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Hello and welcome to the programme. Tonight, another top-notch panel is | :00:36. | :00:42. | |
here to tackle the big issues of the week. Sammy Wilson sits in the | :00:42. | :00:49. | |
Executive as the finance minister. Gerry Kelly is a Sinn Fein MLA in | :00:49. | :00:55. | |
Belfast. Deirdre Heenan belongs to the University of Ulster. Also | :00:55. | :01:05. | |
:01:05. | :01:13. | ||
drumming us tonight - David McWilliams, and then MLA for North | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
Antrim. Tonight's questions come from | :01:16. | :01:23. | |
members of our studio and audience. You can also have your say at home. | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
You can also phone and e-mail us, and you can tweet your comments to | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
us. The details on your screen now. Calls cost up to five pence per | :01:34. | :01:39. | |
minute from most land lines. Calls from mobiles may cost considerably | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
more. Our first question comes from Peter, | :01:42. | :01:52. | |
a church minister from Port Stewart. I want us the panel - is there | :01:52. | :01:58. | |
still an opportunity for leadership at Goodwood? Let us put that first | :01:58. | :02:03. | |
to Professor Deirdre Heenan. When I first heard about good word, my | :02:03. | :02:09. | |
initial reaction was, here we are, business as usual. A mix of | :02:09. | :02:14. | |
frustration, anger and dismay that we would seriously think of | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
conceding one of the core values of Northern Ireland, the allocation of | :02:18. | :02:25. | |
social housing. Incredible, given the its historical significance. | :02:25. | :02:30. | |
What we have to look at his watch to the possibilities here? How can | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
this be a catalyst for real change in north Belfast? There are still | :02:35. | :02:40. | |
possibilities, but we need to think big. We want to say, how can | :02:40. | :02:45. | |
bespeak a game changed, an area that has suffered so much over the | :02:45. | :02:51. | |
past 40, 80 years? What you want is a world class area, where | :02:52. | :02:58. | |
individuals who do not live in north Belfast will go to world | :02:58. | :03:03. | |
class leisure and facility services. It or not matter who lives in those | :03:03. | :03:09. | |
houses. It will be some would we want to go. What we cannot have is | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
a political carve up. If it looks like a car up, it smells like a car | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
up, it is a cup up. It is unacceptable. The politicians have | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
to realise that the people of Northern Ireland have moved on. We | :03:24. | :03:29. | |
do not on this sectarianism any more, and we do not both -- and we | :03:29. | :03:35. | |
do not one but as a legacy for our children. APPLAUSE. So you are | :03:35. | :03:39. | |
saying it is a car up, and due regard this as a missed | :03:39. | :03:46. | |
opportunity? We are going to have to think again. Many plans were | :03:46. | :03:51. | |
drawn by the apparent European funding, and the closure of that | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
funding. That is an example of hand to mouth policies. I think it is a | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
calf up, but what we want is a catalyst for the regeneration of a | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
terrier, to address the poverty that exists. I looked at what was | :04:06. | :04:12. | |
being proposed, and yes, that is on the right direction, but not enough. | :04:12. | :04:15. | |
We want people to think big and think outside the box and say, in | :04:15. | :04:21. | |
the future, this whole area will be a world class area for regeneration. | :04:21. | :04:27. | |
Sammy Wilson, a clear message there from to droop. If it looks like a | :04:27. | :04:34. | |
car but, it is. First double, many of her attitude to these things | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
will be influenced by what goes on in the news around us. For a number | :04:39. | :04:49. | |
:04:49. | :04:52. | ||
of years, two successive ministers failed to come to any conclusions. | :04:52. | :05:00. | |
One drove this fruit a week ago. This was been welcomed, not just by | :05:00. | :05:04. | |
two particular parties, but by all of the party's. This was agreed and | :05:04. | :05:11. | |
signed up to buy all of the parties in north Belfast, then it was | :05:11. | :05:15. | |
decided to stop playing politics. Here is a site - it is in the | :05:15. | :05:21. | |
middle of one of the most contested areas of Belfast. Yet 90% will be | :05:21. | :05:26. | |
designed in a way to insure that it is a shared space, attract people | :05:26. | :05:32. | |
from all sides of the community of north Belfast, it will be of such a | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
standard the people from outside the area will also be attracted to | :05:36. | :05:46. | |
:05:46. | :05:47. | ||
it. There are two areas of housing. But that is the whole point. It is | :05:47. | :05:53. | |
not. Here is a site, 90% of which will be developed with high class | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
facilities which will be shared by schools, Protestant and Catholic, | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
shed in terms of sports on offer, shared by the communities | :06:04. | :06:10. | |
surrounding that. I think that that in itself is an important facility | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
fought a deprived area. The fact will have two areas of housing | :06:15. | :06:20. | |
which currently... Many people have preached about this. I would like | :06:20. | :06:25. | |
to see them go from the leafy suburbs and live in mixed | :06:26. | :06:29. | |
communities in North Belfast. They preach about it, but were not | :06:29. | :06:36. | |
practise it. This is not a mixed community. This is two separate | :06:36. | :06:41. | |
segregated piecing of housing. present, we have to live with the | :06:41. | :06:45. | |
reality that we have. If you can make this a shared space, I do not | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
know what that housing will look like in 10 years' time. But we have | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
to start from where we are. Some of the people who preach about it do | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
not practise that integration too well. They live in safe areas and | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
do not have to worry about the tensions that revolve around those | :07:02. | :07:06. | |
areas. Some of your critics have asked the question - is this some | :07:07. | :07:14. | |
kind of car up for the Maze prison? They have been upset together and a | :07:14. | :07:19. | |
deal has been done between Sinn Fein and the do you people stop it | :07:19. | :07:27. | |
was initially agreed by all the parties. It was agreed that a | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
representative would be in north Belfast. Later on, they may well | :07:32. | :07:39. | |
have thought there was political advantage in taking that line. But | :07:39. | :07:44. | |
here is a site that lay neglected for a long time. A minister has | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
driven with the local communities and politicians a plan which may | :07:49. | :07:55. | |
well have some improvement, but tries to use this as they shared | :07:55. | :08:01. | |
