Micro groups have nothing to offer

By Carál Ní Chuilín

This week we had a number of bomb scares and hijackings across North and West Belfast.
One vehicle owner was doused in petrol and a van being used by workers who were carrying out repairs to the home of a disabled man was set on fire.
In another incident in Ardoyne hijackers also stole the victim’s wallet, which contained £200.
We can only assume that the hijackings were carried out by one of the micro republican armed groups.
No one has yet made any claim of responsibility for the incidents and no one came forward to explain what political results the hijackings and bomb scares were designed to achieve.
The incidents caused serious disruption to people trying to get on with their daily life going home from work or from schools, and republican communities were affected more than anywhere else.
These actions were wrong, counterproductive and counter revolutionary.
I would like the spokespeople of those behind these alerts to come forward and explain how this will in any way achieve a united Ireland.
Their silence is as deafening as it is indicative that they are bereft of politics and strategy and as a result they will never attract popular support.
For whatever about the pretensions of these small militarist factions, the fact is they couldn't run a bath.
Their activities are entirely reactionary, geared towards destabilising the Peace Process, and incapable of producing a coherent plan to unite Ireland.
Isolated actions may come and go but it should be remembered, the track record of these factions to date has been one of killing civilians and involvement in criminal and gangland activities, North and South.
Their driving purpose is hostility for Sinn Féin, and a self-serving militarism.
The hard facts of political struggle are that political conditions, tactics and strategy are what determine the necessity for armed actions, not the hollow arguments of the cheerleaders of these factions.
They are not interested in working to achieve an Ireland of Equals, they hope only for a security crackdown, remilitarisation and a loyalist reaction.
However, the only thing the small cliques of militarists have achieved to date is to consolidate the peace process as broad unionism and loyalism have recognised the republican commitment to peaceful, democratic political change, despite the SDLP’s attempt to use recent events to revise the IRA’s campaign,
Sinn Féin are engaged in the transformation of Irish society north and south, the actions of the tiny armed groups will only make us more determined than ever to pursue our goal of an Irish Republic of Equals to a successful conclusion.

Minister is putting all her eggs in the one basket regards housing
Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie needs to go back to the drawing board on her proposals for the DSD budget for 2009-2010.
Under her proposals all replacement and maintenance schemes will be hit hard as she concentrates on new build. In my view the minister is putting all her eggs in the one basket.
Many small building firms will go to the wall and hundreds will lose their jobs if the minister goes down this path.
If the minister discontinues kitchen and other maintenance, homes will deteriorate and the work will cost more in the longer run.
People have been waiting for essential upgrades for a long time now, including schemes in Ardoyne and the New Lodge, but the minister has let them down once again by this decision.
The small builders who depend on this work will also be among the worst hit by the decision to cut maintenance.
It is my belief that Margaret Ritchie is incapable of running her department’s budget.
She has shown no imagination in bringing alternative proposals to fund social new-build schemes, all we have had is a trail of broken promises.
I suggest that she use land, which is situated in areas of high housing demand, to build new houses, this can cut in half the unit price of new build if given to housing associations.
Up until now all we have been told is that this Sinn Féin proposal is being looked at, which given the housing crisis we face in North Belfast alone is simply not good enough.