A PROPOSAL by DUP First Minister Peter Robinson to reduce the size of the Northern Assembly and Executive has prompted a guarded and at times sceptical response from other Northern parties. Mr Robinson has called for the Assembly to be slimmed down from 108 members to 75 and the number of Stormont departments to drop from 12 to eight.
He proposed the creation of an Executive department to replace the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister, which would have a series of cross-departmental powers, and could possibly replace the Department of Finance and Personnel.
And instead of 11 departments, Mr Robinson called for the creation of seven ministries dealing with the economy and business, justice, education, health and social services, regional development, communities and social welfare, and agriculture and environment.
The British coalition government plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600, which is likely to reduce the number of Northern Ireland constituencies from 18 to 15.
Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness yesterday accused Mr Robinson of engaging in a “solo run” by making these proposals on Thursday night when addressing the North’s Federation of Small Business.
New Ulster Unionist Party leader Tom Elliott welcomed Mr Robinson’s call, but said: “The DUP may well have advocated a reduction in the political bureaucracy at Stormont in recent years, but as the biggest party in Northern Ireland they have done precious little to effect change.”
SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie said she was “not opposed” to looking at the size of the Executive and Assembly, but would “remain vigilant of any DUP attempts to unpick the powersharing principles of the Good Friday Agreement and squeeze the centre under the guise of economic reform”.