0:00:22 > 0:00:25Hello and welcome to the programme. Coming up this week.
0:00:25 > 0:00:30The SDLP prepares to choose a new leader, which of these four men has
0:00:30 > 0:00:33what it takes to breathe new life into the party?
0:00:33 > 0:00:36What have the Presidential elections taught us about the state
0:00:36 > 0:00:39of Irish Nationalism in the run-up to 2016?
0:00:39 > 0:00:43What has Sinn Fein learnt from Martin's venture into the Republic
0:00:43 > 0:00:52of Chinatown? And busy doing nothing. The
0:00:53 > 0:00:55Assembly takes a break from passing The four candidates for the SDLP
0:00:55 > 0:00:59leadership declined our invitation for a joint debate on Hearts and
0:00:59 > 0:01:05Minds this week, but we're going to talk about them anyway, so there!
0:01:05 > 0:01:11Martin Morgan, you were once the Bill would boy of the SDLP. You
0:01:11 > 0:01:15have now become a member of Fianna Fail. How do you look at this race
0:01:16 > 0:01:22that will take place this weekend? I don't know if one was ever the
0:01:22 > 0:01:32Kuwait boy because I had as many enemies as I have supporters in the
0:01:32 > 0:01:32
0:01:32 > 0:01:38SDLP -- blue wide boy. That is the problem of the SDLP. One other
0:01:38 > 0:01:42candidates is not a runner. I suspect patsy will be leader
0:01:42 > 0:01:47because he is a safe pair of hands. I am not convinced he is leadership
0:01:47 > 0:01:54material because it is not about who you know, I think leadership
0:01:54 > 0:01:59brings more with it than any of the candidates can offer. Two of the
0:01:59 > 0:02:03candidates, you like them or you don't. That is not be credentials
0:02:03 > 0:02:08of leadership. They are the most established people. One of the
0:02:08 > 0:02:17candidates, everyone I have spoken to has said, why is he in the race
0:02:17 > 0:02:21for leadership of the SDLP? You are still not naming names.
0:02:21 > 0:02:28Alastair and Alex are the most experienced. They fled their time
0:02:28 > 0:02:33at the Assembly and Belfast City Council. Patsy, a well-respected
0:02:33 > 0:02:39local MLA, he takes a lot of boxes. He is in touch with the real
0:02:39 > 0:02:49community. In another time and another place, possibly a candidate
0:02:49 > 0:02:55for MEP elections. Alastair is a grafter. He is the MP in Belfast.
0:02:55 > 0:03:01Alex Attwood, on the streets when it mattered. He was there before
0:03:01 > 0:03:08there was ceasefires in very difficult times, as Patsy was...
0:03:08 > 0:03:14so you wonder why about Colin? was only elected this year into
0:03:14 > 0:03:20politics and he was seconde it into the Assembly. He is a very good PR
0:03:20 > 0:03:25person, former press are bits of the SDLP, but he is a more recent
0:03:25 > 0:03:30traveller to politics. I am not sure if he carries the experience.
0:03:30 > 0:03:34It is one of the things I feel that is required, it is not about a
0:03:34 > 0:03:39popularity contest, it has to be about the Cup -- credentials that
0:03:39 > 0:03:47people can put on the table to say, I have the formula to move the SDLP
0:03:47 > 0:03:54forward, a party that has been in decline for 28 -- 15 years.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Fionnuala O'Conor, who has those credentials? We are in uncharted
0:03:58 > 0:04:06waters but it is not a job you would wish on your worst their
0:04:06 > 0:04:11enemy. It is interesting to see an ex-member talks so accurately and
0:04:11 > 0:04:17caustically. The heat that has been generated by the squabbles over
0:04:17 > 0:04:22leadership and the idea of leadership and the pledge that
0:04:22 > 0:04:25effectively enforced Mark Durkan out and the other one of the kind
0:04:25 > 0:04:30that enforced Margaret Ritchie out is all testament to the fact that
0:04:30 > 0:04:34sometimes when parties are going down the tubes, there is more
0:04:34 > 0:04:41animosity unleashed than at other times. Maybe it is because people
0:04:41 > 0:04:43are at a loss. What is the road for the SDLP? The Sinn Fein rise to
0:04:43 > 0:04:51prominence has dropped them off for the vendor of the match. I don't
0:04:51 > 0:04:57know what they do from here. I can find it in my heart to feel sorry
0:04:57 > 0:05:02for whoever wins this thing and also to wonder and worry at the
0:05:02 > 0:05:07plenty of candidates. Each of the candidate is saying, I am the man,
