Browse content similar to 18/10/2012. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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On The View tonight, a double first. It's the first time on the | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
programme for the First Minister, Peter Robinson. Is all well around | :00:31. | :00:38. | |
the executive table? Sinn Fein take a position, knowing we will act | :00:38. | :00:43. | |
responsibly. Will today's adoption ruling mean gay couples can now be | :00:43. | :00:48. | |
considered as adoptive parents. wanted to form a family. Sadly the | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
Northern Ireland Assembly don't seem to think it is a right we | :00:50. | :00:56. | |
should be able to have. With their thoughts on all of that, two new | :00:56. | :01:06. | |
:01:06. | :01:08. | ||
recruits to our commentary team who will talk NEETs, plebs and culture. | :01:08. | :01:12. | |
No fewer than four local ministers met Treasury officials in London | :01:12. | :01:17. | |
this afternoon to give a final push to their plan to cut corporation | :01:17. | :01:20. | |
tax here. The First Minister, Peter Robinson, led the delegation. In | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
just a moment we will hear his thoughts on how the executive's | :01:24. | :01:29. | |
case was received. If talking could do it, corporation tax would have | :01:29. | :01:39. | |
:01:39. | :01:46. | ||
If the Government is serious about helping us to re-balance the | :01:46. | :01:50. | |
economy in Northern Ireland, this has to be regarded as an issue of | :01:50. | :01:55. | |
great importance. It would be a game-changer. It would be an | :01:55. | :02:00. | |
elevating element if we had the power to set a lower level of | :02:00. | :02:05. | |
corporation tax. While some progress has been made in practise | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
and the implementation timetable, I remain concerned about the cost. | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
would like to see it happen. We don't yet know whether it's going | :02:12. | :02:22. | |
:02:22. | :02:28. | ||
Well, when the First Minister came into The View studio a short time | :02:28. | :02:33. | |
ago, I asked him first for his thoughts on how today's discussions | :02:33. | :02:38. | |
had gone. We got down to three issues where there was not overall | :02:38. | :02:41. | |
agreement and the Prime Minister will have to make a choice between | :02:41. | :02:46. | |
the position we were advocating and the position the Treasury was | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
advocating. What are the issues which need to be resolved? There | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
are issues which relate to mechanisms for adjusting it in | :02:54. | :03:00. | |
future years. There are issues relating to secondary impact. | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
Issues that would be whether income tax, VAT, national insurance | :03:05. | :03:09. | |
contributions, should be taken into account. That could be quite a lot | :03:09. | :03:14. | |
of money, literally up to �100 million, over a period of time. You | :03:14. | :03:20. | |
know, there are a number of things which need to be resolved in | :03:20. | :03:23. | |
relation to profit-shifting, where we have a view, the Treasury has a | :03:23. | :03:29. | |
view, needless to say our view would make it better for Northern | :03:29. | :03:32. | |
Ireland. How close are you concerned to the figures? There | :03:32. | :03:37. | |
have been all kinds of wild estimates as to what the cost might | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
be to Northern Ireland plc. Raising to �700 million a year - what is | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
your bottom line on that, in simple terms? Obviously it would be unwise | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
to say what my bottom line was, in terms of where we would be trying | :03:51. | :03:56. | |
to encourage the Prime Minister to go. What I can say is, it depends | :03:56. | :04:06. | |
on the mechanism you use. You might start on Treasury figures, in the | :04:06. | :04:09. | |
�300 million-�400 million mark. If they use the mechanism the Treasury | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
wants to use it could go up to �700 million within the next ten to 15 | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
years. The Secretary of State, in her first television interview, | :04:18. | :04:21. | |
sitting in that seat, said she would be a persuader for this | :04:21. | :04:28. | |
development. Is that how she played it today? I think her and her | :04:28. | :04:32. | |
predecessor have been supportive. They have been speaking to the | :04:32. | :04:34. | |
business community in Northern Ireland. They know how much it | :04:34. | :04:41. | |
needs. They can see the impact that we are undergoing the recession. I | :04:41. | :04:46. | |
went to the meeting today, through the Belfast Telegraph, on the table, | :04:46. | :04:50. | |
to give them a sense of the difficulties, where it was | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
indicating the very sectors that were down by a considerable | :04:55. | :04:58. | |
