:00:24. > :00:29.Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up on the programme: Comments
:00:30. > :00:35.about the Irish language made by a leading Orangeman at the weekend are
:00:36. > :00:41.criticised. I feel it was an attempt to relieve people into not learning
:00:42. > :00:45.Irish and not embracing that part of their culture. It is going to fail.
:00:46. > :00:52.Dissension in the DUP ranks as MLAs disagree with the Health Minister
:00:53. > :00:55.over cigarette packaging. I am not a supporter of smoking but I recognise
:00:56. > :00:58.that a quarter of the population for one reason or another wish to engage
:00:59. > :01:02.in. And our political reporter, Stephen
:01:03. > :01:09.Walker, is with me to cast his eye over proceedings.
:01:10. > :01:12.The Irish language is once again at the top of the political agenda
:01:13. > :01:16.after weekend comments from a leading Orangeman. George Chittick,
:01:17. > :01:18.the County Grand Master of Belfast, warned Protestants that if they
:01:19. > :01:25.learn Irish they're following a Republican agenda. I'm joined by our
:01:26. > :01:30.political reporter, Stephen Walker. It is a subject that found its way
:01:31. > :01:35.up to the Hill today. What is the background to what was said? These
:01:36. > :01:43.remarks from George Chitty were made over the weekend. He told a crowd of
:01:44. > :01:48.around 500 people I will quote, " the word of warning to people who
:01:49. > :01:54.will learn Irish, it is a part of the Republican agenda. " He was
:01:55. > :01:58.addressing this weekly gathering that is up in North Belfast. They
:01:59. > :02:02.are protesting the re-routing of Norwich parade. The comments have
:02:03. > :02:06.produced a reaction. Norwich parade. The comments have
:02:07. > :02:13.headlines today, lots of discussions Norwich parade. The comments have
:02:14. > :02:19.mixed, the Orange order have backed him. David Hume defended the
:02:20. > :02:25.remarks. He said the disease section of the Protestant community who
:02:26. > :02:33.believe that is a onslaught. There has been criticism from the SDLP.
:02:34. > :02:40.There are criticisms from people like Linda Irvine. There has been
:02:41. > :02:46.criticism from Sinn Fein. I can't understand what would make someone
:02:47. > :02:50.say that. I feel it was an attempt to lead people into not learning
:02:51. > :03:02.Irish are not embracing that part of the culture. Inevitably, it is going
:03:03. > :03:05.to fail. People of all communities in the North are learning Irish and
:03:06. > :03:12.embracing it and want to have it as part of their life. Whatever his
:03:13. > :03:23.motivation for making those remarks, he is sadly misled. That was Sinn
:03:24. > :03:27.Fein. It will be interesting to see if that will be the end of the
:03:28. > :03:33.matter. There is another row brewing over a situation involving a teacher
:03:34. > :03:37.at the Boys' Model in North Belfast. That has been grabbing the
:03:38. > :03:42.headlines. Another row relating to North Belfast. This relates to
:03:43. > :03:52.online abuse that was directed at a Sinn Fein councillor who teaches at
:03:53. > :03:56.Boys' Model will --. Sinn Fein say she has been subjected to these
:03:57. > :04:01.taunts from the Protestant coalition. That has been rejected by
:04:02. > :04:08.Willie Frazer from the collation. He said he contained -- condemned the
:04:09. > :04:14.threats. The online threats have been condemned by the Irish National
:04:15. > :04:25.teachers organisation. They said no one should put up with this.
