Policing and Justice to be devolved to smaller parties?

Interesting that, if his interview on the Politics Show is anything to go by, Mark Durkan shares the view of some of our commenters that the DUP will likely do a deal before the end of the year. But there was an intriguing piece in the Irish Times on Saturday which hints that a compromise might involve two of the smaller parties:

Asked about Mr Robinson’s declared enthusiasm to involve the other smaller Assembly parties, Mr McGuinness agreed, while adding: “They must also acknowledge this is a serious business.” This apparent swipe at the rival SDLP came amid speculation that Sinn Féin might oppose any attempt to revive an earlier DUP proposal that could see policing and justice powers vested in a new ministry to be shared initially by the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists.

That could work. Although any future Justice Minister may wonder just what his department is for, other than ensuring that the outside of the court houses are painted and kept up to date. And his Policing Ministerial ‘Twin’ may find him/herself fighting a losing battle to wrest some oversight and investigative powers from the Policing Board.

We are reader supported. Donate to keep Slugger lit!

For over 20 years, Slugger has been an independent place for debate and new ideas. We have published over 40,000 posts and over one and a half million comments on the site. Each month we have over 70,000 readers. All this we have accomplished with only volunteers we have never had any paid staff.

Slugger does not receive any funding, and we respect our readers, so we will never run intrusive ads or sponsored posts. Instead, we are reader-supported. Help us keep Slugger independent by becoming a friend of Slugger. While we run a tight ship and no one gets paid to write, we need money to help us cover our costs.

If you like what we do, we are asking you to consider giving a monthly donation of any amount, or you can give a one-off donation. Any amount is appreciated.