Browse content similar to 03/12/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up on the programme: After an | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
international comparison shows our education standards are being | :00:32. | :00:37. | |
overtaken, strong words from John O'Dowd The previous results blew the | :00:38. | :00:41. | |
myth we were world class education system. Everyone was telling us we | :00:42. | :00:46. | |
were. We were standing up saying, no we are not but we can achieve that. | :00:47. | :00:50. | |
And how does the Executive plan to get thousands back to work? To | :00:51. | :00:54. | |
develop policy initiatives to help those who are long-term sick and or | :00:55. | :00:59. | |
persons with disabilities and those with family commitments to reengage | :01:00. | :01:03. | |
with the labour market And I'm joined by the political columnist, | :01:04. | :01:12. | |
Brian Feeney. We start tonight with the findings of the Smithwick | :01:13. | :01:15. | |
tribunal into the murders of RUC officers Harry Breen and Bob | :01:16. | :01:21. | |
Buchanan. The report has found there was collusion between Gardai and the | :01:22. | :01:24. | |
IRA, which has been described as a damning indictment by the DUP MLA | :01:25. | :01:28. | |
Gregory Campbell. He called on the Taoiseach to issue an apology for | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
all wrongdoings by previous Dublin governments. The report has been | :01:33. | :01:37. | |
long-anticipated and this afternoon in the chamber, the DUP's Paul Givan | :01:38. | :01:41. | |
raised the issue even before the findings were published. Members of | :01:42. | :01:43. | |
the House will know that the Smithwick tribunal has been carrying | :01:44. | :01:46. | |
out an investigation into the potential collusion between the | :01:47. | :01:51. | |
Gardai and the IRA in respect of the murder of RUC officers. That report | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
and its publication is imminent. I would want to establish the remit of | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
this Assembly in being able to consider it and debate it, is that | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
something this party would want to do? | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
What we will do, is consult with the business office and we will be | :02:08. | :02:10. | |
advised by them on the procedural options. | :02:11. | :02:14. | |
Joining me to reflect on the pubcation of the Smithwick report is | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
the political commentator Brian Feeney. Should we be surprised, | :02:19. | :02:22. | |
first of all by the findings? I don't think so. People were | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
surprised at the time when the then Chief Constable Sir jok Herman and | :02:27. | :02:32. | |
the Gardai Commissioner both poo-pooed the idea that there was a | :02:33. | :02:35. | |
mole and it was difficult to believe because this was not an operation | :02:36. | :02:39. | |
set up by the IRA on speck. There were a lot of men involved and cars | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
involved and they knew which road the two police officers were | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
travelling on. It wasn't something done within half an hour. We have | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
seen unionists welcoming the report, a statement from Tom Elliot of the | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
Ulster Unionist Party. And we had comments from Gregory Campbell no. | :02:57. | :02:59. | |
Surprises there, I suppose of the No. I think unionist also try to use | :03:00. | :03:03. | |
this to widen the whole area and look at other occasions when there | :03:04. | :03:07. | |
were suspicious activity on both sides of the bored other which may | :03:08. | :03:10. | |
have been because of Gardai telling the IRA that something was happening | :03:11. | :03:13. | |
and they will ask for more inquiries, I should imagine. And | :03:14. | :03:17. | |
some of the unionists will be trying to widen it out to the role of the | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
Irish government as far back as 1969. What sort of reaction do you | :03:23. | :03:25. | |
expect from the nationalist community? I think there will be a | :03:26. | :03:30. | |
more guarded response from the nationalist community. I don't | :03:31. | :03:33. | |
expect much from Sinn Fein at all. Their relationship with the Gardai | :03:34. | :03:36. | |
was very fraught indeed. Afterall they did kill some Gardai and a lot | :03:37. | :03:41. | |
of IRA men ended up in jail and the IRA always sought to intimidate gar | :03:42. | :03:46. | |
vaghy Road die who lived among the community and didn't have the sword | :03:47. | :03:53. | |
of protection that RUC officers had - to intimidate the Gardai who lived | :03:54. | :03:57. | |
among the community. Do you think it'll be difficult for | :03:58. | :04:01. | |
Sinn Fein to deal with politically. It is a party that made so much of | :04:02. | :04:05. | |
alleged collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and authorities in | :04:06. | :04:08. | |
