Review into MLA salaries as Stormont still in stalemate

£50m of DUP deal cash to be released

NORTHERN Ireland Secretary James Brokenshire has commissioned an independent review into whether MLAS should still be paid their full salaries while there is no Assembly at Stormont.

He also confirmed £50million would be made available to the country from the DUP’S £1billion confidence and supply arrangement with the Government, despite the power-sharing deadlock.

The party’s deputy leader Nigel Dodds called the confirmation of funding “a very significant moment in the history of this Parliament”.

Mr Brokenshire spoke as he moved budget measures for Stormont with the “utmost reluctance”.

He told MPS he appreciated not all agreed with MLAS still being paid their full salary months after power-sharing collapsed. Mr Brokenshire added: “I understand that concern, but I recognise too that many of those elected have been desperate to serve since March and are continuing to provide valuable constituency functions in the meantime.

“That is why I have been keen to seek independent advice on the subject,

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in determining what actions may be appropriate.

“I can say to the House this evening that Mr Trevor Reaney, a former clerk of the Northern Ireland Assembly, has agreed to take on that task. “He will provide an independent assessment of the case for action and the steps he would consider to be appropriate, and will report back to me by December 15.” He added that while the £1billion deal agreed with the DUP was intended for a restored Executive, the circumstances in Northern Ireland could not be ignored in the meantime.

The Secretary of State said: “Separate from the Bill, this Government will make available the £50million for addressing immediate health and education pressures in the agreement in this financial year.”

He said that should the administration here wish to access the money, the UK Parliament would vote on the allocation in the new year.

Mr Dodds added: “The people of Northern Ireland will welcome the fact extra money is going into the health service, into education, and indeed into infrastructure as a result of the deal the Democratic Unionist Party did.” SINN Fein’s Michelle

O’neill has called on the UK and Irish governments to intervene in the powersharing deadlock at Stormont.

The Executive has not sat since January due to ongoing disagreements between her party and the DUP around language and cultural issues.

Ms O’neill said: “It is now the responsibility of the two governments to look to the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement and for a British-irish intergovernmental conference to meet as soon as possible.

“We have sought urgent meetings with both the Taoiseach and the British Prime Minister.

“The way forward is for the two governments to fulfil their responsibility as co-guarantors of the Good Friday and St Andrews Agreements, to honour outstanding commitments, and to deliver rights enjoyed by everyone else on these islands to people here.”