Purdah and doling out the pre-election goodies

The Northern Ireland Assembly hosted its final debates last week, but the Stormont term is not yet officially over and the period known as purdah has not yet begun

More cash for integrated and shared education, resources freed up for cancer treatment and primary health care as well as Northern Ireland's first and deputy first ministers welcoming another job announcement.

A cynic might say these are the kind of signs which tell voters an election cannot be far away.

For although the Northern Ireland Assembly chamber hosted its last debates last week, the Stormont term is not yet officially over.

That happens at the end of this month, meaning that ministers still have a few days to pack their diaries with good news announcements before the veil of pre-election neutrality is drawn across their departments.

If you wanted to take a benign view, you could argue that the urgent spate of law making and decision taking is just the natural consequence of a power-sharing administration which, for much of last year, found itself in a logjam.

It took the Fresh Start agreement in November to get the machinery moving, so this spring was always going to look this way.

The more world-weary, however, will note that now ministers are no longer doing the Hokey Cokey, their efforts to reconnect with the public involve taking the executive out and about to, coincidentally, the two constituencies where the first and deputy first ministers happen to be standing for election.

From the end of the month when the veil of what is known in the jargon as "purdah" (pre-election period) is drawn down, Stormont ministers will remain in office.

However, as the advice to civil servants puts it, it is "customary for ministers to exercise discretion during the election period in initiating any new action of a continuing or long-term character".

In addition, departments are told not to compete with the candidates for publicity, so we can soon expect a pause in the high-profile announcements.

When they come back after the election we will no doubt have some new individuals to deal with.

Not only that, there will be wholly new departments.

For example, it was noted on Wednesday that soon it will be a job for the new communities minister, whoever that may be, to wrestle with the annual argument over pub licensing hours at Easter.

Or maybe he or she will want to draw a self-imposed veil of purdah over that one.