percentage. If it was right when the Prime Minister came to Northern | :04:58. | :05:03. | |
Ireland when we had a lower level of unemployment, it must be more | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
right that we have the issue address, that we have our economy | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
rebalanced. If you had to call it one way or another, do you think | :05:11. | :05:14. | |
this will happen or not? I'm not going to call it. We've done our | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
work. It is now with the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister | :05:18. | :05:24. | |
indicated very stoutly during the election campaign that he was | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
balancing the economy. He's had his ministers expand a considerable | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
amount of time and energy. Officials have been working on it | :05:33. | :05:36. | |
for years. I hope that is the road they will take. There were four | :05:36. | :05:41. | |
ministers representing the Executive, three from the DUP, one | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
from Sinn Fein, the Deputy First Minister. Were you all singing off | :05:44. | :05:50. | |
the same song sheet today? Completely. We have at all of those | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
meetings. We recognise it is advantage taigous. It has to be | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
done in the context of something which is affordable. All of us were | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
arguing the same case during the course of today. It is interesting | :06:00. | :06:04. | |
to hear you say that. It seems there are other areas of policy | :06:04. | :06:07. | |
where you are not necessarily singing off the same song sheet. | :06:07. | :06:13. | |
You have been notably, may I suggest, outspoken about your Sinn | :06:13. | :06:18. | |
Fein partners recently. How difficult are relations on the | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
wider political landscape between you and Martin McGuinness? We're | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
both very politically mature. We know how to deal with these issues. | :06:27. | :06:34. | |
We come from very different political ideologies. I had to | :06:34. | :06:39. | |
manage them when Sinn Fein, in my view outrageously, came to the | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
Assembly to get one of my ministers sacked. I had to deal with Sinn | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
Fein, having allowed the Welfare Reform Bill to go from the | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
executive into the Assembly and then decided they were going to | :06:53. | :06:57. | |
oppose it in the Assembly. I have to manage those issues. I don't | :06:57. | :07:03. | |
think it was unreasonable I should comment. You said in a speech to | :07:03. | :07:11. | |
DUP members that the fear often paralyses reform. I had mentioned | :07:11. | :07:16. | |
welfare reform in those reforms. I recognise that all of us in the | :07:17. | :07:22. | |
political spear have to look around us in terms of where everybody else | :07:22. | :07:26. | |
is placing themselves. You can get to the stage where you are caught | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
in the head lights if you are increasingly looking over your | :07:31. | :07:35. | |
shoulder and afraid to act because of the position somebody else might | :07:35. | :07:45. | |
:07:45. | :07:45. | ||
adopt. Is -- are they WAGing -- wagging the dog? It would be easy | :07:45. | :07:53. | |
for my party to say we don't like welfare reform. We're opting out. | :07:53. | :07:57. | |
We're going to vote against it - people would not blame us. That is | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
not the responsible thing to do because it would have a damaging | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
impact. Sinn Fein take a position, knowing we will act responsibly, | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
therefore they can act irresponsibly on the issue. There | :08:08. | :08:12. | |
is you in acting that you would find it easier to deal directly | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
with Sinn Fein on these issues - Sinn Fein, the republican party, | :08:16. | :08:21. | |
and the SDLP is sticking a stick in the spoke of the wheel, if you | :08:21. | :08:28. | |
like? Well, the immyation there is that the SDLPf they were the larger | :08:28. | :08:32. | |
party would be behaving in that way. They wouldn't. They would know that | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
if the position they adopted because they are a small party, | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
that it would be totally irresponsible. It would have ended | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
up with us costing �200 million. It would have meant that jobs could | :08:43. | :08:47. | |
have been lost. We would have had people who are looking for money | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
