Browse content similar to 03/11/2015. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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It was 2008 when pupils here last sat the 11-plus transfer test, | :00:24. | :00:29. | |
but seven years on the politicians still seem no closer to agreeing | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
And clashes in the chamber between Sinn Fein | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Seven years since the 11-plus was scrapped, there's still no consensus | :00:38. | :00:47. | |
Those schools who decide to follow down the path of academic selection | :00:48. | :01:04. | |
decide to use dodgy dossiers. There is no educational reason for doing | :01:05. | :01:05. | |
it. With a protest against arts cuts at | :01:06. | :01:06. | |
Stormont, the Minister responsible I'll certainly be a champion for the | :01:07. | :01:17. | |
arts. I will argue for additional money to the arts and I look forward | :01:18. | :01:20. | |
to parties are bought on that argument. | :01:21. | :01:21. | |
And joining me to share his thoughts on today's developments | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
is Professor Rick Wilford from Queen's University. | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
The 11-plus was scrapped in 2008, but fast-forward seven years | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
and academic selection and transfer tests are still in existence. | :01:34. | :01:37. | |
Today our politicians once again clashed | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
over how to move the system on from its current unregulated state. | :01:41. | :01:48. | |
It seems to me the transfer test has become the elephant in the room. It | :01:49. | :01:56. | |
is a difficult issue but ignoring it will not make it go away. The only | :01:57. | :02:02. | |
conclusion I can come to after the restoration of devolution in 2007 at | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
some point, Sinn Fein and the DUP came to a truce on this issue. Since | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
then can say they have abolished the 11 plus that the DUP can say they | :02:13. | :02:16. | |
have salvaged through the root of the unofficial test. It is wrong to | :02:17. | :02:21. | |
portray the current system of the unregulated test as some form of | :02:22. | :02:28. | |
disaster out there. We were told whenever this party help negotiate | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
the right for academic selection to be put in legislation in 2007, we | :02:33. | :02:41. | |
were told by the education minister a system that was not regulated | :02:42. | :02:44. | |
would be a disaster, it would be overwhelmed with challenges. The | :02:45. | :02:48. | |
whole system would collapse quickly. But it has been indicated that tens | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
of thousands of pupils have gone through these test. We have to | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
change the regulator transfer test system. The current system including | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
private test fees but additional pressure on children and families | :03:09. | :03:11. | |
from socially deprived backgrounds. Children have two sets of two or | :03:12. | :03:18. | |
more tests. This also affect our primary schools. This does become a | :03:19. | :03:23. | |
wee note that parents when considering which primary schools | :03:24. | :03:26. | |
and send their children to look to see if two singers provided for the | :03:27. | :03:30. | |
local school transfer test. Our debate on education and as the same | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
debate. We always come back to this issue. I don't know what the | :03:36. | :03:41. | |
solution is. In terms of the motion, the call on the Minister to convene | :03:42. | :03:44. | |
talks with all the major stakeholders to build a consensus | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
you can see how much consensus that is here today. It doesn't exist. We | :03:51. | :03:55. | |
have two sides of this argument that are poles apart. Every Bully Boy | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
tactic is used by the Department to threaten the primary schools to dare | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
to do with their parents would expect, namely to prepare their | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
children for the next step in their educational journey. If that step | :04:14. | :04:22. | |
includes undertaking a Kiwi test or something else, the full weight of | :04:23. | :04:27. | |
threat and authority from the Department is brought down on behalf | :04:28. | :04:31. | |
of its of the schools to how dare they try to do with the parents | :04:32. | :04:37. | |
would expect. To equip their children, to make the transition | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
from primary to grammar or secondary school. Why do need to separate | :04:41. | :04:47. | |
those children? At age 11 or age 14 and send them to a different school. | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
Why do you need to separate them? Because all the other national | :04:54. | :05:02. | |
evidence shows this. We can ignore it. You could ignore the part of | :05:03. | :05:07. | |
education in this matter and that is OK. But there is a lengthy list of | :05:08. | :05:15. | |
bodies that point to the fact educational election doesn't work. | :05:16. | :05:18. | |
