Stormont's power-sharing flaws

By Mark Devenport
Beyond Westminster

Around the world the political process in Northern Ireland is recognised as a good news story, the tale of old enemies who negotiated themselves out of conflict and into a better future.

Some say the politicians are acting "unprofessionally"

Visitors travel from places like Iraq, the Middle East and the Basque region of Spain to see what lessons can be learned.

But try singing the praises of the politicians to the parents of children just entering their last year in primary school in Northern Ireland and you might get a short, sharp response.

Many feel frustrated about the failure of the parties at the Stormont Assembly to agree a way in which their children should transfer to their next school.

Sinn Fein, in charge of the Education Department, have abolished the 11 plus exam and want to move towards a more comprehensive style of education.

But unionists have responded by making it clear they will veto any attempt to ban academic selection, something the Stormont rules enable them to do.

The result is an unregulated, some might say anarchic situation, in which Northern Ireland's grammar schools are setting their own tests, entirely independent of the Education Department.

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Alison Donaldson, whose 10-year-old son James is preparing to sit the new tests, said she was angry about the politicians' "unprofessional behaviour".

"Ultimately children's futures are at risk, and are being jeopardised by politicians not prepared to sit down and make compromises."

Gridlock government

The stalemate over education is just one example of what critics of the Stormont system see as a fatal flaw, its propensity to deadlock.

At the time the Good Friday Agreement was negotiated in 1998, checks and balances were built in to reassure nationalists there would be no return to unionist dominated majority rule.

But the solution, giving those who control most unionist and most majority votes mutual vetoes, has caused its own problems.

We can't go on forever with everybody being in the government, with no opposition Sir Reg Empey, leader Ulster Unionists

Apart from the veto power, the Good Friday Agreement also ensured that all the major parties have the right to be part of the ruling coalition.

Not much thought was given to the role an official opposition can play in sustaining a democratic system.

There are plans to transfer responsibility for policing and justice to local politicians from London-based ministers this autumn.

The small Alliance party is expected to take the new Justice ministry.

If it does, that will mean 104 of the 108 members of the Stormont assembly belong to parties with ministers in the coalition. Only four politicians will be outside the government tent.

Tory reform?

In recent months Northern Ireland's third biggest party, the Ulster Unionists, have renewed their alliance with the Conservatives.

The parties will run joint candidates in next year's Westminster election.

If David Cameron becomes the next prime minister, the Ulster Unionists may advise him to consider modifying the Stormont system.

Their leader, Sir Reg Empey, said: "We can't go on forever with everybody being in the government, with no opposition, and over time I think we should negotiate with the parties and test these things out."

However nationalists have warned that to dismantle the system which has delivered peace would be very foolish, and Sir Reg Empey stressed that nothing would be imposed or introduced in a manner which could destabilise the institutions.

Newspaper columnist Newton Emerson has argued that, in a strange way, there is something positive about the Stormont politicians facing a crisis which concerns academic selection rather than parades, victims or paramilitary disarmament.

Progress of a sort, maybe, but try telling that to the parents now trying to help their primary school children prepare for a raft of new examinations.

Beyond Westminster is broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday 5 September at 1100 BST. Or listen again via the BBC iPlayer.