Press Releases18 Nov 08

Archbishop of Armagh Statement on NI Executive & Policing & Justice

The Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, the Most Revd Alan Harper, OBE issues the following statement welcoming the resumption of Northern Ireland executive meetings and progress on the devolution of policing and justice powers:

I warmly welcome the decision today (18/11/08) on the part of the main partners in the Northern Ireland government executive to resume meetings of the executive and to take forward proposals for the devolution of policing and justice powers. I also very much welcome the decision that the executive will meet much more frequently and purposefully in order to deal with the backlog of business that has accumulated over the past five months.

While the devolution of policing and justice powers and many of the other issues that will confront the executive are far from straightforward and uncontentious, I am confident that with a strong will to make government in Northern Ireland work the efforts of the executive will not prove unfruitful.

The announcement of a possible candidate to undertake the responsibilities of Attorney General is also to be welcomed and I wish him well in his appointment.

I have had a particular fear, which I have previously articulated publicly, that a continuation of a vacuum in the political system might have serious repercussions for community relationships. I strongly urge everyone in the community whatever their political persuasion to contribute positively to establishing a pattern of confident good governance in Northern Ireland.

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