19/05/2013 Sunday Politics Northern Ireland

looking across the Irish Sea to Cardiff after a weekend of talks on

parading and policing leads to an agreement supporting the PSNI. Join

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2155 seconds

Northern Ireland. The sun finally came out as the Balmoral show made

its debut at the Long Kesh site where big plans were made for one of

our most successful industries. We talk to the Agriculture Minister

Michelle O'Neill. Also a weekend of talks on policing

many of our farmers are truly weatherbeaten. The executive handed

out around five billion pounds in hardship funding to those of farmers

who lost livestock in the snow falls in March. Last week a further

million pounds was made available to help farmers cope with animal food

shortages. Despite this doom and gloom, the agri- food sector has

been outperforming other parts of the economy. A new growth strategy

is to capitalise on that and create a further 15,000 jobs over the next

seven years. The Agriculture Minister Michelle O'Neill is with me

now. Why do you think our agri- food sector is performing so well?

think that it has been a particularly difficult year over the

last 18 months for the farming community, but despite all of that,

despite the climate, agriculture continued to grow. There is a

growing demand for food, so there is a massive potential market there for

us to exploit. This week we have launched the agri- food strategy.

That is been devised by industry and we look forward to be able to

implement a lot of the recommendations. There are a lot of

big asks in it, it is there a challenging. It is a very big ask.

Is it realistic? Absolutely. We are talking about 15,000 new jobs being

created, 75% growth in the export market. We are targeting the export

market. We want to get into the emerging markets of China, Russia,

the USA... There is so much potential for us. We need to exploit

that to its full potential. sector is worth �5 billion at the

moment. The plan is to push that to 7 billion by 2020. That is 40%

growth in the seven years. Those figures are not to be sniffed at.

Absolutely not, but this report has come from the industry. A lot of

hard work has been put in and I commend the board for the work they

have put in. There are often whenever you talk about the food

supply chain, the farmers are the poor relation. In this case the

unions have been very much involved in the conversation so now there is

recognition that there is only one supply chain and we have to invest

in it if it is to be successful in the future. Certainly for me, one of

the challenging aspects to it is it is calling for 400 million from the

executive. That will leave 1.3 billion in investment for the

industry and that is a big win and will help us drive forward the

agenda. There are things to change in processing, but it is about

skills development, research and development. Do you know where this

investment is going to come from? Can you pinpoint specific sectors,

factories and organisations that can deliver these figures or are we

still at the early stages of it being a fanciful wish list? A lot of

this has looked in the beef sector, dairy sector, and everything from

food processing... Even if you take it from the farming end of things

right through to people who produce the packaging and labels, scientists

and all those things, there is such a range of jobs across the sector.

The other thing is it is not specific to one area, it is right

across the North. I can say it is growth right across the North, not

just targeted in one area. It is an area that is susceptible to the

vagaries of international markets, employment situations and food

safety, which is a critical issue. There is an off a lot that could

potentially go wrong. It would be great if these figures are

delivered, but it is a risky strategy, isn't it? If you even take

horse meat and the scandal surrounding that and the impact that

it had on the local industry, if there is anything positive to come

out of that it is that people are starting to recognise the importance

of supply chains. Tesco have said they will source 100% of their beef

products locally, to me that is a major win. We must be mindful of the

fact that over the last 18 months it has been very challenging economic

times. But the industry has continued to grow. A positive

announcement in terms of the agri- food sector, but the other

announcement of �1 billion put in a fund to help farmers deal with a

crisis in terms of fodder supply. A lot of people who aren't involved

don't understand that conflict. said at the start, we are coming out

of a period of extreme weather between the rain and the snow. There

have been particular challenges because of this. These are

short-term measures, in terms of getting some fodder out to them, is

something we need to sustain them into the future. If we don't have

the farmers now, they won't be able to produce the food in the future.

