03/10/2011 Stormont Today

Welcome to Stormont Today. It is the best of the day's proceedings

from up here on the hill. It was a popular move to freeze tuition fees

but was that excessive? The rise is going to be considerably more than

you think. We have got 8,000 students currently a fraud. If a

small proportion stay at home, we cannot provide for them or stop --

currently abroad. Is there something in the broad -- in the

water? Not in that sense! Our guest First tonight, our Political

correspondent Martina Purdy has an exclusive look at the long awaited

government programme. What have we got? It is a draft of the programme.

It was run up by the First Minister and Deputy First Minister's office

and since we have had other versions. It gives you an idea of

the administration's thinking. The top Parity and challenge his job

creation and improving the economy but it looks at choices given the

financial constraints. It looks at improving educational outcomes and

reforming healthcare and improving the efficiency of public services.

That is quite a vague description. Any flesh on the Bayern's? We are

looking at some targets such as providing 21,000 jobs. Getting

100,000 people off benefits and into employment. Increasing school

leavers to 66 % by 2014 and investing in a rural development.

Another target is planning to make certain all large-scale planning

applications are decided upon in six months. What does the

executives say? They have distanced themselves. They have said it is

just a draft. A spokesman said that they would simply not comment.

Student fees dominated questions to be Minister for Employment and

Learning. Not surprising. Before that it was Enterprise Minister

Arlene Foster taking questions. She gets a complement from an alliance

member. Can I welcome the Chancellor's announcement in

relation to air passenger duty and thank her for the work that she

did? Are there any other measures available that perhaps could

mitigate other additional pastoral landing charges -- passenger

I thank the members for his -- Member for his kind words. I deeply

appreciate the Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is to be commended

for taking a personal interest in this mattered. I have to say,

without his assistants, this would have been a very different story. I

commend him for that. There was a lot of hard work behind at the

seams. -- behind the scenes. It is true to say that if this passenger

duty had not been addressed like that, it might have been very

different today. That would have had big ramifications in Northern

Ireland. Particularly in the respect of inward investment from

North America. I am pleased that is not the case. That might come in

useful for some people travelling for the music awards next month.

They will be spending lots of money, apparently. It is forecast that the

music awards will generate �10 million for the local economy. It

is estimated that media coverage will generate �10 million of public

relations funding. It will attract 20,000 visitors and 25% from

outside Northern Ireland and bringing significant benefit to the

area in the longer term will stop at currently less than 10---.

Currently less than 10,000 places have been booked as a result of the

2011 survey in Belfast. Can I ask how we are looking at the filming

of MTV? Are anybody -- is anybody considering directing? This is the

home of major productions. I would have thought he had enough stars

and wanted to share them around. I think the positive story from last

week is that we have got international superstars coming to

make big years in Northern Ireland. That sends out a very strong

message about the change in Northern Ireland. -- video footage.

On to tuition fees. What will happen if more people want to study

I understand budgeting and finance and resources that have to be

applied. But the rise is going to be considerably more than what do

you think. We have got 8,000 students currently abroad. If a

small proportion come here, we cannot provide for them. How can we

sort this out? The short answer to doubt is that I have the capacity

to get back to my colleagues based on the actual evidence. Then I can

seek additional resources. I have managed to secured a modest amount

of resources to allow student places and it is important to make

a start. But the wider point is that we have got a sense of realism.

The grant was premised on the assumption of tuition fees being

introduced at the same level as Great Britain. My department was

promised as well. We have to manage student finance and support at the

universities, a budget. To freeze these and look at funding was a

considerable achievement. And the pressure of places, it is asking an

awful lot on a fixed budget at a time of considerable crisis. I have

made the case quite robustly. I understand why we have got the

situation today. This is a consequence of what was viewed as a

very popular situation and we had a lot of pressure to do this. We have

to look at the consequences. Carry on Question Time in the chamber has

some members got a bit giddy about a very innocent remarks. Must be

We were at it... We were at it last week, Mr Deputy Speaker. If I could

ask another question?! I will leave if there. We will hold that thought

to another time and we can no doubt talk about that privately. Not in

Later than usual, he is our guest of the day, Brian Feeney. It was

all laughs but tough decisions ahead. We will see if the proposals

will actually ever be decided. We are reading through the programme.

