Double jobbing sounds worse than it is. No scrub that, it is worse than it sounds. Basically the practice of double jobbing, as it relates to our elected representatives, is such that an MLA can also be a councillor, or an MP; sometimes even all three (triple jobbing).
The DUP, in particular have been stung by criticism of late of the practice. Party leader Peter Robinson this week decided to announce an end to double jobbing. Well, not an end as such.
Some MLAs will cease being councillors. Some MPs will cease being MLAs. And, it is to be a gradual process; no immediate clearing of the decks.
At the same time as announcing this, the party published a policy paper, which they claimed was designed to show how money could be saved through greater efficiency.
For the chop were the number of NI government departments, the number of MLAs (less double jobbing…) and a number of ‘quangos’.
It could – for the most cynical – been a move to show how the DUP were a party driven by thrift rather than a party which spends a lot of money. More on that later…
Amongst the targets for the DUP hack and slash policy were the Parade’s Commission (not a favourite body of the DUP) and the Civic Forum (also not on the DUP favourites list).
They also proposed that the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission, the Equality Commission and the Commissioner for Children and Young People should be merged into a single body. Again, these are organisations that the DUP have been known to criticise, both in terms of their very existence and what they do.
Perhaps it is more telling the quangos that were left off the hit list - the Victims Commissioners, the Older Person’s Advocate and the dozens of other quangos helpfully listed online by the Department of Finance and Personnel.
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