We will hear from the commentators in just a second. Your reflections,

if you would, after the first Balmoral show at the site of the

former Maze, Long Kesh site? absolutely commend the vision for

moving to that site. The potential there is amazing. The show was very

successful, over 80,000 people visited it and everyone in the

grounds was very positive about what they saw and everything that was on

for families to come along too. no butts? No buts, it was a

fantastic show. Mike Smyth, wearing your economists

hat, what you feel about this notion that the agri- food sector can be

grown to that level in such a short period of time? There are two

observations. Certainly the targets are very ambitious. However, the

analysis of the demand increase we have already seen would indicate

that if it is out there then we could certainly get a fair share of

it. The real problem I have is that we are a very fragmented industry

here. The strategy is aimed at trying to simplify it. Abolish a lot

of institutions that make for a lot of noise, and it is about money and

the way we deal with things here. The road to the target is littered

with strategies like this, so it is very challenging. You wouldn't

disagree with that, the? -- Liam? It should be judged at the next

election if it is made. There will be a reward if it comes off. As the

Minister said, sustainability is becoming an important thing. Since

the horse meat scandal, that has suddenly given us a niche market

higher up the cost chain. We can charge more for our products, and I

know a minister is going to Brazil to meet a major employer. We are now

their European headquarters. You can see that these foundations are being

built on. Let's talk about the political dimension to this other

story, which is bound up in the Maze development. We know it is

controversial, but we have seen something happened there which has

brought people together from all kinds of communities. The minister

says it was a great success from her point of view, does that help with

the other aspects of the development of that site? I think it does. My

personal view is it would have been foolish developing the Maze without

developing the other buildings. It will be a draw for buildings

depending on how we develop them. Presumably you have to tell the

story in a balanced way. If you wanted to be a tourist draw then

there are other things, like the chance of a stadium. We will hear

more from you later in the programme.

Intensive talks between police, politicians and committee leaders

came to an end with a vow of support for the PSNI. The focus was on

reducing tensions between police, Loyalist and republican communities.

We made our expectations clear that we wanted to do what we could to

ease tension and build relationships with communities. We have been

through a particularly difficult few months and we want to do what we can

to get relationships re-established. We want to maintain

clean occasion throughout the summer, and this shows that a series

of principles have been agreed that shows that has actually happened.

have seen how quickly things can spiral out of control, and what I

was impressed with was the sense of collective purpose and integrity

that people in that room had, their will to make it work. Vincent, I

suppose we shouldn't be too surprised that they had all agreed

they should support the rule of law, first of all. You expect

politicians and community representatives to support the

police and the rule of law, and the police are agreed to stress that

this statement comes after some strong criticism of the PSNI. For

example, during the protests earlier this year Republicans accused the

police of being too soft. On the other hand, no-one has accused the

police being too heavy-handed and brutal in their response. The police

say they were caught in the middle, being criticised and attacked while

both sides. Even that backdrop, the police say they are pleased at the

statement which supports them and acceptance for their responsibility

of maintaining the rule of law. They have also agreed to give more

advance notice about how they will police public events. They say they

will provide an explanation as to what they will do and why in the

hope of reducing tensions. police are clearly happy with the

outcomes of the talks. What about the delegates? They aren't all

singing of the same hymn sheet. After the police started talking to

us, we had an orderly queue willing to give us their views. They are

keen to stress to things, Mark. That smack two things. It is about trying

to reduce tensions in areas where there has been criticism of the

police. They stress that this has been a successful initiative. There

were some candid and frank discussions and it wasn't always

pleasant, but the view was it was successful. It was summed up by Sinn

Fein 's. It is a positive move forward. This is about the

relationship between the police and the community and in that

parameter, the weekend has been successful. You are suggesting that

the delegates are happy with the outcome. Will it have any practical

impact in the future? That is the weight issue. -- big issue. It has

cost millions of pounds for the policing of protest since December,

�23 million. They hope that this will reduce tensions on the street.

The big issue is, will it have any impact on the street? I asked

whether these talks have reduced the potential for violence this summer?

