20/11/2011 The Politics Show Northern Ireland

Better education for our young people, creating jobs and boosting

the private sector. All key promises in this week's Programme

For Government, but is it realistic? We will hear from those

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 2231 seconds

Hello and welcome to the Politics Show in Northern Ireland. We now

have a Programme for Government. The First Minister says, "Judge us

on delivery," but just what can it deliver? Day we do not need any

more Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets, or Morse -- supermarkets. What we

need to do is export. And as members of the TUV gathered

for their annual conference, Jim Allister calls on the SDLP and the

Ulster Unionists to pull out of the Executive and form an opposition.

The result is that they are the From investment in creative

industries to the justice system, the Programme for Government it

sets out a broad vision. We will be probing Executive pledges with two

MLAs from the Education Committee in a moment but first Mark

Devenport has a quick reminder of the big bullet points.

Around this time of the year, a lot of children have been sitting

transferred tests. This week, politicians face the test of their

own, announcing a plan -- programme for government. It will provide the

blueprint for this for a year Assembly term. So what are they

headline grabbers? Education, free places for playgroups are nurseries

for young children. At the other end of the scale, there is

confirmation that university fees will remain frozen. Politicians

will be hoping that that is the only thing frozen this winter. When

it comes to running water, most people will be happy with the

confirmation that there will be no water charges. They will be fewer

politicians around. Small or medium-sized buildings --

businesses get a new fund. There is a pledge to build affordable public

housing. And a promise to double glaze all housing Executive

property, making those homes more energy efficient. Justice is the

one of the more contentious areas. A pledge to introduce more

effective sentencing for those who attack all people is likely to draw

widespread support. At the same time, there is more than a nod

towards the importance of tourism, with a pledge to bring a major

golfing tournament to these shores. I do not think that is what the

SDLP leader said when -- meant when he said the programme was full of

holes. Given that there are targets of the creation of 25,000 jobs,

you're not going to achieve anything like that overnight. We

will only be able to judge the success of this programme when we

near the end of the Assembly term. School closures, redundancies and a

cut in budgets. That's the reality facing our education system with

50,000 empty school places. The Programme for Government is pushing

for shared education, but what exactly does that mean? Let's hear

from Mervyn Storey from the DUP and the Ulster Unionist David McNarry.

I think everybody except that we cannot continue with the situation

that we have, with an education system which is dominated by

different sectors. I think if we want to ensure that our young

people get the best possible education, given the tight and it

difficult financial circumstances we find herself in, it is not

appropriate to continue with a situation whereby we have a

multitude of providers doing the same thing. Your party leader

wanted a commission and what he has is an advisory group. It sounds

like a talking shop and it is short on specifics. I think if you look

at where we came from when it first Peter Robinson mentioned the idea

of their sheer dedication, we had various sectors that came out very

much opposed to the idea. Now we have a situation where we have it

mentioned in the programme for government, we had a conference

recently in it Belfast where it was clear from those who participated

that there was a desire to move towards that particular type of

model. Clearly, over the next number of weeks and months, we'll

be continued to work to put more meat on the bones to make sure that

people clearly understand that shared education is not about

playing to one or another sector, not about you if -- replicating the

sectors. It is about shared education. It is something that is

different from what people might previously have preceded it was.

Her tenure have shared education and the still support the transport

-- transfer test? I told about state education four years ago. In

political terms, that is a relatively short period to find

other people talking about it. When you see what is happening in

Ireland with that some authorities. Piquancy divergence. I think people

were motivating this. The parents want the best education they can

get for their children. A lot of parents still want a religious

education. What we see now is a couple of interesting revelations.

