:00:30. > :00:34.on the programme: Last week he wasn't happy with how the health
:00:34. > :00:36.trust's handled the issue of closing care homes. Today the Health
:00:36. > :00:41.Minister disagreed with recommendations for the future of
:00:41. > :00:47.child heart services. Don't want to go down the road recommended by the
:00:47. > :00:51.board. I want to go down the road that I've outlined to you today. I
:00:51. > :00:55.need the cooperation of colleagues and Republic of Ireland to do that.
:00:55. > :01:00.As clear as mud, if the politicians don't understand it, what hope have
:01:00. > :01:06.we? I'm sure like many here I'm now completely confused on the heads of
:01:06. > :01:12.agreement. Your state of confusion never ceases to amaze me. I don't
:01:12. > :01:15.think you're as confused as you led on to be confused. The political
:01:16. > :01:23.commentator and columnist Alex Kane gives us his thoughts on the day's
:01:23. > :01:26.proceedings. Just a week into May and it's been a
:01:26. > :01:30.tough month so far for the Health Minister, Edwin Poots. Today in the
:01:30. > :01:35.Assembly he was questioned on care home closures and the proposal to
:01:35. > :01:38.move child heart surgery to Dublin. First up for the minister, after
:01:38. > :01:43.apologising to elderly people for the upset last week, he updated the
:01:43. > :01:48.Assembly on the issue of care home consultations. I met with senior
:01:48. > :01:52.members of the trust and HSC board on Friday May 3. I said it was
:01:52. > :01:56.unacceptable that any older person or their families should be left
:01:56. > :02:01.upset by the process of consultation of closure of residential homes. I
:02:01. > :02:06.indicated to the HSE that the policy has not and will not change. I now
:02:06. > :02:08.want to state clearly to the Assmebly Members that I am fully in
:02:08. > :02:15.support of transforming your care approach regarding the care of older
:02:15. > :02:18.people. That is promoting independence, social inclusion, and
:02:18. > :02:22.support in the community as long as is possible. The process of
:02:22. > :02:26.engagement with older people, their families annal the public has got to
:02:26. > :02:30.change. The pace of change needs to be planned in a coordinated way
:02:30. > :02:34.across all of the trusts that. Was not clear. There foreon Friday, I
:02:34. > :02:40.called a halt to individual trusts consulting on proposed closures
:02:40. > :02:45.within the area. We will now make a fresh start. Consultation on change
:02:45. > :02:48.will still be necessary, but the pace of change will be clearly
:02:48. > :02:53.defined and is likely to be over a longer period of time. The statement
:02:53. > :02:58.is very useful, but the reality is there's still a lot of confusion out
:02:58. > :03:01.there among families but indeed among those who are currently in
:03:01. > :03:06.residential homes. If you had indicated that you weren't informed
:03:06. > :03:10.about this until I think you said last Wednesday, was there any senior
:03:10. > :03:15.officials informed about this either within the HSC board or within your
:03:15. > :03:18.department? The current process has been halted, end of. I believe that
:03:18. > :03:23.the current process got out of kilter with transforming your care
:03:23. > :03:31.and as a consequence of that, I made the decision that the process needed
:03:31. > :03:36.to be halted. So, these facilities are under proposals for closure at
:03:36. > :03:40.this time, but as we look to the future some of these facilities will
:03:40. > :03:43.have considerably less numbers in them in due course. The consequence
:03:43. > :03:47.of that will be that there will be a discussion with the remaining
:03:47. > :03:53.residents in those circumstances to provide the best possible care for
:03:53. > :04:02.them as individuals. In terms of the management of this, I think that we
:04:02. > :04:07.will have to take a closer role in terms of how it is dealt with.
