Questions which are too hot for OFMdFM to handle
17 May 2012
Statement by TUV leader Jim Allister:
“Assembly Standing Orders require Ministers to answer Priority Written Questions within 2 days. The Joint First Ministers patently believe themselves above the rules of the Assembly because they constantly breach this requirement.
"Here are but a sample of Priority Questions which remain outstanding:
- In light of evidence given to the Smithwick Tribunal, will consideration would be given to introducing measures to require ministers to explain truthfully their past terrorist involvement."(26/4/12)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister, in light of the Peter Hain controversy, whether the Attorney General still enjoys their confidence. (4/24/2012)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister, pursuant to AQW 8772/11-15, (i) whether officials were asked to investigate and report urgently on the issue of the Crossmaglen republican monument; (ii) by what date; and (iii) whether a report has been received and if it will be published. (16/3/2012) (Given that the First Minister announced to the world via his twitter account on 21st February that the funding would be “totally unacceptable” and he had “asked Officials to investigate & report urgently” one would have thought there would have been no difficulty answering this question!)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister whether their Department has given all possible help to the Gallagher family, from Londonderry, in their humanitarian quest to identify the murderer of their 9 year old son, Gordon. (24/2/2012)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister what plans they have to mark Her Majesty's Diamond Jubilee by way of a gift on behalf of her subjects in this part of the UK. (20/1/2012)
“Additionally, a large number of my ordinary written questions remain unanswered – one going back over a year. These include:
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail the travel and subsistence costs incurred by their Department on trips outside Northern Ireland in each year of the 2007-11 mandate, broken down by the costs incurred by (i) the First Minister; (ii) the deputy First Minister; (iii) special advisers; and (iv) support staff (23/5/2011)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister (i) to detail the arrangements relating to the recruitment, status and payment of their ministerial drivers; (ii) whether the arrangements differ from those that were in place prior to 1 April 2011; and (iii) if so, how the arrangements differ. (14/6/2011)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister whether they can offer an assurance that in their lobbying for a PEACE IV Programme they have not, and will not, advocate its extension to include lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender interests. (5/9/2011)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister to detail (i) how many traffic accidents the deputy First Minister’s driver has been involved in since May 2007; (ii) how many of these were his responsibility; (iii) how many resulted in prosecution; and (iv) how much has been paid in compensation to third parties. (9/5/2011)
- To ask the First Minister and deputy First Minister whether they were consulted about, and consented to, the decision that was taken by the Department of Finance and Personnel on 18 July 2011, to increase the upper limit of the Band B salary scale for Special Advisers to £90,000, and how many of their special advisers have benefited from any resulting increase in salary. (24/11/2011)
“The failure of the Joint First Ministers to even cope with Written Questions typifies the contempt with which they treat the Assembly, the dysfunctional nature of their office (both have to agree the answers) and the farcical nature of the Stormont arrangements.”
