Sir Reg on Policing and Justice

The Ulster Unionist Party is not opposed to the devolution of Policing and Justice powers to the Northern Ireland Assembly: but only when all of the circumstances are right.

It is too important a matter to be the subject of a hasty decision, or a side-deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein.

The present proposals are part of an arrangement reached by the DUP and Sinn Fein during the 155 days last year when the Executive could not meet. As Peter Robinson said on November 18; 'We want to take this opportunity to brief the media to outline the present position on the issue of the devolution of policing and justice and meetings of the Northern Ireland Executive.'

Martin McGuinness confirmed the linkage between both issues when he responded; 'We believe the outworking of the agreements we have reached will allow the uninterrupted functioning of the Executive.'

In other words, if Policing and Justice isn't devolved in a manner which suits Sinn Fein then Sinn Fein reserves the right to interrupt the functioning of the Assembly.

Policing and Justice is much too important to get wrong. And much too important to be a department created by just two parties and placed under the control of someone who will, to all intents and purposes, be a puppet minister. Our co-equal First Ministers may have said that they will consult the other political parties and the public, but it is quite clear that they have already decided the shape and nature of the deal to be promoted. Indeed, the draft Bill is already in circulation; with Conor Murphy saying that 'Sinn Fein and the DUP have agreed the wording of this legislation to create a new department.'

In its 2007 Assembly manifesto the DUP insisted that 'confidence' in the unionist community would be one of the key tests they would apply. Actually, I seem to remember that Nigel Dodds said that it would be a 'political lifetime' before that confidence would be in place. My, my, doesn't time fly?! And the result of the Euro election---and the loss of almost half its' vote---would suggest that the DUP itself has lost the 'confidence' of the unionist community.

It needs also to be remembered that the DUP/Sinn Fein arrangements have no permanency. They 'would be subject to a sunset clause which would bring them to an end not later than May 2012…There would be no fall-back arrangements in place and there would therefore be a necessity for the parties to agree a way forward by this time."

That strikes me as absurd. It would be very much better for all of the parties to discuss the 'way forward' during the lifetime of the present Assembly, with the aim of being able to devolve Policing and Justice during the lifetime of the next Assembly, when all of the parties will have had their mandates renewed. What the DUP and Sinn Fein are proposing is a lame-duck non-solution which would make it almost impossible for any Justice Minister to function effectively.

There are many people, a majority I suspect, who, at this point, would question the competence of either the Executive Committee or the Assembly to cope with the devolution of such a sensitive issue. Let's be blunt, when we cannot even control the ideologically driven solo-runs of the likes of Caitriona Ruane, what is going to happen when a Justice Minister (put in place by the joint nod-of-approval from Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness and ultimately responsible to them and them alone) has to make crucial decisions on policing operations and legacy issues?

Finally, it seems to me that the DUP and Sinn Fein are being dangerously cavalier when it comes to the funding of a new Department. Given what has happened to the UK economy over the past couple of years I doubt if anyone could predict what is still to come. And no-one in their right mind would try and pretend that any financial discussions on any matter could be 'concluded satisfactorily' in the current climate and circumstances.

Again, it seems to me to be remarkably foolish to suggest that the financial impact of devolving Policing and Justice can be wrapped up in the next few months. It is also true that the financing of it will have huge implications for all other public services. Quite apart from that, it is extraordinarily difficult to predict the 'unexpected' demands which will be placed upon the PSNI in the next few years. None of us fully understands the capabilities of either dissident republicans or some elements within Loyalist paramilitaries.

The Ulster Unionist Party believes that the DUP/Sinn Fein deal (and that is exactly what all of this is) represents a hasty, cobbled-together and not fully worked out solution to a problem of their own making. On the crucial issues of finance, confidence, competence and permanency, we find the November 18 proposals severely lacking.

There will be a time in which the circumstances and conditions are right for the devolution of Policing and Justice. The UUP does not believe that those circumstances and conditions exist now and are unlikely to exist in the lifetime of this present Assembly. We would ask the DUP and Sinn Fein to reconsider their proposals and then include all of the parties and interested groups in detailed negotiations between now and the Spring of 2011; if, for nothing else, to see if we can build a collective approach and strategy. Better, surely, that we take some extra time and get it right, than rushing it through in the next few months and risk serious setbacks and instability when a sunset clause comes into play in 2012.