Three Thousand Versts of Loneliness

McGimpsey - did the business with Harney Northern Ireland's politicians have a great propensity for boasting about their readiness to "do the business".  Gerry Adams likes to claim he's up for "doing the business", Peter Robinson likewise, but no more so than the Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey ( just not too often ). "I have done the business with (ROI health minister) Mary Harney four weeks ago in our meeting in Armagh.  And as far as I'm concerned until the next meeting comes along, that's it." Quite so minister.

“Don’t know what I’m doing here / I’ll carry on regardless”, sang the Beautiful South. It is a lyric which could have been written for Northern Ireland’s Education Minister. Caitriona Ruane proved incapable of striking an acceptable compromise on selection for post primary schools. Other parties continue to make progress towards an agreed position, but the minister carries on regardless. Similarly, her two bills aimed at establishing an Education and Skills Authority (ESA), which would centralise functions currently carried out by the five Education and Library Boards, as well as the CCEA exam board and the Regional Training Unit, have run aground at Stormont. However, in a statement delivered to the Assembly yesterday, Ms. Ruane set out plans to (you guessed it) carry on regardless of dissenting voices and start implementing the ESA project. The two UUP ministers, Michael McGimpsey and Sir Reg Empey, have delivered their response: “The statement made today by the Minister of Edu...

As I intimated in the post below, the UUP is set to hold its 2009 conference, tomorrow, at the Europa Hotel Belfast. Three Thousand Versts, in conjunction with Open Unionism , will be covering the keynote speeches live. The Coveritlive feed will appear above, providing real time updates from the hall, as William Hague, Michael McGimpsey and Sir Reg Empey deliver the key addresses. Follow the action on Twitter @3000Versts and @openunionism . We’ll pick up contributions #uupconf2009 .

Michael McGimpsey’s performance as Health Minister has been one of the rare success stories of the Northern Ireland Executive. Despite acquiring one of the most challenging departments, and facing a constant fight to retain funding, the South Belfast MLA has delivered free prescriptions and targeted investment where it is badly needed. Tackling the most pressing health issues and seeking to modernise the ambulance service’s elderly fleet, McGimpsey is a minister with an understanding of his brief. With this in mind, I am all the more puzzled at the Department of Health’s f rosty reception to the Ireland Air Ambulance initiative, which is currently undergoing trials . Largely it is accepted that a degree of centralisation and specialisation is inevitable within the modern NHS and Northern Ireland, which has a small, dispersed rural population, is obviously no exception. The ability rapidly to transport patients from areas where local hospital provision is either not available, or...