the north. It will be difficult and an added difficulty is that the | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
judge rejected the testimony of former IRA men who went to the | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
tribunal and gave their version of what happened. Not only did he | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
reject their testimony but he accepted the testimony of assistant | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
Chief Constable Drew Harris who was strongly criticised by counsel for | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
the Gardai Commissioner and Smithwick accepted Drew Harris' | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
opinions. It is interesting. It was a fairly lengthy tribunal. That is | :04:33. | :04:37. | |
he at first thing to say and judge Smithwick scathing about some of the | :04:38. | :04:40. | |
evidence that witnesses gave to the tribunal, not least from the former | :04:41. | :04:49. | |
gar guy detective Owen Carrigar. -- Gardai. He said it was he lusive, | :04:50. | :04:54. | |
vague and inconsistent. It is damning. Union Unionists politicians | :04:55. | :05:00. | |
have always pointed the finger at Corrigan and a couple of other | :05:01. | :05:06. | |
figures have been named. Another Gardai Colton who was said to have | :05:07. | :05:09. | |
inappropriate relations with the IRA but the judge did not name anyone as | :05:10. | :05:13. | |
guilty of collusion. He simply said, on the balance of probabitity there | :05:14. | :05:17. | |
was collusion and that these two Gardai had inappropriate relations | :05:18. | :05:20. | |
with the IRA. Finally and briefly, what are the implications, do you | :05:21. | :05:23. | |
think, of the tribunal for the wider, current political debate? | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
Haas goes into the final stage next week? Interesting, judge Smithwick | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
actually suggested that in future if there was to be any inquiry, there | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
should be documents that could be compelled from both jurisdictions | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
which is a dig at the fact that the British Government didn't pass stuff | :05:43. | :05:46. | |
over on the Dublin Monaghan bombings. Lots more to come on that | :05:47. | :05:51. | |
in the next few days. For the moment, thank you very much. | :05:52. | :05:57. | |
Education standards here are not world class - but they could be, | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
says the Education Minister, John O'Dowd. His comments come after an | :06:02. | :06:03. | |
international comparison of 15-year-old pupils showed Northern | :06:04. | :06:05. | |
Ireland's school performance slipping down the league tables. | :06:06. | :06:08. | |
It's not that we are necessarily getting worse, though, it's that | :06:09. | :06:11. | |
other countries have improved their performance. So, should we have | :06:12. | :06:14. | |
expected to do better? Martina Purdy has been talking to the Minister. | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
Well, we are involved here in a programme of change. That programme | :06:18. | :06:19. | |
has to continue. The previous results blew the myth we are a world | :06:20. | :06:23. | |
class education system. Everyone was telling us we were. We were standing | :06:24. | :06:26. | |
up on our own saying no we are not but we can achieve that. The | :06:27. | :06:29. | |
programmes have -- the programmes of change we have been bringing in need | :06:30. | :06:33. | |
to continue and it'll show results in years to come. But maths is a | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
major problem. The Chief Inspector has said so. What can be done to | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
change things? We've identified through our own Chief Inspectors | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
report that maths continues to prove a challenge for us. It is also the | :06:45. | :06:49. | |
calibre of new students into maths in terms of the teaching profession | :06:50. | :06:53. | |
we want. Those who are highly-motivated when the maths | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
subjects are being snapped up in the private sector and industries, etc, | :06:57. | :06:59. | |
we want to motivate those and be able to afford to bring those | :07:00. | :07:03. | |
students into our system. I'm looking at options around how we | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
promote students coming into maths teaching. How we keep them there. | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
How we, in terms of around stimulus of pay, etc. But the report shows | :07:14. | :07:17. | |
too many 15-year-olds are formering at the lowest level in these key | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
areas. That's your quote much it is not good enough. What are you going | :07:22. | :07:25. | |
to do? Average is not good enough for our education or our young | :07:26. | :07:28. | |
people and we have to learn from world leaders. Whether it is an | :07:29. | :07:33. | |
