09/11/2013 Social Democratic and Labour Party Conference

Hello, and welcome to The Conference and it is the SDLP's big day as it

meets in the city of Armagh, and welcome to viewers on the Parliament

channel as we join an important weekend for the party. Right now,

delegates are listening to, or will be listening to shortly, the MLA

Alex Attwood. Shortly the party leader Alasdair McDonnell will

deliver his keynote speech, which you can see here in full. Most of

the morning has been held in closed session dealing with internal party

matters. Last night, though, members heard Dolores Kelly launch a

strongly worded attack on the DUP and Sinn Fein, accusing them of Rose

incompetents, prejudice. Let's discuss those issues. It is a big

day, obviously, for the party leader, Alasdair McDonnell. It is

his third conference speech as leader. What does he need to do

today? He needs to deliver a speech that has some very clear strap lines

that the media can pick up on both in the evening news and in the

Sunday papers. I will be listening carefully to see what policy pledges

he makes, and I also think it will be an interesting speech in terms of

the keywords that are used throughout. Previous speeches for

the last three years have focused on criticisms of Sinn Fein and I will

be interested to see today whether the party branches out beyond that

and speaks to its electorate and future potential voters as to what

the SDLP has two offer in and of itself, as opposed to the criticism

of Sinn Fein. Alasdair McDonnell, when you talk to him, is quick to

say he has been engaged in the not very public reorganisation and

re-energising of the party itself, trying to grow the numbers of

grassroots members, look for candidates for council elections in

the future and so forth, and that tends to go unmentioned by the

media, but this is the outward facing public side to his job today,

and in the past he has not always managed to catch the mood of the

moment, so it is a big day for him? It is, people are minded of the

first speech he gave after his election, when he had problems with

the autocue and was blinded by the lights, so there is a moment of

holding 1's breath when he begins his speech to make sure everything

goes the way you would expect it to go. But your point about the party

organisation and the work you do not see at public level is really

important. He took a lot of inspiration from Barack Obama's

campaign in the US. Barack Obama said himself that 60 to 70% of a

party's success is in talents -- that is where his talents lie. We

were talking about the European candidate. It shows you that the

party is beginning to crank into election mode. It will be important

for the SDLP because Europe was a blank in the past, and that has

gone? But it could be a key plank again in the future. Its strength

was there, we have a lot of issues around European investment in

Northern Ireland, the lack of drawdown that we have from some of

the big EU funding programmes, Northern Ireland does not punch near

its weight in terms of the money is secured from Europe, and the SDLP

always played a strong, positive role in Europe and they might want

to emphasise that at the election. Just before we hand over to our

political editor, who is at the conference, it is interesting, when

you look at the audience, you can pick out the individuals who are

there, Eamon Gilmore is upfront, but the significant figures within the

SDLP, but Colm McDevitt will be a loss for a lot of people. He

resigned his seat over the summer and we understand he is not there?

His loss to the party will be sorely felt over the activities at the

conference, but he said a high benchmark for other people within

politics in Northern Ireland by the stance that he took, and I think

people in the SDLP are very proud of him and the role he has played, and

the benchmarking asset for everyone else going forward. Thanks very much

for now. Let's cross over to Armagh and hear from our political editor,

Mark Devonport. We heard from Cathy what she is looking out for. Does

that tie in with what you will be trying to spot during the course of

Alasdair McDonnell's speech, which we think will last about 30 minutes

or thereabouts? Pretty much so. It was well

documented that a couple of years ago he had a nightmare first speech

in terms of the leadership. The good thing if nothing can ever get that

bad in terms of style so he is on the up, really, as long as he

delivers a reasonable speech, and people will say, well, that has gone

OK. There is an expectation here, you can probably see behind me

Alasdair McDonnell making his way along the corridor. He will soon be

going into the hall and there is an introduction happening at the moment

from Alex Attwood, who is the European candidate, he has just been

selected, as you said earlier on. You have scared them off, they have

done a reverse! They spotted the camera and have gone back again!

