An SDLP bid to recall the Assembly at Stormont a month early looks set to fail due to a lack of support from other parties.
SDLP leader Mark Durkan is calling for an early return to Parliament Buildings in an effort to address the crisis he believes is crippling the executive.
But the Ulster Unionist and Alliance parties, whose backing would be needed to achieve the 30 MLA signatures required to introduce the emergency measure, today questioned the worth of such a move.
Executive ministers failed to meet once last month amid speculation the DUP and Sinn Féin were at loggerheads on a number of key issues.
Mr Durkan thinks recalling the assembly would put pressure on DUP First Minister Peter Robinson and Sinn Féin Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness to call an executive meeting.
“In circumstances where the executive was failing to meet, where meetings were being cancelled, and where the business of the executive was silting up, there could be a case for the assembly reconvening to question and challenge why the executive wasn’t meeting and to set out clearly why the executive should meet,” said the Foyle MP.
However, with 17 MLAs, the SDLP was relying on the support of the Ulster Unionists and Alliance party to get business reconvened a month early.
Today, both parties said they shared the SDLP’s concerns about the executive but raised doubts about the merit of recalling the assembly and the cost of bringing MLAs back from holiday.
PA