15/02/2018 The View

When is an agreement

not an agreement?

On the one hand Sinn Fein

claims a deal was done,

but not so says the DUP.

So where does the truth lie?

And does anyone, anywhere,

know what happens next?

Welcome to The View.

Tonight - the talks process that

choked on a language law.

We'll hear from the DUP

and Sinn Fein on why they couldn't

strike a deal and exactly

what the stumbling blocks were.

We'll also speak to the other main

party leaders to hear

whether they think the prospect

of a deal any time soon

is dead in the water.

And "making an accomodation"

in Commentators' Corner

are Fionnuala O Connor

and Alex Kane.

Hello.

On Monday the Prime Minister

and the Taoiseach arrived in Belfast

hoping to endorse a deal to restore

Stormont.

Yet, a little over 48 hours later,

the plug was well and truly pulled

by the DUP, the devolved government

here left languishing

on life support.

It's been an eventful week,

even by the standards

of Northern Ireland politics.

The soundings from both in

Gloucester and Mr McDonald were

positive and I am hoping they can

make an accommodation in the days

ahead.

Good evening. Today I have

been meeting with the leaders of the

main parties involved in the talks

and I have urged them to make one

final push for the sake of the

people of Northern Ireland.

There is

not a deal yet. What there is is

very good progress and we will keep

at it and continue to work on that

progress and that is why we are here

today.

We are not exactly they're

just yet, but there is nothing

insurmountable if there is the

political will, if there is the

political will.

There will not be a freestanding

Irish language act. There will not

be compulsory Irish in schools,

there will not be quoted in the

civil service and there will not be

bilingual directional signs.

Now is

the time for decisiveness and

leadership and we cannot be

distracted. In other words, the DUP

have to make up their mind.

It is

unfortunate where we have ended up

in the position where we are, we are

not able to have an Executive at

this time.

I am sure we had a way

forward on all the issues and we had

an accommodation.

Michelle O'Neill

making her party's position clear, a

deal was on the table.

And this afternoon the first details

of that draft agreement began

to emerge at a Sinn Fein press

conference at Stormont.

We had a draft agreement by the end

of last week. At that time we

advised the leadership that the deal

should be closed before those

opposed to it could unpick

everything we had achieved. We made

it clear that if there was a delay,

that there was every chance that the

package would unravel. And so it

came to pass. The DUP failed to

close the deal and then went on to

collapse the talks process. A lot of

mistruths and inaccuracies have been

peddled about the content of the

draft agreement. So, for the record,

the draft agreement included an

Irish language act, and altered

Scots actor, and respecting language

and diversity act. The Irish

language act included provision for

the official recognition of Irish

and the creation of an Irish

language commissioner. The repeal of

the ban of Irish in the course was

also to be legislated for. Let me

make it clear, at no stage was it

envisaged to make Irish compulsory

for anybody or to apply quotas to

the public services. These were not

considerations. There was no meeting

of minds on marriage equality. We

did, however, anticipate that the

issue would be fully considered by

an incoming Assembly in the form of

a private member's bill and it was

acknowledged that no party alone

could table a petition of concern.

There was agreement to review the

petition of concern and to establish

a committee to look at the bill of

rights. Separate from the agreement

between the DUP, Sinn Fein had and

has a commitment from the British

Government to put to consultation

the legacy mechanisms agreed at

Stormont house and, crucially, to

release the funding requested by the

Lord Justice, the Lord Chief

Justice, for coroners' chorus. Sinn

Fein accepted in the draft agreement

the DUP proposal on the stability of

the institutions. There was

agreement that the British

Government will legislate so that

the Justice Minister will be elected

in the same manner as other

ministers, that is to say following

the Assembly elections in 2022. We

understood above all else that we

had a deal. We understood that we

had landed on a respectable,

workable accommodation. From what I

have told you, you will gather we

did not get it on your own way. You

never expect that to happen. We did

make room for issues like the

sustainability piece which was

critical. We were

critical. We were told that about

all the package of legislation that

contains the Irish language

legislation also had the Ulster

Scots legislation and had explicit

legislation that recognised and

protected British values and that

sense of identity which we do not

deny and which we do not seek to in

any way undermine.

