DUP has made NI politics more dysfunctional, not less

In his last News Letter column, Peter Robinson regrets that the ugly scaffolding of mandatory coalition and vetoes at Stormont have not been removed.

(Mandatory coalition was only ever a transitory fix, Nov. 20).

When the Belfast Agreement was negotiated the DUP cynically stood outside the room and exploited the compromises for electoral gain.

Interpreted as unionist reticence to share power, some say this was why nationalist voters switched to Sinn Fein around 2003 to overtake the SDLP as the biggest nationalist party.

Worse, the DUP then struck a deal with republicans in 2006 that effectively gave both of them the joint first minister post on a permanent basis. This has exacerbated the dysfunction at Stormont we see today.

It seems to me that far from removing the ugly scaffolding of the Belfast Agreement, Peter Robinson has added to it.

Rather than seeking to be unionist top dog there was always a bigger goal to be sought following the 1998 Belfast Agreement – a determination to play down tensions to bring some semblance of normality; anathema to republicans who thrive on victimhood.

Thomas Stewart, Belfast BT4

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