A quick reverse because they are slightly ahead of schedule, but he

is just getting ready, as you can imagine. At the moment, the

spotlight, as I said, is on Alex Attwood in the hall but soon it will

be Alasdair McDonnell's moment. I am not sure there is a big issue to be

decided at this conference. There has been a debate about whether the

SDLP should go into opposition but last night Alasdair McDonnell pushed

that back, saying he could not see a good argument for it and it might

leave them feeling smug. OK, thanks very much indeed.

Just a quick word from you, that moment was to risk a quick Alasdair

McDonnell spotted the camera and went into reverse! He was a little

bit ahead of time. Yes. No doubt they have smoothed a lot of this

when he gets into the conference? This is the thing, he had a tough

time a few years ago so they want to make sure everything runs as

smoothly as possible. The mark of a great speech is many things, your

audience, your entrance, the key messages you deliver, so this is

part of the choreography to make sure it goes well.

OK, thanks. As I said, a closed session of speeches this morning but

Mark Devonport managed to talk earlier to one of the SDLP's newest

MLAs. He asked him how he would sum up the mood of the conference this

year. There are lots of people here, lots

of young people, great debates and discussions. We have a good European

candidate in Alex Attwood. The party is very much behind him to try to

increase the SDLP vote and get a proper representative in Europe will

stop isn't there a mixed message from the SDLP about what it stands

for? On one hand you have Dolores Kelly saying the big partners in the

executive are discredited and On The Other Hand Alasdair McDonnell

sailing, we will stick in there, there is no point pulling out. We

are there to try to ensure that people get the best possible result

from government. We will not walk away to leave people with the DUP

and Sinn Fein. They have not worked for people. That is why the

executive is doing a fantastic job in standing up for the public of

Northern Ireland and we are right behind him. Does that leave people

thinking you are one foot in, one foot out? It is a strange system

here, and we have to play that system. We are elected to tell the

truth, we will not hide from the truth. We will not pretend

everything is rosy in the garden. We will take responsibility seriously,

that is what we have always done. You are on the Stormont environment

committee. The last big dustup between the STL P and Sinn Fein and

the DUP was about setting up economic terms. Could that come back

to haunt you? They need to realise we were not alone in this. All of

the experts thought we were right. It is about ensuring we have the

best possible planning system for the people out there, that is why we

are in government. Call Eastwood talking to our

political editor earlier. Colm Eastwood very much part of the new

faces of the party? Guess, and I have one of the other new faces of

the party with me. Somebody who knows a lot about the workings of

the cap macro executive. We always hear from party activists at this

time, Colm Eastwood saying everything was very neat. How would

you sum up how things are? There is a lot of energy around the

conference. The vision is around hope and ambition and when you talk

to people, that is what they want. It has been a traumatic week in some

ways with the memories of the Disappeared coming up. Do you think

this might be the STL P's opportunity? We would not like to

take opportunities out of victims. It is up to Sinn Fein whether they

want to tell the truth or not but the SDLP will make sure that victims

have their voices heard. A bit of a debate about opposition, we know

that Dolores Kelly, deputy leader, thinks the option should be explored

in a serious way, but your party leader, Alasdair McDonnell, does not

seem too keen. Where do you stand? People don't want us to walk away,

they want the SDLP in the executive, telling the truth, trying to get the

right odysseys and fight for people. You get to see first,

because of your work, how things are working in the Executive. I have had

a couple of Executive meetings and it is frustrating, to say the least.

We would like to see more being done. But we will be pushing the

SDLP's policies through the executive and through the Executive.

Coming up to the anniversary of that controversial flag vote in Belfast.

How hopeful are you that the process will produce new ideas to make a

difference when it comes to those issues? When I talking to people,

they are genuinely sceptical, and you can understand why, because they

feel hurt with the pain of the flags, parades, protests, but I hope

that we can ensure that people are put first, and not party politics.

When it comes to things like flags, you are worlds apart from the

unionists and there is quite a distance between the Alliance and

the Unionists and what they might contemplate. That is why we have to

sit down and talk it out, there will be difficult decisions but it is

part of the reconciliation process. There has been some speculation in

relation to planning, I was discussing it with Colm Eastwood,

that the DUP might be keen to move planning powers to one of their

ministries. Do you think that is realistic, are you fearful that Mark

Duggan will be stripped of his responsibilities? No, we are not

fearful. Mark took a stand, he made it clear he will not be moving the

bill now or in the future. Is there a possibility they might bring it

back... I should explain to the viewers these proposals would have

limited the right to a judicial review for people objecting to

planning but also setting up special economic planning zones which the

DUP say are important for the future. The difficulty is there is

already simplified planning zones, economically significant zones, it

is already there, so it is difficult to see, other than bringing it under

the DFM, what would be different. Would it be a breadline issue that

this might be the thing that breaks the camel's back as far as staying

in the Executive? Lets just wait and see. Thank you for joining us.