:04:26. > :04:27.teachers organisation. They said no teacher. Governors from the Boys'
:04:28. > :04:31.Model and officials from the education board have been meeting to
:04:32. > :04:33.discuss this. Thanks very much. Earlier today, MLAs debated a
:04:34. > :04:36.measure allowing for the introduction of plain packaging for
:04:37. > :04:39.cigarettes. Introducing the legislative consent motion, the
:04:40. > :04:43.Health Minister said the aim was to prevent the uptake of smoking by
:04:44. > :04:47.young people. However in a rare breaking of ranks, opposition to the
:04:48. > :04:55.move came from Edwin Poots' DUP colleagues. There is a massive sign
:04:56. > :04:59.on every packet of cigarettes that smoking kills, smoking will give you
:05:00. > :05:05.long pants and a range of other health implications. There are
:05:06. > :05:14.gruesome pictures. -- we'll give you long cancer. YN Earth as cigarettes
:05:15. > :05:19.companies spending millions of pounds a year designing attractive
:05:20. > :05:26.packaging? That is a total waste of money. When you go into a
:05:27. > :05:29.tobacconist on a newsagent UCB have spent months developing their new
:05:30. > :05:36.packaging. Why? To attract new smokers. The reason is simple. If
:05:37. > :05:42.you have a legal product and that is a market, you have to differentiate
:05:43. > :05:45.yours product from other markets that are unavailable to the
:05:46. > :05:51.consumer. That is way they look different. It is not to make a
:05:52. > :05:56.glamorous glitzy packaging that nobody can say no to. Quite frankly,
:05:57. > :06:02.that is not the case. It is to differentiate their product from
:06:03. > :06:06.other product in the marketplace. I am not a supportive of smoking but I
:06:07. > :06:10.recognise that a quarter of the population for one reason or the
:06:11. > :06:16.other wish to in gauge in it. It does create health problems but so
:06:17. > :06:22.does drinking of alcohol. He is indicating a quartered of people
:06:23. > :06:25.wish to smoke. A high percentage wish they don't smoke and that is an
:06:26. > :06:28.important element of it. Many of those people choose to smoke
:06:29. > :06:40.whenever the knot in the house. those people choose to smoke
:06:41. > :06:49.children and young people to pick up an addictive habit. The Minister
:06:50. > :06:58.says there are people who wish to give up. I am not disputing his
:06:59. > :07:03.figures, 83% wish to give up. But if banning advertising, stopping them
:07:04. > :07:07.smoking in public places and all of the other measures we have
:07:08. > :07:15.undertaken have not resulted in people giving up, the question we
:07:16. > :07:20.have got ask ourselves is this the way of dealing with it? It will
:07:21. > :07:25.impact on employment in Northern Ireland. In Mike is the truancy
:07:26. > :07:31.there are hundreds of people who are unemployed in Ballymena. -- in my
:07:32. > :07:38.constituency. Those people 's jobs or be affected not as a result of
:07:39. > :07:43.stopping people smoking but as the result of switching people to the
:07:44. > :07:47.criminal gangs who import cheap cigarettes and sell them in the
:07:48. > :07:58.market. The big message is smoking kills. Nothing could be clearer. Let
:07:59. > :08:10.me say also to the members, she is a package which does not look
:08:11. > :08:19.glamorous. Or seductive. There is a clear message, smoking kills. It
:08:20. > :08:24.tells me the brand I want to smoke as a smoker which I bought this
:08:25. > :08:32.morning, and I may add that so I don't does appoint the Minister.
:08:33. > :08:37.That is a compliment to him for badgering at times about smoking.
:08:38. > :08:41.The evidence that the emerge from it was that smokers would indicate they
:08:42. > :08:54.had less satisfaction with their was that smokers would indicate they
:08:55. > :08:59.South Wales which showed a 78% increase in the number of calls to
:09:00. > :09:03.quit lines in the months after standardised packaging was
:09:04. > :09:07.introduced. There is evidence from Australia it was happening and
:09:08. > :09:14.having impact on smokers. What we are targeting here with standardised
:09:15. > :09:20.packaging is not smokers, what we are targeting is younger people to
:09:21. > :09:26.ensure that they don't get the habit of taking nicotine. Edwin Poots
:09:27. > :09:32.making the case. Those packaging and the motion passed on an oral vote.