0:05:07 > 0:05:13and they are all men, to put the SDLP back at the centre of Irish
0:05:13 > 0:05:17political life. Is anyone in a position to do that? No and that is
0:05:17 > 0:05:21the fundamental mistake that each other candidates is making. The
0:05:21 > 0:05:27SDLP has failed to acknowledge the fact that they are never going to
0:05:27 > 0:05:30get back to the position they once enjoyed. They have got to cut their
0:05:30 > 0:05:36suit to match their cloth. Suggesting that they can get back
0:05:36 > 0:05:42to where they were 15 years ago is implausible. They will still be at
0:05:42 > 0:05:45the Venter of political life if you a small? Exactly but none of the
0:05:45 > 0:05:51candidates are saying that. They are talking in terms of restoring
0:05:51 > 0:05:58the SDLP to prominence, instead of saying, we have to play to our
0:05:58 > 0:06:03strengths. That is one of the reasons for a certain amount of
0:06:03 > 0:06:10animosity in the campaign because there of three based in Belfast but
0:06:10 > 0:06:17Belfast has always been one of the weakest part of the SDLP. Marmite
0:06:17 > 0:06:21is three candidates from Belfast -- there is three candidates from
0:06:21 > 0:06:27Belfast and one from south of Derry and people in more rural areas are
0:06:27 > 0:06:31thing, why are there so many people from Belfast? If you are going to
0:06:31 > 0:06:36be a party leader, you need somebody to top the polls. Alex
0:06:36 > 0:06:40Attwood comes in fifth if he is lucky in West Belfast. Colin that
0:06:40 > 0:06:45Devitt got in on the coat-tails of Alastair Macdonald and a couple of
0:06:45 > 0:06:51others. There is no big electoral hitter in the running at all,
0:06:51 > 0:06:58except... He has written his own boat over the years although the
0:06:58 > 0:07:06party's vote. Patsy is a good constituency worker and so is
0:07:06 > 0:07:11Alastair, but the fact of the matter is what Alastair to stand is
0:07:11 > 0:07:14an error of judgment. With Margaret Ritchie winning, people voted for
0:07:14 > 0:07:20anyone that Alastair and the fact that he doesn't realise that and he
0:07:20 > 0:07:25has do It again is an error of judgment. He couldn't stop himself
0:07:25 > 0:07:32from going forward. Martin, all the candidates talk about reorganising
0:07:32 > 0:07:37the party. How disorganised is it? When I go back to my time in the
0:07:37 > 0:07:42council in the latter months, a comment made by a constituent
0:07:42 > 0:07:47summed up a lot apart with the SDLP was that. The woman said to me that
0:07:47 > 0:07:51she could identify with individuals within the SDLP in terms of what
0:07:51 > 0:07:57she aspired to and that wasn't just about the broader nationalist
0:07:57 > 0:08:01question, it was about social and economic issues, it wasn't a real
0:08:01 > 0:08:06economic deprivation, but she said she could not identify with the
0:08:06 > 0:08:11SDLP any more, just a small group of individuals. The difficulty is
0:08:11 > 0:08:15the the years, and from my own experience as a councillor I found
0:08:15 > 0:08:20I was there on my and frequently when other people were on holidays,
0:08:20 > 0:08:25people were disinterested, and I am not saying this was the wrong way
0:08:25 > 0:08:29to find yourself but you were left to your own devices. You had to
0:08:29 > 0:08:33think in front of a camera on the spur of the moment, nobody was
0:08:34 > 0:08:38giving you the party line. When I compare that to the way Sinn Fein
0:08:38 > 0:08:44are organised and other parties in the UK, it is a much more cohesive
0:08:44 > 0:08:47unit. I don't like the were disorganised, but I don't think it
0:08:47 > 0:08:52properly ever really organised on a fixed counties basis with a clear
0:08:52 > 0:08:59message that people were clearly accountable to central party. We
0:08:59 > 0:09:05were a group of individuals who belonged to a broad church. More
0:09:05 > 0:09:09recently, I have heard people say that is a fundamental weakness. I
0:09:09 > 0:09:13wasn't always convinced of that because I think there will always
0:09:13 > 0:09:18tensions in the SDLP, between those who see themselves as social
0:09:18 > 0:09:22Democrats, those to a more socialists, the small group who did
0:09:22 > 0:09:28to call themselves republicans and a significant group of Irish
0:09:28 > 0:09:32nationalists, and the leadership then were at the to clear singles -
