:00:26. > :00:32.Hello and welcome to the first Stormont Today of 2014. Coming up in
:00:33. > :00:35.the next 30 minutes: He may have gone home, but the talks process
:00:36. > :00:44.chaired by Dr Richard Haass is still dominating the agenda at Stormont.
:00:45. > :00:53.I, like many others, and disappointed by the reaction. There
:00:54. > :00:58.has been a failure of leadership. Crisis, what crisis? The Health
:00:59. > :01:05.Minister talks down last week's major incident at the Royal Victoria
:01:06. > :01:11.Hospital. I wish our politicians and media would be more mature and how
:01:12. > :01:14.they assess things. And our Political Correspondent,
:01:15. > :01:21.Gareth Gordon, joins me to cast his eye over the day's proceedings.
:01:22. > :01:24.Perhaps it was no great surprise that the inconclusive Haass talks,
:01:25. > :01:30.which concluded two weeks ago, dominated today's proceedings. Sinn
:01:31. > :01:33.Fein brought a motion to the Assembly calling for the proposals
:01:34. > :01:36.on flags, parades and the past to be implemented, but were met with
:01:37. > :01:48.Unionist opposition. Here's a flavour of today's debate.
:01:49. > :01:52.This is not a Republican document. This is a document that Republicans
:01:53. > :02:05.can support in the belief it will move our society forward. We took up
:02:06. > :02:14.the challenge. It is our belief that significant progress has been made
:02:15. > :02:25.on to-macro of the issues. We need to have calm reflection on what
:02:26. > :02:34.happened during those topics. I know that in the final negotiations it is
:02:35. > :02:43.public knowledge that the Alliance party basically rejected the
:02:44. > :02:49.proposals. It has always been my position that
:02:50. > :03:05.no deal is better than a bad deal. I do not believe that taken as a
:03:06. > :03:09.package that this was a good deal. I start from that process. It is only
:03:10. > :03:15.worthwhile if it is going to improve the situation. My Alliance
:03:16. > :03:20.colleagues know what it takes to compromise and we will not be found
:03:21. > :03:25.wanting. We have made a significant contribution to the process. We have
:03:26. > :03:30.acknowledged that the proposals are a basis on which to make progress.
:03:31. > :03:36.The Alliance party has committed to deliver what is in the document. The
:03:37. > :03:41.real issue is not those who sign up and those who do not. It will be
:03:42. > :03:58.those who deliver and those who do not. The strongest part of the
:03:59. > :04:03.process was the input of civic society, demonstrating their strong
:04:04. > :04:12.desire for resolutions of the issues that face us. It is for the victims
:04:13. > :04:17.and survivors of the conflict that he must take the opportunities
:04:18. > :04:26.afforded us now to deal on the heads of wheat and ethically with the
:04:27. > :04:32.past. -- to deal comprehensively and ethically.
:04:33. > :04:52.I believe that Sinn Fein has shown leadership. I am disappointed from
:04:53. > :05:05.the reaction of their DUs be. -- of the DUP and UUP.
:05:06. > :05:14.She said it was not a full social and it was not the end the process.
:05:15. > :05:20.She said we should have a forum. That confirms the position of the
:05:21. > :05:29.first Minister and the leader of my party in seeing that there has been
:05:30. > :05:36.work carried out, but there is still much work to do. I am very pleased
:05:37. > :05:40.that a meeting has been called tomorrow to try and bring that
:05:41. > :05:49.about. I am in this House as a Unionist.
