Following a meeting of the Alliance assembly group, David Ford has acted to quash any speculation that the Alliance will help dig the Sinn Fein/DUP-dominated Executive out of a hole by nominating an MLA to take a devolved Policing and Justice ministry.

Since Sinn Fein and the DUP will refrain from nominating themselves, apparently as some sort of agreement of a safeguard/mutual veto, I wonder what would happen if neither the SDLP nor UUP were prepared to step up and/or carry the can. And is this "deal" the reason for the executive not meeting?

Follow up:

Statement in full:

The Alliance Party will not be taking the Policing and Justice Ministry. This Executive is failing in its duties, so Northern Ireland needs a strong and coherent opposition. We are providing that opposition and we will continue to do so.

The Executive is in crisis over planning, the environment, the 11-plus, Irish language, and the multi-sports stadium issue. Do the Executive parties expect us to take the Environment, Education and Culture Ministries to save their bacon on these matters?

The Executive has not met since mid-June. It is in a crisis of its own making. It is up to the Executive parties to resolve this crisis as they are the government. They must start by actually meeting again as an Executive to discuss the outstanding issues. We are the opposition and we will remain so because this Executive is so poor that Northern Ireland needs a strong group to keep the pressure on it."

David Ford, MLA (Alliance - Party Leader)

Hat-tip Pete Baker and Fair Deal.