Browse content similar to 29/05/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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An unholy row around the Executive table after the First Minister's | :00:00. | :00:24. | |
Just how damaged is Northern Ireland's reputation | :00:25. | :00:34. | |
We'll hear from the Alliance Party's Stephen Farry, UKIP councillor Henry | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
Reilly, the former President of the Methodist Church, Harold Good, | :00:39. | :00:41. | |
And disillusioned with political life here - Anna Lo, | :00:42. | :00:48. | |
the first Chinese born politician in any European legislature, | :00:49. | :00:50. | |
I have made contributions in this community for the last 40 years. We | :00:51. | :01:12. | |
all need to think very carefully about how we treat ethnic minority | :01:13. | :01:17. | |
And in Commentators' Corner this week, fresh from the election with | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
their thoughts on how it all panned out, programme regular Alex Kane | :01:23. | :01:25. | |
And you can, of course, join the debate on Twitter - | :01:26. | :01:29. | |
An unrepentant First Minister and a tearful Alliance MLA - | :01:30. | :01:35. | |
just another day in the politics of Northern Ireland. | :01:36. | :01:37. | |
First, Peter Robinson sought to clarify his position on Pastor James | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
McConnell's attack on Islam as a satanic religion spawned in hell. | :01:41. | :01:56. | |
Tonight the Belfast Islamic Centre say they have received his apology. | :01:57. | :02:04. | |
This afternoon Anna Lo said she feels let down by the first Minister | :02:05. | :02:10. | |
and disillusioned with politics. She will not be standing for election | :02:11. | :02:13. | |
We'll hear more of what Ms Lo had to say shortly, but first here's what | :02:14. | :02:28. | |
Peter Robinson said to our Political Editor, Mark Devenport, | :02:29. | :02:31. | |
when he was asked to explain his comment that he would trust Muslims | :02:32. | :02:34. | |
I took an outrageous suggestion. I noticed that one of the Islamic | :02:35. | :02:48. | |
leaders said that many of the Muslim community in Northern Ireland would | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
be involved in the health service. Would I be happy to allow them to | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
perform surgery? I expressly said, yes I would be happy and would trust | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
a person from the Muslim faith to carry out the operation. I knew the | :03:07. | :03:21. | |
partner for 20 years. I indicated that he supported his right to make | :03:22. | :03:27. | |
the remarks. I am not going to get involved in giving a view on various | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
religions in Northern Ireland. I believe that the partner has a | :03:35. | :03:44. | |
perfect right to speak his mind. He did it within the confines of his | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
own Church, albeit that he has an online congregation as well. Do | :03:50. | :04:26. | |
people... Are you concerned that your comments could fuel hatred? I | :04:27. | :04:36. | |
am making it very clear that I am supportive of having good relations | :04:37. | :04:41. | |
in Northern Ireland with every section of our community. I will do | :04:42. | :04:46. | |
anything I can to make sure that that is the case. No one should ever | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
consider taking any action against anybody from any ethnic background. | :04:53. | :04:56. | |
Your critics have said that you should apologise. Do you feel that | :04:57. | :05:03. | |
you all an apology? If I said anything that was the are today of | :05:04. | :05:05. | |
course I would apologise. Peter Robinson speaking earlier to | :05:06. | :05:18. | |
Mark Devenport - and we now know, of course, | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
that Mr Robinson met representatives I have seen a dramatic increase in | :05:22. | :05:38. | |
racist attacks. We are talking about two or three incidents per day. We | :05:39. | :05:46. | |
have had a strategy in place for the last seven years that has still not | :05:47. | :05:50. | |
been published. We must do something. We must address this | :05:51. | :05:58. | |
issue. Local communities are telling me they have no resources to do | :05:59. | :06:06. | |
this. Then when partner McConnell makes outrageous comments about the | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
Muslim community we have politician after politician from DUP coming out | :06:10. | :06:19. | |
in support of him. Now we have the first Minister of our country saying | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
he supports him. I feel vulnerable. I feel vulnerable walking down the | :06:27. | :06:37. | |
street. I know that ethnic minorities have been attacked. I | :06:38. | :06:42. | |
feel vulnerable but when I walk in the street that I might be attacked. | :06:43. | :06:54. | |
I was quite shaken in an incident recently when I walked out of our | :06:55. | :07:00. | |
shopping centre. Someone called behind me. By the tone I knew they | :07:01. | :07:08. | |
were not friendly. I walked on to my car. Then a car sped past me and I | :07:09. | :07:16. | |
