Browse content similar to 18/03/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Two weeks and counting, the candidates to be the next Ulster | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
Unionists leader have started their campaign. We ask how they plan to | :01:42. | :01:52. | |
:01:52. | :01:52. | ||
Apology for the loss of subtitles for 1700 seconds | :01:52. | :30:12. | |
deny it -- United the be divided Welcome to Sunday Politics in | :30:12. | :30:16. | |
Northern Ireland. The battle for the Ulster Unionist leadership | :30:16. | :30:19. | |
became a two-horse race when the favourite, Danny Kennedy, decided | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
not to enter the running. Now it is a contest between John McCallister | :30:24. | :30:29. | |
and Mike Nesbitt. Who can restore the fortunes of a party in decline? | :30:29. | :30:33. | |
Also, as the excitement builds to London 2012, are there lessons to | :30:33. | :30:38. | |
be learned from our failure to gain from games? Those companies will | :30:38. | :30:42. | |
have that experience and I have no doubt they will get feedback. If | :30:42. | :30:45. | |
they don't, they should and learn lessons from where they are going | :30:45. | :30:53. | |
next and what to do next. With an 11% pay rise for a MLAs on the way? | :30:53. | :30:56. | |
Which one got a respectable result in their school report? Find out in | :30:56. | :31:05. | |
60 seconds. With me for the next 30 minutes is | :31:05. | :31:08. | |
Professor Pete Shirlow from Queen's University and the News Letter's | :31:08. | :31:15. | |
Sam McBride. Let's talk about the contest. What do you think the | :31:15. | :31:20. | |
Ulster Unionists can do to halt the decline in the party's fortunes? | :31:20. | :31:25. | |
is a significant decline, they have lost around 90,000 votes in 1990 -- | :31:25. | :31:30. | |
since 1998. They have to do a massive thing to claim back those | :31:30. | :31:34. | |
boats. They need to start with where the votes go. About half of | :31:34. | :31:39. | |
them probably went to the DUP. They realise that there is a significant | :31:40. | :31:43. | |
Unionist electorate which has become this interested at is not | :31:43. | :31:48. | |
articulating any desire to engage with politics. -- has become this | :31:48. | :31:55. | |
interested at is not. They have to build a base but they also have to | :31:55. | :32:02. | |
discuss our opinions. They need to find out where these voters went | :32:02. | :32:07. | |
away. There is an opportunity, it is about bringing people to the | :32:07. | :32:11. | |
electorate. A surprise that Danny Kennedy pulled out. The rumours | :32:11. | :32:15. | |
were going round all week. Was it too much of a poisoned chalice for | :32:15. | :32:20. | |
him? I think he just did not want to run. If he had decided to go for | :32:20. | :32:26. | |
it, he would have got a vote. He probably felt that Mike Nesbitt had | :32:27. | :32:33. | |
support swinging behind him and that he expected to come behind. | :32:33. | :32:40. | |
People might Mike Nesbitt decided to speak to the impartial reporter. | :32:40. | :32:44. | |
He's courted voters have been Fermanagh. If he had decided to run | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
he would have got a significant challenge is and decided he did not | :32:48. | :32:53. | |
want it, for whatever reason. It will be the fastest of | :32:53. | :32:57. | |
leadership races. In two weeks' time we will know who is in charge. | :32:57. | :33:02. | |
We would have liked to debate the issues head to head but the leaders | :33:02. | :33:07. | |
of the Ulster Unionist Party are insisting on separate interviews. | :33:07. | :33:14. | |
First stop, Mike Nesbitt and could he be the next party leader? Before | :33:14. | :33:17. | |
head -- that, let's to get his journey from broadcasters and | :33:17. | :33:23. | |
politicians. -- let's look at. It was as a sports reporter that | :33:23. | :33:27. | |
Mike Nesbitt made his name. He began his career at the BBC, maybe | :33:27. | :33:32. | |
two UTV in 1992, where he remained for 14 years. He announced he was | :33:33. | :33:37. | |
not renewing his contract and after a break, he re-emerged as a | :33:37. | :33:42. | |
Victims' Commission a, a post he resigned from in 2010. -- Victims' | :33:42. | :33:49. | |
Commission Now. He was a party for the ill-fated Conservative and | :33:49. | :33:54. | |
Ulster Unionist alliance. He lost out to Jim Shannon but was elected | :33:54. | :33:58. | |
as the representative for Strangford in 2011. The nine months | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
later he is in the running to become leader of the party. Back | :34:01. | :34:05. | |
