ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ

36 MLAs have signed a motion calling on the Environment Minister Arlene Foster to set up an independent Environmental Protection Agency within the lifetime of this assembly. But interviewed for tomorrow's Inside Politics, she says she is still awaiting detailed costings for setting up such an agency. We also discuss the Giants Causeway, her intention to overhaul the Planning Service and her views on the SDLP-UUP internal opposition.

Inside Politics is broadcast on Radio Ulster at 12.45pm.

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• - What's this?

Earlier this week I had a cup of tea with Trina Vargo of the US Ireland Alliance, the organisation which sends Mitchell scholars to universities north and south of the border. She is heavily involved in plans to mark the 10th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in April next year. Her idea is to re-unite some of the key players from 1998 and hold a question and answer session in front of an audience of Mitchell scholars and young people from Northern Ireland.

Ms Vargo has also been canvassing whether there is an appetite in any of Belfast's interface areas for a section of the peace line to be pulled down at the time of the anniversary. She has visited a number of the areas and says that she has found that often local people are keener for the walls to come down than some of their political representatives.

So should the walls come down, or is April 2008 still too early for such a venture? And if not then, when? Are the walls vital for people's safety, or have they become a convenient crutch?

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Back in his old Drumcree days, David McNarry famously threatened that the Orange order could "paralyse this country in a matter of hours". Well last night he nearly managed to paralyse ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Newsline in a matter of minutes.

The Ulster Unionist was in the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ to take part in a "Hearts and Minds" discussion. But after a mix up in make up he donned the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Newsline presenter Mark Carruthers' jacket and went home.

Panic ensued as Newsline approached and the presenter's jacket could not be found. Eventually the mix up was discovered, but not in time to exchange garments.

So it was that Mark Carruthers presented the news wearing David McNarry's jacket. The Ulster Unionist MLA reckoned ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Newsline had done well out of the unscheduled swap, as he reckons his jacket is better than Mr Carruthers'.

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As a dedicated environmentalist, Jim Wells is well known as the one man "green" wing of the DUP. But there were some strange goings on at a rural planning debate at the Stormont Hotel on Wednesday. Speakers discussed what should replace the controversial PPS14 ban on new building in the countryside. But according to a press release from Sinn Fein's Cathal Boylan "Jim Wells was due to participate in the debate but after the first two speakers had given their opening statements he informed the organisers that he would not be able to take part".

A source from another party told the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ that Mr Wells got a text message, left the platform, made his way out of the room and when he returned took a seat in the audience.

When contacted the South Down MLA couldn't comment on whether he had been gagged, but clarified that in the future he would be speaking on South Down constituency issues and topics covered by his Regional Development brief.

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Will our only Green MLA Brian Wilson be celebrating the turn of the month, or crying into his fair trade coffee? That may depend on what happens on the world oil markets.

The North Down MLA has placed a Β£10 bet that the price of oil will hit US $100 a barrel by December 1st. If he wins he intends to give his winnings to the Fuel Poverty Campaign. So his bet is less a money making venture more an attempt to use the bookies as a way to illustrate his case that we will all be beaten dockets if we don't develop renewable energy sources soon.

What are his chances? Well when I checked a moment ago the oil price had fallen below US$96 down from its historic high of US$99.29 last week. Brian, your tenner may be about to go up in a carbonaceous puff of smoke.

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Doves are generally regarded as a symbol of peace. But in Argentina many view them as vermin. I'm assured this by the Assembly's countryside sports enthusiast Jim Shannon, who is just back from a dove shooting holiday in South America.

An anonymous source suggested to me that Jim had bagged 9000 doves. I found this hard to credit so gave Jim a ring and he assured me that his total was nothing like that. He says Argentina has 60 million doves, also known as Argentine pigeons, and he barely made a dint on the dove population. But he never gave me an actual figure.

According to this hunting holiday website, a shooter can expect to fire 1000 - 2500 rounds a day.

Jim says the holiday was an experience he'll never forget. The doves weren't available for comment.

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Gregory Campbell's teenage daughter gave him a hard time about not having a personalised message on his mobile phone. So for a laugh he recorded a message with a difference. Apparently the East Londonderry MP does a mean impression of Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly.

The message gave Mr Campbell's daughter something to giggle about. But when the DUP MP forgot to erase it, the pseudo republican greeting caused rather more confusion, particularly for my colleagues at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Foyle who thought they were getting a comment from their local MP only to be regaled with the tones of the North Belfast MLA.

It's not so long ago that Gregory Campbell wouldn't talk to Sinn Fein. Now he's showing an uncanny ability to talk like them.