According to the

Sinn Fein leader the draft agreement

as she called it contained explicit

legislation that recognised and

protected British values and

identities. If that is the case, why

did the DUP rejected?

I'm joined by the DUP

MP Gregory Campbell.

She could not have been more clear

than what she said this afternoon.

The two parties had arrived at the

draft agreement last week and the

DUP failed to deliver on it.

Let's

look at the comments made yesterday

and today. Yesterday, just to remind

people, Michelle O'Neill said we had

reached accommodation on all the

issues. It was described as an

accommodation and on all the issues.

Now today we hear from the newly

installed leader and she described

it as a draft agreement, but there

were some issues that we did not

reach agreement on. You pay your

money and you make your choice.

How

would you describe? Put us out of

our misery because it sounds like

you are dancing on the head of a

pen. There was an accommodation, and

agreement, some kind of draft deal

that both are you had agreed as a

framework for potential full

agreement.

Can you see that point?

No, that is what Sinn Fein would say

and I have just outlined to you how

it changed in 24 hours from

yesterday to today. In our position

we said privately to Sinn Fein and

publicly on scores of occasions that

we would not agree to an Irish

language act. That is what we said

repeatedly, ad nauseam, in the

public domain and privately to Sinn

Fein. White then in the weekend when

Gerry Adams was about to leave the

stage would Sinn Fein say we know

what they said privately and

publicly, but we have got them to

change their mind and we are going

to do a deal and we have signed up

to it. What fools do they take us

for?

What do you make of what she

said today? They were not going to

publish the details of the draft

agreement in their entirety, but she

wanted to give people a sense of

what had been agreed between the two

parties, a respectable working

accommodation as she described it.

It seems there was an Irish language

act in some shape or form. There was

also to be official recognition for

the Irish language and the

Commissioner for the Irish language.

How did you everything you would be

able to sell that your supporters?

Well, we did not. You are making the

mistake others are making. Because

Sinn Fein has a list of demands, I

wish list, and then wishes to prepay

or portrayed that some sort of

accommodation or draft agreement,

depending on the day you speak to

them, you accept that as fact.

A lot

of commentators and journalists have

spoken to people engaged in that

process, and I have as well, and

there was some kind of paper that

you had signed off together to go to

and take that to your respective

supporters for further consultation.

Can you see that point? There were

papers exchanged throughout the

process.

Was there a final paper at

the end of last week?

No, there was

not. I do not understand why

journalists like you and others do

not ask Sinn Fein why did you not

make it the day before Sinn

make it the day before Sinn Fein let

Gerry Adams go? If there was a deal,

why did it only emerge on the day

before Gerry Adams was going to

retire? It is utter nonsense.

I

would put questions like that to

Sinn Fein if the party agreed to

join us.

There you go.

That is their

choice and I am talking to you. It

is also clear in what Mary Lou

McDonald said today is that it seems

like, and I cannot understand why

you will not concede this point,

that you got quite a lot of what you

wanted in this final draft paper. No

stand-alone Irish language act in

spite of what Sinn Fein says, no

quotas, no compulsory learning of

Irish, protection for British

identity in a consolidated culture

act, you sidestepped marriage

equality legislation, why would you

throw all of that away after so much

hard work and plunge us into this

political vacuum?

Again you have

accepted what Sinn Fein want as a

wish list as some sort of agreed

document which it is not.

It is more

than a wish list is ignored?

Is it

agreement on all the issues that

Michelle O'Neill said yesterday, or

is it agreement on some of the

issues and just an accommodation as

they were outlining today?

I do not

understand why you will not concede

the point that there was some kind

of final paper that went to

consultation with DUP members. I

know that to be the case, I have

spoken to people in your party who

have confirmed there was a draft

paper that they took back to talk to

MLAs and MPs about. Why will you not

concede that?

