hall last night, and we are looking down the barrel of a bonfire on 15th August that has in the past been used as cover for orchestrated violence.

Couple all of this with the problems in the New Lodge and we are looking at a serious problem when our summers could just as easily revert back to those we saw in the 1990’s. Nationalists need to get their act together – engage with your own communities and take their views into account before engaging with the Apprentice Boys. The agreement that has been in place needs to ensure confidence that this year isn’t repeated. If it doesn’t, we should not be surprised if violence sadly follows.

In defence of Creggan

I haven’t written in a while owing to other commitments but I felt there was a moral imperative to respond to some of the ridiculous comments and stories published in the last week about Creggan and its people.

I don’t want to miss and hit the wall – lazy journalism has sought to characterise the Creggan area as some sort of dystopian festival ground.  We are blessed with some journalists that actually go out and seek stories and provide us with raw truth, like it or not.  On the other hand, we have journalists – both local and not so local, that sit behind desks or behind laptops in their homes writing about a community they could point to on a map, but wouldn’t know where to start if they to write a story about it.

Two articles in particular caught my attention – and ire – this past week.  One was from Tony Evans writing on Tortoise Media (link: torto.se/2KaSKkC) that frankly made my blood boil.  Have a read yourself – and pay special attention to the piece regarding young people who fail the transfer test being thrown ‘on the scrap heap’.  I was mad angry having read it, especially knowing that he had written it after what was probably a 48-hour trip to the City.

The other was the interview given by Assistant Chief Constable Stephen Martin on BBC NI’s Spotlight programme.  Mr Martin is a former commander of the PSNI in the City.  Enjoying a pre-bed cup of tea on the night, I near had to be scraped off my ceiling having listened to him wax lyrical about the good old days when the PSNI could patrol Creggan on bikes.

Violence in Creggan, or Clooney, or anywhere else in my City is unacceptable and can’t be supported, for me that goes without saying.  Groups or individuals seeking to engage in violence, whether that be politically motivated or by death driving, is not what Creggan is about.

However, the one-sided viewpoint being pushed out the world that Creggan is a dissident infested, backward and violence-loving hellhole is just wrong.  It’s perpetuated by people who are happy to have their name printed on anything that moves, or there is an agenda at work.  I lived in Creggan in my younger years and many of my family still live there, it is a place apart, there is no doubt about that.

Those people who pour scorn on the area and dip in and out of Creggan and other areas when there are negative stories to be told are incapable of digging just beneath the surface and identifying that Creggan is one of the few places left in this City where there is a still a community feel.

I recently knocked (almost) every door in Creggan for the local election and as much as I am closer to other areas in the City, Creggan is still a special place.  They know their neighbours, front door keys are still left in their doors during the day, and residents have maintained their bonds through good times and bad.  It reminds me of miner towns prior to the mid 1980s.  It has heart, and it takes challenges in its stride.

Contrast that with the policing strategy overseen by Mr Martin and his colleagues.  Why don’t his officers ride bikes across the Heights any more?  For sure the ‘security threat’ is partly behind this change of tactics, however, only someone who willingly ignored or didn’t care about assessing the impact of security policing on the area would fail to see the realities.

I’ve seen it with my own eyes all too often.  Young men shadowed by armoured police cars with their passenger windows down, feeling comfortable calling these men by their first names – “where are you off to today Pat? Sure we will see you later”.  I know of three young men who have lost part-time jobs either because they have been constantly stopped under anti-terrorism legislation on busy morning roads, deliberately keeping them late, or because officers have repeatedly engaged with them at their place of work.  I once even witnessed a 19-year old man out on his first date with a woman in Waterloo Place, and having been spotted by a police car, stopped and very publicly searched in the middle of a busy thoroughfare.  Needless to say there was no second date.

A taxi driver stopped in front of Pilot’s Row with a young mother and child as passengers, blocked in by two police landrovers and a dozen police officers.  Losing the fare and publicly embarrassing the driver.  This would all be fine if these searches had uncovered weapons, ammunition etc – but we know they don’t.  What they do, and consistently deliver, is either young people into the hands of certain organisations, or their absolute hatred of the PSNI.

As for community policing that Mr Martin lauds in his interview, don’t make us laugh.  I couldn’t keep count of the number of people that have come to me and others because they have called police to their home for issues ranging from anti-social behaviour to domestic violence, only to be left high and dry.  No visit, no calls, nothing.  Now, we can all debate the reasons for this trend, but I have no doubt it is because of the constant fear police have of being attacked – a legitimate fear until you stand back and realise they patrol the area in bullet and bomb-proof vehicles and helicopters, whilst the victims of crime are abandoned to pick up the pieces.

