Alliance leader Naomi Long to focus on Stormont reform in conference speech
Reform of the Stormont institutions is urgent and can be done without breaching the principles of the Good Friday Agreement or power-sharing, Naomi Long will tell delegates at the Alliance Party conference today.
However, Mrs Long will also call on both governments to deliver reform of the institutions – despite opposition from unionist politicians to a Dublin role in the internal affairs of Northern Ireland.
Under the 1998 deal, Strand One deals with the internal governance of Northern Ireland – and while allowing for a review of the institutions – makes no mention of a role for the Irish government in the functioning of the Assembly or Executive.
The Alliance leader will welcome recent comments from Ireland’s deputy prime minister Micheal Martin, when he said that reform is necessary to the future sustainability of the institutions. Mr Martin also attended an Alliance Party dinner last night.
Naomi Long believes that her party’s proposals will enshrine the right of parties to be in government based on the strength of their electoral mandate – but remove the right of any one party to collapse the institutions or block their formation.
The party would also end “reliance” on the current cross-community voting mechanism, which it would replace with weighted majority voting. Alliance argue this would incentivise cooperation.
The conference speech will say the party’s mandate must be treated as equal to everyone else’s, and argue that there can’t be fairness while Alliance – as the third largest Party in Northern Ireland – aren’t treated equally under the current arrangements.
The current system at Stormont, whereby decisions are made on the basis of support from the unionist and nationalist communities, was devised long before Alliance emerged as a substantial ‘other’ block in the assembly.
In an interview with the BBC earlier this year, when asked how much influence Dublin should have in Northern Ireland, Naomi Long argued that Dublin should have a role in Stormont reform. She said: “the reality is that the Good Friday Agreement already circumscribes how much influence Dublin should have. And it should have influence about issues on a North-South basis. It should have influence on issues that are to do with the whole island and it should also work collectively with the government on an East-West basis to ensure that the institutions are reformed”.