:05:50. > :06:02.When I read the seventh two minutes from Haass -- when I read the
:06:03. > :06:05.document from Haass. Jim Allister distancing himself from
:06:06. > :06:07.the Haass proposals. I'm joined now by our Political Correspondent,
:06:08. > :06:21.Gareth Gordon. Gareth, two weeks into the new year, Haass is still
:06:22. > :06:30.dominating the political agenda. Nothing seems to have changed. The
:06:31. > :06:39.time of the debate slipped until later and later. The times of the
:06:40. > :06:43.press conferences got later and later stop two weeks on nothing has
:06:44. > :06:52.changed. You watch the debate today. Was that any sign of movement in any
:06:53. > :07:02.of the parties positions? No. Just to be more detailed, the to-macro
:07:03. > :07:13.nationalist parties, say they want full implementation, and the DUP say
:07:14. > :07:22.they want to concentrate on discussions tomorrow. Peter Robinson
:07:23. > :07:29.said today that their work on the Haass proposals should examine in
:07:30. > :07:39.detail all 340 elements of the seventh Haass document. That will
:07:40. > :07:44.take some time, one would presume. The Alliance want a time limited,
:07:45. > :07:48.independently chaired mechanism to reach agreement on outstanding
:07:49. > :08:12.issues. That sounds like the process we have just had.
:08:13. > :08:27.The mood of the debate struck me as being good-tempered. It was
:08:28. > :08:38.reasonably civilised. But still very resolute. The endgame has begun to a
:08:39. > :08:44.limited degree. We had a substantive motion from
:08:45. > :08:54.Sinn Fein to prevent the Haass proposals. That was defeated as were
:08:55. > :08:57.the three amendments. In other business today, the Health
:08:58. > :09:00.Minister, Edwin Poots, has told the Assembly there is no crisis in
:09:01. > :09:04.Northern Ireland's Accident and Emergency units. Mr Poots was
:09:05. > :09:07.responding to an Urgent Question from the SDLP following last week's
:09:08. > :09:12.major incident at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast. For his part,
:09:13. > :09:19.the Minister was critical of both political and media reaction to the
:09:20. > :09:32.problem. Last weeks circumstances were
:09:33. > :09:38.exceptional. The escalation plan which included and that is as being
:09:39. > :09:54.diverted work effectively. Normal arrangement resumed within a matter
:09:55. > :10:01.of hours. We were shocked to see what happened at the Royal Victoria
:10:02. > :10:07.on Wednesday. This is about accountability. How a decision in
:10:08. > :10:15.one area could potentially affect another. In this case it has
:10:16. > :10:29.affected other areas negatively. Is the tail wagging the dog? Wednesday
:10:30. > :10:44.was a symptom, not a cause. What did happen at the Royal Victoria Mr Mac
:10:45. > :11:00.--? They were admitting over 110. There
:11:01. > :11:04.was a degree of backing up. I wish our politicians and media would be
:11:05. > :11:11.more mature and how they assess things. Three hours after the
:11:12. > :11:25.emergency plan was initiated things were back to normal. Why do you
:11:26. > :11:33.refer to 12 and eight our waiting beaches rather than the NHS target
:11:34. > :11:45.of being seen within four hours? Things are measured differently in
:11:46. > :11:55.other parts of the UK than they are in northern Ireland. I will give all
:11:56. > :12:04.the support to ensure that working conditions are good and that they
:12:05. > :12:09.can provide the public with a great service and that they can do it in
:12:10. > :12:16.an environment where they are able to carry out their work in an
:12:17. > :12:19.appropriate way. We have 100 extra doctors working in the health
:12:20. > :12:26.service in Northern Ireland since I took office. We have the percent
:12:27. > :12:29.more nurses in Northern Ireland. Health Minister Edwin Poots pledging
:12:30. > :12:32.his backing for Accident and Emergency staff in Northern Ireland.
:12:33. > :12:35.We heard earlier the Assembly debate on the Richard Haass proposals, but
:12:36. > :12:39.the First Minister also covered the topic when he faced questions in the
:12:40. > :12:42.chamber. Peter Robinson said he doesn't expect Dr Haass to return to
:12:43. > :12:46.Northern Ireland, but he said there is agreement in some areas and more
:12:47. > :12:54.work could be done to get closer to a deal.
