Browse content similar to 03/03/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up: one week on and the issue | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
of letters to On the Runs rumbles on. There are major questions about | :00:31. | :00:41. | |
how the scheme was established, the way it has been misrepresented and | :00:42. | :00:44. | |
the way it has led to the current confusion. The education minister | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
makes it clear he won't bear the brunt of any cost rising from the | :00:48. | :00:51. | |
delays in setting up the Education and Skills Authority. It is not I | :00:52. | :00:58. | |
who has incurred this cost but the political failure of some parties | :00:59. | :01:03. | |
and I expect the Executive to cough up for it. Our political | :01:04. | :01:04. | |
and I expect the Executive to cough correspondent Gareth Gordon is here | :01:05. | :01:06. | |
to cast correspondent Gareth Gordon is here | :01:07. | :01:15. | |
threaten resignation and the British Government to apologise. An urgent | :01:16. | :01:19. | |
question tabled by the DUP's Paul Given ensured that the issue of On | :01:20. | :01:23. | |
the Runs and the so-called letters of assurance remained on the agenda | :01:24. | :01:31. | |
today. The On the Runs scheme had no | :01:32. | :01:35. | |
statutory basis and at the point where justice was divulged, there | :01:36. | :01:40. | |
was no provision for the Northern Ireland office to continue with its | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
operation, so can the Minister of eyes if the NIO has usurped the | :01:44. | :01:48. | |
responsibility to this assembly and has the criminal to agency, | :01:49. | :01:53. | |
including the police service and Public Prosecution Service, only | :01:54. | :01:58. | |
complicit in aiding and abetting the Northern Ireland officepos-mac | :01:59. | :02:00. | |
unlawful actions by taking this schema forward? Will seek a | :02:01. | :02:06. | |
declaration from the High Court in determining whose responsibility is | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
this issue? I am afraid he is premature. I am seeking advice on a | :02:13. | :02:18. | |
range of issues. He has correctly highlighted the fact that there was | :02:19. | :02:25. | |
no statutory basis of the scheme and there will be no statutory basis for | :02:26. | :02:29. | |
stopping it but that was the difficulty we are in. I welcome the | :02:30. | :02:32. | |
fact that after some effort, I obtained an apology from the | :02:33. | :02:49. | |
Secretary of State. Clearly, there are many questions and it may be | :02:50. | :02:54. | |
that it will not be possible to have answers until the report comes at | :02:55. | :02:59. | |
the end of May. It is also clear that in this assembly and in my | :03:00. | :03:04. | |
department, we, as yet, unaware of what the details are. We will have | :03:05. | :03:07. | |
to see what we get emerging but it is clear that there are major | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
questions about the way the scheme was established, the way it was | :03:11. | :03:14. | |
carried on and the weight has been misrepresented and the way it has | :03:15. | :03:17. | |
led to the current confusion arising out of the trial. | :03:18. | :03:19. | |
I'm joined now by out of the trial. | :03:20. | :03:29. | |
issue of On the Runs continues to occupy minds here at Stormont? With | :03:30. | :03:35. | |
a different day this could have been had we gone over that precipice last | :03:36. | :03:38. | |
week. The crisis blew up from nothing. We may have got over it | :03:39. | :03:46. | |
last week but the issue certainly has not gone away and it won't go | :03:47. | :03:50. | |
away before the judge led enquiry reports at the end of May and I | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
would not think even then, so no surprise that it did dominate a lot | :03:56. | :03:59. | |
of the proceedings at the Assembly today. It would have done so even | :04:00. | :04:06. | |
more had Peter Robinson carried out that resignation threat. Last week | :04:07. | :04:14. | |
was full of political drama. There is still plenty of mileage left in | :04:15. | :04:19. | |
it when figures like Peter Hain go on the airwaves and add fuel to the | :04:20. | :04:24. | |
fire. The Justice Minister David forward played a prominent role in | :04:25. | :04:26. | |
the drama even though he knew nothing of the OTR letters. What was | :04:27. | :04:32. | |
happening there in that clip we saw was an urgent oral question from the | :04:33. | :04:39. | |
Justice chair, Paul Given, of the DUP. He was asking that since | :04:40. | :04:43. | |
justice powers were developed to the Assembly in 2010, did the NIO even | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
have any legal staters to run this administrative scheme which provided | :04:50. | :04:55. | |
letters of comfort to On the Runs after this date. David Ford said he | :04:56. | :05:00. | |
was obtaining legal advice. He still has not got that advice. We know | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
that there were 38 such letters issued since 2010 but he has not got | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
this advice yet and he was giving away little else. There are also | :05:14. | :05:18. | |
questions that his permanent secretary in the Department of | :05:19. | :05:21. | |
