Mr. John McCallister:

I thank the Chairman. I assume everybody can hear me okay. I have a few comments and thoughts. It was with wisdom that the framers of the Good Friday Agreement ensured that a review mechanism was built into the agreement and recognised that those provisions would need adjustment over time in the interests of efficiency and fairness. At the heart of those provisions was a recognition that political institutions must evolve over time in order to develop and remain secure amid inevitable social, cultural, economic and political change. Of course, the existence of the review mechanisms also implies recognition that the political architecture of the institutions was designed to deal with the immediate post-conflict context of 1998 and might not remain appropriate for Northern Ireland in the decades to follow. Despite the political wisdom that shaped those provisions, the political will to act upon them has not always been present, principally in Belfast but also in Dublin and London to some extent.

The one serious initiative to reform this architecture was the Private Members' Bill I introduced which became law as the Assembly and Executive Reform (Assembly Opposition) Act (Northern Ireland) 2016. I knew when I was framing that Bill that it would not only have to garner support but that it represented a legislative mechanism to test what support existed for the various provisions. Things were certainly removed or significantly diluted. Like most people trying to pass legislation, I probably set the bar much higher than I expected to reach. However, I would argue that some of the things we failed to do have come back to bite us and may also affect us in the future. I refer to things like designation, which I will speak about in a minute, collective Cabinet responsibility and renaming the offices of First Minister and deputy First Minister to reflect those particular roles.

I will start with collective Cabinet government. Throughout the process, I argued that we do not have power-sharing but rather power that is shared out. It is stated in the Irish Constitution that the Government will act as a collective. It would have been very difficult for Ireland to get through the changes caused by the economic downturn and financial crash without collective Cabinet government. There are approximately 300 years of convention at Westminster. Collective Cabinet government broke down during Theresa May's time and we saw the difficulties that caused. It is essential. If Government is not acting as a collective, it becomes very difficult for us in Belfast and Northern Ireland to tackle waiting lists and to reform the health service.

The designation system is responsible for preventing the emergence of serious and meaningful parliamentary culture. I understand why it was introduced at the time. It was necessary to help build in trust. It almost provided a veto. However, times have changed and we now have more MLAs who are not designated and who are therefore classed as other. You have to look at where their votes count in a designated voting system. That is unfair and not necessarily reflective of the situation. It brings us back to my point on efficiency and fairness.

We could well be in a position after the next Northern Ireland Assembly election where even more MLAs will refuse to designate as either unionist or nationalist. Society is moving beyond those labels of unionist and nationalist and people may have strong views on the constitutional position. There is much more to it. I believe the designation is a frozen part of time and has probably held the institutions back. I am of the view that it should be seriously looked at and changed. The absence of reform has undermined the ability of the assembly and the Executive to govern. It has undermined the public's perception of the institutions. For those generations, the terms unionist and nationalist do not adequately or fully define their politics. Irrespective of the constitutional position of Northern Ireland, it is clear that the political institutions established by the Belfast Agreement will remain as a means of administering this region. It is imperative, in the interests of everybody on these islands, that we encourage, promote and facilitate reform of the institution and that we maintain that efficiency and fairness. Edmund Burke once said: "A state without the means of some change, is without the means of its own conservation." The failure to reform and to go further has been a blockage and has held us back.

One of the great successes brought about by the assembly was building relationships. It got people in to talk about the business of government and what concerned their constituents. Suddenly people were working across parties. Over the past four and a half years, we have neglected that. There are probably two good reasons. One is that the Assembly collapsed in January and February of 2017, so there was a three year back in the assembly running. Devolution continued but the assembly and the Executive were not in place. We have now had almost 18 months of virtual working. That has not been great for building those relationships between MLAs, parties and people working together to get to know each other on a more personal level. It is much easier to demonise somebody when you do not know them. I am happy to take questions. I thank the committee for its time this morning.