Browse content similar to 13/03/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello, and welcome to Stormont Today, on the day | :00:22. | :00:23. | |
in the recent Assembly election came up to the chamber | :00:24. | :00:28. | |
But with the future of the devolved institutions right at the heart | :00:29. | :00:32. | |
of the ongoing talks between the parties, | :00:33. | :00:34. | |
the future of this place is, for now at least, far from clear. | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
For some it was the first day of school, but old friends | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
I extend a particular welcome to those who are present in the chamber | :00:44. | :00:56. | |
for the first time. We would also like to put on the record our | :00:57. | :00:59. | |
appreciation to those colleagues from all sides of the chamber who | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
either decided not to run, return were not re-elected. | :01:06. | :01:06. | |
But none of the 90 MLAs present can get back to work until the current | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
None of this is easy, it is all very difficult, but what we are focused | :01:11. | :01:19. | |
on is about bringing back devolution to Northern Ireland and that is | :01:20. | :01:22. | |
where my focus is I hope it's for everybody else's is as well. | :01:23. | :01:24. | |
And joining me to share his thoughts on today's developments | :01:25. | :01:26. | |
is Professor Rick Wilford from Queen's University. | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
They may have been successful at the ballot box ten days ago, | :01:33. | :01:35. | |
but this afternoon it became official as 90 freshly elected | :01:36. | :01:38. | |
politicians came to Stormont to formally sign in. | :01:39. | :01:41. | |
won't see the inside of the Assembly chamber for another fortnight | :01:42. | :01:48. | |
when the deadline to propose a First and Deputy First Minister runs out. | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
But ceremony waits for no man, nor deadline. | :01:52. | :01:59. | |
Please take your seats. Before we proceed with today's business, I | :02:00. | :02:26. | |
would like to offer my congratulations to all of you | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
following the election. As well as welcoming back former members, I | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
extend a particular welcome to those who are present in the chamber for | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
the first time. I would also like to put on a record our appreciation to | :02:41. | :02:45. | |
those colleagues from all sides of the chamber who either decided not | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
to run, return or I will not be elected. We thank them for their | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
service. Item two on the order paper it is the signing of the undertaking | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
and the rule of membership. Before we proceed, members, they might find | :03:03. | :03:05. | |
it helpful if the undertaking is read into the record. Clark, please | :03:06. | :03:14. | |
read the undertaking. The undertaking is as follows, to | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
undertake to support the rule of law unequivocally in word and deed and | :03:18. | :03:21. | |
to support our efforts to oppose it, to work collectively with the other | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
members of the Assembly to achieve the society free of paramilitaries, | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
to challenge all paramilitary activity and associated criminality, | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
to call for and to work together with the other members of the | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
Assembly to achieve the disbandment of all paramilitary organisations | :03:38. | :03:39. | |
under structures, to challenge paramilitary attempts to control | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
committee -- communities, to support those who are determined to make the | :03:45. | :03:47. | |
transition away from paramilitaries, to accept no authority, direction or | :03:48. | :03:52. | |
control or political activities other than the democratic mandate | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
alongside my own personal and party judgment. | :03:56. | :03:56. | |
45 minutes - that's all it took - and now the chamber sits silent | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
There is a symbolic value to today's procedure but it doesn't remove the | :04:00. | :04:10. | |
bigger issues forward at all, does it? Noel, it is a necessary | :04:11. | :04:18. | |
procedure they have to go through. On the first day, normally would be | :04:19. | :04:26. | |
electing the speaker. That has been put back by common consensus. Today, | :04:27. | :04:40. | |
the Senate chamber, there was a session there. From all parties in | :04:41. | :04:48. | |
the UK and elsewhere. Two minutes, half a minute each for them today. | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
When they get through it we can go into gardening leave for a couple of | :04:57. | :05:01. | |
weeks. Those who are not engage in their ongoing talks, of course. We | :05:02. | :05:05. | |
