Paisley Jnr’s “never” as meaningful as his father’s
15 January 2009
TUV leader Jim Allister has challenged Ian Paisley Jnr to spell out how the DUP’s veto over a Sinn Fein justice minister will remain intact after 2012.
The MEP said:
“Ian Paisley Jnr’s claim that the DUP veto over who holds the justice ministry will remain intact after 2012 simply does not stand up to scrutiny.
“Let’s just remember exactly what he told his party conference just a few months ago:
“We have quite rightly an agreed position that for “all time” the assembly will by a weighted vote determine who the Minister should be. This means our choice of ministries is not affected by the allocation of this post but we must ensure that we veto who takes this position. We can give a copper-bottomed guarantee that Sinn Fein will never have that position and we should not be behind the door in saying so!”
“The Report states that there were “differing interpretations” as to the correct interpretation of the words “all time”. The Sinn Fein position, as Conor Murphy made clear on an edition of Stormont Live in October was that Republicans certainly didn’t accept the DUP’s analysis because “We don’t consider the Good Friday Agreement as a settlement so therefore I can’t see how Sinn Fein would get into arrangements for all times.”
“No one can say what the arrangements post-2012 will be but one thing is evident – the committee accepted the Sinn Fein reading of the letter signed by the First Ministers that a cross community vote may not be necessary for all time.
“There is no assurance that the justice ministry will not become part of the D'Hondt lottery after that date. Indeed the current report expressly says that the arrangements post 2012 have yet to be determined and that, if not agreed, then after the sunset clause ends the cross-community selection in 2012, there is no fall-back position. Thus, at that point it is open season for Sinn Fein to again indulge in its boycott and bully-boy tactics until it gets its way, again!
“The fact of the matter is that Ian Paisley Jnr’s “never” to a Sinn Fein/IRA justice minister is as meaningful as the “never” of his father.”
