Browse content similar to 01/07/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good evening. Welcome to Stormont Today. | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
Coming up on tonight's programme: We look at some potential changes | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
at Stormont's top table. Could this be the last time we see Sammy | :00:39. | :00:42. | |
Wilson as Finance Minister? And is the SDLP about to change its only | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
Minister in the Executive? And as police warn an illegal drug could | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
be linked to the deaths of eight people, the Health Minister calls | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
for action. The community and very often the people in this House are | :00:52. | :00:59. | |
fed up with judges treating criminals with kid gloves. And it | :00:59. | :01:01. | |
may be the end of term, but our political correspondent, Martina | :01:01. | :01:03. | |
Purdy, was happy to stay after class. | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
It's the final week of Stormont before the summer break and there's | :01:06. | :01:10. | |
been a bit of an end of term feel up here all day. There's also much | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
chatter about the probability of some movement at the top table. | :01:13. | :01:16. | |
Before the end of the week there could be two new faces on the | :01:16. | :01:22. | |
Executive. With me to discuss that, our political correspondent, | :01:22. | :01:27. | |
Martina Purdy. There could be potentially quite a bit of movement | :01:27. | :01:31. | |
on the executive There has been speculation about a couple of | :01:31. | :01:34. | |
Ministers, for example, Sammy Wilson in the Department of Finance. | :01:34. | :01:40. | |
He's supposed to leave in the next few weeks and be replaced by his | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
parliamentary assistant. It's no surprise because when he appointed | :01:44. | :01:47. | |
him Finance Minister in 2011 he indicated it would be a two-year | :01:47. | :01:50. | |
appointment. At the same time he indicated there would be a mid-term | :01:50. | :01:56. | |
review of staff, and he suggested that Edwin Poots after awhile - | :01:56. | :02:01. | |
after midterm, could be replaced by Jim Wales, the MLA for South Down. | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
Funnily enough we're not expecting him to take over health at the same | :02:06. | :02:12. | |
time Simon Hamilton takes over finance. He could step into the job | :02:12. | :02:14. | |
of parliamentary assistance and read himself into the health job, | :02:14. | :02:20. | |
but so far, he's bearing up stoically. I rang him to ask, is it | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
likely you're going to be moving? He said he was happy to serve. He | :02:24. | :02:28. | |
hasn't heard anything but was happy to serve in whatever capacity the | :02:28. | :02:32. | |
party want him to. I think there is fevered speculation - I don't think | :02:32. | :02:36. | |
that's overstating it, about the future of the Environment Minister | :02:36. | :02:40. | |
Alex Atwood. Alex Atwood, it's no secret, wasn't meant to be there | :02:41. | :02:44. | |
much longer, and we have been hearing in recent days his | :02:44. | :02:48. | |
departure is imminent. The question is who is going to replace him as | :02:48. | :02:51. | |
Minister of the environment? The name we consistently have been | :02:51. | :02:58. | |
hearing is Joe Burn, MLA for West Tyrone. I am hearing it's fairly | :02:58. | :03:00. | |
controversial appointment inside the party because there are those | :03:00. | :03:07. | |
who think it should be Patsy McGlone, who performed well in by- | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
elections, that he's the best person to take over, but I am told | :03:10. | :03:15. | |
he's made up his mind it will be burn. I think he wants to show Joe | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
Burn appreciation for his contributions to the party over the | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
years. I am hearing the Belfast councillor Nicola Maland will be | :03:22. | :03:26. | |
the new Special Advisor to the Environment Minister. A file | :03:26. | :03:33. | |
thought, the assembly is finishing. The final one is tomorrow we | :03:33. | :03:37. | |
haven't seen the legislation brought forward perhaps we'd | :03:37. | :03:40. | |
anticipated. No, it will be September at the earlier before we | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
see the Education Bill, there to create new education structures. | :03:44. | :03:48. | |
There is also the welfare reform Bill, pulled by the Social | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
Development Minister in April no. Sign of it coming back on to the | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
table, and that is causing problems we heard from Sammy Wilson today. | :03:55. | :03:59. | |
He said there could be huge costs associated with this bill if it | :03:59. | :04:03. | |
isn't passed by next January. He pointed it's costing the Treasury | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
millions of pounds a month in lost savings and I think patients could | :04:09. | :04:14. | |
wear out there. Thank you very much. So, we may not be seeing as much of | :04:14. | :04:17. | |
