“I hope greater thought will be given to this..”

An interesting intervention from UUP leader Reg Empey, as reported in the NewsLetter, on the timing of any devolution of policing and justice powers – having previously called for all party discussions on those unresolved issues.. He makes the not unreasonable point, PPS failures aside, that the apparent inability of the Executive to reach decisions on less “significant and controversial” matters does not suggest that the decision-making mechanisms provided by that “indigenous deal” are “sufficiently mature” to cope with policing and justice. Or, rather, the politicians aren’t.. From the NewsLetter report.

Before anyone even tries to judge when the public is ready for the devolved powers, he said: “I would first ask people to consider whether the current performance of the Assembly and Executive gives one reason to believe that the institutions are sufficiently mature to handle such sensitive subjects efficiently and effectively.

That is, if you happen to give a damn about the kind of society we live in.

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