his campaign launch in Stormont, he was black by supporters, including | :34:05. | :34:13. | |
his wife and former TV presenter, Lynda Bryans. Last time, the party | :34:13. | :34:17. | |
mood was for continuity. It appears the party mood today is for change. | :34:17. | :34:23. | |
That is why I am standing, to offer a change to revive and revitalise | :34:23. | :34:32. | |
this party. Mike Nesbitt joins us now. You are just in the door of | :34:32. | :34:35. | |
the Ulster Unionist Party and Stormont. What makes you want to be | :34:35. | :34:41. | |
leader? I am sensing in the last week, when Tom shock does with his | :34:41. | :34:46. | |
announcement that he was going to leave, I was in listening mode and | :34:46. | :34:50. | |
I travel as much as I could around the country. It took a lot of calls | :34:50. | :34:55. | |
and messages. It is surprising, to the point of shocking for some | :34:55. | :35:02. | |
people in the Ulster Unionist, and inspiring, but there is a mood | :35:02. | :35:09. | |
Albarn -- among the membership for change. It is not passive, it is a | :35:09. | :35:18. | |
very positive, we won't change. -- we won't change. After 14 years of | :35:18. | :35:24. | |
taking a bashing because of 1998, our membership is saying, it is | :35:24. | :35:28. | |
over, we want to be positive, we want to hold our heads up, we want | :35:28. | :35:33. | |
to say I am proud to be an Ulster Unionists because I believe in | :35:33. | :35:36. | |
values which are for the benefit of all the people of Northern Ireland. | :35:36. | :35:41. | |
This party is back. It could be let that in a different way and seen as | :35:41. | :35:45. | |
a sad reflection on a party that has been no one in its -- has no | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
one in its ranks it believes can take the party forward and someone | :35:48. | :35:54. | |
from the outside? I am not from the outside. You have had a career as a | :35:54. | :35:58. | |
broadcaster. Is that a bad thing? Is it a bad thing not to have your | :35:58. | :36:03. | |
fingerprints over the last 14 years? We used to have 10 MPs and | :36:03. | :36:08. | |
now we have none. Many people are looking and saying, here is a guy | :36:08. | :36:13. | |
who has got different ideas and it is the mood. It is not about the | :36:13. | :36:16. | |
person. They should not be about their leader. It is about capturing | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
the mood of the party and it wants to change positively. What you have | :36:22. | :36:27. | |
set answer for does not sound like change. You do not want to go into | :36:27. | :36:32. | |
opposition, or of tea Unionist Unity, it sounds similar to what we | :36:32. | :36:42. | |
:36:42. | :36:42. | ||
have had? -- of Ulster Unionist unity. I want to bring in an | :36:42. | :36:46. | |
opposition. 14 years ago we could not have possibly survive with a | :36:46. | :36:54. | |
government in opposition. Is that not unlikely because the DUP and | :36:54. | :37:00. | |
Sinn Fein will foot against it? 1998, everybody had a chance to | :37:00. | :37:03. | |
vote in a referendum. There has been significant change, with the | :37:03. | :37:10. | |
St Andrews Agreement. There is small change, in. -- there is more | :37:10. | :37:14. | |
change coming. I would like a referendum on the major | :37:14. | :37:18. | |
constitutional changes that have occurred since 1998 in the Belfast | :37:18. | :37:25. | |
Agreement. Put it to be people, other parties. If they vote along | :37:25. | :37:28. | |
the lines that they voted on to a man, they will say no to opposition | :37:28. | :37:33. | |
and to keep what they have at the moment. They are the party getting | :37:33. | :37:40. | |
support. I was elected by just under 50% of the electorate. I have | :37:40. | :37:46. | |
to reach out of them. In the last two years, when I have fought | :37:46. | :37:50. | |
elections, people come up and say good luck. They have coming up and | :37:50. | :37:53. | |
they have not been thing good luck, they have said good luck and you | :37:53. | :38:03. | |
have to do this, we are be hind the -- behind you. In yesterday's News | :38:03. | :38:06. | |
Letter you mention two policies, getting rid of commissions and | :38:06. | :38:09. | |
quangos and getting were fixed rates for young people. Is that it? | :38:09. | :38:15. | |
No, that is not it. Economy is it, absolutely. I think we could do a | :38:15. | :38:20. | |
lot better. What I would like to have seen coming out of the | :38:20. | :38:23. | |
economic strategy is a message to be unemployed that we will try and | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
get 60,000 new jobs. That sends a message to be 60,000 unemployed, | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
