The North's Education Minister, Mr Martin McGuinness, has rejected criticism of his appointment of Mr Gerry Burns, a former Ombudsman, to chair a review on the future of the controversial 11-plus exam, which determines whether pupils in Northern Ireland attend secondary or grammar schools.
Appearing before the Assembly's education committee to answer questions on the Gallagher report on the future of education, published two weeks ago, Mr McGuinness defended himself against accusations by the committee deputy chairman, the DUP's Mr Sammy Wilson, that he had appointed Mr Burns without public consultation.
"I decided Mr Burns would be well suited to managing and guiding what is going to be a highly sensitive and difficult consultation process. Whatever people feel about the method used to select him, he is a widely acceptable and highly respected public figure," the Education Minister said, adding that cabinet colleagues had been given the opportunity to put forward other ideas but that there had been no objection to Mr Burns.
Mr Burns will start his public consultations early next month. The review is expected to be completed in May 2001.
Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Executive has agreed on the allocation of its u £6 billion sterling Budget to the 10 ministerial departments. The North's Finance Minister, Mr Mark Durkan, is expected to give details in his first Budget statement next Tuesday.
The long-awaited Programme for Government, which will specify priority areas on which the allocations are to be spent, is to be discussed in a further meeting, likely to take place on Monday.