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• - What's this?

Last night's marathon debate on the Executive's Programme for Government ended with a threat from Peter Robinson that if the coalition does not get its act together then there might soon be no government at all.

The Finance Minister said that the negotiations led by the UUP and the SDLP had created a mandatory coalition, and if the coalition members could not agree a Programme for Government and Budget by January the game could be up.

There were several layers of irony in this, given that the DUP ministers left empty chairs in the old Executive, then claimed that their negotiations at St Andrews had superceded the Good Friday Agreement. However Peter Robinson's calculation is that he will be able to stare down the SDLP and the UUP given the contrasting views within those parties about the merits of going into opposition.

On Stormont Live this afternoon the UUP leader Sir Reg Empey and the SDLP Mark Durkan rejected Mr Robinson's comments as "posturing". They both refused to believe that we are heading for meltdown in January.

When the Budget debate got underway, the Health Minister Michael McGimpsey again damned his allocation, claiming that it would not allow him to improve hospital waiting times or introduce measures to cut cancer and heart disease death rates.

Sammy Wilson called on the Minister to resign rather than holding out a "begging bowl" and seeking to "pillage" other ministers' budgets.

Out in the Great Hall, Martin McGuinness turned an old phrase from the Trimble era on its head when he labelled the UUP and the SDLP the "problem parties".

So civil war, then, although the Speaker has hit on a procedural way of defusing matters a little. After poring over the parliamentary rule books, he has decided that he should not have allowed the critical Alliance amendments that caused so much trouble last week and yesterday. This is because the main motions dealing with the Executive's plans for new laws and Programme for Government were "take note" motions, which traditionally are not subject to amendment.

So we will not have the joy of reporting the votes on the two amendments which had been tabled before the Speaker made his ruling. One from the Alliance expressed concern at "the draft Budget's limited ability to address economic change and to redirect resources away from the management of a divided society, to investment in quality public services for the entire community". The other amendment now expunged from history came from the SDLP and the UUP and shared the concerns of Michael McGimpsey and Margaret Ritchie "at the funding allocated for housing and for health, social services and public safety".

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Put down of the day has to be from the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness who savaged the Alliance leader after David Ford criticised the Executive's programme for government. Mr McGuinness claimed the Alliance's effort to portray itself as an opposition was "rather futile" as his party was "trying to punch above its weight".

He went on to describe Mr Ford making serious speeches then sitting down smiling to himself "as if involved in a pantomime", an analogy which appeared calculated to stir up all those memories of "pantomime horses". Finally the DFM said he wasn't interested in "playing wee games" with the Alliance.

Mr Ford may console himself that his barbs must be hurting if they have provoked such a furious response.

It made me wonder what Mr McGuinness has been listening to during his weekend in Rome at the Consistory when Sean Brady became a Cardinal. I'm sure there were plenty of prayers and readings, but "blessed are the meek" doesn't seem to have made much of an impact on the DFM.

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The Pensions Bill is a very important measure which I'm told will bring the number of women getting full pensions on retirement up from about 40% to 75%. It's one of those bills which are referred to as a "parity measure" because it is essentially bringing benefits here into line with the rest of the UK.

But the truth is that the details are very technical and it must have been the dry nature of the subject matter which got to the Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie at about ten minutes past one this afternoon when she appeared to be fighting a fit of the giggles. I couldn't tell what set it off but she was documenting various actuarial practices at the time.

Her Committee Chair Gregory Campbell appeared to sympathise with her when he referred to the details as "glaze over" material.

As a complete non sequitur, who out there knows what a gabion is? I must confess I had never heard of the word and if faced with it in a version of "Call My Bluff" I would probably have assumed it to be a small South American rodent.

However the Agriculture Minister Michelle Gildernew has told the West Tyrone MP Pat Doherty that she has no plans to build gabions on Killyclogher Burn at the rear of Knockmore bungalows, to prevent the erosion of properties there.

For those who like me were blissfully unaware of the existence of the gabion, here's a Wikipedia link to explain what Ms Gildernew is talking about.

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Sometimes I think the Causewaygate scenario has been running since neolithic times, but then I remember it was only September when Arlene Foster said she was "minded" to approve a private visitor centre.

Alliance's Trevor Lunn wants to set this in context, though, so he has checked with the Environment Minister just how old the Giants' Causeway is.

Mrs Foster replies that "geologists generally agree that the Giant's Causeway is some 60 million years old. As you will be aware, however, there are alternative views in relation to the age of the Giant's Causeway."