from the social fund who would not be able to get it. That would have | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
been irresponsible thaifplt would not do that if they were the -- if | :08:56. | :09:01. | |
they would not do that if they were the larger party. Both in the | :09:01. | :09:04. | |
attempt to have Nelson dismissed and the fact they did not stand | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
with us to do the responsible thing and allow the Bill to go into | :09:08. | :09:13. | |
committee. What was it all about? We are agreed on what changes are | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
needed to the bill. Our argument is you have a better chance of getting | :09:16. | :09:20. | |
it working the Government and getting it in committee. Have you | :09:20. | :09:24. | |
told Martin McGuinness that? told him at the Executive and | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
elsewhere. Time will prove whether I am right or whether they were | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
right. That will be judged on the basis of whether we can get the | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
changes by working the Government. You have to work alongside Martin | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
McGuinness TDUP has to work alongside Sinn Fein. When you talk | :09:38. | :09:44. | |
to him, do you look at him as an ally or an enemy? When we are | :09:44. | :09:48. | |
bringing forward policy, obviously we have to put forward our | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
positions and see what common ground there is. And you know, I | :09:52. | :09:56. | |
don't believe that if you set the Conservative and Labour party down | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
and say you have to work together - I don't believe they would have | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
done as well as we have. What do you make of the arrival of the | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
Marie Stopes clinic today and the attendant furore which has come | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
with it? I don't see the need for the clinic. They are not offering | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
something which is not available from our services within the NHS. | :10:14. | :10:18. | |
Do you accept that the clinic has the right to be here? If it | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
operates within the law they have the right to open? They have the | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
legal right to be here, providing they do work and operate within the | :10:25. | :10:29. | |
law. I think we have seen one of the failings is there is not really | :10:29. | :10:33. | |
a process for properly monitoring that. That is something we have to | :10:33. | :10:37. | |
look at. The Attorney General has offered to the Justice Committee to | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
assist in any investigation it might wish to commence into the | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
arrival of the clinic. Did that surprise you? Did you know about | :10:44. | :10:47. | |
that in advance? I didn't know about it in advance. John has | :10:47. | :10:52. | |
indicated he would not do it on an official capacity. We cannot | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
curtail people who are doing something outside their official | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
duties. He would, the letter he wrote to the chee today was on his | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
headed note paper. The letter he wroteed on his headed note paper | :11:05. | :11:12. | |
said it would not be on an official capacity. So long as there is no | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
conflict that would not be a problem. If there is a conflict | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
then there would be a problem. interesting thing is that in that | :11:21. | :11:25. | |
letter he invited the committee to commence an investigation. Yes. I | :11:25. | :11:30. | |
suppose any of us are entitled to argue. Is that a personal view, or | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
is that his view as Attorney- General? It may not be different to | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
the extent that the Attorney- General in Northern Ireland is not | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
a member of the Government. It is not someone who is controlled by | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
the Government. The Attorney- General is an independent | :11:44. | :11:49. | |
individual, who has stat Tory responsibilities. He is the primary | :11:49. | :11:56. | |
law officer in Northern Ireland? His role is to give us advice as an | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
Executive. He has an important role. I suspect, he like the rest of us, | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
would look back and say, look there is a gap here, we have a clinic who, | :12:05. | :12:09. | |
under present circumstances would not be monitored and should be. | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