uncomfortable conversation to have or not. What many of the world lead | :07:34. | :07:38. | |
remembers showing us, is that academic assessment is unnecessary, | :07:39. | :07:42. | |
social division at 11 is unnecessary and those who do not carry out those | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
functions are moving ahead. The other reforms will take a number of | :07:47. | :07:51. | |
reforms to imbed but I think will pay dividends. If, not next report, | :07:52. | :07:56. | |
there isn't an improvement. Will you take responsibility? Of course I | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
will, I'm the Education Minister. As with many social policies, whether | :08:00. | :08:02. | |
it is through education or health t takes a number of years for those | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
policies to bed in and pay dividends. I believe the policies we | :08:06. | :08:09. | |
have are the right policies. We have to continue to imbed them in our | :08:10. | :08:18. | |
system. Martina Purdy quizzing the Education Minister there. By | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
coincidence, a Sinn Fein debate was scheduled for today, questioning | :08:23. | :08:25. | |
whether or not school terms, opening hours, holidays and teacher training | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
days were delivering for pupils. It also called on the Minister to | :08:29. | :08:31. | |
ensure they were in line with international best practice. With me | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
now is one of the proposers of that motion, Sinn Fein's Chris Hazzard. | :08:35. | :08:38. | |
Thank you for coming in to join us on the programme. What is wrong with | :08:39. | :08:40. | |
the current system, first of all? We have a situation where we need to | :08:41. | :08:43. | |
look at educational culture of our society. Too often we find different | :08:44. | :08:46. | |
parts of the education system not in harmony. They need to be synced. Be | :08:47. | :08:51. | |
that the straight-forward issue of school holidays, school starting | :08:52. | :08:54. | |
times. Even the subject we touched on today, the school starting age, | :08:55. | :08:58. | |
but the wider issues of the effects perhaps of an over-ly long summer | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
holiday. International research would show us we need to have a | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
conversation - we should talk to all aspects of community and society to | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
see what is it we wanted from our education system. A lot of people | :09:12. | :09:13. | |
might think about the issues you have talked about, of irritations of | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
minor setbacks but mieted not see them as more significant than that. | :09:19. | :09:21. | |
You are saying they are. I think they are very significant. When we | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
look at, for example, the OEC d. Report that comes out today. We see | :09:27. | :09:29. | |
various countries improving by a long way. Poland, for example, in | :09:30. | :09:36. | |
the mid-1990s, Poland sat back and zoomed out. They got away from | :09:37. | :09:44. | |
tinkering the systems. They said what can they do differently? They | :09:45. | :09:48. | |
looked at the school day and looked at how instruction was delivered | :09:49. | :09:52. | |
most effectively to the schools. We have seen over the last ten years it | :09:53. | :09:57. | |
has made a big difference. You have also talked about the difference of | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
socio economic issues as far as a child's performance is concerned. | :10:03. | :10:06. | |
What evidence would you point to there? International evidence, there | :10:07. | :10:09. | |
is various American reports that have been done that suggest children | :10:10. | :10:14. | |
from a more wealthy background have the opportunity to attend summer | :10:15. | :10:20. | |
camp and museums, go on holiday, pick up books, whereas kids from | :10:21. | :10:23. | |
socially disadvantaged areas don't have the same chances. So when they | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
looked at end of June reports compared to end of September, it was | :10:27. | :10:34. | |
clear to see that kids from the sociodeprived backgrounds had | :10:35. | :10:37. | |
continued to gross. It is hard to do something about that. It is hard to | :10:38. | :10:40. | |
put your finger on to what needs to be done to turn that around. It is a | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
perennial problem. It is a change to the culture. Not tinkering and | :10:45. | :10:48. | |
tweaking of the system or the finer detime of it is the sitting back and | :10:49. | :10:52. | |
zooming out progress. We said today - lets a very a conversation, | :10:53. | :10:56. | |
parents, families, teachersers trade unions, everybody involved and say - | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
what st we sfwhant are the strategic aims of our education system? Let's | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
