2012 and all that revisited
After I posted up an entry on the 2012 sunset clause still hanging over the Hillsborough deal, someone contacted me to point out that if there is another crisis at that point the potential consequences of failure would be greater than the resignation of either the First or Deputy First Ministers.
According to evidence given to the Assembly and Executive Review Committee in officials testified that if the matter is not resolved in 2012 there is no "hidden fallback mechanism". Instead they argued "the consequence would be that the Department of Justice would be dissolved on 1 May 2012", with no provision for its powers to revert anywhere. The officials argued that this would create "a constitutional conundrum, but the theory is that that imposes on the Assembly the requirement to do something about it before that."
According to my source what would dissolve along with the department would be its constituent parts, such as the Prison Service. I can't imagine ever having to hang around outside some negotiations with the imminent prospect that prisoners will be set free if the talks don't succeed, but as "clever devices" go this doomsday scenario takes some beating.
I'm 
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