Sir, – Justine McCarthy (“Time to end mandatory powersharing”, Opinion & Analysis, November 4th) incorrectly describes how Northern Ireland’s first minister and deputy first minister are nominated.
Ms McCarthy wrote: “Under the Belfast Agreement, all MLAs must state if they are ‘unionist’, ‘nationalist’ or ‘other’. The joint heads of the Executive are then appointed from the biggest unionist and nationalist parties. Even if they win the most seats, the ‘others’ never get a turn.”
Following changes made on foot of the St Andrews Agreement of 2006, however, the first minister is nominated by the largest party, irrespective of designation. The deputy first minister is nominated by the largest party from the largest designation different from the designation of the first minister. Therefore, contrary to Ms McCarthy’s assertion, if a party designated as “other” won the most seats, it would nominate the first minister. – Yours, etc,
Prof DAVID KENNY,
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Prof ORAN DOYLE,
Law School,
Trinity College Dublin,
Dublin 2.