space. Jim Allister, are you satisfied with that? It is both a | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
car up and a trade-off. The trade of I do believe is the Maze, were | :08:07. | :08:13. | |
suddenly, after stopping the stadium because of the affiliation | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
with the ugly prison buildings, suddenly, all of that which would | :08:19. | :08:26. | |
create a shrine, is now acceptable. We now have a project, a so-called | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
transformation and reconciliation centre. The key point of which is | :08:31. | :08:36. | |
the hospital wing, where the hunger strike took place, are kept under | :08:36. | :08:43. | |
an integral part of that. Some Sinn Fein politicians have boasted of | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
story telling. The very sort of thing which the DPP said they would | :08:49. | :08:58. | |
never accept because it would be... But you do not actually know that. | :08:58. | :09:08. | |
:09:08. | :09:10. | ||
One knows how this Government works. It is one trade-off against the | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
other. Sinn Fein were demanding hundreds of houses. They would not | :09:13. | :09:18. | |
move on that. Suddenly, they have conceded on that. What do they get | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
in return? It looks obvious to me. They got the Maze. This is the | :09:24. | :09:30. | |
trade-off. There is nothing about how this Executive functions. It is | :09:31. | :09:37. | |
the politics of trade-off, and maize is a classic example of that. | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
We the public were not even trusted to be told how many houses they | :09:41. | :09:45. | |
would build. And how was it launched? Very interesting. They | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
did not call a press conference. They brought their own photographer, | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
took their own photographs. Then they released the news about it. | :09:57. | :10:02. | |
They spent �4,000 of the taxpayers' money on employing the top of us to | :10:02. | :10:07. | |
take photographs of the Executive. They could not trust themselves to | :10:07. | :10:13. | |
be cross examined by the press. That is how they announced it. | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
do you respond to that? Or that, for him, is enough evidence that | :10:20. | :10:26. | |
this is a car up, and is what this Government is about. Is it? Is | :10:26. | :10:33. | |
there a deal between north Belfast and the Maze? Absolutely. | :10:33. | :10:43. | |
:10:43. | :10:48. | ||
Everything is a car up to Jim. I was involved in negotiations. At no | :10:48. | :10:53. | |
time was the Maze brought into this. In fact, the leadership in Sinn | :10:53. | :11:00. | |
Fein did not know where we were with it. It was a local issue. And | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
what amazes me a wee bit about this, I understand the cynicism and | :11:05. | :11:10. | |
scepticism, in any other circumstance, in north Belfast, | :11:10. | :11:16. | |
often described as a microcosm of the conflict, which has the most | :11:16. | :11:23. | |
number of peace walls in the north, and we make a breakthrough. A | :11:23. | :11:28. | |
potential breakthrough, in any case. A potential breakthrough for the | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
first time. We get parties diametrically opposed. All the | :11:33. | :11:40. | |
parties, because we have had five spokes people altogether, who did | :11:40. | :11:48. | |
sign up to this, who agreed to it, and for the record, I was the one | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
who did not want to do the press conference. We wanted the press | :11:53. | :11:58. | |
conference. It was then agreed, in fairness to him, that we would do a | :11:58. | :12:08. | |
:12:08. | :12:14. | ||
On the news for three days, he knows nothing about North Belfast. | :12:14. | :12:19. | |
On one hand he is talking about cutting 350 families, another is | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
200. Another is 220. This was never going to solve the problems. | :12:24. | :12:29. | |
Objective need is at the basis of Sinn Fein policy. Why did you then | :12:29. | :12:33. | |
roll back from a position were over 200 houses were going to be built | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
for nationalists in the area? elyou. You are not answering that | :12:37. | :12:41. | |
question. You are taking this site, you are talking about 27 acres. | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
It's 14 acres. The other 13 are in the jail, you can't build houses in | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
the jail. You were never going to solve the problem with that. What | :12:50. | :12:54. | |
you were able to do was builds on it where there hasn't been a brick | :12:55. | :12:59. | |
put down in six years. All the arguments against this is based on | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
the fact that in some way people want it to be a derelict site for | :13:03. | :13:09. | |
another ten years. The people of North Belfast deserve better. | :13:09. | :13:13. | |
the urgent need of housing on North Belfast on the nationalist side of | :13:13. | :13:19. | |
the house or the unionist side of the house There is a waiting list | :13:19. | :13:29. | |
:13:29. | :13:29. | ||
of 2,400 families. Of that, 90% are nationalist. That is not 90%, 10% | :13:29. | :13:37. | |
in terms of the housing build built. 200 other houses are being built in | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
North Belfast. We have houses up in the numbers there will be 700 in | :13:43. | :13:49. | |
the end. We are working in a lot of places to build houses. The | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
concentration of this argument ended up on one side. You cannot | :13:53. | :13:59. | |
just have housing without amenities. Three schools - Why have you given | :13:59. | :14:04. | |
up on the basic principles of need and equality? Three schools which | :14:04. | :14:09. | |
haven't had facilities for their children have them in the Girdwood | :14:09. | :14:15. | |
site. Why have you given up on the basic principles of need? I have | :14:15. | :14:24. | |
not. You have. No. Part of the SDLP are saying. That I haven't him | :14:24. | :14:31. | |
saying it was a great idea. He has more detail there are serious | :14:31. | :14:39. | |
issues he isn't happy with. Let's hear from David McWilliams. What do | :14:39. | :14:44. | |
you make of what has been very much dominating the agenda here over the | :14:44. | :14:48. | |
past week? If you look at it from the outside, to answer the | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
gentleman's question about vision and leadership. It seems | :14:51. | :14:55. | |
extraordinary, Mark, to me, absolutely extraordinary, that we | :14:55. | :15:01. | |
will still be talking about this, what from the outside this narsism | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
of small difference. If you say blacks live here and whites live | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
here. You would be, you can't do that in this day of age. It strikes | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
me as a southerner, married to a northerner, that the only way that | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
this con stphrict can be made normal is if you school children | :15:19. | :15:23. | |
together. Now, if you school children together you begin the | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
