Four
and a half billion pounds thats how
much Southern taxpayers will probably have to fork
out annually to run the North under joint authority
with Britain.
In
early September, crucial final talks resume between
the Northern parties aimed at trying to restore
the power-sharing Northern Executive before the
24 November deadline.
There
is still considerable gloom in Stormont circles
a workable deal cannot be thrashed out between Ian
Paisleys DUP and Sinn Fein to set up the Executive
in spite of all the positive work being done by
the Preparation for Government committee.
If
there is no deal by the November cut-off date, the
108 MLAs will have their salaries and expenses chopped,
paving the way for the Dublin and London governments
to implement Plan B joint authority of the
North by Leinster House and Westminster.
With
Dublin government plans to build its plush new operational
base in Belfasts Notting Hill at an estimated
cost of £6 million, it is clear Taioseach
Bertie Ahern wants to be ready to implement the
process of joint authority by this Christmas.
However,
it has been mooted that joint authority will mean
the Dublin government also having to share the massive
billion-pound annual bill for running the North
with the British Government.
The
present total cost for running the North is £9
million a figure revealed to Stormont MLAs
in November 1998 by the then Northern minister Paul
Murphy.
He
told them:
the Northern Ireland budget
the Assembly will eventually deal with which combined
comes to some £9 million
It
would be realistic to think if the present Direct
Rule governing the North is replaced by joint authority
with Dublin, then the Labour Government will be
expecting the Southern taxpayers to help foot the
bill to run the North.
So
what will citizens of the 26 counties be expected
to pay for in return for joint authority of the
remaining six counties?
Theres
the struggling Northern health service, bogged down
with never-ending waiting lists and being steadily
strangled with mountains of red tape.
What
about the pensions for all the retired RUC officers
and former Ulster Defence Regiment soldiers
especially given the legion of allegations of collusions
with loyalist death squads which these two organisations
have faced?
Southern
taxpayers will also have to cough up the cash for
the millions of pounds in dole and other benefits
being paid to supposedly jobless loyalist paramilitary
members and supporters.
In
spite of three substantial acts of Provo decommissioning
of terrorist weapons, with the exception of a token
gesture by the fringe Loyalist Volunteer Force,
none of the other Protestant death squads have either
decommissioned or disbanded.
Indeed,
many loyalist gangs are believed to be still heavily
involved in criminality so the South will
have to pay its cut in combating the Northern loyalist
crime lords.
And
with the seven new super councils planned for the
North to replace the existing 26 local authorities,
there is a very strong chance Protestant working
class voters will elect the political representatives
of the banned terror groups the UVF and UFF.
With
the salary of these new supposed super councillors
rumoured to be in the region of at least £30,000
annually, Southern taxpayers will again have to
contribute to the financial upkeep of the apologists
for loyalist terror gangs or hardline Protestant
DUP fundamentalists.
Under
joint authority, the costs of Dublin involvement
in the North will rocket substantially compared
to the meagre amount needed two decades ago to run
the Maryfield Secretariat near Stormont following
the signing of the November 85 Anglo-Irish
Agreement.
Southern
involvement in Northern affairs then was merely
to give a voice to Northern nationalists and republicans
not the proposed running of the North itself
under joint authority.
And
not included in the £4.5 billion joint running
costs in the bill for any damage in the South caused
by loyalist terror gangs protesting about the imposition
of joint authority.
The
Ahern administration will try to calm Southern taxpayers
fears of the bill expected by joint authority by
stating there is no firm evidence British premier
Tony Blair would ask Dublin to share Northern costs.
However,
if Blair is replaced as Prime Minister by the money-minded
Chancellor Gordon Brown, the tough-talking Scot
will surely demand his financial pounds of flesh
from Dublin in return for any joint role in running
the North.