have to tread water for the next couple of weeks until maybe there is | :05:06. | :05:09. | |
a chink of light. Wright lives get your assessment of that talks | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
process. Do you see any sign at all of significant progress -- progress | :05:14. | :05:20. | |
at this stage? No, I don't. Wright do you have any hope there will be | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
in the two weeks remaining, theoretically? We don't quite know | :05:24. | :05:30. | |
what might happen beyond the 27th of March, ostensibly the deadline for | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
this round of talks. There may be an extended round of talks. As far as | :05:35. | :05:44. | |
broken Jaya can exercise. They started roundtable talks. -- James | :05:45. | :05:53. | |
Brokenshire. I don't think there is any significant sign of forward | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
movement at all. We don't know, for example, the extent to which there | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
are red lines on which party are putting down which red lines. Not | :06:03. | :06:11. | |
just Sinn Fein amid EU people. -- DUP. That has been postponed as an | :06:12. | :06:16. | |
issue and less until we get some agreement on issues. One of the | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
things Sinn Fein have been at some pains to stress is that this is | :06:23. | :06:25. | |
about implementing agreements that were struck in the past. I vividly | :06:26. | :06:30. | |
remember and he recounted in his member of the talks process, George | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
Mitchell, it is one thing to reach an agreement but it is something | :06:36. | :06:38. | |
completely different are actually implemented. That is where we are. | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
Wright we are supposed to see nominations for the first and equity | :06:44. | :06:47. | |
First Minister on the 27th. Wright I don't think anyone is holding a | :06:48. | :06:50. | |
great deal of breath for that to happen. We should have the election | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
speaker on that day. It is not clear who that would be. Probably not be | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
current person? Most unlikely. He lost the confidence of the majority | :07:02. | :07:05. | |
of the House before we went into election. Wright what are the | :07:06. | :07:12. | |
options? There has been an agreement between Sinn Fein and the DBT retain | :07:13. | :07:19. | |
his speakership. They are going to have to look else where. Maybe the | :07:20. | :07:26. | |
SDLP, maybe Alliance. Wright B have pretty much ruled themselves out. | :07:27. | :07:35. | |
There are two former Deputy speakers in the elderly group may. It could | :07:36. | :07:48. | |
be one of them. We will hopefully see in the next fortnight. -- here. | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
Rick, thank-you very much, we'll hear more from | :07:56. | :07:57. | |
Among the 90 MLAs signing in today were several new faces, | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
including Ulster Unionist John Stewart. | :08:02. | :08:02. | |
I spoke to him shortly after he'd signed the register and I asked | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
if he felt he was perhaps arriving at Stormont just as | :08:06. | :08:07. | |
There is a sense of an pension, nobody knows what's going on. There | :08:08. | :08:16. | |
is frustration for myself and many of my colleagues he want to get down | :08:17. | :08:19. | |
and get work done. At the moment that is not possible. What is your | :08:20. | :08:26. | |
personal delight at being successful in East Antrim offset by the party's | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
overall poor performance? Bittersweet, when I gave my | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
acceptance speech he was standing down and it was sad to see. We are | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
any results -based game of which seats are seen as points and we | :08:45. | :08:48. | |
dropped seats and in that respect it wasn't a great election for the | :08:49. | :08:53. | |
Ulster Unionist Party. You say you lost to seats and a leader. How | :08:54. | :08:57. | |
significant is that the party at such a critical time? It is not | :08:58. | :09:03. | |
ideal. I think the party is in a position where it has to get | :09:04. | :09:07. | |
together and look forward and see what we have to do for ourselves. Do | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
you think that was right to stand down? He just advised his decision | :09:13. | :09:22. | |
rightly. He felt was the result was me performance he had been looking | :09:23. | :09:28. | |
for. Who are you backing for the leadership? There is a process | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
going. The AGM will be held on the eighth. The process is open to | :09:35. | :09:37. | |
anybody. I am not sure who else is put their name and forehead. At the | :09:38. | :09:41. | |
moment, I have signalled to Robinson on that I be giving my support. Does | :09:42. | :09:47. | |
he look like a very strong contender? He does indeed. He is | :09:48. | :09:53. | |