Justice did know about the scheme where as David Ford did not. Many | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
people find that a strange situation. The issue dominated first | :05:27. | :05:32. | |
Minister 's questions as well? First Minister 's questions as well? First | :05:33. | :05:44. | |
advice to determine whether the NIO had the authority to carry on that | :05:45. | :05:49. | |
scheme since 2010. He does not think they did and he says it may be an | :05:50. | :05:54. | |
issue for the judge in the forthcoming enquiry, as well as one | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
for the Attorney-General. Peter Robinson says he intends to raise | :05:59. | :06:02. | |
the issue with both the PSNI undersecretary State, so much more | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
on this to come. As we have been hearing, the fallout | :06:07. | :06:09. | |
dominated questions to the First Minister today. Peter Robinson told | :06:10. | :06:13. | |
the Assembly that the responsibility for On the Runs should have been | :06:14. | :06:16. | |
transferred following the devolution of justice in 2010. | :06:17. | :06:23. | |
The bottom line in this matter is that everybody in the community was | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
aware that there were On the Runs, everybody was aware of the fact that | :06:28. | :06:30. | |
Sinn Fein was pushing for something to be run on this issue will stop | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
everybody was aware that the government had acknowledged there | :06:36. | :06:40. | |
was an anomaly, but when then looks at all of the documentation that is | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
available, both in terms of the minutes of the Policing Board and in | :06:45. | :06:48. | |
terms of the comment in the book of Jonathan Powell, where he | :06:49. | :06:54. | |
indicates, wrongly, but only technically, that they were | :06:55. | :06:58. | |
references made in the joint declaration where there was no | :06:59. | :07:01. | |
reference is made but there was a reference in a separate paper on the | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
On the Runs. Does the first Minister believe there was authority from the | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
Northern Ireland office to maintain the scheme for the On the Runs after | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
the devolution of policing and justice in April 2010? I think this | :07:15. | :07:22. | |
touches on the issue raised by my friend, the Member for East | :07:23. | :07:27. | |
Londonderry area on. I don't claim to be a lawyer but I have to say, | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
even with the fact that I have been a lawmaker for probably the best | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
part of 35 years, looking at the negotiations that were held on | :07:39. | :07:41. | |
policing and justice, it seems clear to me that matters relating to the | :07:42. | :07:46. | |
PSNI, to prosecutions and other matters to suggest that the | :07:47. | :07:59. | |
no legal authority for either the PSNI to be responding in the way | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
that it did, and certainly no authority for the NIO to be issuing | :08:05. | :08:10. | |
letters. That is a matter that the enquiry judge will want to look at | :08:11. | :08:14. | |
all stop it may well be an issue that the Attorney General will want | :08:15. | :08:17. | |
to look at. It will be a matter that we will take up with the PSNI and | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
arrangements have been made, but to have meetings with the PSNI, and the | :08:23. | :08:28. | |
Secretary of State on these issues. The authority does not lie somewhere | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
out there, to float around between the NIO and the devolved | :08:34. | :08:36. | |
Administration as to who wants to take an issue out. Authority is laid | :08:37. | :08:40. | |
down in law as to whose responsibility it is. He will be | :08:41. | :08:46. | |
aware of the anger from the general public and victims of terrorism at | :08:47. | :08:49. | |
the dodgy deal which was struck between Sinn Fein and success of UK | :08:50. | :08:56. | |
governments on runaway terrorists. Given the smug and insensitive | :08:57. | :08:58. | |
response from Sinn Fein on this issue, but indications does he | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
believe that this House for the leaders talks on flags, the past and | :09:03. | :09:10. | |
parades? People are outraged and on a number of different level. They | :09:11. | :09:16. | |
are outraged at the implication of one-sided justice and that damages | :09:17. | :09:23. | |
the whole of the justice system, but circumstances are available for one | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
set of those was once work -- responsible for crimes are not for | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
the others. The fact that the removal by the then government of | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
the legislation dealing with On the Runs was on the basis that Sinn Fein | :09:39. | :09:41. | |
withdrew their support because they did not want soldiers to enjoy the | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