:04:07. > :04:16.Account minister advise us why were they not treated with sensitivity
:04:16. > :04:18.and dignity and who is accountable for that? Well, I see that the silly
:04:18. > :04:25.remark almost implying that I personally caused the distress in
:04:25. > :04:30.these homes. Let me make it clear that I got a e-mail on Wednesday
:04:30. > :04:34.informing us of the Nolan Trust's intention on Thursday. It was a
:04:34. > :04:38.heads up. Let me further explain, because I think the Ulster Unionist
:04:39. > :04:43.Party have suffered from a little amnesia, the current policy in
:04:43. > :04:47.relation to Trusts, the establishment of the existing Trusts
:04:47. > :04:53.and the authority of the existing Trusts were established by none
:04:53. > :05:00.other than the minister before me of the Ulster Unionist Party. The steps
:05:00. > :05:04.I took on Friday, Mr Speaker, were unprecedented. Because it was the
:05:04. > :05:08.responsibility of the Trust to do what they were doing. I stepped in
:05:08. > :05:12.and used ministerial authority to stop it, but it was very clearly the
:05:12. > :05:16.responsibility of the Trusts and they were at liberty to do what they
:05:16. > :05:20.were doing as a result of the way that they were established by their
:05:20. > :05:24.own minister. Given his commitment to the document, account minister
:05:24. > :05:29.therefore confirm that it is still his intention to close 50% of
:05:29. > :05:34.residential care homes? I don't want any member of my family in a
:05:34. > :05:38.residential care facility in a cramped room, sharing toilets and
:05:38. > :05:41.bathrooms with quite a number of other elderly people. I want them to
:05:41. > :05:46.be in the best possible facilities. That's what I want to provide.
:05:46. > :05:49.That's what transforming care is about. It will inevitably lead to a
:05:49. > :05:53.reduction in those kinds of facilities. We need to do it without
:05:53. > :05:59.causing the distress that was caused to elderly people last week. Is it
:05:59. > :06:06.not clear from his statement today that ultimately he wants to maximise
:06:06. > :06:10.the closure of care homes through Stealth, Stealth of stopping new
:06:10. > :06:15.admissions and stealth of continuing not to invest in these homes. Where
:06:15. > :06:19.does the buck stop in the Health Service? Well, not for the first
:06:19. > :06:21.time the member gets it wrong, sometimes I think he knows when he's
:06:22. > :06:26.getting it wrong but does it nonetheless to score a political
:06:26. > :06:30.point. Political point scoring was one thing the minister said was off
:06:30. > :06:34.the agenda when it came to a debate on child heart services. Emotion
:06:34. > :06:39.calling for services to be retained in Belfast was put forward by the
:06:39. > :06:45.Ulster Unionists. It is with regret that I have to move this motion.
:06:45. > :06:48.It's regrettable that the recommendation to remove paediatric
:06:48. > :06:52.cardiac surgery has even been considered never mind recommended. I
:06:52. > :06:55.do hope the minister makes it down before I finish. As previously in
:06:55. > :07:00.this House I will declare an interest in the subject. As the
:07:00. > :07:05.father of a three-month-old son currently awaiting cardiac surgery.
:07:05. > :07:10.The safety of children and adults in Northern Ireland relies on continued
:07:10. > :07:17.congenital heart surgery at the royal Victoria Hospital. I place --
:07:17. > :07:21.I hope to ensure that this World Service will continue. I will vote
:07:21. > :07:25.against any move to remove this surgery from Belfast. These aren't
:07:25. > :07:31.just my words. These are the words of the children's heart beat trust
:07:31. > :07:35.pledge, which has been signed by 87 MLAs including ministers to date.
:07:35. > :07:42.This pledge is entwined and is sub-Stantive to the motion before us
:07:42. > :07:45.today. It's not up to me to remind other MLAs of their own conscience
:07:45. > :07:54.or individual pledges when they speak and vote on this motion.
:07:54. > :07:59.you outline to us where the thinking of the hate minister in -- Health
:07:59. > :08:02.Minister is around this? It seems a reasonable solution. As I say,
:08:02. > :08:07.vulnerable voices were heard last week. You've listened to them.
