"Cloak and dagger" Executive bad for local democracy - Long

10.20.08am BST (GMT +0100) Fri 25th May 2007

Alliance Party Deputy Leader Naomi Long MLA

Alliance Party Deputy Leader Naomi Long MLA has cautioned that a proposed three-day delay after Executive meetings for Ministers to inform the press about their decisions will give the impression of "cloak and dagger politics".

Naomi Long, who is Deputy Chair of the OFMDFM Assembly Committee, stated: "People will fully accept that Executive Ministers should inform Assembly members of their decisions before anyone else, particularly if those decisions affect certain constituencies. That is a courtesy all public representatives should expect.

"However, the idea that this should take from Thursday to Monday sends out the wrong impression. In this era of electronic communication, the delay should be more like three hours than three days. Anything else would appear to indicate Ministers have something to hide.

"The idea of devolution is that we have open, accountable, local democracy. That means informing the public accurately and promptly about government decisions which affect their daily lives. There is no excuse for a 72-hour time lag every week."

ENDS