:12:55. > :13:01.How do you see the process moving forward after the Haass docs? What
:13:02. > :13:04.is required if we are to move forward in Northern Ireland is to
:13:05. > :13:13.reach agreement on outstanding issues. The unfortunate element of
:13:14. > :13:31.the Haass process has been that we now know that what they believed
:13:32. > :13:38.would be possible. It is necessary for a working group to sit down, to
:13:39. > :13:48.work out where further work is required. I know that the Ulster
:13:49. > :13:58.Unionist Party Alliance have indicated that they wish to be part
:13:59. > :14:07.of such a process. -- the and the Alliance. I hope that when the party
:14:08. > :14:17.leaders meet tomorrow they can reach that kind of agreement. who should
:14:18. > :14:26.chaired the next step of the process? Does he envisage Richard
:14:27. > :14:30.Haass returning? I do not know. I think there are laws against
:14:31. > :14:36.inhumane treatment, so I do not know if we would want to push Richard
:14:37. > :14:40.Haass to return. I think certainly, I would be very happy if he did
:14:41. > :14:45.return, but I suspect when he indicated that he was leaving on
:14:46. > :14:49.December 31, it wasn't going to go beyond that, but that is his fixed
:14:50. > :14:54.decision. I know that the Secretary of State has offered herself to
:14:55. > :14:58.chair the next phase of the process. Again, I would be quite
:14:59. > :15:03.content with that. But the choice of who chairs has been left with the
:15:04. > :15:07.five parties collectively, that is how Richard Haass was appointed, so
:15:08. > :15:11.I suspect if the parties are agreeable to a further phase, then
:15:12. > :15:16.the parties themselves will determine who was appropriate to be
:15:17. > :15:20.the chair. Let me say this in relation to the programme that seems
:15:21. > :15:26.to have stirred up this interest, Ian Paisley has been a major figure
:15:27. > :15:33.in public life in Northern Ireland for many generations. He was active
:15:34. > :15:39.while most of us in this chamber were not born or were in short
:15:40. > :15:43.trousers or plaid skirts. The fact remains, he made an enormous
:15:44. > :15:46.contribution to the lives of Northern Ireland and have a
:15:47. > :15:51.fantastic legacy that he has left. It saddens me that it is being
:15:52. > :15:55.betrayed in the way that this programme appears to do it. But it
:15:56. > :16:01.does not take away from the very significant role that he has
:16:02. > :16:04.played. I honestly believe that if we are going to have interviews
:16:05. > :16:08.about the past, it is far better to have them when they are fresher in
:16:09. > :16:11.people 's memories. The First Minister, Peter Robinson.
:16:12. > :16:14.The Environment Minister took the opportunity of a Ministerial
:16:15. > :16:17.statement to reflect on recent road deaths. Mark H Durkan will meet
:16:18. > :16:21.members of the Northern Ireland Road Safety Forum tomorrow. Six people
:16:22. > :16:26.have died on the roads since the start of the year.
:16:27. > :16:31.Members will be aware of my consistently expressed view that one
:16:32. > :16:37.death on our roads is one death to many. I have personal experience, as
:16:38. > :16:41.do other members, of the effects of a life lost on our roads and the
:16:42. > :16:48.impact that it can have on a family, and I join with Minister Kennedy and
:16:49. > :16:51.all contributors in extending my condolences to all the families that
:16:52. > :16:58.were briefed in this tragic manner over the past couple of months. --
:16:59. > :17:01.were briefed. We all have responsibilities to ourselves and
:17:02. > :17:05.others when we use the roads. Recent events have reinforced that is
:17:06. > :17:11.travelling on our roads is inherently dangerous, but on
:17:12. > :17:14.occasions, we forget that. I, therefore, urge all road users to
:17:15. > :17:21.take their responsibilities seriously. One lapse can last a
:17:22. > :17:26.lifetime and can cost a life. I know that I can rely on all members to
:17:27. > :17:30.work together to reinforce this message and thank those leaders of
:17:31. > :17:36.society who have done so already. I have also called a meeting of the
:17:37. > :17:45.rolled safety stakeholder Forum tomorrow to discuss these events. --
:17:46. > :17:49.road safety. Every road safety casualty is a tragedy. We have made
:17:50. > :17:53.tremendous strides in recent years to reduce casualties on our roads.