That is the view from one of the, if not new faces, one of the younger

faces within the SDLP. I keep very much indeed. That was

Mark Davenport lie that the conference in Armagh this morning.

Kathy is still with me. Listening to that, the party is certainly making

an effort to bring those fresh faces to the fore, Colm Eastwood, I don't

know if Alex Attwood would regard himself as a young face, maybe more

of our vintage! But he is one of the younger members. A lot of the more

established ministers still there. He has got to pay the use things

very strongly. Yes, and analysis of the average age of SDLP MLAs in the

assembly shows the average age around 53. By contrast in Sinn Fein

it is in the late 40s, so people will be paying attention to those

sorts of nuances. I think the council elections next year will be

the test for whether or not these young faces and new blood in the

party will come to the fore and get elected. Alasdair has said that he

is expecting 80 seats in the council elections and he will see any less

than 70 as a failure. 70 seats pro rata would work out at about where

they were in 2007, so that is a big ask of any political party to make

good those sorts of games. He really would be better focusing on getting

back to where they were in 2011, rather than going back another

electoral sector. You need to have a target and be optimistic and inspire

people but at the same time you can make yourself a hostage to fortune

if you say, I will be disappointed with fewer than 70 seats and then

you get fewer than 70 seats and people like you and I say it has

been a failure. It is difficult to did your way back out of that hole,

isn't it? Exactly, it would not be the approach I would take, I would

focus on the use of the party coming forward and not necessarily put a

figure on that because the slide in vote share has been so pronounced

since John Hume's departure that to read game and we group from that

will be a much more incremental way than Alasdair realises. He is

getting a standing ovation, Alex Attwood. Presumably that was because

he has been announced as the candidate for the European elections

which are coming up early next summer. He has always been popular

in the party. Certainly his profile was raised during his time in the

Executive. Because his profile was so large, it might not have done any

harm to announce him as the European candidate at the party conference

last year. They talked about the European election last year but did

not name the candidate and I think that naming him then would have

raised his profile even further and given him greater gravitas to talk

about European issues from last year. I think that was a mistake and

they should have named him because everyone knew he would be the

candidate. No great surprise. It will be a real battle and a real

test, because last night we had the announcement that the DUP has

confirmed Diane Dodds as its candidate. Confirmation that there

may be a second DUP candidate, that is still up for discussion. That

decision, if it is to go for a second candidate, could have a

bearing on the other parties. There is a possible candidate from a 21.