There were a series of

documents.

There was a final

document that was consulted on.

Who

said that?

I will not remain

said that?

I will not remain name

them.

I thought you would say that.

It would embarrass you. I tell you

what, embarrass me. No, I will not.

Documents have been exchanged and

swapped back and forth over recent

months and weeks.

I am talking about

the final document, the latest

document. You were not there, of

course, you were off for ten days

and not part of the negotiating

team.

Unfortunately people cannot

prevent being ill.

You accept you

were not there.

I was there on a

series of previous occasions.

You

were not there at the end of last

week and people we have spoken to

work there at the end of last week.

I was brave continuously as were all

the other officers and there was no

deal upon which we could agree.

There was no deal, but there was a

draft consultation paper for you to

consider.

There was no draft

document. Mark, I don't know why you

cannot accept some real politic

here. Was Gerry Adams leaving the

stage last weekend? Never mind about

Gerry Adams. I am asking about why

the DUP did not clinch the deal that

was apparently on the table last

weekend. It was to be rubber-stamped

on Monday.

You can keep asking the

questions and I will answer them the

way I want to answer them. Well

people believe you? Was Gerry Adams

going to leave the stage last

Saturday or not? Did we all know

that that was the case? Did anybody

get any indication of some draft

document 48 hours before he left the

stage? No, nobody had any, and there

was no gossip, talk, reference or

commentators saying there was going

to be an agreement because there was

not an agreement on the table.

There were plenty of articles

written in newspapers. You know that

very well. On Thursday of last week.

You discussed that on The View last

Thursday night.

That's correct. On

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday when

talks were ongoing, there was no

indication from anyone involved in

the talks or on the periphery of the

talks or even commentators or

reporters, and no indication

anywhere that a draft document was

going to be circulated, until we

come towards the weekend when Gerry

Adams was about to leave the stage.

If you do not want to make that

correlation or look at that, I am

sure that there are many others who

well. They can draw their own

conclusions.

Explain this to me,

Sinn Fein made it clear today that

they will make the text of the deal

available to the British and Irish

governments and they will also

briefed parties north and south. How

can they make available a text which

you have said does not exist?

We can

certainly make some text of some

kind that they may have put forward,

we can do whatever they want in

terms of some sort of repeats of

documentation to our government and

their own government and the public.

-- release of document. Mary Lou

McDonald said today... You will have

to let me finish, what they cannot

do is misrepresent that document as

an agreed document. It is their own

document...

No one said it was an

agreed document, they have said it

was a final stage document which

both of you were going off to

consult on, your rank and file

members on. This is what Mary Lou

McDonald said, she said she had a

firm understanding that it was an

agreement, only presentational

matters were outstanding. Are you

telling us she was not telling the

truth?

She said she had an agreement

with the dealership of the DUP. Is

that not correct? That is correct.

And you have played a clip in the

news before this programme started

for the leader of the DUP made it

absolutely clear that no such

document existed, she also indicated

that we have the collegiate

leadership in the DUP. Now, you are

asking me and my colleagues in Sinn

Fein, telling them they are liars

when you ask that? Did Nigel Dodds,

Gregory Campbell, Arlene Foster

agree to this draft document? Ask

that question and see if you are not

laughed out of court.

What are the

implications for this mess of the

leadership of Arlene Foster, because

the way that it looks too many

people outside of the process is

that whatever you want to call it,

whatever the paper was, whatever the

latest thinking was, that she then

discussed it with her senior party

members, they did not like it, she

could not sell it, and people are

asking whether she is now in charge

of her own party.

Well, you see,

Mark, a very small number of people

have asked that ridiculous question.

Well, lots of people have asked

that.

Why do you not answered? I

definitely will answer it.

definitely will answer it. Have you

got any deviation from the answer

I'm going to give you?

I do not know

what you will tell me.

Go ahead.

Arlene Foster has no difficulty

within the party, did not have any

difficulty last weekend and will not

have any difficulty this weekend. Is

that clear enough?