very strong in his policy. He resonates with the public and I | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
think you do a great job for the Ulster Unionist Party. Did you come | :09:58. | :10:01. | |
a school trip if you use a good because you were so inspired what | :10:02. | :10:04. | |
you start that he wanted to pursue a career in politics and maybe come | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
back Sunday as an NLE? I with your instrument Stormont was in the | :10:10. | :10:16. | |
special as well. We came up and handy for oil tour of the building. | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
We met with some of the politicians. I said to my teacher was something I | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
really wanted to do. I wasn't involved in politics than 16 years | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
later here we are. How did the day feel for you, the realisation of | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
that? It was nice, the first time I had sat in the gene and is 2000 when | :10:38. | :10:41. | |
I was last year. To go from that to being an actual MLE it was a | :10:42. | :10:46. | |
frightening moment. If there is another election, your seat could be | :10:47. | :10:48. | |
vulnerable. Is that a scenario that keeps you awake at night? Not at | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
all. Nothing keeps me awake but what I am thinking about is getting on | :10:55. | :10:57. | |
the ground in addressing the issues that constituents have brought to | :10:58. | :11:01. | |
me. I am not thinking about another election. I am not worried about it. | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
Every seat is up for grabs and will be fighting to hold onto what have. | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
Are you optimistic that the ongoing talks process will be successful and | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
the institutions will be up and running again sooner rather than | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
later? We have two. The public overwhelmingly gave politicians a | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
mandate to go out. There is an expectation from the public we have | :11:26. | :11:28. | |
to get things up and running again. I am optimistic and I think people | :11:29. | :11:32. | |
have to be. We have to get around the negotiating table. | :11:33. | :11:33. | |
And I'm now joined by another first-time Member, | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
Thanks for joining us. Congratulations on your success in a | :11:38. | :11:48. | |
Lagan Valley. You try to win a seat number of times before, your third | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
attempt at the Assembly. Did you really believe you can do it this | :11:53. | :11:59. | |
time? We went from a very loyal and increased early vote. We felt there | :12:00. | :12:07. | |
was always going to be belief and we felt it was possible. It was a case | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
of trying to engage people, show them we can do it and it was OK. You | :12:14. | :12:24. | |
backed yourself, that's the important thing. I did indeed. You | :12:25. | :12:32. | |
benefit from the cancer. His comment paid dividends? That is something | :12:33. | :12:39. | |
that has been going on. -- you benefited from the Ulster Unionist | :12:40. | :12:46. | |
Party ends. It worked the other way as well. A lot of constituents's | :12:47. | :12:52. | |
roads were gone to elect other members of the Assembly who are here | :12:53. | :12:58. | |
at the moment. It worked out fairly evenly. It was helpful to me in the | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
Lagan Valley that I got that cross community support. I remember on | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
Friday night, it just sort of happened when you interviewed me | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
just after the result has come in and I genuinely don't see... I want | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
to be representative of all of that one community I don't see too. That | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
is all this together trying to do better. Is that what you believe | :13:24. | :13:29. | |
your mandate as for Lagan Valley, to represent everybody in that | :13:30. | :13:32. | |
constituency, not just the SDLP? Absolutely everyone. I had an old | :13:33. | :13:42. | |
life, a life in bars. I didn't ask who came through the doors whenever | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
the Cayman in order to be served are looking for something to eat. We | :13:48. | :13:51. | |
have to be representative of everyone and take everyone's | :13:52. | :13:55. | |
concerns, worries and fears and bring them up here, thrash it out | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
and begin to deliberate. I look for are you this is an Assembly that can | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
get up and running and make a difference if it does get up and | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
running? There is a lot of fear in politics another Mallard isn't | :14:12. | :14:13. | |
really going anywhere at the moment. We're just treading water. | :14:14. | :14:20. | |