:09:33. > :09:39.Stephen Walker is still with me. It is unusual to see DUP MLAs
:09:40. > :09:42.disagreeing like that in public. That was the most fascinating thing
:09:43. > :09:47.about the debate. It was to see members of the DUP not just
:09:48. > :09:51.disagreeing with each other on the benches that also disagreeing with
:09:52. > :09:59.the Minister. From the clips we have seen, you can see there may well be
:10:00. > :10:04.a geographical split. You had East Antrim taking one position and then
:10:05. > :10:07.you had the Minister and Jim Wales from Southdown taking another
:10:08. > :10:14.position. It was fascinating to see not just a difference of opinion
:10:15. > :10:17.that fascinating to see people questioning eight DUP minister. In
:10:18. > :10:21.the minds of people like Sammy Wilson he is worried about jobs, he
:10:22. > :10:30.is worried about the people in his constituency. Sammy Wilson and Edwin
:10:31. > :10:37.Poots art to Executive colleagues, two senior members will stop you
:10:38. > :10:42.almost think he has got rid of the shackles of office, he feels he is a
:10:43. > :10:46.free man and he feels he can speak. He feels as if he can argue with his
:10:47. > :10:53.colleagues in public and from the clips we have seen he did that. He
:10:54. > :10:57.is a big beast on the backbenches. He may cause problems for Peter
:10:58. > :11:08.Robinson. He is still an MP and the big question that
:11:09. > :11:10.Robinson. He is still an MP and the House of Commons? Thank you very
:11:11. > :11:13.much. The DUP says it has made a formal
:11:14. > :11:17.complaint against an academic who wrote an email claiming the party
:11:18. > :11:21.may have been responsible for young gay and lesbian people taking their
:11:22. > :11:24.own lives. Jim Wales confronted Dr Graham Ellison from Queen's
:11:25. > :11:27.University at a meeting of the Stormont Justice Committee last
:11:28. > :11:33.week. The meeting concerned Lord Morrow's Human Trafficking Bill. If
:11:34. > :11:37.passed, the bill would make it illegal to pay for sex in Northern
:11:38. > :11:45.Ireland. Do you remember writing an e-mail to an academic on the 13th of
:11:46. > :11:51.September 2013? Due remember what you said? This is in reference to
:11:52. > :11:58.clause number set. Why have you hooked yourself up to that lot in
:11:59. > :12:02.the DUP? Have you any idea where they stand for on social issues
:12:03. > :12:06.around women's issues, gay and lesbian issues and so forth. In
:12:07. > :12:13.terms of gay and lesbian politics, that I have an interest in the now
:12:14. > :12:21.one of the most social Aqua parties you can imagine. -- backward parties
:12:22. > :12:27.you can imagine. I wonder how many gay people in Northern Ireland have
:12:28. > :12:35.committed suicide because of this bloody party? I can remember the
:12:36. > :12:41.party... VI simply latching onto this idea that sex described in
:12:42. > :12:44.biblical in teaching. Your opposition to this clause and this
:12:45. > :12:55.will is more because of York prejudices against the key... It is
:12:56. > :13:00.nothing of the sort. There are a number of issues I do feel strongly
:13:01. > :13:06.about. I thought I could talk around it. There are a number of
:13:07. > :13:09.fundamental issues where she and the DUP do not agree. You may agree on
:13:10. > :13:22.the criminalisation of paying for claimed rape within marriage was
:13:23. > :13:28.allowed. That was made about six years ago. There are a lot of gay
:13:29. > :13:32.and lesbian young people in Northern Ireland who have committed suicide
:13:33. > :13:38.because of issues around their sexuality. Your party is opposed to
:13:39. > :13:43.those. That is not what you said. Because of this bloody party.
:13:44. > :13:50.Because of the stands your party takes on these issues. I am not
:13:51. > :13:55.involved in the local politics. What I do find interesting is I just
:13:56. > :13:59.presented evidence from 100 sex workers, some of them work in
:14:00. > :14:10.Northern Ireland, to say what they feel. Here we go and talk about...