It has a detrimental impact on the education system. | :05:19. | :05:19. | |
And it was no surprise that academic selection came up again | :05:20. | :05:22. | |
during today's questions to the Education Minister. | :05:23. | :05:23. | |
John O'Dowd was also asked about how schools meet the needs | :05:24. | :05:26. | |
It is my believe the transfer process would be much better if the | :05:27. | :05:39. | |
schools followed the Department guys. They should project it into | :05:40. | :05:47. | |
school. I thank the Minister for his answer. | :05:48. | :05:52. | |
Minister, would you not agree that what you have done is effectively | :05:53. | :06:00. | |
privatised transfer system? Know, those Board of Governors who make a | :06:01. | :06:06. | |
conscious decision every year. Every year a Board of Governors meeting | :06:07. | :06:12. | |
meet to discuss the criteria. Every Board of Governors assistant and | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
decides not to use academic selection follows a pathway which | :06:17. | :06:22. | |
does not reject any child. Those schools who decide at a Board of | :06:23. | :06:28. | |
Governors meeting to follow down the pathway of academic selection decide | :06:29. | :06:34. | |
to use dodgy dossiers. There is no educational reason for doing it. | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
There is a social reason for doing it and it it is for social | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
selection, they should say so. I find it unacceptable the Minister | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
uses such a statement as dodgy dossiers. In relation to the | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
selection procedure. Does the Minister agree that in the main, the | :06:54. | :07:00. | |
system works extremely well because we don't have educational | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
authorities or boards involved in it? The fact they are kept out of it | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
the system works well. Protestant and Catholic parents are happy with | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
it in the main. The member stands in an elected Assembly, as an elected | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
representative who is charged with holding public funds to account and | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
makes the statement that the system works better because the Education | :07:24. | :07:27. | |
Authority 's and bought a keep out of it. That is probably one of the | :07:28. | :07:33. | |
most undemocratic statements I have ever heard in this chamber. What is | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
the purpose of this chamber? Was is the purpose of elected | :07:40. | :07:42. | |
representatives? What is the purpose of the ballot box if we do not elect | :07:43. | :07:48. | |
politicians to govern our society? Following on from a written response | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
received last week on the meeting the needs of transgender students | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
with regards to uniforms, changing rooms and toilet facilities, whether | :07:58. | :08:05. | |
he agrees guidance for schools should be accepted? I want to send | :08:06. | :08:11. | |
out in form guidance and I have commissioned a survey across our | :08:12. | :08:18. | |
schools to ensure that a meeting the needs of LGB young people within our | :08:19. | :08:23. | |
schools. A survey has been commissioned and will be distributed | :08:24. | :08:26. | |
and information brought back to me. Our post-primary transfer system is | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
a bit of a mess, really, isn't it? This is the 75 time we had a vote on | :08:34. | :08:55. | |
the issue. It is the fifth time yesterday we had a discussion on | :08:56. | :09:04. | |
same-sex marriage. We are in a situation where there is no | :09:05. | :09:08. | |
alternative. Now we have the kids who last weekend were celebrating | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
hijinks and looking forward to a weekend of high anxiety with their | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
first round of tests. Some of them will be sitting to round of tests. | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
There is no consensus on this issue. Unlike yesterday's debate, John | :09:24. | :09:29. | |
O'Dowd has the weight of evidence on his side of the argument. This was | :09:30. | :09:33. | |
about conscious and opinion. In terms of whether they should or | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
shouldn't be academic selection, some kind of 11 plus, the weight of | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
evidence clearly is we should abandon it and go for a free | :09:44. | :09:49. | |
integrated system. Maybe streaming and differentiation shown within | :09:50. | :09:57. | |
schools but not at the point of ten, 11 determining their immediate | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
academic career. Others take a different view from the one you have | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
articulated. Both sides politically seem as far apart on this issue as | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
ever. There is no agreement. Perhaps post the next election in May we | :10:13. | :10:17. | |
might get a new education minister from a different part of the House | :10:18. | :10:21. | |
who takes a different view. I cannot ever seen a particular meeting of | :10:22. | :10:26. | |