The shifting sands around this make this interesting. It will be one of

the best elections in a number of years. That was Alex Attwood

announcing the arrival of Alasdair McDonnell. There he is, shaking

hands with party members. He is accompanied by his wife. She is

wearing a pink dress. He is wearing a matching tie. He is being embraced

by party members. As you would expect. I'm imagining that is one of

his little daughters. She has got a special her style for the day. That

maybe a picture we will see in the newspapers tomorrow. She looks

pleased. He talks about his children are locked and his family are very

important to him. That is endearingly for any political

leader. You will remember David Cameron talking about his son and

his illness. Those things are really important. A warm embrace for Alex

Attwood. Alasdair McDonnell at the podium, let us hear what he has to

say. I would like to thank all my friends, distinguished guests,

delegates and ladies and gentlemen here this morning. We in the SDLP

are very proud to be the party of real hope and genuine ambition for

the island of Ireland and for all our people. We believe that the SDLP

should -- our unique vision for the future makes us different. Our hopes

and ambitions match the pressing needs of ordinary hard-working

people. We are privileged to represent at every level and with

your support, we will be able to represent them again. So at this

point, I would like to congratulate, warmly congratulate,

Alex Attwood, our candidate for the European election. APPLAUSE. Alex

has served us brilliantly as a minister and he is well qualified to

take back John Hume's seat and put a robust pro European SDLP voice back

in Brussels. APPLAUSE. The next elections will give everyone an

opportunity to tell the DUP, tell Sinn Fein, what they think of the

per record in government and the failure to deliver any significant

change for the better and as we approach those elections, I recall

that the delay a moment, two years ago, I pledged to spearhead the

reorganisation, rebuilding and regeneration of our party. I under

lighted to tell you that today, from Armagh to Antrim, Belfast to the

late and from Downpatrick to Derry, and all the places in between, the

SDLP has been vigorously renewed and re-energised and we have plenty of

evidence here this weekend. We are ready for the electoral battle. With

a little more help from each of you, we will confound the critics and

baffle the cynics. To all of you, our members, activists and

supporters, who backed us through thick and then, I send out a

heartfelt thank you and I say thank you to our retiring councillors who

have served their communities so well. They have served with

commitment and passion. We commend your incredible legacies to our new

councillors and candidates. Two are many new activists, and new council

candidates, who are coming forward and again there are many of them

here this weekend, these people are eager to play their part in a newly

charged SDLP. APPLAUSE. To those people who are still thinking about

how they should vote, particularly new first-time voters, I say to them

have a good look at the SDLP and what we stand for. If you want a

party that it's open and honest and inclusive, and believes that give

and take as a principle, and not just a tactic, you have found your

vote. And what hope it is, at its heart, our men and women, the true

giants of Irish politics. John Hume, Seamus Mallon, Eddie McGrady,

Joel Hendron. We are there successors and the carrier of their

hopes and ambitions. At this stage, I would like to repeat the message I

delivered to Conference at the opening. I want to tell you some sad

news. Three days ago, I stood at the side of Eddie McGrady's bed. And

Eddie is very low. He was not at low that he said he wanted me to convey

a message to Conference to each of you. First of all, he apologised

that he was not able to be here, but he says he was not in a fit state.

He has barely missed a conference. He should be allowed to miss one.

APPLAUSE. He wanted to make sure that I delivered his good wishes and

his hopes that this conference was a great success. Eddie went further.

He said he had a message for our young people, all of the new people

who are here. He wanted me to tell them from him, but John Hume and

serous -- and Seamus Mallon, and others, set out in 1970 with a

massive challenge before them. But with the Good Friday Agreement, they

have succeeded beyond the greatest dreams. And he said, yourself and

Margaret and Mark and the various MLAs can reorganise and reposition

the party and things are going reasonably well. He says the real

challenge falls to today's 25 and 30-year-olds who must pick up the

gauntlet and rise to the challenge of finishing the job. He said that

job was creating a new Ireland, prosperous and peaceful. He said, do

not worry about me. Do not mourn for me, do not cry for me, just get out

there and finish the job. APPLAUSE. Conference, I don't mind telling

you, that I left his bedside a little bit ship up. All with the

business today and take Eddie's orders. Day in and day out, I

received a clear message when I speak to ordinary people in their

homes or on the streets or speak to them at a GAA match. Different

people may use different words, but they say it the same, the message is

very clear. The message is that they feel let down. In fact, they feel

badly let down. Yes, for a lot of people out there, the DUP and Sinn

Fein are the parties of disappointment, false promise, of

pure government and bad politics and of no results. People feel they have

had their chance and they have failed the test and no one knows

that better than our new Environment Minister, Mark H Durkan. APPLAUSE.

Mark had the courage to face up to their shenanigans and pull the plug

on the toxic planning Bill. No one knows that better than Alex

Attwood, who prepared the way for Mark H Durkan in that department. Or

John Dallat who is leading the fight to retain the jobs of the driver and

vehicle licensing workers in Coleraine or Patsy McGlone, who

holds government agencies and big banks to account or Sean Rogers who

sits on the Public Accounts Committee and poses tough questions.

Or Dolores Kelly and Alden McGuinness who are fighting to

ensure that policing serves the people and is not compromised by an

unaccountable national crime agency. AAPLAUSE.

Or Margaret Ritchie who is defending our rural communities. SPEAKS IRISH.

