Issue 17 Junior Minister Jeffrey Donaldson: A supporting role
Jeffrey Donaldson talks to Peter Cheney about his first month in office,
the role of the junior Ministers and how he hopes that difficult political
choices over devolution will lead to a brighter future for Northern Ireland.
The varied agenda of the Office of the First and deputy First Minister is clear to see from the ministerial diary of Jeffrey Donaldson. In his first month in office, the DUP junior Minister launched a new set of stamps, addressed a ‘pensioners’ parliament’, was special guest at a schools debate at Stormont and represented the province during visits to Brussels and Washington.
His highlight so far was visiting Washington around St Patrick’s Day, including a meeting with President Bush in the White House. It was a particularly special occasion as his brother, a major in the British Army who has served in Iraq, was also present at the meeting with the President.
The role of the two junior Ministers is to support the First Minister and deputy First Minister, and as with their superiors, they work as part of a joint office, often attending and co-chairing meetings together. They head up, for example, the Ministerial Sub-Committee on Children and Young People. Both Ministers are jointly accountable to the First and deputy First Ministers, and where one junior Minister attends an event individually, he does so with the agreement of his counterpart.
OFMDFM co-ordinates the activities of the Executive – one OFMDFM civil servant has likened the department’s role to the “hub” of a bicycle wheel from which the work of the other departments extends as “spokes” – and covers a number of cross-cutting issues across government.
The junior Ministers are not members of the Executive but attend Executive meetings. They are specifically responsible for the Executive’s legislative programme, as well as its responses to Assembly questions and motions, and therefore attend the Assembly’s Business Committee each week to ensure that time is set aside for debates on legislation.
They also cover policy on children and young people, victims, older people, human rights and equality, sustainable development and Northern Ireland’s international relations, including its links with Europe.
“My daughter asked me the question when I was appointed a Minister: so what are you in charge of? So I said children and young people, older people and pretty much everything in between,” Donaldson remarks.
“It’s a bit like that, but I must say I am enjoying the role and it provides such a broad spectrum of issues, which makes it very interesting.”
Down to business
Donaldson sees serving in government as a “great opportunity” to make a positive change for the people in Northern Ireland. With the Programme for Government, Investment Strategy and Budget agreed, the Executive has a large work programme to take forward. He continues: “It’s really now down to business, and I think you’re going to see over the coming weeks and months the Executive and the Assembly delivering on many of their priorities. And people really will start to see the difference that devolution can make.”
With Ian Paisley’s approaching retirement, he adds that it is also “a fascinating time” to be involved in government.
Previously, Donaldson was Chair of the Assembly and Executive Review Committee, which was established following the St Andrews Agreement to consider changes to the structures of government in Northern Ireland. The change from talking about changing government to being in government was “fairly significant” although he welcomed the new challenge.
“Many politicians have as one of their lifetime goals to hold ministerial office,” he says. “I must say that whilst my work as an MLA is very important to me, this embodies what the whole devolution project is about.”
Asked whether he sees the need for more junior Ministers in Northern Ireland, he replies: “I don’t think so personally. There has been a criticism of the governmental arrangements in Northern Ireland, that we are maybe over-governed. When you compare 108 MLAs to 60 in Wales – with twice the population – proportionately we have a higher number of legislators, and I don’t think we want to get into a situation where we are also accused of having a higher number of Ministers.”
In future, he suspects, Northern Ireland may have fewer departments which could, in turn, actually lead to more junior Ministers to assist the smaller number of Executive Ministers. The Scottish Government, for example, has six senior Ministers and 10 junior Ministers.
“I think government generally is working well here at the moment and it will take time for the new administration to bed in, which is why I think the political parties are being sensible and not jumping to make big changes at this stage,” Donaldson adds.
“When we have devolution of policing and justice powers to the Assembly – at whatever stage that might happen – then you will have to create a new department or make way for that department by perhaps reducing the number of departments.”
Westminster
As an MP, Donaldson divides his week between Stormont, London and his Lagan Valley constituency. Mondays and Tuesdays are spent at plenary sessions at the Assembly. He flies to London on Tuesday night, when Parliament sits until 10.30pm, and spends all day on Wednesday and sometimes Thursday mornings at Westminster. On Thursday afternoon, he returns to Stormont and he splits his time on Friday between there and Lagan Valley. More constituency work takes place on Saturday and Sunday is his day of rest.
He is also a councillor on Lisburn City Council, for Lisburn Town South, and finds that there is “considerable overlap” between his work there and his other positions. Donaldson believes he can fulfil all three roles “for the time being” but knows that the time will come when he will have to make decisions about the number of posts that he holds. His former Assembly committee is also starting to consider the whole issue of dual mandates.
He finds that his role at Westminster complements his ministerial duties as many of the issues he comes across in OFMDFM “have dimensions to them that take me beyond Northern Ireland” – for example, Europe, the British-Irish Council and east-west relationships. Donaldson has experience in working with central government departments and also knows MPs who have become Ministers in Scotland and Wales.
Within the DUP, Donaldson is also the party’s spokesman on defence and the Home Office. A former Ulster Defence Regiment soldier, he has relatives in the army and plans to visit troops from Northern Ireland in Afghanistan in the near future. The Home Office brief ties in to his interest in policing and justice issues; the DUP is currently being “heavily lobbied” for its nine votes from supporters and opponents of extending the detention period for terrorism suspects.
Difficult choices
The loss of family members and friends in the Troubles sparked Donaldson’s interest in politics in the first place and he is now pleased to play a part in helping to move the province forward after the Troubles:
“I’ve been actively involved in politics now for over 25 years. I just think that what we have here in Northern Ireland presents a wonderful opportunity for us to take the province forward to a better future. I grew up in a Northern Ireland with the Troubles, where there was violence, fear. That was very vivid for me as a child.”
Delivery, in Donaldson’s view, also includes dealing with the past and recognising that there is “still considerable hurt and pain in this community” which must be dealt with. Victims’ issues are important to him both politically and also at a personal level.
“When we’re facing difficulties in the political arrangements that we have here at Stormont, when at times one gets frustrated, there’s a book called ‘Lost Lives’ which documents all of the people who lost their lives during the Troubles. When I’m finding it difficult at times dealing with where we are, I lift that book down off the shelf at home and I just open it randomly and I start reading.
“And I tell you, when you read the accounts of how people tragically lost their lives in over three decades of violence, it is a great way of reminding yourself of why it’s so important that we make this work and why it’s so important that we prevent Northern Ireland from sliding back to the dark days of the past.”
If peace and prosperity in Northern Ireland and its people can be secured through devolution, he concludes, the hard and tough decisions that have had to be taken will then have been worthwhile.
agendaNi - May 2008