was glad there was a barrier between me and the car. A back seat | :07:17. | :07:24. | |
passenger had the window wound down. Half of her was hanging out of | :07:25. | :07:33. | |
the window. She was screaming racist comments at me with such venom and | :07:34. | :07:40. | |
hatred. I asked myself what have I done to her? I have made | :07:41. | :07:47. | |
contributions to this community for the last 40 years. I think we all | :07:48. | :08:00. | |
need to think very carefully about how we treat ethnic minority | :08:01. | :08:07. | |
communities. Many of them do feel like me. Their homes have been | :08:08. | :08:13. | |
attacked. Are we going to drive out all our ethnic minorities who have | :08:14. | :08:16. | |
made such contributions in Northern Ireland? How dare we entice people | :08:17. | :08:30. | |
to Northern Ireland when we have such a place. I know it is a small | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
minority, I know the majority of people are wonderful, but this small | :08:38. | :08:45. | |
minority make ethnic minority people feel frightened and vulnerable. And | :08:46. | :08:56. | |
that is how I feel. My two sons are in England. When they heard about | :08:57. | :09:08. | |
the threats that I have received they have asked me would I want to | :09:09. | :09:14. | |
leave. I have said I would not. I have active years year. I have | :09:15. | :09:17. | |
friends and I want to stay. But who is to know? | :09:18. | :09:27. | |
I am joined now by my guests. Welcome to the programme. I hope she | :09:28. | :10:30. | |
stays in politics. She has now chosen to make that public. She has | :10:31. | :10:33. | |
an important role to play particularly around racial equality | :10:34. | :10:43. | |
and inclusion. We have two address the issue of racism in society. It | :10:44. | :10:50. | |
is a problem as big as sectarianism. We have a policy that has been stuck | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
for the last seven years. We have two properly resource at and make a | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
commitment to building good race relations. The first Minister has | :11:01. | :11:03. | |
two go beyond what he has said so far. Progress is being made, but it | :11:04. | :11:11. | |
is still a qualified apology. He is saying, if he has caused offence, | :11:12. | :11:17. | |
rather than saying that he has caused offence. Tonight the Belfast | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
Islamic Centre say they have accepted a sincere apology in | :11:26. | :11:33. | |
private. I have two deferred to our Muslim friends in terms of how they | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
respond, but more has to be done to build ridges. We also have to be | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
conscious of our international reputation. Several of my colleagues | :11:44. | :11:50. | |
have been told that there were furious exchanges this afternoon. | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
How bad was it? I do not want to go into details behind closed doors. | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
There were frank exchanges. There is a broader issue. The executive as | :12:02. | :12:09. | |
currently constituted is not working. Relationships at the top | :12:10. | :12:19. | |
are strained. Ministers are making progress, but this is being | :12:20. | :12:25. | |
overshadowed by bickering. There are opportunities out there that we are | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
missing, that we have to capture. We arguing well on jobs at the moment. | :12:30. | :12:36. | |
We have to do more to prove that the executive can deliver for people in | :12:37. | :12:45. | |
Northern Ireland. I spoke to someone at that meeting who said relations | :12:46. | :12:49. | |
are going down the tube fast. Do you agree? It is hard to disagree and | :12:50. | :12:56. | |
what you are saying publicly defined those relations. We have been | :12:57. | :12:59. | |
through difficult times in Northern Ireland. It is important people step | :13:00. | :13:06. | |
back from the brink. We cannot have constant crises like over the last | :13:07. | :13:10. | |
18 months that are now dominating what is happening with politics in | :13:11. | :13:15. | |
Northern Ireland. We have to focus on the real work that has been done | :13:16. | :13:20. | |
in individual ministries, my colleagues are doing that, and we | :13:21. | :13:26. | |
deserved the mandate the people of Northern Ireland have entrusted us | :13:27. | :13:32. | |
with. Henry Reilly, what is your reaction to Anna Lo's e-mail shall | :13:33. | :13:37. | |
interview? It is very distressing and everyone would have some for | :13:38. | :13:42. | |
Anna. Anna has said some silly things recently. She referred to | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
people like me as colonials. If you have lived in Northern Ireland for | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
generations you are not a colonial. I talked to a large number of people | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
from ethnic minority communities over the last couple of days since | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
Pascal McConnell's address and they do not feel under any additional | :14:03. | :14:06. | |
threat because of it. I am at a loss as to why not so desperately... Did | :14:07. | :14:13. | |
