It was wrong for the work of governing the North to be interrupted by disagreements about decommissioning, the Deputy First Minister has said. During question time, Mr David McClarty, a pro-agreement unionist, claimed the failure of republicans to honour their promises on disarmament had interfered with the workings of North-South bodies.
The Ulster Unionists have prevented Sinn Fein Ministers from attending meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council and recently said they would not attend until republicans moved on decommissioning. The DUP boycotts the NSMC and Executive. Mr Seamus Mallon said there was important business to be done by the Executive and the North-South bodies. "Let's not use any reason - however we view that reason - to impede that very important work."
Dr Ian Paisley congratulated the First Minister for boycotting the NSMC. Mr Mallon responded that the DUP could only be commended for being "consistently wrong".
The DUP's two Executive Ministers announced plans to mount a legal challenge to the First and Deputy First Minister. Mr Maurice Morrow and Mr Gregory Campbell said they were disadvantaged in their work through Mr Mallon's and Mr Trimble's refusal to provide confidential Executive documents to them. They do not attend Executive cabinet meetings because of Sinn Fein's presence there.
The Assembly began a two-day debate on the Executive's programme for government. Commending it to MLAs, Mr Trimble said it marked a milestone in the North's history.
"For the first time, departments have been challenged to set out what will be achieved with the resources voted to them by the Assembly," he said.
Moving a motion to reject the programme, the Alliance Party leader, Mr Sean Neeson, said it failed to tackle sectarian division and inequality.
The Finance and Personnel Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, yesterday pledged every effort would be made to counter perceived inequalities in the Northern Civil Service.