you have less than a one in two chance of your government securing | :38:32. | :38:37. | |
you a job. People might argue 25,000 is more realistic. For some | :38:37. | :38:46. | |
observers, it is not likely? not be aspirational? Let's build a | :38:46. | :38:51. | |
private sector are so poor fund -- so powerful and profitable that we | :38:51. | :38:55. | |
depend less on the block grant, because we have built our own | :38:55. | :38:59. | |
economy that is so robust that we are doing fine. Do you think you | :38:59. | :39:04. | |
will win? That is up to the 2000 members of the Ulster Unionist | :39:04. | :39:09. | |
Party. If they want me. I was at church last Sunday and the sermon | :39:09. | :39:17. | |
was based on the idea that if it is supposed to be, it will happen. | :39:17. | :39:23. | |
you expecting a dirty fight? I do not think there is any evidence it | :39:23. | :39:28. | |
will be a dirty fight. No one in politics set out on a leadership | :39:28. | :39:33. | |
campaign for it to be a dirty fight. This time, the two candidates are | :39:33. | :39:37. | |
much more similar to each other than the last time. Basil McCrea | :39:37. | :39:39. | |
and Tom Elliot were very clearly different people with different | :39:39. | :39:47. | |
agendas. Both Mike Nesbitt and John McCallister are from broadly the | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
Liberal and moderate wing of the Ulster Unionist Party and there is | :39:51. | :39:57. | |
not really a representative of the traditional and classical Ulster | :39:57. | :40:04. | |
Unionist position. In some ways, there is not going to be that much | :40:04. | :40:07. | |
than -- other than the issue of opposition, be big issue between | :40:07. | :40:12. | |
them. What about the idea of a referendum? The Secretary of State | :40:12. | :40:16. | |
will not move on opposition unless the two bigger parties wanted. | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
Could we have a referendum on opposition? Both candidates have a | :40:21. | :40:25. | |
notion that there should be some sort of oppositional politics, | :40:25. | :40:29. | |
which would be good and would be more policy based as opposed to | :40:30. | :40:36. | |
poll based. That is a pork -- important, even when they may | :40:36. | :40:43. | |
achieve it in different ways. Whether there is a referendum is | :40:43. | :40:49. | |
remaining to be seen. They can be very focused in terms of opinion. I | :40:49. | :40:52. | |
think that is a breath of fresher. Both of them realise this will not | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
be quick and it will take time to turn the party around. If you try | :40:57. | :41:00. | |
and do it quickly it will not happen. Both are strong leaders and | :41:00. | :41:03. | |
the thing that is very clear is that they are going to be | :41:03. | :41:08. | |
unambiguous about what they want to do. What is the Ulster Unionist | :41:08. | :41:15. | |
Party? How is it different from the Alliance Party are the DUP? They | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
will set out what the party is and what the party aims to achieve. | :41:21. | :41:25. | |
do not want this to be about a referendum on being in or out of | :41:25. | :41:30. | |
government. The next leader needs to do a good shift. They need to do | :41:30. | :41:33. | |
at least two cycles of Assembly elections. We need to look at where | :41:34. | :41:41. | |
we are going to be not on the 2nd April but on 2nd April 1920 15 and | :41:41. | :41:49. | |
2020. -- 2015. We want to put the people first and build on the | :41:49. | :41:53. | |
economy. We want people have jobs that they actually enjoy. We want | :41:53. | :41:58. | |
people with homes rather than houses. If you have very little | :41:58. | :42:02. | |
influence in the Executive, how can you do that? You cannot make | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
changes to corporation tax Auret difference to the skill set of the | :42:06. | :42:12. | |
workforce? We were the ones proposing corporation tax. I know | :42:12. | :42:16. | |
John says he wants to bring the minister out of the Executive but | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
is he giving up our chairmanships and vice chairmanships, where we | :42:19. | :42:23. | |
will sit in the chamber? Will we have to elbow in between Jim | :42:23. | :42:30. | |
Allister and so -- David McNarry? When the opposition back in? They | :42:30. | :42:40. | |
are'making body. -- they are the policy-making body. | :42:40. | :42:45. | |
John McCallister was the first to declare as a candidate. In a moment | :42:45. | :42:49. | |
