NORTHERN IRELAND
The impartiality of Northern Ireland’s Public Service must not be compromised by plans to give it more legislative powers in the absence of a functioning Government, the head of the Province’s bureaucracy says.
David Sterling (pictured) welcomed the proposed legislation before the United Kingdom Parliament in Westminster but said it could “never be a substitute for democratically elected and accountable Ministers”.
“Great care will need to be taken so that any new arrangements which may be put in place, no matter how temporary, do not compromise the impartiality of the Civil Service,” Mr Sterling said.
Public officials have effectively been running Northern Ireland since February last year when a power-sharing Government collapsed.
However, a court case in May curtailed their ability to take decisions usually reserved for Ministers, leading to the plan for special legislation by Northern Ireland Secretary in the UK Government, Karen Bradley.
Mr Sterling said Public Servants had been doing what they could to manage the most pressing issues but were “relatively powerless to deal with the most difficult problems”.
He said Ms Bradley’s efforts to clarify their powers were therefore welcome, but stressed that the return of the Northern Ireland Executive was urgently needed.
“Only Ministers can decide what are the best strategies and policies to make a difference; only Ministers can set priorities for action, and only Ministers can choose how best to allocate the scarce resources, especially financial resources, available to us,” he said.
“We cannot afford to have our integrity called into question when we are called to serve a new Executive.”
London, 21 September, 2018