:08:07. > :08:11.You've took it on the chin. You've had a bloody nose all week. Let's
:08:11. > :08:15.ensure that the vulnerable voices of our future, of the next generation,
:08:15. > :08:19.that they're heard and their parents are heard. It's very unpleasant
:08:19. > :08:23.situation, we simply do not have enough procedures in Northern
:08:23. > :08:28.Ireland to warrant the continuation of the service we have had for so
:08:28. > :08:31.long. In Ireland as a whole, there's just about enough specialist
:08:31. > :08:36.procedures to warrant the provision of that service. The committee has
:08:36. > :08:41.looked at this issue and no later than last Wednesday and we all
:08:41. > :08:45.wanted to have some hope that there was a way of retaining the present
:08:45. > :08:49.service, but I have to say, under quite stiff questioning from all
:08:49. > :08:53.members of the committee, many of whom had a huge degree of sympathy
:08:53. > :08:57.for the parents groups who are concerned about this, I have to say,
:08:57. > :09:03.in my own mind, that really, we have a terribly difficult position we're
:09:03. > :09:08.in. The opportunity for us is crystal clear. It is to develop
:09:08. > :09:12.Belfast, to continue to develop Belfast as a training centre. To
:09:12. > :09:17.retain Belfast as a surgical centre for children from Northern Ireland
:09:17. > :09:23.and most likely from the border counties of the Republic of Ireland.
:09:23. > :09:29.It is to integrate our clinical teams so as others have suggested
:09:29. > :09:37.clinicians move, not children. service was sustainable in Belfast,
:09:37. > :09:43.I would need to have more procedures. If I am to have more
:09:43. > :09:48.procedures, in true north/south cooperation, will the south give us
:09:48. > :09:55.procedures? For example, children in the border counties, if we provide
:09:56. > :09:59.an enhanced cardiology service with facilities avail available in the
:09:59. > :10:05.south-west, I don't want to go down the route that is recommended by the
:10:05. > :10:10.board. I want to go down the route that I have outlined to you today.
:10:10. > :10:16.But I need the cooperation of colleagues in the Republic of
:10:16. > :10:20.Ireland to do that. So there is a range of options for parents, but
:10:20. > :10:25.the one option that many parents want to see is an option of surgical
:10:25. > :10:31.care being provided in Belfast. I -- surgical care being provided in
:10:31. > :10:35.Belfast. I can't stand here and say that I can deliver that, but I will
:10:35. > :10:41.honestly stand before the House and say I will give it my best shot.
:10:41. > :10:45.joined now bit political commentator Alex Kane. Let's talk about Edwin
:10:45. > :10:48.Poots' performance today. Two big issues- care homes and paediatric
:10:48. > :10:54.heart surgery. Did he help his cause today do you think? He's had a tough
:10:54. > :10:58.week? I think he's had an enormously tough week. He's been saying that
:10:58. > :11:03.none of this amounts to a U-turn, but the number of times he's had to
:11:03. > :11:06.say this is not a U-turn I've been misunderstood or other people have
:11:06. > :11:11.gone behind his back and done something without his permission,
:11:11. > :11:16.it's a moment when a minister fears most that everything conspires to go
:11:16. > :11:19.against him. I think he's in a sense lost control of his own agenda.
:11:19. > :11:25.gives the impression of sometimes not knowing what was coming next.
