FIRST MINISTER Peter Robinson has suggested that a resolution of the policing and justice issue will require both Sinn Féin and the DUP to accept that in the immediate future neither party can take over a department of justice.
Amid some guarded confidence that a breakthrough is possible, Mr Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness led high-level DUP-Sinn Féin talks at Stormont yesterday aimed at resolving the issue, with further negotiations scheduled this week.
Earlier yesterday Mr Robinson told the World Bar Conference in Belfast that a Sinn Féin-DUP compromise can be reached on the issue of when and how police and justice powers will be transferred to the Northern Executive, but that it would require a resolution of who will have control of the justice ministry.
“My party’s manifesto position is clear. We support the devolution of policing and justice powers but we recognised, nevertheless, that there are real and particular sensitivities about who will be the policing and justice minister,” he said.
Mr Robinson said it was a “unionist goal” to have these powers devolved. What was important, however, was establishing structures that would have the confidence of the community.
This is widely understood as DUP shorthand for saying that the unionist community would not tolerate a Sinn Féin minister exerting control over policing and justice. Equally, however, if there is no Sinn Féin minister, neither can there be a DUP minister under the mutual vetoes that both parties effectively wield.
Mr Robinson availed of the conference to publicly and significantly soften the DUP position on the transfer of these powers. Not so long ago, senior DUP figures such as Nigel Dodds said the devolution of justice powers would not happen in a “political lifetime”.
In direct contrast, Mr Robinson told the international lawyers: “I have no doubt that the effective governance of Northern Ireland would benefit from the devolution of these powers.”
“So what do we do?” he asked. “Do we wait, potentially for years, perhaps for a generation, until the necessary level of support is reached for such options to gain widespread public confidence? Or do we search for another basis that may be able to command confidence in the community?”
A number of compromise proposals are being posited. These include a situation where either an SDLP or Ulster Unionist minister would run justice and police, or where the two parties would share such a department. Another option is that an Alliance Party minister would have control.
Yet another possible compromise is that justice would be administered within the Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister. While this is a DUP-Sinn Féin controlled office, the possible option is that a junior minister from the SDLP, UUP or Alliance would have responsibility for justice.
Mr Robinson said he was committed and willing to intensify talks with Mr McGuinness and other parties in the period ahead – an intensification that has started with this week’s negotiations.
He also indicated that there was some confidence that the issue could be solved to the satisfaction of the main parties. “I will not attempt to characterise anyone else’s position, but I can say that there is a growing understanding of all the concerns that attend this debate, including those I have articulated, and a serious engagement is under way on how to resolve those concerns,” he said.
In a rather indifferent response, Mr McGuinness said Mr Robinson’s comments were “fair enough as far as they go”, but the reality was that the devolution of these powers was “not an optional extra” but a “commitment which needs to happen and needs to happen quickly”.
A senior Sinn Féin source, however, said the talks were a serious engagement “and that there was room for creative thinking” that could break the deadlock.