I presume the element of doubt the Minister has in mind concerns those Christians like her colleague Mervyn Storey who reckon the Causeway dates to the time of Noah's flood. I suppose another alternative view might be the popular one which dates the Causeway's origins to the legendary fight between Finn McCool and the Scottish giant.

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When Ministers meet at Stormont Castle the hacks normally rely on the drivers starting up their engines as a clue to when the Executive discussions are drawing to a close. But we might not be able to rely on that if the SDLP's John Dallat gets his way. Mr Dallat has asked the Finance Minister to tell him if government drivers are instructed to switch off their engines when their vehicles aren't in use in order to reduce pollution and cut fuel consumption. Peter Robinson replies that the need to switch off engines whilst waiting for a long time is covered in the drivers' handbooks.

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Next week the assembly votes on the Executive's Programme for Government and Budget. Given the criticism of their recent budget allocations from both the Health Minister Michael McGimpsey and the Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie, will the UUP and the SDLP vote with their Executive partners, or will they follow the precedent set this week by backing critical Alliance amendments? If so, where does that leave the Stormont coalition.

To debate whether you can be in opposition and in government at the same time, I'm joined for tomorrow's Inside Politics by the UUP's Basil McCrea and the Alliance's Stephen Farry. Basil McCrea hints that if his party's ministers don't get the resources they need then the UUP will have to do some "hard thinking" about remaining in government. Stephen Farry says that if the UUP and the SDLP pull out it would be "high unlikely" that Alliance would join the coalition, although he stops short of an absolute guarantee.

As usual the programme goes out at 12.45 on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Ulster.

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First of all I'd like to apologise to the Culture Minister Edwin Poots. In "Blood Thicker Than Suspension 2" I said only 2 out 108 MLAs had given blood when the Transfusion Service visited Stormont on Monday.

But Marty assures me that Edwin gave an armful as well. How does Marty know? Well he's the man who punctured my arm this afternoon when I visited the Blood Donor Clinic in central Belfast. The clinic had to draft in an archaeologist to dig up the records of my last visit, way back in 1992.

So 3 out of 108 MLAs. It's better than 2, but even so?

The one benefit of giving blood was that it meant I could provide a good excuse why Gareth Gordon should stand around outside today's Executive meeting. Gareth confessed he didn't get the allusion to Tony Hancock in the previous entry, so for those not au fait with the Blood Donor sketch. here's a Youtube link.

P.S. The Transfusion Service nurses assure me that they are all distraught, as their champion blood taker Marty is leaving them soon to join the Ambulance Service.

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Some of this blog's previous "Jeux Sans Frontieres" entries have drawn attention to whether the British and Irish plans for e-borders will place travellers from Northern Ireland in a different position to others within the UK.

Yesterday in the Lords, Baron West of Spithead got into a muddle about where the UK begins and ends. Lord West was formerly the head of the Royal Navy but he is now one of Gordon Brown's GOATS (which stands for "government of all the talents"). Recently he had to turn on a sixpence over controversial comments about extending the 28 day limit for detaining terrorist suspects, then defended himself as a "simple sailor" new to politics.

Yesterday in the Lords, whilst explaining the e-borders concept, the Admiral said "we are applying a sensible way forward to identify the loophole that existed of people moving in through the Republic of Ireland, into Northern Ireland and then travelling across to the United Kingdom."

He was challenged by the Conservative peer and former UUP leader Lord Trimble who pointed out "my Lords, does the Minister not realise that, when he spoke a moment ago of travelling from Northern Ireland to the United Kingdom, he demonstrated clearly his lack of understanding of the basic concept?"

And so the "simple sailor" was forced to explain that "my Lords, it was a slip. I certainly understand it. As I said, I have served in Northern Ireland. It was rather like the slip that people make when they forget that the United Kingdom is in Europe. It is a slip that is made sometimes."

The Tory Spokesman Owen Paterson has demanded that the Common Travel Area between the UK and the Republic should be upgraded, and accused Lord West of demonstrating "utter incoherence" on the topic.

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I was waiting in the Great Hall this morning when David Ford and his posse ambled towards me. The Alliance leader began to roll his sleeves up and for a moment I thought I was going to have to get my boxing gloves on. But no, he was intent on showing me the puncture mark on his arm as proof positive that he was the official sponsor of Monday's event organised by the Blood Transfusion Service, which I had earlier reported had been co-sponsored by Iris Robinson and Michael McGimpsey.

