Even by the party’s own standards the cynicism displayed by the Democratic Unionist Party over the Government’s plan to fund the training of nurses in Northern Ireland is quite breathtaking.
The decision by Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly to fund 250 student nursing and midwifery places at Queens University Belfast and Ulster University this year at the cost of €10 million should embarrass the Northern Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris, according to the DUP’s Paul Givan, a former first minister.
Donnelly decided to step in when it became clear that the places were going to be axed because of budget cuts imposed by the Northern Irish Civil Service in the absence of a Northern Irish Executive. It can hardly have escaped Givan’s attention that this is primarily down to his party’s refusal to participate in the executive.
London has not made it explicit, but it is clearly hopeful that the budget cuts mandated by the civil servants will help push the DUP back into Stormont. The argument being that the elected representatives rather than civil servants should decide where the axe will fall. Some northern politicians might feel this is reason enough to stay out of government, but that discounts the possibility of funds from London to ease the return of Stormont.
In truth it is embarrassing for all concerned that it has come this; young people’s futures and the healthcare system have become bargaining chips in a stand-off in which the narrow interests of one party have usurped the public will for a return to self-government. There is also some embarrassment to spare for the Government in Dublin. The decision to fund third-level places in the North chimes in with the all-Ireland agenda but it also smacks of opportunism. Some 200 of the places are reserved for students from the Republic and whilst they are free to work where they like post-qualification, the expectation is they will return south of the border. It is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Republic’s own approach to the training and retention of nurses.