tie them to the economic situation of the country as a whole. -- what | :11:04. | :11:13. | |
are the aims? Ulster Bank's latest IT problems | :11:14. | :11:16. | |
have caused damage to the organisation's reputation, the | :11:17. | :11:18. | |
Finance Minister told the Assembly today. Simon Hamilton was responding | :11:19. | :11:21. | |
to a question and told the Assembly he has spoken to bank officials. But | :11:22. | :11:25. | |
first the Finance Minister revealed more details about | :11:26. | :11:26. | |
It is expected onstruction of the new community training college will | :11:27. | :11:33. | |
commence in the new year. This delivery of this new Police Fire and | :11:34. | :11:37. | |
Prison training college is a key programme for Government commitment | :11:38. | :11:40. | |
and it'll deliver a world class training facility for essential | :11:41. | :11:45. | |
public services which have suffered from underinvestment by direct rule | :11:46. | :11:48. | |
ministers. Can I thank the minister for that announce am. Obviously this | :11:49. | :11:51. | |
has been a project we have been pursuing for a long period of time | :11:52. | :11:55. | |
and it has been bedevilled by delays but finally the minister has been | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
able to announce that progress has been made. In terms of Her Majesty | :12:01. | :12:05. | |
Treasury funding, how much is tied up in this project and when does it | :12:06. | :12:09. | |
need to be paid for? I thank the member for his follow-up. I'm very | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
glad we are able to announce that we have been able it make gross on this | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
scheme. It is - what is proposed and the member will know through his | :12:19. | :12:22. | |
chairmanship on the Justice Committee it is a world class | :12:23. | :12:25. | |
facility and a facility I'm certain that police forces and Fire Services | :12:26. | :12:28. | |
from around the world will want to come and visit and use as a facility | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
to train their own staff in. He is right to raise the issue about Her | :12:33. | :12:36. | |
Majesty's Treasury funding. Under the devolution of policing and | :12:37. | :12:40. | |
justice settlement, Her Majesty Treasury provided some ?70.3 million | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
which is in a ring-fenced fund for the Northern Ireland Community | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
Safety College. It enjoys end-year fliblingts for these funds and will | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
continue to do so until the end of this budget period in 2015. It is my | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
understanding of it, if these funds are not utilised by April 2015, then | :12:58. | :13:02. | |
there is a possibility that some of this ring-fenced element may be lost | :13:03. | :13:05. | |
to the Treasury. I have agreed with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury | :13:06. | :13:08. | |
we will continue to closely monitor the delivery of this project but the | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
message I want to send to the Department of Justice is they need | :13:13. | :13:16. | |
to proceed posthaste. I appreciate there have been delays not all of | :13:17. | :13:19. | |
their making by any means whatsoever but they need to ensure that in | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
order to access that ?07.3 million of funding that is ring-fenced and | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
set aside for this project, that they need to proceed post-Hayes with | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
this project. -- ?7 o 0.3. Can I ask the minister if he has had any | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
discussions with the Ulster Bank in light of the recent glitches in | :13:38. | :13:41. | |
their IT machines and what was the outcome of those discussions and did | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
he receive any reassurances? I thank the member for the question, a very | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
topical question. Probably the first topical question I have had in | :13:51. | :13:53. | |
topical questions, even though this is my fourth go at it. I have had | :13:54. | :13:57. | |
discussions, as soon as I became aware there were problems developing | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
last night and that customers were expressing concern they couldn't | :14:03. | :14:04. | |
make payments and couldn't access their own money out of cash machines | :14:05. | :14:09. | |
and the embarrassment it was causing some in stores when they couldn't | :14:10. | :14:11. | |
pay or whenever they needed emergency access from to their own | :14:12. | :14:17. | |
cash from a hole in the wall they couldn't get it. I made | :14:18. | :14:19. | |
communication overnight and early this morning with Ulster bang. I | :14:20. | :14:25. | |
have this afternoon spoken to the head of retail banking in the Ulster | :14:26. | :14:28. | |