My original source stood his ground, so to get to the bottom of the bloody mess (I am using that term literally not metaphorically) I double checked with the Transfusion Service direct. They tell me that on Monday evening they were honouring the 68 people in Northern Ireland who have given bone marrow. The Health Minister and the Chair of the Health Committee were both on the official list of guests. But one couldn't show and the other was prevented from attending by the small matter of being suspended for the day from the Assembly precincts.

The event's sponsor was indeed David Ford. Moreover he was one of two out of 108 MLAs who attended a Transfusion Service donation session in Stormont earlier in the day. The Service was open for business between 9.45 and 15.30 and only two MLAs, Mr Ford and the Deputy Speaker John Dallat gave blood.

I am ashamed to say that the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Political Editor didn't donate either. The last time I gave blood I did such a good impression of Tony Hancock that the nurse suggested I shouldn't come back. However, to atone for my sin in getting the details wrong in my last post on this topic, I have agreed with the Transfusion Service to put my arm at their disposal tomorrow afternoon.

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Regular readers will remember the "Daithi McNarry Hokey Cokey". This afternoon UUP and SDLP backbenchers performed their own "Hokey Cokey" when they voted with the Alliance in criticising the Executive's plans for new laws as lacking in innovation. This left them both in and out of the Executive, whilst retaining the right to shake its plans all about.

Alliance's amendment fell but the support of so many backbenchers from parties nominally in the Executive pointed once again to the development of an "opposition within".

Sinn Fein's John O'Dowd has accused the SDLP and UUP of "ludicrous" behaviour in voting against their own ministers' legislative plans. The ministers did not take part in the vote.

The UUP Assembly team is meeting as I write to discuss its attitude to government and opposition. The new rules drawn up at St Andrews make it impossible for them to follow the DUP's old "empty chairs" policy. But it will be interesting to see how they resolve the tension between some of their restless backbenchers and their leader's determination to fulfill his ministerial responsibilities.

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Sinn Fein's Cathal Boylan wants the people of Armagh plunged back into the old dark days.

Nothing to do with the troubles. His concern is that Armagh is just getting too bright. The light in the sky is making it difficult for stargazers at the Armagh observatory to see through the glare.

The Environment Minister Arlene Foster says she is considering extending nuisance laws to artificial light. But Mr Boylan thinks we should be looking at ways to prevent light filtering up into the night sky, rather than threatening people with prosecution if they leave their porch lights on.

I am looking forward to regular patrols by blackout wardens around Armagh.

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I am indebted to a colleague who, when leaving the Assembly last night, stumbled onto a reception organised on behalf of Northern Ireland Blood Donors. The event had been jointly sponsored by the Health Minister Michael McGimpsey and the Chair of the Health Committee Iris Robinson. But Mrs Robinson could not be there because of her one day suspension, triggered by her remarks about Mr McGimpsey. Given their recent frosty relations it was probably just as well that the two sponsors were not there, otherwise would there have been blood on the marble floor, not just blood donors in the Great Hall?

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The Green MLA Brian Wilson has challenged Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness to attend global climate change talks in Bali next month in order to demonstrate Northern Ireland's committment to end global warming. I have fond memories of Christmas in Bali many years ago, so was going to offer to fly out in their place if the First and Deputy First are too busy in Washington. But then I thought about all those vapour trails between Belfast and Rome, Belfast and Washington and Belfast and Bali and wondered whether the best course of action might be to keep everyone's feet on the ground. Why don't the world leaders have a video conference on global warming?

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Recently this blog noted that the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness is off to Rome for the Consistory - papal speak for the occasion when the Catholic Primate Archbishop Sean Brady gets his Cardinal's red hat. Needless to say Ian Paisley is otherwise engaged.

The Secretary of State Shaun Woodward is also going, and the rumour has it that there's a questionmark whether he or Martin McGuinness should be the NI politician who will meet the Pope.

Apparently the Deputy First is keen to make the acquaintance of Pope Benedict XVI. But his best hope of getting to the Pope is as the BRITISH representative at the occasion. That tends to involve arriving at the Vatican in a car bedecked with a Union Jack.

My spies tell me taking a taxi is not de rigueur. If anyone spots a Stormont Skoda boarding a ferry in the coming days, it might be Martin working on an alternative solution to his papal/union flag dilemma.

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When the Stormont triangle of Robinson-McGimpsey-Robinson first came into existence I knew in my bones there would be trouble. And so it came to pass this lunchtime, when Willie Hay suspended Iris Robinson from the Stormont building for a day.