APPLAUSE. The public can clearly see that SDLP ministers, MLAs and MPs do

make a difference in challenging and facing down the bad politics and bad

government of the DUP and Sinn Fein. We will never abdicate our

responsibility to go the extra mile, to stretch ourselves, to work

with others and to rebuild your faith in good politics that delivers

real opportunities for all our people. Politics have to deliver

results for everybody, particularly ordinary hard-working families and I

believe that our core SDLP values are central to rebuilding faith in

politics, a trust in politicians and delivering worthwhile benefits.

These core values are simple. Reconciliation, social justice and

prosperity. These are not abstract concepts. They define the SDLP, they

define our objectives and whole approach to politics. After 30 years

of murder, abuse and suffering, our battered society is crying out for

healing and reconciliation. That is reconciliation, not just within

Northern Ireland, but between the north and the South and between

Ireland and Britain. Our vulnerable people should be protected, our

families should have accessed to decent health care and should not

have to wait weeks for a medical appointment and that our old people

feel secure in their homes and on the street. Prosperity means

worthwhile employment opportunities and real sustainable jobs that give

hard-working families financial security and the ability to plan for

the future. Conference, economic prosperity is vital for social

stability. It is the only way we can on to pen the reconciliation and

social justice that will in turn anger in the long-term our hard-won

peace in a new North and a new Ireland. Reconciliation, the Good

Friday Agreement overwhelmingly endorsed by all the people of this

island, bound us to firmly dedicate ourselves to the achievement of

reconciliation, tolerance and mutual trust. These values have the

potential to transform the whole of society in this island and propel us

out of the current political, social paralysis. Politics has been to

graded in the past year, but we cannot allow that to continue.

Northern Ireland must function for its people. Politically and

economically and it must be seen to function, delivering a better living

for all of our people. Delivering a better living demands that both

parts of the island grow closer in social harmony and economic

operation, building our dynamic new island with ever closer links to

Britain and Europe, long envisaged by John Hume, and all of those

founded the party and lead us to this stage. We still have a long way

to go to achieve any substantial measure reconciliation. The many

broken promises show the disappointing failure of the DUP and

Sinn Fein. Including the failure to get to grips with a shared future. A

failure to do anything about the coalition collusion issues. A

failure to do anything about real power-sharing. In local councils,

the Unionists have been frustrating power-sharing and inclusivity at

every opportunity and it is now high time that the DUP clarified

exactly, without ifs, buts and maybes, where they stand on

meaningful partnership in local government.

APPLAUSE And, Conference, Sinn Fein has stood

back and allowed the DUP to slow down the evolution of the all

Ireland cross-border bodies and hollow out the Good Friday

agreement. As Irish nationalists, quite simply,

we say this is totally unacceptable. The DUP and Sinn Fein have together

turned their backs on the essential inclusivity and sharing on which the

Good Friday agreement was built. I want now to serve notice on Peter

Robinson and Martin McGuinness that the SDLP will continue pressing to

advance reconciliation and ensure the views of ordinary people will be

heard at the heart of government with the reconvening of the Civic

Forum. We want to warmly welcome the support that you offered on this

issue and gave in your recent speech in Cambridge, you have no idea how

much we appreciate it. We have made some progress on reconciliation on a

number of fronts, including policing, which Laura Scally is

tackling pretty well and I want to congratulate her on her powerful

speech -- which Dolores Kelly is tackling. Despite the little bits of

progress, overall our politics has soured. We are all paying a high

price for failing to live up to the hopes and ambitions that people out

there had for the Good Friday Agreement. In the last year, the

North has not moved forward politically or economically as we

would have hoped or build anything on the progress made in previous

times. For much of the past year, riots and mayhem have dominated the

headlines. Hundreds of courageous PSN I officers holding the line have

been injured. The police have been stretched to breaking point and the

economy of Belfast severely damaged. Delegates, I want to touch on the

flags issue and, as Irish nationalists, we make no apology for

regarding the true colour as our national flag. # read the

tricolour. And we believe that the tricolour

and emblems and symbols and language of Irish nature should be given

parity of esteem. Last December Belfast City Council arrived at a

sensible compromise to fly the union flag on designated days, a decision

we supported. It is unfortunate that the Unionists cannot do compromise.

