Ministerial Special Advisers

Jim Allister sets sights on SpAd excesses

Richard Cairns on June 29, 2015, 4:58 pm

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Today, TUV Leader and North Antrim MLA, Jim Allister has set his sights firmly back on the Special Advisers at Stormont. Having already succeeded in getting one of only two Private Members Bills onto the statute book in the lifetime of this Assembly (the other being Lord Morrow’s Human Trafficking Bill) and the only Bill to be opposed by a major party throughout its legislative passage – Ann’s Law – which ensured that Special Advisers could not have a serious …

“Already, two Sinn Fein special advisers have been submitted to vetting procedures put in place by Sammy Wilson, the finance minister, as a condition for paying them.”

Pete Baker on March 24, 2013, 4:46 pm

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In the Belfast Telegraph, Liam Clarke adds some interesting background detail on Jim Allister’s Bill legislating for the vetting of ministerial special advisers. As he points out, vetting began following the resignation of Sinn Féin’s Mary McArdle – who had been jailed for her part in the 1984 murder of Mary Travers. From the Belfast Telegraph article When Sinn Fein eventually replaced Ms McArdle with Mr Kearney, a journalist, Mr Wilson refused to pay him until he was vetted under special …