That is pretty

clear.

And it is clear and you will

get that same answer from every

person that you pose the question

to. So, any nonsense that people are

peddling that this calls into

question Arlene Foster's leadership,

I mean, you really need to get a

grip. Unionism gave the answer to

Sinn Fein's demand that we accept

the wish list. We were never going

to do that and we did not do that.

You might have wanted to give a

farewell present to Gerry Adams,

that is fine if they want to do

that.

How does Arlene Foster as your

leader get this

leader get this process back on

track again?

Well, you are

pejorative and how you have put that

question, Mark, when you describe as

my dear leader.

Why did you do that?

How does she get the process by

contract again? We are running out

of time. Give me a quick answer,

please.

We would not have run out of

time if you had not blocked my

questions and not allowed me to give

answers. What we must do is be calm

and settle down, everyone has to

settle down, we have to get the

budget passed next

budget passed next week so that

important issues like health,

education, all of those matters can

begin to be addressed. Then we have

to get a cool, calm period of

reflection when parties can sit down

and say, are we going to go back

into some sort of process any more

realistic tone this time. So we will

do away with preconditions and come

with an open-ended book and we will

seek within a short, sharp time they

read we can get an agreement that we

can all buy into.

And we will end up

where we are the last weekend, it

all leads to the same conversation

and the same hurdles have to be

overcome.

Our view is that we can

set up a government tomorrow. We

know that. You have known that all

along and estate that somebody who's

like Sinn Fein has said that we will

not set up a government until we get

what we want. That cannot lead to an

agreement. Also people will have

time for reflection now and we can

try to reconvene in a much more

constructive mode and anymore and

that is designed to get agreement

and consensus that we can all buy

into, not just one party and one

party saying it is our way or no

way. That will not result in an

agreement.

We will have to leave it

there. Gregory Campbell, thank you

for joining us.

And by the way, we had hoped

to speak to someone from Sinn Fein

live on the programme,

but our invitation was declined.

So, we've heard the views of the two

main players at the heart of this

political breakdown.

But what about the other parties?

In a moment we'll hear

from the SDLP, Ulster

Unionists and Alliance.

First though, here's how some people

in Belfast reacted to the news

that the current talks process

was dead in the water.

Pretty ridiculous, to be honest. I

just think that in this teenage they

should be able to agree on something

for the country.

I do not think any

of the issues that anybody has been

talking about that people on the

street really care about more than

getting health, education and other

parts of the government working

again. Sinn Fein represents a lot of

waters and I do not think it is

unreasonable that they would like to

have an Irish Language Act. I do not

think it is a huge expense when you

consider the number of people that

are represented.

I think it is awful

and they should put the lot of them

into a boat out in sea no worse. Or

stop their wages. I am working 30

hours each week for less money that

they are getting, £30,000 each year

and they are sitting on their

bottoms for nothing!

Sinn Fein want

everything and do not want to give

everything or anything back.

Should

there be some compromise around the

Irish Language Act?

No.

What

concerns you about it?

The cost.

The

best thing I can tell you at this

moment in time is never say never.

All we can do mainly and I know it

has been said many times before, but

it is just to keep our heads up, go

forward and wait and see because it

is out of our hands. We have to hope

that it gets sorted.

I think we need

direct rule for ASAP for at least

five years.

And joining me now are

representatives from the three other

main parties at Stormont.

The SDLP leader, Colum Eastwood,

is in our Foyle studio.

His Ulster Unionist counterpart,

Robin Swann, is with me

in the studio, alongside the deputy

leader of the Alliance

Party, Stephen Farry.

Welcome to you all.

Welcome to you all.

Robin Swann, your party was very

clear that an Irish Language Act

should not be part of any deal,

and on that rock, this deal

appears to have perished.

Are you happy about that?

Our party has been clear on the

position of an Irish Language Act

for 20 years. We did not see any

need for it in the Good Friday

Agreement but back then we did want

the creation of two distinct bodies.