It is clear that the constraints from Westminster will be here for

another four years. They have brought forward some plans quite

quickly. Reducing the number of councils. Big plans for education.

Do you feel inspired or optimistic that things might be a bit quicker

this time? They will have to be. One of the disappointing things is

marking time. A lot of things in the programme has been in the

previous programme and achieved nothing in four years. Particularly

in education. They did not do anything about 26 councils. They

have to do something. The Secretary of State have said if they did not

manage it is in the next four years, they will have lost credibility.

They will have been in office eight years and achieved nothing. It is

imperative to get something done. It is imperative to get the

councils reduced. That will save millions. Perception is the problem

as well. Members of the public really do feel that we have got

inefficiency happening here. They are not seeing the jobs they want

to see created and unemployment is rising. The public is quite right

about that. The programme is really mother had an apple pie. More jobs

and more investment. There are things I frankly do not believe.

Getting 100,000 people off benefits and into jobs. Where are these jobs

going to be? People are looking at more civil servants in the office

of the First Minister and in the Cabinet Office. They are dealing

with a population of 60 million. Is that the best use of public money?

What about corporation tax? We have had much discussion about that and

we will hear more about that later. Is that a key to boosting the

economy? I heard that at the Conservative conference. That is

much more dangerous than it has ever been. He is not banking on the

prospect. I think they have been attacked by the Scottish Office, by

people like Alex Salmond. They are talking about reducing it to 15 %

by 2020. But he is not very hopeful. Thank you very much. The Finance

Minister Sammy Wilson says if London does not its Stormont the

powers to cut, they will have to come up with alternative ways to

boost the economy. He was talking to the Secretary of State and

setting up a committee to examine the cost implications of reducing

the tax in Northern Ireland before I will be concerned about by the

setting up the committee is a way of saying, let us keep it into the

long grass, and I suppose it is only when we start talking, you

will find out whether that is the case. Once the Government makes up

its mind that politically it wants to do something, once the

Chancellor realised, he took the right political decision and it's

saved the link between here and North America with the airlines. So

I am not overly worried at the moment, but I think into a three

months' time when we see how it works we might have a better idea.

Some people have accused you of putting corporation tax on the long

finger. That is not the case. What I said

and is still the case, it is that we are seeking to have the powers

devolved as quickly as possible, but the actual reduction in the

rate will be some time down the line, because there is no point in

reducing the rate immediately if you are not getting some benefits

from investment decisions. Since investment decisions take about two

or three years to make, why would you cut the rate of corporation tax

before you get the benefits? You would be paying and getting no

benefits. First of all we need a decision to devolve, the

legislation to devolve, and then we will announce a date, probably at

the end of this period of the Executive, when that will be

reduced. That gives investors the certainty, that they know when than

that they are going to pay the lower level of corporation tax?

I think there has always been an element he did not want to see it

devolved - they did not want to hand over more tax powers to

devolved administrations, they were also -- always fearful that what

happened in Northern Ireland... So there was always the resistance

there, so I am not surprised at that. Even in the discussions we

had earlier warned there was always those tensions between people who

quite clearly were not committed to devolving corporation tax and does

who wanted to look at it. What happens if London cool off and

say we are not going to give you the powers?