There is a fear there but I am ready to engage. I am more than ready to | :14:21. | :14:28. | |
go out there and do the hard work. To make Northern Ireland work. Every | :14:29. | :14:33. | |
door that a knock-on, I promise to do that I would go out to make | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
Northern Ireland work. It's my home and wants to be represented above. | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
I'm sure that the people that footage for me, I want to know is a | :14:42. | :14:52. | |
costly demand. -- I want to be known as the cost community man. I'm going | :14:53. | :14:57. | |
to run it like the business. That is what I promise was. It would be a | :14:58. | :15:04. | |
huge disappointment for you if this doesn't work. If it doesn't work, is | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
doesn't work. But it would be a huge is a bond for everyone. I wanted to | :15:11. | :15:16. | |
work. I genuinely want the PR image in Ireland today better. We deserve | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
better. The two largest things I believe are coming down is we have | :15:21. | :15:26. | |
Brexit and the health service. I would see that we are against. That | :15:27. | :15:30. | |
was the main concern on the doors. There are other parts of. There are | :15:31. | :15:34. | |
business people that need certainty. They need to see that they are | :15:35. | :15:41. | |
represented. Business itself is a volatile market out there. The world | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
is not waiting for us. It's outside. We've issue of the best. You very | :15:49. | :15:50. | |
much indeed. So, talks to restore | :15:51. | :15:50. | |
devolution are underway. It's been a week since the first | :15:51. | :15:52. | |
meetings between parties took place. James Brokenshire and Charlie | :15:53. | :15:55. | |
Flanagan have been on hand One of the issues that has dogged | :15:56. | :15:57. | |
every Assembly and agreement has been the past and how | :15:58. | :16:04. | |
to deal with it. Today is European Victims' Day | :16:05. | :16:06. | |
and earlier the DUP leader, Arlene Foster, took a break | :16:07. | :16:08. | |
from talks to meet with We'll continue with those talks are | :16:09. | :16:18. | |
today. Dealing with the past and with the legacy is only part of what | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
we have to deal with. It's a very aborted part and one which I | :16:25. | :16:28. | |
personally take a great interest and for obvious reasons. -- it's a very | :16:29. | :16:36. | |
important part. Some people take a very different opinion of things. | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
How do you square between giving people what they want and satisfying | :16:43. | :16:51. | |
Sinn Fein's demands. Is that about opinion, it's about fact. That's the | :16:52. | :16:55. | |
difficulty. Different narratives have arisen in relation to what | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
actually happened. I think we have to get back to the situation. That | :17:00. | :17:06. | |
is that 90% of those that were injured or murdered was by | :17:07. | :17:12. | |
terrorists from Ida Royalists Republicans. That has to be | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
recognised. -- from either royalists or Republicans. There can be no | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
rewriting of the past. One of the issues that we really need to deal | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
with is the definition of a victim. That still continues to cause a | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
great deal of pain and hurt to those people who are innocent victims | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
because on the current definition of a victim, that includes the | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
perpetrator, that is simply wrong. It should not be allowed to stand. | :17:45. | :17:53. | |
On the second week of these talks, what are the chances of a deal being | :17:54. | :18:01. | |
done? We still as a party remain committed to writing the return of | :18:02. | :18:04. | |
devolution because he believes it's the best thing for all of Northern | :18:05. | :18:11. | |
Ireland. We hope that everybody else enters the top with those -- the | :18:12. | :18:23. | |
talks with that focus. Does that in any way make life easier in terms of | :18:24. | :18:30. | |
what you are trying to do? None of easy. What we're focused on is being | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
backed devolution to Northern Ireland. I hope everybody else is | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
focused there as well. Arlene Foster telling Gareth Gordon | :18:37. | :18:37. | |
she's focused on the task ahead. However, when Sinn Fein spoke | :18:38. | :18:39. | |
to reporters earlier the talk wasn't The British Tories are on the verge | :18:40. | :18:51. | |
of triggering Article 50. That is going to take the north out of the | :18:52. | :18:54. | |
EU against the express wishes of the majority of people here. That is | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
also against the express wishes of the more majority of parties across | :19:00. | :19:06. | |
as Ireland. They are continuing to refuse to listen to the majority of | :19:07. | :19:11. | |
