“The real horse trading [over Justice Ministry] is likely to happen between party leaders…”

And only two parties, the DUP and Sinn Féin have the necessary votes to trade…   ANYhoo, as I mentioned during the Sinn Féin ard fheis when the deputy chair of the Northern Ireland Assembly’s Justice Committee, and noted plagiarist, Raymond McCartney complained that “David Ford’s department [of Justice] is like Jurassic Park.” …if Sinn Féin aren’t happy with David Ford as Northern Ireland Justice Minister then they, and the DUP, can always find someone else to agree on… They, both parties, have to agree on someone …

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“The [Justice] department dissolves on 1 May 2012 unless…”

As BBC NI political editor Mark Devenport reminds us, one of the oddities of our current ‘indigenous’ arrangements is that we can be fairly sure of one outcome of this election for the Alliance Party. As long as at least one member of that party is returned to the NI Assembly it’s virtually guaranteed that they – most likely David Ford – will be the next NI Justice Minister. As Mark Devenport points out. Yesterday, on Inside Politics, I presented the first …

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