Row over plans to extend Stormont business into holidays

Assembly members clashed today over a proposal to extend Stormont business into the Christmas holidays.

DUP and Sinn Féin ministers want the Assembly to sit for an extra week in December to enable the reallocation of surplus funds ahead of the festive break.

However, Ulster Unionist MLA Fred Cobain opposed the move when it was proposed at the Assembly Business Committee, claiming it will not give departmental committees the necessary time to scrutinise the Executive proposals.

The next quarterly monitoring round, where departmental funds are redistributed to address in-year funding pressures, is scheduled in January.

DUP Finance minister Nigel Dodds wants to bring it forward a month to allow him to formulate a package of measures to tackle the effects of the credit crunch before Christmas.

But Mr Cobain accused the two main parties of trying to ride roughshod over Stormont’s checks and balances.

He claimed the plan to speed the monitoring round through the Executive and Assembly would effectively give the committee he chairs – Regional Development - one afternoon to discuss the proposals.

“This is nothing to do with getting money out to older people or anything like that,” he said.

“This is the DUP and Sinn Féin doing a bit of cheerleading for themselves before Christmas by going out and telling people how wonderful they are.

“There are supposed to be checks and balances in this place (Stormont), and that’s the role of the committees – to hold ministers and departments to account. But we won’t be able to do this under this proposal.”

But Mr Dodds said there was no reason why committees could not pencil in extra meetings to enable them to examine the measures.

The last plenary session of the Assembly is scheduled for December 9, but the Finance minister wants MLAs to sit on the following Monday (December 15).

That would allow measures discussed at the executive the previous Thursday to be put before the Assembly before Christmas.

“The committees want to examine this and obviously there must be opportunities for them do that,” Mr Dodds told Radio Ulster.

“But they can meet more regularly in the period up to the 15th (December). I just think it’s a important that we take action. The public will not forgive us if the cry from some quarters is ’oh we want more time and the public can just wait’.”