you just hear her talk about the abuse she had endured recently? She | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
talked about feeling frightened, unwelcome and vulnerable. I do not | :14:18. | :14:23. | |
know why. One point made to meet today in south Armagh was that Anna | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
has lived here for 40 years into worst of the Troubles and people | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
were being killed in South Armagh because of what the IRA saw as their | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
British ethnicity and Anna called them colonials. She has to | :14:37. | :14:41. | |
understand everyone has feelings and emotions, not just Anna, and UKIP | :14:42. | :14:49. | |
would totally condemn any racism and any adverse comments against any | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
individual based on the race, but their people make very rash and | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
offensive comments towards their fellow citizens in Northern Ireland, | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
they are in biting this. So she invited this invective, is that what | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
you are seriously telling us? Do you regard yourself as a colonial in | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
Northern Ireland? That caught so much at parents with ordinary people | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
who lived here for generations. We are not colonials. That was part of | :15:19. | :15:26. | |
a wide-ranging interview in the Irish News, one comment, and given | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
she comes from Hong Kong and was perhaps drawing a parallel which | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
made sense for her, you seem to be suggesting that was a green light | :15:36. | :15:39. | |
for people to abuse in the way they have. There can be no green light to | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
racially abused anyone but all I am saying is that in a situation | :15:47. | :15:50. | |
whereby people who have lived here for hundreds of years, suffered at | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
the hands of the IRA because of their ethnicity, to be called | :15:56. | :15:58. | |
colonials by the Alliance Party was hurtful. The other thing I | :15:59. | :16:05. | |
detect... So she should apologise for that? The Alliance Party should | :16:06. | :16:11. | |
apologise for calling people who have lived here for hundreds of | :16:12. | :16:18. | |
years colonials. That is giving a reason to militant Irish republicans | :16:19. | :16:24. | |
to kill Protestants on the border. I am not sure who has been living here | :16:25. | :16:29. | |
for hundreds of years unless we have a lot of centenary is around. Anna | :16:30. | :16:34. | |
has lived in Northern Ireland for longer than half of the population. | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
She is as much Northern Irish as anyone else. In the article she does | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
not say the word colonials. Henry's party have been demonising Romanians | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
and McGarry and is and on Saturday there is another rally. David | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
McNarry said the Alliance Party, the entirety of the Alliance Party and | :16:58. | :16:59. | |
their voters did not belong in Northern Ireland. That is a quad eye | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
fascist comment that he should be ashamed of. The attitude of UKIP and | :17:05. | :17:11. | |
fellow travellers in Northern -- in politics across the UK is setting an | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
environment that is creating hostility to people based on their | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
race. Can I move on. Harold Good, language clearly matters. Clearly, | :17:24. | :17:33. | |
and I and others will welcome Peter Robinson's statement today. Some | :17:34. | :17:38. | |
people think it will not be far enough for some, others see it as a | :17:39. | :17:44. | |
sign of weakness. It is a sign of strength when someone can reflect on | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
what they have said and come back and explain. Do you think it is | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
unfortunate that the sincere apology, as it was described, took | :17:54. | :18:00. | |
place behind closed doors? I think the community needs an apology. | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
There have been so many things said in the last few days by so many | :18:06. | :18:10. | |
different people, I would hope that we will all sit back and reflect on | :18:11. | :18:13. | |
what has been said and that there will be more than one apology. I | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
hope Pastor McConnell will reflect and we will hear from him in a day | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
or two. The power of a word, we all need to mind our language, | :18:25. | :18:30. | |
especially people in leadership in church or state or any other area of | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
influence they need to mind our language. Pastor McConnell knows the | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
