ANALYSIS:David Ford's election as Minister for Justice brings a long, tedious process to an end and marks a major achievement, writes GERRY MORIARTY
NORTHERN IRELAND politicians are a rare study. They fight tooth and nail over policing and justice over a two-year period, to such an extent that the powersharing Northern Executive is frequently moribund or dysfunctional.
Through the bitterly cold early winter months of this year they bore the Northern public – indeed the entire Irish population – to tears with protracted negotiations at Hillsborough Castle over how and when to transfer justice powers to Stormont, with parading and a range of other issues thrown into the negotiating brew.
And then when it finally happens, when a real historic moment is at hand, the politicians elect Alliance leader David Ford as Minister for Justice with the absolute minimum of fuss, almost in humdrum fashion.
There was no ceremony, no sense of occasion, as Ford at last was appointed Minister in the Assembly chamber at 1.45pm yesterday.
There was a little procedural grandstanding with the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP respectively nominating their MLAs, Danny Kennedy and Alban Maginness, for the post. But the dominant DUP and Sinn Féin parties, who have the controlling votes, ensured there were no last-minute glitches or surprises and that the South Antrim MLA would be the first politician in charge of justice at Stormont since the unionist Stormont government was prorogued in 1972.
Ford allowed that yesterday was a “significant day” for Northern Ireland, a “step forward in the peace process”, but that it did not mark the completion of devolution because that could only happen when the Executive and Assembly were seen to be working for all the people of Northern Ireland. Yesterday was a “staging post” to that end, although he did not use the term in the united Ireland sense that Gerry Adams would.
Dissident republicans, as expected, thrust themselves into the devolution of justice mix but, as also expected, made absolutely no impact in terms of frustrating the decision of Northern Ireland politicians – finally – to take full control at Stormont.
Apart from those matters that remain reserved to Westminster, of course, and there aren’t many of them. It will still be for the British government to decide whether to introduce a bill of rights for the North. So-called legacy issues, or how to deal with the past, will remain with London, while UK security issues – the work of MI5 – also will be reserved to Westminster.
The Real IRA gained a little propaganda victory for itself by exploding a car-bomb close to the perimeter of Palace Barracks at 12.24am yesterday, which was 24 minutes after policing and justice powers were officially transferred from Westminster to Stormont.
Palace Barracks houses the British army and MI5 so the dissidents were demonstrating that they haven’t gone away, you know, and that they can still bring the battle to the “forces of the Crown”.
But that was no surprise either because for the past 90 years or so Ireland always has had the republican purists who, by their analysis, flew the flag against “treacherous” nationalists who accepted modern Irish democratic mandates – the most recent of which was the 1998 Belfast Agreement endorsed on both sides of the Border – a vote that, in its own way, addressed the issue of national self determination.
But the dissidents’ mandate goes back to the 1918 Irish general election, which is the past, a place in which they appear intent on staying, regardless of public and political opinion.
In contrast, what the Northern politicians were doing at Stormont yesterday, however uninspiringly, was looking to the future. Northern politicians now have a state – virtually in all its facets – to run. On top of the economy, industry, tourism, agriculture, health, education and the other departments there is now a Department of Justice to manage.
Perhaps Ford’s caution was motivated by the challenges he knows he will face, one of which is dissident violence. Gathering intelligence on the dissidents mainly will be a matter for MI5 and dealing with them mainly will be the job of the PSNI and its chief constable Matt Baggott, who has operational independence.
But, working with his Northern Executive colleagues, Ford will have an important function in liaising with Matt Baggot, in helping to shape the Executive’s policy on the political way to tackle the dissidents, in co-operating with his counterpart in the
South, in ensuring the police are properly funded and resourced, in reflecting the overwhelming public opposition to the actions of the dissidents, in devising strategies to try to steer young nationalists away from these paramilitary groups, and in reshaping
prison sentencing policy if that is
required.
He is due to have a “security summit” in Belfast either later this week or next week with Minister of Justice Dermot Ahern to discuss the dissident threat and other matters.
Ford runs a substantial department which is largely modelled on the Department of Justice in the South and the justice department in the devolved Scottish administration. He leads a staff of 4,500, 2,500 of whom are prison officers, and has a budget of £1.4 billion to finance his department, policing, the prisons, criminal justice, the judiciary and a number of other matters. His officials have formally transferred from the Northern Ireland Office to the ugliest building on the huge Stormont estate, Castle Buildings, where the talks leading to the agreement on Good Friday 1998 took place.
He is responsible for the prison service, the courts service, the compensation agency and the agencies that run forensic science and youth justice. He will have what officials call an “arm’s length” relationship with the PSNI chief constable, the lord chief justice, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the Public Prosecution Service, the policing board and the attorney general — all of whom have operational independence.
As defined in the Hillsborough Castle Agreement he will have the “same status in the Executive as other Ministers”. Trying to find a resolution to problems that arise at the annual fast-approaching parading season also will come under his ambit although under the Hillsborough deal the DUP and Sinn Féin, chiefly, are trying to find a new method of dealing with contentious parades.
David Ford has the post because of a needs must compromise between the DUP and Sinn Féin, where both of these parties agreed they would not seek the ministry. In 2012 there will be a review of whether this appointment system should change.
Minister for Justice is a big job and a serious examination for David Ford. It will thrust him into the security as well as the political limelight. More importantly, what happened yesterday completed devolution — and regardless of the tediousness of getting to this point that is a major achievement. It gave the Northern Assembly members what they wanted, substantial power.
Just as the Alliance leader faces an important test, so too must the Northern Executive and Assembly demonstrate to an increasingly sceptical public that they can meet the challenges ahead.
Gerry Moriarty is Northern Editor