Willie Hay rejects Civic Forum revival saying 'not sure it worked 20 years ago'

There have been calls for the reestablishment of the unelected consultative body that was provided for under the Good Friday Agreement but last met in 2002.

But speaking in the British House of Lords, the former Assembly speaker who takes the title Lord Hay of Ballyore, said: "The Civic Forum may certainly have been a good idea 20 years ago, but I am not too sure that it would work in today’s politics. I remember the forum. In fact, on occasions it was in opposition to much of the work that the Assembly was doing at the time.

"I am not too sure that it worked that well 20 years ago. I am not sure it represented all shades of opinion out there, and there were issues around some of the people who were appointed and how they were appointed. It goes along with the serving and all of that. Now it would be wrong to add a further layer of government in Northern Ireland, with everything else that is going on."

The DUP grandee argued that when the forum was last up and running it had actually worked in opposition to the Assembly during 'a very difficult period.'

"We can argue whether or not the Civic Forum did a good job while it was there, but when I look back those 20 years, I am not too sure that it exactly helped politics in Northern Ireland or helped the Assembly to move on, because, as I have said, on fairly major issues it was almost in opposition to the Assembly and the work that it was doing then, during a very difficult period. I am not too sure that a civic forum would work in the present-day politics of Northern Ireland," he said.