Open Government

I went to an afternoon seminar on open government in Northern Ireland today. It was mainly about how government has greased the wheels for development in N.I. while ignoring public demands for transparency and accountability. Unlike the rest of the UK, politicians here don’t have to disclose where they get their funding from. That was one of many examples of NI exceptionalism (“if we had to disclose funding, that could cause sectarian problems”--the sectarian issue comes up everywhere).

The stories were about illegal sand mining in Lough Neagh, illegal dumping in the Faughan River, illegal mining in the Sperrins, all under the wilfully blind eye of government. A wooded catchment area around a reservoir has seen its woods felled after a 50-year lease was granted to an oil and gas company. People next to the former forest were told nothing of this lease. A road was built through the former home of Seamus Heaney. What could have been a tourist attraction is gone. Just amazing. Of course private actors' bullying of government officials is not unique to N.I. What is disturbing is how, when someone files an FOI request to reveal what’s happening behind closed doors, private companies find out who filed the request and then pressure them. Not good.
1-28