Stormont debates more focused on TikTok clicks than scrutiny – Muir

Stormont debates are becoming more focused on “clicks on TikTok” than scrutiny of ministers, Andrew Muir has said.

The Daera (Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs) minister also delivered a warning that the Good Friday Agreement institutions are in the “last chance saloon” and the Assembly would not come back if it collapsed again.

Despite often clashing with DUP MLAs in the Assembly chamber, the Alliance Party minister said relations with unionist ministers in the powersharing Executive were “cordial”.

He said: “We’re not always going to see eye to eye, but what people in Northern Ireland expect when they look to the Executive, they expect people to get on with the job, to work through their differences and deliver for citizens in Northern Ireland.

“And what I’ve seen is that there are areas where we can collaborate and we can work together and compromise.

“The spirit of the Good Friday Agreement needs to be reawakened, whereby we engage in issues.

“This is the last chance saloon for the Good Friday Agreement. If this Executive goes down again, it’s gone for good.”

The Alliance Party has consistently called for reform of the institutions, so they cannot be collapsed by one party, and Mr Muir said he believed the lack of such reform had damaged people’s trust and confidence in Stormont.

He said: “What I have seen in recent months is, rather than effective scrutiny and difficult decisions and working together, there’s a lot of performative actions from people more focused on clicks on TikTok rather than delivery for citizens, and that is disappointing.”

Mr Muir said he believed the DUP was “trying to ride two horses” in terms of appealing to “hardline unionism” while also supporting powersharing.

He said: “You need to choose, and the future for Northern Ireland, and particularly I would say for unionism, must be powersharing. We all need to work together.”

The minister said there had been a reduction in genuine scrutiny of ministers.

Mr Muir said: “It does seem when the cameras are on, people’s personalities changes and their interaction is reflected on social media often.

“I can almost guarantee some of the exchanges will be appearing on social media a few hours later.

“I believe in robust scrutiny, and I think that’s important that we have that. There’s been a reduction of that, I would say, since the establishment of the Assembly in 1998.

“If you look back in previous question times, there are ministers being asked more particularly detailed questions around policy, where perhaps the interventions now are more focused in terms of social media traction.”

He added: “I enjoy going into the Assembly because it’s important to be able to debate these issues, but I just wish we could raise the level of the debate to be a bit better.”

The minister said he continued to have concerns about the future stability of the political institutions.

Mr Muir said: “History has shown that a crisis can develop very quickly.

“I hope this Executive and Assembly will see through the rest of this mandate. I think it’s important that it does and that we deliver for the citizens of Northern Ireland.

“We should be able to look with confidence, not just in the months, but the years and decades ahead, that there will be a government there for citizens in Northern Ireland, because they deserve no less.”