The eviction follows a fortnight of rumbling discontent between the Robinsons and Minister McGimpsey. First the Health Minister didn't hide his dissapointment with Peter Robinson's budget. Then the Finance Minister pointed out that Health was getting 48% of his entire resources.

The Health Minister said he had only signed up to the budget as a draft intended for further consultation. Then the Chair of the Health Committee aka the Wife of the Finance Minister accused the Health Minister of misleading the Assembly.

That led to complaints from Ulster Unionists who believed the remark effectively accused their man of being a liar.

Today the Speaker ruled the comment "unparliamentary" and demanded that Mrs Robinson withdraw it. She refused and then became the first MLA to be "named". That means she was ordered out of Stormont and its precincts for the day. Accompanied by an Assembly Security Guard, she made her way out of the buiding.

I don't know where Iris has gone for her lunch but those who followed the Stormont proceedings of 16th October will know that she is a devotee of Daisies cafe in the grounds of the Ards Hospital.

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I have spent the day in Mid Ulster, tracking down the Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness for an interview for tomorrow's Inside Politics.

Asking questions about the Omagh house fire is difficult, given the appalling nature of what happened and the fact that a murder investigation is still underway. But at the same time after the dark week we have experienced the tragedy seems impossible to ignore. So apart from talking to the Deputy First Minister about his visit to the scene, I asked whether, once the PSNI investigation is complete, a wider inquiry should be held. He tells me that lessons will have to be learned by various branches of the government.

The rest of the interview concerns the Real IRA's attacks on police officers and the Paul Quinn murder.

As usual you can hear the programme at 12.45 on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Ulster.

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I am tempted to say that our 108 MLAs have been evacuated to make way for today's World Rally Championships. But I can remember being reminded as a trainee journalist that unless you want to get very anatomical, buildings, not people, are evacuated.

So let's just say that the Stormont Hotel is heaving with a mixture of politicians and petrol heads. As the Public Accounts Committee considers the government's use of outside consultants, the rally staff in the Stormont estate across the road are putting the finishing touches to an enormous grandstand, a special bridge, and the pit stops sited in the Assembly car parks.

The rally organisers say the event will showcase Stormont in more than 50 countries across the world.

Princess Anne is in attendance. Earlier this week the Deputy First Minister denied he was "snubbing" her, as reported in the Sunday Times, but added that he had never had any engagement in his diary to meet a member of the Royal family.

Ian Paisley will be there, but he may be looking to make an early exit as the DUP is holding its annual dinner at a Belfast hotel tonight. So if several DUP MLAs slide out of the Stormont side entrance it's not a walk out.

Meanwhile party sources insist that holding the dinner on November 15th does not mean they are celebrating the 22nd anniversary of the Anglo Irish agreement. They haven't gone that far yet...

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We are slowly beginning to get some Executive bills through the assembly, but so far I haven't yet seen any sign of a private member's bill. But we shall have to watch the Green MLA Brian Wilson closely on this score. His party co-chair Kelly Andrews has called for the drafting of a breast feeding bill, bringing Northern Ireland into line with Scotland. Ms Andrews raised the issue after hearing from a young North Down mother who was asked to stop breast feeding her baby in a supermarket dining area.

So, time to get drafting Brian.

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In my morning post I came across a letter from the Electoral Office. They are consulting me officially on one of their new policies. I have been trying to make up my mind on their proposals for their employees' car parking.

I know Equality Screening under Section 75 of the 1998 Northern Ireland Act is very important. But I cannot say I have a lot to say on this topic, other than to wonder about all the other consultation letters winging their way around the system in relation to similar policies, and how many trees have been cut down as a consequence.

But just to make things absolutely clear, I approve of the Electoral Office's plans to designate a space for drivers with disabilities.

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• - What's this?

I am indebted to our ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Wales Westminster Correspondent Aled Ap Dafydd for the information that the Conservatives Northern Ireland Spokesman in the House of Lords, Lord Glentoran, claims more in allowances and expenses than any other peer. In the financial year to March 2007 he claimed Β£85,000 despite only attending 125 days compared to some who sat in the Upper House for 146. It's not his first time leading the pack. As Robin Dixon, Lord Glentoran famously won a gold medal in the bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck in 1964.

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• - What's this?

The devolution of justice may not be complete by May 2008, but the Agriculture Department hopes a survey of local badgers which it starts this month will be. Michelle Gildernew wants to look at the survey results before she decides what to do about badgers suspected of passing on TB to cattle. But reading between the lines of a recent written Stormont answer she seems to be considering whether to vaccinate the animals. No such qualms for her questioner, the DUP's Jim Shannon, who as regular readers of this column will know, normally favours a direct approach. He wants to know when the minister plans to start culling the badgers.