Sammy Wilson in the future, but he was right in the middle of things | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
today. The Finance Minister told the Assembly the total cost of the | :04:20. | :04:23. | |
G8 summit in Fermanagh was �80 milliion. The figure came as Mr | :04:23. | :04:26. | |
Wilson announced the redistribution of millions of pounds of Stormont | :04:26. | :04:33. | |
finances. Departments submitted bids totaling �179 million in | :04:33. | :04:40. | |
respect of resource expenditure and �233.2 million in terms of capital | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
expenditure. Mr Speaker, there's been much focus on the cost of the | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
G8 event. I have to say the most important thing that we | :04:47. | :04:51. | |
successfully delivered - safe and secure event, and for that, I give | :04:51. | :04:56. | |
my sincere thanks to the PSNI. Of course, this event did not come for | :04:56. | :05:03. | |
free, and whitest the UK Government picked Up the majority of the costs | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
the executive also picked up some funding. Security-related costs now | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
stand at approximately �75 million. However, some �60 million or costs | :05:15. | :05:19. | |
which the UK Government has agreed to cover - and that leaves a | :05:19. | :05:27. | |
balance of �14.5 million, which the Executive agreed to allocate to DOJ. | :05:27. | :05:30. | |
In addition to the policing and security-related costs there were | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
additional costs registered by some departments including DRD and | :05:34. | :05:41. | |
Health. This amounted to some �5.1 million and funded roads and | :05:41. | :05:44. | |
improvements around Enniskillen, a publicity campaign to maximise the | :05:44. | :05:48. | |
economic benefits of the event and pressure on the Fire and Rescue | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
Service. Mr Speaker, we must recognise that the G8 event has the | :05:52. | :05:54. | |
potential to generate huge economic benefits for Northern Ireland. That | :05:54. | :06:01. | |
is why the event will be followed by an investment conference in the | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
autumn. Of course we'll not know the full economic benefits for | :06:04. | :06:09. | |
years to come. However, a recent report by Barclays estimated there | :06:09. | :06:15. | |
could be significant net economic benefits in the short run with | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
potential for greater long-term benefits for Northern Ireland. | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
Pending further consideration of all options toond ensure that | :06:21. | :06:25. | |
valuable time is not lost, the executive has agreed the Regional | :06:25. | :06:29. | |
Development Minister can proceed with the MacElfield bypass project | :06:29. | :06:33. | |
- this scheme costing around �40 million will address a key | :06:33. | :06:39. | |
bottleneck on our roads network and the Executive's pro-active approach | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
sends a clear message of confidence to our construction sector at this | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
difficult. It's the anticipated work on the ground will start in | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
the autumn of next year. I know that before the G8 happened, there | :06:49. | :06:55. | |
was considerable doubt expressed as to its benefits to Northern Ireland, | :06:55. | :06:59. | |
the cost there was going to be, and you always had the begrudgers and | :06:59. | :07:02. | |
the naysayers and the whingeers and the negative people looking for the | :07:02. | :07:08. | |
bad news story from it. I think - it has now been universally | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
accepted that first of all, we put on a good show. The weather even | :07:13. | :07:22. | |
helped us, for goodness sake. It was the safest and the most secure | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
G8 and there have already been benefits from it in terms of the | :07:27. | :07:32. | |
publicity. My question is how long will this take until its | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
completion? Well, first of all, I am glad the member has welcomed the | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
statement. I know both his and my party received some criticism | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
because we didn't support the populist motion that had been | :07:42. | :07:47. | |
brought forward to the Assembly a couple of weeks ago calling for the | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
funding of the MacElFed bypass in this particular year, and of course, | :07:53. | :08:00. | |
the reason for that as he'll well know, is money cannot be spend on | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
the Macrofeld bypass in this particular year. There is still the | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
vesting process to be done, the procurement process, and that's why | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
I have said in this statement that we would expect work to begin in | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
autumn of next year. Can he ensure this House that the cast costs that | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