:17:54. > :17:58.Further progress requires ongoing, joined up effort will stop I am
:17:59. > :18:03.personally committed to playing a full part in leaving this work. --
:18:04. > :18:06.leading this work. Mark H Durkan making clear his
:18:07. > :18:09.commitment to tackling the number of deaths on our roads. The Christmas
:18:10. > :18:11.court case between the Agriculture Minister and her Executive
:18:12. > :18:15.colleague, the Finance Minister, came up quite a bit today during
:18:16. > :18:18.Question Time. Simon Hamilton took legal action to prevent Michelle
:18:19. > :18:21.O'Neill going ahead with her plan to transfer 7% of Common Agricultural
:18:22. > :18:30.Policy funding to rural development projects. But first up, flooding.
:18:31. > :18:35.Given the fact that my understanding is water when it is in Belfast Lough
:18:36. > :18:38.is the responsibility of one agency and when it enters the rivers, it is
:18:39. > :18:45.the responsibility of the Rivers agency, if it goes on to the ground
:18:46. > :18:49.it is the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, if it
:18:50. > :18:55.goes onto the roads, it is responsibilities for the Department
:18:56. > :19:02.of the roads. Rivers agencies, with all of responsibilities it has, at
:19:03. > :19:06.times of flooding, why should they continue... Can they see the logic
:19:07. > :19:09.perhaps having it included in another department, perhaps the
:19:10. > :19:16.Department of regional development. The Rivers agency is about advising
:19:17. > :19:20.the entire group under the elements in terms of the weather and the
:19:21. > :19:27.potential that could have occurred. In terms of the overarching... It
:19:28. > :19:30.was a multi-agency approach, it was multi-agency because of the various
:19:31. > :19:37.responsibilities and this comes back to the point that was raised on the
:19:38. > :19:42.back of the report for it looked at what is the responsibility, should
:19:43. > :19:46.there be on responsibility for the overarching flooding issue. It is
:19:47. > :19:55.something that will be considered on the wider view of departments and
:19:56. > :19:58.what should be done. I wrote to all ministers and Department seeking
:19:59. > :20:02.their views on the issue of my pillar transfer and the potential
:20:03. > :20:10.for transfer. EDF P Minister made no response to that. They thought it
:20:11. > :20:13.appropriate to take a court case without going through the executive
:20:14. > :20:17.and the normal procedure, so that is the correspondence I had with
:20:18. > :20:22.ministers prior to the decision. The minister has been alluding to the
:20:23. > :20:26.discussions with the Finance Minister. Does the Minister realise
:20:27. > :20:31.and accept that there is a substantial difference that has
:20:32. > :20:36.occurred between before 2007 and since 2007 that issues like this too
:20:37. > :20:40.needs to be brought before the executive for approval, rather than
:20:41. > :20:46.simply proceeding on a stand-alone basis? I took this decision on the
:20:47. > :20:50.basis that this is the core business of my department, I saw no reason to
:20:51. > :20:55.take it to the executive. The remote of my department is to improve the
:20:56. > :20:59.infrastructure of local communities, and this is a decision on a balanced
:21:00. > :21:02.approach on the back of a consultation on engaging with
:21:03. > :21:08.stakeholders, that looks towards the needs of farmers, the environment
:21:09. > :21:11.and road dwellers and rural businesses, so for me, the transfer
:21:12. > :21:19.rate was logical to take forward. The court, the minister had no issue
:21:20. > :21:24.with the transfer rate when he was written to and made no response to
:21:25. > :21:28.that, but yet, they failed to have executive discussion but wanted to
:21:29. > :21:33.go to court, we need to look at the motivation and is at a politically
