TUV responds to Robinson/McGuinness agreement
18 July 2012
Commenting on the Joint First Ministers' announcement of agreement on various issues, TUV Leader Jim Allister said, "OFMDFM don't do scrutiny, so it follows that they have chosen to make these announcements during the recess, rather than coming to the Assembly and submitting themselves to questions on the details, which might expose the deals and trade-offs which lie behind these decisions. Thus, MLAs and the public are left without any detail on who will sit on the Maze Board - and whether it will include any ex-prisoners - or on the important detail of the ESA Bill, which the DUP once opposed. It is clear OFMDFM have backed off their commitment to abolish DEL, having put it on the long finger of supposed wider reduction in the number of departments.
"An out of hours press release is not how accountable democracy works - more how a politburo operates - but this is what passes for government in Northern Ireland."