I cannot let you go without asking you about your political future. | :12:12. | :12:15. | |
You have indicated you will not stand for Westminster again. | :12:15. | :12:20. | |
There's going to be another Assembly election in 2015 or 2016, | :12:20. | :12:27. | |
dependant on what is decided. You are 63 now. Do you intend to lead | :12:27. | :12:34. | |
the DUP into that next election? That is my intention. You would be | :12:35. | :12:44. | |
:12:45. | :12:50. | ||
66, 67 for a five-year term. Still to come: the knifes are out | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
at Westminster as MPs debate the price of razor blades. There's more | :12:56. | :13:02. | |
important things than that. It's a trivial matter really. | :13:02. | :13:07. | |
It has come to be known as the gay adoption ban, but in fact the ban | :13:07. | :13:12. | |
on couples adopting children here also applies to heterosexual | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
couples that aren't married, an exclusion exclisive to Northern | :13:16. | :13:18. | |
Ireland. The Human Rights Commission launched a legal | :13:18. | :13:22. | |
challenge to overturn the ban and this morning a judge ruled in its | :13:22. | :13:26. | |
favour. Good evening to you, thank you for | :13:26. | :13:32. | |
joining us tonight. Can I ask you first of all, how confident were | :13:32. | :13:38. | |
you that you would win this case? Well, we are very glad we won the | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
case of course, but we were quietly confident going into the courtroom | :13:41. | :13:46. | |
this morning. We had strong arguments based on the best | :13:46. | :13:49. | |
interests of the child. 2,500 children in Northern Ireland in | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
care, many of whom cannot get adoption because there's too tiny a | :13:54. | :14:00. | |
pool of adoptive parents. That is a compelling case and it was | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
bolstered by strong arguments of non-discrimination, that had been | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
looked at by the House of Lords, the Supreme Court as it then was, | :14:10. | :14:15. | |
back in 2008. It made strong arguments, which we reflected into | :14:15. | :14:21. | |
the court in Belfast, so we were confident. It is Serge a very | :14:21. | :14:24. | |
complicated and controversial issue. Chris Page has been examining | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
what's at stake. -- it is certainly a very | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
complicated and controversial issue. One of the most serious and | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
sensitive decisions anyone will ever take, whether to adopt a child. | :14:35. | :14:39. | |
The adoption laws here are different to the rest of the UK in | :14:39. | :14:45. | |
that the legislation says you can only adopt as a couple if you are | :14:45. | :14:49. | |
married. John O'Doherty is director of the Rainbow Project, which works | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
on behalf of the gay community. He wanted to adopt a child with his | :14:54. | :14:58. | |
partner, but couldn't because of the legal situation. I wanted to | :14:58. | :15:05. | |
create a safe home, a long-lasting home for a child. I wanted to form | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
a family and a lifetime bond that would always be there. You don't | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
necessarily get that with foster caring. We wanted to form a family | :15:14. | :15:17. | |
and sadly the Northern Ireland Assembly don't seem to feel that's | :15:17. | :15:22. | |
a right we should be able to have. If his relationship with his | :15:22. | :15:26. | |
partner wasn't legally recognised either of them could apply to adopt | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
as individuals, regardless of their sexuality, but people in civil | :15:30. | :15:35. | |
partnerships can't adopt at all. This expert on family law says it | :15:35. | :15:38. | |
is one of the major differences between civil partnerships and | :15:38. | :15:48. | |
marriages. To most people the Civil Partnership Act will give sim sex | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
couples the same rights as married couples, pensions and property, but | :15:53. | :15:59. | |
under this partnership, the adoption laws. That's one of the | :15:59. | :16:02. | |
issues which led the Human Rights Commission to challenge the law in | :16:02. | :16:05. | |
the High Court and today Mr Justice Treacy ruled in the commission's | :16:05. | :16:12. | |
favour. He said same sex couples in a civil partnership suffer unjust | :16:12. | :16:16. | |
final discrimination when compared to individual members of an | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
opposite sex couple, who can apply to adopt. The present law has been | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
in place since 1987. This have been some unsuccessful plans to change | :16:24. | :16:29. | |
it in recent years. In 2006 under direct rule the Department of | :16:29. | :16:33. | |
Health completed a review of adoption legislation. It found that | :16:33. | :16:37. | |
