Wanted – Public Opinion

Minister for Social Development Margaret Ritchie has begun a series of Public Forums to ask for your help. The Forums which take the Minster from Enniskillen to Derry will ask four important questions:-

The forums also give the public a chance to raise specific issues such as housing, grants and benefits. As evident from the backdrops,the Minister and her Department have a key issue to discuss-A Shared Future. How do we really move forward from the hatred and bigotry. This doesn’t mean that people with other problems will be ignored, in fact quite the contrary. Behind her, the Minister has a senior official in every field from benefits, housing, regeneration, volunteering and others, are in attendance at every meeting.

Personal enquiries that people bring up are referred to each relevant official at the end of the public gathering in order to have it investigated urgently. This is a real bonus for anyone who has been frustrated by red tape in any aspect of their dealing with the DSD.

Queries on other areas such as roads, environment, jobs or flags are also personally referred by Minister to her appropriate colleague in whichever Department the other queries refer to.  

I wasn’t sure what to expect of these talks. Two way dialogue was essential. Would people turn up? It was a sort of radio syndrome. Is there anybody out there?

Ballymena was first up. When I arrived at the venue I met a few colleagues from the Department. Minister arrived for a pre-brief with her officials. To my surprise there where at least 1,000 people in the room, everyone of them invisible. By the time things had got underway there were approximately 100 people in the room who could clearly be seen and heard by all present.

Mr Dave Wall was the Department for Social Development Director who chairs the forum, developing  speakers’  thoughts as they spoke. It was clear evidence, if indeed that were needed, that the Minister and her officials had come to listen. They wanted to hear what ideas other people had to bring communities together and tackle disadvantage.

The disappointing thing for me was that several people who spoke seemed almost resigned to the fact that this is Northern Ireland and we will always be a divided society. Minister was able to disprove that citing the Tall ships spectacular as clear evidence of people mixing. Over 500,000 people attended that event and there was little of no evidence of any sectarian bias here. So the question back to the speaker was how can we take this forward.

If I thought the previous event was productive, the one in the North West was very lively. Although there in an official capacity, I felt and many others were of the same view, that there were still a lot of divisions despite the ceasefires and laying down of arms. It was here at the Verbal Arts Centre that the Minister was looking for suggested answers to the 4 questions above around the topic of leaving the bigatory behind.

This was quite an appropriate topic really, as the outgoing Chief Constable was quoted in the news the following week; blaming the politicians for not leading the way to resolve the problem which he firmly believed was as bad as ever.

Gradually, one speaker gave an opinion, then another, and another. All were very good suggestions that can and no doubt will be developed when all the information is gathered at the end of this series.

One thing is for sure. The Department has got this right, and no this isn’t an employee talking. The evidence is there. Hugh Orde said so and others have said so. Someone needs to take up the challenge of wanting to tackle segregation, encouraging different communities to live together and finding a way forward. If that is the DSD, then as the man down the road said, ‘Fair play di yee!’

Newry was the third port of call for the Minister on her travels. The mood here was different. Not as jovial, similar to a calm before a storm. You could spot political differences a mile off and by the way someone spoke you could suggest what affiliation they had to a particular party. I suppose a better description of this event in the Sean Hollywood Arts Centre was a boxing match. No heavy punches were thrown but a lot of sparring was going on.

A comment from Minister left a rare smile on many faces as she quickly responded to one of several people who challenged her on specific issues. It was suggested to the man wearing the shirt of the Armagh gaelic team that some in-roads had been made in bringing people together when he feels comfortable wearing his Gaelic shirt to an event in County Down.

Some serious issues were raised about housing though and Minister urged all political parties to sign up and make a commitment to investing more money in housing. Several families attended the meeting to voice their opinion and seek help from Minister about their specific problems. Minister agreed to meet and speak with them and her officials following the event.

This event is typically how I had envisaged all of the events to take shape. One party trying to score over another. I guess when you open your door to people, they will inevitably want to knock it off its hinges even if it is unlocked. I’m not so sure there was much point scoring going on. If this had’ve been a room full of voters then yes, I would agree. In the end, the room was made up of a number of political representatives who no doubt will not change their allegiance to their particular beliefs as a public representative.

In typical Northern Ireland style, nothing is ever that simple. The Margaret Ritchie Public Forums as they are now billed are full of good intentions. People have an opportunity to make changes. They have the ear of a public representative in the shape of a government Minister to make things happen. Some have taken this opportunity by the throat and made best use of it. Others are finding it hard to come to terms with what the DSD is trying to do. Three down with seven to go. Lets see a few more real people at these events. Men and women whose everyday lives are affected. Can you even begin to answer these questions:-

Keep an eye in your local press for details of a Public Forum near you or find dates on this site.