:14:11. > :14:16.It is important we establish the integrity of the individuals in
:14:17. > :14:21.front of us. He has brought the attention of the committee and the
:14:22. > :14:31.public something which I believe is material. We will come to the
:14:32. > :14:37.evidence you have come to. We both have research. The phrase you used
:14:38. > :14:50.about the DUP was extremely offensive. I wish to apologise for
:14:51. > :14:55.that. I've tried on about 20 occasions, I've got records of
:14:56. > :15:01.e-mails and stuff, to contact you both, way before this research
:15:02. > :15:08.started asking for an interview in connection with the project. I've
:15:09. > :15:12.spoken to Lord row's PA, I've spoken to your press office. I've had no
:15:13. > :15:18.luck whatsoever in getting anyone from the party, nor indeed from
:15:19. > :15:25.care, to come and speak to me. I guess I was a bit frustrated. I was
:15:26. > :15:37.thinking, why is this party, Hugh is promoting
:15:38. > :15:39.thinking, why is this party, Hugh is Committee. The Social Development
:15:40. > :15:43.Minister faced questions in the Assembly today and he was in the
:15:44. > :15:45.mood to set the record straight on housing allocation in his own
:15:46. > :15:48.constituency. Nelson McCausland was also asked about overspending by the
:15:49. > :15:51.Housing Executive, but first he defended an accusation of 21st
:15:52. > :16:01.Century gerrymandering from an SDLP MLA. She said, any objective
:16:02. > :16:06.analysis or examination of the fact, this was in the context of
:16:07. > :16:11.north Belfast, can come to only one conclusion. That Catholics in need
:16:12. > :16:18.of housing are being discriminated against. The conditions that the
:16:19. > :16:23.people of north Belfast have been subjected to an intolerable, she
:16:24. > :16:26.said, and would not be accepted by any other functioning democracy. She
:16:27. > :16:30.emphasised again her words, Catholics in need of housing being
:16:31. > :16:35.discriminated against. She went on to use the term, she said, this is
:16:36. > :16:39.nothing short of 21st century gerrymandering. I want to put on
:16:40. > :16:46.record today the actual figures for North Belfast. Not the myths that
:16:47. > :16:50.have been manufactured and peddled by the SDLP and by Republicans and
:16:51. > :16:54.by the dissidents who were out on the streets of Belfast on Saturday,
:16:55. > :16:58.about 50 of them turned up for their rally. But the truth of the matter
:16:59. > :17:05.is they have manufactured and peddled myths. There is no
:17:06. > :17:10.disadvantage. There is no determination. The waiting lists in
:17:11. > :17:16.the North Belfast constituency as of September last year were as follows.
:17:17. > :17:22.That the people in the Protestant community, there were 2059
:17:23. > :17:30.Protestants on the waiting list. There were 1986 Roman Catholics. The
:17:31. > :17:34.need in both communities is roughly the same. It is not the level of
:17:35. > :17:39.disadvantage and discrimination that has been manufactured and invented
:17:40. > :17:50.by people like Dolores Kelly, who concocted these ridiculous figures,
:17:51. > :17:54.matter is these are the facts, these are the figures and people like
:17:55. > :18:00.Dolores Kelly come as much as they want an it, argue about it, dispute
:18:01. > :18:04.it, query it, calculate what ever they want to do. They can't get
:18:05. > :18:10.around the fact that these are the Housing Executive's own formally
:18:11. > :18:14.presented figures. On the 10th of June you came to this House and
:18:15. > :18:20.announced there was an overpayment of some ?18 million likely to be a
:18:21. > :18:24.conservative figure. Do you regret rushing into the House at that
:18:25. > :18:32.time, given that the figures now seem to be considerably less than
:18:33. > :18:37.that? First of all, in terms of the report being provided to the
:18:38. > :18:45.committee, it is not for me to either hold back or inhibit in any
:18:46. > :18:50.way the work of the committee. And therefore he will receive very soon
:18:51. > :18:55.the document. As regards the announcement last year in regard to
:18:56. > :19:00.the contracts, what is clear from the report is this. That the manner
:19:01. > :19:09.in which the Housing Executive grew up contracts, monitored them and
:19:10. > :19:14.managed them was deeply flawed. It is a pretty damning indictment in
:19:15. > :19:17.that regard as to the way in which the Housing Executive managed and
:19:18. > :19:23.monitored contract. It was not done properly. It was open to all sorts
:19:24. > :19:28.of difficulties that would arise. And that is one of the issues that
:19:29. > :19:31.goes back quite a number of years, because the contracts were basically
:19:32. > :19:36.set up a number of years ago, in fact, I think it was just towards
:19:37. > :19:41.the end of the period of direct rule before the assembly came into
:19:42. > :19:45.operation again. It goes back a number of years. It is a problem
:19:46. > :19:48.that was there, it was endemic within the organisation, all
:19:49. > :19:52.institutional within the organisation. In that regard, I
:19:53. > :19:53.think we are in a better place now because the report has identified
:19:54. > :19:59.what the because the report has identified
