Leaders take to stage in North show

At this stage, a quarter of a century after the ceasefire, we are all familiar with the choreography.

When the Taoiseach and the British prime minister arrive into Belfast, it is like Michael Flatley and Jean Butler sashaying onto the stage for the defining dance of the show.

And thus when Theresa May and Leo Varadkar flew to Stormont yesterday afternoon, it was clear that another interminable round of peace process negotiations in the North was nearing conclusion.

This time everything has been stalled for 13 months during which there has been no Executive, no Assembly and the overhanging threat (never to be acted out) of direct rule.

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The row between the DUP and Sinn Féin ostensibly had its beginnings in the Renewable Heath Incentive scandal, a botched energy-efficiency scheme that cost millions of pounds and was signed off by Arlene Foster.

What panned out was a mediation process between two ruling parties that detest each other. If there is a single issue, it has been the row over the status of the Irish language.

As our Northern editor, Gerry Moriarty, reports in the lead story, the not-an-inch-by-not-an-inch negotiations did not progress quickly enough to allow May and Varadkar claim a breakthrough, although it is apparently close.

Both the Taoiseach and the prime minister exhorted the DUP and Sinn Féin to make “one final push”.

It is clear, reports Moriarty, that some kind of fudge will be required to overcome the polarised positions on the Irish language.

Sinn Féin has been looking for a specific substantial stand-alone act. But what might happen now are three acts - the other two will deal with Ulster Scots and broader cultural matters. All might be stand alone but connected, a trinity of sorts, a Northern Irish solution to a Northern Irish problem.

How big an issue (and fear) this is for hardline unionists was summed up by a quote from the Traditional Unionist Party’s Jim Allister. “If, as Sinn Féin demand, it is legislation of substance, then it will be a key part of fusing Northern Ireland into Gaelic Ireland.”

The whole peace process has been made possible by fudges, where positions are parked to allow the sides proceed on other issues. The big difficulty with this is that those issues remain unresolved and invariably become the flashpoint of later bitter wrangles.

Many of the current rows can be traced back to deliberate ambiguity in the Good Friday Agreement and the later St Andrew’s Agreement.

Still, it was a debut for Mary Lou McDonald as Sinn Féin leader. That change alone has the potential to change the dynamic of the relationship with the DUP.

The National Framework: A work in progress?

The big political ‘event’ domestically this week will not happen during the Dáil sitting days but rather on Friday. Nor will it be Dublin – but in the unlikely venue of Sligo.

That’s where the Government will unveil two long-trumpeted major plans: the National Planning Framework as well as the Development Plan.

The choice of Sligo as the venue more or less confirms there have been last-minute revisions to “rural proof” the plan.

The Government has appointed its first-ever Minister for Rural Affairs, Michael Ring, and in recent weeks he has come under sustained pressure from the Opposition, which has accused him of ceding rural Ireland in the plan.

The campaign was a well-organised one, with TDs and Senators drawn from all Opposition parties as well as Independents. Their criticism was that both plans were Dublin-centric and would result in the gap between urban and rural Ireland widening.

In particular, critics honed in on the northwest, which they claimed had been neglected. Certainly, the draft plan was very specific on what was required for Dublin and less so for other urban areas - and smaller towns and villages.

The fact that Sligo has been chosen for the launch signifies that the Government is now confident the regions will not feel excluded.

Another little sign of that sensitivity is that the title of the 10-year ‘capital’ plan was changed to ‘development’, to guard against people assuming it was about Dublin rather than structural spending.

Although it is important there is balance, the continuing growth of Dublin will require major and smart mass-transport solutions to stop the city grinding to a halt in the future. That costs money - a lot of it - but it is necessary expenditure.

Frank McDonald has a timely oped piece today warning about any deviation from the draft plan on the issue of once-off rural housing.

His position is, logically, inarguable: “A continuation of expansion into rural Ireland will further erode the quality of the natural environment, see the removal of thousands of kilometres of hedgerows and do nothing for the economic viability of rural Ireland. The Government must hold firm on the NPF and ensure that our cities, towns and villages become growth centres to develop critical mass for sustainable development and resilient communities.

“The persistent delay in rolling out broadband is surely related to the inherently uneconomic cost of catering for widely dispersed rural housing, much of it owned and occupied by people who have nothing to do with farming, except that they bought sites from farmers. That’s why the latest effort to provide high-speed broadband to some half a million potential customers will require a public subsidy of €500 million.”

Politically, though, it is a brave politician who will defy the demand for once-off rural housing.