Sinn Féin wary of Stormont Assembly

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams will today signal his party’s reluctance to get caught in a Stormont Assembly that amounts to little more than a talking shop.

As Northern Ireland’s 108 Assembly members prepare to gather at Stormont on May 15 for the first time since they were elected in November 2003, Mr Adams is expected to make it clear that his party is only interested in a fully-functioning Assembly and power-sharing executive as envisaged under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.

A party source said: “It is Gerry’s intention to set out Sinn Féin’s approach to the Assembly when it reconvenes on Monday, and the business it will embark on.

“He will make it clear that we are critical of the approach of the British government to have this worked through to November, and will also make it clear that in our view the Assembly convened on Monday is not the model established under the Good Friday Agreement.

“It is different. It is not the Good Friday Agreement Assembly. It is the Peter Hain Assembly.”

Under British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Taoiseach Bertie Ahern’s road map for restoring devolution, Assembly members will gather on Monday and begin the process of initially trying to set up a power-sharing government within six weeks.

With unionists and nationalists pessimistic about the prospects of forming an inclusive multi-party executive before the summer, the two governments have set an ultimate deadline of November 24 for them to achieve that goal.

Failure to set up a devolved government by then, headed by the Reverend Ian Paisley’s Democratic Unionists and Sinn Féin, will result in London and Dublin entering into partnership arrangements and deepening cross-border political links.

It is envisaged that next Monday, Assembly members will spend the day designating themselves as either unionist, nationalist or "other".

Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain has proposed that MLAs will spend next Tuesday engaging in a discussion with business leaders about issues affecting them before going into the main chamber to debate what they have heard.

On May 22, it is envisaged that Scottish First Minister Jack McConnell will go to Stormont to adress MLAs on the benefits of devolution for his region, with the Assembly then debating what it has heard.

The following day, moves will begin to try and elect a First Minister and a Deputy First Minister to head up a Stormont government.

Sinn Féin sources today were critical of the proposal for Assembly debates on the discussions with business leaders and Mr McConnell.

The source said: “We have no difficulty meeting business leaders outside the chamber and we have no difficulty meeting Jack McConnell to hear him talk about the benefits of devolution.

“But why will we then go into the chamber to debate the benefits of devolution, which all the parties with the possible exception of the DUP, already are agreed upon?

“We have a singular focus. As far as Sinn Féin is concerned this has to be about getting the Good Friday Agreement institutions agreed six years ago back in place and we are not going to allow ourselves to be drawn into the treadmill of a Shadow Assembly, with shadow committees.”