process of familiarisation, were people hang out together. They | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
realise, I'm of a southern Catholic background, married to my wife a | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
northern Protestant. My children don't have horns. They have normal | :15:38. | :15:42. | |
children. The only way you are going, to over the next ten years, | :15:42. | :15:47. | |
begin the process of normalisation is if the leaders of the various | :15:47. | :15:53. | |
different groups lead. And maybe, if you could put in the middle this | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
an integrated school were the children should go. Not an option, | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
but should go, so you have a responsibility as well with your | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
housing rights. Ultimately, Mark, if this doesn't happen, we will go | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
around the circle again and again much we will be here in 20 years | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
time and there will be another issue like this. I want to go to | :16:11. | :16:15. | |
the audience. In Girdwood you will have sports facilities which will | :16:15. | :16:20. | |
be used by Catholic schools and grammar schools. They will not have | :16:20. | :16:26. | |
an integrated school? No. They will have shared facilities that will | :16:26. | :16:32. | |
enable that interface. That is visionary. It's divided and you | :16:32. | :16:37. | |
begin the process of non-division at a young age were people realise | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
they are not that different. David, thank you very much. I want to go | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
to the audience. APPLAUSE | :16:44. | :16:51. | |
Let's hear from Peter who asked the question. What is your response? | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
appreciate David's point about visionary relationship and to start | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
it early. Integrated education seems the best way of doing that. | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
Do you believe there is a carve-up. Do you think there is a connection | :17:03. | :17:09. | |
between what is happening in North Belfast and the Maze? It haes's | :17:09. | :17:14. | |
hard for us on the outside to know. Will they do progressive steps and | :17:14. | :17:19. | |
change things up. We don't want the same scenario in ten to 15 years | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
time. On the left. I live in the North Belfast area, I would like | :17:26. | :17:30. | |
the decisions made on the interface issues as well as equality for | :17:30. | :17:35. | |
housing for all throughout Northern Ireland to be made in the Assembly. | :17:35. | :17:39. | |
The people who made that decision struggled for six years to come to | :17:40. | :17:46. | |
a decision which would accommodate some very ten yus issues in the | :17:46. | :17:51. | |
community. Is it a good decision? Yes. It's a good decision because | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
of the unique situation that happens in interfaces. The fact | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
that we have the two largest parties coming together for this | :17:57. | :18:01. | |
decision. I think the big thing is, why then, in two television | :18:01. | :18:10. | |
programmes, was that six years of negotiation allowed to be pushed | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
aside for a quick gimmick in the media. I think the media have acted | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
irresponsiblibly in this. I'm not quite sure what you are talking | :18:21. | :18:26. | |
about specifically. The most successful capital expenditure in | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
Belfast in recent times hasn't involved to any great degree | :18:30. | :18:35. | |
politicians or indeed social housing. Taking a greater | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
appreciation of the Girdwood development has no-one considered | :18:38. | :18:44. | |
that the University Ulster will decant less than 500 metres from | :18:44. | :18:49. | |
the Girdwood barracks, to get involvement from them would take | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
away contentiousness from that area? Part of the negotiations were | :18:55. | :18:59. | |
with the University of Ulster and they were offered to look at the | :18:59. | :19:06. | |
site and if they had any ideas. That conservation was done with | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
them drve conversation was done with them. It will be a catalyst | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
for regeneration and revive that whole area. That will have a knock- | :19:15. | :19:20. | |
on effect. We need clarity on the basic issue and the issue that | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
caused much contention. However many houses there are on that site, | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
will they be allocated on the basis of objective need? If we have an | :19:29. | :19:39. | |
:19:39. | :19:39. | ||
answer to that we can say there is an onus on the politicians and | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
whatever else ifs on that site will have to be top-class, and people | :19:43. | :19:46. | |
who don't live in the area will want to go there and people who | :19:46. | :19:50. | |
live in the area will have confidence and pride about their | :19:50. | :19:57. | |
communities. Will it be based on need? If you listen to Jonathan | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
Bell, the two of us are speaking the same language. The law say it | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
is has to be on need. Housing is allocated... Housing list comes | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
down to individuals. Housing is allocated on the basis of an | :20:13. | :20:18. | |
individual. If the individual has a need, it doesn't matter on their | :20:18. | :20:24. | |
religion or were where they come from, they should be offered that | :20:24. | :20:28. | |
house. Why wasn't the Housing Executive involved? Somebody over | :20:28. | :20:31. | |
here said the Ulster University should be avoid. The Housing | :20:31. | :20:36. | |
Executive may not of been involved. Isn't that just a little bit | :20:36. | :20:39. | |
surprising? No. You have to understand, I don't know why you | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
don't understand that parties who are so wide apart did not need | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
somewhere quie tote sit down and work through their differences and | :20:47. | :20:51. | |
come to a conclusion. Why don't you tell us how many houses. We don't | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
know the answer to that. We have been talking about people not | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
wanting to live together. You can see from the likes of Northern | :20:59. | :21:04. | |
Ireland Life and Times Survey that people do want to live together. | :21:04. | :21:08. | |
They don't want to move into old areas were they will be in a | :21:08. | :21:12. | |
minority and won't feel security. This was a new site with the | :21:12. | :21:15. | |
opportunity to allow people who wish to to live together. You've | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
screwed that up. Well done. APPLAUSE | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
Thanks very much. Our second question tonight. Thank you to | :21:25. | :21:30. | |
