{"id":26077,"date":"2022-05-01T09:32:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-01T13:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26077"},"modified":"2022-05-02T09:36:01","modified_gmt":"2022-05-02T13:36:01","slug":"long-dysfunctional-stormont-making-peoples-lives-more-difficult-in-the-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irishexaminerusa.com\/wp\/?p=26077","title":{"rendered":"Long: Dysfunctional Stormont Making People’s Lives More Difficult In The North"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Alliance Party leader Naomi Long said \u2018no-one is losing sleep\u2019 over the consequences of the Northern Ireland Protocol (PA Images)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The lives of people in the North are being made harder by not having a functioning power-sharing Executive at Stormont

Pharmacie Montignac Dordogne Pharmacie de la V\u00c3\u00a9z\u00c3\u00a8re<\/a><\/div> , Alliance Party leader Naomi Long has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She delivered a sharp criticism of DUP tactics as she accused the party of having no solutions to longstanding issues and instead using Stormont as leverage to force the UK government to scrap the Northern Ireland Protocol, which she said \u201cno-one is losing sleep over\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In an interview with the PA news agency ahead of Thursday\u2019s Assembly elections, Mrs Long also spoke about the need to reform Stormont, saying it is not representative of many people who no longer see themselves solely as unionist or nationalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The post-Brexit protocol has angered unionists, who view the additional checks on goods arriving into the North from Britain as ‘Irish Sea border’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this year, the DUP pulled out of the Stormont Executive in protest at the protocol, and party leader Sir Jeffrey Donaldson has said during the election campaign that he will not re-enter government after the election until his concerns are addressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of opinion polls have indicated that the cross-community Alliance Party could see a surge in support in the election, and its leader said the DUP should commit to re-entering government as Stormont has no power to change the protocol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Long said: \u201cI don\u2019t think the DUP should take it for granted that people will vote for them in the numbers that it will matter if they go back into government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that is a very presumptuous position to take as a politician.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe public might decide to vote for other parties and the DUP\u2019s role in this will not be as significant as it might currently be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cThe other thing to consider is this: what is the alternative to having devolved government because we can\u2019t change the protocol as local parties?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can certainly talk to the European Union, we can talk to the UK government, we can try to find solutions. But we can\u2019t change it, we don\u2019t have that power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is simply using our institutions, our government as leverage in order to be able to force the UK government to do something.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I think that does a disservice to what local government can actually achieve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Long said local parties should instead be focusing on how to solve bread-and-butter issues such as the cost of living and health service waiting lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe know that people are hurting, people have issues in terms of the cost-of-living crisis, people are really struggling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also know that we haven\u2019t been able to use money which is currently sitting with the Department of Finance. We haven\u2019t been able to distribute that to the public in any shape or form or to spend it on public services because we haven\u2019t been able to have a government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the DUP want to continue down that road, people need to recognize the consequences of that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt means we won\u2019t have a budget so we won\u2019t be able to do things like prioritize the health service as we had planned, it means that we won\u2019t be able to put money in people\u2019s pockets so they can actually start to tackle some of those cost-of-living pressures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think if you ask most people those are the things that they want to see fixed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mrs Long continued: \u201cI don\u2019t think the DUP have solutions to those problems if their only solution to anything is not to have a government. Whatever our challenges, whatever the challenges of the protocol, it cannot be made better by not having a government here; all that does is make people\u2019s lives harder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that is the last message that people want to hear from local politicians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo-one is going to be losing sleep over the protocol but people are genuinely losing sleep because they don\u2019t know how they are going to pay their bills, they don\u2019t know how they are going to feed their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Alliance leader said it is not sustainable to maintain a situation in the Assembly where MLAs are designated as unionist, nationalist or other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe would like to see the designations gone,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI believe that fundamentally what it does is disenfranchises those of us who choose not to designate as unionist or nationalist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut it also creates mutual vetoes in the Assembly and the result of that is that, instead of being able to be encouraged to co-operate, it is actually in people\u2019s interests to form these kind of vetoes and just refuse to do things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that by taking away the designations system you create an impetus for people to actually work across the chamber, to moderate their proposals but also to be more likely to work together to deliver things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI also think that it would deal with the fundamental inequality that some people\u2019s votes count for less than others in the Assembly, which isn\u2019t something that I think is sustainable and never really has been.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She added: \u201cMore than that, it would allow us to deal with issues like the First and Deputy First Minister\u2019s office. We know it\u2019s a co-equal office, we know that they both hold the same amount of power, so let\u2019s just be honest and call it the joint first ministers\u2019 office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMany people in our community no longer view themselves simply through the lens of unionist or nationalist, people have all sorts of things which drive them to vote, that shape their politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think this idea that everyone sees it through the paradigm of unionist and nationalist is a pretty dated outlook. It isn\u2019t one that reflects the population of Northern Ireland as it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven those who are unionist or nationalist are often driven by other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

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