same kind of privileges that terrorists would have. That is an | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
outrage, I think, in any society. The First Minister continuing to | :09:52. | :09:55. | |
voice his anger over letters given to On the Runs. John O'Dowd was also | :09:56. | :09:59. | |
at the dispatch box today. The much anticipated Education and Skills | :10:00. | :10:01. | |
Authority, the single body intended to replace the five regional | :10:02. | :10:02. | |
education boards, to replace the five regional | :10:03. | :10:14. | |
Does the Minister accept that many parents who do not place a high | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
value on schooling had a career in education themselves, but they | :10:20. | :10:21. | |
cannot bring themselves to engage with the education establishment | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
again. What is the department going to do to preach to the script? | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
Parents who had a poor educational experience themselves and do not | :10:35. | :10:41. | |
value education, I have launched an advertising campaign to encourage | :10:42. | :10:44. | |
all parents to become involved in their children's education, to make | :10:45. | :10:49. | |
society realise that education that does not begin and end at the school | :10:50. | :10:55. | |
gates. Despite the highly qualified and motivated staff we have, I left | :10:56. | :11:01. | |
parents and communities are involved, it will not succeed. Can | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
the Minister remind the chamber of the importance of security | :11:06. | :11:10. | |
arrangements in terms of savings to the public purse and educational | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
well-being of our young people? This was initially involves as a method | :11:16. | :11:21. | |
to improve educational outcomes for our young people and to modernise | :11:22. | :11:28. | |
the management layers within our society and therefore to make | :11:29. | :11:30. | |
savings as well. It is estimated that we could have saved ?20 million | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
a year if we had had the political will to move forward. That | :11:37. | :11:40. | |
apparently does not exist. We are now facing this scenario that with | :11:41. | :11:49. | |
councils moving to their new numbers, the education and library | :11:50. | :11:53. | |
boards have to be reconfigured to meet those boundaries. If there is | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
financial consequences for the Department of education as a result | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
of this not going through and I happened to bring forward | :12:02. | :12:08. | |
legislation, I will be going to the Executive and pointing to them that | :12:09. | :12:12. | |
it is not I who have incurred this cost but the political failure of | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
parties around the Executive and I would expect the Executive to cough | :12:18. | :12:19. | |
parties around the Executive and I up for it. It is vitally important | :12:20. | :12:32. | |
parties around the Executive and I of parents. They have a legal | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
responsibility to ensure their children attend school. It is also | :12:38. | :12:40. | |
important that we encourage parents to do so. My department has an | :12:41. | :12:51. | |
education campaign and a policy document detailing what actions can | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
be taken on and also the work of the education and welfare service. | :12:58. | :13:00. | |
The education Minister John O'Dowd urging parents to ensure their | :13:01. | :13:02. | |
children attend school. Meantime, the DUP was calling for greater | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
North-South co-operation and criticising Sinn Fein for not being | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
in favour of it. Usual positions in the Assembly were flipped on their | :13:09. | :13:11. | |
head today as the Enterprise Committee's report on electricity | :13:12. | :13:26. | |
was debated. The electricity grid needs to be strengthened. The | :13:27. | :13:30. | |
planning commission must set an early date to talk about a permanent | :13:31. | :13:44. | |
solution. It is a ridiculous situation. We do not have the | :13:45. | :13:54. | |
infrastructure in place. The electricity prices we have in | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
Northern Ireland dissuade people from investing here. Northern | :14:01. | :14:08. | |
Ireland has lost several major inward investment projects because | :14:09. | :14:16. | |
of this. We need to attract large energy users to Northern Ireland. If | :14:17. | :14:20. | |
they are on the grid, it will reduce costs for others. Repay some of the | :14:21. | :14:31. | |
highest energy costs in Europe. -- we pay. | :14:32. | :14:44. | |
highest energy costs in Europe. -- pleased that everyone agreed to | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
further examine the high energy costs. It is a welcome change of | :14:49. | :14:58. | |
heart to hear a Sinn Fein deputy chairman talk about the high cost of | :14:59. | :15:04. | |
energy and impact it has on people in Northern Ireland. Given the fact | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