Peter for our first question. Next question is from Leanne Dunlop who | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
is an unemployed journalist from ball money. How can Northern | :21:34. | :21:39. | |
Ireland people be better placed to cope with the worsening eurozone | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
CrySys? David McWilliams? account people in Northern Ireland | :21:45. | :21:49. | |
be better placed? Because you have sterling. You are isolated in terms | :21:49. | :21:54. | |
of at least the exchange rate. What is happening in the euro zone is | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
that the euro economy has three major problems. It has too much | :21:58. | :22:02. | |
debt. It hasn't enough growth. It doesn't have any political | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
leadership. Now, you put those three together, no political | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
leadership, Germany pulling one way, France, Italy and Spain possibly | :22:11. | :22:16. | |
pulling the other way. You have too much debt, inherited from the last | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
ten years. You also have no growth in the economies. So, in economics, | :22:21. | :22:25. | |
the most important thing to do in a CrySys is really define your | :22:25. | :22:29. | |
reality. Not as you would like it to be, but as it actually is. It | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
strikes me that what you have is Germany wants to keep the euro in | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
place, because Germany does very well out of it. Germany trades with | :22:39. | :22:44. | |
the eurozone. Huge, huge trader and it sells. It also, because it's in | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
the eurozone, gets a subsidy. If its currency was the Deutschmark, | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
it is a used to be, it would be much, much stronger than it is. So, | :22:52. | :22:56. | |
for those two reasons, also now, in the CrySys, money is flowing out of | :22:56. | :23:01. | |
Ireland, flowing out of Spain, out of Italy into Germany. Germans are | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
getting low interest rates. It's like, it is interesting you are | :23:05. | :23:08. | |
talking about neighbourhoods. It's like a house-proud neighbour in a | :23:09. | :23:12. | |
bad neighbourhood. The Germans are the house-proud neighbour. They | :23:12. | :23:16. | |
have a lovely lawn. They wash their cars all the time. They fix the | :23:16. | :23:22. | |
gates. All around increasingly they are surrounded by delinquents. Even | :23:22. | :23:26. | |
the French are threatening to go rogue. The Germans are getting | :23:26. | :23:31. | |
worried. The question for the rest of us Europeans is what price the | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
Germans put on cleaning up the neighbourhood. I believe, as | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
somebody who watches this on a daily basis, that Germany is | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
prepared to pay a larger price than it's letting on, which is obvious. | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
The rest of Europe just hasn't quite figured out the exstopbt | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
which the Germans are prepared to pay. -- extent to which the Germans | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
are prepared to pay. That is the big bargain over the next two or | :23:58. | :24:01. | |
three months. If Greece chooses to leave the euro the CrySys gets | :24:01. | :24:07. | |
worse. In terms of Northern Ireland, what you have got is, to an extent, | :24:07. | :24:11. | |
you have the protection of being with sterling. Sterling has proved | :24:11. | :24:15. | |
itself to be, I think many people are surprised by this, reasonably | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
strong and stable in the face of what has been a pretty catastrophic | :24:20. | :24:25. | |
economic back drop over the last year. OK. Interesting and very | :24:25. | :24:29. | |
colourful analogy that you use there as far as the Germans are | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
concerned. You wrote a piece for the Financial Times today. I want | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
to hear from Sammy. Are you saying we are in a stronger position than | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
the Republic of Ireland, but we are maybe a little bit more vulnerable | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
that other parts of the UK? I think because of the trade with the South | :24:44. | :24:49. | |
is quite significant here. Also the general facing of industrial policy | :24:49. | :24:54. | |
is broadly the same, in terms of attracting inward investment etc. A, | :24:54. | :24:58. | |
we have the trade with the South, which most people see as | :24:59. | :25:03. | |
Sainsbury's in Newry. It's greater than that. You're not half as | :25:03. | :25:09. | |
exposed. You don't have a land boarder. You don't have a land | :25:09. | :25:13. | |
boarder, the rest doesn't have the euro zone. If Gordon Brown did | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
anything positive, it was those five tests he put in a couple of | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
years ago. I think the people in the UK are much better off outside | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
the euro than they would of been otherwise. Very interesting to hear | :25:24. | :25:32. | |
that. David, thank you very much. Do you share his analysis and the | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
position where Northern Ireland is as far as this CrySys is concerned? | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
It's significant that many of those people who were berating us for not | :25:41. | :25:47. | |
joining the euro are quiet on the issue. It was going to be an | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
economic disaster. David has said Germany is prepared to pay a price | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
to clean up the neighbourhood. But, the United Kingdom is being drawn | :25:55. | :25:58. | |
into that clean-up operation as well. That's having an impact on | :25:58. | :26:04. | |
our economy. It's estimated so far, through helping the euro stability | :26:04. | :26:10. | |
and also through the IMF, we have put �67 billion into supporting | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
euro countries. That's money which is being drained from spending in | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
our own economy. I think the first thing I would like to see is the | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
Government, I see it in the Queen's Speech, they have taken the first | :26:22. | :26:25. | |
steps saying, we are no longer going to be responsible for a mess | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
we aren't part of. Because of the existing situation in Europe, | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
European markets are not going to grow for a long time. One of the | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
things, which I think increasingly Northern Ireland firms must do, is | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
look at the growing markets. That is what Arlene Foster is doing, | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
India, China, Brazil, Africa some of those areas were growth is 8%, | :26:47. | :26:53. | |
9%. That is where the markets were. Would you like to see the euro | :26:53. | :27:03. | |