I want to turn briefly to the talks. You know that the negotiations, and

some of the details were outlined earlier, are well underway. The

flying flags is one of the issues that will be addressed along with

parading. I am pleased, and at this stage I want to congratulate Alec

and Joe bawdy skill they have shown over the last month. We all wish

them well with their efforts and pledge our full support to them in

the period ahead. APPLAUSE

But I think it is important that, when we do that, we have to make a

few things clear about this talks process. The SDLP's goal is a

sustainable, comprehensive agreement on flags, parading and dealing with

the past. And along with that any other unfinished business that comes

up. This will enable us to fairly reflect the new political realities

that have emerged since Good Friday, 1998. The SDLP wants other parties

to work with us to address the past on an ethical basis. It is more than

just truth recovery, acknowledgement and accountability. The needs of

victims and survivors must have priority in this process. Especially

the voices of those victims that have been silent for too long, such

as the families of the Disappeared, profile so movingly in a recent

documentary. And I want to commend Oliver Rigby and his family, and all

of the other families, which is why I am today wearing the forget-me-not

badge. For us, this is a critical part of creating a reconciled

society and a society at peace with itself. Central to that healing

process is on the brink the truth about all the killings and securing

anthers and a measure of justice for all of the victims and survivors.

That includes getting to the truth about the appalling collusion with

loyalist murder gangs that takes on a more sinister character with every

disclosure. That collusion is truly shocking but never, ever justified a

single IRA atrocity. The IRA must come clean and tell the truth as

well. And no IRA atrocity can ever justify Unionist politicians

dismissing pollution. Such talk is insulting the victims, survivors,

and, indeed, is insulting to the hundreds of honest officers who

hunted down loyalist killers as well as IRA killers and brought them to

justice. Conference, I want to tell you that we are delighted to it, to

have with us Denise Fox, daughter of Billy Mullen, an SDLP store Ward,

who was murdered by a gang in 1975. We are also joined by the author of

a powerful new book on this solemn chapter in our history. Both women

will have an opportunity to speak to us later. On parading, it is a

fundamental requirement of the SDLP that we -- where disputes occur

there must be a body removed from politics and political parties with

the power to make determinations and decisions with the force of law and

that sounds like a parades commission to me. It is the SDLP's

view that in public spaces and public buildings there must be a

comprehensive approach to addressing matters of elliptical and cultural

identity that deals with all aspects, emblems, symbols,

languages, memorabilia, and we insist that the British and Irish

governments must be co-guarantors of any agreement that emerges from the

talks. APPLAUSE

They must be fully engaged in any outcomes to ensure the system should

-- the solution is sustained. Today, as we reflect on the past, we might

remember this is the eve of Remembrance Sunday and our thoughts

are with those who fell in both world wars, the great wars, and with

their families, especially those from all traditions on the island of

Ireland. In the next ten years we will have many historical events to

commemorate all stop is it too much to hope that all of us might reflect

on the wonderful example of reconciliation by President Mary

McAleese and Queen Elizabeth in the historic state visit to a half years

ago and that, maybe, over the next ten years, on our journey of healing

and reconciliation, the various commemorations can help all our

people towards a better respect and mutual understanding of each

other's traditions? But, in dealing with the past in a meaningful way,

we have to ensure that there is a secure and stable future. That

future can only be pinned with social justice at its core, and that

social justice demands many things others. It demands taking care of

the needy and disadvantage, and those too weak to defend

themselves. Conference, I have to tell you, most of you already know,

but I will repeat it, that much of today's hardship is the effect of

the Tory welfare cuts and the total failure of the DUP and Sinn Fein to

use the machinery of devolution to protect our most vulnerable people.

The SDLP has the hope and ambition and determination for a much better

way, and we will fight the savagery of the welfare cuts to the very end.

APPLAUSE .

