Back to normal

As Stormont prepares to control law and order, as was originally intended, agendaNi analyses justice devolution and the surrounding dispute.

One of the early intelligence reports about Northern Ireland’s Troubles reportedly noted that both communities had long memories and short tempers. Both attitudes were clearly in evidence as the Assembly voted through its formal request for justice powers on 9 March.

Historians, with long memories, will no doubt recall a precedent. Justice powers were not automatically granted to the first Northern Ireland Parliament, when it was formed in 1921; they followed later that year.

Ultimately, Brian Faulkner saw no point in a government without responsibility for security. That prompted Stormont’s suspension and the very start of direct rule on 30 March 1972. Faulkner was the last Minister of Home Affairs, a youthful John Taylor his Minister of State.

Tempers had shortened as the day approached, with pressure increasing on the UUP – last to hold the brief 38 years ago – to accept the deal. Their main objection was that the Executive, as it stood, was not working properly; in addition, they were not involved in the final talks.

On air, the Ulster Unionists were calling for a compromise on education although references to this in the chamber were few and far between. As education has divided the Executive for nearly three years, and Sinn Féin is boycotting the current transfer talks, it is hard to see how that could have been resolved quickly.

However, Shaun Woodward’s linking of Constable Stephen Carroll’s murder, dissident violence and devolution undoubtedly hardened the UUP stance as did the last-minute American lobbying.

“What on earth do they know about about day-to-day security, policing and justice in Northern Ireland?” said Lord Maginnis, on the views of Hillary Clinton and George W Bush.

Motion

Jointly tabled by Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness, the motion is the first call for more power from the Assembly. This legally seeks most policing and justice matters in the Northern Ireland Act 1998’s Schedule 3.

The relevant paragraphs are as follows:

• Paragraph 9 – criminal law, the creation of offences and penalties, prevention and detection of crime, powers of arrest and detention, prosecutions, treatment of offenders, surrender of fugitives (between North and South), compensation;
• Paragraph 9A – Criminal Justice Inspection Northern Ireland;
• Paragraph 10 – public order, including related police powers;
• Paragraph 11 – establishment, organisation and control of the PSNI;
• Paragraph 12 – firearms and explosives;
• Paragraph 14A – rights of appeal to the Supreme Court and related legal aid;
• Paragraph 15 – courts and coroners, including procedure, evidence, appeals, juries, costs, legal aid and the registration, execution and enforcement of judgments and orders;
• Paragraph 15A – the Northern Ireland Law Commission; and
• Paragraph 17 – the Social Security and Child Support Commissioners.

Westminster will hold on to some clearly explained exceptions. The main examples are:

• Pardons in terrorism cases;
• The Misuse of Drugs Act 1971 (i.e. drugs classification);
• Armed forces’ powers in public order;
• The Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA);
• Separated prison accommodation e.g. for paramilitary prisioners
• Security of explosives; and
• Parading (potentially soon to be devolved).

In addition, Parliament remains in control of excepted matters which effectively cannot be devolved e.g. counterterrorism, national security, military justice, immigration and extradition.

Debate

The debate, which began shortly after 11.30am and lasted nearly five hours, mixed the jokes, jibes, rebukes and the emotion. The UUP faced a hostile reception, in particular from the DUP, which took every opportunity to align their opponents with Jim Allister’s TUV.

In his opening remarks Martin McGuinness said that the UUP’s proposals sought to undermine the Good Friday Agreement. “It is a party that complains about not being involved in decision-making, yet it refuses to make any contribution and boycotted the final session at Hillsborough,” he said, before mocking the party’s attempt to find a resolution to the education debate.

Danny Kennedy told the chamber that his party was right to “hold back” its position. Recalling the slogan of a trader from his childhood, Joseph Kavanagh’s ‘I buy anything’, Kennedy said that David Ford had now taken on that mantle.

Indeed the mockery for the Alliance leader continued from Kennedy’s party colleague Alan McFarland, referring to him as ‘Lord Ford’.

Clarifying his party’s position, Kennedy added: “The problem is not with policing and justice. The problem is that the Executive [is] not being properly run. [It is] being run for the two and the few, and not for the many.”

Margaret Ritchie reiterated her party’s problem with a perceived DUP veto on any nationalist justice minister.

Edwin Poots gave an emotive speech again centred on his party’s unionist colleagues. He said: “We have heard a lot of huffing and puffing, but one thing is for sure; the Ulster Unionist Party is not going to blow the house down.”

Contrary to the DUP’s thoughts, Brian Wilson said that the motion reinforced the Belfast Agreement. Added to that, justice powers are needed to plug the political vacuum “filled by cynicism, dissident republicans and the TUV.”

Before putting the question to the chamber, First Minister Peter Robinson piled the pressure on Michael McGimpsey, who had warned about Sinn Féin deciding the army’s presence here. Robinson cited the national security protocol, confirming that military assistance is solely a matter for the Chief Constable.

The motion passed by 88 to 17, with only the Speaker, according to protocol, and William McCrea, who was attending a funeral, not voting from the DUP benches. There are 18 Ulster Unionists, of which one was reportedly in London.

The House of Commons approved the transfer on 22 March, without going to a recorded vote.

For his part, John Taylor, now Lord Kilclooney, summed up the occasion with a sense of history but also disappointment at his former colleagues’ stance; Kilclooney is a cross-bench peer.

“The late Brian Faulkner … said that devolution was useless at Stormont unless you had control of the policing and judicial system.”

Republican reactions

There is no doubt that Sinn Féin sees the transfer as a major success but not all republicans see it that way. Des Dalton, President of Republican Sinn Féin, said in February: “There is very little difference between this [justice devolution] and the bureaucracy in Dublin Castle pre-1921 that administered British rule.”

When this was put to Sinn Féin just after the vote, a spokesman commented: “[His] party has stood in numerous elections across the island and, as far as I am aware, he has one town councillor elected. That says all about the level of support Des Dalton enjoys from Irish republicans.”

Responding to the theory put forward by Dalton, he stated: “Irish people administering power over Irish citizens is a good thing. Powers moving from England to Ireland is a good thing.”

Dalton has stood unsuccessfully for Athy Town Council, in County Kildare. Seen as the Continuity IRA’s political wing, it has a small following – 2,522 votes in the 2007 Assembly election and 2,403 in the Republic’s 2004 local poll.