Stormont staff may be forced to find new jobs, union warns
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About 150 staff have been moved from Stormont to other parts of the public sector
Staff at the Northern Ireland Assembly may be forced to seek work elsewhere if the political stalemate continues, a public service union has warned.
Some Stormont staff have been working for the Scottish Parliament, Welsh Assembly and the Irish government in Dublin, NIPSA's Tony McMullan revealed.
He said staff are worried about their jobs and morale is "not good".
About 150 Northern Ireland Assembly workers are being redeployed to other jobs in the public sector.
'Staff are anxious'
Parliament Buildings has not been operating fully since the Northern Ireland Executive collapsed in January in a row between the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin.
Several rounds of talks between the parties to restore power-sharing at Stormont have failed and an agreement soon appears to be unlikely, according to the UK and Irish governments.
Mr McMullan said staff need to have a sense of "stability" about their careers.
"Staff are ordinary citizens like everyone else, they have their mortgages to pay, they have their bills coming in every week," said Mr McMullan.
Parliament Buildings has been quiet since the assembly and executive collapsed in January
"Long term, if the assembly isn't meeting some staff will have to consider their futures and try and seek alternative employment elsewhere."
"Nobody knows how long the assembly will limp on for and in that situation staff are very anxious."
'Welfare a priority'
Some workers have moved to executive departments while others have taken up roles in libraries and at the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise at Greenmount in County Antrim.
About 150 staff are being retained at Stormont to perform functions including processing MLAs' pay and expenses.
The Assembly Commission, which controls the day-to-day running of the assembly, said the redeployment of staff is continually being reviewed.
"A number of Assembly Commission staff have assisted and are continuing to assist other publicly funded bodies, including other legislatures across the UK and Ireland," a spokesperson said.
The commission said that it "prioritises the welfare and wellbeing of its staff".
"For that reason it is doing everything possible to ensure that staff are provided with the appropriate levels of support during this uncertain time," it added.