But social justice also demands a health service where people have

speedy access to treatment when they need it. After 30 years as a GP, I

know the anxiety caused when people cannot access a GP appointment, and

the cost, financial and personal, when people have to go to AMD when

they feel they have no alternative. In the health service, things appear

to be going from bad to worse. The number of people waiting for a first

hospital appointment at the end of June was 115,000. That is totally,

totally unacceptable, and the SDLP believe that a commission of health

care experts should be established right away in order to examine why

our hospitals cannot function better and meet the reasonable needs and

demands of people, and how front line staff can be better supported

to do their jobs. In our vision, social justice demands personal care

packages that meet the needs of evil rubble elderly, providing them with

safety and security for the future, and we must avoid the fiasco of the

care homes last May, went vulnerable people were left frightened. Social

justice also demands access to affordable housing, particularly for

young people who cannot afford a mortgage, and a Housing executive

that is free from ministerial involvement. There are many people

here who remember the role housing paid in early politics and the

formation of the party and I want to warn that our spokesperson on social

development, Dolores Kelly, our MLAs and our minister will fight every

inch of the way to protect the operational independence of the

Housing executive. APPLAUSE The Housing Executive is

one of our greatest achievements and we will fight every inch of the way

to retain and reform it. APPLAUSE.

But Conference, I want to remind you that social justice cannot flourish

without prosperity. We in the SDLP believe that the North requires a

formal prosperity process, pursued with the same ambition as the peace

process. 15 years ago, on the back of the Good Friday Agreement, many

of us expected a prosperity process, to be constructed to underpin the

peace process and the Good Friday Agreement. Yes, there were promises,

yes hopes were raised, but hopes were dashed. We need to go back

there and I am now calling on the First Minister, Deputy First

Minister, the Executive and the British and Irish governments, even

at this late stage to do all that is necessary to establish a meaningful

prosperity process in the North as a matter of urgency. We needed this to

underpin the peace and lay the foundations to create the well-paid

jobs that would banish the spectre of youth unemployment and

immigration which has brought so much heartbreak to many of the

communities. Upper asperity process that would in time crucially permit

the North to stand on its own feet, pay its own way and play its

rightful role in the development of a buoyant, all Irelands economy.

APPLAUSE. In the SDLP view, economic

conference are fine and we are always hopeful that some new

opportunities will emerge from the most recent effort, but we need a

wider, coherent long-term strategy that we can all sign up to and

invest our energies, whether we are politicians, business people, social

enterprise promoters or entrepreneurs. We in the SDLP do not

dismiss the progress that has been made and of course, we welcome the

recent fall in unemployment, but we want much greater progress. We want

to see it now, not in 20 years time and that means the DUP and Sinn Fein

in government, seeing beyond their short-term party political

self-interest and their schoolboy power plays. For example, they

cannot even agree to moving the Maze Long Kesh project forward with the

significant number of jobs which would flow from that. They cannot

agree to maximise the one plan in Derry, the deputies First

Minister's home city. They cannot agree how to manage a social

investment fund targeted on the most needy and honourable. That does not

and still much confidence in any of us.

APPLAUSE. The SDLP maintains great hopes and

even greater ambitions for our people. We are confident of the

tremendous economic potential that exists out there in our

well-educated young people, but that potential must be harnessed, focused

and actively managed to success. That means joined up government and

a better collaboration between our government departments. Such as

enterprise trade and investment, education and of course employment

and learning. That means an education system that ensures our

young people have the necessary skill set to secure the well played

high-tech jobs flowing from inward investment projects and the

hoped-for reduction in corporation tax. The SDLP is very ambitious but

are young people should be better able to compete with young people in

the south who are able to accessed quality jobs and earn good salaries

with new technology multinationals such as Google, Twitter, Microsoft

and PayPal. For us to remain competitive in the global economy

that has emerged, our education system must rip remain in the think,

must keep adapting rapidly to the changing needs of employers and

employees. It is difficult to do that at the best of times, but if

there is any more dithering and failure from the DUP and Sinn Fein,

it will make it more difficult for us to be competitive in the future

and get the jobs we need. Today, they are failing to keep their

promise to have an educational skills authority in place by the end

of the year. 11 years after after Martin McGuiness announced the end

of the 11 plus, post primary transition is in a state of chaos.