You’ll not hear any of this from the police and you certainly wont hear it from these journalists or commentators – because when these things happen – and they do all too often – they are at home sitting comfortably.  It’s too easy to zoom in on Creggan’s problems – the same problems that exist in Dungannon, Coleraine and Newry and take pot shots at its people when you lack the talent and gumption to stand on its streets and see its people come together.

I have long since programmed myself to turn the channel when I hear interviews with people about Creggan – especially about the murder of Lyra McKee – given by people who again that night, were at home.  They couldn’t deny they didn’t know there was trouble in the area that night – did they come up to support residents, talk young people into going home or show solidarity with the people – all of whom despise what happened? Nope.  They ran to the Daily Mail’s of the world to say how terrible it was and what they think the people of Creggan think, how they live and what challenges they face.

Put up or shut up I say.

 

City Deal – Derry’s current position uncovered

In recent times, we have all been exposed to the words ‘City Deal’ from the SDLP in Derry, or by ‘Inclusive Growth Deal’ by Sinn Fein.  Both are the same things.  According to the UK Government, these mechanisms are an opportunity for cities and regions to tweak their economic profiles alongside government to suit their individual issues and ambitions.

“City Deals give local areas specific powers and freedoms to help the region support economic growth, create jobs or invest in local projects.”

The UK Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government have responsibility for working with local authorities to investigate the feasibility of these mechanisms, and in particular, the Cities and Local Growth Unit within the Department.

So, in true BtP style, I asked the Department a number of questions on 16th November 2017 in relation to who has been doing what on your behalf to achieve a positive result for the City.  We know of course that Belfast is also in the running for a City Deal, and as such the Derry ears prick up when we know we are in competition with the old foe. (Derry gets nahin etc)

So, this morning after months of to-ing and fro-ing with the Department given that a standard response to Freedom of Information requests takes up to 28 days and not seven months, I got a response.  It makes for alarming reading.

Firstly, lets review what I actually asked for.

(a) A copy of any minutes of meetings that may have taken place between the Cities and Local Growth Unit and;
(I) Northern Ireland MPs; (ii) Northern Ireland MLAs; (iii) Officials from any Northern Ireland local government institution; on the issue of City Deals or local growth plans
(b) a copy of any correspondence from any of the above groups, with specific reference to any Social Democratic and Labour Party elected representatives or elected representatives from Derry and Strabane District Council, or elected representatives of any party who represent the Foyle constituency either at Northern Ireland Assembly or UK Parliament level on city deals or local growth plans
(c) a copy of any correspondence from any Northern Ireland local government institutions on city deals or local growth plans since 2011.

Pretty clear. No room for manoeuvre there.  Which public representatives from 2011 until the response was issued, 11 May 2018 have actually done what they said they were.  All parties, all levels, Executive, Assembly and Council level.

Why did I specifically ask about the SDLP?  Because at that time, to their credit, they were pushing hard for a City Deal when I issued the request.  Since then, much has changed and we can see frequent press statements from newly elected SF MP for Foyle, Elisha McCallion.  The request as I’ve said, should cover that whole period.

The response was fairly comprehensive.  I should firstly say that it is true that some elected representatives have had meetings with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland on a deal, plan, whatever you want to call it.  However, as outlined, DHCLG have authority for these issues.

Here is the first part of the response;

“The Cities and Local Growth Unit does not hold any correspondence from any of the named groups that make specific reference to Social Democratic and Labour Party elected representatives or elected representatives from Derry and Strabane District Council, or elected representatives of any party who represent the Foyle constituency either at Northern Ireland Assembly or UK Parliament level on city deals or local growth plans.”

Furthermore:

“I can confirm that the information requested is held by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government and we are able to provide you with this information. All located correspondence sent to the Cities and Local Growth Unit from Northern Ireland local government institutions on city deals or local growth plans is attached.”

There you have it.  They do have information (redacted as usual) from local government institutions, that surely must be Derry and Strabane District Council and Belfast City Council (who are the lead partner for the group of Councils in the Greater Belfast Area working towards a deal for them).

There were 40 documents in the response pack.  Remember, I asked for minutes of meetings and correspondence from basically any interested local institution regarding a City Deal to the team directly responsible for their planning and implementation in the UK Government.