:27:03. | :27:07. | ||
The one thing however, the longer we keep trying to sustain an | :27:07. | :27:12. | |
unsustainable position, and money being lent to sustain that position, | :27:12. | :27:20. | |
we will respect growth in our own economy. -- restrict growth. And | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
then being able to restore competitiveness and get wet on the | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
Strait jacket that being part of the euro demands, like Greece. | :27:30. | :27:35. | |
agree, particularly with the last point. The weaker economies in | :27:35. | :27:41. | |
Europe are never going to prosper within the eurozone because it is | :27:41. | :27:48. | |
so arranged against all their interests. They joined, they had | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
different challenges and their economy, they had to subject their | :27:52. | :27:57. | |
entire economy to the central control of the European Central | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
Bank, they set their interest rates, they decided what they could borrow, | :28:03. | :28:08. | |
then they decided you could not borrow up above 3%. This said a | :28:08. | :28:14. | |
whole culture of borrowing, which the smaller countries borrowed, and | :28:14. | :28:19. | |
they are left in the position to pick up the pieces. They need to | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
have their own currencies again. They need to control their own | :28:24. | :28:31. | |
money supply, and maybe just begin to rebuild their economies. But | :28:31. | :28:37. | |
mile my, how thankful we should be, in the United Kingdom, but we never | :28:37. | :28:47. | |
:28:47. | :28:47. | ||
entered the folly of the eurozone! APPLAUSE. The key difficulty for | :28:47. | :28:52. | |
most people watching is the pace of change and uncertainty. We seemed | :28:52. | :28:56. | |
to be lurching from crisis to crisis, and it is very difficult to | :28:56. | :29:01. | |
know what will happen. The tectonic plates are shifting, and we do not | :29:01. | :29:05. | |
know what direction they are shifting. If we go back to the | :29:05. | :29:09. | |
example of Germany, it suits them to have a number of weaker | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
economies. They are happy to throw a few crumbs and the weaker | :29:12. | :29:18. | |
economies and keep the men. The bigger issue is, we have seen a | :29:18. | :29:25. | |
change of regime, in France, and we are all waiting on a political | :29:25. | :29:31. | |
election in Germany. Whatever Germany rejects austerity and goes | :29:31. | :29:35. | |
for a socialist government? Is the whole euro project back on? It was | :29:35. | :29:41. | |
not about the euro, it was about fiscal and monetary union. The | :29:41. | :29:47. | |
first thing they would say Thailand is, you have to adjust your | :29:47. | :29:55. | |
corporation tax. -- say to Ireland. Where are we, as far as Northern | :29:55. | :29:58. | |
Ireland is concerned? Would you like to see the Republic out of the | :29:58. | :30:04. | |
euro? I do not think that is what the referendum is about. It is | :30:04. | :30:14. | |
:30:14. | :30:14. | ||
about sovereignty. The strongest economy... We are also in the EU. | :30:14. | :30:21. | |
You cannot think we are immune. We are not. The referendum, taking | :30:21. | :30:28. | |
place on Thursday, is giving more sovereignty to it. But also to | :30:28. | :30:33. | |
Germany. Yes, we are against it. I do not know if we were when that | :30:33. | :30:41. | |
referendum, but they are looking at -- looking something like 6 billion | :30:41. | :30:51. | |
:30:51. | :30:53. | ||
out of the economy. Austerity could mean years on years. Let us go back | :30:53. | :31:00. | |
to Leeanne. Your thoughts on what we have heard so far? From my point | :31:00. | :31:07. | |
of view, an average everyday persona would do well to increase | :31:07. | :31:13. | |
their ties. Anybody else want to make a quick comment on this? Happy | :31:13. | :31:19. | |
to take your thoughts or not as the case may be. Gentlemen, in the | :31:19. | :31:28. | |
second row. I am asking Mr Kelly, would you still go into the urine | :31:29. | :31:38. | |
:31:39. | :31:47. | ||
now? -- into the euro? That is a different question. Balaam bustard | :31:47. | :31:57. | |
:31:57. | :31:57. | ||
the money. So, what faith is there for an economist now? We have | :31:57. | :32:05. | |
always argued for a relationship with Europe but Coventry. You are a | :32:05. | :32:11. | |
smaller country, it is more important. Let us move on to our | :32:11. | :32:18. | |
third question tonight.,. Should there be a bank holiday thought the | :32:18. | :32:28. | |
:32:28. | :32:31. | ||
Easter rising? LAUGHTER. Has it been raised around the Executive | :32:31. | :32:40. | |
table at Stormont? It may well have been. But yes, of course. We are | :32:40. | :32:47. | |
talking about partnership. There art Republicans who have a view of | :32:47. | :32:51. | |
things that that should be respected in the same way as issues | :32:51. | :33:00. | |
which affect Unionists. Absolutely not. There is no comparison between | :33:00. | :33:04. | |
the Diamond Jubilee of our sovereign in the United Kingdom and | :33:04. | :33:10. | |
some foreign, grubby field rebellion 100 years ago. There is | :33:10. | :33:18. | |
nothing to celebrate about that, other than the feeling. If they | :33:18. | :33:23. | |
want a celebrated, celebrating. Celebrate it in the Republic of | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
Ireland, not Northern Ireland. In Northern Ireland we do have | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
something we should be celebrating - the centenary of the Ulster | :33:32. | :33:37. | |
Covenant, which was part of the building blocks of Northern Ireland. | :33:37. | :33:41. | |
When it was the 50th anniversary, there was a public holiday in | :33:41. | :33:46. | |
Northern Ireland to market, but under Sinn Fein rule, there will be | :33:46. | :33:51. | |
no public holiday to mark the centenary. But Nadal, there will be | :33:52. | :34:01. | |
:34:02. | :34:02. | ||
moves to get a public holiday to celebrate the 1916 rising. I repute | :34:02. | :34:12. | |
D8 the comparison. You cannot a me everything you agree with should be | :34:12. | :34:21. | |
celebrating! Or that is not what I am saying. We celebrate the Diamond | :34:21. | :34:26. | |
Jubilee of our sovereign. If there is another country which thinks | :34:26. | :34:30. | |
there is an important event in our history, then they can celebrated | :34:30. | :34:37. | |
for as long and in whatever manner they choose. I think Jim's answer | :34:37. | :34:41. | |
an attitude highlights why we need to think very carefully about the | :34:41. | :34:44. | |
very important commemorations coming up over the next number of | :34:44. | :34:48. | |
years and how we would deal with them. And how we deal with them in | :34:48. | :34:55. | |
a way which respects diversity and different communities. To refer to | :34:55. | :35:00. | |
something as rubbery and derogatory language, does not move fast | :35:00. | :35:10. | |
:35:10. | :35:11. | ||
forward one iota. APPLAUSE. We do have to make a distinction between | :35:11. | :35:15. | |
things which pertain to the United Kingdom and events which may be | :35:15. | :35:19. | |
important to Republicans, but which pertain to another country. If we | :35:19. | :35:24. | |
will have days in which we set aside, for celebration, then they | :35:24. | :35:31. | |
should be pertinent to our own country. The Americans celebrate | :35:31. | :35:37. | |
fourth July. We do not expected to be a public holiday here. The same | :35:37. | :35:42. | |