Bank. I think, you know, they accept and understand this that this has | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
been bad news for their cows o tomorrow Merse. It is the third time | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
-- for their customers. It is the tired time this has happened | :14:38. | :14:42. | |
although not as bad nas June of 2012. We can see some solace in the | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
fact that I'm told it is not the same IT issue - I'm not sure whether | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
that is something to seek solace from, but it is not the same | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
problem, so one wouldn't expect the reoccurrence and longevity of the | :14:56. | :14:58. | |
last problem. I'm informed all problems have been overcome and that | :14:59. | :15:07. | |
the problem, that arose last evening, now seems to be fixed | :15:08. | :15:10. | |
although there are some indications in RBS across the water that some | :15:11. | :15:14. | |
problems do still exist. Other banks have had similar issues, I know but | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
this is the third third ti for Ulster Bank. I don't think they need | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
me to tell them it causes damage to their reputation and causes concern | :15:25. | :15:35. | |
for their customers. The Tobacco Retailers Bill has been | :15:36. | :15:38. | |
making its way through the various stages on its way to eventually | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
being signed into law, and today it was back in the chamber for its | :15:43. | :15:45. | |
consideration stage. The bill is intended to crack down on | :15:46. | :15:48. | |
shopkeepers selling tobacco to young people with a "three strikes and | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
you're out of business" policy. Much of today's debate was procedural | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
with a series of amendments, mostly based around setting up a central | :15:55. | :15:57. | |
registration system and there wasn't a dissenting voice to be heard. | :15:58. | :16:00. | |
Here's are some of the contributions. Amendment 1 basically | :16:01. | :16:01. | |
creates a registration authority which must maintain a register of | :16:02. | :16:04. | |
persons who are carrying on a tobacco business. The original | :16:05. | :16:07. | |
clause 1 proposed that there would be 26 separate registers, one for | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
each council area. The committee was concerned that a lack of a | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
centralised system could result in information not being shared between | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
councils as efishtedly as it could be. In particular, members were | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
concerned that details of people convicted of or given fixed penalty | :16:27. | :16:31. | |
notices for tobacco offences and people convicted of illicit tobacco | :16:32. | :16:35. | |
offences would not be routinely shared between the councils. The | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
committee, therefore, ask the department to explore having a | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
central register. Either as or in place of the 26 council registers. | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
We were pleased, therefore, that the department accepted the committee's | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
point of view and a registration authority is now to be established. | :16:53. | :16:58. | |
The fundamental ten at of the legislation is a "three strikes and | :16:59. | :17:03. | |
you're out principle" that's as a result of a mystery shopper, a young | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
person being sent by the environmental health department of | :17:08. | :17:10. | |
the local council. If in three occasions the person within five | :17:11. | :17:13. | |
years is discovered to be selling tobacco products to young people, he | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
or she loses their licence to sell tobacco. I think that's a very, very | :17:19. | :17:22. | |
powerful deterrent. Tobacco retail in Northern Ireland is not so much | :17:23. | :17:27. | |
the profit made in the cigarettes or tobacco sold but tobacco attracts | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
people in to buy other products, more profitable products within the | :17:32. | :17:34. | |
retail situation, be it newspapers or grossries or sweets or whatever. | :17:35. | :17:38. | |
So, therefore, the right to say tobacco is absolutely crucial to the | :17:39. | :17:43. | |
small retailer. They could never survive alone on simply selling | :17:44. | :17:48. | |
tobacco products. 2,300 people die each year in Northern Ireland as a | :17:49. | :17:53. | |
result of smoking. It is too many. And of course many more suffer very | :17:54. | :17:57. | |
long-term illnesses as a result. The bill is timely and welcome and with | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
