The Presbyterian Mutual Society went into administration in 2008
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There are indications that the DUP is pushing for compensation for savers in the troubled Presbyterian Mutual Society as part of a devolution deal. The plight of almost 10,000 people who had money in the society when it went into administration are believed to be on the last-minute talks agenda. DUP MLA Edwin Poots refused to confirm or deny the suggestion. Last month the Presbyterian moderator said such a government initiative would help build confidence among unionists. On Thursday it emerged that policing and justice powers could be transferred to Northern Ireland in April if the DUP and Sinn Fein are able to reach a deal. SF has now said talks with the DUP have ended and the basis for a deal exists. Mr Poots said his party was still in discussions with the government but that a deal could be concluded by the end of the week. Any deal will need to have the agreement of DUP assembly members. Mr Poots would not say whether the plight of Presbyterian Mutual Society savers was included in those discussions. However, there are indications that the society, which went into administration in October 2008 after a run during which millions of its reserves were withdrawn, is now an issue in the discussions. The government has consistently refused to offer its savers the same protection that was afforded to other savers during the banking crisis. Mr Poots also shed light on how long a public consultation promised by his party after any deal might take. "One would anticipate that if we are going to go to the country, if we are going to seek their views on this matter, then that would certainly take up to a month," he said. Earlier sources told the BBC that if there was a deal, the transfer of powers could happen in April. BBC Northern Ireland political editor Mark Devenport said: "That's earlier than the May date previously predicted, there had been concerns that this date would fall too close to polling day in the Westminster elections."
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ANALYSIS
Mark Devenport, BBC NI political editor
At a breakfast meeting in London, the Irish foreign minister Micheal Martin told reporters that he thought a deal was very close. Then the rumours went around Stormont that the first minister Peter Robinson had been having success in persuading the doubters within the DUP. Two of 14 MLAs who voted against the proposals as they stood on Monday told the BBC that if their leader made it a "back me or sack me" vote, they would now back him. |
Election Talks between the British and Irish governments, Sinn Fein and the DUP have been going on for the last 10 days. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey the government would call a snap NI Assembly election rather than just suspending the institutions if the talks failed and the NI Executive collapsed. The relationship between Sinn Fein and the DUP - Northern Ireland's two biggest political parties - has been strained for some time because they disagree about the timetable for the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont. Sinn Fein wants the completion of devolution to happen as soon as possible, but the DUP argues there must be unionist "community confidence" before powers are put in the hands of local politicians. The "confidence" issue causing most division is over the handling of loyalist parades.
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