we will hear from him, but first, a snapshot of his career so far. | :42:49. | :42:53. | |
A former president of the Young Farmers' Club, John McCallister has | :42:53. | :42:57. | |
enjoyed a speedy rise through the ranks of the Ulster Unionists. He | :42:57. | :43:01. | |
joined just seven years ago and was elected to Stormont in 2007 as | :43:01. | :43:08. | |
member for South Down, winning re- election for years letter. His | :43:08. | :43:11. | |
distinctive delivery and relative youth marked him out among his | :43:11. | :43:16. | |
colleagues. The with the Minister agree that this has an adverse | :43:16. | :43:19. | |
affect on businesses, tourism, commuters right across the Southern | :43:19. | :43:24. | |
Area? Although he back Basil McCrea's unsuccessful bid for the | :43:24. | :43:28. | |
leadership 18 months ago against Tom Elliot, he served as deputy | :43:28. | :43:33. | |
leader and a Tom Elliot as well as chief whip. He is the first -- he | :43:33. | :43:36. | |
was the first candidate to declare when a vacancy came up and set out | :43:36. | :43:45. | |
his stall clearly. This is the important debate to have, whether | :43:45. | :43:48. | |
we were towards closer Unionist co- operation or go into opposition and | :43:48. | :43:53. | |
oppose the government and support them if they are right? We need to | :43:53. | :43:57. | |
set out a clear agenda of what is good for Northern Ireland. That is | :43:57. | :44:02. | |
what I think Ulster Unionism at its best is and should be about. John | :44:02. | :44:07. | |
McCallister joins us now. Good afternoon. Is it a brave or foolish | :44:07. | :44:10. | |
move to declare your hand on opposition so early in the race and | :44:10. | :44:16. | |
set it out as a competition between opposition and what every his Mike | :44:16. | :44:20. | |
Nesbitt is standing for? There is no point in going into a race and | :44:20. | :44:25. | |
heading -- hedging your bets. Tell people about the change you will | :44:25. | :44:29. | |
bring. People are probably refreshed to hear people say what | :44:30. | :44:34. | |
they are going to do. That is where I would lead the party. How will | :44:34. | :44:37. | |
the work? It is an informal opposition you are talking about, | :44:37. | :44:42. | |
not one that is legislated for, is that right? That is right. There is | :44:42. | :44:47. | |
no structure at the moment. Are you seriously going to tell me that we | :44:47. | :44:51. | |
should not do this because Peter and Martin say we can't? This is | :44:51. | :44:55. | |
about saying, do you agree with the principles of opposition? We are | :44:55. | :45:00. | |
going to take a first step and co- owner and be in opposition, formal | :45:00. | :45:05. | |
or informal, we will be in opposition and hold this | :45:05. | :45:09. | |
administration to a card and provide people with an alternative | :45:09. | :45:19. | |
:45:19. | :45:25. | ||
Howwood that work? -- how would that work. The only position you | :45:25. | :45:31. | |
would lose was the one ministerial. I think it improves the Government. | :45:31. | :45:36. | |
Where we were in 1998, it was sensible to have an inclusive form | :45:36. | :45:43. | |
of government to get us from where we were, coming out of conflict. It | :45:43. | :45:48. | |
is a healthy thing to have an opposition. Every democratic system | :45:48. | :45:54. | |
in the world has an opposition or checks and balances on power. That | :45:54. | :46:01. | |
is what we need. This is what most people in politics think has to | :46:01. | :46:07. | |
happen. The it has been reported you do not have a lot of support in | :46:07. | :46:12. | |
the Assembly group, who seemed to be going for Mike Nesbitt. If you | :46:12. | :46:16. | |
were as successful, how would you convince them it would be a good | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
idea to give up the one piece of power you have around the Executive | :46:19. | :46:27. | |
table? The one piece of power sums it up. Why hang about for a few | :46:27. | :46:32. | |
crumbs from the table and let the Deputy First Minister decide when | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
we can speak and what we can do and what policies we adopt? That is not | :46:37. | :46:41. | |
what we want. We need to break out and change the politics and move | :46:41. | :46:51. | |
:46:51. | :46:57. | ||
away from the calf up a type of We are regarded as the least | :46:57. | :47:01. | |
influential party in the Executive, and that is not helpful to a party | :47:01. | :47:10. | |
trying to reconnect. Just being in there for one tiny crumb is not | :47:10. | :47:17. | |
reason enough. You need an identity and message. This is about working | :47:17. | :47:22. | |
