A Private Member's Bill that would prevent political appointees who have been convicted of a serious crime from being nominated to public bodies has passed a new milestone.
TUV leader Jim Allister, who presented the Political Appointments Bill, warned that if it passes, Sinn Fein's Gerry Kelly and Paul Kavanagh, who serve on the Policing Board and the Education Authority, will be affected.
The Bill will be debated today (Tuesday 21st September 2021), for the second time.
Sinn Fein has stated previously that it will reject the legislation.
“The Bill, very much modelled on my Special Advisers Act passed in 2013, would prohibit anyone with a serious criminal conviction (defined as a conviction resulting in a sentence of five years or more) from being appointed as a political member to the Policing Board or the Education Authority, or continuing to hold such office.” Mr Allister explained.
“Within the membership of both the Policing Board and the Education Authority are a coterie of members appointed directly by the political parties - members who are exempt from the regular processes governing public appointments.
"In consequence convicted terrorists Gerry Kelly and Paul Kavanagh sit on the Policing Board and Education Authority, respectively, as nominees of Sinn Fein."
In 1973, Mr Kelly was found guilty of the Old Bailey court bombing. He was found with 14 weapons in his possession when he was captured and imprisoned in London, and he was found guilty of triggering explosions and sentenced to two life terms.
Mr Kelly was granted the Royal Prerogative of Mercy as part of a legal agreement to facilitate his extradition from the Netherlands, where he was caught three years after his breakout from the Maze prison in 1983.
He was then imprisoned in the Maze for another three years until being released in 1989.
When Mr Kavanagh was released under the provisions of the Good Friday Agreement, he was serving five life sentences for his role in an IRA bombing campaign in Britain in the 1970s and 1980s.
The bombing of the Chelsea Barracks in 1981, which targeted a bus transporting British Army soldiers, was one of the crimes for which he was imprisoned. Two civilians were killed in the incident, and 40 individuals were injured, including 23 troops.
Mr. Allister added: "The controversy surrounding the appointment of Kavanagh - the Chelsea Barracks bomber who was removed as a SpAd (special adviser) in consequence of my 2013 Act, and the inability by the then Education Minister to get remedial legislation through the Executive, was the catalyst for this attempt to right the wrong of a man... shaping educational provision in Northern Ireland.”
“The Political Appointments Bill is shaped by a moral compass and respects victims, which makes for good law.” he continued.
"I, therefore, look forward to MLAs deciding where they stand on this important issue.”
Comments