A “huge in-tray” awaits the Stormont Assembly and executive, outgoing speaker Alex Maskey has said.
Mr Maskey met party whips at Stormont on Friday in one his last official duties before devolved government is returned to Northern Ireland.
Mr Maskey, a former Sinn Fein MLA, did not stand in the 2022 Assembly elections, but has retained his role as the two-year boycott of the institutions by the DUP has prevented the election of a new speaker.
When the Assembly meets on Saturday, the election of a new speaker will be the first order of business.
In his departing message to MLAs, Mr Maskey said it had been a “tremendous honour” to hold the office of speaker.
He said: “In January 2020, the Assembly got back to business quickly, only for us to face the Covid pandemic, a sobering time of loss across our community.
“Against that difficult backdrop, and in a shortened mandate, the Assembly still managed to process a significant amount of legislation.
“The public focus on many of those Bills underlined to me that, despite understandable public frustration, there is a great public desire to see the Assembly deal with local priorities.”
He added: “When I first became speaker, I recognised that the Assembly was on probation and had to prove itself to an expectant public.
“The Assembly which begins its business tomorrow faces the same circumstances, arguably even more so.
“Undoubtedly, a huge in-tray awaits the Assembly and new executive.”
Mr Maskey said the “potential for improving how the Assembly does its day to day business should not be overlooked”.
He said: “There are a range of areas, from introducing electronic voting to developing how the Assembly scrutinises legislation, which are worthy of the Assembly’s consideration.”