There are always people who will not listen to anyone who are intent on

listen to anyone who are intent on listen to anyone who are intent on

disruption with no positive disruption with no positive

disruption with no positive contribution to make to society.

contribution to make to society. contribution to make to society.

That is the case around the world. What is next for the protests?

about trying to do something more strategic, meeting with community

representatives after there has been trouble. They want to keep the

communication going. We have been told there will be talks closer to

home in the weeks ahead and this will be put to the test, because all

those who have signed up to this agreement support the police. I

asked a number of delegates if they will continue to support the police

if they do something they don't like. They said they are entitled to

criticise the police if everything goes wrong, but they say they will

support the police throughout this summer. That will be put to the test

in the weeks ahead. Let's hear the thoughts of Mike's

Mike. When you hear -- Mike Smyth. When you hear about what they have

been discussing, it seems like potentially a significant

development, doesn't it? It is a positive thing. It is important to

get it in perspective. This is a kind of tactical thing. How do we

deal with trouble when it comes up, how do we deal with new parades? I

think it is useful to do that. One of the best agreements was the

police saying they will brief people on their tactics before the events

take place. At the beginning of the flag protest there were some

complaints, and the police didn't really explain what they were going

to do and it might have ended a bit sooner if they did. Good comedic

Asian is always a good thing. Good communication is always a good

thing. They said that they want to avoid the violence of earlier, which

cost �23 million. I have to say that I travel across Europe and the flag

protest, people didn't understand them. All they could see was the

trouble and the violence. They were shaking their heads saying, we

thought you had sorted all this out? It was headlines in continental

Europe for quite some time, doing a lot of damage, not just in terms of

the cost of dealing with it, but the effect on our image. There is a

premium here, a dialogue, trying to improve lines of communication.

is interesting way in which that dialogue might take place, Liam.

They spoke about the number of resolutions that the delegates

agreed to, but one of them is, we recognise the importance of words

and use of respectful language in the coming months. I know that isn't

a binding agreement, but they presumably will have to weigh very

carefully what they say in future. It is good you have this range of

people agreeing about inflammatory language. The ombudsman is involved

as well, they will act as an umpire to some extent. It was a little

disappointing, perhaps, that it will be added into later discussions. At

the end of the marching season we had a letter signed by the Royal

Orders that was a prelude to further disturbances. There was no parades

commission, no. The chairman of the parades commission said he was happy

not to be there because it wasn't about parading, but it would have

been interesting to see if representatives from the Orange

Commission and other orders could have attended. Ewe-mac I think it

may have been -- I think it may have been one of the reasons why it

didn't happen. The message it sent out, the optics, are good. There is

some kind of planning and a process going on. There will be some

difficult months coming up, and I think it is best to prepare as best

we can. We will hear a quick final thoughts from you both before we

finish, but for now thank you very With marching once again making the

headlines, the parades commission chairman dispels rumours that

tensions exist with the police. police do a terrific job given the

issues and complexities and challenges that they have faced over

the couple of months prior. First Minister had a biblical

putdown for assembled critics. Listening to the tribe of

Jeremiahs... There does seem to be a general malaise around the police.

Some don't think it is worth their while to come into the chamber.

Allstate announces hundreds of jobs. The first Balmoral Show at the

guests, Liam Clarke and Mike Smyth. The TV has a bill on special

advisers, which comes up tomorrow. That should be interesting, and we

have some amendments as well. TUV bill has been successful even if

it doesn't pass because Sinn Fein have already enlisted advisers for

answering questions for Sammy Wilson. There is only one Sinn Fein

adviser who will be affected, Paul Kavanagh, who is the only one

working in that capacity. The STL P are trying to amend it so that he

wouldn't be affected. -- STL P. talked to the Minister about agra

food, we talked about jobs and investment, word is that fit in the

broader economic picture? It is all about this issue of how do we reach

our potential. The potential exists in the agri- food strategy, but we

really have to up our game. On the wider economy, one thing that has

been bothering me is that the fiscal relationship with London is now a

constraint on the future development of Northern Ireland. The Scots