“both a significant and controversial matter..”

The first video from StormontLive in this post starts with BBC NI political editor, Mark Devenport, telling us what his anonymous sources have told him, but it’s worth listening closely to Assembly Speaker, the DUP’s William Hay, notifying the Assembly of the Northern Ireland Executive’s decision on an Alliance Party ‘petition of concern’ [inspired request to ask the Speaker to raise an issue with the Executive] about the former Environment Minister’s apparent decision to reject the recommended independent Environmental Protection Agency. That ‘decision’ is referred to as a ‘statement’ in the Executive’s letter to the Speaker, which also notes that “the issue of environmental governance is both a significant and controversial matter” [approx 3mins 30secs in]. Despite the Executive effectively ignoring the ‘petition of concern’ about that statement the new Environment Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, will now have to seek “a specific approval under the relevant provisions under the Northern Ireland Act and the ministerial code” for “any matters relating to the implementation of the former minister’s statement”. But being “significant and controversial”, before making that statement, shouldn’t the former Environment Minister have brought the matter to the NI Executive Committee first? [2.4 (v)]
The Alliance Party’s Stephen Farry and Sinn Féin’s Cahal Boylan discuss the ‘petition of concern’ and the Executive’s letter.

Pete Baker