This very day thousands of children are sitting the first of four or

five transfer tests in order to transfer to secondary schools. How

is that for progress? We replaced one test with four or five tests. 11

years later. Conference, in talking about education, science is a high

priority. In adapting to change, this means prioritising the crucial

subjects, science, technology, engineering, and map attics. The

subjects are critical to meeting the future demands of high-tech

industries -- mathematics. Experts claim that these sectors could

create up to 20,000 new jobs in the north by 2017. Integral to making

our education system fit for purpose is developing our research and

development capacity. Capacity to innovate, in that thing is, Payton

things and sell things to the world. In January, EU Commissioner

will launch a project, the European Commission's 70 billion euros

development fund to boost jobs and drive economic growth right across

Europe. You heard it right, 70 billion in research and development

grants, spread over five years. That is 14 billion per year. In the

previous frame work, we failed to lay claim to even half of our

proportionate share in the Irish Republic were able to claim

something like four times the amount that the population had. That is one

of the reasons why the Irish Republic has a successful high-tech

economy. It is vital that the North gets its act together and gets a

fair share of that European research and development money. There is no

better person to ensure that than Alex Attwood as a member of the next

European Parliament. APPLAUSE.

We are very glad that inter-trade Ireland, which has created 3000 new

jobs and generated a lot of trade, it is seen this opportunity is vital

and is moving to help promote participation of smaller and

medium-sized businesses. This is very welcome news, so we in the

island of Ireland now have the tremendous economic opportunity to

develop our clever ideas into viable products and services with real

global commercial potential. This is an exciting prospect, because this

project has the potential to provide many of the cornerstones that we

want to see, to build the dynamic economy of the future. In the

short-term, one simple initiative which could have a dramatic effect

on our struggling tourism sector would be reducing VAT. Our local

tourism industry employs 60,000 people and can ill afford the

current VAT rate. I want to come to make the Irish government are

keeping it at 9% for the hospitality industry and we would demand that

the British Government should do the same.

APPLAUSE. We want to champion small business,

which forms the backbone of our local economy and employs 347,000

people. We have been struck in recent times by the distress in the

small-business community by the unhelpful attitude of the banks.

Banks must be aware of the social and moral responsibility to be

flexible and helpful to business, particularly at difficult times and

we will continue to monitor and harass the banks so that there are

perks conduct is brought to the public attention and we will do all

we can to hold them to account. I want to mention a couple of final

points, in Westminster, Mark Durkan, Margaret Ritchie and I will fight

for small business and we will provide a robust contribution into

the banking enquiry. That enquiry is intended to ensure small businesses

get better accessed to money. We will fight for a better deal for

farmers and fishermen and fight to keep Britain in Europe, because

Britain coming out of Europe would be a disaster for Northern Ireland.

At the end of the day, all of this boils down to creating jobs for

ordinary hard-working families and providing financial security for

all. In the Assembly, we will be working to support low paid workers

and we will focus on attacking the zero our contracts which are out

there. We will be fighting the welfare cuts and we will be

demanding that the Executive supports farmers by establishing a

cold weather alert system to put in place crisis preventative measures.

We will demand that the Executive take steps to create a more

effective delivery pipeline from major infrastructural work, while

new councils across the North, the SDLP will work to deliver a reformed

and efficient type of local government which is responsive to

the needs of ordinary hard-working people. My friends, 50 years ago,

Martin Luther King mesmerised the world with his Washington speech. We

are here, in the SDLP, a party led for so long by John Hume, and I

stand before you and am proud to tell you that I also have a dream. I

have a dream of a much better Ireland, where our vision and all

our hopes and ambitions for peace and reconciliation and social

justice and economic prosperity are finally realised. That is in a new

Ireland, taking our place in a Brave New World at the heart of Europe and

where we are at peace with ourselves and with Britain. We in the SDLP are

determined to ensure that we empower you, our members and delegates and

activists, to help realise your dreams, your hopes, your ambitions,

both for yourselves and for your families and together we shall

overcome. Thank you. APPLAUSE.

A standing ovation for Alistair MacDonald. Spoke for a lot longer,

what were the big headlines? His strap line is reconciliation, social

justice, prosperity process and back came across clearly. His political

pledges, the re-establishment of the Civic Forum was interesting. I think

many people would like to pick up on that. This notion of the

establishment of the health care commission might be something else.

Some of the keywords included hard-working families, ordinary

people and that was important. Thank you. We will leave it there. As

Alistair MacDonald takes the applause from his colleagues, that

is it from us. We will be back in November the 23rd with the DUP. Join

me tomorrow at 1pm when Alasdair McDonnell will be my guest on Sunday

Politics. Goodbye.