Raymond McCartney for AG?
The new Attorney General John Larkin gave evidence to the Stormont Justice Committee this afternoon. The Ulster Unionist David McNarry welcomed him to Room 21, but made it clear he would have preferred it if the Attorney General had been an MLA, open to question in the Assembly chamber just like other ministers.
Next up was Sinn Fein's Chief Whip Carál Nà ChuilÃn. In the light of Mr McNarry's comments she wondered whether the Strangford MLA would back her nomination of her colleague, former IRA prisoner Raymond McCartney, to the Attorney General job. Messrs Mcnarry and McCartney are fast becoming a double act of the Justice Committee, but the relative bonhomie does not stretch that far.
During his evidence, Mr Larkin expanded on his view that the gap in supervisory powers over the Public Prosecution Service should be closed as a matter of urgency. Mr Larkin explained how - in contrast to the position on April 11th - he can't appeal unduly lenient sentences or initiate criminal proceedings. He also pointed out that if something goes wrong with a significant prosecution there is currently no way in which a parliamentary explanation can be provided. Although the AG seems happy on a personal level not to have over arching powers over the Public Prosecution Service during his running in period it's fairly clear he will push more and more for change on this score.
Mr Larkin was also asked a supposedly hypothetical question which sounded remarkably similar to the circumstances surrounding Margaret Ritchie's withdrawal of funding for a UDA linked conflict transformation project. Although he didn't go into the detail he suggested that if a local Attorney General had been in place at the time they might have been able to intervene early in order to prevent the row over whether the minister had acted lawfully or not.
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