I would say to them politically, but if you do not believe that the

devolution of corporation tax is the means to achieve that objective,

then tell us what you do believe. Tell us what we can do to rebalance

the economy. It is not in London's interest or our interests to keep

this heavy reliance on the public sector. We have seen the impact

that when there is reductions in Government spending, it is

magnified, the effect is magnified in Northern Ireland because of our

dependence on the public sector. We need to rebalance the economy, and

I will make the argument that if that is not the means then tell us

what you are going to give us. You cannot simply say that the public

sector is too big in Northern Ireland - and then say we have no

ideas how to rebalance. It is a must have provided it is devolved

at the right price, and it is devolved in the right way. I think

that is the important thing - it is not the only answer, it is not

going to solve all of the problems, but I speak to businessmen on a

regular basis, many of them are keen to see it devolved. Most of

the honest ones will tell you that it will not solve all their

problems, or not lead mad jiggly to massive investment tomorrow, but

nevertheless it will be important for us to have it in the toolbox.

The Finance Minister Sammy Wilson speaking to me earlier.

Brian, you are a former member of the SDLP. What do you make of the

leadership contest? It has now gone behind the scenes as the various

candidates to their canvassing and tried to twist arms and show people

how attractive they are. I think there are too many candidates and

they may do each other damage. Alastair Macdonald make a mistake

standing this time, because the people who rejected him two years

ago will not fought find this time either, and he may damage his

opponent by standing. But his thoughts will probably go to

somebody else in the end. I think they were people who

thought they had to throw their hat in the ring to give themselves a

leg up in the party. I don't think either has a chance of winning, in

the case of, McDevitt, he has only been elected since May. He was co-

opted to the Assembly before that, but only elected in his own right,

and people will think he is too soon. Throwing his hat in the ring

means he will become more senior in the party.

Is it a prize worth winning? It is really a crown of thorns.

Whoever gets collected this time may well be the last leader of the

SDLP. If they do not get the party together for the Assembly elections

in 2015, the party will be reduced to such a small number, maybe six

Assembly members. Added Will's ceased to be a force to be reckoned

with. So it is crunch time, they have got to get it right this time,

because they cannot choose another leader of next year.

They were highly charged scenes in committees this past week. When

should children become criminally responsible? That got tempers

frayed at the Justice Committee, but at Agriculture emotions ran

high as a senior civil servant was asked about the mistakes that led

to the Crossnacreevy land deal disaster.

There are two events here. And there is a link between them, it is

not a straightforward link. One event is the management scheme

which I maintain was very desirable, endorsed by farmers, very necessary

to the economy. A good outcome. The second event is that we sought to

dispose of an asset to bring in �200 million, and we have failed.

bogus exercise? No, I do not accept that. We have failed having done

the work. We have not retreated, we have said that when it reopens we

will return to the job. We but we have failed in the task we set

ourselves of disposing of the assets within the spending review

period. That is not a good outcome for us as a department, to fail at

any task that we put our minds to. So do you feel you have learnt

lessons? I think we have. I think we have learned a lot about how to

approach a major capital assets and how to seek the advice... We have

learned a lot about the constraints on disposing of an asset, and I

suppose that is what we carry forward with us. I do, and again,

it is a joy of my life that occasionally I get to talk to the

young people coming into the service, and I had that experience

in the last week of bringing in a young fast track graduate. What I

would say is that the recommendations of this committee

are very important and are taken very seriously by all of us. It

will be... It will be of concern if we end up driving out, particularly

younger people with careers in front of them. The measurement and

the management of risk. I would just put that on the table as

something to bear in mind. It would have been possible, frankly, in

June 2007, for both the department and ministers to say, we have our

processes, and there is nothing we can do. And there you are -

Agriculture, industry, you have a problem with you at slummy - deal

with it, you are the polluter. -- you slurry. We did not do that, we

took a risk. Retrospective,... But I would be genuinely disappointed

if we end up driving out that management of risk as a concept and

as an issue for the young people coming into the department.

