Following the findings of the investigation into current paramilitary action and involvement being published today by the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, all DUP executive ministers will return to their posts.
Peter Robinson will also resume his position as First Minister, leaving Arlene Foster free to continue her sole uninterrupted role as Finance Minister.
Throughout this period of uncertainty, questions had been asked of DUP executive ministers from many quarters about receiving payment for their brief time in ministerial positions, with some questioning the timing of resignations possibly being into a second day and thereby entitling the office holder to an extra days pay.
The DUP repeatedly stated throughout this affair that their ministers would not be benefiting financially and would not retain any salary they received.
An article on the Belfast Live site and others highlighted a statement from the DUP that their ministers would be paying back any salary they received during this period with some observers pointing out that this would not be a straight forward action.
A reply from the NI Assembly received today to an FOI cleared this issue up:
DUP Ministers, Mr Simon Hamilton MLA, Mr Jonathan Bell, MLA and Mr Mervyn Storey MLA have declined to take the Office Holders salary for any days served since resigning their Ministerial posts on 10 September 2015.
Ms Michelle McIlveen MLA has declined to take the Office Holders salary for any days served as the Minister for Regional Development.
Furthermore the issue of if the DUP had nominated a Junior Minister to replace Michelle McIlveen, who had taken the Regional Development position following the resignation of the UUP’s Danny Kennedy, was cleared up – no minister had been assigned, so in the coming days and weeks we can speculate over who shall be appointed in McIlveen’s place as Junior Minister.
Kris tweets ferociously as @belfastbarman and runs an associated site, www.belfastbarman.com where he occasionally opines his views. He lived abroad for a while and as such, feels he will never really ‘get’ this place. Formerly a barman, he regularly broke the cardinal rules of, “No politics or religion in the pub,” as such, he turned to writing. Previously a stand up comedian and an animal crematorium assistant, now works in marketing and is a recently joined member of the Alliance Party.