:11:25. > :11:29.Get a sense that what's we've seen in the past 48, 72 hours are two
:11:29. > :11:34.U-turns on two separate health issues in that time? I think they
:11:34. > :11:38.are. Whatever he is saying now, the fact this he has to say it's not a
:11:38. > :11:42.U-turn, which suggests it is. Unless I got him completely wrong my
:11:42. > :11:48.understanding was, particularly on the cardiac thing, yes, it's going
:11:48. > :11:52.to be transferred to Dublin. Seemed to suggest he was relaxed with that
:11:52. > :11:56.all Ireland dimension and today it seems he's anything but. He's
:11:56. > :12:00.determined to retain some kind of surgery, paediatric heart surgery in
:12:00. > :12:06.Belfast. That was clear. It's like he's been forced into. It this was a
:12:06. > :12:10.man who twice under pressure on two cases, this isn't small stuff, it's
:12:10. > :12:13.huge, emotional stuff. He comes under pressure, he buckled. Call it
:12:13. > :12:18.a U-turn, the minister on both occasions clearly buckled and
:12:18. > :12:23.yielded. He didn't make any economic defence or moral defence. Simply
:12:23. > :12:26.said, no, I wasn't planning that. The interesting thing is that the
:12:27. > :12:31.leader of the Ulster Unionists broke cover and demanded that Poots should
:12:32. > :12:36.go. That can have the opposite effect sometimes in politics. What
:12:36. > :12:42.happens is the party circles the wagons. Yes but not only that, the
:12:43. > :12:47.DUP have turned their fire on Danny Kennedy over the A 5 thing. When you
:12:47. > :12:50.don't have an opposition no-one can formally put down a motion of no
:12:50. > :12:53.confidence. In the DUP were in the opposition the leader of that party
:12:53. > :12:57.asking for someone to resign makes more sense than being in the
:12:57. > :13:02.executive and saying, oh, well you should be out of it. It doesn't make
:13:02. > :13:05.any sense. OK. For now, Alex, thank you very much. The deputy First
:13:05. > :13:12.Minister was fielding questions this afternoon. Martin McGuinness stood
:13:12. > :13:17.aside for his junior colleague when the issue of equal pay was raised.
:13:17. > :13:21.In 1997 for example average weekly earnings for women were 74% of the
:13:21. > :13:25.corresponding figure for men. By 2012 the female average had
:13:25. > :13:32.increased to 90% of the male average. While this is now,
:13:32. > :13:38.obviously not good enough. We remain committed to eliminating the gender
:13:38. > :13:41.pay gap. This is a key action area for gender equality strategy. The
:13:41. > :13:44.equality commission's revised code of practice on equal pay will be
:13:44. > :13:48.published shortly, having been approved bit First Minister and
:13:48. > :13:55.deputy First Minister and led in the Assembly. This will provide updated
:13:55. > :14:05.practical guidance to employers and employees on how to facilitate
:14:05. > :14:07.
:14:07. > :14:11.gender equality on pay structures. It will also bring equal treatment.
:14:11. > :14:16.Can the junior minister outline what initiatives are planned to introduce
:14:16. > :14:21.or to introduce to plan to be introduced to eradicate this impact?
:14:21. > :14:27.Well, I think again, you know when we look at the strategy we look on
:14:27. > :14:30.it as in the round. Obviously part of that, while the child will be
:14:30. > :14:33.child centred and it's the child's development we'll be looking at, we
:14:33. > :14:38.will lock at how to encourage particularly women back into
:14:38. > :14:47.training or into the workforce. A key area there is to make that child
:14:47. > :14:52.care affordable. As OFMDDFM tasked with equality issues, does the
:14:52. > :14:56.junior minister agree that welfare reform will have a disproportionate
:14:56. > :15:03.impact on women and what measures are they considering to alleviate
:15:03. > :15:06.this threat? I would agree with the member that it will have an adverse
:15:06. > :15:10.impact, more serious impact on women and as a result of having that
:15:10. > :15:20.impact, it will have an impact on children as well, because it will
:15:20. > :15:27.impact the family. I think one of the issues that will have
:15:27. > :15:33.particularly adverse impact is around the split payments. And we
:15:33. > :15:38.would be advocating that the payment would go to the person who would
:15:38. > :15:43.have the general care careers role in the family. I think that the
:15:43. > :15:48.child care, going back to it again, you know, again that's why we need
:15:48. > :15:54.this strategy in place. That's going to have an impact on women who will
:15:54. > :15:58.have to look for work. They're going to need that affordable, accessible
:15:58. > :16:03.and flexible child care in order to do that. The DUP never misses an
:16:03. > :16:07.opportunity to have a go at the Education Minister over academic
:16:07. > :16:10.selection. Something that unites the House is the issue of educational
:16:10. > :16:15.under achievement. Today John O'Dowd announced an investment to help
:16:15. > :16:18.improve standards. I have earmarked two million to be spent in each of
:16:18. > :16:21.the next two years on a community education issue to address the high
:16:21. > :16:26.levels of under achievement in working class communities. The
:16:26. > :16:31.programme will join up community based and school activity in a
:16:31. > :16:34.coherent way, promote partnership between community organisations for
:16:35. > :16:40.schools with particularly concentrations of educational
:16:40. > :16:44.disadvantage. The projects delivered will include high quality education
:16:44. > :16:50.after school programmes, parent programmes, GCSE Easter schools and
:16:50. > :16:54.summer schools to support the transition of pupils from primary to
:16:54. > :16:58.post primary school. We want an effective evidence based
:16:58. > :17:03.intervention that breaks the cycle of deprivation on educational under
:17:03. > :17:07.achievement in some communities. four of my children came from a
:17:07. > :17:12.working-class home in a terraced house and went to a grammar school.