We knew back then that when language

and culture was brought into

politics and given to the hands of

politicians that would cause a

problem. That is really want to be

and that is a problem we are at low.

Politicians have made this into an

issue that it not be.

The quiet

reflection on Gregory Campbell who

maintains that there was no draft

agreement, there was no

accommodation, there was no deal.

Mary Lou McDonald has a different

perspective on things. How do you

square that circle? It is not up to

me to do that. What is your

impression?

We believe that there

was a draft agreement.

On the basis

of what?

On where we got two on

Monday and Tuesday. It was clear on

Friday had the Secretary of State

had sight of an agreement at that

stage and she said no. Over the

weekend something dramatically moved

enough to bring the Prime Minister

and the Taoiseach to Northern

Ireland, so there had to be

something germinating between the

two parties. There had to be

something more than just a hope

surely for both the Prime Minister

and the Taoiseach to appear in

Belfast.

Colum Eastwood joining us,

do you believe there was a draft

deal or has that been overplayed?

Of

course, we were not in the room when

these things were being done, but it

is quite clear that my best guess

was that there was a deal and I am

told that it was on the table and

October and people have walked away

from it and walked back to it a

number of times ever since. The most

important thing that people need to

be talking about, not whether there

was a Friday night were not, but

what we have now is no government

and the prospect of the

and the prospect of the British

government bringing any budget here,

a British government who are in

cahoots with the DUP. So what this

has delivered is the DUP taking

decision to Northern Ireland on

their own. That goes against

everything that the Good Friday

Agreement stands for, it goes

against both of the progress that we

have met. The Good Friday Agreement

is underpinned by the idea that

there are two different

nationalities and they both have to

have a place. We cannot accept and

nobody should accept the British

Government with the DUP making

decisions in Northern Ireland. Let

me tell you this, Mark. Unionism I

believe has been badly served by

people like Gregory Campbell and

Arlene Foster. And as a nationalist,

I would like to tell Unionists that

my Irishness is not threatened, your

Britishness is not threatened and we

have to find a way to bring that

common endeavour about to bring

about something that will work for

each other because this is going

nowhere. Unless we get a grip of

this thing. People have to

understand that people like Arlene

Foster and Gregory Campbell are

driving nationals away from the

notion of Stormont and I will do

everything it can to bring them back

to the position that we have to have

partnership and co-operation but we

need help and we have to move each

other into the middle. This cannot

go on like this for much longer and

people have to understand the

seriousness of this.

Before I come

to the Alliance representative, how

do you respond to that?

My Unionism

is not threatened by his nationalism

and vice versa, we have seen that in

Northern Ireland. We have seen that

for the first ten years since the

Good Friday Agreement and we have

tried to make this place work. In

the last two elections we have seen

polarisation in Northern Ireland. We

have to build the live side by side,

we will always have our differences

and we have to work through them but

it is how we solve that. I am not

threatened by the Irish Language Act

or Ulster nationalism, I have no

problem with the Irish language. The

Irish language actor something very

different.

But the sky would not

fall down.

fall down.

Mary Lou McDonald talked

about a commissioner and when we

look back at the draft in 2015, a

commissioner would have the same

powers as a High Court to.

You do

not know that. I was told it was a

very watered-down version of an

Irish Language Commissioner that the

strap was suggesting.

You are saying

that and so am I. The 2015 draft

consultation... We have not seen

anything different.

I am only

telling you what I have been told.

An Irish Language Commissioner can

mean lots of different things. Yes.

Stephen Farry, let me ask you first

week, at the beginning of this

conversation, Mary Lou McDonald said

there was a draft deal, Arlene

Foster said that is not the case,

what do you think?

It would seem

that there was some accommodation

reached last week.

Why do you say

that?

