THE DUP and Sinn Féin have reached a deal on policing and justice that will allow the Northern Executive to reconvene tomorrow.
First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness appeared together at a Stormont Castle press conference yesterday to announce a process designed to see policing and justice powers transferred to the Executive.
They also announced that John Larkin QC, formerly Reid professor of law at Trinity College Dublin, would be the Executive's first attorney general.
The agreement, which was welcomed by Taoiseach Brian Cowen and British prime minister Gordon Brown among others, has averted the threat of premature Assembly elections. The British government had planned to call such elections if the two parties did not end their 152-day standoff. Northern Secretary Shaun Woodward said Mr Brown had briefed US president-elect Barack Obama on the breakthrough. The Taoiseach also spoke to Mr Obama yesterday.
There was no specific date set for the transfer of justice powers but both Mr Robinson and Mr McGuinness said they wanted the process concluded "without undue delay", while senior DUP sources said it was a question of completing the devolution of justice and policing "within months rather than years".
The consensus yesterday was that barring unexpected crises a Northern Ireland department of justice would be operating by around this time next year. There was no agreement on difficult matters such as the Irish language, the Maze prison site and education but progress was being made.
The Executive will meet on a weekly basis until it has dealt with its huge backlog of work. Its initial focus will be on addressing financial hardship matters resulting from the global economic crisis.
There are several stages to be completed before a minister of justice is appointed. Political sources said the matter was unlikely to be fully settled before the European elections in June. The DUP has concerns about concluding the process before then. It wants to avoid policing and justice becoming the dominant issue in the election campaign, possibly to the advantage of unionist opponent MEP Jim Allister.
Both parties agreed it is critical that the British government will ensure the transfer of powers is properly funded. Senior Sinn Féin and DUP representatives are due to meet Mr Brown today to discuss funding.
A single minister, from neither of the two main parties will run the department of justice. Among the possible candidates are Alliance leader David Ford, SDLP barrister Alban Maginness, SDLP leader Mark Durkan and UUP deputy leader Danny Kennedy.
President Mary McAleese welcomed the breakthrough. Speaking during an address to the Northern Ireland Medico Legal Society at Queen's University, Belfast, the President said the agreement sent a signal "about the growing maturity of the new dispensation at Stormont. Yes it has taken time for this breakthrough to be achieved, but in the end it did get done and it got done by dint of the slow, painstaking process of talking and negotiating by the parties themselves, until an outcome was achieved that worked for all sides, and on a basis of mutual respect and interests."