All this raised in my mind's eye an image of a surveyor, clip board in hand, trying to ascertain our local badgers' views on the future.

If you would prefer to be vaccinated tick box A. If you would rather be culled tick box B.

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• - What's this?

On "Stormont Live" yesterday, in between trying to stave off a November cold, I suggested to the Northern Ireland Local Government Association's Arnold Hatch that the public were maybe not that bothered about the proposed shake up in local councils. Most of the publicity surrounding the shake up has concerned whether the Environment Minister Arlene Foster might recommend that instead of seven super councils, we should retain eleven. That announcement isn't expected until January.

But yesterday's debate at Stormont concentrated on how much power should be devolved to any new councils. NILGA is annoyed that the latest recommendation does not give them as many new functions as suggested under the previous direct rule plan.

Powers to be retained by central government under the new blueprint include development planning, local roads, the NI Fire and Rescue Service, and housing responsibilities. The proposal is to still give the councils some planning powers, local arts promotion, urban regeneration and community development and some responsibilities over roads, like maintaining street lights and cutting the verges.

It was always predictable that once devolution was restored local ministers would be less willing to give away their powers than their direct rule predecessors. But my point to Arnold Hatch was that this seemed to me to be an argument exclusively between politicians - surely the voters don't care who provides a service so long as they get it?

This morning I had a chat with Stephen Hugget, a Fermanagh Councillor who sits on NILGA's working party. He countered my argument by suggesting that who runs the service will have a direct impact on how good that service will be. For example, a roads service employee might be more diligent if his bosses are right on his doorstep rather than back at HQ in Belfast.

So is the public bothered about the council/Stormont debate, and if not should they be? And, dry as the talk of council functions might be, is this debate more important than the catchier one about how many councils might survive?

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• - What's this?

Last week I asked whether anyone really believes shooting off duty police officers could play a part in creating a better future. In Dungannon last night there was more evidence that a few unreconstructed republicans think it does.

Martin McGuinness describes the Real IRA as a "totally unrepresentative micro group". Gerry Adams says they have spurned his offer of talks to explain the political alternative to violence. The Sinn Fein President didn't give much detail about his overtures to the dissidents other than to say that he wouldn't make such a public offer without accompanying it with other work behind the scenes. At his speech to the Edentubber commemoration in County Louth this weekend, Mr Adams claimed the dissident groups "have no strategy, no programmes, no popular support and no real capacity – militarily or otherwise."

A visit to the 32 County Sovereignty Movement's website shows that their supporters don't think much of what the Sinn Fein politicians have to say. One commenter on the 32CSM forum responds to the Deputy First Minister telling dissidents to "grow up" by insisting that "he and his brand of British politics are totally disconnected from the section of the people of Derry who have not bought into the provisional lies." Another commenter cheers on those who tried to murder the police officer dropping off his children at a school in the city.

Whilst Sinn Fein call on anyone with information to assist the police the Real IRA says people should not be "taken in by self-serving politicians who are calling for collaboration with the Crown forces and acting as recruiting sergeants for these organisations". It goes on to say those who supply information will be treated as informers - a clear death threat.

It seems hard to imagine that we are going to be plunged into widespread violence again, but as both republican and loyalist splinter groups have demonstrated in the past you don't need any great level of popular support to be able to mount a few potentially lethal attacks. Gerry Adams says that unionist talk about "crushing" the dissidents isn't constructive, but it looks like his politicial initiative isn't, at this stage, showing much sign of promise either.

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• - What's this?

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all readers a very happy Christmas. You can take that as coming jointly from myself and my colleagues Martina Purdy and Gareth Gordon.

I know it's a bit soon. But doing it this way serves to...

1. Save all three of us money on Christmas cards

2. Scotch any rumours that ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ NI political correspondents cannot agree a common festive greeting

I am also extending to the Office for the First and Deputy First Ministers the chance to avail of this blog to communicate any seasonal thoughts they may wish to share with the wider public.

The rumour is that they are still consulting on how best to convey these thoughts. Should it be an e-card or a real card?

The Stormont rumour mill suggests that the First Minister's reluctance to approve an official missive relates to an opposition to the commercialisation of Christmas. However my DUP sources tell me their leader does Christmas "full on", but does not want to waste money on departmental cards when he has already purchased his own party and constituency cards.

Surely, in this new era, it can't be anything to do with a reluctance to sign cards together with the Deputy First?