the law was outdated and made a number of recommendations, | :16:37. | :16:42. | |
including that same sex and unmarried couples should be able to | :16:42. | :16:46. | |
adopt. But it was clear there would be strong opposition to that. 2010 | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
proposals were put out to consultation, 95% of the responses | :16:51. | :16:55. | |
were opposed to extending adoption to gay and unmarried couples. In | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
2010 the executive agreed new legislation, which did not include | :16:59. | :17:04. | |
opening up adoption to gay couples. But the Bill never made it to the | :17:04. | :17:09. | |
floor of the Assembly. The Ulster Unionist MLA Tom Elliott has two | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
adopted children. He wants the law to be reformed but believes there | :17:12. | :17:19. | |
are more pressing issues than the debate around same sex couples. | :17:19. | :17:23. | |
and large the vast amount of queries about adoption isn't about | :17:23. | :17:29. | |
being able to adopt for same sex couples or heterosexual or married | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
couples, but it is about getting the children placed as soon as | :17:33. | :17:36. | |
possible. It is about ensuring that those children get the best start | :17:36. | :17:41. | |
in life that's reasonably possible and not about who the adoptive | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
parents are. The Health Minister, Edwin Poots, says she not convinced | :17:45. | :17:49. | |
that today's judgment is in the best interests of some of the most | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
vulnerable children. He is urgently appealing the ruling, with, he says, | :17:53. | :17:57. | |
a heavy heart, because he fears it may delay further any plans for new | :17:57. | :18:04. | |
adoption legislation. He says that is overdue already. What for you | :18:05. | :18:08. | |
are some of the main findings of today's judgment? There are a | :18:08. | :18:12. | |
number of very important findings here today. The first is that it is | :18:12. | :18:15. | |
in the best interests of children to open up this pool of potential | :18:16. | :18:21. | |
adoptive parents. Secondly, and just as important, the judge | :18:21. | :18:24. | |
reaffirms what we passionately believe that nobody has a right to | :18:24. | :18:29. | |
adopt. A child has a right to have the best possible opportunity and | :18:29. | :18:33. | |
chance for the future. It always has to be built around the child | :18:33. | :18:36. | |
That context the judge found that the discriminatory practises in | :18:36. | :18:40. | |
Northern Ireland were in violation of the European Convention on Human | :18:40. | :18:43. | |
Rights and they would have to change. He said why is it that | :18:43. | :18:47. | |
every married couple, every married couple, is potentially considered | :18:47. | :18:52. | |
suitable for adoption and not a single unmarried couple can ever be | :18:52. | :18:55. | |
so considered? He said that was irrational and illogical. Had this | :18:55. | :19:02. | |
is a very important finding. Those are very strong words, very clear | :19:02. | :19:05. | |
the judgment from Mr Justice Treacy today, but obviously it's a | :19:05. | :19:08. | |
complicated issue as far as legislation is concerned. We know | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
that the Health Minister, Edwin Poots, is planning an urgent appeal | :19:12. | :19:18. | |
of today's judgment. Where does that leave the legislative process? | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
Well, it is a very early indication of an appeal. We were taken aback | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
today. Normally we would have respected a little more time and | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
reflection before any such announcement. The Minister is | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
perfectly entitled to appeal, but the case isn't over yet, as the | :19:35. | :19:38. | |
judge has to indicate what remedies he is going to order. So we have an | :19:38. | :19:43. | |
announcement of an appeal before we know what the judge will be | :19:43. | :19:48. | |
ordering, and it's a complex case. The judgment require as lot of | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
reflection. I hope Mr Poots will consider this business of an appeal, | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
so that we don't block access for adoption for all of these kids in | :19:57. | :20:02. | |
care. Does that mean that the new legislation on abortion, which is | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
in embryonic form at the moment, on adoption, does that mean white have | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
to take onboard today's ruling, that legislators would have to | :20:10. | :20:12. | |
elect to that effect? The difficulty is that we know, or we | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
think, that a majority of people at Stormont wouldn't necessarily agree | :20:16. | :20:20. | |
with today's judgment. Today's finding is on the basis that the | :20:20. | :20:23. | |