We had a briefing given to the

Belfast Telegraph, I would doubt

that was Sinn Fein doing that. The

first paragraph carries the material

of the DUP and I would suspect the

other source of that briefing. They

were confident enough, the DUP, to

spurned. Can I tell you on the wider

point, Northern Ireland today is in

a very precarious situation, we have

been pulled apart by the fact that

there is no government, polarisation

is more intense than at any time in

the previous 20 years. There are

massive problems around Brexit and

we need something in place to manage

any form special arrangement to get

this through this massive challenge.

None of that is currently on the

table. We can only have power

sharing in terms of our governments,

we have to reflect the unionist and

nationalist traditions and people

from other backgrounds and the

reality is that other people put it

on the table or not, the reality is

that we have to have an

accommodation on the language issue,

that is no route did evolution that

does not run through some form of

accommodation, and what we have seen

even from Robin, there are a lot of

things being erected as to what this

act was going to have. They were

false claims, you were talking about

Gaelic and campaigning for things

that were never going to be the

final product. They put for this

compromise around the potential

bells and I am pleased to see that

that has been reflected on what has

been breathed so far. But we have to

have a realistic approach to the

Irish Language Act. We voted against

the previous version because we

thought that was too extreme and too

far reaching. But equally we

recognise we have to have some

pragmatic compromise.

Colum Eastwood, have you spoken to

anyone in Sinn Fein about the

contents of this apparent

accommodation or draft agreement? Do

you know any more detail about what

was in it?

No, we will be speaking

tomorrow. I was disappointed to hear

the announcement today after a year

of being asked whose rights are you

going to compromise on? People were

telling me I was sitting at the back

of the bus because I was asking

people to compromise. We wanted to

ensure that any deal around language

would be maintained and sustained.

To find out there is no work done

and that marriage equality has been

left again in a way that it will not

succeed through the Northern Ireland

Assembly is very disappointing. If

we want to get back to this again,

we have to get back to the things

that we have been saying, that we

have to deal with the fact the

Assembly is set up in such a way

that provides a unionist veto. I do

not want anyone to have a veto over

people's rides and that is what that

deal maintained.

Sorry to cut across

you. Do you think maybe the DUP

played a pretty good hand during

negotiations and managed to water

down some of what may have seen some

of the more acceptable demands of

Sinn Fein, on things like same-sex

marriage and on some of the things

like the Irish language demands?

I

do not know the full detail of the

Irish Language Act, but it seems to

me they watered down all of it apart

from the language. Let's wait and

see the detail. If we are going to

get back to a process of discussion,

everybody should be involved because

I for one will be making a very

strong case as I have done for the

last year that the petition of

consent to make sure that issues

like language do not get picked as

we go through the legislative

process. We have to make sure it is

not a dead-end veto against people's

right. That is what happened in the

last couple of assemblies and that

has to stop if people are serious

about a rights -based society. That

is the biggest bloc to people

achieving their rights. If we are

serious about getting back to this,

let's do it properly. What I have

seen so far is I do not think the

DUP have done the job that they set

out to do.

Nobody seems to know what

the next move is. What is it?

We

need to go to Westminster.

A

precedent had been set. Then do we

need to go to an election?

Technically that is what needs to

happen.

If an election is called and

the Secretary of State thinks that

is where we need to go, it would not

change much. Let's see where we are.

If the Secretary of State wants to

call an election, I am not scared of

one, we will take it as it comes,

but it will not change the problems.

That is what this current set of

politicians were elected to do,

change the problems and come up with

solutions and work through them.

Stephen Farry, I made the point at

the end of the interview with

Gregory Campbell and all people say

that all roads lead back to the same

place and the issues have to be

resolved between Sinn Fein and the

DUP.

The issues remain the same, and

there are other issues that need to

be addressed as well. But we have

had massive issues in terms of the

health system, the education system

and the economy and it is all

building up and sitting on the shelf

and we are falling behind in terms

of these challenges. Yes, we need

something clarified through London

sometime next week. But we have to

come back to some sort of talks.

There is a lot of bad blood as a

consequence of what happened this

week and also in terms of the

credibility of the people doing the

negotiations. But we have to get

round that in some shape or form. We

have to reflect the diversity of

opinions.

