Policing and parades deal detailed
The details of the Hillsborough deal struck by the DUP and Sinn Fein to devolve policing and justice powers to Stormont and set up a new framework to handle the marching season have been published.
The 21-page Hillsborough Agreement is in five sections covering a wide range of measures also aimed at making the Stormont Assembly and Executive work much smoother.
Devolution
Policing and justice will be devolved on April 12, with a resolution for a cross-community vote jointly tabled by the First and Deputy First Minister in the Assembly on 9 March.
The £800m financial package provided by Gordon Brown will cover a number of one-off outlays facing the region’s criminal justice system.
A portion will pay for the hefty multi-million compensation settlement the police has to pay officers whose hearing was damaged in firearms training during the Troubles.
A large chunk will also be spent on modernising a number of Court Service buildings.
Justice Minister
There will be a single Justice Minister in charge of the Department of Justice which will be responsible for devolved policing and justice policy and legislation.
The Justice Minister will be elected by a cross community vote in the Assembly following a nomination by any MLA. The Justice Minister will have the same status in the Executive as other Ministers.
He or she will have the ability to take certain urgent decisions without recourse to executive colleagues.
The Justice Ministry will become the 12th ministerial department in the Northern Ireland government
It will be led by a Justice Minister, with Alliance Party leader David Ford hotly tipped for the post, and scrutinised by a Justice Committee made up of Assembly members from all the main parties.
In total, the responsibility for more than 20 criminal justice and law enforcement agencies will be transferred to its control from Westminster.
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister will consider applications for the new Justice Minister on Monday.
Parades
A co-chaired working group comprising six members with experience of dealing with parading issues will be set up by the office of First and Deputy First Minister to deal with contentious parades including the Drumcree Orange march, Ardoyne and Lower Ormeau.
Appointed by the First and Deputy First Ministers, the panel will bring forward agreed outcomes which they believe are capable of achieving cross community support for the new and improved framework.
Their work will begin immediately and will be completed within three weeks.
The parties say they are committed to a new and improved framework fashioned by all stakeholders and maximising cross community support.
Key principles:
- Local people providing local solutions;
- Respect for the rights of those who parade, and respect for the rights of those who live in areas through which they seek to parade. This includes the right for everyone to be free from sectarian harassment;
- Recognising that at times there are competing rights;
- Transparency, openness and fairness
Following the completion of the consultation process a Bill will be finalised before the end of 2010.
The current adjudication mechanism of the Parades Commission will continue until the new improved arrangements are in place.
Executive
An executive working group will be set up to examine ways to improve the working of the powersharing cabinet. This will be co-chaired by Ulster Unionist leader and Employment Minister Sir Reg Empey and SDLP Social Development Minister Margaret Ritchie.
DUP and Sinn Fein Junior Ministers Robin Newton and Gerry Kelly will chair another executive working group to progress issues the cabinet have so far failed to agree on. These include the stalled shake-up and restructuring of the education system.
The First Minister and Deputy First Minister will conduct an exercise to address matters still outstanding from the 2006 St Andrews Agreement. These include legislative measures to protect the rights of Irish language speakers.
The deal was confirmed late on Thursday night after DUP First Minister Peter Robinson announced that his party had unanimously backed the deal.