went into the G8 project would be able to be used in future policing | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
operations and this wasn't just a one-off cost, that there will be a | :08:27. | :08:31. | |
long-term benefit to the police for what they bought? Some of the | :08:31. | :08:34. | |
expenditure was for capital equipment, surveillance equipment, | :08:35. | :08:39. | |
drones, et cetera, which don't disappear after the G8 has gone and | :08:39. | :08:43. | |
are not redundant after the G8 is over, and that would be capital | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
equipment which would be available to the police, and therefore should | :08:46. | :08:52. | |
be part of the normal budget. Finance Minister, Sammy Wilson. | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
The Minister for Health was asked how his Department is responding to | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
reports that at least eight deaths could be linked to an illegal drug | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
currently in circulation. Edwin Poots said emergency departments | :09:01. | :09:03. | |
are equipped to deal with drug cases, but communities, he said, | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
need to stand up to the dealers. First of all, Mr Deputy Speaker, I | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
am very concerned to hear there have been a number of sudden deaths | :09:14. | :09:17. | |
across Northern Ireland that may be linked to drugs use. I would like | :09:17. | :09:21. | |
to begin by passing on my condolences to anyone who has lost | :09:22. | :09:27. | |
a loved one or a friend in these difficult circumstances. It is | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
important to stress that investigations into these deaths | :09:30. | :09:34. | |
are ongoing, and we do not know at this stage that they're drug | :09:34. | :09:40. | |
related or what, if any, substance is involved. There's bad batch of | :09:40. | :09:43. | |
drugs out there, whether they're illegal or legal that are killing | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
our people, so can you give us as much information as you possibly | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
can and let us know even some of the symptoms that the people need | :09:51. | :09:57. | |
to be looking out for? And as our A&E departments made aware of the | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
symptoms so if somebody does present themselves, then they're | :10:00. | :10:04. | |
actually brought through the system quicker? Staff in our emergency | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
departments are trained and equipped to deal with a wide range | :10:09. | :10:13. | |
of scenarios, including people who have taken drugs - people who have | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
taken drugs overdoses and so forth. It may be possible that these drugs | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
have been bought off the internet, but it's probably unlikely, given | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
the fact that there was a number of people died in one particular area, | :10:28. | :10:32. | |
so there's a whole range of areas we need to be looking at and the | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
message just needs to keep going out that if you haven't been | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
prescribed drugs by your GP, obtained from a pharmacist, you | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
shouldn't be taking them. Would he agree that those profiting from | :10:44. | :10:49. | |
this are profiting with the death and the lives and indeed the ill | :10:49. | :10:54. | |
health it is caution to many of our young and indeed other aged groups. | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
People don't sell drugs for the good of a community. People sell | :10:57. | :11:04. | |
drugs because they can make profits. Huge profits by selling drugs, and | :11:04. | :11:08. | |
they don't occur for the individuals that they sell the | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
drugs to, whether they can afford them, whether it has an impact upon | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
their families, what hurt it does, what harm it does or what damage it | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
does, and that's why I'm saying very, very clearly today that | :11:20. | :11:26. | |
communities need to hand these people over. They are poisoning our | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
own community. And I also drive a very important | :11:29. | :11:34. | |
message home today to our judges and our courts that when the | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
communities stand up to these people - because it isn't very easy | :11:38. | :11:41. | |
to do because they're nasty and violent individuals very often - | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
that when the communities stand up to these people, that they will | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
stand shoulder to shoulder with these people and give them | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
appropriate sentences and not some slap on the wrists because the | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
community and very often the people in this House are fed one judges | :11:55. | :11:59. | |
