Mad Cat Watch No.1

Finally, can the parents and children of Northern Ireland breathe a sigh of relief?

Education minister Caitriona Ruane appears to have turned her back firmly on the UK to put her ministerial lot in with the EU.

So, has the rough and tumble of Stormont proved all too much for Ms Ruin- is she now pottering round knackering whatever she get her hands on in Brussels?

Sorry to build up your hopes, but no:

The minister’s office has asked that correspondence to her be sent to caitriona.ruane@deni.eu.

Pity...

The unexpected move comes despite the fact Ms Ruane’s email address is listed as Caitriona.Ruane@niassembly.gov.uk on the assembly’s own website.

Oh dear, that’s not going to aid effective governance, now is it?
Or is it, perhaps, Catriona’s cunning plan to cut down her number of complaints by diverting half of them off to some unsuspecting Brussels paper-clip pusher?

The Department of Education last night said: “In the light of all the issues facing the executive, the minister’s choice of email address is an irrelevant matter.”

Quite and doesn’t your boss not have rather more pressing issues to deal with rather than mucking about with her e-mail addresses?

He reacted angrily to queries over the decision of Ms Ruane to eschew the standard governmental email address.

“This is total nonsense,” he said.

The "he" in question is some faceless Shinner apparachnik, but anyway, is that a “Total nonsense” as in...

1.No, she hasn’t changed her Email or,
2.Catriona is a “total nonsense”?

...it's not really clear.

The spokesman said the paper would shortly receive responses from departments of other Sinn Fein ministers.

Well, not really...

1.The Department for Regional Development said Conor Murphy’s business email is conor.murphy@drdni.gov.uk.

2. “The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s press office said it did not hold Michelle Gildernew’s business email address.”

Huh? The press-office doesn’t hold her business email address? Welcome to joined-up, devolved government and administration Stormont style.

A spokesman said it needed to be retrieved “from another office”.

It was not provided until five hours after the request.

Wonder why?

Ms Gildernew’s email was finally given as private.office@dardni.gov.uk.

That’s why.
So, poor Mad Cat is on her own, yet again.