Editorial: Some Stormont ministers do not comprehend the concept of collective responsibility in government

​There was a moment in the Stormont chamber yesterday that illustrated our abnormal politics.

The assembly’s speaker cautioned a Sinn Fein minister against voicing policy opinions that contradict the stance of her department.

Edwin Poots was speaking after the Economy minister Caoimhe Archibald told MLAs she was supportive of the underground routing of cables required for the planned electricity interconnector linking the power grids in Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The SDLP leader of the opposition, Matthew O’Toole, rightly challenged the minister, saying that the Department for the Economy was a “key delivery partner” for the project in its current form.

Ms Archibald earlier told MLAs that she previously voiced support for undergrounding the cables, so she was being consistent.

What a feeble explanation, and so typical of the Stormont parties, which like to play things both ways – particularly Sinn Fein, which is simultaneously addicted to being in government and to the politics of opposition.

It is irrelevant what Ms Archibald said before. She is the economy minister now, yet the absurdities of the mandatory coalition system allow governing parties to oppose government policy. It is, or ought to be, obligatory for ministers to respect collective responsibility: which means you defend your government’s policies even if you privately disagree, and even if you argued fiercely against the policy in private internal government discussions.

Sometimes you wonder if some MLAs even understand that policy.

They are wholly incapable of taking difficult decisions. And they are not even capable of formulations of words such as: “I greatly understand the concerns that people have over this policy, but the government has exhaustively considered alternatives, and concluded that this is the best way to proceed.”