A lot of hot air?
When the legislative Assembly last discussed the topic of slimming down the Northern Ireland administration, in January, Sinn Féin MLAs abstained when it came to the vote. But the ‘premature’ DUP motion, calling for a reduction in the number of Departments, was still passed. Trimming down the Executive has recently been floated again by the NI Finance Minister, the DUP’s Nigel Dodds, as a possible cost-cutting measure. The UUP’s David McNarry thinks it’s just a lot of talk, and he has apparently put forward another motion calling on OFMDFM to bring forward proposals within 6 months to reduce the number of departments, and the number of MLAs. Which they could do by November.. as long as the semi-detached polit-bureau agree.. as you well know..
Does the assembly have the power to change the number of depts or MLAs, or are these reserved matters?
Reduce!Reduce!Reduce! a bit like the ratio of unionists to nationalists.