NORTHERN IRELAND
There have been fresh calls for the UK Government to take control of Northern Ireland after the Province’s top Public Servant said a High Court ruling had left it unclear what decisions Departments could make without Ministers.
Northern Ireland has been without a functioning Government for 16 months after the powersharing Executive collapsed, and since then PS staff have been running the Province.
Head of the Civil Service, David Sterling (pictured) warned the High Court’s decision to overturn the decision of the Department of Infrastructure (DOF) to give the go-ahead to a waste incinerator facility, saying it could be made only by a Minister, would put other major projects in jeopardy.
The DOF says it will appeal the decision.
As confusion reigned over who was running Northern Ireland, Unionist politicians said the current state of political limbo could not continue.
Mr Sterling acknowledged there was no sign of an Executive being reformed soon and said PS employees found themselves in an impossible situation.
“We care deeply about the services that we provide to the community,” Mr Sterling said.
“We should not have to step into the space normally occupied by Ministers.”
He said the Civil Service should be operating under the direction and control of Ministers.
“But while Ministers are absent, we want to do the best that we can to provide services,” Mr Sterling said.
He said PS staff had stepped into the power vacuum with great caution.
“We never expected, or wanted, to have to do this other than for a very short period of time,” Mr Sterling said.
“Each decision has been taken on its own merits and senior officials have acted where they believed it was lawful to do so.”
In a further development, the Department for Communities said it had no power to place restrictions on betting machines that had been branded the “crack cocaine of the gambling world”.
New regulations in England and Wales have clamped down on fixed-odd betting terminals (FOBTs), cutting maximum bets from £100 (A$180) to £2 (A$3.50).
However, this is not the case in Northern Ireland, with the legislation governing FOBTs unchanged there since 1985.
“Any proposed changes to Northern Ireland gambling law would be for an incoming Minister to determine,” a Department for Communities spokesperson said.
Belfast, 19 May 2018