amendment, will help regulate smoking and curb the growing trend | :18:04. | :18:07. | |
in young people and that's the particular direction of this, that | :18:08. | :18:10. | |
it attempts to prevent younger people gaining access to | :18:11. | :18:15. | |
cigarette-smoking. It does strike me that if someone was convicted of | :18:16. | :18:20. | |
serious offence of smuggling, they obviously would have no regard for | :18:21. | :18:25. | |
the law. They were willing to profit by smuggling in illegal cigarettes. | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
Many of those cigarettes may even be counterfeit cigarettes, so they | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
would have no regard f individual's health and as such, I would say | :18:36. | :18:39. | |
there would be a high risk of those individuals having no regard to | :18:40. | :18:46. | |
whether they sold cigarettes to young people. Every Dee attempt to | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
deter our young people from starting such a filthy habit in the first | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
place and warn them of the deadly dangers must be strongly supported | :18:55. | :18:58. | |
and this Assembly is, as our deputy Chair of the committee has said, is | :18:59. | :19:02. | |
leading on this very important issue. | :19:03. | :19:09. | |
Kieran mar Karthi making his feelings clear. That has moved | :19:10. | :19:16. | |
another step closer to becoming law. The Stormont Executive has unveiled | :19:17. | :19:19. | |
a strategy to get 30,000 more people into work over the next ten years. | :19:20. | :19:28. | |
The plans are targeted at what's known as "the economically inactive" | :19:29. | :19:32. | |
- that is people who are not in work or claiming benefit. The rate of | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
economic inactivity is higher here than in other parts of the UK. | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
Here's the Employment and Learning Minister outlining the aims of the | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
scheme. To develop policy initiatives to spe specificically | :19:42. | :19:43. | |
help those who are long-term sick and/or persons with disabilities and | :19:44. | :19:45. | |
those with family commitments to reedge gauge with the labour market | :19:46. | :19:47. | |
to. Help older workers back into work through dabbingling | :19:48. | :19:48. | |
discrimination barriers, increasing opportunities and addressing issues | :19:49. | :19:52. | |
of self-confidence and skill levels. To utilise the outcomes of in-depth | :19:53. | :19:56. | |
analysis in order to pinpoint specific policy areas for | :19:57. | :19:59. | |
intervention. To develop initiatives with key stakeholders, including | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
health professionals, that will motivate the economically enactive | :20:04. | :20:06. | |
to adopt a positive approach to work and to help women and lone parents | :20:07. | :20:12. | |
to move into employment. The over-arching goal is to | :20:13. | :20:15. | |
contribute towards a stable and competitive employment rate of over | :20:16. | :20:21. | |
7 0% by 2023 through a reduction in the proportion of the working-aged | :20:22. | :20:25. | |
population classified as "economically enactive." This | :20:26. | :20:28. | |
reflects our assessment of what constitutes a more balanced labour | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
market in terms of more fully engaging people and utilised their | :20:33. | :20:34. | |
skills and talents. That all sounds good in theory from | :20:35. | :20:48. | |
Stephen Farry, but how will it translate into real life? With me is | :20:49. | :20:52. | |
Susan Russam from GEMS NI, an organisation which helps get people | :20:53. | :20:54. | |
back into work. Welcome to the programme. Thank you for ginning us. | :20:55. | :20:57. | |
Let's be clear. Who precisely are "economically enactive" people? They | :20:58. | :20:59. | |
can be students, they can be people who have caring responsibilities. | :21:00. | :21:01. | |
They can be people who are sick, unwell, who are not actively seeking | :21:02. | :21:06. | |
work. They are mot mandated by the current benefit they have, be that | :21:07. | :21:14. | |
Incapacity Benefit another range of benefits, so they are not mandated | :21:15. | :21:20. | |
as if they would be on Jobseeker's Allowance which means they must | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
report to the jobs and benefits office and explain they are actively | :21:24. | :21:27. | |
seeking work. Is the point is that this is an untapped well of talent, | :21:28. | :21:31. | |
potentially? Absolutely. It is very welcome and very heart-warming to | :21:32. | :21:35. | |
hear the minister announce this. I think, as you intimated there that | :21:36. | :21:39. | |
the devil will very much be in the detail. It's interesting to note | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
that the minister places employers at the central tenant of this and | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
looks at things such as inSeptemberives for employers. We | :21:49. | :21:50. | |