rules in Northern Ireland are inconsistent with the international | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
human rights obligations of the United Kingdom. And that they have | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
to comply. So yes, the requirements to comply with human rights law is | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
as valid in Belfast as it is in London. We'll work with the | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
Assembly and the executive to try to make sure this is kept at the | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
forefront of everybody's intention, just as we do on all the other | :20:42. | :20:46. | |
bills. But it's a clear conflict isn't it between the views, | :20:46. | :20:56. | |
:20:56. | :20:57. | ||
potentialry, -- potentially of legislators and the politicians? | :20:57. | :21:04. | |
don't know, I'm optimistic we'll be able to assist, support and help | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
the legislature. Can I ask you finally for your views on the | :21:09. | :21:14. | |
ongoing debate, which has been re- opened, with the opening of the | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
Marie Stopes clinic Belfast? What's your organisation's position on | :21:17. | :21:22. | |
that debate? We only will ever take a position, act on a matter, where | :21:22. | :21:26. | |
we see an issue of a violation of the United Kingdom's international | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
human rights obligations. Right now in the Marie Stopes case we see no | :21:30. | :21:35. | |
issue of that kind, and we are not involved. We don't have a position. | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
So you haven't engaged in that debate and don't have a position on | :21:39. | :21:43. | |
that debate? That's correct. Thank you. | :21:43. | :21:49. | |
We hear a lot about rising food and fuel prices, but another spiralling | :21:49. | :21:56. | |
cost is exercising some of our politician. In fact it is annoying | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
three MPs so much that they've raised an early day motion on the | :22:00. | :22:07. | |
matter. It is the cost of razor blades. | :22:07. | :22:12. | |
I make them last four months. I don't probably look as clean-shaven | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
as I should do. They are pretty dear considering how ubiquitous | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
they are. Everyone needs them. you do feel whenever you have to | :22:21. | :22:28. | |
hand over the money? I rarely do, as you can tell. They are boosting | :22:28. | :22:33. | |
the price too. I don't think that from the factories they are coming | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
at the same price. It is just too much. A couple of days now without | :22:38. | :22:43. | |
shaving. Plus I shave the head as well, so the blades don't last too | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
long. Do you think this is the sort of thing that MPs should be raising | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
in the House of Commons? Not really. There are more important things | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
than that to raise. I think it's a trivial matter really. It is | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
ridiculous. If I was in the market there during the week just to see | :23:01. | :23:11. | |
:23:11. | :23:13. | ||
what price they were, the ones that I want. I couldn't believe it. | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
profefrs are taking a well earned rest for the next couple of weeks, | :23:16. | :23:23. | |
but joining our team of regulators are PR Sheila Davidson and former | :23:23. | :23:29. | |
journalist turned commentator Paul McFadden. Welcome to The View. Paul, | :23:29. | :23:35. | |
fist of all, we heard from Peter Robinson. Did anything he had to | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
say catch your attention? A number of things. I enjoyed his poker face | :23:40. | :23:46. | |
when he refused to reveal his bottom line on the Corporation tax. | :23:46. | :23:50. | |
You asked him about his determination to continue leading | :23:50. | :23:54. | |
the DUP. He didn't quibble with this, that he would be 6 or 67 | :23:54. | :23:59. | |
years of age at the next election, which thoughts he is 63 now and he | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
expects this executive to go the whole way. Maybe that's one thing | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
to look out for. In terms of his spat with Sinn Fein, the kind of | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
language we heard being used by the First Minister was not the kind of | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
language we expect to hear from partners, good partners in any | :24:15. | :24:19. | |
healthy form of government, but that is where we are at. I just | :24:19. | :24:26. | |
wonder was it something to do with the fact he was speaking in west | :24:26. | :24:30. | |
Tyrone and in an adjacent constituency to Mid Ulster, where | :24:30. | :24:36. | |
we'll have a by-election in the not too distant future. Maybe he is | :24:36. | :24:39. | |