that his party has singularly tried to do all that it can to ensure that | :15:11. | :15:15. | |
energy prices are held high in Northern Ireland. The interconnector | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
is held back as a result of the attitude of Sinn Fein when it comes | :15:21. | :15:28. | |
to the exploitation of our own resources. I welcome the call for an | :15:29. | :15:36. | |
early date to be set to reconvene the planning application for the | :15:37. | :15:44. | |
north-South interconnector. A specific route has in identified. As | :15:45. | :15:52. | |
the committee has recognised the importance of the interconnector, I | :15:53. | :16:02. | |
assume it will support the delivery of the interconnector without | :16:03. | :16:05. | |
further delay and I would welcome confirmation of that. Wilber member | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
indicate his support and perhaps his party 's support for a North-South | :16:13. | :16:29. | |
interconnector? I have been trying to speak on behalf of the | :16:30. | :16:36. | |
committee. We are talking about building a interconnector. A road | :16:37. | :16:43. | |
from Londonderry to Dublin. Why can't the two projects be merged? | :16:44. | :16:46. | |
Why can't it be road? It is completely feasible. | :16:47. | :17:00. | |
Phil Flannigan with his proposals for a North-South interconnector. | :17:01. | :17:10. | |
The devolution of powers in Scotland and Wales continue to be discussed. | :17:11. | :17:16. | |
Earlier today, NI21 was discussing this school devolution. You table | :17:17. | :17:30. | |
this motion. It effectively disappeared into the ether. It was | :17:31. | :17:46. | |
quite a czar amendment. We were keen to debate the fact that devolution | :17:47. | :17:58. | |
is changing around the UK and we are behind the curve on this. The | :17:59. | :18:04. | |
concern expressed by other parties was that your idea of discussing | :18:05. | :18:13. | |
these fiscal objectives was to far-reaching. When we posted the | :18:14. | :18:23. | |
amendments, it got through by four votes. There are be concerned about | :18:24. | :18:40. | |
the volatility of things like corporation tax. We need to look at | :18:41. | :18:49. | |
this in a professional manner, like they have done in Scotland and | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
Wales. I just think we are going to be left behind. What did you make of | :18:54. | :18:59. | |
the financial Minister's comments. He | :19:00. | :19:10. | |
the financial Minister's comments. benefits from Northern Ireland. That | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
is what you would want. I was surprised with some of the DUP lines | :19:14. | :19:19. | |
on this. They were saying yes, corporation tax is volatile, but | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
that is all we focused on. They should have said, let us do this | :19:25. | :19:29. | |
properly. Let us set up a commission that would run hard the independence | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
vote in Scotland, but it would run into the next government after the | :19:36. | :19:42. | |
next Westminster election. At the moment, we are locked in a place | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
where we are hoping for the devolution and corporation tax in | :19:48. | :19:50. | |
the autumn, but there is no guarantee it will happen. But isn't | :19:51. | :20:00. | |
at sixes and sevens? You have described the the Assembly as a | :20:01. | :20:14. | |
state of confusion. This is our road map to normalisation. We have spoken | :20:15. | :20:21. | |
about and consistently had these things that you would want to see a | :20:22. | :20:26. | |
government in opposition normalising our politics and taxes. It's in | :20:27. | :20:35. | |
Northern Ireland that should be coming of age and standing for | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
itself. Devolution means we can have fiscal powers and do things around | :20:39. | :20:44. | |
the margins that make a big difference. That is our road map to | :20:45. | :20:51. | |
how you normalise Northern Ireland. The ball is now in Simon Hamilton's | :20:52. | :20:56. | |
court. He has to report back to the Assembly by the autumn. The issue | :20:57. | :21:03. | |
has not gone away. Absolutely not. It has to come back in the autumn. | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
We will be pushing hard on a decision on corporation tax. If that | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
was to go against us, there will be huge pressure to say, if | :21:15. | :21:17. | |
was to go against us, there will be that, what is your plan B? | :21:18. | :21:19. | |
was to go against us, there will be not have a plan B if he does not get | :21:20. | :21:32. | |
corporation tax. Interesting stuff. Thank you for joining us. There were | :21:33. | :21:45. | |
some other important financial matters discussed in the chamber | :21:46. | :21:51. | |
today, including inflation. Over ?1 billion is now collected in the | :21:52. | :22:02. | |
business and commercial rates section. The regional rate | :22:03. | :22:11. | |
represents half of the typical bill. The other half is made up of | :22:12. | :22:17. | |
district rates which are set by individual councils. In order to | :22:18. | :22:28. | |
