Northern Ireland’s damaging strike remains deeply political

Today, life in Northern Ireland will enter a literal and metaphorical deep freeze: amid a cold snap, roads will go ungritted, hospitals will run on a skeleton staff and picket lines will be the only thing fully manned by the public sector as 170,000 workers down tools. Inevitably, the strike is deeply political, with public servants calling out Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris for his refusal to release funds to stabilise the public service in the absence of a deal to bring Stormont back, for which he has offered a total package of £3.3 billion (€3.8 billion). On that, a seventh attempt to elect a speaker and deputy speaker in the Stormont Assembly proved futile yesterday.

The Government in Dublin has swung back and forth on its degree of optimism about the restoration of the power-sharing institutions. Before Christmas, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he believed they could be up and running by the new year; Tánaiste Micheál Martin said he was “hopeful of a breakthrough” on Monday, but parties in the North seem less enthusiastic. A deadline for elections to be called if no executive is formed is supposed to land today, but that has been pushed back before and it is expected to be again.

The ongoing Stormont impasse and damaging strike bring into sharp focus a host of issues that should concentrate minds in Dublin, from the reform of the Stormont institutions to Sinn Féin’s repeated calls for a “Plan B” in the North involving a “joint stewardship” as part of a British-Irish partnership, a concept that has led to spiky exchanges before. There is the possibility of another election in Northern Ireland adding to the political flux on the island this year.

We lead the paper on the strikes today.

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More on Sinn Féin’s calls for a Plan B here.

Newton Emerson is writing on the strikes today.

Six striking workers explain why they’re on the picket lines.

Best Reads

Speaking of spiky, there were some ill-tempered exchanges during the first session of the Dáil term, with People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith saying there were “echoes of Nazi supporters’ lies” regarding refugees from Rural Independent and other TDs, and a brief suspension after People Before Profit tempers flared again during a debate on Gaza. As the day wore on, there was a diverting exchange during debates on the upcoming care and family referendums in relation to polygamy and throuples (or was it truffles?).

Miriam Lord is back on the beat here.

Jennifer Bray on the meat and drink of the referendums here.

Speaking of meat, beef is back on the menu with the Chinese. Cormac McQuinn’s report on the Taoiseach’s lunch at Farmleigh with Chinese premier Li Qiang is here.

Meanwhile, Naomi O’Leary’s Europe Letter is on fruitful efforts to ensure gender equality in Belgian politics.

Playbook

Away from Leinster House, the Taoiseach is in Davos for the World Economic Forum - he’s due to hold bilateral meetings with other attendees and IDA client companies before taking part in a “Hard Power of AI” event at 5.30pm. Michael McGrath and Paschal Donohoe are also taking in the air at the Swiss resort.

The Tánaiste is in Berlin until Friday, meeting with German ministers and delivering a keynote address at the Jacques Delors Centre.

Stephen Donnelly is taking oral questions at 9am in the Dáil, followed by Simon Harris at 10.30am and Leaders’ Questions at midday. Questions on policy or legislation is before lunch, with Government business in the afternoon handed over to legislation removing child maintenance payments as being assessable for the social welfare means test.

In Private Members’ time at 5.15pm, Labour has a Bill allowing for paid leave after miscarriage or for those availing of reproductive healthcare. Topical issues is shortly after 7pm, before the Dáil adjourns for the week at 8.05pm.

The full Dáil schedule is here.

The committees kick off at 9.30am - the Public Accounts Committee holds its first meeting of 2024 on the Social Insurance Fund, with officials from the Department of Social Protection also set to be quizzed on a range of matters in their remit, ranging from ex-gratia payments totalling €1.4 million to social welfare branch managers to the recovery of welfare overpayments.

The committee on the implementation of the Belfast Agreement has an engagement with the Special EU Programmes Body.

The full schedule is here.

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