1664 Reality day

Prime Minister’s Question Time on Wednesday reflected the response of the majority of the United Kingdom to the deadly attack on the army barracks and the shooting of a family and neighbourhood policeman by dissident members of the Irish Republican Army. It was the first appearance of the Leader of the Opposition since the loss of his severely disabled son and this too added to overall feeling of a different and desirable atmosphere.

The Prime Minister commenced the session by emphasising that support for the families of those who had lost their lives or had been injured and that determination of the government in consultation with the leaders of all political parties in Northern Ireland to work for the apprehension and conviction of those involved and to make it clear that their actions will have no effect on the continuation and progression of the present political system. His words were endorsed by the Leader of the opposition of the Liberal Social Democrats and two of the main parties in Northern Ireland. Sinn Fein Members have not taken their seats . One backbench member referred to the extraordinary and unexpected condemnation of the violence and support for the political processes. James Martin Paceli McGuinness joined the Provisional Irish republican Army in 1970 at the age of 20 and at he age of 21 he was second in command in Derry. He was convicted and sentenced to six months imprisonment in 1973 after being caught in possession of a vehicle with 250 lbs of explosives and 5000 rounds of ammunition and admitted in court his membership which he said he was proud of.

He then became prominent in the political wing of the movement the Sinn Fein party and had contact with the security forces during the hunger strikes of the 1980’s and 1990’s and be was elected of the Stormont Assembly 1982 and banned from entering UK under the Prevention of Terrorism Act There were claims and counter claims of his involvement with the IRA as late as 2005 when he and Gerry Adams were said to be members of the seven man IRA Army Council. Although this was denied by them.

He became the chief negotiator for Sinn Fein during the period which led to the Belfast Agreement having become the MP for mid Ulster in 1997 and when the Assembly was created he was nominated by his party for a Ministerial position and become Minister of Education, scrapping the 11 plus examination which he had failed.

He was elected the deputy first Minister after the St Andrew agreement, a position which he held since. When he had Ian Paisley, the first Minister visited the White House at the invitation of President Bush he mentioned that that until March he had never had a conversation with the First Minister about anything but they had worked very closely together for seven months without angry words between them and which he felt was a great omen for the future. He is married with four children. By speaking out he has done against what happened over the past seven days he has healed a great hurt which many of his countrymen and women have felt for several generations and has courageously made himself the hated target of a very small minority of those who do not accept the change to a political solution. Contrary to what was intended the killings have achieved the opposite to what was intended and has brought the population on to the streets in to condemnation and to support their government. However the real test is to be met in that the community needs to give up those who perpetrated these crimes and demonstrated that the tribal behaviour which condoned murder in the past will not be tolerated.

The Leader of the Opposition also made a dignified and heartfelt statement of thanks to everyone who had expressed their sorrow for his loss and he paid particular tribute to the Prime Minister and to the Speaker and Mr Brown reciprocated by adding that he more than most knew what Mr Cameron and his wife were undergoing. This tone continued through the six questions which covered events in Northern Ireland and the issue of whether individuals in anti terrorism security forces or other individuals in government had been complicit in the torturing of suspected terrorists. The issue which divided the two where the Government believes responsibility should rest with the Attorney General as whether matters should be referred to the police before any other action was considered, although the Parliamentary Security committee which included member’s of the House of Lords as well as the House of Commons would continue to consider aspects of the subject without impinging on anything which might involve a police investigation and prosecutions.

This bi partisanship over serious matters was too much for some back benchers to bear and they erupted with familiar accusation and counter accusation towards the end of the session accompanied by the usual shouting and gesticulations. This together with media disappointment as not having to report a controversial or heated exchange demonstrated the dilemma facing the Opposition Leader. If the leader shows respect to the Prime Minister and asks questions in a responsible way. the response may provide information and state the truth of Government’s position but it does not make good copy or stimulate the back benchers of any of the parties in the childish slaning they like to indulge in.

For past two weeks. ITV 3 and been re-showing the first two series of Ballykissangel, set in a small Irish community with a new young parish priest Father Peter Clifford from England and played by Stephen Tompkinson, attempts to establish himself with a crusty traditionalist of a senior priest Father McNally(Niall Toibin) based in a nearby town and the organist who also runs the general store and who is a similar traditionalist.

Much of the action in what can be described as a situation comedy with a serious edge centres on the local in run by the attractive and anti church Assumpta Fitzgerald,(Dervla Kirwan) and her relationship with the young priest and regulars, local landowner and entrepreneur Brian Quigley(Tony Doyle) and his daughter Niamh (Tina Kelleger) who marries the local policeman Eamon Byrne(Birdy Sweeney) one of the local school teachers Brenden Kearney(Gary Whelan) the vet Siobhan Mehigan(Deidre Donnelly) and the two sidekick employees of Brian Quigley who are always looking to make money for themselves and devising scams which rarely if ever work. The hour long former weekly episodes now shown nightly are a complete story in themselves and often involve visitors or characters for the single episode. The original programme known as Bally K to fans, ran from 1996 to 2001 during which time it was much loved by my care mother and to less extent by my birth mother. There were six episodes in 1966 and eight in the second series which commenced on Tuesday.

Former Director of Social Services and Government Minister in House of Lords Lord Laming published his report into Child Protection services in England following the second horrific death after torture of a child under the supervision of the London Borough Harringey. The government accepted his findings and recommendations. I do not propose to waste too much of my time yet again reminding of why we are in this situation, where the responsibility lies and the failure of successive administrations in nationaland local government to provide the training and staff levels to reduce the cases of severe harm to children in care or under supervision in the community.

Two things can be said. First parents and relatives have and will continue to criminally harm and kill their children, destroying their future lives, as will some disturbed and dangerous individuals who are unrelated to the children. Unfortunately children have also been harmed in significant number by the very people which society has appointed to protect and provide care, including foster parents and staff within the care system. Nothing which politicians or experts can say or do will prevent this although there is a lot which can be done to reduce the numbers. A particular problem is the children brought up in homes where the parents or parents are inadequate and in effect need someone to be with them day and night who they listen to for advice, guidance and support. In effect the whole family needs to be taken into care, but this will also only work if he care is voluntary.
We have got to the present situation despite our knowledge of the horrors of the situation from Oliver Twist workhouses, the problems identified in the Curtis report of 1947, to the destruction of the specialist child care service developed in the 1950’s and 1960’s and the failure of inspectorial and government administration of the Thatcher years to know what was happening and then to ignore the advice of those who explained the problems to them. A major responsibility rests with some of the men who became directors of social services in 1971 and 1974 who did not have the training, experience or understanding of the child care services for which they became responsible and pushed, with others the development of generic social work, such as leaders of the British Association of Social Workers. There were also some key men from within the child care service who went along with the generic movement and who failed to advise their own authorities, the inspectorate and government if the folly of the road being taken. This does not let the politicians off the hook, especially those responsible for the children’s services recently. Will the report or government acceptance of recommendation lead to improvements? The record of the past forty years suggest not.