as Bastille Day in France, an important day for the French. The | :35:42. | :35:52. | |
:35:52. | :35:53. | ||
Queen's Jubilee is important in the UK. The 1916 rising is something | :35:53. | :35:58. | |
which is pertinent to the history of another sovereign country, which | :35:58. | :36:06. | |
happens to Sir the same island as we do. Indeed, if people in | :36:06. | :36:09. | |
Northern Ireland field and affiliation, I am sure they can | :36:09. | :36:13. | |
think of appropriate ways in which that can be done. I personally | :36:13. | :36:17. | |
would not take the view they should not have the right to celebrate, | :36:17. | :36:20. | |
but I do not think it should be given the same status as something | :36:20. | :36:27. | |
which is naturally important to the UK. How significant is it that | :36:27. | :36:37. | |
:36:37. | :36:38. | ||
Martin McGuinness will consider a proposal to market give it? People | :36:38. | :36:43. | |
ask, is there no vision in Northern Ireland? Peter Robinson has sought | :36:43. | :36:48. | |
ways to reach out to be nationalist and republican community to show we | :36:48. | :36:53. | |
want to work our way forward, and has taken steps to do that. I hope | :36:53. | :37:03. | |
:37:03. | :37:03. | ||
that Martin McGuinness will reciprocate the steps. Jim, you | :37:03. | :37:13. | |
:37:13. | :37:32. | ||
already seller but something that APPLAUSE. If you want to get into | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
the politics of insults and slurs, it does not bring you forward at | :37:37. | :37:47. | |
:37:47. | :37:50. | ||
all. The battle of the Boyne was of European significance. It was | :37:50. | :37:54. | |
particularly of significance to the formation and constitutional | :37:54. | :37:59. | |
formation of this United Kingdom, because at the same time, the bill | :37:59. | :38:09. | |
of Rights was made. But you take his broader point but it is more | :38:09. | :38:14. | |
complicated than you suggested. There is nothing for me to | :38:14. | :38:19. | |
celebrate in a 1916 rising in another place. With the respect, it | :38:19. | :38:24. | |
is not about you celebrating. It is about allowing other people to | :38:24. | :38:32. | |
celebrate. That is deep one! If you are saying to me that a rebellion | :38:32. | :38:39. | |
by Irish rebels, akin to the murderous activities of the IRA, | :38:39. | :38:46. | |
should be celebrated in Northern Ireland, then I'm sorry. I do not | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
agree. This is not about you! This is about the future everyone. | :38:51. | :39:01. | |
us go back to collar. I agree with what jury was saying. On the same | :39:01. | :39:10. | |
basis at the Jubilee? Yes. I am from Northern Ireland, but I hold | :39:10. | :39:18. | |
an Irish passport. I call myself a proud Irish Republican. I do not | :39:18. | :39:23. | |
care whether it you support the butler Boyne or not, but I am an | :39:23. | :39:29. | |
Irish republican. I am proud of the Easter rebellion. I am not pursuing | :39:29. | :39:33. | |
anything on you. I warned not to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee | :39:33. | :39:39. | |
because I do not recognise her. you want to dawn in the | :39:39. | :39:44. | |
celebrations, you can go to Dublin to do that. Let me tell you, north, | :39:44. | :39:51. | |
east, south or west, I have an Irish passport. Would you support | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
it on the same basis as the Diamond Jubilee? Certainly. Quick comment | :39:57. | :40:01. | |
from the gentleman in the back road. Just because Jim it does not | :40:01. | :40:06. | |
appreciate what happened in 1916, does he believe any Republican does | :40:06. | :40:11. | |
not have the right to celebrate anything he believes in? I think | :40:11. | :40:17. | |
Jim has answered that already. Thank you for raising the question. | :40:17. | :40:23. | |
Next question from David Nickson, a community volunteer. With the power | :40:23. | :40:33. | |
:40:33. | :40:40. | ||
and agree about action? I think there is a very sorry history of | :40:40. | :40:45. | |
foreign intervention. We can all lament the dreadful situation in | :40:45. | :40:55. | |
:40:55. | :40:56. | ||
Syria, the huge humanitarian disaster that it is. But when | :40:56. | :41:00. | |
military intervention has been done in the past, getting in has been | :41:00. | :41:05. | |
easy. Sorting out has been difficult. Getting a has been even | :41:05. | :41:15. | |
:41:15. | :41:15. | ||
more difficult. We need sobriety with this matter. The international | :41:15. | :41:22. | |
community need to maximise all the pressure it can on the Syrian | :41:22. | :41:31. | |
regime and, hopefully, in due course, that might bring delivery. | :41:31. | :41:36. | |
But if anyone intervenes, it has to be international, not just in | :41:36. | :41:42. | |
intervention by components. We have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan the | :41:42. | :41:49. | |
country's left to carry the can. How does the situation in Syria | :41:49. | :41:58. | |
You could construct an argument for Libya and Syria. I'm cautioning it | :41:59. | :42:03. | |
is easier to get in, harder to get out. We want to do what we can. We | :42:03. | :42:08. | |
need to be careful about launching in without too much thought. Sammy? | :42:08. | :42:14. | |
I fear that the example that you gave, Mark, of what happened in | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
Libya may well act as a catalyst for intervention in Syria. I think | :42:18. | :42:23. | |
we were lucky we got out of Libya as easily as what we did get out of | :42:23. | :42:27. | |
that situation. We could of been dragged into something much more | :42:27. | :42:32. | |
protracted, etc. We have to get to the point - when we see the | :42:32. | :42:37. | |
shocking pictures that there have been about bodies strewn across the | :42:37. | :42:42. | |
street and the atrocities, etc, of course, naturally, people say we | :42:42. | :42:45. | |
shouldn't allow this to happen. We have to be careful that, as a | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
country, we do not have the resources to become the conscience | :42:49. | :42:57. | |
of the world and the policeman of the world. To intervene in | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
situations which, you know we put our own citizens at danger in and | :43:02. | :43:06. | |
sometimes we really don't have a very clear way of getting out. We | :43:06. | :43:11. | |
don't know what the outcome is going to be. The Government has | :43:11. | :43:16. | |
taken the right attitude wesm have put diplomatic pressure. Diplomatic | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
expulsion, do they have any effect? I think they will have an effect. I | :43:20. | :43:25. | |
think by doing that we also will help to consolidate, perhaps, more | :43:25. | :43:29. | |
international action in Syria, but I think we have to be extremely | :43:29. | :43:34. | |
careful. I would be the same as Jim, I would urge caution because the | :43:34. | :43:38. | |
gung ho attitude that some political leaders had in the United | :43:38. | :43:42. | |
Kingdom, were they felt they had to have a good war to show they were a | :43:42. | :43:49. | |
good political leader and left many broken lives behind them. We are in | :43:49. | :43:53. | |
danger of consensus. I agree with the last two speakers. I think we | :43:53. | :43:56. | |
have to be very careful in any intervention. All the evidence is | :43:56. | :44:01. | |
there that it doesn't work. I do think that diplomatic pressure is | :44:01. | :44:06. | |
very, very important. It has worked in the past. It should continue to | :44:06. | :44:14. | |
