Margaret Ritchie nominated for justice ministry
Margaret Ritchie has been nominated by the SDLP for the position of minister for the department of justice.
Candidates for the new role were due to be announced on Friday, but the SDLP has so far been the only party to apply for the post.
The nomination date was suggested by the first and deputy first ministers who have been arguing for months over the devolution of policing and justice.
Both Alliance and the UUP have expressed reservations about the post.
Alliance, whose leader David Ford has been considered the favourite for the job, said it would not nominate a candidate unless there is progress on justice policy and a new community relations strategy.
The Ulster Unionists are expected to express reservations about the arrangements made for the devolution of justice.
The party will not put forward a candidate even though it has been speculated their deputy leader Danny Kennedy will be their eventual choice.
Neither the DUP nor Sinn Fein are seeking the post but Sinn Fein have said they will back the SDLP’s candidate.
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, the SDLP said party leader Mark Durkan “has now written to both the first minister and the deputy first minister on behalf of the party, proposing Margaret Ritchie for the post of justice minister.
“Mr Durkan has indicated his willingness to attend any of meetings of party leaders which they jointly call to commend our candidate to other parties.
“Moreover, the SDLP will nominate our candidate in the Assembly when nominations are tabled at the point of actual devolution.”
Continued deadlock
Ms Ritchie, who is the current social development minister, announced in October that she would run for the leadership of the SDLP when Mark Durkan steps down next year.
She will battle it out with her party’s deputy leader, Alasdair McDonnell.
So far there is still no sign of any breakthrough in the deadlock over a date for the transfer of justice powers from London to Belfast.
Earlier this month, Sinn Fein’s Martin McGuinness warned Stormont would face a “full-blown crisis” if a transfer date was not agreed upon before Christmas.
The deputy first minister said if the deadlock continued, power-sharing arrangements would become “unsustainable”.
But the DUP leader Peter Robinson rejected the warning and said it would be madness to “dash to the line for the sake of some date set by Sinn Fein alone without getting the outstanding issues resolved”.
The first minister has repeatedly argued that there needs to be “community confidence” before powers can be devolved.
