Sinn Fein are close to resurrecting the old Stormont

I am sure no-one, and not least the Deputy First Minister, wants to go down in history as the organ grinder’s monkey and, for that reason, I found it astonishing that Martin McGuinness reversed Sinn Fein policy and announced without consultation of any kind that he would agree to shrinking the structures of the Northern Assembly.

Obviously, Peter Robinson was over the moon because once again he got nodding approval for diluting the infrastructure built around the Good Friday Agreement and he didn’t even have to throw a tantrum to do it.

With the cross-border bodies marginally short of needing oxygen, and every obstacle placed in the way of north-south co-operation, I have to seriously ask myself how close we are to resurrecting the old Stormont?  Indeed, have we not surpassed it since the DUP got into the driving seat with Sinn Fein on the running board?

For myself and my colleagues, many of whom spent years traversing the highways and byways of the North and far beyond garnering support for the new institutions, this is soul-destroying.

It is sad, indeed, to see the work done by John Hume, Seamus Mallon and many others unravelled at the whim of someone like Peter Robinson who needs to understand that the structures put in place in 1998 are the absolute minimum that is acceptable to me, and many others for being part of the current set-up.

Sadly, it seems both Robinson and McGuinness - depending on their mood swings - think they can do what they like without as much as the blink of an eye.

John Dallat,

East Derry MLA

121 Ormeau Road,

Belfast,

BT7 1SH