This is another area of scrutiny where Bairbre De Brun found herself liable to be taken for Judicial review by fellow health committee members. This was when she decided to develop the new maternity ward in the Royal Victoria Hospital despite seven of the eleven committee members, desiring it to be set up in the Ulster Hospital. She was encouraged following the review to change her decision, as many believed the maternity unit was placed strategically in a predominantly Catholic area. She was checked through strand one of the Agreement that says that ministers need to seek consultation with their respective executive committee and come to an agreement through liasing with them. It is rather ironic therefore in Source A that she should wish for co-operation within her department to be maintained, when she herself failed to do so.
"I hope we can all work together with a spirit of co-operation.".
Another check and balance within strand one of the Agreement states that neither the Assembly, nor public bodies can infringe on the European convention of Human Rights. This check has allowed political parties to hold the First Minister accountable for his actions. For example, when Bairbre De Brun and Martin McGuiness attempted to attend a sectoral meeting of the North South Ministerial Council, David Trimble refused to sign the papers permitting them to attend. As such meetings are also an integral part of strand two of the Agreement, Sinn Fein took Trimble to court, believing that it was a breach of his pledge of office. The court ruling was that Trimble should sign the papers as it was an infringement on the Human Rights of the two Sinn Fein members, to attend freely, any meetings of a political nature.
A clause of the agreement, which allows Unionists and Nationalists to keep a check on one another, is that all decisions are to be made on a cross-community basis.
