War of words over ministry make-up

Politics

Parties clash over justice department structure

Friday, February 02, 2007

By Noel McAdam

The main political parties at Stormont have clashed over the structure of a future Justice Ministry - but agreed on a number of other crunch issues.

Both the DUP and Ulster Unionists favour a single Minister for the new Justice Department, while Sinn Fein is suggesting a jobshare, with two Ministers sharing equal status.

It is a proposal, similar to the co-equal nature of the First and Deputy First Ministers office, which could potentially see a joint DUP and Sinn Fein Ministry, perhaps Policing Board member Ian Paisley Jnr and Sinn Fein's Policing spokesman Gerry Kelly.

There is no agreement, however, on how a Minister should be appointed, with Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the UUP supporting use of the d'Hondt system, while the DUP is in favour of the election of a minister by a 70% weighted majority of the Assembly.

Predictably, there was also no agreement on the sub-group over the timing of the devolution of policing and justice powers to the Assembly. The target date in the St Andrews Agreement is May of next year.

Another group working on the controversial review of public administration and rural planning has called for even more unelected quangos to be axed.

Its report voices concern that the review, which will reduce the number of local councils from 26 to seven, "had not resulted in more significant cuts in the number of quangos and considers that further reductions should be made".

With only Sinn Fein in favour of cutting the councils to seven, the report says the committee agreed that it would be preferable for the parties to seek consensus on the number of councils.

The reports are designed to help shape priorities and policings so an incoming, power-sharing Executive - if it is formed - can hit the ground running.

Thus the RPA group report called on the incoming Executive to carry out a review of planning within Northern Ireland and backed a "fundamental" examination of the restrictive planning

Similarly, the group which was probing the Comprehensive Spending Review, including water reform and rates charges, called on the future Executive to " consider again all the potential alternative models for reform".

The conclusions come in the reports of the six sub-groups of the Programme for Government committee, set up immediately following the St Andrews Agreement talks.

While the DUP, Sinn Fein, SDLP and UUP were represented on each 'focus' group, however, the Alliance Party was excluded - even though it had participated in the predecessor Preparation for Government committee.

The sub-group which covered the programme for government said it has identified a number of efficiency savings and priorities for future investment.

The committee also agreed there should be a study into the cost and impact of introducing a 'cap' on domestic rates. It also flagged up the impact water charges will have on families who fall below the poverty line.