A day at the Northern Ireland Assembly!

Just got back to the house and still can't get my blood pressure to go down from the exciting day I had. Dr. Campbell got me down near Stormont which is the home of the Northern Ireland Assembly. I hit a coffee shop then started the trek over to the Stormont Estates. When I got to the gate it was very overwhelming seeing the mile long mail that leads to the main Parliament building. The walk was beautiful and it was an amazing way to really step back and take in the day and what I was there to do. I got into the building and Tony Malkin met me from Education Services. Tony showed me around and wanted to know from me what I wanted to learn and experience. Quickly he figured out I really wanted to understand the structure and political landscape of the Assembly as well as the education aspects of the country. After finishing a cup of coffee we headed to the office of Research and Information Service (RaISe). There Michael Potter taught me about the research process and how they create bill papers and prepare information for the members on various topics. One great example of work they did was research on human trafficking. They did this and it along with other outside factors sparked movement on the issue in the Assembly. In Arizona the research division can only do work that is given to them by a member so I found this to be extremely interesting and informative. Michael Potter also recently wrote a paper on Gender in elections. The political parties have a quota for female candidates in order to receive funds and so they have been working to recruit and Michael created a paper on the issue and really explained for members and the public the issue of gender in politics in Northern Ireland. After having a great time with Michael, Tony took me to met Marina McConville and others on the education staff to discuss the new changes occurring in the government and what was on the agenda for the staff for the day. You see, they just had an election last month so today was the first day they were in the Assembly with all the new members. Out of the 108, 31 are new and now they have a formal opposition in the chamber. The Assembly operates to a mandate set forth on policy and topics most concerning to the country. In the mandate, there is always a policy set for equality in all parts of the government. With two of the top four political parties not participating in the executive minister selection process, this created inequality and so the new leadership decided to have the opposition have regular daily voice in floor session. It was very exciting to be a part of history and see this happen up close as staffs were learning “on the fly” how to run the day around this new agenda. After going over this Education Services had tour groups being to arrive. Education Services handles all school tours to the Assembly as well and youth outreach. Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington had a group of 20 students from all areas of study come in to tour and learn about the Assembly. It was great to see their instructors in action. They also planned for MLA’s to visit. We have David Ford from the Alliance Party and he was extremely interesting to hear from. He was the first Minister of Justice when they formed the Government and was selected because he didn’t belong to either major party. As the Alliance Party, they stand for bring everyone together for a safe and bright future Ireland without violence. Ford was key because neither side of the Unionist or Nationalist wanted to have someone from the other party in control of Justice due to heartburn from the years past. Ford spoke about his work in prison reform and many other issues and how we need more young people involved to move Northern Ireland forward. After Ford we had Sandra Overend from the Ulster Unionist Party and she sits on the Education Committee. She spoke about how we need to be involved and how the job of MLA is a lot of work. After that we headed to the public gallery and watch the floor session as they discussed waiting times in the healthcare system with the new Minister of Health. It was very informative and really eye-opening on the healthcare system here in Northern Ireland. After that I grabbed lunch and spoke to the staff about Youth Engagement programs that service has and what they are trying to do to get young people involved. It was great to hear about the UK support financially for their programs like a film competition and much more. Later in the day we had a group of 2nd graders in and they were so smart and really excited to be at the Assembly. We took them into the gallery and they were so well behaved and interested in the process. Made me pray and hope more kids would be this way in my neck of the woods haha. After that Anna-Marie with the staff sat and talked to me about so many of experiences being at the Assembly for a decade this year. After all that I started the long trip home and reflected on the amazing day I had. It was just a toe in the water but I learned so much about the system of Government in Northern Ireland how much it is changing everyday. The mandate they have was very interesting and I wish the states did something like that like setting benchmarks for the next 5 years. Also the system of voting is totally different. In Northern Ireland, 6 MLA’s get elected from each constituency. When voting you don’t check a box for who you want rather you number 1 for your first choice, 2 for your second choice and so on till you run out or until you want to stop. It is very different and really interesting to see how much they enjoy it. They also have 8 political parties in offices of the Assembly where we only have 2 major parties, Seeing all the differences there are a lot of similarities as well. There is an executive and they work within a framework under the UK like we do under the federal government. Also they have to major extremes when it comes to parties and we are seeing a political climate like that right now in the United States. It truly is interesting to learn about and as I visit different party members over the next few days I think it will truly educate me more on the issue and give me a lot to think about.