Will the DUP agree to transfer of policing and justice before SF's christmas deadline

[alan1122]

If the DUP don't agree to the transfer of P&J, do Sf walk ?. SF's john O Dowd said this morning that if he was honest he would say that the institutions are not working in stormont, and he also said that SOCA was an MI5 front. Hard to ask nationalists to have faith in the police service if one of the depts. of that force is a front for british intelligence.
Are there any other fronts.
SF has played a blinder in exposing the unionists and we now are witnessing the divisions in unionism, with a 3 way split. The TUV has the DUP in a noose and is slowly tightening it. If robinson agrees to transfer ,he's exposed to the TUV further, if he does'nt unionism will be seen as the renegers and intransigent backwoods men that they are.

[st333ve]

SF should remain until an election, the refusal of Unionists to move on any issue will play into SF's hands.
They would be mad to walk.
If they have to argue with them for 6 months then so be it.

[alan1122]

SF should remain until an election, the refusal of Unionists to move on any issue will play into SF's hands.
They would be mad to walk.
If they have to argue with them for 6 months then so be it.

Does that not leave SF exposed to the accusation that they are powerless in the face of unionism, if they say no (as usual) SF can't or won't do anything about it. And is this whole episode symtomatic of a fundamental problem with the GFA ?

[mutley]

Does that not leave SF exposed to the accusation that they are powerless in the face of unionism, if they say no (as usual) SF can't or won't do anything about it. And is this whole episode symtomatic of a fundamental problem with the GFA ?

I think that John O'Dowd made it pretty clear they would not be walking away, if the deadline wasn't met, saying to much effort and time etc had been put into it.

[Katayusha Mk2]

I think that John O'Dowd made it pretty clear they would not be walking away, if the deadline wasn't met, saying to much effort and time etc had been put into it.

Which translates as 'too much British money to be lost' if they do.

[st333ve]

Does that not leave SF exposed to the accusation that they are powerless in the face of unionism, if they say no (as usual) SF can't or won't do anything about it. And is this whole episode symtomatic of a fundamental problem with the GFA ?

To some people it will appear like this, but I think its more likely that the majority of people will be looking at political partys which are trying to
move forward on devolution (something which the Irish government, British government and even the PSNI support).
Then we have the DUP who have been blocking everything.
This old tactic of theirs is tired, it no longer makes them look powerful its making them look incapable.
The DUP will be punished a lot more at the next election than SF will.
Everyone's sick of the DUP's 1975 tactics, people want Stormont to function and the DUP is quite obviously preventing this.
For those who will not admit this yet, another few months of DUP blockades should be enough to ruin their reputation.

[alan1122]

He did say that they would not walk alright, but in the face of unionism disrupting the GFA to a point that it is rendered useless, what card do SF play. they also have the anti GFA republicans to deal with in terms of giving them ammunition to use.
I would contend that if a senior SF politician is openly saying that the institutions set up under the GFA are not working at this stage the they are leaving themselves open to a huge "told you so".

[mutley]

To some people it will appear like this, but I think its more likely that the majority of people will be looking at political partys which are trying to
move forward on devolution (something which the Irish government, British government and even the PSNI support).
Then we have the DUP who have been blocking everything.
This old tactic of theirs is tired, it no longer makes them look powerful its making them look incapable.
The DUP will be punished a lot more at the next election than SF will.
Everyone's sick of the DUP's 1975 tactics, people want Stormont to function and the DUP is quite obviously preventing this.
For those who will not admit this yet, another few months of DUP blockades should be enough to ruin their reputation.

You can't look at the DUP in isolation, its becoming clearer that people think that Stormont is not working, so both the DUP and Sinn Fein are going to have to start working together to make it work, or the electorate will give their vote to someone who they think can make it work

[alan1122]

You can't look at the DUP in isolation, its becoming clearer that people think that Stormont is not working, so both the DUP and Sinn Fein are going to have to start working together to make it work, or the electorate will give their vote to someone who they think can make it work

Like Who, the SDLP and the UUP, ? don't think so, so who else is there. The machinations of the 4 party consensus is the hub of the problem.SF need to ensure that the people see them as being the progressive party, and they have been. But if the unionists can still block political progress to a point that the institutions are unworkable,
then there are serious questions to be asked.

[mutley]

Like Who, the SDLP and the UUP, ? don't think so, so who else is there. The machinations of the 4 party consensus is the hub of the problem.SF need to ensure that the people see them as being the progressive party, and they have been. But if the unionists can still block political progress to a point that the institutions are unworkable,
then there are serious questions to be asked.

So what are you saying that we should vote for Sinn Fein as there is no alternative?
I'll be voting for SDLP, Unionists will work with them