Of the forty documents, I was shocked to discover that none of these referred to, mentioned or came from Derry and Strabane District Council.  Not one.  They were all from Belfast City Council.  Emails, planning documents, strategies and communication internally on what they were doing on achieving a deal.  Nothing for Derry or Strabane.

So, no representatives individually at Council, Assembly or Westminster level who speak for Derry and Strabane contacted the Growth team in London, nor did our local council.

Prove it, I hear the panicked political parties say.  Well, no problem.  Below is a link to the full response.

http://jmp.sh/z6DfYM1 – zip file of the responses

http://jmp.sh/T9GSg4P – the written response

What is next?

 

DERRY DETOX: THE FINALE

For too long now, the issue of the detox petition for Derry has been the subject of conspiracy, innuendo and half-truths.

Let’s remind ourselves of the current position of the petition were tens of thousands of people in the City demanded a detoxification centre.

The Health and Social Care Board initiated a consultation on detoxification and rehabilitation services and proposed a rejig of the services provided and their location.

Consultations were put forward by a range of sources and stakeholders, such as the Western Trust itself, political representatives and service providers.  As we know from revelations exposed by this blog, the only response to argue for a detox centre in Derry was then-MLA Pat Ramsey.

All others, even that of other political representatives whose party had representatives in Derry, opted to support the Omagh centre.

Now, to the petition.  It was submitted to the Assembly by Mr Ramsey with the agreement of leaders of the petition campaign in order to raise further publicity.

As had been re-iterated again and again, the process that was then followed was as below;

It has since been asked, where did the petition go?

Now, BtP can reveal exactly that.

After some months of investigation, ruling out the Public Health Agency which manages some relevant services, and other public agencies that the petition might have been sent to, the Department of Health has revealed some interesting information.

They were asked to reveal where the petition was, and to outline the advice given to the then-Minister for Health, Social Services and Public Safety by the Public Health Agency on the petition presented to the Assembly by Mr Ramsey.

In their response, the Department outlined that on 1^st July 2014 the Speaker wrote to the Minister advising that the petition had been laid in the Assembly on 30^th June.

In order to ‘facilitate a response to Pat Ramsey MLA information was sought from the Health and Social Care Board who emailed a joint response on behalf of the HSCB and PHA to the Department on 9^th July 2014’.

The email briefing the Minister stated the following:

“Detoxification in the Foyle area takes place mostly in primary care through local GP’s.  For more complex detoxification local Western Trust community addiction teams become involved and in a minority of cases people require medically supervised detoxification as an inpatient in a hospital.

Additionally between the Western Trust, Public Health Agency and Western DACT there is considerable investment across tiers 1-4 in Derry and the North West.

Clarity on the differences between detoxification services and other services to meet the needs of people with addiction issues must be maintained; e.g. a Detox centre is not a ‘crash centre’ or a ‘safe place’.

Regarding the detoxification services in the Western Trust area currently located at the Tyrone and Fermanagh Hospital site, these are available to the whole population of the Western Trust including the citizens of Derry City.

These services will be soon improved by moving to seven days per week, 24 hours per day to provide medically supervised detoxification and medically supervised rehabilitation.

In addition to these services the Western Trust commissions residential rehabilitation services in Derry at the Northlands centre”.

This was the advice to the Minister.

Now, for the fate of the petition.

Bearing in mind that the Trust itself responded to the consultation opting for Omagh instead of a purpose built centre in Derry as thousands had demanded, the Department has now officially confirmed that the Trust had been sent the petition in July 2014 – and did not include it in its own submission, nor is there any information held by the Department to indicate it took any action to pressure the HSCB on it.

The Trust simply ignored the petition.

 

City Deal? What City Deal?

To the naked eye, the announcement by the UK Chancellor in the Budget that a City Deal for Belfast would be progressed quite rightly led to aghast politicians in the West crying foul.

However, this is not a black and white issue, muddied further by Derry City and Strabane District Council’s followup press release that sought to calm freyed nerves by telling everyone that talks were already underway for a Derry City Deal. Great, right? Maybe.

I have three issues with this singular approach, though in principle if a Deal benefits the City, bring it on.

Firstly, City Deals are not a panacea. The National Audit Office in its report on the first wave of Deals identified problems with the more bespoke aspects of, in particular, Manchester’s deal. It had included an ‘earn back’ scheme which would allow the City to keep up to £900m of extra revenue raised from it’s investments over 30 years. However, two years after the announcement of the Deal, the Treasury, having dug its heels in, forced a different formula than earn back to be implemented, and this exposes one of my concerns – when a Deal is negotiated directly with the City Growth Unit in DCLG, that is really only the beginning. We then must wrestle with the Treasury, well known for being generous to Northern Ireland (not).