0:09:32 > 0:09:37- symbols of that, the Social Democrat and the Irish republican
0:09:37 > 0:09:43and you belonged to one or the other camp, but there was no clear
0:09:43 > 0:09:47message transcending doubt the constituencies. Some people even
0:09:47 > 0:09:52today are grafters, and that clearly reflects in the voters, but
0:09:52 > 0:10:00others that do not represent their constituents. His organisation
0:10:00 > 0:10:03crucial to any future the SDLP has? It can't be a red herring. Any
0:10:03 > 0:10:06political party has to have organisation but it is a bit
0:10:06 > 0:10:10misleading to compare them unfavourably with the Sinn Fein
0:10:10 > 0:10:14because almost any party can be compared unfavourably to Sinn Fein,
0:10:14 > 0:10:19who have a different attitude and come from a different tradition,
0:10:19 > 0:10:24but what we are dealing with is a new situation that the SDLP were
0:10:24 > 0:10:28not formed to deal with. They carried a section of Irish
0:10:28 > 0:10:32nationalist opinion through the Troubles to show that there was
0:10:32 > 0:10:41another way of being nationalist wing Sinn Fein were the small voice
0:10:41 > 0:10:45of the IRA. Now Sinn Fein is the big boys, the IRA has gone away and
0:10:45 > 0:10:50what the SDLP is to become is part of the larger question of what is
0:10:50 > 0:10:56Irish nationalism now and where do northern nationalists it, if at all.
0:10:56 > 0:10:59We will come on to that in a moment. None of the potential leaders has
0:10:59 > 0:11:04espoused opposition as the way forward. They have all given a
0:11:04 > 0:11:09caveat, we want to make sure the government works, but none has said,
0:11:09 > 0:11:13we are going into opposition. of them played a round with the
0:11:13 > 0:11:17idea but they will not go into opposition. Opposition is not in
0:11:17 > 0:11:23the design of the Good Friday Agreement and the Stormont Assembly.
0:11:23 > 0:11:31It is designed to be all-inclusive. There is no role for this British
0:11:31 > 0:11:37adversarial alternating stuff, it will not happen. In the wake of the
0:11:37 > 0:11:39presidential contest, Gerry Adams has been claiming that Martin
0:11:39 > 0:11:47McGuinness's can deceive has considerably closed the political
0:11:47 > 0:11:49gap between Ireland, north and south -- candidacy. Other
0:11:49 > 0:11:52commentators would beg to differ asserting that if anything, the
0:11:52 > 0:11:59election showed the border to be a yawning chasm. The Irish Times
0:11:59 > 0:12:05political correspondent Harry McGee joins our discussion. Where do you
0:12:05 > 0:12:10think Irish nationalisms dans? election in my opinion cheroot two
0:12:10 > 0:12:14different dynamics. The first one was the southern version of what
0:12:14 > 0:12:18nationalism and republicanism is at the second is Sinn Fein's
0:12:18 > 0:12:24positioning in the south and it's very clear targeting of Fianna Fail,
0:12:24 > 0:12:28as it did in the north of Ireland when it went in as a coup clue to
0:12:28 > 0:12:33the nest of the SDLP, it is now targeting the nest of Fianna Fail
0:12:33 > 0:12:38and I will mix my metaphors here. Fianna Fail is a bigger and
0:12:38 > 0:12:44slightly more difficult egg to crack the Sinn Fein. Back to the
0:12:44 > 0:12:48issue of nationalism. The Martin McGuinness candidacy told us a lot
0:12:48 > 0:12:54about what the Southern brand and nationalism is and it is far more
0:12:54 > 0:12:58abstract and aspirational and in a way, far less real than the
0:12:58 > 0:13:02republicanism and nationalism that we have seen in the north. The
0:13:02 > 0:13:06other thing I thought was very evident during the presidential
0:13:06 > 0:13:10campaign down here was the emergence of a partitionist
0:13:10 > 0:13:15attitude amongst southern voters and very much a political snobbery
0:13:15 > 0:13:19in evidence that what goes for the North might be OK for the North but
0:13:19 > 0:13:25it is not acceptable down here, and you can see that in the rhetoric of
0:13:25 > 0:13:30Sinn Fein during the election campaign. It is a republican
0:13:30 > 0:13:35message, and it is considerably toned down here and people
0:13:35 > 0:13:40associate inflamed as a party of protest here, -- people associate
0:13:40 > 0:13:43Sinn Fein. Not in terms of the nationalist question but a question
0:13:43 > 0:13:48of economics and it is positioning itself in a very different way
