WESTMINSTER 2010: Northern Ireland elections:THERE WAS no clear winner in the first ever televised debate between the leaders of the four main parties which was broadcast last night on UTV.
DUP and Sinn Féin leaders Peter Robinson and Gerry Adams had to face the most troublesome questions – respectively on an east Belfast land deal and IRA membership – but they and Ulster Unionist Party leader Sir Reg Empey and new SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie will be happy that they weren’t struck by any “killer blows”.
The debate, chaired by former BBC and RTE political journalist Jim Dougal, was held at the UTV headquarters off the Ormeau Road in Belfast in front of a audience of young first-time voters.
The debate kicked off slowly with discussion on the economy. All four generally argued for reductions in corporation tax while warning of difficult financial times ahead regardless of who wins the election in Britain.
The sharpest comment here was from Mr Robinson: “Any politician who tells you that we can go through the next four to five years without having to face up to a number of hard decisions give them a wide berth.”
Sir Reg Empey was the most radical on corporation tax. Rather than harmonisation with the Republic, he urged a10 per cent tax, which is two and a half percentage points below the rate in the South. As the programme progressed it got livelier with some sharp exchanges on the issue of electoral pacts which had caused tensions between Sinn Féin and the SDLP over Ms Ritchie’s refusal to agree a deal on South Belfast and Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
Mr Adams said he opposed the deal between the DUP and UCUNF (Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force) which allowed a unity unionist candidate in Fermanagh-South Tyrone was because “the midwife was the Orange Order”.
He made barbs and allegations about the SDLP allegedly supporting the war in Afghanistan and of a party member travelling to Afghanistan on a trip allegedly paid for by the British Ministry of Defence. Ms Ritchie accused Mr Adams of “mistruths”.
Ms Ritchie said she opposed pacts because she wanted to “move into new politics” in the North. “Why would you stand aside in Fermanagh-South Tyrone for a candidate who is not going to take their seat? It is a question of representation,” she said.
Mr Robinson criticised the UUP’s link-up with the Tories and said that in the event of a hung British parliament he and the other DUP MPs would “exploit” whatever opportunities that arose for the benefit of the North.
He added however that he was in favour of unionist unity and this would be an objective ahead of next year’s Assembly elections. Mr Robinson repeated that he derived no personal gain from the purchase of a small strip land from the late property developer Fred Fraser or from selling it on to another developer who bought land from Mr Robinson and his neighbours. Mr Robinson said the deal was done to help his neighbours.
Mr Dougal asked Mr Adams not was he a member of the IRA but “why” was he not a member of the IRA? “Were you ever invited to join the IRA? he also asked him. Mr Adams replied: “I never was just when you mention that. My role in republican politics predates the most recent resurgence of the IRA in 1969.” “I don’t distant myself from the IRA, I don’t dissociate myself from the IRA,” he said.
Sir Reg said he knew of no one who believed Mr Adams. Ms Ritchie said there should be external inquiries into the issue of Mr Adams and the IRA, and of Mr Robinson’s land deal. All speakers agreed the expenses scandal had damaged politics.
How they fared
MARGARET RITCHIE
Performance: A little scripted and stilted at the outset but was more confident as the debate continued. She worked hard to make a distinction between the SDLP and Sinn Féin, focusing on how her party attended Westminster unlike Sinn Féin and how the SDLP was not going to engage in sectarian pacts with a party who wouldn’t sit in the House of Commons.
Key moment: Calling for separate external inquiries into the issue of Gerry Adams’ alleged former membership of the IRA, and of Peter Robinson’s £5 land deal
The big phrase: “Why would you stand aside in Fermanagh-South Tyrone for a candidate and somebody who is not going to take their seat.”
PETER ROBINSON
Performance: Pretty sharp and incisive and did not lose his temper when quizzed about the £5 land deal he transacted in east Belfast, as he did in a previous very tetchy interview with the BBC. Had the most difficult questions to face and did OK.
Key moment: Assertively insisting he has not breached the Ministerial code of conduct and in equally insisting he did nothing wrong in relation to the land deal in east Belfast.
The big phrase: “I don’t believe that anybody that came into politics in the 1970s did it for any rewards or what they could get out of it. I have always done it to the highest standards and the highest levels of probity. I resent anybody suggesting otherwise.
GERRY ADAMS
Performance: Calm, smiling and relaxed and easily handled the difficult questions about the allegations of child sex abuse against his brother Liam. The old question about whether he was in the IRA was trickier for him.
Key moment: When debate chairman inverted the normal question he faces about IRA membership by querying how come he was never in the IRA, was he never invited to join? Mr Adams’s reply was, “I never was, just when you mention that. My role in republican politics predates the most recent resurgence of the IRA in 1969.” The big phrase: “We are not going into Westminster as long we have a mandate not to go in.”
SIR REG EMPEY
Performance: Cool and assured. Generally unflappable and tried to exploit the argument that the Ulster Unionist alliance with David Cameron and the British Conservatives could place Northern Ireland at the centre of government, if the Tories for a government.
Key moment: Strangely, Gerry Adams helping to emphasise the point that Reg Empey could be a cabinet minister in a David Cameron-led British government. “Good luck to him,” he said, tapping Empey on the shoulder when chairman Jim Dougal spoke of this possibility.
The big phrase: The people are disgusted [over the Westminster expenses scandal}.