the Systems in Stormont and it is healthy for democracy. How do you | :47:22. | :47:27. | |
convince them? I have not asked my colleagues for support. I have | :47:27. | :47:37. | |
:47:37. | :47:39. | ||
taken this message to the party faithful. MLAs' votes can the same. | :47:39. | :47:45. | |
It is an one member, one Vogue party. That is the message I am | :47:45. | :47:55. | |
:47:55. | :48:00. | ||
saying to the party -- won a vote party. I want to ask them. This is | :48:00. | :48:07. | |
a real change. I do not have the party machinery supporting me, I am | :48:07. | :48:10. | |
committed to taking the argument out to the people and the | :48:10. | :48:16. | |
membership. Do you think you will win? I would not be better in your | :48:16. | :48:24. | |
house on it, but I will give it my best shot. Whoever wins has to | :48:24. | :48:30. | |
behind the leader. Mike Nesbitt suggested that we have a referendum | :48:31. | :48:40. | |
:48:41. | :48:45. | ||
on changing the style of Stormont. A referendum. You had a referendum | :48:45. | :48:50. | |
on the Good Friday Agreement. It did not mean everybody accepted it. | :48:50. | :48:54. | |
You need to make the argument to people. If they agree with it, they | :48:54. | :49:00. | |
will vote for that. The reason I think our vote has gone, we have | :49:00. | :49:09. | |
tried been in the Executive as a smaller party. We have had two | :49:09. | :49:13. | |
ministers and the boat going down to one minister. We are not getting | :49:13. | :49:22. | |
the credit -- of the vote. You need an alternative. You, as a voter, | :49:22. | :49:27. | |
have no way of changing the Government. That is not healthy in | :49:27. | :49:34. | |
democracy. Do you think this idea will win round members who were not | :49:34. | :49:40. | |
connected to Stormont? The truth is that nobody knows. There has never | :49:40. | :49:45. | |
been a poll of opinion in the Unionist Party. He was saying | :49:45. | :49:49. | |
earlier he did not want it just to be a referendum, it is difficult to | :49:49. | :49:56. | |
see how that is not the main issue. It is possibly a majority, there is | :49:56. | :50:01. | |
a big chunk of the party, but if it is the most important thing to that | :50:01. | :50:08. | |
chunk of the party, to take on the DUP from the opposition benches, if | :50:08. | :50:12. | |
that chunk of the party is big enough and see this as the only way | :50:12. | :50:16. | |
to get to opposition, John McCallister might do better than | :50:16. | :50:24. | |
some people think. This is a massive issue. And what happened | :50:24. | :50:28. | |
with Tom Elliott. Do you think that either candidate can end the | :50:28. | :50:38. | |
:50:38. | :50:41. | ||
division? Do smack mend. Elliott was a continuity choice. | :50:41. | :50:50. | |
The key is that something big has to change. A problem I have with | :50:51. | :50:56. | |
the UUP is I came back from England in 1983 and most had never been to | :50:56. | :51:02. | |
my door asking me to vote for them. Everybody else has. How do they | :51:02. | :51:08. | |
mobilise the membership? Others are better at doing it. One of the keys | :51:08. | :51:13. | |
for the leader is putting energy into the party. If the energy and | :51:13. | :51:20. | |
commitment is there, you can go anywhere. John, how do you bring | :51:20. | :51:25. | |
energy back into the party, is it about knocking on doors? Absolutely. | :51:25. | :51:33. | |
You have to get out. You have to engage with people. And listen to | :51:33. | :51:39. | |
the good and the bad that people are telling you. I have done | :51:40. | :51:48. | |
serious can then -- canvassing in my constituency. That does pay off. | :51:48. | :51:53. | |
It is about giving a central message of what you stand for and | :51:53. | :52:00. | |
the direction of the party. That would be my job if elected to, to | :52:01. | :52:07. | |
give the message. We would be in listening mode. We would want to | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
present ideas to the public and be the alternative at the next | :52:12. | :52:17. | |
election. Interesting to see how the next two weeks passed out. | :52:18. | :52:23. | |
If it is over four months to the start of the greatest show on earth. | :52:23. | :52:27. | |
The London Olympics. Apart from brief training camps, what has | :52:27. | :52:32. | |
Northern Ireland gained from the games? There are some flashing | :52:32. | :52:38. | |
images in this report. It is 5:30am. These young swimmers | :52:39. | :52:43. | |
start a two-hour training session. It takes dedication from the | :52:43. | :52:51. | |
youngsters, coaches and parents. swimming means my life. I am in | :52:51. | :52:56. | |