0:13:48 > 0:13:52south of the border. Peter Robinson has been talking about the state of
0:13:52 > 0:13:58North Pythons a political relations been better than ever before. Can
0:13:58 > 0:14:03he say that with a smile after what happened in the elections? No, at
0:14:03 > 0:14:07the elite level it is better than it ever has been before and people
0:14:07 > 0:14:13in the DUP are not worried that they will suddenly be taken over by
0:14:13 > 0:14:19an Irish government. It is not on the horizon. Harry Mickey is one of
0:14:19 > 0:14:26the better commentators from the Republic. I listen to him after the
0:14:26 > 0:14:31presidential debate and he produced a level-headed response. A lot of
0:14:31 > 0:14:35the commentators have displayed an enormous amount of ignorance, fear,
0:14:35 > 0:14:39hypocrisy and they did not know what the North was about or what
0:14:39 > 0:14:44northerners were about and the fear is really because the most powerful
0:14:44 > 0:14:49and coherent political force in this island is northern nationalism.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53They are terrified for some reason and they believe that Martin
0:14:53 > 0:14:57McGuinness was possibly going to win. There was never a chance that
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Martin McGuinness would win. Sinn Fein were trying to fill a gap in
0:15:01 > 0:15:05the political market that Fianna Fail had left open for them and
0:15:05 > 0:15:11they had to move into that. So is partition stronger than ever
0:15:11 > 0:15:15before? No, this has been a gradual process of two estates growing in
0:15:15 > 0:15:18different ways and people in those states getting unhappy with them
0:15:18 > 0:15:22and people saying the northern nationalists feel they are in the
0:15:22 > 0:15:27wrong place and never feeling this would last but it has, they have
0:15:27 > 0:15:31grown up in it. I remember one of the first arguments I got into in
0:15:31 > 0:15:37the south in the 70s was ways -- was with a Dublin working-class
0:15:37 > 0:15:42woman who became my closest friend and she said, you with your free
0:15:42 > 0:15:47British education and your big words. I resent your free education.
0:15:48 > 0:15:52I can remember the gist! Not much has changed in 40 years! There is
0:15:52 > 0:15:56more of a difference in some ways and yet in other ways, now there
0:15:56 > 0:16:00has been this economic collapse that has hit the South harder and
0:16:00 > 0:16:05shop and faster because they had a bigger boom then we have had, and
0:16:05 > 0:16:09that is distracting people again. She voiced my working-class friend
0:16:09 > 0:16:13this dislike of nationalism which she had seen of keeping the poor
0:16:13 > 0:16:17down and we see Sinn Fein and would have seen Sinn Fein as a force for
0:16:17 > 0:16:27the poor and dispossessed. They haven't found there place in the
0:16:27 > 0:16:59
0:16:59 > 0:17:07We are at a stage now where we don't need leadership contests to
0:17:07 > 0:17:14be about keeping Northern Ireland British, the priorities have to be
0:17:14 > 0:17:19about the people of Belfast and the North. The priority, I feel, has
0:17:19 > 0:17:23slipped. We have not lost sight. People have their aspirations but
0:17:23 > 0:17:31we are living in a world where aspirations are not as important as
0:17:32 > 0:17:38holding a job. Harry, is that true in the Republic? Very much so. That
0:17:38 > 0:17:43is Sinn Fein's message in the Republic. It is all about society
0:17:43 > 0:17:47and deprivation, rather than about the national question. You have to
0:17:47 > 0:17:51look at their strategy and they are targeting Fianna Fail. That is why
0:17:51 > 0:18:01Martin McGuinness went in so hard on Sean Gallagher in the last
0:18:01 > 0:18:03
0:18:03 > 0:18:08debate in Dublin last week. Sinn Fein always play along strategy. He
0:18:08 > 0:18:11was talking about 201215 years ago, when they would have seats in
0:18:11 > 0:18:21double digits. People thought it was inconceivable but it has
0:18:21 > 0:18:22
0:18:22 > 0:18:31happened. Their strategy is very much long term. Sinn Fein increased
0:18:31 > 0:18:35their vote by 8%. You will see them become more mainstream party with
0:18:36 > 0:18:41less message -- fewer messages of insurrection and more mainstream
0:18:41 > 0:18:49messages. It sees Fianna Fail as the party it wants to replace.
