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Row over calls to reduce Assembly

Unionists and republicans have clashed over calls for a reduction in the size of Northern Ireland’s government.

The Ulster Unionist Party tabled a motion in the Assembly calling for a six-month review leading to a decrease in the 11 government departments and 108 Assembly members.

But Sinn Fein deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness said a review process was already under way and asked if unionists privately hoped to undermine the power-sharing structures.

Ulster Unionist and DUP speakers also called for the scrapping of what they described as Stormont’s “mandatory coalition” government.

Sinn Fein said this signalled a wider agenda, sparking a reaction from the deputy First Minister.

“I really do see in this agenda an attempt being made, given their utterances in opposition to this form of government, to try and restore unionist majority rule in this Assembly,” he said.

Belfast Telegraph

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