treating criminals with kid gloves. The gloves were certainly off when | :11:59. | :12:02. | |
it came to the subject of the former Maze Prison site at a | :12:02. | :12:05. | |
meeting of the OFM/DFM Committee last week. While the First and | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
Deputy First Minister were taking questions, it was the DUP's Jimmy | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
Spratt who made headlines after he referred to opponents of a proposed | :12:11. | :12:16. | |
peace building as "nutters". The Maze, however, wasn't the only | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
issue generating heat, as we can see in this week's look at | :12:19. | :12:23. | |
committee business. In relation to the first matter about planning, I | :12:23. | :12:26. | |
have read some of the hoo-haw in the newspapers, and you know, how | :12:26. | :12:33. | |
people have managed to twist for political purposes the nature of | :12:33. | :12:40. | |
what was being sought in terms of the planning - I - I have been in | :12:40. | :12:44. | |
many parts of the world where I have spoken to people who are | :12:45. | :12:49. | |
looking to invest in Northern Ireland and have been put off by | :12:49. | :12:55. | |
our planning experiences, and it is internationally recognised that | :12:55. | :13:00. | |
Northern Ireland has a poor planning outcome, and if you have | :13:00. | :13:02. | |
that out in the international community, there has to be a | :13:02. | :13:05. | |
message that goes out to the international community to say, | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
things have changed, and I believe that that's the kind of message | :13:09. | :13:14. | |
that'll be sent out by what we have done. I have to say I think there's | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
been a lot of scare-mongering over the course of the debate that we | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
have had in the Assembly in the course of this week, and I think it | :13:23. | :13:28. | |
was for political grandstanding purposes, no question or doubt | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
about it whatsoever, and it came basically from a Minister who has | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
always protected his own independence from the Executive. | :13:37. | :13:42. | |
He's not a team player. It's someone who has his own political | :13:42. | :13:47. | |
agenda, and even during the course of the debate - and I concur with | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
everything Peter said in relation to the arguments that were made | :13:51. | :13:57. | |
about this being a land grab by OFM DFM - it's absolutely nothing of | :13:57. | :14:03. | |
the sort. I sit here as a member for the valley, and Maze Prison is | :14:03. | :14:08. | |
right in the middle of my constituency. When I say when I | :14:08. | :14:12. | |
canvass now, there is no opposition to the Maze. The Ministers have | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
said that the people of Northern Ireland not only voted with the | :14:15. | :14:19. | |
ballot box but they voted with their pockets. Thousands of them | :14:19. | :14:22. | |
paid money to go into the Maze. Nobody dragged them in. You're | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
talking about Lagan Valley. It is in my area, and the jobs that it | :14:28. | :14:33. | |
brings for all of Northern Ireland put us on the world stage. Let's | :14:33. | :14:38. | |
not conflate the development of the Maze site. We need to look forward, | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
chair, on how we're moving Northern Ireland forward and the Maze is a | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
vehicle for that. We can either all get onboard or... Mr Chairman you, | :14:47. | :14:50. | |
can't get away with that argument you're attempting to put forward, | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
which is not to mistake the development of the site with the | :14:54. | :15:00. | |
position of the retained buildings or other - the Peace Building | :15:00. | :15:05. | |
centre. That's an inaccurate and you know a totally wrong position | :15:05. | :15:09. | |
to adopt. The decision to place the Peace Building centre had already | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
been taken. The decision to retain the buildings had already been | :15:13. | :15:16. | |
taken. Those were facts that couldn't be changed unless there | :15:16. | :15:21. | |
was going to be a Damascus Road experience on the part of Sinn Fein | :15:21. | :15:27. | |
and the SDLP for that matter. don't want to get bogged down in | :15:27. | :15:31. | |
this, but - I think some of your interventions, like calling the | :15:31. | :15:36. | |
people who are against the Peace Building - the centre of the Maze - | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
calling them nutters I don't think is helpful. I didn't say that. | :15:41. | :15:48. | |
heard you. Point of order. You made reference to a word - I was | :15:48. | :15:55. | |
speaking to my colleague, and you made reference to - as an | :15:55. | :15:59. | |
independent chair something totally out of context in terms of what was | :15:59. | :16:04. | |
said, so I want you to apologise to me for doing that. It's the usual | :16:04. | :16:12. | |
way that you try to spin things on the media and everything else to | :16:12. | :16:17. | |