:20:00. > :20:04.Social Development because the report has identified
:20:05. > :20:07.during questions to the Agriculture Minister today, as Michelle O'Neill
:20:08. > :20:11.was asked about flood defences. But first on the agenda were Single Farm
:20:12. > :20:19.Payments, and just how many farmers have yet to receive their 2013
:20:20. > :20:24.allocation. This has been an accident due in terms of processor
:20:25. > :20:27.payments. The highest ever number of farmers have received their payments
:20:28. > :20:32.prompted this year. My priority is to speed up the process of the
:20:33. > :20:35.inspection cases that occur every year. I anticipate the last case
:20:36. > :20:39.will be paid approximately two months faster than last year and oar
:20:40. > :20:44.months faster than the year before. They have been concerns expressed
:20:45. > :20:47.about remote sensing cases, and I can reassure farmers that those
:20:48. > :20:51.cases have now been put through for the final stages before payment. I
:20:52. > :20:55.expect a significant number to be in the accounts by the end of the
:20:56. > :21:00.month. It's been an excellent year for the payment of Single Farm
:21:01. > :21:04.Payments. Not if you are one of my farming constituents. Who, utterly
:21:05. > :21:07.unexpectedly, have had their payments withheld because of the
:21:08. > :21:14.remote sensing. Why could those payments not have been paid in
:21:15. > :21:19.December and recovery in subsequent years, if there was anything found
:21:20. > :21:25.wrong? Rather than punish them all with this punitive approach across
:21:26. > :21:28.the board will stop We are working under European rules, and one of the
:21:29. > :21:33.rules as you can't make any payment until the whole Rowe says has been
:21:34. > :21:38.completed. That's the reason we're not able to make payments. We are
:21:39. > :21:41.trying to improve things and do more inspections by remote control
:21:42. > :21:46.sensing so the we are able to get in a position where we are able to make
:21:47. > :21:49.the repayments. The House has called for that repeatedly. We've had quite
:21:50. > :21:53.a few debates on it. I want to be in that position to pay people early.
:21:54. > :21:57.That's why we have taken forward these measures in terms of the
:21:58. > :22:02.remote control sensing. Given that the greater volume the river can
:22:03. > :22:05.help the less likely it will flood, and given that the corresponding
:22:06. > :22:07.bodies in England are now reviewing the policy of the non-dredging of
:22:08. > :22:20.reverse to help alleviate the of the agency. They will be carrying
:22:21. > :22:24.out a postevent analysis of how things performed. They will bring
:22:25. > :22:33.forward recommendations on any measures that need to be taken. Will
:22:34. > :22:36.the Minister commit to an audit of all coastal defences, to ensure
:22:37. > :22:41.investment is available to secure our homes, farms and businesses when
:22:42. > :22:46.there is future high tides or coastal erosion around the North of
:22:47. > :22:52.Ireland? If I can correct the member. I didn't say... I said the
:22:53. > :22:56.coastal agencies that they were held responsible held up where they were
:22:57. > :23:01.needed to. There will be a postevent analysis of the events that
:23:02. > :23:04.happened, how everybody responded, and then there will be
:23:05. > :23:07.recommendations coming forward from the agency if need be, if there are
:23:08. > :23:11.areas where we need to strengthen our defences. I look forward to
:23:12. > :23:15.getting that. When they do come forward, we have to look at any of
:23:16. > :23:24.the measures that come forward and look towards what funding we have
:23:25. > :23:28.available. Question five. Apologies, can I ask the Minister,
:23:29. > :23:32.it was bound to happen at some point, can I ask the Minister will
:23:33. > :23:37.to update the assembly on the progress of the Rivers agency flood
:23:38. > :23:41.alleviation works in east Belfast? The member will be aware that there
:23:42. > :23:47.is already work ongoing. We are on target, we had set out we'd have the
:23:48. > :23:50.work completed by 2016. There were delays at the start because we are
:23:51. > :23:54.working in conjunction with Belfast City Council. Quite a number of
:23:55. > :23:56.works have been started and we are pleased with the progress. Michelle
:23:57. > :24:00.O'Neill. There was an unusual item on the agenda at Stormont today as
:24:01. > :24:04.Sammy Wilson raised a point of order with the Speaker over a data breach
:24:05. > :24:07.at the Assembly. Mr Wilson said that the personal details of some MLAs'
:24:08. > :24:14.employees have fallen into the wrong hands. Mr Speaker, this morning a
:24:15. > :24:18.number of members received in their pigeonhole notification from the
:24:19. > :24:20.director of corporate services that they had been a breach of data
:24:21. > :24:34.security, which resulted in the they had been a breach of data
:24:35. > :24:39.released to a third party. Although the letter states that like any
:24:40. > :24:42.responsible authority the assembly commission has developed protocols
:24:43. > :24:47.to deal with such circumstances through its data breach management
:24:48. > :24:53.plan, it appears that this breach occurred on the 24th of January.
