Stormont Assembly unable to challenge Executive

The setting up of a grand coalition in the North to consolidate the paramilitary ceasefires has had the unintended effect of curbing the ability of the Assembly to challenge the four-party Executive, according to a report out today.

With only minor parties in opposition and with the statutory committees overwhelmingly made up of members of the parties represented in government, the Assembly provides no effective alternative locus of power, according to the study from the Constitution Unit at University College London, and the Belfast-based think-tank Democratic Dialogue.