Agreement on Policing and Justice welcome news to voluntary and community sector

Seamus McAleavey, Chief Executive of NICVA, said today:

“For the benefit of everyone in Northern Ireland, this agreement is greatly welcomed. We hope it will bring much needed stability to the NI Executive and to the economy, at this time of global economic instability.

Seamus continued

“It is now vital that this good work continues. The Executive now needs to get back to giving its full concentration to issues that affect the day to day lives of people here – jobs, schools, hospitals and the environment.  If we are facing massive public sector spending cuts in the coming years then we need the Executive to be working and delivering together. For this reason we welcome the announcement that efforts will be made to tackle the backlog of important policies like Cohesion, Sharing and Integration on which we need progress immediately.”

The key points of the agreement are below, and the full Agreement can be downloaded at the bottom of the page.

• Justice Minister due to be appointed, following a meeting on 8 February. Minister will have the same status as other Ministers in the Executive.
• Judiciary will be independent.
• Working group, chaired by the First Minister and deputy First Minister, on Parades, which aims to outline a way forward in the next three weeks.
• Examination of the St Andrew’s Agreement to take place, with a report on the actions which have not yet been implemented due to be submitted to the Executive by the end of February.