minds on this issue. Some people are so entrenched in the belief of | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
academic selection is a good discipline for children that it can | :10:30. | :10:34. | |
differentiate among these skills. Others believe that if we are going | :10:35. | :10:38. | |
to have some form of selection it should come later, if at all. What | :10:39. | :10:43. | |
matters is educating the whole term. I do think, I am up product of | :10:44. | :10:52. | |
grammar school. I can remember vividly being told the result of our | :10:53. | :10:58. | |
11 plus on a day trip to London from South Wales to go to see the Queen. | :10:59. | :11:05. | |
The headmistress went up and the train telling us whether we have | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
passed or failed. For those children who were told they had failed it | :11:10. | :11:17. | |
ruined the day. It is a cruel system. I think it is something that | :11:18. | :11:23. | |
it's time is up and we should focus on a more integrated, holistic, | :11:24. | :11:28. | |
focus system of education. Is be interesting to see if the | :11:29. | :11:31. | |
politicians can move in that direction any time soon. We will | :11:32. | :11:33. | |
talk to you later in the programme. Outside the Chamber today, | :11:34. | :11:35. | |
several hundred artists, musicians, writers and actors protested | :11:36. | :11:38. | |
against cuts in the arts budget, and that was because the | :11:39. | :11:41. | |
Arts Minister was answering Not surprisingly, | :11:42. | :11:43. | |
the same topic was top of the agenda, and Caral Ni Chuilin | :11:44. | :11:46. | |
was repeatedly asked about what she's doing to help organisations | :11:47. | :11:49. | |
struggling with reduced funding. The Minister be aware of the | :11:50. | :11:59. | |
spirited protest outside the Assembly today. Perhaps that spirit | :12:00. | :12:06. | |
belies the deep anger that is felt by those protesters and many of them | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
and in the chamber here this afternoon. They express themselves | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
alarmed and disturbed at the courts resulting as it has in loss of | :12:16. | :12:21. | |
employment, insecurity and taking away from vital programmes that are | :12:22. | :12:26. | |
instrumental within the community. Whether Minister reaffirm her | :12:27. | :12:33. | |
commitment to the arts and reaffirm she will restore those monies to the | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
Arts Council? First of all, I was going to see | :12:39. | :12:45. | |
people are here, the artists are here in the chamber. It is good to | :12:46. | :12:50. | |
see given some of the badges, there is cross-party support for the arts. | :12:51. | :12:55. | |
It is good to see there is pressure being brought to bear on how | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
important the arts is. I can't give a guarantee and will not give a | :13:02. | :13:04. | |
guarantee because I think it is a plus that I will be able to restore | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
the budget that I definitely want to do in absence of any security. Not | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
only from our side finances security we need as an Executive in terms of | :13:17. | :13:22. | |
monies that we have had taken from us in July 2011. It is earmarked for | :13:23. | :13:26. | |
more of the same from July this year. I will be a champion for the | :13:27. | :13:31. | |
arts, I will argue for additional money for the arts and I would look | :13:32. | :13:33. | |
forward to party support. I asked the minister how she can | :13:34. | :13:43. | |
justify imposing media cut on funding that has been committed to | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
arts organisations and then siphoning off the money to projects | :13:49. | :13:53. | |
with no application process and no transparency. Is that good | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
practice? I think you have a brass neck giving your history around red | :13:58. | :14:03. | |
sky and others. You have an absolute brass neck. First of all, | :14:04. | :14:10. | |
transparency. I didn't meet anybody in rooms and conjure up Eddie deals. | :14:11. | :14:16. | |
The whole process was done in an open, transparent way, with a | :14:17. | :14:19. | |
business case, and it wasn't siphoning off. All other ale bes | :14:20. | :14:38. | |
were consulted. In light of Ulster Park stadium not being suitable, and | :14:39. | :14:48. | |
is though not a possibility of the savings being passed to other arts | :14:49. | :14:54. | |
areas? Bearing in mind that one is a programme and one is a resource, I | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
hope the member is in suggestion that Ravenhill can be redeveloped | :15:00. | :15:04. | |
and then money for the games be given away, because that is not | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
going to happen. Certainly not on my watch. I fully support the need for | :15:09. | :15:13. | |
additional money in the arts sector, and I will argue for that, but I | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
don't think anybody from that sector or anywhere would even hint suggest | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
that money should be taken from the games to be given to somewhere else. | :15:21. | :15:21. | |
Away from Stormont, the big news of the day was | :15:22. | :15:25. | |
the announcement that the Michelin factory in Ballymena is to close | :15:26. | :15:31. | |