need to have a balanced incentive for people who are currently | :21:51. | :21:54. | |
economically enactive. If you are going to hit that target of 30,000 | :21:55. | :21:58. | |
more people into work in the next ten years, you need to be doing | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
something and you need to be doing it quite quickly. Quite an ambitious | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
target, do you think? It is. It makes we wonder whether or not | :22:06. | :22:10. | |
that's 30,000, less the 25,000 targeted for new new jobs that the | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
Assembly has already set. So are we really talking about 5,000 or is it | :22:15. | :22:19. | |
going to be a 55,000? What is your hunch? Those two figures are pretty | :22:20. | :22:22. | |
different, aren't they? Well, I think that all of us have spooblt, | :22:23. | :22:26. | |
Mark, to do all we can to help people to get into work. We know the | :22:27. | :22:30. | |
damage that being economically enactive and long-term unemployed | :22:31. | :22:34. | |
can do to a person's health and well-being and to their lf-esteem | :22:35. | :22:40. | |
and to their ability to access work and to their ability to think that | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
work can actually be for them. What is your answer? What is your | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
organisation's approach to it? We start where the person is at. We use | :22:48. | :22:51. | |
our skills and our knowledge and our networks and community grassroots' | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
work to ensure that we can help that person to, first of all feel that | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
they can become employable. To lack at the barriers that are actually | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
preventing them to become employable. To look at the skills. | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
To look at opportunities and one thing that I would say is that one | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
of the opportunities that this Government, this administration must | :23:14. | :23:16. | |
look at is what opportunities are there in the public sector for | :23:17. | :23:20. | |
people who are economically enactive? Particularly our young | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
people but not exclusively as well. Well a very interesting question. | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
Perhaps we will return to that in the future. For now, thank you very | :23:29. | :23:30. | |
much. The Health Minister says he hopes to | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
reveal the future of Northern Ireland children's heart surgery | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
later this week. He told question time he is still in | :23:38. | :23:41. | |
talks with health officials on both sides of the border as he seeks a | :23:42. | :23:44. | |
resolution to the issue. He was expected to announce his decision in | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
the July but it has been postponed sefshl occasions. I'm continuing my | :23:50. | :23:53. | |
discussions with the Republic of Ireland's minister for both Dr James | :23:54. | :23:58. | |
Riley TD to establish whether it'll be possible to establish a | :23:59. | :24:03. | |
two-centre model within the island of Ireland to be located in Belfast | :24:04. | :24:08. | |
and Dublin. My overriding concern is the safety of the children and | :24:09. | :24:10. | |
obtaining the best-possible care for them. I am iming to make my final | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
decisions on this as soon as possible. | :24:17. | :24:22. | |
I thank the minister for that. Can I ask the minister, given the real | :24:23. | :24:26. | |
public concern around the timeline on this issue, can he confirm that | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
there will be a decision that will involve surgery being maintained in | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
Belfast, and can he confirm the timeline on that decision? I would | :24:36. | :24:42. | |
hope to be in a position to do it this week and to make my | :24:43. | :24:45. | |
announcement. But discussions are industrial ongoing. I think that | :24:46. | :24:49. | |
people should nted underestimate how difficult this process has been. The | :24:50. | :24:55. | |
challenges that have been involved in it. And we need everybody singing | :24:56. | :25:01. | |
off the same hymn sheet, working very hard on achieving that, | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
hopefully quite close to getting that. And, as soon as I can, I will | :25:06. | :25:10. | |
bring the information to the House and to the public. And I trust that | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
that will be very, very soon, as I indicated, I had hoped to do it this | :25:16. | :25:19. | |
week but I don't believe that of it should be necessarily much longer | :25:20. | :25:25. | |
and we will need to be getting that message out to the people who have | :25:26. | :25:28. | |
