Petition of Concern – Slugger O'Toole

Parity of esteem: A unionist perspective

Richard Garland on January 6, 2020, 6:45 pm

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I have been a supporter of the Good Friday Agreement since its inception. I believe many of the mechanisms contained therein are sensible and necessary to manage the divided society we live in, and I accepted the principle of consent as a reasonable compromise in pursuit of a peaceful and democratic society. Nonetheless, while I have been a fierce advocate of the Agreement, I certainly won’t dismiss every criticism levelled at it. Mandatory coalition, for example, has led to a …

Assembly Designations: past their use-by date?

Soapbox on December 30, 2019, 9:41 am

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David Ford is an Alliance activist in Antrim. He was an MLA for South Antrim 1998 – 2018, Leader of Alliance 2001 – 2016 and Minister of Justice 2010 – 2016. One of the issues which will have to be addressed when the inter-party talks resume is the use (or rather misuse) of the Petition of Concern. I understand that there is a fair degree of agreement, originating from discussions between Alliance, the SDLP and the UUP, on new regulations …

Is the LGBT community about to be thrown under the bus again?

Stephen Donnan-Dalzell on June 17, 2019, 7:56 pm

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If any of you are like me and are a massive political nerd, then the current round of talks aimed at restoring the Northern Ireland Executive have probably been as exciting and enthralling as washing the dishes. I’m not for a moment insinuating that the talks process isn’t important. But much like washing the dishes, it’s now become routine, benign and banal. Karen Bradley continues to underwhelm and underperform at the most basic level, as both the Alliance Party and …

A New Deal for Northern Ireland

Philip Smith on November 22, 2018, 1:03 pm

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Politics needs to change in Northern Ireland. How we govern needs to change. Our political culture must transform or our future will be at best no different to our present – political stalemate with a sluggish, dependency economy; limited investment and failing public services. Optimistically our current zombie government will continue to tick over, at worst we descend into a sectarian spiral and we all know where that can lead if unchecked. We need politics to work. But it can’t …

If Sinn Féin are serious about rights and equality, they must prioritise Petition of Concern reform

Soapbox on August 4, 2018, 10:08 am

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By Eoin Tennyson In last year’s election cycles, Sinn Féin ran a campaign based on “equality, respect and integrity”, called for the “implementation of previous agreements” and promised “no return to the status quo”. Marriage equality featured alongside Irish language legislation as a cornerstone of the party’s campaign. The rhetoric was enthusiastically endorsed by almost 225,000 voters. In the negotiations that followed, it proved to be just that: rhetoric. February’s so-called “draft deal” revealed that Sinn Féin were in fact …

Are we moving towards reform of the Petition of Concern?

David McCann on February 1, 2018, 12:26 pm

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The Petition of Concern has been in the news at various times over the past decade. Since 2007, only the DUP had the power to trigger one on their own, whilst Sinn Fein always needed another party to one above the required 30 MLAs. The Irish News reporter, Brendan Hughes has a nice little graphic explaining the various parties positions on this issue The issue came to the fore this week in a meeting between the DUP and the group …

Options for Petition of Concern reform

Daithi McKay on October 2, 2017, 10:07 pm

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Back in February – when we were in a different world politically – I looked at the possibility of reforming the petition of concern and whether retaining the mechanism was beneficial for nationalists. The unionist majority in the Assembly disappeared faster than many predicted. From 52% of the 108 outgoing MLAs to 44% of those elected in March. An 8% drop in less than a year and perhaps an indication that the electoral register is catching up with longer term demographic …

Foster open to getting rid of the Petition of Concern

David McCann on February 14, 2017, 8:04 pm

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Speaking to the BBC she said; “We talk a lot about the petition of concern and our opponents talk a lot about the petition of concern,” she said. “We would actually like to see the petition of concern got rid of for everything, but I think our opponents would like to keep it for the things they want to to use the petition of concern for and not allow us to use it.” The Alliance Party Leader, Naomi Long made …

