The main Stormont parties have agreed the share-out of scrutiny committees in what is seen as another significant step towards devolution next month.
Sinn Féin, the DUP, Ulster Unionists, SDLP and Alliance leaders met in a committee room yesterday to run the d'Hondt mechanism to allocate the chairs and deputy chairs of the bodies which will monitor the government departments as well as the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister.
Unionists opted in the main to scrutinise departments such as education which will be run by a Sinn Féin minister. Republicans also chose committees charged with monitoring DUP ministers. Sinn Féin said the meeting was "relaxed and business-like".
The Ulster Unionists will chair the committee of the centre, which shadows the department jointly run by the Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness. Alliance will hold the deputy chair. The enterprise, trade and investment department will be monitored by an SDLP chair and a Sinn Féin vice-chair.
The education committee will be chaired by the DUP while the SDLP will occupy the deputy chair. Social development will be monitored by a committee chaired by the DUP. It will also hold the deputy chair. Ulster Unionists will chair the regional development committee and the deputy chair will be held by the DUP.
The agriculture committee will be chaired by the DUP while the Ulster Unionists will take the deputy chair. Sinn Féin and the Ulster Unionists will take the chair and deputy chair of the culture, arts and leisure committee while the department of the environment will be monitored by the SDLP with Sinn Féin in the deputy chair. The DUP will chair the health committee with Sinn Féin, again, in the deputy chair. Finance and personnel, a key department, will be monitored by a committee chaired by Sinn Féin with the DUP in the deputy position.
Lead positions in five standing committees were also shared out. The influential public accounts committee will have a Sinn Feein chair and a UUP deputy chair. SDLP leader Mark Durkan has also confirmed reports that South DownMLA Margaret Ritchie will be nominated as social development minister. She pledged yesterday to deal with key issues affecting people's lives including affordable housing and planning.
The pace of preparations for devolution on May 8th was hailed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern. Speaking at Magee University in Derry, Mr Ahern said the transfer of powers was not an end in itself.
"It will be a critical stepping stone to the creation of a society in Northern Ireland where questions of identity, culture and tradition are no longer identified with discord and division, but are seen through a prism of tolerance, generosity and mutual respect."
He said the next step, beyond devolution, would be the real test. The DUP's decision to agree to share power with Sinn Féin prompted two further resignations from the party in the Rev Ian Paisley's Antrim heartland. Ballymena councillors James Alexander, mayor of Ballymena, and Robin Stirling announced their decisions at a council meeting on Monday night.