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First Martin McGuinness, then Dana. It's more than a by-the-book Free Presbyterian can bear.

Ivan Foster has already made clear his dismay with the power sharing arrangement at Stormont.

Now he's voiced his concern at Ian Paisley's recent get together with Dana, who the outgoing Free Presbyterian leader commended as "a woman of great faith and steel".

The Revd. Foster describes this as "sad reading for all faithful Christians" because of Dana's allegiance to the Church of Rome.

I would like to break it to the Revd. Foster that the First Minister is soon heading off to Rome to witness Archbishop Sean Brady getting his Cardinal's red hat.

I would like to break it to him, but unfortunately I can't, as it's the Deputy First Minister who is going to be part of the Brady Bunch.

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May 1996 Brian Keenan: "Do not be confused about decommissioning. The only thing the Republican movement will accept is the decommissioning of the British state in this country."

September 2005 (Nine years later) General De Chastelain confirms IRA decommissioning is complete.

November 2007 Jackie McDonald "90% of people in the loyalist community don't want decommissioning.They're not the UDA's guns. They're the people's guns."

Nine years later?

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Inside Politics' guest tomorrow is Ian Paisley Jr. He talks about the shooting of the police officer in Londonderry, and speculation that the UDA may wind up the UFF this weekend. I also ask him whether there's any chance of a move against his father within the DUP that would mirror what happened within the Free Presbyterian church. His answer - that would be a "kamikaze tactic". Oh, and Seymour Sweeney gets a mention too.

The programme is on air at 1245 on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Ulster.

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I felt very old listening to the radio last night and this morning. Arts Extra had an item about a revival of the play "Somewhere Over the Balcony" written by Marie Jones about women living in Divis Flats. Kim Lenaghan reminded listeners that it was 20 years since the Charabanc theatre company first put on the play.

"20 years!" I felt staggered as I have vivid memories of the time, as I was then sharing a house with Marie Jones and her fellow Charabanc member Eleanor Methven. It was a lively time, but the news was terribly dark.

I also have memories of heading in to work to help out on the coverage of the IRA Enniskillen bomb. This morning Good Morning Ulster spoke to my old ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ colleagues Mike Philpott and Keith Baker who recalled the trauma of covering the Poppy Day atrocity. Today people in Enniskillen attended a remembrance service twenty years on.

20 years, I thought, well at least that is history...then just after dropping off my own child at school I learned about what had happened to the off duty PSNI officer, blasted by a shot gun as he dropped his child off at Lumen Christi Grammar School.

Of course May 8th wasn't, to borrow Francis Fukuyama's phrase, the end of history. But twenty years on from the Enniskillen bomb, who really thinks that a cold blooded shooting of the kind perpetrated today can play any part in building a better future?

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Since Nuala O'Loan is heading off to the Basque country to try to sort out the problems of ETA and the Spanish, I thought I'd do a recce to assess the challenge she faces.

I'm just back from two days there, which was actually nothing to do with the former Police Ombudsman. The Basque regional government had organised a conference on journalism in conflict areas, which they invited me to attend.

ETA declared a "permanent" ceasefire in March last year, one of a series of such announcements in recent years. There then followed contacts between ETA and the Spanish government facilitated in part by Sinn Fein. But the talks weren't successful and in December an ETA bomb exploded at Madrid's Barajas airport killing two Ecuadorian immigrants.

In June this year ETA announced they were ending their shaky ceasefire. Last month a booby trap went off under the car of a bodyguard working for a local Socialist politician in Bilbao.

Right now the impression I got is that the political situation there feels similar to the atmosphere here in early 1997. The IRA ceasefire had broken down, and everyone knew that it would not be restored until the Westminster election had taken place, as republicans were waiting for Tony Blair.

Similarly, a Spanish election is due next year. So the restoration of an ETA ceasefire and any fresh contacts with the government don't seem on the cards until that is over and done with.

There are lots of parallels with our situation which have been documented on many occasions. So in the spirit of being contrary here are a few differences.

One thing that struck me as I wondered around San Sebastian was how prosperous the place looks. It's one of Spain's richest regions full of substantial and stylish buildings. If our troubles were fuelled by deprivation, the same can't be said of the Basque country.

Their level of autonomy makes Stormont look like a town council. They collect ALL the taxes then have a haggle with Madrid about how much they should pass on to central government. What Peter "rate freezer" Robinson would give for that grip on our finances.

