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Ongoing rows in Northern Ireland Executive over devolution

 
Sinn Féin and DUP disagree over the transfer of justice and policing powers, delayed by almost four months · Republicans threaten to collapse the executive if progress is not made soon, but DUP wants the IRA Army Council to be dismantled first · The Alliance party, in opposition, could play a key role in talks between the two governing parties.

Devolution in Northern Ireland is taking its toll on relations between Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the two parties that make up the coalition government in the Northern Ireland Assembly. The transfer of justice and policing powers, which - under the St Andrews Agreement - was due to take place on May 8, has now come to a standstill because of a lack of consensus between the two parties. The republicans believe the DUP is stalling the transfer of powers from London to Belfast, and have announced that they will boycott the next meeting of the executive this month if no progress is made.

The new DUP leader and First Minister of Northern Ireland, Peter Robinson, has blamed Sinn Féin for the lack of progress, claiming the republicans are responsible for the lack of trust among unionists. He warned republicans that there would be "serious consequences" if they collapsed the Assembly.

The status of the IRA, the paramilitary group which announced an end to violent activities in 2005, plays a role in the current conflict. The DUP is refusing to allow further devolution until the IRA is completely dismantled. For this reason, the Irish and British Governments commissioned an enquiry into the IRA Army Council, the military decision-making organ of the IRA. According to Independent.ie, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC) has initially concluded that the Council is no longer active, nor does it have a functioning military command structure. It remains unclear whether the preliminary conclusions of the IMC will be enough to satisfy unionists.

According to the Basque newspaper Gara, a solution to the conflict between the two main parties could come from the opposition, and more specifically from the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the main party which is allied neither to the republicans nor to unionists. As well as taking part in negotiations, the Alliance could put forward one of its own members as the new Minister for Justice and Policing, thus avoiding the problem of appointing someone from the governing parties, which currently looks like a nigh impossible task.

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