What do you think needs to

happen next? I know you have talked

about the importance of the British

intergovernmental conference. It has

not met for a very long time.

There

is a first step and we have to

understand the spirit of the Good

Friday Agreement that recognises

there are two traditions and they

both need to be respected. We cannot

have the DUP and the British

Government making decisions for

everybody in Northern Ireland. The

Irish government has to be involved

in a real way. That is why the

British Government and the leaders

of all the political parties in the

South need to reiterate that call.

We cannot be left at the whim of

people like Gregory and Sammy Wilson

doing deals in Westminster. That

cannot happen, it would be a very

regressive step and one that would

be difficult to come back from.

Thank you all for joining us.

Thank you all for joining us.

Only one story to talk about tonight

with our commentators

Fionnuala O Connor and Alex Kane.

They have been waiting patiently.

Good evening. Thank you for joining

us again on the programme. Good to

have you both back. Let's talk about

Gregory Campbell. He is clear there

was no draft deal up for discussion

in spite of what Mary Lou McDonald

said. People will wonder how they

can both be right.

He was not clear,

he was evasive and it was very

difficult to think how he would

convince anybody when he kept going

off into that nonsense about Gerry

Adams.

What was that about? I was

not sure. But he wanted to talk

about it. Did you understand the

point he was making about Gerry

Adams?

Most extraordinary thing

about this process is these guys

have been talking point ten months

in a government of 30 months and

they have not got a clue about what

they agreed. Two people said they

did nothing but talk to each other

and they know nothing. You know I

never thought a deal was likely.

Last week it seemed likely and the

DUP said no. But by Monday morning

they were so spooked the DUP

grassroots put so much pressure on

the leadership that Arlene Foster

had to close it down. Whatever was

agreed at that point it scared them

enough to stop it.

It leaves Arlene

Foster very badly damaged.

He was

annoyed I asked that question.

He

has been out of it for two weeks

with the flu or whatever and he can

say what he likes. But it is

undeniable. She is badly damaged and

I do not know how she goes forward

into another set of negotiations,

how anyone can take her seriously.

It is almost pitiable. Inside that

party there is nobody else who is

willing to take the job and there is

nobody else jockeying for it.

Everything she has touched has gone

bad and there is the inquiry coming

up shortly.

He was very robust. He

said he was fully briefed and he

knows what happened and he said it

was a ridiculous question even to

raise about her position as leader.

He would say that. He was put up

because he had not been at the talks

for the last couple of weeks and he

was going to say what ever needed to

be said. He was being very loyal, he

has not always been loyal to the

leadership.

I think her authority

has been damaged, but neither of

these parties have come out of it

well. These parties made an

arrangement ten years ago that they

would provide consensus and a stable

government. They said they could do

better. They have had ten years of

stand-offs, of crises and after 13

months to say we are better, we have

got the Monday, and they still

cannot do it.

cannot do it.

Both parties failed to

reach agreement.

Sinn Fein. They did

reach an agreement. I want to know

what they thought why they reached

an agreement. It is very hard to see

what they got out of it.

Were you

surprised by that?

I was surprised

how Mary Lou McDonald presented it.

She presented it as fact, there was

no attempt to dress it up.

Did it

surprise you?

We were told on

same-sex marriage would go to a

private member's build and one party

would be allowed to produce a

petition of concern.

One party could

not do it on its own.

The DUP and an

Ulster Unionist, Jim Allister, would

be able to cripple that bill.

I was

struck by the fact that they said

they had an agreement, and they did

in Saint Andrews. But on legacy,

come on!

It is fascinating stuff.

That's it from The View for tonight.

There's no Sunday Politics this

weekend, but, unlike Stormont,

The View will be back next week.

Good night.

# And I am stuck on you and I am

here still trying to figure it out.

# I can hardly sleep, I am still

trying to figure it out.

# And I am stuck on you and I am

here still trying to figure it out.