be put on. If there is truly, the true judgment, I think the Speaker | :44:14. | :44:18. | |
said, "if needs be", how do you work out what that is? The true | :44:18. | :44:23. | |
reading of what is happening in any country is the popular uprising is | :44:23. | :44:28. | |
the fact that the people themselves turn against their government in a | :44:28. | :44:32. | |
democratic way and replace them. That has also happened. I don't | :44:32. | :44:37. | |
think can jump in front of the people in any of these cases. | :44:37. | :44:40. | |
Deirdre Heenan j gentleman I would agree with what has been said. The | :44:41. | :44:44. | |
UK has had their fingers burnt. We know the difficulties of jumping in. | :44:44. | :44:48. | |
You get in and you can't get out. We were lucky to get out. This time, | :44:48. | :44:52. | |
what we have to do is say, what is available to us other than saying | :44:52. | :44:56. | |
it's up to us to come in as the white knight on the charger. We | :44:57. | :45:00. | |
have to change public opinions. I think we have to raise awareness. | :45:00. | :45:04. | |
What surprises me is how many people are unaware of what's going | :45:04. | :45:08. | |
on in Syria. It isn't making the front pages of the newspapers. It | :45:08. | :45:13. | |
has over the last few days? Until that. The tipping point was the | :45:13. | :45:18. | |
atrocities at the weekend because it avoided children. There were | :45:18. | :45:22. | |
atrocities on a daily basis and people didn't want to talk about it. | :45:22. | :45:26. | |
This is a tipping point and changing our attitudes and say we | :45:26. | :45:34. | |
need to ensure we we put as much diplomatic pressure. We will see | :45:34. | :45:39. | |
this because Russia is moving away. Libya's many ally was Silvio | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
Berlusconi. Other than it was an isolated country with trade links | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
to Europe. Syria sits in the middle of an alliance of Iran, Russia and | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
China. All of which stand behind, whether we like it or not, the | :45:54. | :45:57. | |
Syrian regime. Against that background is the American fear | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
that Iran, through Iraq, and into the Shia Muslims in Syria and into | :46:02. | :46:08. | |
Lebanon are created an arc of Shia Muslims. It's really complicated. | :46:08. | :46:14. | |
The great tragedy of Syria is that Syria is only a pawn in a huge game | :46:14. | :46:19. | |
were China wants oil, were Russia wants influence and were Iran wants | :46:19. | :46:24. | |
domination. Against that background I think it is a totally different | :46:24. | :46:30. | |
case, not only to Libya, but to possibly also to Iraq earlier on. | :46:30. | :46:36. | |
OK. Thank you very much David. David Nixon who asked the question. | :46:36. | :46:40. | |
My opinion is, if Britain or any other nation in the world could | :46:40. | :46:44. | |
help, they should because all life should be valued. There is innocent | :46:44. | :46:48. | |
people dying in the streets now as we're speaking. You think more | :46:48. | :46:56. | |
needs to be done you are not satisfied with diplomatic expulsion. | :46:56. | :47:00. | |
Expulsion people into fancy hotels who are not leaving the country | :47:00. | :47:05. | |
they are being expelled from isn't going to do any good. What about | :47:05. | :47:13. | |
Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya? Well, I agree with military action them. It | :47:13. | :47:16. | |
has helped people out and built towns and cities. I would do the | :47:16. | :47:24. | |
same thing again. Our next question from Orla, a student in Carrickmor. | :47:24. | :47:29. | |
I would like to ask, what is going to happen to the lost generation? | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
OK, the lost generation. Which we have talked about a lot. What do | :47:36. | :47:40. | |
you think the lost generation is and what can be done for people who | :47:40. | :47:43. | |
are coming out of school without qualifications in many instances, | :47:43. | :47:47. | |
finding it very hard to get into the workplace? Even people with | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
qualifications seriously struggling at the moment? Seriously struggling. | :47:51. | :47:55. | |
What we are find something that young people are being | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
disproportionately affected by decisions made by adults that they | :47:58. | :48:03. | |
had no part of. They are in the difficult position of having gained | :48:03. | :48:05. | |
qualifications and finding there is nowhere for them. We are working | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
hard with a number of schemes to address that. Within the University | :48:09. | :48:13. | |
of Ulster we place great value on student placements. Placements | :48:13. | :48:17. | |
within the workplace. So that the students can get an idea of what | :48:17. | :48:21. | |
work is like. What the skills are like. They can decide what is for | :48:21. | :48:25. | |
them. The employers know what the students have to offer and we | :48:25. | :48:31. | |
describe our students in many ways as, "oven ready", they have valued | :48:31. | :48:35. | |
experienced within the workplace. We also have to increase the number | :48:35. | :48:39. | |
of apprenticeships and ensure that the employers are well bought into | :48:39. | :48:41. | |
the apprenticeship schemes because this is about ensuring that the | :48:41. | :48:46. | |
skills that we have in our workforce are matched to what our | :48:46. | :48:48. | |
employers need. It is a disgrace that, yes, of course, that people | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
are coming out, they are coming out with student loans and debts and | :48:52. | :48:57. | |
they can't find jobs. There are many ways that our local Assembly | :48:57. | :49:03. | |
can try to address some of these issues by promoting schemes such as | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
the Halo Scheme, such as schemes that the Northern Ireland Science | :49:07. | :49:10. | |
Park to ensure that the young people have the skills which are | :49:10. | :49:14. | |
appropriate for the labour market. Is the Executive doing enough? | :49:14. | :49:18. | |
Couldn't it do more to help young people struggling at the moment? | :49:18. | :49:22. | |
People will always want you to do more. First of all, youth | :49:23. | :49:26. | |
unemployment in Northern Ireland is lower than the UK average. Youth | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
unemployment has fallen over the last year while it has gone | :49:29. | :49:33. | |
newspaper other parts of the United Kingdom. That is as a result of | :49:33. | :49:36. | |
some of the interventions that Deirdre Heenan has talked about. | :49:36. | :49:40. | |
When it comes to public procurement there is a require am on anyone who | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
win as tender to take on apresent sis and to give people the | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
opportunities to get started and get skills. The amount of money we | :49:49. | :49:54. | |
have put into schemes to help with youth unemployment has increased. | :49:54. | :50:03. | |
Indeed, Stephen Farry is drawing up a youth employment strategy which | :50:03. | :50:06. | |
will come to the Assembly soon. lot of young people are leaving | :50:06. | :50:09. | |
Northern Ireland to find work elsewhere? There are. Equally, we | :50:09. | :50:15. | |
have done a number of things. I'm outlined some of them, which is | :50:15. | :50:19. | |
