You may be very keen for something to occur immediately but it's not always that straightforward. There are times when delays can be frustrating. Nonetheless you must always abide by the law.


This is exactly why Margaret Ritchie has brought criticism upon herself. The issue at stake was not about the UDA or much-needed support for disadvantaged areas, it was about making sure Government ministers act within the law.


Certainly the loyalist threat on Margaret Ritchie is despicable and should be lifted immediately.
At a superficial level, Margaret Ritchie has a broad level of public sympathy. The vast majority of people in Northern Ireland oppose everything the UDA signifies. So do I. Some have deliberately attempted to misrepresent the DUP position.


In relation to providing funding for paramilitary groups, the DUP position is perfectly clear and consistent – we are utterly and completely opposed to any money being allocated to any paramilitary group. It disgusts me to think anyone would even consider for a moment something to the contrary could be the case. We have spent years doing everything we can to try to rid the Province of paramilitaries.


Just as it was wrong for the Government and others to attempt to buy off republicans in the past it would be wrong to try to do it today with loyalists. When David Hanson initially announced the funding, it was criticised across the local political spectrum. Regardless of where the money ultimately ends up, a Government should not have been reacting positively to what a paramilitary organisation requested.
In her goal of ensuring Government money does not enter the pockets of the UDA, the minister has our unequivocal support. Paramilitaries should not be getting one single penny of taxpayers' money.


However, what is of concern, are the steps the minister pursued to arrive at her decision. If she ignored legal advice or acted outside of established procedures she was leaving herself vulnerable to a legal challenge, something the new Executive could not afford to risk. Regardless of her objectives and intentions, the minister cannot operate outside of the law. Even if she is convinced she is morally right, she has to be legally right too.



The minister has been complaining that the DUP is trying to control other ministers, but if she doesn't have collective support then she shouldn't be making solo runs. Sir Reg Empey suggested she was being 'singled out from the herd'. Yet, if she was acting against the wishes of Executive colleagues, then that was a situation she was bringing on herself.


We cannot have freelance ministers acting as they wish, irrespective of the views of the Executive. That is the case with any effective government. In the Irish Republic for instance, you can't have a PD or Green Party minister within the coalition acting contrary to the wishes of Bertie Ahern or Fianna Fail.


It could be argued that in many ways Margaret Ritchie made a rod for her own back by so explicitly linking the funding with decommissioning. Unfortunately, deadlines in Northern Ireland have rarely worked. Indeed they have often had the opposite effect. Margaret Ritchie was impatient to take her decision. Let's not ignore either that she will have perceived party-political advantage in seeking to penalise loyalists in a high profile manner, as she and Caitriona Ruane try to out-green each other in South Down.


Lashing out and accusing senior civil servants and everyone else of conspiring against her does not enhance her position. Regardless of the minutes she disputed at the Executive, Margaret Ritchie has confirmed publicly that she had to take legal advice and share it with the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and Finance Minister. However, only extracts of the advice were provided with the rest withheld and only emerging gradually over the rest of the week. Even on her own interpretation of what took place at the previous Executive meeting, she had not fulfilled her requirements and was in breach of the agreement she made.


It seems she was warned by officials before she made her statement to the House, that she would be breaching the Ministerial Code but ignored their advice. The Ministerial Code now has statutory authority. If the minister has disregarded her legal advice and the decision is subject to a judicial review, she may have walked not only into embarrassment but also a costly legal case.



Decisions must be taken lawfully, regardless of the aim. This should be particularly the case where the decision is in response to the unlawful activity of others. Decisions not taken lawfully only damage the political and democratic process.
The minister has said the funding will still reach deprived unionist areas. Many of these had been ignored until recent years. There are any number of effective projects crying out for additional financial support from the Department of Social Development. It is vital that deprived loyalist communities are not the losers. To make funding for these communities conditional on the actions of a paramilitary organisation was always going to be unwise.
Ultimately, decommissioning and the disappearance of the UDA is what practically everyone in the Province wants to see. To that end there has been a degree of progress. They have met General DeChastelain and hinted at further action. The sooner this happens, the better for everyone in Northern Ireland.