Secondly, and so far politicians through their faux outrage have failed to grasp, a Deal is between a city/region and the UK Government. Devolved governments in Scotland and Wales for example, have had some input, but a Deal hasn’t – and doesn’t shift devolved policy. Here we come to the crux of the matter.

Nearly two years ago, I brought you an internal document from the Economic Advisory Group – a group of experts that advise the now Minister for the Economy. In the document it described sub-regional growth as an ‘inefficient use of resources’ – thus killing any major shift in policy that would address the economic drift in places like Derry.

How then, can a City Deal endeavour to create prosperity in the West when the regional government rejects the need to do so itself? Bear in mind here, that the Executive was in place during this, so no excuses for parties

Thirdly, and I hope to be proven wrong on this, is the statement from Derry City and Strabane District Council on their negotiations for a Deal. In it, they refer to more student places at Magee – great. What I don’t understand is frankly how this will work. We have long been fed the notion that Stormont ministers need only click their fingers and create more student places, really because Magee expansion is seen as sexy and a vote winner. What you’re not told is that creating student places is a financial affair. Raising the MaSN level (number of students) means the Executive has to create finance to support those students, in student loans and other payments. Now, again we know from earlier that the Executive dont do regional growth so the question is – if a City Deal is struck, and Magee student numbers are part of that, will we be required to simply give a chunk of money to the Department of the Economy to do something for us they implacably disagree with?

City Deals are part of the solution, but only part. I would argue even more important than securing one is forcing a rethink on subregional growth. Without it, we are left with a deal that may well benefit the City, but will let our own administration officially off the hook in relation to its obligations to us in the short, medium and long term.

PRISON SCANNERS: END OF THE ROAD

Plans to install body scanners in the republican wing of Magheraberry prison have been officially abandoned by the authorities, BtP can reveal.

The implementation of Recommendation 8 of the Anne Owers Report- which the then-Minister David Ford said would be brought into force, has been completely abandoned.

Confidential internal emails from the Office for Nuclear Development in the Department of Business in London who are responsible for liaising with the prison service on the scanners reveal that – in the words of an NI Prison Service official – the process has ‘ground to a halt’.

In March 2015, Chris Grayling, UK Justice Minister announced that English prisons would trial x-ray scanners to combat the worrying drug problem throughout the Prison Estate.

In essence, Recommendation 8 has been delayed at this time for four years, now six years from the publication of the Owers Report, with no end in sight.  The Prison Service, rather that seeking actively to implement this crucial aspect of the Report, have relied on numerous UK policy shifts which have meant it could wash its hands of the responsibility of trialing the second stage of scanners which have the potential to address the concerns of Republican prisoners in Roe House, Maghaberry.

In January 2016, as part of a personal project to see the strip searching issue addressed in the Prison Estate after the production of the Anne Owers Report, I published what would be one of the first stories on this blog entitled ‘Prison scanners fiasco continues’ which can be read here.

Recommendation 8 of the Owers report states: ‘Efforts should be continued to see whether there is an effective and less intrusive method than full body-searching of ensuring that prisoners leaving and entering prison are not bringing in contraband.’

Following the publication of the report, the NI Prison Service announced that two trials involving electronic scanners to replace full body searches would take place.  The first, which began in September 2012, utilised a millimetre wave scanner, much the same as those used in airports such as Belfast International.

In February 2013, however, the Prison Service ruled out the use of this technology in prisons as it failed to detect contraband such as knives and scissors in an internal trial – the results of which were not independently verified.

The second, more complex trial was set to use a backscatter x-ray scanner and due to the range of radiation this involves, is subject to European legislation, namely the Justification of Practices Involving the Use of Ionising Radiation Regulations 2004.

This process involved the Prison Service applying to the now-Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to use this technology in prisons.  They did this in May 2013.

By the time I had written the original blog piece, this had been set back, as the National Offender Management Service, which provides strategic management of the Prison system had said they would now make an application for the whole of the UK to use the scanners.

I had released confidential internal emails soon thereafter that would indicate the seriousness with which the NI Prison Service took its responsibilities for the implementation of Owers – the person who had been managing the process within the Service had left, and the proposals were no further forward.  Now it would seem that process is at an end.