Like Irish nationalists and republicans, Basque nationalists emphasise the importance of the right of "self determination" of the Basque people. If, for example, they could have a referendum on independence then, like our joint referendum on the Good Friday Agreement, this would pull the rug out from under ETA's claim to be acting on behalf of the Basque people.

However I don't think the government in Madrid could sign up so readily as did Peter Brooke and John Major to the idea that they have "no selfish economic or strategic interest" in the Basque country. From at least the late 80s if not before, it seemed clear that London would sign up to any solution which would end the violence. But there is no stretch of ocean between Madrid and Bilbao, and the Spanish would have real concerns that Basque separation could trigger a domino effect in other regions like Catalonia and, more recently, Galicia.

This concern may help explain the contrast between the British government's willingness to make concessions to keep the peace process wheels oiled and the Spanish government's harder line stance.

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As I was leaving the SDLP conference in Armagh today I bumped into a senior party figure. β€œSo now we have three suitors” he quipped. Certainly the speeches from Fine Gael, Labour and Fianna Fail sounded less like fraternal greetings and more like an exercise in speed dating.

But where in this frantic courtship, I enquired, were the Ulster Unionists? After all, their visiting MLAs John McAllister and Basil McCrea had been warmly received, and Basil’s contribution earned him a standing ovation. I suppose that was the SDLP’s way of returning the many compliments Margaret Ritchie had received at the UUP conference the previous weekend. So are the UUP the SDLP’s Executive β€œbit on the side”?

β€œI think they can be our agony aunt” my SDLP friend suggested.

Although every one understands a dating game, the SDLP and Fianna Fail’s talk of β€œrealignment” is still rather opaque. What is the new SDLP working group on all Ireland politics going to explore? Is it a potential marriage with Fianna Fail, and if not what does β€œrealignment” mean? There remain divided opinions within the SDLP about the wisdom of any merger, although the enthusiastic rural representatives from border areas seem to outnumber their less convinced Belfast colleagues.

One insider suggested to me the possibility of a joint SDLP Fianna Fail candidacy in the European elections in 2009. The benefit would be that the parties wouldn’t have to resolve their differences over Westminster abstentionism. Moreover the SDLP, having lost John Hume’s place in Europe, have nothing to lose. Neither party would lose any sleep about giving Sinn Fein’s Mary Lou McDonald and Bairbre De Brun a hard time.

However when I tried that one out on Dermot Ahern he told me I was getting well ahead of myself. But then as Mandy Rice Davis put it β€œhe would say that, wouldn’t he?” And she was someone who knew a thing or two about hopping into bed with a new partner.

P.S. One sign that not everything may go smoothly with Fianna Fail’s move north came when the party’s youth wing failed to arrive on schedule at the SDLP conference. The rumour is that, enroute to Armagh, they got lost.

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I'm about to record tomorrow's Inside Politics. This weekend's guest is the Security Minister Paul Goggins who will be talking about a Criminal Justice Order he is publishing next week ending 50% remission for violent and sexual offenders. Given that his predecessor David Hansen promised this change in December 2006 and the new order is unlikely to come into force until the spring of next year, many people's reaction will be - what is taking you so long?

I also hope to get in questions about the loyalist decommissioning which took place in Ballykinlar army base and the security force's assessment of the Paul Quinn murder.

The programme goes out at 12.45 tomorrow on ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio Ulster, by which time I hope to be in Armagh at the SDLP conference.

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These are changing times if your name is Tom Kelly and you hail from Northern Ireland. The government of Malta has just appointed the SDLP activist and boss of Stakeholder communications to be the first Maltese Honorary Consul. If the consul has any difficulty flying back and forth between here and Malta he could do worse than to turn to the other Tom Kelly. Tony Blair's former spin doctor and onetime news editor here at ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Belfast takes up a new job next week. He is to be public affairs director for the airport operator, BAA.

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So the review headed by George Reid has now been published. It doesn't pull its punches about what it views as the dysfunctional nature of the assembly's Senior Management Board. Amongst other things it talks of a "silo mentality" with parts of the Assembly and suggestions for change going into a "black hole". The Chief Clerk's retirement was announced some time ago - other senior managers are now on the move back to their original perches in the civil service. Carol Devon, Director of Access at the Scottish Parliament, has been appointed as interim Chief Executive for the next few months.

The Reid report also recommends the creation of a new assembly staff service separate from the civil service and backs the construction of a new building to accommodate Stormont committees and other facilities. This will be on the Stormont estate (probably on the site of the staff car park).

So the start of a new era? Us scribblers will only believe it when we are liberated from our incarceration in the Stormont basement.

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