That triggered an urgent question in the Assembly this afternoon, | :15:32. | :15:36. | |
when the Enterprise Minister, Jonathan Bell, was asked | :15:37. | :15:38. | |
The recent announcement is due to overcapacity in truck tyres and a | :15:39. | :15:54. | |
substantial increase in import from the Far East particularly China. | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
Invest Northern Ireland has been in regular contact with senior Michelin | :16:01. | :16:07. | |
personnel, and was engaged in ongoing discussions related to | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
further investments. So clearly, therefore, today's announcement, | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
Deputy Speaker, is extremely disappointing. I can say my | :16:18. | :16:26. | |
department and Invest Northern Ireland can fully understand the | :16:27. | :16:30. | |
decision to close the plant, we appreciate the company's commitment | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
to supporting its employees to find alternative employment with its ?5 | :16:35. | :16:42. | |
million development fund. This has been a catastrophic blow over | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
Ballymena on the back of the equally devastating loss of TATA, and what | :16:48. | :16:56. | |
my constituents want to know is did this Department, the executive and | :16:57. | :17:02. | |
Invest NI do all they could have done? Our responsibility now is to | :17:03. | :17:08. | |
see what we can do in terms of creating real employment and | :17:09. | :17:11. | |
training opportunities. I have just finished a very detailed meeting | :17:12. | :17:15. | |
with the Minister for employment and learning, as to what we can do | :17:16. | :17:19. | |
regarding putting the colleges to work alongside, to ensure people | :17:20. | :17:25. | |
that need accreditation for skills that they already possess that they | :17:26. | :17:29. | |
can have that, to see what the Social Security agency and all the | :17:30. | :17:34. | |
relevant agencies can do, and working alongside the minister, we | :17:35. | :17:40. | |
will put together individual programmes, and we will put together | :17:41. | :17:45. | |
group programmes. Can I ask the Minister, does he recognise now that | :17:46. | :17:50. | |
there is a crisis in manufacturing? If you don't listen to anything is | :17:51. | :17:53. | |
that I say, the thing that will transform and game change heavy | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
manufacturing in Northern Ireland is a reduction in our corporation tax. | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
I know the parties are working very hard, and I hope to see a positive | :18:04. | :18:10. | |
response with a date and a rate set to reduce corporation tax. | :18:11. | :18:14. | |
The passing of Private Members' legislation is relatively rare, | :18:15. | :18:16. | |
but it looks as if the Green Party's Steven Agnew could see | :18:17. | :18:19. | |
his Bill the third to become law so far in this mandate. | :18:20. | :18:22. | |
The Children's Services Co-operation Bill, which calls for greater | :18:23. | :18:24. | |
joined-up working between Government departments, passed its final stage. | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
The Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt, explained why he | :18:29. | :18:30. | |
It is about social housing for people, health services the people, | :18:31. | :18:48. | |
delivering horizontally through all the various layers and Department of | :18:49. | :18:54. | |
Government to offer a holistic and individual package that meets their | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
needs. I am looking forward to the report on the operations and the | :19:01. | :19:03. | |
results of this in less than two years, and I'm looking forward to | :19:04. | :19:06. | |
seeing how we can learn and improve on that. I think we have all been | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
frustrated at one point with the silent mentality of Government, and | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
we hope that this bill will change mindsets in that regard. I would | :19:16. | :19:22. | |
like to see the roll-out of this collaborative approach to other | :19:23. | :19:24. | |
areas such as economic growth. This lobby measured in practice, and | :19:25. | :19:33. | |
given that the paint is not yet dry in terms of the content of the | :19:34. | :19:39. | |
bill, but given that there is a body of officials who have been working | :19:40. | :19:42. | |
at this, and have been thinking about this, and have been working | :19:43. | :19:47. | |
with ministers in relation to all of this, can the junior minister | :19:48. | :19:52. | |
indicate if there isn't now some further thinking about how this will | :19:53. | :20:00. | |
be mainstream into the life of Government? I would also welcome the | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
presence of the junior ministers to respond to this stage of the bill | :20:05. | :20:09. | |
here today, and congratulate Emma Pengelly on her appointment to | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
junior minister in the office of first and Deputy first Minister. I'm | :20:14. | :20:16. | |
glad I have the opportunity of knowing Emma E.ON the assembly and | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
have a good working relationship with her. She has received scrutiny | :20:22. | :20:27. | |
