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Are we facing a new era of mature politics?

Political Correspondent John Manley examines the appointment of a new justice minister

The Stormont Estate, east Belfast
The Stormont Estate, east Belfast The Stormont Estate, east Belfast

THE speculation of recent days ended yesterday with the surprise appointment of a relatively youthful justice minister and what appears to be the en bloc swapping of Stormont's portfolios between the big two. In the end, it was all clinically choreographed with nothing to suggest the DUP and Sinn Féin were ever staring a crisis in the face.

It was 29-year-old Claire Sugden who rightfully grabbed the headlines. Plucked from relative obscurity and thrust into what is arguably the executive's most contentious role, she figuratively, if not literally, arrived at Stormont yesterday morning in a hatchback and left in a armour-plated Range Rover. If her tenure is without major incident it will be a surprise, as this is uncharted territory for all those involved in the East Derry MLA's appointment.

She appears undaunted by the role, which is undoubtedly a good sign, but Ms Sugden is also a largely unknown quantity who lacks the support of a party and the personnel and expertise that comes with it. Whereas David Ford not only had decades of life and political experience to draw on, he also had party a behind him with plenty of intellectual strength. His successor doesn't enjoy such luxuries and could easily find herself isolated if she fails to correctly navigate the slender path mapped out by her joint anointers.

If she is handicapped by her relative youth, then she will not be alone in an executive with an average age of 40 – the youngest government of the devolved institutions. Ostensibly, this would point to greater engagement with younger voters but it needs to be matched with a more youthful soundtrack that doesn't endlessly retreat to the trenches of old.

On paper, the DUP has emerged with the strongest hand in the executive, reflecting its 10-seat advantage over Sinn Féin. Yet given the historic choices of ministries, the new-look executive has the appearance of game of musical chairs gone wrong. The DUP jettisoning the poison chalice of health is much easier explained than it relinquishing the purse strings, while Sinn Féin giving up education is perhaps as close to an admission of failure with that portfolio as you'll get.

The decision to effectively swap departments may well be an accident, yet there's also a possibility that it signals a different, less adversarial atmosphere in the executive, where power and responsibility are shared to a greater extent. Improving on the performance of the previous mandate is an easy task but perhaps we're on the cusp of a new era of mature politics.