suit your own agenda. I certainly was not calling anybody in this | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
room or indeed people who have opposition to the Maze nutters, so | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
get your facts right before you try to spin and make statements in the | :16:25. | :16:31. | |
future, and if you have any guts at all, you'll apologise for not | :16:31. | :16:41. | |
independently chairing the meeting at that point. I know what you said, | :16:41. | :16:47. | |
Jimmy. Well, let's see - Jimmy Spratt and Mike Nesbitt | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
differing on the course of events there but Hansard, in the end, | :16:50. | :16:53. | |
sided with Mr Nesbitt. It was a busy day for Sammy Wilson today, | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
who also faced Members during Question Time. The Minister locked | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
horns with Sinn Fein over his fiscal policy, but before that he | :16:59. | :17:02. | |
was asked about potential changes to the defamation law in Northern | :17:02. | :17:08. | |
Ireland. I've no plans to initiate a review of the law of defamation | :17:08. | :17:11. | |
of present with the passing of the Defamation Act 2013. There have | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
been a number of far-reaching changes in the law and in England | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
and Wales, and it's my view that what we should do - and it would be | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
prudent to see how those changes work through before we make any | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
decision how we want to progress that issue here in Northern Ireland. | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
I think what we have to avoid is following the Westminster | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
legislation - we have to strike the right balance for here in relation | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
to the balance between freedom of speech and a private gap and not | :17:39. | :17:47. | |
allow the gap to be exploited by poor journalism. The point I would | :17:47. | :17:50. | |
make to the member, and indeed, this was recognised by the Minister | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
when this issue was discussed in the House of Lords is it was up for | :17:54. | :17:58. | |
devolved administrations to look at the situation in their own | :17:58. | :18:01. | |
localities then make decision about that. There is no question about | :18:01. | :18:06. | |
suppressing freedom of speech. Before this act went through, | :18:06. | :18:09. | |
people were free to express themselves and newspapers were free | :18:09. | :18:13. | |
to carry stories, so somehow or another, as a result of this act | :18:13. | :18:18. | |
going through and us not implementing this act, freedom of | :18:18. | :18:22. | |
speech is being suppressed in Northern Ireland is just a lot of | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
nonsense. I would love to be able to say to the member - because I am | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
sure she'd love this answer - that when it comes to the net fiscal | :18:30. | :18:34. | |
balance report, we just plucked the figure out of the air and say, | :18:34. | :18:36. | |
"There it is" and stick it down on paper. | :18:36. | :18:41. | |
These are not figures that are made up. These are figures which are | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
subject to a degree of rigour, to a degree of international scrutiny, | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
and therefore, wriggle as they will, Sinn Fein will never be able to | :18:50. | :18:57. | |
make the case that somehow or other we owe money to the rest of the UK | :18:57. | :19:04. | |
rather than we get a positive flow of money from the Treasury to | :19:04. | :19:08. | |
Northern Ireland and therefore that is the value of being British and | :19:08. | :19:15. | |
part of the United Kingdom. Minister, all of this is a | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
distraction from the simple fact that there is no statement of | :19:17. | :19:21. | |
revenue here in the north. The figures we have are not comparable | :19:21. | :19:27. | |
to those in Scotland. Can the Minister outline how and when he | :19:27. | :19:31. | |
plans to provide accurate figures? I know Sinn Fein would love to wish | :19:31. | :19:35. | |
away the billions of pounds which come from the Exchequer to Northern | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
Ireland in their pursuit of their political objective, but even the | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
fairies wouldn't believe that, and I don't think their own supporters | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
believe it, and the fact that 25% of their own voters now wouldn't | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
vote for a united Northern Ireland is an indication that they haven't | :19:52. | :19:57. | |
even sold the story to their own voters. If the Minister were to | :19:57. | :20:03. | |
find that he again had sufficient spare time to go back to marking | :20:03. | :20:08. | |
economic papers, what mark would he anticipate giving Sinn Fein on | :20:08. | :20:16. | |
their economic submissions? I don't know if there is a grade set low | :20:16. | :20:18. | |
enough! Sammy Wilson, in typically robust | :20:18. | :20:22. | |
