Mark Durkan calls for First Minister and Deputy First Minister roles to be equalised as ‘joint First Ministers’

Mr. Durkan, who served as Deputy First Minister just over 20 years ago, made the call during a briefing of the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee (NIAC).

“There is power in the symbolism of having the joint First Ministers. As I say, I think they should be equally titled. Let’s remember that when we faced some big challenges, having joint First Ministers worked very significantly.

"When we remember the murder of Stephen Carroll and the Massereene murders, it wasn’t just that we had a very united response in the Chamber in the Assembly; that was then symbolised very powerfully when you saw Martin McGuinness, Peter Robinson and Hugh Orde, who represented the new beginning to policing.

"There was powerful symbolism in that as an answer, in a united, democratic way. We should not devalue the symbolism that there can be in joint First Ministers,” he stated.

The erstwhile Foyle MP described changes in the 2006 St. Andrews Agreement to how First Ministers and Deputy First Ministers are nominated reduced the ‘true jointness’ of the office.

Prior to St. Andrews the positions were a joint nomination of the Assembly but since then the First Minister has been nominated by the largest party in the largest designation in the Assembly and the Deputy First Minister by the largest party in the second largest designation.

"I think we should go back to the idea of joint election—joint First Ministers, equally titled and jointly elected by the Assembly. I think there could be a menu of options, including parallel consent as in the agreement.

"I do not think we should outlaw that and say, ‘If there are two big parties that are willing to get their act together and do it, that should be outlawed. They shouldn’t be allowed to do it,’ he said.

Mr. Durkan told the committee he believed a joint office would help send out a strong signal to inward investors.

“We increasingly want to be promoting Northern Ireland as a special place, rather than always lobbying for it as a special case. When you have joint Ministers acting in that way, it is powerful.”

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