0:18:49 > 0:18:55Thank you for your insights. After this, Martin McGuinness will
0:18:55 > 0:18:58be looking for political asylum up North. That is what a mutual friend
0:18:58 > 0:19:02predicted at the height of the presidential campaign. Like Dick
0:19:02 > 0:19:05Whittington going to London, Martin set off to the South to make his
0:19:05 > 0:19:10fortune and hopefully to run the place. He carried very little
0:19:10 > 0:19:14baggage, most of it attractive, or so he thought. The peace process,
0:19:14 > 0:19:18working with the DUP and his international contacts were to be
0:19:18 > 0:19:23the keynote of the campaign. The sun was shining and the endorsement
0:19:23 > 0:19:26of the Reverend David Latimer, who called him one of the great, true
0:19:26 > 0:19:33leaders of modern times, was ringing in his ears. Then, suddenly,
0:19:33 > 0:19:37the sky darkened, and he found himself in Chinatown. The image was
0:19:37 > 0:19:42of Roman Polanski's stylish movie in which Jack Nicholson, playing
0:19:42 > 0:19:48Martin McGuinness, finds himself adrift in the Chinese area of 1930s
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Los Angeles. It was recognisable as part of his native city but
0:19:52 > 0:20:02strangely unfamiliar. The men were wearing pigtails and the people
0:20:02 > 0:20:02
0:20:02 > 0:20:09spoke different it. Locals saw whole wagon trains of baggage. It
0:20:10 > 0:20:16was not like Donegal back in the 70s. The IRA question was not
0:20:16 > 0:20:21overlooked, as it often is instalment. In the North, even
0:20:21 > 0:20:26Unionists accept that he could not deal with events after 1974 without
0:20:26 > 0:20:31recrimination. In the South, they wanted the balaclavas taken out of
0:20:31 > 0:20:35the cupboard and accounted for. They would not cut in some slack
0:20:35 > 0:20:38like the Unionists. Commentators and relatives of victims said he
0:20:38 > 0:20:43spoke with a forked tongue and called him a liar to his face. He
0:20:43 > 0:20:48was even accused on live TV of being responsible for murder,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52though he has always denied that. When he foreground it is
0:20:52 > 0:20:59international connections some people even sniggered. "Nelson
0:20:59 > 0:21:03Mandela's best mate", Vincent Browne called him, claiming he had
0:21:03 > 0:21:07been in the Oval Office more times than Monica Lewinsky. He learned
0:21:07 > 0:21:14enough Kong food to survive and throw sheet -- dramatically threw
0:21:14 > 0:21:19Sean Gallagher out of the rain in the final debate of the campaign.
0:21:19 > 0:21:25It is a sound base on which to build, even if it is not quite as
0:21:25 > 0:21:28secure as expected. It was also wake up call. An unexplained IRA
0:21:28 > 0:21:33record is not a good thing South of the border. You need clean hands
0:21:33 > 0:21:36and a past that is an open book. That is why the elected Michael D
0:21:36 > 0:21:40Higgins. The thoughts of Liam Clarke.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44After eight weeks of hard graft, MLAs are taking a little brick this
0:21:44 > 0:21:47week. You had not not his? Are perhaps that is because they have
0:21:47 > 0:21:57not managed to settle anything of note since their summer holiday
0:21:57 > 0:22:00
0:22:01 > 0:22:04ended. We still do not even have a programme for government.
0:22:04 > 0:22:11It is increasingly difficult for political journalists to justify
0:22:11 > 0:22:16being at Stormont because there is so little happening. We have not
0:22:16 > 0:22:19seen, in the basic sense, a business plan, a programme for
0:22:19 > 0:22:24government five months after an election. They have come up with a
0:22:24 > 0:22:33system that has brought them together, but when it comes to
0:22:33 > 0:22:38working it is stagnating. Well, during the Hallowe'en break,
0:22:38 > 0:22:43Stormont is indeed a ghost town. Even when MLAs are here, not much
0:22:43 > 0:22:47seems to be happening. It is two months since the summer recess, six
0:22:47 > 0:22:53months since the election, but the Assembly still has not agreed a
0:22:53 > 0:22:58programme for government or passed any new legislation. The next item
0:22:58 > 0:23:08of business is the motion on inadequate weed control.