:17:12. > :17:20.Account minister ensure that the two million that he's alluded to each
:17:20. > :17:26.year will widen, narrow the gap, and widen the availability of grammar
:17:26. > :17:33.school places so that other working class children can get access to
:17:33. > :17:39.grammar school schools? Well, I learned a long time ago that hatred
:17:39. > :17:43.is a wasted energy. That might be something the member might want to
:17:43. > :17:48.contemplate as well. It crepts your mind. I'd suggest that the member
:17:48. > :17:52.goes away and looks up what is happening in education now. This
:17:52. > :17:56.talk about grammar schools and non-grammar schools, actually the
:17:56. > :18:00.lines are becoming so blurred now that it is almost unrecognisable.
:18:00. > :18:07.Academic selection is the wrong way forward. Because it benefitted your
:18:07. > :18:13.children, I'm glad it did, it is not benefitting all children. That's the
:18:13. > :18:16.problem. I'm now completely confused on the heads of agreements. Does the
:18:16. > :18:22.minister feel that the heads of agreement are workable or are they
:18:22. > :18:29.being rewritten or have they been rewritten? Your state of confusion
:18:29. > :18:34.never ceases to amaze me. I don't think there's you're as confused as
:18:34. > :18:42.you lead on to be confused. As a political manoeuvre your party has
:18:42. > :18:47.decided they will oppose EASA. They believe it as a battering ram
:18:47. > :18:50.against the DUP. Your decision is political. The education arguments
:18:50. > :18:54.I'm putting forward aren't going to make sense because I'm not answering
:18:54. > :18:56.your question. The Education Minister John O'Dowd. Staying with
:18:56. > :19:01.education the minister has said he wants to see action over the
:19:01. > :19:05.construction of a new primary school in south Belfast. With me now the
:19:05. > :19:10.south Belfast MLA Jimmy Spratt of the DUP. This is a plan to build a
:19:10. > :19:17.new school on the City Hospital site in place of three existing schools.
:19:17. > :19:23.Just talk us through how the plan would work. In terms of the three
:19:23. > :19:30.existing schools, both of these schools are under review for amall
:19:30. > :19:35.gu Maciol. Since 2008, the Belfast City Hospital site is the preferable
:19:35. > :19:40.site for a new, sustainable school in the area, which would be
:19:40. > :19:43.sustainable in terms of the major regeneration, the more than �100
:19:43. > :19:47.million regeneration that's going into the village area at present,
:19:47. > :19:53.which will bring in hopefully more children. So some of the schools now
:19:53. > :19:59.are run down. All three are reasonably old buildings. Really
:19:59. > :20:01.they aren't fit for modern day education. The sticking point is
:20:01. > :20:07.that the City Hospital and the Department of Health haven't
:20:07. > :20:11.actually said at this point that the site is available. Now where do we
:20:11. > :20:14.go, you raise today under private members business. The Education
:20:14. > :20:19.Minister is supportive. Does the Health Minister have to give the
:20:20. > :20:23.green light? The Health Minister indeed has not ruled out the site as
:20:24. > :20:31.a possibility for the school. That's a matter for the Trust. What has
:20:31. > :20:34.happened at present is the Belfast education and library board have
:20:34. > :20:39.plan planning application for that site. That would be a matter then
:20:39. > :20:43.for the Department of Education and DFP in terms of economic appraisal
:20:43. > :20:47.if planning permission is given for the site. Then a decision has to be
:20:47. > :20:52.made. Hopeful that it is achievable? I think we achieved quite a bit
:20:52. > :20:56.today. O'Dowd indicated that he was going off to talk to Edwin Poots in
:20:56. > :21:01.terms of that particular site. I think we made progress today. I hope
:21:01. > :21:06.that progress continues. We'll see. No doubt you'll keep us abreast of
:21:06. > :21:09.developments. Thank you very much. Glentoran's weekend win was a
:21:09. > :21:12.talking point for questions to the culture minister. First questions to
:21:13. > :21:17.the agriculture minister. Michelle O'Neill is responding to a question
:21:17. > :21:22.about rural Broadband services. pleased to announce to the House
:21:22. > :21:26.today that the �5 million that I'm committing to Broadband delivery
:21:26. > :21:30.project will be used exclusively to target rural areas of high
:21:30. > :21:34.deprivation that have no fixed wire infrastructure to access Broadband.