real and genuine concerns and obviously real needs. | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
I would also remind the member that there is not and never has been a | :25:34. | :25:41. | |
been on donations from gay pain, and the restriction relates to | :25:42. | :25:45. | |
behaviour, as opposed orientation. A number of other categories of | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
individuals are excluded from do donating. The judge included any | :25:50. | :25:56. | |
change in Northern Ireland to the donation of men having sex with | :25:57. | :26:03. | |
other men, was not my responsibility. Unfortunately I did | :26:04. | :26:08. | |
not have the confidence, of having to make findings against the highest | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
judicial figures in the land. I did not feel confident I would succeed, | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
nor did my skilled QCs, David Schofield QC and Mick Hannah QC. | :26:18. | :26:25. | |
Those aren't the words of Edwin Putts, they are the words of his | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
honour. Does the minister think an | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
investigation by the IQIA is independent or objective? Well, I | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
could comment further on that happening in other places, but I'll | :26:41. | :26:47. | |
refrain. In terms of independence regulation of health care, it | :26:48. | :26:51. | |
certainly is a big issue. I'm very happy for independent regulation of | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
health care. I think it is important that there is independent regulation | :26:57. | :27:03. | |
and we fund RQIA. But RQIA are responsible for their own actions | :27:04. | :27:06. | |
and activities, so we don't give them direction as to what to do. I | :27:07. | :27:11. | |
have to admit, it is a challenge to get aed abouty which is wholly | :27:12. | :27:14. | |
independent of Government because the truth is - who is going to pay | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
for it? You know, people will always be of the opinion, he who pays the | :27:20. | :27:23. | |
Piper calls the tune. I genuinely want independent regulation because | :27:24. | :27:28. | |
I think that it is good to keep everybody aware that that can be | :27:29. | :27:32. | |
carried out and to keep people on top of their game. The Health | :27:33. | :27:35. | |
Minister. Now, flooding, frozen pipes and | :27:36. | :27:39. | |
faulty heating. All potential problems in the winter. But would | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
you know what to do? Well our MLAs should, after being shown today how | :27:44. | :27:46. | |
to winter had of proof their homes by NI Water. Our Political | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
Correspondent Gareth Jordan spoke to Jimmy Spratt about being prepared | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
for winter. Since three years ago #2340r8d Water have been very good | :27:57. | :28:03. | |
in terms of actually promoting an educational spoeous -- Northern | :28:04. | :28:05. | |
Ireland Water have been very good in terms of promoting an educational | :28:06. | :28:09. | |
influence to their warnings. And indeed the bus is here today so that | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
MLAs from all the various areas around the province can come on and | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
get some literature so that they and their staff and assembly staff are | :28:19. | :28:24. | |
aware of the preparings being made. I feel they were slightly unfairly | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
vilified for what happened three years ago, do you think they have a | :28:29. | :28:31. | |
point? I think there were serious issues three years ago. I think | :28:32. | :28:36. | |
those issues have now been addressed and since three years ago, Northern | :28:37. | :28:41. | |
Ireland Water, the staff of Northern Ireland Water and the senior | :28:42. | :28:44. | |
management team of Northern Ireland Water have made major advances in | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
terms of making sure the same mistake didn't happen twice and I | :28:49. | :28:51. | |
think they need to be applauded. What has prompted that change? I | :28:52. | :28:54. | |
think that change was prompted through the work of the Department, | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
through the work of the Minister and, indeed, through the work of the | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
committee, because the committee took the issues very seriously, as | :29:02. | :29:06. | |
did the Executive at that particular period of time and it shows you, | :29:07. | :29:11. | |
that local people, local democracy actually pays in situations such as | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
this. Jimmy Spratt talking to Gareth | :29:16. | :29:20. | |
Gordon. That's it for Stormont Today this week. Join me on Thursday | :29:21. | :29:25. | |
evening for the View on BBC One at 10.35pm. Until then, from all of us, | :29:26. | :29:27. | |
goodbye. | :29:28. | :29:31. |