form during what could well be his last time at the despatch box as | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
Finance Minister. And voices were also raised during a debate this | :20:25. | :20:27. | |
afternoon over a motion tabled by the SDLP's Conall McDevitt urging | :20:27. | :20:30. | |
more North/South co-operation. We'll hear from him in a moment, | :20:30. | :20:38. | |
but first here's a flavour of the debate. East-west cooperation, like | :20:38. | :20:41. | |
making these institutions work is not something we do because we have | :20:41. | :20:47. | |
to. It's something we do because we know we need to and we want to. | :20:47. | :20:49. | |
Northern Ireland is Constitutionally within the United | :20:49. | :20:54. | |
Kingdom. Let's be clear on that fact, and whilst I believe Mr | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
McDevit and Mr Bradley are endeavouring to do some political | :20:57. | :21:00. | |
grandstanding with this motion, they have got to be mindful | :21:01. | :21:04. | |
attempts to bring about a united Northern Ireland are failing | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
miserably. Members will note that the amendment does not take issue | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
with practical, pragmatic, mutually beneficial, cross-border | :21:13. | :21:20. | |
cooperation. What it does take issue with is the squander in | :21:20. | :21:25. | |
respect of the elaborate north/south arrangements. It is | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
true that there are improved working relationships between | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
Stormont and the Doyle. That is to be welcomed. However, that is | :21:33. | :21:37. | |
mainly down to the important changes within the Belfast | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
agreement, specifically, the removal of articles two and three | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
and the principle of consent. Unionist reaction to the SDLP | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
motion calling for further north/south cooperation. The motion | :21:48. | :21:54. | |
passed comfortably. I am joined by the MLA who tabled it. It was | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
comfortable, 52 votes to 37, but the House was divided down the | :21:59. | :22:04. | |
middle, wasn't it? Funnily enough, unionism is divided within itself | :22:04. | :22:09. | |
because two members took what I think was the right decision and | :22:09. | :22:14. | |
supported it. There is no threat. We're just saying a long overdue of | :22:14. | :22:18. | |
north/south cooperation should be published. In fact, the review will | :22:18. | :22:24. | |
deal with lot of the problems raised by Unionists. He says he has | :22:24. | :22:29. | |
no problem with practical, pragmatic, mutually beneficial | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
cooperation, but he does have a problem with overly elaborate | :22:33. | :22:38. | |
north-south relations, and that's what he think exists. Two thing | :22:38. | :22:46. | |
points to make, someone the north- south institutions have a - by the | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
people of the Good Friday Agreement. They're not stripped down. There's | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
very efficient approach to the cooperation. The money that is | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
invested is more than recovered either in inward investment or | :22:55. | :23:00. | |
cooperation through trade, in tourism numbers. Tourism Ireland is | :23:00. | :23:05. | |
held up by the DUP Minister herself. She was a great success. She was | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
only just last week congratulating tourism in the House over the work | :23:10. | :23:17. | |
it did over the G8. You mentioned the Narrow Water Bridge. That was | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
divisive. It was because people chose to make it so. I think the | :23:20. | :23:24. | |
problem some politicians - it is a minority of this House, and I think | :23:24. | :23:27. | |
it's a growing minority in the sense it's getting smaller, if you | :23:27. | :23:31. | |
know what I mean, seemed to see politics where it doesn't exist. | :23:31. | :23:36. | |
That is just good news for the peninsula and the South Morns. It's | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
great news for the tourism of the coast. It's fantastic news for the | :23:41. | :23:45. | |
economic development of the area, and also, it has a huge symbolic | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
importance - the first bridge across a border waterway in Ireland | :23:49. | :23:53. | |
since partition - it says it all. We'll leave it there, Conall | :23:53. | :23:57. | |
McDevitt. Thank you very much. Did the Northern Ireland experience | :23:57. | :24:00. | |
inspire world leaders to engage in talks with the Taliban? That was | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
one question put to the Deputy First Minister when he took the | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
floor in Question Time earlier, with the G8 fallout also remaining | :24:06. | :24:12. | |
high on the agenda. After the south of Ireland, the United States is | :24:12. | :24:21. | |
our second largest export market with 533 million pounds in export | :24:21. | :24:28. | |