0:23:08 > 0:23:12Instead, we have had debates like this, up on weeds. It is a great
0:23:12 > 0:23:18concern and it is definitely a grassroots issue! I would not want
0:23:18 > 0:23:21to let the grass grow beneath my feet! I would want to get to the
0:23:21 > 0:23:24root of the problem! There were some MLAs did not see
0:23:24 > 0:23:27the funny side. For we are back from the summer break six weeks and
0:23:27 > 0:23:31we have not had a single piece of legislation brought before this
0:23:32 > 0:23:36house. We have a draft programme for government that does not make
0:23:36 > 0:23:40one commitment to one piece of legislation. With the greatest of
0:23:40 > 0:23:43respect to the minister, do you not think this debate is about covering
0:23:43 > 0:23:50up the inadequacies in this house rather than addressing problems in
0:23:50 > 0:23:57society? The Alliance Party boycotted the
0:23:57 > 0:24:04debate in protest. We call ourselves MLAs - members of a
0:24:04 > 0:24:11legislative Assembly - and yet it's the only legislation which we have
0:24:11 > 0:24:15discussed since I came to this house is on matters such as ledgers
0:24:15 > 0:24:20of consent motions where we are consenting to Westminster, quite
0:24:20 > 0:24:24properly, doing it for us. It does raise the question, Mr Speaker,
0:24:24 > 0:24:27what is this house all about? Some critics have been accused of
0:24:27 > 0:24:32having their own axe to grind. It is certainly true that work is
0:24:32 > 0:24:36going on in the individual ministries. When it comes to
0:24:36 > 0:24:42reporting on the bigger political picture, it is hard to see what is
0:24:42 > 0:24:47being achieved. In the first four years, people gave the politicians
0:24:47 > 0:24:53a break because they realised it was very difficult. Four years have
0:24:53 > 0:24:56passed and we have been told that those four years were about making
0:24:56 > 0:25:06relationships happen and that the next four years will be about
0:25:06 > 0:25:06
0:25:06 > 0:25:10delivery. The real problem is that we have not seen any delivery of
0:25:10 > 0:25:16note. We have not seen a basic business plan, a programme for
0:25:16 > 0:25:20government, nearly five months after an election. Anything that is
0:25:20 > 0:25:23serious happens in the Executive, behind closed doors, between the
0:25:23 > 0:25:25parties. It is a long-term problem which some of the politicians have
0:25:26 > 0:25:32not really picked up on because each election that comes round
0:25:32 > 0:25:36there are fewer and fewer people and we seem to be further and
0:25:36 > 0:25:41further away from the political process. The decisions being made
0:25:41 > 0:25:45at Stormont are important but people feel, I think, increasingly
0:25:45 > 0:25:48deaf -- distant from what is happening there.
0:25:48 > 0:25:56These protesters in Belfast certainly feel very distant from
0:25:56 > 0:26:01what is happening at Stormont. This is the Occupy Belfast campus. It
0:26:01 > 0:26:03may not be as big as the ones in London and New York, but the fact
0:26:04 > 0:26:07that it is here he shows that people do not have faith in
0:26:07 > 0:26:13business and government. What does that mean for stomach? In Stormont
0:26:13 > 0:26:23at the moment, they make promises that they are not keeping. They are
0:26:23 > 0:26:25
0:26:25 > 0:26:29closing hospitals, even though that is not what they stood for. There
0:26:29 > 0:26:33is lots of money pumped into it while two parties cannot agree on
0:26:33 > 0:26:42the most simple of things. I voted for some of these parties. I voted
0:26:42 > 0:26:50my whole life for my party from where I am from. We were willing to
0:26:50 > 0:26:52walk a note of commissions. They are not willing to walk out of
0:26:52 > 0:26:56government when the British government makes this country even
0:26:56 > 0:27:02more poverty-stricken than it already was.
0:27:02 > 0:27:07The occupying movement may not have clear goals. What needs to change?
0:27:08 > 0:27:11At Stormont, our politicians are hampered by the system, where all
0:27:11 > 0:27:17the parties have to agree before anything can be done. It is catch
0:27:17 > 0:27:2122. We're stuck with a system that is not going to change in the
0:27:21 > 0:27:25short-term. Political historian Henry Bell says
0:27:25 > 0:27:28an opposition at Stormont could make a difference. Parties could
0:27:28 > 0:27:32opt out and form into an opposition. The parties are not willing to do
0:27:32 > 0:27:42that because I think they are frightened to or of being seen as
0:27:42 > 0:27:43
0:27:43 > 0:27:46not being at the heart of things -- frightened to an extent. It is the
0:27:46 > 0:27:50attraction of government that is so powerful.
0:27:50 > 0:27:56In the meantime, Stormont will come back to life, or at least live as
0:27:56 > 0:27:59we know it, on Monday, when MLAs return from their break.