First of all, the statement that something would be so absent. --

CCS see would be subsumed. And then there was a discussion of their

assets. They would say that their assets are not going in and it

would be up to the state to pay for them to come in. That is where we

get into the detail. That is what we take best. The interesting thing

is, in terms of selection, it is not on the agenda. It is not being

discussed. The Education Committee, which and privilege to serve on, is

working very well in getting down to the details, of getting

underneath what the department or really saying. I was amazed to find

that a couple of weeks ago the financial their tourist telling us

that the department was in poverty. Now all this it may have found �40

million. Where has that come from and what does that do? Last

Thursday was a better than average day for the Stormont Assembly and

we have said that the targets now and we have to deliver them. I am

in this committee to deliver on education and we'll deliver what

the parents, what most of the parents want. The difference

between the DUP and Sinn Fein on this is quite significant. We have

a status quo being a man -- maintained on transfer. You're not

patient to have brought back end and they are not pushing to have it

scrapped completely. We have these tests that children still have to

fall every year. If you look at the legal position, this is why we

always have to start, it is very clear. The 2006 order has made

legally permissive for schools to use academic criteria for transfer.

I am clear that there needs to be a discussion between the two

organisations that have organised the tests. But there have been

discussions. There have been discussions but recently in

discussions with the First Minister, we will shortly initiate

discussions between those organisations, to bring them

together, to show that the challenge that parents face in

relation to two separate organisations can be minimised. I

think that any other attempts by those to undermine that will be

seen as not fitting in with the purpose of parental choice.

Remember that the previous Education Minister said that

transfer will become a legal minefield. Will we have just one

Test? I think that is a we have to come to. That is the point we have

to get to. The previous Education Minister said that the transfer

process would be a legal minefield. Will the person taken to court

during this process was the Department of Education and the

previous Education Minister when the legalities of what they had

done would -- was challenged. The legitimacy of the right to that to

be part of the education system, are we in a perfect relation to

what we should have? We're not. Now the political conference season

is continuing. This weekend, it is the turn of the Traditional

Unionist Voice. Stephen Walker has been to Cookstown to hear from the

party faithful. His report contains flash photography.

Will the old there were a dozen speakers at this gathering, it was

Jim Allister many had come to hear. His speech was typical political

knockabout and it was the DUP that were mostly in the firing line,

including their plans to charge �50 for a seminar at their annual

conference. The Elmley thing I can say about this latest BP venture it

is the first thing in years that will not be a sell-out! The TUV

leader at scribes dormant as a SDLP cocaine. He appealed to the SDLP

and the Aston Unionists to go into opposition. -- cocoon. They are but

the fodder of the DUP and Sinn Fein, who, when it suits them, uses them

and when it suits them, abuses them. How long can they put up with the

humiliation to which they are subjected? For the party faithful,

this speech appeared to to hit all the right note. This is the first

major TUV gathering since the Assembly elections. Whilst the

party on least the one at nominee elected, they remain convinced that

their message is still relevant. One MLA who has done the work that

Jim has done in the last few weeks is a credit to 30 or 40 of the

others that have done absolutely nothing. I do not think there is

another party in Northern Ireland politics that is as United and

focused and committed to change as a Traditional Unionist Voice.

it matter that you only have a single MLA? Of course it matters.

But there will be an election in four years and we might have more

voices then. Jim Allister has made much play of being a lone voice at

Stormont, but he knows that if his party is to advance, he cannot fed.

-- fight political battles on his own.

Back to the economy now and our reporter Yvette Shapiro has been

sounding out captains of industry on just how we get to the other

side of the downturn. Belfast port, the departure point

for many of Ireland's largest exports. Because of the recession,

sales to many markets are well down and companies are having to go

further afield in search of business. The Executive wants to

see a rebalancing of the Northern Ireland economy with more export

sales delivering employment growth. But in current conditions, is that

realistic? It will not happen on my watch. I think Peter needs to come

down. They may be at odds over the future name of the Prison Service,

but on one issue they are rude -- United. It is the importance of

boosting the economy. Inward investors like these, creating 180

jobs, will be harder to secure in the future. Under new European

rules, generous grant aid is no longer available to overseas firms.

So what is the alternative for employment growth? Any implement

like ours is dependent on growth and exports for wealth and economy

in the future. A Bar's response in terms of attracting investors that

there exporters and working with there hasto help them crowed their

exports. They take their cheese- making seriously here. In five

years, turnover has quadrupled and Employment has doubled. There is a

message about sustainability. We want to offer employment and make

sure it is for the long term, not just for the extra months. There

are growing sales in Ireland and Europe, but other firms are not

doing as well in these recession- hit market. By far the most

products go to Great Britain. Sales you're worth �7 billion last year.