good book and I would just ask him to take a moment tonight to read the | :18:41. | :18:45. | |
pistol of James, chapter three, where he talks about the time being | :18:46. | :18:53. | |
like a spark -- the time being like a spark back in light a forest fire. | :18:54. | :18:57. | |
One word can light a forest fire and we need to be desperately aware of | :18:58. | :19:01. | |
the potential for damage. Look at what happened when the pastor in | :19:02. | :19:08. | |
Florida spoke and then followed it by burning the Koran. Look at the | :19:09. | :19:13. | |
impact around the world of that particular event. Just from a word | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
or a couple of words. We need to be very mindful of what either positive | :19:20. | :19:27. | |
or negative destructive or constructive powers of a word, we | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
have seen a lot of destructive words this week. Quintin Oliver, Anna Lo | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
has pointed out she is not quitting politics because racist thugs have | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
driven her red, but she is making no secret of the fact she is | :19:43. | :19:45. | |
disillusioned with politics. Could you blame her? No, and you feel for | :19:46. | :19:53. | |
her. We see here the politics of religion, race and gender very much | :19:54. | :19:58. | |
applying, so we need to go back to some of those processes we have | :19:59. | :20:02. | |
reached accommodation in our political progress. Nothing is | :20:03. | :20:07. | |
perfect but we have made progress and need to go back and discuss some | :20:08. | :20:12. | |
of the issues that were not properly dealt with and that is why it is so | :20:13. | :20:17. | |
tragic that the Haass talks ended it is so tragic that the Haass talks | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
ended in you have accompanied politicians from here to Islamic | :20:23. | :20:29. | |
countries to hold talks and discussions and to act in some kind | :20:30. | :20:33. | |
of ambassadorial role for Northern Ireland and to look at issues that | :20:34. | :20:40. | |
appear intractable there. How will this situation play out in some of | :20:41. | :20:46. | |
these countries? The power of dealing with conflict is made | :20:47. | :20:48. | |
greater by those who have been through it themselves. It is their | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
authenticity and you see the emotion of Anna Lo on the screen. The | :20:55. | :20:59. | |
authenticity of that experience can help others and we should redouble | :21:00. | :21:02. | |
our efforts because I have seen politicians, including the DUP ones, | :21:03. | :21:08. | |
never put a foot wrong abroad because they are ambassadors, they | :21:09. | :21:13. | |
are thinking and working together and that must have a strengthening | :21:14. | :21:16. | |
impact for when they come back here and sit around a table so maybe we | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
should do more of it. Has there been a failure here to properly to mimic | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
it on the part of political leaders met here in Northern Ireland? | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
Clearly, it has been disastrous. As the late my and Toulouse said, it is | :21:32. | :21:37. | |
not what you said or did, it is how it was felt, and how the last 48 | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
hours have been felt will take a long time to reverse, and I might | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
say to Henry, the damage of what he just said, Anna Lo is hurting | :21:47. | :21:53. | |
through racism she experienced daily to say someone she had contributed | :21:54. | :22:01. | |
to it that but to qualify, the point is that you feel the need to sake | :22:02. | :22:04. | |
she brought it upon herself by what she said all stop so she is at least | :22:05. | :22:13. | |
partly to blame? I have said that racism and attacks of that nature | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
are disgraceful but Anna has to understand that Mike I did not speak | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
over you. Anna has to understand that if you refer to people in your | :22:26. | :22:30. | |
community that you have worked on and gain their respect, she turned | :22:31. | :22:35. | |
around and referred to them as a colony of colonials. Did that undo | :22:36. | :22:41. | |
all the good? It hurt a lot of people. In the way she has been | :22:42. | :22:49. | |
hurt? Seriously? That is quite Anna should have known the consequences. | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
I also want to ask you about Muslims. The other thing, Mark, is | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
your profession of journalism. Stephen Nolan isn't here. The BBC | :23:01. | :23:09. | |
and Nolan have generated this issue, caused division within community 's | :23:10. | :23:13. | |
and hype up the situation. Stephen was drooling at the prospect of this | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
becoming an al-Jazeera. That is not acceptable. Stephen Farry, final | :23:18. | :23:26. | |
word. Blaming the victim. Why in Northern Ireland's do we always have | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