:21:34. > :21:36.motivated the session. In view of the early comments from the Minister
:21:37. > :21:41.and the public, political slapping about which the DUP Finance Minister
:21:42. > :21:45.applies against her and her department, did she have any
:21:46. > :21:48.comments to make on the failure of political leadership which were the
:21:49. > :21:56.words used in the judgement as a result of the case taken by her
:21:57. > :21:59.ministerial colleague? It is unfortunate that the minister went
:22:00. > :22:03.to the court as opposed to going to the executive to have a reasoned and
:22:04. > :22:06.logical discussion will stop I would question the motives as to why that
:22:07. > :22:12.would happen? I will not be sidetracked. This decision has been
:22:13. > :22:16.taken and we have no transfer rate, we have an opportunity to review
:22:17. > :22:20.that and we will look towards that. We have to be serious about looking
:22:21. > :22:24.at and supporting rural communities, so some people are
:22:25. > :22:28.attempting to portray this as it is farmers and versus the environment,
:22:29. > :22:32.but the farmers are the natural custodians of the environment and
:22:33. > :22:36.depend on it, so it is about a balanced approach.
:22:37. > :22:39.Michelle O'Neill. MLAs took time today to pay tribute to the former
:22:40. > :22:42.NIO Minister, Paul Goggins, who died last week. Mr Goggins came to
:22:43. > :22:49.Northern Ireland as a Junior Minister in 2006, and was Minister
:22:50. > :22:55.of State for three years from 2007. Paul Goggins came here some years
:22:56. > :23:00.ago as a junior minister. Many of us met him as a stranger. But he very
:23:01. > :23:07.quickly became a trusted Minister and in time, a valued friend to all
:23:08. > :23:12.of us. Many former Northern Ireland office ministers, when they become
:23:13. > :23:15.ex-ministers, they will be periodic the referring to their time in
:23:16. > :23:26.Northern Ireland, it was not the same with Paul Goggins. He had a
:23:27. > :23:30.deep sense of companionship, of humanitarian work, until of the
:23:31. > :23:35.people of Northern Ireland. I took over some of the Wallace is he had
:23:36. > :23:42.in the health departments, the smoking ban in public places, the
:23:43. > :23:45.suicide policy, and also work in negotiations with him to make sure
:23:46. > :23:52.that the foreign to rescue service was part of the new police training
:23:53. > :23:56.college. In those respects, he touched the lives of everybody in
:23:57. > :24:02.Northern Ireland. He had a very personal style and genuine approach
:24:03. > :24:06.to politics. He was contrasting in a lot of ways to the kind of what was
:24:07. > :24:11.expected of new Labour politicians, he seemed to offer a warmth that was
:24:12. > :24:14.genuine and honest and in no way orchestrated.
:24:15. > :24:17.Tributes paid to the former Northern Ireland Minister, Paul Goggins, who
:24:18. > :24:29.died last week. Gareth Gordon has rejoined me. Paul Goggins was
:24:30. > :24:34.universally popular. Yes, as is the case with all walks of life, some
:24:35. > :24:38.people are held with more genuine affection than others, and he seemed
:24:39. > :24:42.to be well liked across the political spectrum. I looked at the
:24:43. > :24:46.tributes paid to him in Westminster last week and they were similar to
:24:47. > :24:51.those paid in Stormont from all sides, it's not all people get warm
:24:52. > :24:57.tributes from Sinn Fein and the Orange order, Paul Goggins was one
:24:58. > :25:03.man that did. The Richard Haass talks are a big issue of discussion
:25:04. > :25:07.today, but also, road safety. From having one of the worst road safety
:25:08. > :25:11.records in the world, Northern Ireland seems to have turned a
:25:12. > :25:17.corner. Year-on-year, things were improving, that reversed last year.