That was up 8%. Cross-border sales were worth �1.5 billion. Exports to

the rest of Europe were worth �1.1 billion, a massive drop in sales.

Exports to the rest of the world that totalled 2.7 billion and if

you're looking for some green shoots, that figure was very

slightly up. This for a man a quarry has been in the family for

three generations. The collapse of traditional market in Ireland and

Britain has led to a drop in productivity. We feel that

international companies get a lot of attention and right Basal, but

we think that the medium-sized businesses, family-owned,

traditional businesses, should get a bit more help and a bit more

encouragement to go and find work outside of Ireland. But companies

in China and India report annual economic growth of around 10% and

they present local companies with massive opportunities. What we to

see is more support being given to those companies. The programme for

government pledges to help with exports. There's a fund for small

companies. It has real potential. This is one of their deals -- few

sectors that is growing. In Scotland, the SNP government has

went big on the green economy and the seen the benefits. They are

creating the jobs. This business seminar in Belfast put together

experienced exporters and first times. This man sells close that

excesses for dogs to customers worldwide. He was to see targeted

support from government. We do not seem -- we do not need to see more

Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet or supermarkets. What we need to do is

export. We need to have their new modern technologies, the new ways

are actually selling, the Internet and all those things that will

enable the Batista up a business and easily reached a worldwide

audience. As these business people were mingling, the Executive was

hammering out its programme for government. There was one thing

missing. The single most important thing that the Executive could do

would be to reduce corporation tax. We would see jobs created and we

would see significant increased to exports we Riddell What -- elevate

Northern Ireland in the market generally and we would be

attractive to investors. We have just seen how important the

export market could be to our economy, so are we doing enough to

support it? I'm joined by marketing analyst and business development

advisor Michael Maguire and Professor Tony Gallagher from

Queen's University. You have walked the walk in it some

respects, what the EU make of this programme for government? First of

all I think we need to welcome the fact that the MLAs have put a

cohesive effort together. They have created a plan. There are huge

omissions and that process and I would like to have seen a more

robust efforts to try to address to the requirement of the next 10 or

20 years, not just the next three or four years. They would argue

that the investment strategy looks much further down the line, up to

30 years. In terms of specifics, what could they have brought in

that they did not cure back the big omission at the moment is the issue

of corporation tax. It is very clear that they have decided to

park that for a period of time. One must remember that that was the

single big issue that most of the business community have put forward

as as a suggestion. In a way it is out of their hands because that is

up to Westminster and the Treasury to give us those powers. That said,

one has to look to the south of the border to a friend and the Republic

of Ireland and their export generation taking place just now is

reaching something close to an all- time high, because, irrespective of

the circumstances down there, they are able to offer a deal that

attracts good f d I. In the United Kingdom we have to look at what is

happening in Scotland I did it is highly likely that they are going

to seek to assume responsibility for corporation tax, probably

sooner than we will. Education is obviously a key theme. You can get

students and and prepare them for the work market, but as the

entrepreneurial spirit not have to start much at -- earlier? There are

a lot of initiative stride to do this with young people. -- trying

to do this with young people. We're trying to develop or programmes at

university as well. We have recently opened an Executive

education and Leadership Institute and we have tried to build

entrepreneurship into as many of our programmes as possible. Can you

do more? What we're doing at the moment is that now that the whole

situation around funding and fees has been stabilised, wheel and

AT&T's -- we will enhance our links to ensure that the steady stream of

graduates that we are producing a in line. So that we can debate

exactly what consumers need. We had done the report saying that they do

not get enough attention or help -- we heard in the report one small

businessman saying that they do not get enough attention or help.

think there is a good track record of supporting. Will the 50 million

help? Ensure it will. We are in a looking economy, we are in

difficult times. One of the issues that will affect us during the next

three or four years, during the lighting of the programme is that

we will end up with employment would he age. -- leakage. The

Government needs to think much more deeply about how the address