:21:34. > :21:38.I hope this will stimulate companies supplying Broadband to get it into
:21:38. > :21:42.rural areas and to use the infrastructure to provide access to
:21:42. > :21:47.rural dwellers and businesses to use Broadband. I want the investment to
:21:47. > :21:56.stimulate rural businesses and give rural dwellers wider access to
:21:56. > :21:59.services. There are 4,000 premises listed in Fermanagh as being rural.
:21:59. > :22:04.While initially areas of high deprivation will be funded as a
:22:04. > :22:08.priority, funding will be rolled out across as many spots as possible.
:22:08. > :22:12.will thank the minister for her answer and the announce demand this
:22:12. > :22:16.is going to be finally investmented. I thought the minister was going to
:22:16. > :22:20.say it was exclusively for Fer man ya. Can the minister provide an
:22:20. > :22:24.update as to when the initiative will begin and when we can expect to
:22:24. > :22:29.see an improvement on the ground? thank the member for his question.
:22:29. > :22:36.I'm sure he's glad to hear this is a project that's going to benefit all
:22:36. > :22:44.the rural dwellers of the north and not just those in Fermanagh.
:22:44. > :22:48.questions for culture arts and leisure. I wonder has the minister
:22:49. > :22:53.any plans to invite Glentoran football club up to the Assembly for
:22:53. > :22:58.a reception and honour them in their great achievement? I thank the
:22:58. > :23:08.member for his question, indeed an invitation has been issued this
:23:08. > :23:08.
:23:08. > :23:15.morning to Glentoran. I'd like to put on the record congratulates --
:23:15. > :23:20.Greeks -- congratulations. I'm sure the member will perhaps, you know,
:23:21. > :23:25.accept an invitation to receive Cliftonville football club tonight
:23:25. > :23:29.in Parliament buildings, as ever other member is open to. I think
:23:29. > :23:34.particularly the achievements in soccer of recent times is a good
:23:34. > :23:40.reflection on the level of sport. Now how are women progressing in the
:23:40. > :23:43.judiciary here? In the upper echelons not great. It's an issue on
:23:43. > :23:46.which the Lord Chief Justice Sir Declan Morgan briefed the Justice
:23:46. > :23:50.Committee last week. First up, members of the education committee
:23:50. > :23:53.were given feedback on a consultation on the future of
:23:53. > :23:58.A-levels here. First, very little support to moving to linear
:23:58. > :24:05.assessment at the end of two-year course. Some school Prince pals were
:24:05. > :24:10.in favour of maintaining exams being taken at the end of each year. There
:24:10. > :24:17.was some support for retention over January assessment, mainly from the
:24:17. > :24:21.non-selective sector and FE sector. Secondly in relation to AS level
:24:21. > :24:27.courses, high level support for maining the status quo where the AS
:24:27. > :24:37.can be taken as part of a full A-level course or a stand-alone
:24:37. > :24:52.