:24:54. > :25:00.Employees were not notified until either this morning or at the end of
:25:01. > :25:04.last week. Indeed, the casual way in which this notification came to some
:25:05. > :25:11.members, namely the letter appearing in their pigeonhole, is hardly the
:25:12. > :25:15.act of any responsible authority. The point of order I wish to make
:25:16. > :25:21.is, have you spoken to the director-general to get a report on
:25:22. > :25:26.this, what action is being taken on it and what explanation has there
:25:27. > :25:31.been for the delay in informing those whose information was passed
:25:32. > :25:41.on to a third party in this way? First of all, if I could say to Mr
:25:42. > :25:44.Wilson that this has been fully discussed, both with the
:25:45. > :25:49.director-general and at our last commission meeting as well. All
:25:50. > :25:55.commission members were informed of the issue as soon as it happened.
:25:56. > :26:01.And they have been well kept up to date on the issue. So I would say to
:26:02. > :26:05.members of this House, a la commission members are fully versed
:26:06. > :26:14.of the situation. I think that is where we should leave it. There has
:26:15. > :26:20.been a very wide discussion around this, both with myself, with the
:26:21. > :26:24.director general and especially with our commission members. I am not
:26:25. > :26:31.prepared to take any further point of order on this. We really need to
:26:32. > :26:37.move on. But it members really want to talk to me about this issue,
:26:38. > :26:46.please talk to me outside the chamber or
:26:47. > :26:50.totally and absolutely kept up to date of the situation. That is
:26:51. > :26:53.really where we should leave it. The Speaker, Willie Hay, reassuring the
:26:54. > :26:58.House that everything is under control. Stephen Walker has rejoined
:26:59. > :27:01.me. Stephen, we had more talks today about the Haass process, did
:27:02. > :27:09.anything of interest come out of them? No great breakthrough.
:27:10. > :27:14.Today's meeting was an extension of the meeting from last week. I am
:27:15. > :27:17.told the mood was workmanlike and businesslike. I'm told the mood was
:27:18. > :27:21.better than last week. I understand that last week things were a bit
:27:22. > :27:26.fraught and tetchy. Today there was a discussion on parading paper that
:27:27. > :27:29.had been put forward by officials. Those discussions will continue
:27:30. > :27:34.tomorrow. I also understand there will be discussions tomorrow on the
:27:35. > :27:37.past. But in terms of agreement, no agreement but clearly more talks
:27:38. > :27:45.going on. Finally the Ulster Unionist MLA Michael Copeland is in
:27:46. > :27:49.the news? Yes, this story broke this afternoon. This relates to an
:27:50. > :27:55.incident, an alleged incident, that took place last year during a
:27:56. > :27:59.loyalist demonstration against a Republican anti-internment parade in
:28:00. > :28:04.Royal Avenue in Belfast. You may recall that 26 police officers were
:28:05. > :28:07.hurt during trouble. Afterwards, the Ulster Unionist MLA, Michael
:28:08. > :28:11.Copeland, accused an officer of striking his wife with a bat on. He
:28:12. > :28:15.lodged a complaint. That investigation has concluded that he
:28:16. > :28:19.accidentally hit himself. Mr Copeland told the BBC he didn't want
:28:20. > :28:23.to comment. The ombudsman and the PSNI also declined to comment.
:28:24. > :28:26.Interesting. That's it for tonight. I'll be back with more tomorrow
:28:27. > :28:28.night. Same time, same place - 11.20pm on BBC Two. Until then,
:28:29. > :28:30.goodbye.