Speaking ahead of today’s Review meetings, Alliance Leader David Ford said:
“The paper published by the DUP last week marks a significant step forward in that party’s engagement with the process it walked away from in 1997.
“I welcome the fact that the DUP is putting forward detailed proposals for the Review. It is more than ironic that the DUP appears to have done more detailed preparation for the Review than parties like the UUP and SDLP.
“Alliance will be holding discussions with the DUP today. My colleagues and I will be keen to explore the DUP’s proposals on areas such as reforming the sectarian voting system in the Assembly.
“We also note that the DUP has considered forming a weighted majority voluntary coalition, which Alliance believes would ensure that Ministers share in collective responsibility. The lack of this was a major failing of the Agreement so far.
“However, Alliance would have major problems with other aspects of the DUP proposals. The suggested ‘corporate’ model would not satisfy the basic need to ensure power-sharing at the highest level.
“Having presented detailed proposals to the Government a month ago, we also hope to hear a detailed response to those ideas from Ministers at a separate meeting today.”