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Northern Ireland (St Andrews Agreement) Bill

In an earlier debate this evening, the Democratic Unionist party again tried to create the misleading impression that devolution as it operated in recent years in Northern Ireland was a free for all, just a governmental tower of Babel, with nobody able to make sense of it or understand it or clear anything with anyone else. However, the reality is that Ministers had to get clearance from the Executive if they were to bring forward legislative proposals. They had to get their legislation approved, and often amended, in the Assembly. They had to work in the context of the programme for Government, again agreed by the Executive and approved by the Assembly.