seven times a week. That is all I think about. It is an important | :52:56. | :53:01. | |
sport. It keeps you fit and it is all I have known. This is where the | :53:01. | :53:09. | |
swimmers won to be in a few months' time. At the Olympics. Young | :53:09. | :53:16. | |
hopefuls are training every day in the 50 metre facilities. They will | :53:16. | :53:25. | |
have a 10 lame of Paul, 50 metres. -- as swimming pool with 10 lanes. | :53:25. | :53:30. | |
They have testing rooms. They have what you would be looking for Team | :53:30. | :53:36. | |
G B to have. They get that 24 hours a day. A taking shape on the | :53:36. | :53:45. | |
outside -- outskirts of Bangor is the new swimming pool. It has been | :53:45. | :53:50. | |
delayed. It was due to open two years ago. Because of difficulties | :53:50. | :53:55. | |
with government finance, that date had to be postponed from this | :53:55. | :54:00. | |
summer. An unavoidable problem in the building work, when beams were | :54:00. | :54:05. | |
damaged, meant another delay. It will not be open until next | :54:05. | :54:10. | |
February at the earliest. Despite that, it is regarded as a new dawn | :54:10. | :54:14. | |
for sport in Northern Ireland, and the minister is due here this week | :54:14. | :54:24. | |
to name the swimming pool. They have been working flat out and I am | :54:24. | :54:31. | |
told they are on target. I went down to visit it. If I find out | :54:31. | :54:38. | |
anything different, I will hold them to account. I will -- am sure | :54:38. | :54:44. | |
it will be done. The swimming pool will not be delivered in 2012, but | :54:44. | :54:49. | |
neither it seems will there be a boost for companies tendering for | :54:49. | :54:55. | |
work. 1500 contracts were handed out worth �5 billion. Most | :54:55. | :54:59. | |
successful firms were in the south- east of England. In Northern | :54:59. | :55:06. | |
Ireland, 43 companies have won contracts. Less than 1% of the | :55:06. | :55:12. | |
total awarded. One of the few local firms to secure work is this one in | :55:12. | :55:17. | |
Belfast. The company has around �7 million of business, including the | :55:17. | :55:24. | |
fitter out of the media centre. That was a year and a half of pre- | :55:24. | :55:29. | |
qualification and interviews and network events. It was hard work. | :55:29. | :55:35. | |
We were determined there was opportunity in the London region. | :55:35. | :55:39. | |
We did not succeed as much as we would have liked to have done but | :55:39. | :55:44. | |
it put a foot in the door and the companies will have that experience. | :55:44. | :55:49. | |
I have no doubt they will get feedback. They should learn lessons | :55:49. | :55:55. | |
on what to do next. This Economist says it is disappointing that the | :55:55. | :56:00. | |
share of the spoils is so minimal for Northern Ireland. The one of | :56:00. | :56:04. | |
the demonstrated effects of an Olympic Games is that it encourages | :56:04. | :56:11. | |
people to participate in sport. Over the next few years, I think we | :56:11. | :56:17. | |
will see more people. That is a social benefit and also benefits us | :56:17. | :56:22. | |
financially and economically by reducing costs to health and social | :56:22. | :56:26. | |
services looking after people. You would be forgiven there were no | :56:26. | :56:30. | |
other political stories this week. But there were other stories making | :56:30. | :56:40. | |
:56:40. | :56:41. | ||
headlines for a -- headlines. Mary McCardle was jailed for her | :56:41. | :56:47. | |
role in the murder of a magistrate's daughter. I want to | :56:47. | :56:55. | |
achieve something for my sister's memory. Claims a former Taoiseach | :56:55. | :57:03. | |
viewed the murder of soldiers as a political act. MLAs will get a pay | :57:03. | :57:11. | |
rise. Three men emerged as possible new leaders of the UUP, only for | :57:11. | :57:18. | |
the favourite to change his mind. Robinson and Martin McGuinness were | :57:18. | :57:23. | |
quizzed by school children. answered my questions to a | :57:23. | :57:31. | |
respectable standard. I spend so much time preparing this exciting | :57:31. | :57:41. | |
:57:41. | :57:45. | ||
speech, and there they are, having a conversation. | :57:45. | :57:50. | |
People have been vocal about the pay issue this week. When it go | :57:50. | :57:57. | |
ahead? I think it will go ahead. They have sourced it to this body. | :57:57. | :58:02. | |
They did not want to vote it through. They did not conceive the | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
independent body might cut something else. Given the number of | :58:06. | :58:11. | |
MLAs we have, it is difficult to see how they can reverse that and | :58:11. | :58:18. |