thinking along those lines rather than flagging up a serious spat | :24:39. | :24:46. | |
with Sinn Fein. I will say this briefly, in terms of Sinn Fein | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
being panicked by the SDLP, I think that would have surprised the SDLP, | :24:51. | :24:56. | |
it what have surprised Sinn Fein and white have astonished Alex | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
Attwood. Sheel larks what about the First Minister's comments on | :25:01. | :25:08. | |
Corporation tax. Do you think it is going to happen? As a betting woman | :25:08. | :25:11. | |
I think it is absolutely going to happen. David Cameron has already | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
indicated privately to business people in Northern Ireland that we | :25:14. | :25:18. | |
can expect a good announcement at some point in the future. Somebody | :25:18. | :25:23. | |
said today that that is possibly the case and I think the First | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
Minister and the rest of the team know that this is going to happen. | :25:27. | :25:32. | |
They are no negotiations on the amount of money, but the biggest | :25:32. | :25:36. | |
debate is this whole Scottish aspect. If Scotland were to go the | :25:36. | :25:40. | |
same route as we are asking for, it would cost them �2 billion a year, | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
so they are never going to want to get the kind of deal on Corporation | :25:44. | :25:49. | |
tax that we need. I think that's why it is going to go ahead here. | :25:49. | :25:54. | |
OK. Paul, let's talk about your moment of the week, what leapt out | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
for you? It was the announcement and it ties in with what Sheila was | :26:00. | :26:03. | |
talking about, the latest unemployment figures. You mentioned | :26:03. | :26:06. | |
Mr Cameron's recognition of the need to rebalance the economy. Our | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
unemployment figures yesterday showed that the number of people | :26:08. | :26:13. | |
out of work here is going up. In the UK elsewhere it is going down. | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
The Government I think needs to try something different to try and | :26:17. | :26:21. | |
address that disparity. Corporation tax might give Mr Cameron the | :26:21. | :26:25. | |
excuse to try something different here, but the fact that we've got | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
one in five of our 18 to 24-year- olds out of work, it is appalling. | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
It's a big challenge to our politicians. Sheila, that ties in | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
with your moment of the week. Absolutely. It is not something | :26:37. | :26:42. | |
that everybody is going to know about, but they should. We had four | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
young people from Northern Ireland go to the House of Lords yesterday | :26:46. | :26:52. | |
and spoke to MPs and peers. They were articulating in the most | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
emotional and wonderful way the young people at the margins of our | :26:55. | :26:59. | |
society here what could be done did help them and to help them develop | :26:59. | :27:05. | |
and get jobs. That's reality of the figures. That's the human story of | :27:05. | :27:09. | |
it. Do you think politician heard something in that they hadn't heard | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
before? I think they did. Our young people need to understand they can | :27:13. | :27:19. | |
engage with politicians and they can tell their stories. The | :27:19. | :27:26. | |
politicians don't always hear it and they welcome it. The tweet the | :27:26. | :27:34. | |
week. David Cameroon. It is not a typo. I'm going to call a | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
referendum among Tory MPs as to whether Andrew Mitchell is going to | :27:39. | :27:49. | |
:27:49. | :27:50. | ||
stay or go. I'm going to call it a "plebiscite". This guy a is a | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
Teflon toff. That's a parody Twitter account, not the real one. | :27:54. | :28:04. | |
:28:04. | :28:15. | ||
Shael larks your tweet. I hesitate, That's the real Eamonn Mallie, not | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
the parody. It is very funny. Paul? Next week, it is the launch of the | :28:20. | :28:26. | |
programme for UK city of culture 2013 and Derry, it is something | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
that has had its problems recently but it is of huge importance to the | :28:31. | :28:35. | |
north-west, to Derry and the whole of the north. We saw the | :28:35. | :28:40. | |
celebrations when it was announced. There's a lot of work to be done. | :28:40. | :28:49. | |
But it's getting there. Sheila? Mine is the Include Youth More Than | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
A Job. It is about young people and business getting engaged. That's | :28:54. | :28:59. | |
going to be a very important debate. Enjoy that. We'll see you again | :28:59. | :29:04. |