We get some issues here about the UN Convention and the rights of

children. Where they say that you advocate we should dot dot dot

child welfare should be at the centre. There is a perception that

we are forgetting about the rights of society, of community, not just

the victim, but about community. How do we ensure that there are

checks and balances, and if you take the issue about age, about

moving from ten to 12 or about 12 to 14, when it 18? You have here,

quoting your report on page 76, the intention was to treat all under 18

year-olds as children. And you come back into this argument. The that

the point is you have to make the argument, that there is a better

way of dealing people than with the criminal justice system.

relation to the rights of the community and what we say about the

UN Convention on the rights of the child and particular article 3

which talks about representing the best interests of the child, what

we say is that the best interests of the child, according to

international instruments, should be part of the principal aim of any

youth justice system. In Northern Ireland, it is not. Protecting the

public, however, is. It is part of the principal aim. We are

suggesting that all of those things should be reflected in the

principal aim of the youth justice system. It is not just about

protecting the public, it is not just about preventing offending and

reoffending, but also about insuring the best interests of the

child. In showing that all the right components are part of that

principle aim. To see more from Question Time or

anything else going on in the chamber or at committee, go to our

Democracy Live page way can watch proceedings from Stormont,

Westminster, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Brussels.

Watching that committee, Brian, what do you think of the standard

of our watchdogs here at Stormont? First of all you can never

underestimate the pomposity and self-importance of the MLAs, and in

any case it is in inverse proportion to their ability and

knowledge. They do not specialise - what you tend to find is that

individual MPs become known to be experts on particular areas,

whether it be law, health, or education, and they become

formidable figures on those committees. Home affairs, for

example. Chris Mullin, the former chair, for years and years, became

an expert on that committee almost in his own right. A lot tend to ask

questions about all kinds of things. But they have not had a chance to

have years and years on the committee. That's right, but we

need to have more and more people specialising, so that instead of

asking questions on all kinds of subjects, they hone in on a

particular aspect and become somebody to be feared by officials

and ministers, because they know that particular MLA is the expert

on a certain area. We really do not have any of those.

MLAs want tougher sentences for fuel launderers and more cross-

border co-operation in catching those involved in fuel smuggling.

It is estimated the cost the Exchequer is around �200 million

and year in lost revenue. The DUP's Jim Wells was a number of MLAs who

call for a crackdown on the criminals involved.

It is a serious issue, and I will be interested to see what the

Justice Minister says. I do not think we as a society are taking

this seriously enough. For custodial sentences. If I still a

million pounds from a bank I would go down, but if somebody Launders

fuel and makes millions of pounds, all he gets is a suspended sentence,

a rap on the knuckles or a fine. If we take this seriously we would

like to see far more people going down, if they are caught doing this.

Only then will we should the community that the Department of

Justice takes this seriously. practical reality is that the

action he wants to see his action being taken by the Lord Chief

Justice and which he wants the judiciary to step up on. It is also

the case that this issue is a reserved matter. If we were to see

action on changing the level of sentences, it would be a matter for

the Westminster Parliament, and it is a matter on which I suspect the

Treasury would have a strong view with regard to the UK as a halt. I

doubt very much, whatever the will of the members of this house,

whether we would be given permission by the Treasury to

legislate within Northern Ireland alone on this particular issue.

That is the practical reality we have to deal with. It is fine to

say this is what we want, in practical terms it may be that we

cannot get what we want. In terms of our amendment, it is

our view that given this problem is a direct result of the border, it

is seemingly illogical that it cannot be tackled in any other way.

We do accept the minister when he says that there has been increased

co-operation across the border, but obviously not enough. I think I

would reiterate the question. By Mr Bradley asking how many times have

these parties met together, and how often and how much work had they

done? That is something that needs to be improved.

Brian, a final word. What do you make of the presidential election?

It is a new dimension to Irish politics to have Sinn Fein, a Sinn

Fein candidate. People have been surprised they hit the ground

running, and he is looking pretty close to some of the other runners.

He is ahead of the Fine Gael candidate, and they are the largest

party in Government. So it is difficult to know at this stage,

but all the candidates are quite close together and it is going to

depend on transfers. Sinn Fein is not transfer friendly, no matter

how good Martin McGuinness is. If he gets a good personal first vote,