further to her appointment which at times I think has spilled over into | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
unfair and inappropriate criticism. Identifying we really want there to | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
have to be a statutory duty the people to cooperate, and I suppose | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
that is what I am tried to get at. A statutory duty is a last resort, and | :20:42. | :20:48. | |
what we would want is for agencies and Departments to want to work | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
together to reach better agreements for our young people. I think that | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
the work that we have carried on in the office of first and Deputy first | :20:58. | :21:01. | |
Minister, we do see that change starting to come across the | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
agencies, and I think it is a change of culture as opposed to one of | :21:06. | :21:09. | |
statute, so while I welcome this bill, I think it is a useful | :21:10. | :21:13. | |
contribution, we will continue to work our hardest to ensure there is | :21:14. | :21:17. | |
a willingness at all levels to cooperate and collaborate fully on | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
these types of important issues. Often we will talk about vulnerable | :21:23. | :21:25. | |
children, and let me be clear, this is about all children, but it is to | :21:26. | :21:30. | |
ensure that there are no gap through which vulnerable children can fall, | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
because when we provide the net for all, we catch all, including | :21:35. | :21:40. | |
vulnerable children, and it ensures that those who need the support get | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
it, because often we spend too much time trying to identify who the | :21:45. | :21:47. | |
vulnerable are, and not enough time in providing the services. | :21:48. | :21:49. | |
The Justice Minister brought a statement to the House this morning. | :21:50. | :21:52. | |
It was supposed to be about helping people access | :21:53. | :21:55. | |
the justice system, but David Ford found himself primarily answering | :21:56. | :21:57. | |
The overall purpose of the review was threefold. First identify and | :21:58. | :22:11. | |
prioritise those services publicly funded with advice, and reputation | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
should be provided, in order to meet human rights obligations, safeguard | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
the interests of vulnerable people and meet the wider public interest. | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
Second, to consider the delivery models that might be best suited to | :22:24. | :22:25. | |
the provision of publicly funded legal services through mechanisms | :22:26. | :22:31. | |
other than legal aid. Third, to consider whether there are aspects | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
of the justice system where if fish is might contribute towards reducing | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
the cost of publicly funded legal services while sustaining the | :22:40. | :22:44. | |
quality of service provision. I have now received a very comprehensive | :22:45. | :22:46. | |
and detailed report. Today I am pleased to publish the report, and | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
to begin a period of public consultation on the findings. Does | :22:53. | :22:55. | |
the Minister accept that there has been a failure to set realistic | :22:56. | :23:05. | |
legal aid budgets, and can I ask the Minister what he intends to do to | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
rectify this situation prior to the setting of the 2016 /17 budget. | :23:09. | :23:17. | |
Mr Speaker, it is quite clear as Mr Douglas says that the cost of legal | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
aid has remained stubbornly high, and has not significantly changed | :23:25. | :23:27. | |
over the five years since devolution. I could say what would | :23:28. | :23:31. | |
have happened if we hadn't implemented some of the reforms, and | :23:32. | :23:35. | |
indeed some of the criminal reforms we went through in an early stage, | :23:36. | :23:41. | |
and we have been looking at a further ?20 million or more on legal | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
aid costs at the same time. The reality is we had the budget that we | :23:45. | :23:47. | |
had when justice was devolved, and we have sought to work with that | :23:48. | :23:51. | |
given all the other pressures across the justice system, and my officials | :23:52. | :23:56. | |
who I shall be having a discussion with later today are looking towards | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
the budgeting process for next year, and they are looking at the balance | :24:00. | :24:03. | |
of the jet between different aspect of the justice system. Clearly the | :24:04. | :24:09. | |
figures which applied on the basis of the budget and the application of | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
cuts by the executive are inadequate to meet the current legal aid costs, | :24:14. | :24:16. | |
but nor can it be the case that legal aid can be protected for ever | :24:17. | :24:20. | |
when other aspects of the justice system are seeing their budgets go | :24:21. | :24:26. | |
down. He did ask the reviewer to consider models to deliver publicly | :24:27. | :24:29. | |