:25:18. > :25:21.In the first 13 days of 2014, six people had been killed on our roads,
:25:22. > :25:26.in different circumstances, but it is a figure that has shocked many of
:25:27. > :25:31.it has shocked the Minister responsible. He feels he must do
:25:32. > :25:34.something about it and has called the stakeholders together tomorrow
:25:35. > :25:40.for a meeting to discuss what, if anything, can be done. The
:25:41. > :25:45.government can do so much, it is ultimately up to the road users to
:25:46. > :25:49.do something as well. And what you think the impact is likely to be of
:25:50. > :25:56.the 2-part BBC television series on the life and times of Ian Paisley,
:25:57. > :26:02.the former DUP leader? That is still unfolding, he was a major political
:26:03. > :26:08.figure. He is, for some people, a figure dating into history. He is
:26:09. > :26:11.largely retired from public life, but his words can still have an
:26:12. > :26:20.impact when he speaks. The first part of that documentary has already
:26:21. > :26:23.caused waves. It is believed to please many nationalists about civil
:26:24. > :26:26.rights and the state of Northern Ireland in the 60s, but it has
:26:27. > :26:31.annoyed others I saying that the Irish government brought the Dublin
:26:32. > :26:36.and Monaghan bombings on themselves. What he is said about the DUP in the
:26:37. > :26:41.next programme, that will have the real impact. Gareth thank-you. Well,
:26:42. > :26:43.the Haass talks dominated the political agenda here for more than
:26:44. > :26:47.six months. As today's proceeding showed, there's still little sign of
:26:48. > :26:49.consensus, though that's not for the want of trying on the part of
:26:50. > :27:05.Richard Haass and Meghan O'Sullivan. For those of you have not met me, I
:27:06. > :27:08.am Richard Haass and this is Meghan O'Sullivan. We are all here to
:27:09. > :27:35.launch this political process. Nice to see you. How is it going? It
:27:36. > :27:41.is going. The not so good news is that we do
:27:42. > :27:44.not have an agreement. There continues to be significant
:27:45. > :27:50.differences, and if it does make sense to return, we will do just
:27:51. > :27:55.that. Richard Haass's Christmas in America lasted a mere three days.
:27:56. > :28:01.This afternoon he will share another round table meeting involving the
:28:02. > :28:08.five executive parties. Let me be clear, Monday is our absolute
:28:09. > :28:11.deadline. After weeks of discussions, the
:28:12. > :28:20.talks have ended without multiparty agreement. We would not have had to
:28:21. > :28:27.spend the last six months commuting back and forth, but if you ask me do
:28:28. > :28:29.we now have in place a foundation and a serious possibility for
:28:30. > :28:36.meaningful political progress, the answer is yes. This has truly been a
:28:37. > :28:38.real privilege and we have worked with some extraordinary people and
:28:39. > :28:42.it is safe to say that we will remember this for ever, but that
:28:43. > :28:49.does not mean that we are eager to get home. I expect we will see some
:28:50. > :28:54.of you have not all of you again in the future. Thank you very much. --
:28:55. > :28:58.if not all of you. That's it for tonight. I'll be back
:28:59. > :29:00.tomorrow night at the same time, 11.20 on BBC Two. Until then, from
:29:01. > :29:53.everyone in the team, good night. A Napoleonic fig5ra a3p-dd 1
:29:54. > :29:54.histgr9 A Napoleonic fig5ra a3p-dd 1
:29:55. > :29:58.histgry, sithall ph!t A Napoleonic fig5ra a3p-dd 1
:29:59. > :30:01.history, with all that that i-plie3. He's not someone that you see and
:30:02. > :30:06.you can stay indifferent about. You have an opinion. You love him or you
:30:07. > :30:10.hate him, you're afraid of him or you want to be with him. He had so
:30:11. > :30:14.much political strength that he could do almost everything he
:30:15. > :30:15.wanted. A