Orange Order rates relief: £8.12m. (Twaddell policing costs: £24m, and counting… )

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on June 23, 2016, 2:05 pm

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At the NI Assembly on Monday, Christopher Stalford received an answer to an assembly question directed at Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, the Finance Minister, as to the rates relief statistics for Orange Halls. The response tells us that since April 2006, the Orange institution has saved an estimated £8.12 million by being exempt from paying rates. During this time, of course, the DUP used the much criticised ‘Petition of Concern’ mechanism to block a Sínn Fein bill which would have enabled amateur sports clubs (such …

Who could be afraid of equality?

Turgon on February 22, 2016, 9:17 pm

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The News Letter has an article highlighting a further use / abuse of a Petition of Concern to block equality legislation with somewhat less outrage from the usual quarters. Sandra Overend of the UUP’s attempted to repeal Article 71 of the 1998 Fair Employment and Treatment Order. This is the article which exempts schools from Fair Employment legislation. Ms. Overend’s attempt was defeated by a Petition of Concern by Sinn Fein and the SDLP. On the UUP’s website Ms. Overend …

On DUP Petitions of Concern (and one possible judicious use of Tippex)… [UPDATED WITH TIPPEXED MARRIAGE EQUALITY POC]

Kris Nixon (Belfast Barman) on November 2, 2015, 7:00 am

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Much attention has been expended on the DUP use of Petition of Concerns (POC). Unsurprising since they’ve had a good run of appearances recently, including: the blocking of a bill for Rates Relief for Sports Clubs; (almost) every amendment to a welfare reform bill in February; a same sex Marriage bill in April; and it is expected another will emerge on the same issue later today. After the April POC, a small number of party insiders furtively suggested to Slugger that the DUP have their MLAs “bulk sign” …

Homosexual Marriage and the Conscience Clause: a possible compromise?

Turgon on May 24, 2015, 1:10 pm

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So the homosexual marriage referendum passed in the Republic. As Mick noted below this makes Northern Ireland the only place in the UK and Ireland without same sex marriage though not the only place in the British Isles. The Isle of Mann has civil partnership but not homosexual marriage whilst Jersey in the Channel Isles has civil partnerships and is considering homosexual marriage. More interesting perhaps is Guernsey’s proposal of “Union Civile” which allows for partnerships between any two people …

Martin McGuinness accuses DUP of “reneging on their commitments to protect the most vulnerable”

Alan Meban (Alan in Belfast) on March 9, 2015, 11:58 am

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The warning is there in Martin McGuinness’ speech to his party’s ard fheis on Friday evening. Of course, as George Mitchell famously pointed out, the most difficult phase of any agreement is the implementation. That is the phase we are now in but let me give you this commitment: The welfare protections we agreed are an absolute red line issue for SF. No matter how difficult the implementation process may get, we will not – under any circumstances – tolerate …

The dirtiest words in politics

The Firemen on February 19, 2015, 9:35 pm

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The petition of concern was designed to protect minority rights in the Stormont Assembly. As former SDLP leader Mark Durkan explained “the petition of concern facility was put into the agreement to safeguard communal sensitivities and specifically to protect equality and human rights considerations”. Alliance MP Naomi Long pointed out that “the petition of concern was designed to offer protection to minorities within the assembly, where decisions of a sensitive nature risked being imposed upon them against their will.” Unfortunately …

SDLP: “Absolutely none of our MLAs will be putting their name to a petition of concern.”

Mick Fealty on May 30, 2013, 4:11 pm

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There seems to have been a hardening the party line/whip in the last 24 hours. But even though Steven Agnew of the Greens has ruled out his support Sinn Fein have not given up hope of getting a backing for a petition of concern (they only need one more MLA to kill it)… The Green Party’s Steven Agnew MLA said Sinn Fein approached him about it. He opposes the bill too, but also does not approve of using petitions of …