:24:52. > :24:59.Cornwallification. Thirdly -- serve a number of purposes and not
:24:59. > :25:04.just for Russell group University. We do not want our system to end up
:25:04. > :25:08.becoming the Ulster Bank five pound note. You go into a shop and in the
:25:08. > :25:12.United Kingdom and somebody says, that's not legal tender, even though
:25:12. > :25:19.it's stamped that it is the case. We don't want that situation. We want
:25:19. > :25:25.to maintain the high quality and outcome that I think our A-level
:25:25. > :25:29.results and benefits for our pupils has had. We certainly don't want to
:25:29. > :25:39.be in a position of blindly following changes being made
:25:39. > :25:41.
:25:41. > :25:48.elsewhere. If those changes actually don't have a solid rational that we
:25:48. > :25:53.would recognise as use villi. last time I was here I reflected on
:25:53. > :25:57.the steps I would take to encourage women to apply for Judicial Office.
:25:57. > :26:01.The president of the law society, with my support, has had a very
:26:01. > :26:05.successful conference on women in the law. The liaison group between
:26:05. > :26:11.the legal profession and judicial appointments commission is well
:26:11. > :26:17.established. It's at the High Court level where there's a very clear
:26:17. > :26:22.problem. There is no female judges in the High Court at all. That
:26:22. > :26:31.symbolically is something that needs to be addressed. I have made, I
:26:31. > :26:34.think, a very determined attempt to change the culture and the views
:26:34. > :26:40.about whether the back corridor is welcoming of women. The fact that I
:26:40. > :26:46.made the position of women within the law as the centrepiece really of
:26:46. > :26:49.my speech at the start of the year was highly unusual. Nobody has done
:26:49. > :26:55.that before. At the end of the day, you'll have to judge me on whether
:26:55. > :27:01.or not we manage to achieve that. The Lord Chief Justice. Just time
:27:01. > :27:05.for a final work from my guest Alex Kane. We heard today about the
:27:05. > :27:10.Finance Minister's plans to fly the Union flag on designated days from
:27:10. > :27:14.buildings controlled by his department. That has met an
:27:14. > :27:18.avalanche of criticism from certain quarters. Were you surprised at the
:27:18. > :27:21.decision to go down this route? No, I wasn't. It's one of those moments
:27:21. > :27:26.in Northern Ireland politics just when you think it can't become more
:27:26. > :27:30.bizarre, it exceeds all expectations. It's point scoring.
:27:30. > :27:34.It's trying to appeal to a section of the DUP which is very
:27:34. > :27:37.disappointing with Peter Robinson's approach to loyalism and
:27:37. > :27:42.working-class unionism. It's a matter of Sammy trying to say look,
:27:42. > :27:48.I can do this, so I'm going to do it. I think it's unhelpful. There is
:27:48. > :27:51.an interesting cost point here. We gather it's five buildings, up to
:27:51. > :27:55.�2,000 per flag to erect the flag pole and so forth, depending on
:27:55. > :28:01.what's necessary. There's a potential cost of �10,000 here,
:28:01. > :28:04.which is quite a lot of money in these lean times. I'm shocked that
:28:04. > :28:08.it costs �2,000 for a pole. Particularly at a time when they're
:28:08. > :28:11.saying they can't afford, I mean �10,000 in the great scheme of
:28:11. > :28:15.things in politics doesn't sound a huge amount, but it could have been
:28:15. > :28:19.used for something more useful. Again people will say what's the
:28:19. > :28:22.point of the flag and spending money on the flag. Some of the politicians
:28:22. > :28:27.pointed out today that there was a suggestion there should be a review
:28:27. > :28:32.of public pension provision, public sector pensions, the department said
:28:32. > :28:37.no because it would cost �10,000 to do that. The budget is controlled
:28:37. > :28:40.bit Finance Minister so it comes full circle. The flag will fly on
:28:40. > :28:45.one building controlled by the department of finance, but onning
:28:45. > :28:50.piled by the SDLP environment minister. I'm sure again he will see
:28:50. > :28:53.that as a bit of point scoring for no good reason zpl. We will hear
:28:53. > :28:59.more about it in the days to come. That's all for tonight. We're back
:28:59. > :29:02.at the usual time next Monday night. Make a point of joining me for the