use and they are refusing to honour their commitments and agreements. | :19:12. | :19:19. | |
Brexit, as you stated on many occasions, will be a disaster for | :19:20. | :19:29. | |
the economy. For eyes, that increases the urgency for a | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
referendum. The people of Scotland... Brexit has increased the | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
urgency for a unity referendum. We believe that should happen sooner | :19:40. | :19:50. | |
than possible. It's very clear that a lot of conversation has moved on. | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
The wider population is discussing the future constitutional position | :19:56. | :20:02. | |
of the silent as a result of Brexit. -- of this island as a result of | :20:03. | :20:03. | |
Brexit. And away from Stormont | :20:04. | :20:04. | |
the big political story was Scotland's First Minister saying | :20:05. | :20:07. | |
she would ask for permission to hold a second referendum | :20:08. | :20:09. | |
on Scottish independence. You heard Michelle O'Neill say | :20:10. | :20:11. | |
there that Nicola Sturgeon's move had no bearing on Sinn Fein's | :20:12. | :20:13. | |
renewed call for a United Ireland. Over in the grounds | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
of Stormont Castle, the Irish Foreign Minister, | :20:17. | :20:18. | |
Charlie Flanagan, was here again for talks and he was asked | :20:19. | :20:20. | |
for his perspective on the issue. It's not something to which the | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
Irish Government will make a comment either way. On the basis that this | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
is entirely a matter for the people of Scotland and entirely an issue | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
for the British Government and the Scottish administration. However, | :20:36. | :20:41. | |
while I'm silent on the matter of Scotland, that does not pertain to | :20:42. | :20:44. | |
Northern Ireland, where of course I have a stakeholding. Irish | :20:45. | :20:52. | |
Government is cool, two of the Good Friday agreement. As far as a | :20:53. | :21:01. | |
consideration of border controls, these are longer term issues. It's | :21:02. | :21:04. | |
more potent to do with the urgent things. For instance, the | :21:05. | :21:13. | |
administration up and running here and the need to agree a budget. They | :21:14. | :21:18. | |
need to put together a programme for the Government for the people here | :21:19. | :21:23. | |
are not around. Also, the imminent withdrawal of the UK from the | :21:24. | :21:29. | |
European Union. Anything else is premature and for the longer term. | :21:30. | :21:30. | |
Charlie Flanagan talking to reporters this afternoon. | :21:31. | :21:32. | |
And Rick has rejoined me for a final word. | :21:33. | :21:34. | |
Is the renewed debate over Scottish independence likely to influence | :21:35. | :21:36. | |
events in this part of the world over coming months? | :21:37. | :21:45. | |
It's certainly going to give a bit of a sprint to the step of | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
nationalists that are keen to propose and ferment the idea of the | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
border poll. I miss you mean that when she asked for permission, -- | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
I'm mushrooming of that when Nicola Sturgeon asks... They have turned or | :22:03. | :22:10. | |
see proposal. Interestingly enough, the polls in Scotland haven't | :22:11. | :22:13. | |
changed very much since the first referendum. For some time, there's | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
been a contingency about the UK as a state. We are a fluid state and not | :22:20. | :22:29. | |
a steady state. What this does is further warbles the extent to which | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
the union can hold. The centrifugal forces are recovered. Whether the | :22:36. | :22:42. | |
centripetal forces are, this will be a consequence of what the outcome of | :22:43. | :22:46. | |
the Brexit negotiations are. Chris saw it has a bearing on out? -- | :22:47. | :22:56. | |
sultanate has a bearing on as you? Brexit is not just a small evidently | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
from it large elephant in the room. It dominates. Nobody likes an | :23:01. | :23:11. | |
election more than you and me. The chances of another snap election? | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
I'd be very surprised if Brokenshire takes that step. He has forgotten | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
his opportunity to go to the White House. -- he has forgotten his | :23:22. | :23:29. | |
opportunity. My best guess would be that we have an extended period of | :23:30. | :23:37. | |
talks beyond this. If they fail, I suspect... We will see. Thank you | :23:38. | :23:40. | |
for now. That is it for tonight. Our next scheduled | :23:41. | :23:48. | |
Stormont Today isn't That's the deadline | :23:49. | :23:49. | |
for the nomination of the First Meantime, I'll be back | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
with The View on Thursday night The very embodiment of the England | :23:54. | :23:56. | |
that must emerge. I have my own path to follow. | :23:57. | :24:30. | |
Destiny. | :24:31. | :24:32. |