Stormont ministers criticised for ‘not bringing announcements to Assembly first’
Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole said he is concerned at several instances of written statements instead of ministers appearing.
Stormont ministers have been criticised for making a number of announcements by written statement instead of appearing at the Assembly.
Opposition leader Matthew O’Toole raised the matter with the Speaker during a sitting of the Assembly on Monday.
He expressed concern at the “failure of ministers to bring statements to this House”.
“I do have a particular concern in my role as the leader of the Opposition around the failure of ministers to bring statements to this House,” he said.
“We have now had two monitoring rounds and a draft Budget which have been delivered to the Assembly by written statement. We also had last week a significant announcement by the Health Minister.”
Mr O’Toole asked the Speaker to “advise whether he is satisfied”.
Mr Poots responded: “I will happily look at that again.
“Members and Ministers know my views on this, that where at all possible, it is appropriate that Ministers bring their statements to the floor of the House.
“Ultimately ministers should be open to being questioned by Members, and I think that is something which is significantly important that that takes place.
“I will write to Ministers again on this subject, Mr O’Toole, because what you raise is a very valid point.”
Last week the Stormont Speaker urged Ministers to be more open when they answer questions from Members.
Following a point of order from DUP MLA Philip Brett over a question he had asked, Mr Poots said Ministers “should recognise that they are answerable to the members of this House, who are answerable to the Northern Ireland public”.
“If they’re sitting on answers that they know they have and are withholding information, they are showing disrespect to the community in Northern Ireland,” he said, adding: “This isn’t Castlereagh Holding Centre where people are sitting saying ‘no comment, no comment, no comment’.”
Last month, Mr Poots rebuked MLAs over adherence to the dress code for attending the chamber, claiming some had a “very loose interpretation of smart dress”.
He has also hit back at any suggestion that he and deputy Speakers make political decisions, insisting they leave their politics behind and act with “impartiality”.