alleviating the problem here in Northern Ireland. We have tried to | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
ensure that students leave university in Northern Ireland with | :50:22. | :50:26. | |
less student debt because we have held down student fees. Making | :50:26. | :50:31. | |
training at that level more attractive to them. It's a problem | :50:31. | :50:35. | |
here and down South? A problem all over the world. If you look at | :50:35. | :50:39. | |
particularly the United States the companies that create most jobs in | :50:39. | :50:44. | |
the United States are companies that employ between five and ten | :50:44. | :50:48. | |
people. This is were jobs are being created. Big companies are | :50:48. | :50:51. | |
destroying jobs around the world. Small companies are were it's at. | :50:51. | :50:54. | |
The companies that created most jobs are companies between one and | :50:54. | :50:59. | |
two years old. It's young, small companies. So that is creating jobs. | :50:59. | :51:02. | |
That is what is absorbing in particularly unemployed younger | :51:02. | :51:09. | |
people. The question you have to do, how do you make a situation were | :51:09. | :51:12. | |
you incentivise small companies to go into business. Here in the North, | :51:12. | :51:17. | |
or in the South. The South has used the tax system effect nifl a | :51:17. | :51:22. | |
variety of ways. For example, maybe Sammy could think about the �60 | :51:22. | :51:25. | |
million you have to spend in your back pocket. You might think of | :51:25. | :51:30. | |
maybe putting together something like a tax holiday for companies | :51:30. | :51:35. | |
that are setup in order to employ three or four people for four or | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
five years. You create the incentive to go into business | :51:39. | :51:42. | |
because something like this can work extraordinarily well in small | :51:42. | :51:45. | |
countries. The interesting thing about small countries is | :51:45. | :51:49. | |
individuals matter enormously. People who step up to the plate | :51:49. | :51:54. | |
matter enormously. If you give incentive. There is a company in | :51:54. | :52:04. | |
Newry called first Derivities. If they can do it in Newry, they can | :52:04. | :52:12. | |
do it better in there than in New York. | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
APPLAUSE Briefly, if you would? Two quick | :52:16. | :52:20. | |
points. There is no easy answer. I think we all know. That there are | :52:20. | :52:26. | |
schemes like Steps to Work, to help people who are really quite | :52:26. | :52:32. | |
unskilled. I think the real question is, are the schemes | :52:32. | :52:40. | |
matching the skills to the jobs? I think that's were the disparity is. | :52:40. | :52:43. | |
Thra are maybe soms jobs which aren't being matched to the skills. | :52:43. | :52:48. | |
The second thing, is picking up on the last point about small being | :52:48. | :52:54. | |
beautiful. For too long in Northern Ireland I think, yes, FDIs are | :52:54. | :52:58. | |
important, we pursued the glamour side of things with foreign direct | :52:58. | :53:03. | |
investment and ignored too much of our small industry were much of our | :53:03. | :53:07. | |
employment lies. Very quickly, if you would? An interesting point | :53:07. | :53:12. | |
that David makes and Sammy will remember this. There is a finance | :53:12. | :53:18. | |
project within Europe which allows up to �20,000 as a grant to young | :53:18. | :53:24. | |
people. The problem is the partnership. You have to get the | :53:24. | :53:27. | |
financial institutions to partner people in small and medium | :53:28. | :53:31. | |
enterprises. 90% of all business is small or medium enterprise. It's a | :53:31. | :53:35. | |
reflection of what you are saying about the outside world. Thank you | :53:35. | :53:41. | |
very much. Orla, a final comment. Are you satisfied? There should be | :53:41. | :53:46. | |
a bigger emphasis on bringing schemes with the likes of coming | :53:46. | :53:48. | |
out with education and qualifications should be getting | :53:48. | :53:54. | |
jobs at the end of it. You think it's a big problem? Yeah. One last | :53:54. | :54:04. | |
:54:04. | :54:04. | ||
question, if we are quick. Has the Eurovision Song Contest become too | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
political for the UK and Ireland to win again? That's the serious | :54:09. | :54:19. | |
:54:19. | :54:20. | ||
question of the night. What happened to Jed ward and enge ange | :54:20. | :54:24. | |
elBert. It was the flat hair that got them. It a fair question after | :54:24. | :54:30. | |
watching. Maybe it's down to the talent of the offerings that we | :54:30. | :54:40. | |
:54:40. | :54:46. | ||
present. They said they were going to win. They came 18th. The British | :54:46. | :54:52. | |
entry came 4 1st. I wasn't watching. Not very good. Has it become | :54:52. | :54:56. | |
political, seriously? It seems to me, Ireland won it six times in a | :54:56. | :55:00. | |
row, I think it came to the point were countries are trying to avoid | :55:00. | :55:05. | |
hosting it. It has passed its sell- by-date. I don't know if it's | :55:05. | :55:08. | |
talent. I didn't watch it, I didn't watch it last year or the year | :55:08. | :55:12. | |
before. I have no great interest. I don't think it's political, it's | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
lost its edge anyway. Is it because people don't like the UK, is that | :55:17. | :55:23. | |
why they are not voting? I wouldn't say that. I think... What would you | :55:23. | :55:28. | |
say? I don't know whether it's become too political. It's become | :55:28. | :55:33. | |
too farcical to even want to win. It's something which I think is | :55:33. | :55:41. | |
well past its sell-by-date. Were you not charmed by the Russian | :55:41. | :55:45. | |
grannies? To enthralled I didn't watch them. I'm told they were the | :55:45. | :55:50. | |
only act worth watching. It has really gone beyond a serious | :55:50. | :55:57. | |
competition. The voting within it is political. That undermines it | :55:57. | :56:01. | |
further. Sammy? I couldn't tell you. I didn't know it was on until | :56:01. | :56:05. | |
tonight when I saw it in the briefing. Whether it's political or | :56:05. | :56:12. | |
not. Europe can make everything political, even songs. You didn't | :56:12. | :56:16. | |
watch Jedward? I didn't know it was on. On Saturday with the sun | :56:16. | :56:21. | |
shining I spent it out in the garden. What I want to know, did | :56:21. | :56:27. | |
you watch it when it was all about Abba and the Brotherhood of Man. | :56:27. | :56:34. | |
I quite like Abba. I still liked Abba. It was a Swedish band, woman | :56:34. | :56:40. | |
that won this time roun. Not Abba. I thought in this Executive he | :56:40. | :56:47. | |
liked all kinds of everything. it's money I like! Were you | :56:47. | :56:52. | |
watching? I didn't see. It I was out at the Mayor's Ball. That is a | :56:52. | :57:01. | |
different story! I think it's lost its shine. It's not a song | :57:01. | :57:04. | |
competition any more. It's a dressing competition. There was a | :57:04. | :57:11. | |
time when people felt they wanted to compete to win now it's | :57:11. | :57:21. | |
:57:21. | :57:22. | ||
something that people have parties in their house to watch. Losing to | :57:22. | :57:26. | |
Ulster would of been tragic. Some people were breathing a shy of | :57:26. | :57:34. | |
relief that Jedward didn't get beyond 18th. Thank you to our pan | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
Elf guests and our student audience. Thank you to you at home for | :57:39. | :57:45. |