to do condemnations followed by a Bath? This is wrong, setting the | :23:31. | :23:35. | |
environment of racial attacks is wrong and we need to say so that | :23:36. | :23:43. | |
Mike Bath. -- bot. Thank you, for joining us on the programme tonight. | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
Now, among the other things Peter Robinson has had to think | :23:48. | :23:50. | |
about this week is what the election results mean for the strengths | :23:51. | :23:54. | |
There are just 44 weeks until the next election - | :23:55. | :23:59. | |
the general election - but the pundits are still trying to | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
figure out what the outcome of the past week says about the prospects | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
Martina Purdy has been investigating. | :24:06. | :24:08. | |
Just a warning that there is some flash photography. | :24:09. | :24:10. | |
Those who are tempted to do another sordid deal, keep looking over your | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
shoulder because they unionist group behind you is growing. By tens of | :24:17. | :24:24. | |
thousands. Mr Robinson, we are on your case! Did you be isn't the | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
dominant voice of unionism but it is a dominant voice to be recognised -- | :24:32. | :24:38. | |
did you be. So what is the impact on decision-making at Stormont? Pass | :24:39. | :24:43. | |
back the TUV. In the longer term it will have | :24:44. | :25:00. | |
implications for power-sharing, passing any legislation. We will | :25:01. | :25:06. | |
have further arguments about flags, parades, welfare reform. I would | :25:07. | :25:11. | |
expect Peter Robinson will block any thing at the Executive that will | :25:12. | :25:15. | |
look like a compromise so the entire Haass and gender is on ice. There is | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
a double deadlock at the Executive because the DUP will not want to do | :25:21. | :25:23. | |
anything we the the Stormont elections and simpering would not | :25:24. | :25:29. | |
want to sully its left-wing brand until the next Irish general | :25:30. | :25:33. | |
election but one, five or six years away, so both parties will take an | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
agenda of doing nothing. That could leave Peter Robinson trapped at | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
Stormont and with him Martin McGuinness, the Deputy First | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
Minister. Such paralysis further underlines Stormont's power-sharing. | :25:48. | :25:53. | |
This TUV council candidate did not get elected but working colleagues | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
did. He once followed a young Ian Paisley but now claims the TUV will | :26:00. | :26:05. | |
grow with his enchantments. There will be less support for the DUP, a | :26:06. | :26:11. | |
slight increase in support for the Ulster Unionists, and increased | :26:12. | :26:15. | |
support for the TUV and other independents. Ulster Unionists | :26:16. | :26:22. | |
cheered to a dip of their vote in Europe, buoyed by a bounce in the | :26:23. | :26:27. | |
council poll. This young woman was elected along with a party colleague | :26:28. | :26:33. | |
in East Antrim Council. It was a real shock to opal a sitting DUP and | :26:34. | :26:40. | |
Alliance councillor. The DUP has endured losses to unionist rivals | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
but it is still top of the pile. It seems from the election that the | :26:47. | :26:50. | |
DUP's vote stood firm in the face of people from the left or right or | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
coming at us. We came out as the largest party in local government | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
with significantly more councillors than any other party and we | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
increased our vote in Europe. Peter Robinson left the election count | :27:08. | :27:13. | |
still firmly in the driving seat of unionism but it may take some time | :27:14. | :27:16. | |
for him to figure out which direction he should go next. David | :27:17. | :27:21. | |
Trimble sacrificed himself and his party to do what was right for the | :27:22. | :27:26. | |
country. I don't think Peter Robinson has the courage to do that. | :27:27. | :27:29. | |
Do you think he will move to the right? I think so. Parallels with | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
David Trimble who faced opposition from unionist rivals as he sought | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
compromise are certainly being drawn. The UUP will try to do and | :27:41. | :27:47. | |
Ian Paisley on the DUP and the DUP knows the way to head that off is to | :27:48. | :27:53. | |
shift to the right. With the SDLP looking weaker than ever, Sinn Fein | :27:54. | :27:57. | |
urged from elections north and south stronger than ever. At the minute | :27:58. | :28:05. | |
Unionists are playing right into Sinn Fein's hands. Sinn Fein is | :28:06. | :28:11. | |
poised to make gains in Ireland and critics claim Martin McGuinness | :28:12. | :28:13. | |
cannot act unless it suits the interest of the Dublin -based | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
leadership. They may wish to return to negotiations in Northern Ireland | :28:19. | :28:21. | |
