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TV history as Northern Ireland's party leaders do battle
Friday, 23 April 2010
Chairman Jim Dougal in a spirited exchange with SF President Gerry Adams and UUP leader Sir Reg Empey
enlargeAn independent, external inquiry into First Minister Peter Robinson’s alleged links with property developer Fred Fraser was demanded last night in the first head-to-head televised debate between the main party leaders in Northern Ireland.
Ulster Television made a small part of broadcasting history as Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams said that not only had he never been in the IRA, he has never even been asked to join.
The hour-long exchange also saw Mr Adams ask repeatedly why SDLP MLA Thomas Burns had travelled to Afghanistan for a trip paid for by the Ministry of Defence, who he said had “attempted to nobble” the Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday.
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie said a separate, independent inquiry into the Robinson allegations was the best way to restore honour to politics, even though two investigations into the claims against the DUP leader are on-going.
Ms Ritchie and Ulster Unionist leader Sir Empey attempted to ratchet up the pressure on Mr Robinson in the aftermath of months of controversy over a £5 strip of land deal and the political fallout from his wife Iris’s financial dealings in helping to bankroll a business project for her then 19-year-old lover.
Sir Reg reiterated his view that Mr Robinson should “stand aside” until the continuing inquiries are complete because then “he and all of us” could “come back even stronger”.
Mr Robinson said he would tackle the question of his personal issues head on — he had asked for the two on-going inquiries himself and the advice of Crown counsel on whether he had breached the Ministerial Code had been seen by UTV’s Political Editor Ken Reid, who had pronounced it gave a “clean bill of health” but could not be published in full for legal reasons.
“I would be the happiest person in the world if it could be (published),” the East Belfast MP said.
Chairing the programme, veteran political journalist Jim Dougal said he did not believe the question over the sale of a strip of land near Mr Robinson’s house by Mr Fraser for £5 had been answered.
A BBC investigation last month concluded the Robinsons acquired the strip of land 50 metres from the boundary of their back garden at Gransha Road in Belfast from Mr Fraser in April 2005 which became the gateway to a proposed housing scheme. It was then sold onto another developer again for £5.
Mr Robinson repeated his insistence he had approached Mr Fraser because he had been asked to but denied being a “middleman” because he had not made one penny profit over the strip of land.
The DUP leader and Sir Reg also clashed over the issue of expenses when the UUP leader referred to former Strangford MP Mrs Robinson’s claim for a £300-plus pen “when a 10p Biro would have done”.
Mr Robinson retorted that in his tie-up with the Conservatives Sir Reg had aligned himself with the party which made expenses claims over duck-houses, moats and gardens, while he (Mr Robinson) could sit “polishing my halo” because he had been cleared of any issue over expenses claims.
Mr Adams and Mrs Ritchie also crossed swords over the issue of abstentionism — the refusal of Sinn Fein MPs to sit in Westminster.
The West Belfast MP said: “England is a pretty nice place but this is my country. I am an active abstentionist, others are lazy abstentionists. We do our business here, and in Downing Street.”
But Ms Ritchie argued it was important to be where real business affecting Northern Ireland was being done in the House of Commons, and that her party’s MPs at the time, John Hume, Seamus Mallon and Eddie McGrady, had voted against the war in Iraq. Mr Adams, however, said she had refused to answer the issue of Mr Burns’ trip.
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Comments
24 Comments
these ministers standing for election already have a job at stormont which is important yet they are going to stand down from it if elected where is their loyalty to the problems we have here seems like the westminister gravy train looks better and what i seen on the debate was usual point scoring and nothing to offer only false promises
Posted by norman.d | 24.04.10, 19:20 GMT
The show is a good idea, it shows the general public 'who can think and are willing to be critical of their own tribe', how bad our politicians really are...
Posted by Stuart | 23.04.10, 19:21 GMT
I agree that Margaret Richie looked way out of her depth. Peter Robinson, who I have no time for, came across as the better politician. He has restored a very small piece of my faith in the DUP. Gerry Adams is pathetic. The world and it's brother knows exactly what he is.
Posted by P.Crowson | 23.04.10, 15:42 GMT
harryatport you forget to mention the cuts to public services and to jobs that would come about from a tory victory. The so-called savings the tories are talking about are peoples's jobs. livelihoods and mortgage payments. I suggest people should vote against any party that take the nasty tory party whip. The sdlp cant stand tories either. Their saving grace imo.
Posted by Terence | 23.04.10, 14:53 GMT
very disappointed in Margaret Ritchie performance. She looked out of her depth and to be honest the 2 most professional and polished politician were Robinson and Adams. Sir Reg is just power hungry and not to be taken seriously
Posted by Steve | 23.04.10, 14:20 GMT
I remember this show ... it used to have Paisley and Hume ... funniest bit of real drama produced by the BBC NI ... good to see it back ...