funded legal services through mechanisms other than legal aid. | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
What mechanisms of that nature have been recommended? And is he still | :24:36. | :24:41. | |
flirting with the idea of a public defender office? We need to look as | :24:42. | :24:47. | |
I have highlighted and as the report highlights at a range of alternative | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
dispute resolution, but I'm not quite sure that I was flirting with | :24:51. | :25:03. | |
the public to defender system. The report recommends and I maintain | :25:04. | :25:05. | |
that we should keep the current system. But adjacent jurisdictions | :25:06. | :25:15. | |
have looked at least in part at managing the costs that may make | :25:16. | :25:18. | |
that a necessary way in which this jurisdiction might have to look at | :25:19. | :25:19. | |
some point in the future. Yesterday's debate into same-sex | :25:20. | :25:22. | |
marriage saw the use of Petitions Today, Stewart Dickson of Alliance | :25:23. | :25:25. | |
questioned the Speaker on the rules following some | :25:26. | :25:29. | |
speculation that petitions are being signed in advance by MLAs | :25:30. | :25:31. | |
before a topic is even tabled. Mr Speaker, you will be aware in me | :25:32. | :25:54. | |
Saint -- recent days that there have been accusations of Tippex being | :25:55. | :26:01. | |
used on these forms, the clear influence that individual members | :26:02. | :26:03. | |
are not using their own personal discretion when it comes to | :26:04. | :26:09. | |
completing such forms. May I ask you to investigate both the efficacy of | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
doing that and whether or not it makes the appropriate standing | :26:13. | :26:18. | |
orders. In fact, I was aware of this situation, and standing orders and | :26:19. | :26:25. | |
procedure is very clear. We have to be satisfied at the speakers office | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
that the signatures are genuine. But the petition are concerned requires | :26:30. | :26:38. | |
the issue. That is as far as my ability to take this forward. The | :26:39. | :26:46. | |
Tippex on the sheet is nothing I can do anything about as long as the | :26:47. | :26:51. | |
signature is visible and is genuine. Mr Speaker, you say that you have | :26:52. | :26:55. | |
looked at the signatures. Have you found any discrepancies or any | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
reason for you not to accept it them as genuine and authentic signatures | :27:02. | :27:08. | |
on the petitions? I understand why you are asking the question, but | :27:09. | :27:12. | |
clearly if I announced it was a valid petition of concern, it was | :27:13. | :27:14. | |
valid. The Speaker, Mitchel McLaughlin, | :27:15. | :27:16. | |
responding to enquiries from And Professor Rick Wilford is with | :27:17. | :27:18. | |
me again for a final few thoughts. Petitions of Concern again | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
attracting attention. It's proving very divisive between | :27:23. | :27:23. | |
the DUP and the other parties. Yes, although it is a case of pots | :27:24. | :27:33. | |
calling kettles black, because they have both made use or misuse of | :27:34. | :27:41. | |
them. This has become, the risk is if you give politicians a tool, they | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
will miss use it. We are seeing that in spades with the Petitions of | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
Concern. It is certainly not being used for the purpose for which it | :27:53. | :27:58. | |
was originally intended. And now it is, here is one I made earlier, all | :27:59. | :28:03. | |
you have to do is sign it, and it makes a complete mockery of that. | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
And the final one, Ukip has confirmed today that Councillor | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
Henry Reilly has been expelled from the party. What's the political | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
fallout from that likely to be? And minimal, a small splash. He may run | :28:18. | :28:27. | |
as an independent at the next local council elections, or indeed for the | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
assembly next May. The likelihood I think is that he will become | :28:33. | :28:35. | |
independent because he does have a basis of support in his area, and | :28:36. | :28:40. | |
that is where his real strength is. I think he will end up as a | :28:41. | :28:43. | |
politically marginalised figure. Just before we go tonight, | :28:44. | :28:45. | |
we inadvertently captioned David McNarry as a member of NI21 | :28:46. | :28:47. | |
last night. Join me for The View on Thursday | :28:48. | :28:49. | |
night at 10.35 on BBC One. There's an extra special line-up | :28:50. | :28:55. | |
on Nolan Live this week. We'll be linking up with | :28:56. | :29:12. | |
RTE to bring you debates And revealing the results | :29:13. | :29:14. | |
of our cross-border survey on a range of political | :29:15. | :29:19. | |
and social issues. Join me in Belfast. Join me, | :29:20. | :29:21. | |
Miriam O'Callaghan, in Dublin. That's tonight after | :29:22. | :29:24. | |
the news on BBC One. The knives are sharpened and the heat | :29:25. | :29:34. | |
is on. It can only mean one thing. Britain's best chefs | :29:35. | :29:38. | |
are back in town. They're here because they want | :29:39. | :29:43. | |
this title. I'm really excited. MasterChef: The Professionals | :29:44. | :29:48. | |
starts cooking... | :29:49. | :29:52. |