sales ending up to March 2013, so any action taken for lower tariffs | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
between the US and EU can only help us expand our market export further | :24:33. | :24:36. | |
into the United States. We recognise that as the global | :24:36. | :24:44. | |
economy becomes freer and much more open, it must benefit developed and | :24:44. | :24:51. | |
developing nations alike. Trade must not be one nation's success at | :24:51. | :24:56. | |
the pension of another. Would the First Minister agree with me that | :24:56. | :25:00. | |
the time that's been spent by the leaders of the world in Northern | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
Ireland - it was more than coincidental after they returned | :25:03. | :25:08. | |
home, they decided that it would be better for the leaders to talk to | :25:08. | :25:17. | |
the Taliban, therefore, saving lives in Afghanistan? Well, far be | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
it from me to involve myself in US foreign policy, but I have to say, | :25:24. | :25:28. | |
I did find it encouraging that given that we have been receiving | :25:28. | :25:34. | |
reports over the course of the last three years - and direct | :25:34. | :25:37. | |
conversations have been taking place between the United States | :25:37. | :25:41. | |
administration and the Taliban. Now the direct talks appear to be on | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
the horizon in the not-too-distant future. Anything that has been done | :25:47. | :25:50. | |
to resolve conflict anywhere in the world will always be welcomed by | :25:50. | :25:55. | |
ourselves, and indeed, we are in much demand ourselves because many | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
representatives from all of the parties in this Assembly have | :25:59. | :26:02. | |
travelled to many of the world's travel spots at the invitation of | :26:02. | :26:10. | |
others, so I think, from my perspective, it's a positive | :26:10. | :26:15. | |
development, and the hope has to be that it leads to an end of conflict, | :26:15. | :26:21. | |
violence and death. As the member will be aware, the publication of | :26:21. | :26:28. | |
the MacLease report into to the Maglin laundries - and about Tex | :26:28. | :26:34. | |
peeciouss and the situations of the women who lived in them. We | :26:34. | :26:41. | |
appointed a Senior Civil Servant to draw up a paper in regard to the | :26:41. | :26:44. | |
Magnin Laundries so as to inform us what actions we might take. We | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
received that report at the end of last week and intend to give | :26:49. | :26:53. | |
serious consideration to the options. Can I ask the Minister in | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
light of the compensation scheme announced, what plans they have to | :26:57. | :27:01. | |
make a similar compensation scheme here? Could I just say to the | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
member just in light of the answer I have just given her, it would be | :27:06. | :27:12. | |
a bit premature for me before we'd do the scoping-out exercise to look | :27:12. | :27:15. | |
at those suggestions that have come forward, but we have just received | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
the report and really we're very mindful, as I said, of the callous | :27:19. | :27:24. | |
treatment of those people who were in those types of institutions. | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
Indeed, myself and a junior Minister met with some of the | :27:27. | :27:31. | |
peoples who were the victims, the survivors, and there were | :27:31. | :27:35. | |
horrendous stories they told. So we'll give very, very careful | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
thought. We don't want to rush to judgment. We'll give very careful | :27:39. | :27:42. | |
thought once we read report and some of the recommendations that | :27:42. | :27:45. | |
the scoping exercise has brought forward. Jennifer McCann, the | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
Junior Minister Martina Purdy has rejoined me with a few thoughts. | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
Quickly, we were talking to Conall McDevitt. He put forward his | :27:53. | :27:59. | |
proposal on north-south cooperation, won comfortably. What happens now? | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
I think this motion was about putting the pressure on Sinn Fein | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
and embarrassing the party for failing to build on the north-south | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
bodies that were introduced in 1998. We expect there will be | :28:15. | :28:20. | |
negotiations in the coming months so north-south bodies could be in | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
the mix. Jim Alastair taking the traditional view that we shouldn't | :28:23. | :28:26. | |
build on these bodies and they're not good for the union. Also, that | :28:26. | :28:32. | |
keeps the pressure on the DUP, but in some ways they're symbolic for | :28:32. | :28:34. | |
Nationalists but don't necessarily allow Nationalists to work the | :28:34. | :28:38. | |
system any better or do more deals. Without the bodies there is no | :28:38. | :28:42. | |
accountability and nothing to stop a Sinn Fein Minister from hanging | :28:42. | :28:48. | |
up the force and doing a deal with a Dublin Minister. Thank you very | :28:48. | :28:52. |