North - Privatisation Bonanza
Assembly implements neo-liberal policies

Ciaran Mulholland

The Executive and the Assembly have been in place for several months but are only now taking up the reins of government. Already it is clear that the new Executive will operate a right-wing, neo-liberal agenda.

For example, politicians from all the main parties agree that business pays too much tax and that working people don’t pay enough. Sinn Fein made a pretence of opposing tax reductions for business for a time but have now come into the fold and support such reductions. Similarly all the main parties agree that we are “too dependent” on the public sector and our salvation lies in private sector growth.

Attacks on working people

Prior to the summer the Executive and Assembly avoided making any major decisions and instead played for time by establishing “reviews”. The key reviews are examining the cases for the introduction of water charges and changes to the rating system. These are due to report in the next few weeks.

These reviews are no more than a smoke screen. The main parties sing from the same hymn sheet as Thatcher fan Gordon Brown. They clearly intend to attack the living standards of working people. They will offer low tax rates and other incentives and bribes to businesses. They will implement higher taxes and charges for working people, will actively promote a low wage economy and will shrink the public sector through job cuts and privatisation.

This despite the fact that a recent report demonstrated that working people in Northern Ireland already pay more in taxation than their counterparts in England, Scotland and Wales.

A further round of privatisation of public assets is underway. Under “Workplace 2010” government buildings are being sold off and then rented back from private companies at exorbitant prices. More and more hospitals and school buildings are being built through the Private Finance Initiative. The new visitor centre at the Giant’s Causeway is being handed over to a private developer who happens to be a member of the DUP.

The key social issue facing the Executive in the next period is the imposition of water charges. None of the Assembly parties have committed themselves to the abolition of water charges. They may come up with “concessions”, reducing the level of the charges, offering discounts to the very poorest, phasing them in over five or even ten years, or introducing meters more widely. Any such concessions will be unacceptable - water charges are unjustifiable, no matter what level they are set at.

The Executive will also have to deal with a number of industrial disputes, not least the impending strike of classroom assistants. These workers are paid a pittance and local politicians cannot deny their responsibility for this state of affairs.

Will the Executive last?

The analysis that says we are on the threshold of a new era of stability and prosperity is profoundly wrong. The Assembly and the Executive will always be shaky structures, full of contradictions and prone to collapse. The main parties are based on sectarian division and are united only in their support for neo-liberal policies.

For now the parties in the Executive are committed to making it work. In particular Sinn Fein and the DUP are seeking to avoid major confrontations at this time. Every issue, especially issues around imminent cuts in the public sector, will become mired in the same sectarian quicksand however.

Events on the ground often dictate events at Stormont. There are undoubtedly fewer sectarian attacks and clashes than several years ago but this does not mean that sectarian division has lessened. There are more peace lines now than at the time of the signing of the Good Friday Agreement and a majority of the population now live in highly segregated areas. Sectarian conflict on the streets can explode seemingly out of nowhere and when it does it will rock the political structures.

The first major political crisis could bring the whole edifice crashing down. It is more likely however that it will stumble on for a period, perhaps even a prolonged period, but the reality of sectarian division on the ground will intrude into the corridors of power again and again. The result will be an Executive divided and unable to function at times of crisis. Not exactly a recipe for stability.

Building an alternative

Working people cannot rely on the sectarian parties. They can only rely on their own strength. The imposition of water charges will be met by organised mass non-payment in all areas. The defeat of water charges is entirely possible and will be a turning point in the struggle of working class people in Northern Ireland to check attacks on their rights and living standards and sectarian division.

Similarly a victory in a major industrial dispute will lead to layers of workers drawing the conclusion that they have no major political party they can rely on. Out of such struggles the first steps towards the creation of a mass working class, anti-sectarian party will be taken.

North - Privatisation Bonanza
Assembly Executive applauds Privatisation

Owen McCracken

The Strategic Investment Board, the governmental quango formed by the last Assembly responsible for promoting private sector investment in public services published its annual report this summer.

The report details the involvement of the board in many Private Finance Initiative (PFI) and Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects. In the foreword, Ian Paisley and Martin McGuiness state they “recognise and applaud” the role of the SIB in providing “advice, expert skills and project management, as necessary”. This applause and recognition proves yet again Stormont Ministers have the same thirst for privatisation as the previous direct rule administration.

Paisley and McGuinness heap praise on the board for ensuring “the taxpayer receives prompt delivery, and value for money”. One look at the accounts section of the report however unveils the spurious nature of this “value for money”. Chief Executive David Gavaghan (pictured right) was paid more than £213,000, including £61,206 in bonuses alone. This is almost £26,000 higher than British Prime Minister Gordon Brown!

This underscores the need for working class people to challenge this developing neo-liberal fixation from the parties at Stormont, starting with the mass non-payment of water charges if introduced in March.

End the PFI rip-off!

A recent audit report into the Pathfinder PFI scheme has found that millions of public money was lost to private companies as a result of selling school land at least £4 million below market value. In one case, the company which took over the Derry Institute of Further and Higher Education made £175,000 profit from selling a building only four months after it was gifted to them from the education board.

The Minister for Education responsible for this giveaway however has recently graduated to become Deputy First Minster of Northern Ireland. Martin McGuinness in 2000 enthusiastically supported the Pathfinder PFI because it was “innovative” and “value for money”. He must have meant only for big business.

North - Privatisation Bonanza
Giant's Causeway scandal hits Assembly

The Socialist

The Assembly's first day back since the summer break was overshadowed by a major scandal which has led to serious embarrassment for the Assembly Executive and anger amongst working class people.

Minister for Enterprise Nigel Dodds (DUP) and Minister for Environment Arlene Foster (DUP) have dropped plans to build a publicly owned visitors centre at the world heritage site Giant’s Causeway. Instead Foster has indicated support for a private company to build and own the development. This has provoked outrage especially amongst the local population in North Antrim. The fact that they announced this decision a day before the Assembly was due to debate the issue immediately raised suspicions amongst people especially since plans to build a public-owned visitor centre were at an advanced stage.

Because of bureaucracy and lack of political will by the main parties, the visitor centre at Giant’s Causeway has had to operate out of glorified garden sheds the past seven years due to an arson attack. £1.2million of taxpayers money has been spent developing the plans for a publicly-owned centre. With more than 500,000 visitors a year the estimated £21million needed to build the centre would be quickly raised and future revenue secured to provide decent public services. But the DUP Ministers have decided that an application by Seaport Investments Ltd., lodged five years ago to build a private centre on private land close to the Giant’s Causeway, is suddenly preferable!

When asked on BBC Radio Ulster if he knew Seymour Sweeney, the owner of Seaport Investments Ltd., Ian Paisley Jnr, local MLA for North Antrim replied “he is a constituent of all six MLA’s” and “I know of him”. It quickly emerged that Mr. Sweeney is in fact a long-standing paid-up member of the DUP who is very close to Ian Paisley Jnr. So close in fact that he sold him a large house in Bushmills and gave him a place in his property management company!

Such has been the uproar that Coleraine District Council has since unanimously, including eight DUP councillors, called for the visitor’s centre to be fully public-owned. Local people in North Antrim cannot afford to allow a private developer, who has caused conflict with local communities over previous property developments, to take away much needed revenue for services. A working class socialist alternative is needed to challenge the cosy relationship between big business and the major parties and campaign for public services which are democratically run.