Posted by Trevor | 23.04.10, 14:17 GMT
the posts printed show a lack of reality,what do we want from our politicians,honesty integrity. The DUP and Sinn Fein are lacking on both these counts ,so therefore voters should vote for those parties that have these qualities,the SDLP and the Conservativesand Unionist parties. Then we wouldnt have to put up with "Iwas never inthe IRA" and £600,000 a year triple jobbing MPs
Posted by harryatport | 23.04.10, 14:07 GMT
Polotics based on the parties manifesto is a great idea. Why should we have to vote on the basis of religion? The parties should lead the way by disbanding completely and forming new parties which are not completely segregated by religion, then we would be forced to vote for the parties manifesto as we'd have no other option! ....and pigs might fly.
Posted by Conrad | 23.04.10, 13:22 GMT
Well put Graham Smyth. They should be convincing us to vote for them but all they re doing is ensuring I ll not. COME ON - we pay you to work for us not having age old digs at each other. Boring!!!
Sort out real issues, price diesel why is Northern Irelands nearly the highest of the UK? Unemployment, again why are we doing so poorly.
Do these people even live in the real world at all????
The voters have moved on in life so should the politicans - or we ll get a new bunch see how the old ones like booted out and on the dole!!!
Posted by Claire | 23.04.10, 13:16 GMT
Ritchie has got to be one of the least inspiring party leaders of all time. Everything she said last night appeared to be from a script. When the debate left the script she was lost. Im a nationalist swing voter who votes on the quality of the candidate - and not the party. But in South Down there are two of the worst nationalist candidates ever in Ritchie and Ruane. South Down is a safe nationalist seat - so Im voting Green or Alliance as a protest vote.
Posted by Bruce Grimshaw | 23.04.10, 12:25 GMT
Glad I missed this. I'll reserve my free time for shows like this to the Russian Circus when it next comes to town
Posted by Gwrinkle | 23.04.10, 11:55 GMT
The war is over and the British and Irish governments were perfectly prepared to accept Mr Adams as he delivered the peace process. The sdlp and the unionist are clutching at straws. If one supported the security services in 1972 would that make one responisble for Bloody Sunday? Margaret Rtichie was pathetic.
Posted by Terence | 23.04.10, 11:30 GMT
And the Emperor wore clothes, right?
Posted by Patrick J. Corr | 23.04.10, 11:21 GMT
Margaret Ritchie looked lost and performed terrible. If there were any real journalists here they'd be asking her about that trip to Afghanistan and also pointing out that Iraq is not Afghanistan.
Posted by Aoife | 23.04.10, 11:18 GMT
Honestly was it just me or did it really highlight what poor politicians we have in N.I. If everyone jumps up out of their voting trenches we have no one representing us. Maybe this is why we get the same old comments posted with the same old mindset. Them and Us. Now is this due to lack of real political leadership concerning real issues and not who walks down a road whistling dixie. Or have I been too kind to the NI general public. I'll be honest I havent even bothered registering on the electoral role whats the point with this representation or lack of it. Even the media here is stuck in trenches, they may claim to long for a new society but still seem to rake up the old underlying sectarian put downs. Can someone please come forward and take a grip of this country and show some sort of political leadership to improve prosperity, investment, jobs and a country possibly we can all be proud of or at least 75% as we know some diehard racists can never change. A Sectarian is a Racist.
Posted by Votes for Jokes | 23.04.10, 11:10 GMT
Great, so they talked about Bloody Sunday and the Saville Inquiry, Peter Robinson's hyjinx, the expenses scandal and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Good to see that politicians here remain as unfocused as ever on the things that the majority of us really care about ... ie jobs, healthcare, crime and employment. No one could argue that we don't have some of the most consistent politicians in the world at least - consistently gazing down their own - and their rivals' - trousers that is. Regarding the Afghan and Iraq wars, they're arguing about things they have absolutely no influence on whatsoever!! We may as well pay them to talk about knitting! When will they stop pandering to the extremist swing vote that thinks every major event in the world revolves around their little hamlet and actually work for the majority who just want to be healthy and live and work in peace? God help us if we have to listen to the usual unresolvable drivel for the rest of the election campaign.
Posted by Graham Smyth | 23.04.10, 11:09 GMT
What annoys me is that people in this country dont base their vote on the party's manifesto, their vote is based on religious backgorund, what their parents voted for and how bitter they are.....sad really.
Posted by Penny | 23.04.10, 10:58 GMT
Margaret Ritchie is determined to replace sensible elders with young chatterers. She seems to want to destroy the SDLP completely. Hard to believe the SDLP is a nationalist party any longer. Her main contribution now is to attack Sinn Fein at every opportunity. Thanks Margaret for destroying a party that was once the hope of Nationalists.
Posted by lee | 23.04.10, 10:39 GMT
just the usual from our politicans backbiting,oneupmanship,and hypocracy. did anyone hear a single thing about why we should vote for any of them?when will they wakeup to the state of the country? who among them is going to sort out the health service,education,economic growth i would be wanting to hear about that.
Posted by disgruntled voter | 23.04.10, 10:21 GMT
Peter Robinson and Gerry Adams presented themselves very well, Sir Reg and Margaret came off as 'whingers' again.
| don't care if Adams was in the IRA or not, nor do I care about Robinson and a land deal.
Wouldn't it be a great money saver if all the parties followed SF in refusing expenses from the public purse for a few years, to build our trust in them?
Posted by It'll never happen | 23.04.10, 09:50 GMT
24 Comments