provide certainty and stability for his Mrs and households, the rates | :22:29. | :22:34. | |
have been partially frozen until 2015. We want to do whatever we can | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
to make sure conditions for economic growth are in place for Northern | :22:41. | :22:54. | |
Ireland. The ten one macro -- the Executive has taken a strong | :22:55. | :23:01. | |
approach to this. We understand that household and businesses are under a | :23:02. | :23:06. | |
lot of pressure. The committee did agree to recommend that there should | :23:07. | :23:24. | |
be a freeze on some of the rates. Town centres are facing | :23:25. | :23:29. | |
difficulties. Town centres are facing | :23:30. | :23:42. | |
real pressure and rates are a major issue for them. I want an assurance | :23:43. | :23:49. | |
from the minister that he is doing all he can to recognise that | :23:50. | :23:57. | |
pressure. The Stormont Department responsible for employment fell to | :23:58. | :24:03. | |
achieve its targets on sickness absence. The employment and learning | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
committee learnt that sickness levels were on a downward trend. At | :24:09. | :24:15. | |
last week 's committee, MLAs were taken through the figures. The trend | :24:16. | :24:22. | |
is now downwards. There was a high of around 19 days in 2001. That had | :24:23. | :24:44. | |
come down to 11.4 days by 2011. We did look at causes of absence, so in | :24:45. | :24:53. | |
general terms within the civil service, it is long-term sickness | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
absence that accounts for the majority of overall sickness | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
absence. Within that mental health is recognised as the main cause. If | :25:04. | :25:16. | |
people are off on long-term sickness and they are suffering from mental | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
health and other issues, we need to be compassionate in how we deal with | :25:21. | :25:28. | |
them. We need to offer whatever help and assistance we can. We need to | :25:29. | :25:40. | |
look at the reasons why people are suffering from these illnesses. I | :25:41. | :25:46. | |
would not disagree with suffering from these illnesses. I | :25:47. | :25:57. | |
what specifically they have done about these absences. I am a little | :25:58. | :26:07. | |
amused. The figures are interesting, but I wonder what the value is if we | :26:08. | :26:11. | |
don't actually have any detail behind them? Is their value in us | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
having this as a session in the committee because we don't know what | :26:18. | :26:22. | |
is driving the figures. Obviously there is an issue because it is | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
costing the public purse a lot of money. I often wonder whether it's | :26:27. | :26:40. | |
self-defeating publishing some of these figures. We do need to monitor | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
sickness levels, I often wonder if certain individuals will view the | :26:48. | :26:52. | |
average figure, realise they are significantly lower than that and | :26:53. | :26:57. | |
feel they can top up their sick days? In terms of the overall | :26:58. | :27:01. | |
numbers that are off on long-term sick, what percentage of those are | :27:02. | :27:12. | |
off on mental health reasons? 29 days is the average lost because of | :27:13. | :27:22. | |
mental health issues. Some have longer absences. Gareth Gordon has | :27:23. | :27:40. | |
joined me again. We heard today the office of the first and deputy first | :27:41. | :27:49. | |
ministers making plans to launch a committee on the sexual orientation | :27:50. | :27:55. | |
debate. committee on the sexual orientation | :27:56. | :28:10. | |
Public consultation is to begin soon and the strategy will follow. It is | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
aimed to promote and environment free from harassment and bullying in | :28:16. | :28:37. | |
terms of homophobia. Finally, a familiar face is due back in | :28:38. | :28:44. | |
Northern Ireland later in the week. Bill Clinton has not been here since | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
2010. Tomorrow he will be in Dublin and Wednesday he attends a ceremony | :28:50. | :28:56. | |
at Queens. He will also be going to Londonderry and I went be surprised | :28:57. | :29:01. | |
if he puts in an appearance here at Stormont. That is it for now. I will | :29:02. | :29:08. | |
be back tomorrow at 11:20pm. Until then, good buy. | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
Nowadays we take the issue of fairness in employment for granted. | :29:14. | :29:16. | |
I have never felt it important to ask anybody's religion | :29:17. | :29:19. | |
when I'm going to employ them as a sheet metal worker. | :29:20. | :29:21. | |
This is the story of fair employment in Northern Ireland. | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
it masked a much greater problem in terms of educational disadvantage. | :29:25. | :29:30. | |
The Fair Employment Act of 1989 changed Northern Ireland's society | :29:31. | :29:34. | |
dramatically. We still have a way to go. | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
But are we on the right track? Absolutely. | :29:38. | :30:12. | |
In January, 1941, just months after the | :30:13. | :30:14. |