It is time to move beyond the Stormont '˜carve up' and towards voluntary coalition

Our economy is simply not competitive on so many fronts.

Recent good employment figures due to the temporary boost to retail and manufacturing from a weaker sterling mask the underlying competitiveness problem and the exchange rate has strengthened in the last few days.

Construction spending is suffering due to lack of serious infrastructure spending resulting from a lack of executive.

It is time for the two governments as guarantors of the Good Friday Agreement to instigate a long overdue review of the institutional arrangements.

It is not just any ‘quick fix’ government we want in Stormont, we need a functioning government that delivers and works for the economy and efficiency in public services.

The ‘carve up’ executive of the past has continually failed to deliver on the important issues.

It was always the intention to review the Good Friday Agreement and allow Northern Ireland to move to real politics.

The St Andrews review in 2006 was flawed and merely perpetuated the carve up and polarisation it was an affront to the referendum result and failed to allow the institutions to mature towards real and normal politics.

It is time to end the charade of the current power sharing arrangements and move away from mandatory coalition.

Real and democratic politics are long overdue and would encourage more accountability and responsibility .

Voluntary coalition must now be the goal with sufficient checks and balances eg. weighted majority voting.

It is encouraging to see the smaller ‘opposition’ parties exploring and promoting voluntary coalition as the way forward .

Johnny Andrews, Strangford Conservative and Unionist Association