as government ministers. Whatever happens, just cannot ignore Ridout | :28:22. | :28:29. | |
says. Whoever leads Unison will have to work which in pain. That argument | :28:30. | :28:35. | |
drives the DUP forward, fuelled by arguments it is best placed to unify | :28:36. | :28:41. | |
unionism and secure the First Minister's post against Sinn Fein in | :28:42. | :28:45. | |
2016. Pundits do not agree what these polls mean for it to you -- | :28:46. | :28:51. | |
TUV fortunes. These votes will split of, and if dynamic is to the right, | :28:52. | :28:58. | |
it will be to the TUV. This suggestion is that Jim Allister's | :28:59. | :29:03. | |
votes will not add up to Assembly votes next time. Last time Jim | :29:04. | :29:09. | |
Allister was triumphant in the European election and told the DUP | :29:10. | :29:13. | |
they were losing seats and he said those seats would tumble down. Only | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
one seat tumble down. It is not just the Assembly poll. Next year the DUP | :29:20. | :29:25. | |
has to defend seats at Westminster and it is aiming to win back East | :29:26. | :29:30. | |
Belfast from Alliance. Unionist leaders are always looking over | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
their shoulder because the danger is they could be outmanoeuvred and they | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
can find themselves in a position where someone is being a better unit | :29:38. | :29:43. | |
than them and that can drive votes. Hard to drive board when looking | :29:44. | :29:44. | |
over your shoulder. Let's hear the thoughts | :29:45. | :29:51. | |
of tonight's guest pundits, and it's all change in Commentators' | :29:52. | :29:55. | |
Corner as we welcome Dr Orna Young Within a matter of moments we are | :29:56. | :30:17. | |
back to the issue of us and them. How can we have a shared space | :30:18. | :30:32. | |
document? In that interview Anna Lo talked about there being a colonial | :30:33. | :30:39. | |
dimensional to the situation in Northern Ireland. She did not single | :30:40. | :30:43. | |
out groups of individuals and called them colonial. She did not. | :30:44. | :30:53. | |
Tonight's comments were derogative a of her experience and her views. | :30:54. | :31:08. | |
There is a derogative rate narrative emerging around ethnic minorities | :31:09. | :31:12. | |
more generally. Stephen Farry is clearly very annoyed and he said | :31:13. | :31:18. | |
that. Henry Reilly said he condemns racist attacks and attacks against | :31:19. | :31:24. | |
Anna Lo. He also got 24,000 votes last week. The reality is that there | :31:25. | :31:35. | |
are people from different ethnic backgrounds who have come to | :31:36. | :31:37. | |
Northern Ireland, the vast majority of them to stay and work for a few | :31:38. | :31:44. | |
years and then go back home again. It is almost like a casual racism | :31:45. | :31:48. | |
that has crept into the body politic in Northern Ireland. Peter Robinson | :31:49. | :31:55. | |
is the leader of unionism in Northern Ireland. His primary role | :31:56. | :32:01. | |
is to promote the values of a multicultural society. He makes | :32:02. | :32:06. | |
people feel that they are not quite part of the country and that is | :32:07. | :32:12. | |
dangerous. If we look at it in terms of those that voted for him actually | :32:13. | :32:17. | |
agree with him, that his even more frightening. It is coming out of a | :32:18. | :32:26. | |
period where the racial equality strategy has not been great. There | :32:27. | :32:31. | |
is not a dedicated mosque for people living here. There are a number of | :32:32. | :32:39. | |
factors feeding into this. It is hard to put your finger on what | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
casual racism is. Look at the people that voted for Henry Reilly. You | :32:44. | :32:48. | |
have no idea how many of them voted on the issue of immigration, or | :32:49. | :32:53. | |
where they stand in regard to casual racism. Many of the people that back | :32:54. | :33:02. | |
UKIP want out of the European Union and they use words like foreigners. | :33:03. | :33:08. | |
It is casual language. When you bring that over to Northern Ireland, | :33:09. | :33:13. | |
we already have problems with us and them. How big a problem is this for | :33:14. | :33:26. | |
Peter Robinson? He is in a big pickle with those who are not voting | :33:27. | :33:33. | |
for him. But there is not much problem for him. There is a reason | :33:34. | :33:41. | |
that he is agreeing with partner McConnell. Bear in mind Peter | :33:42. | :33:51. | |
Robinson is not standing for election at any future time in | :33:52. | :33:52. | |
Northern Ireland. There's no Sunday Politics this | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
week, so join me again for Stormont Today on Monday night | :33:59. | :34:01. | |
at 11:20pm on BBC TWO. Until then, from everyone | :34:02. | :34:04. | |
in the team, bye-bye. The common denominator | :34:05. | :34:28. | |
across my programmes is connection, And over a decade | :34:29. | :34:34. | |
with BBC Northern Ireland, the one constant to cross | :34:35. | :34:38. | |
all Stephen Nolan's programmes I'm always flattered when someone | :34:39. | :34:41. | |
opens up to me, cos that means they trust me and that's what's | :34:42. | :34:46. | |
important to me as a broadcaster. | :34:47. | :34:50. |