:00:30. > :00:34.called a fresh Assembly election - on the day the Secretary of State
:00:35. > :00:35.just eight months after the last one.
:00:36. > :00:38.It was a day of huge significance for the devolution
:00:39. > :00:40.project - because if talks anticipated to take place
:00:41. > :00:43.after the new 90 seat chamber is elected fail, Stormont could find
:00:44. > :00:45.itself stored away in political mothballs for quite some time.
:00:46. > :00:47.So, coming up tonight...MLAs find out how long they've got
:00:48. > :00:54.to prove their worth to the electorate...
:00:55. > :01:03.I propose that a draft order in Council be brought forward shortly
:01:04. > :01:07.that set an election date of Thursday second March stop.
:01:08. > :01:10.The suspended DUP MLA Jonathan Bell makes accusations about senior party
:01:11. > :01:21.This party has suspended me for telling the truth when I gave the
:01:22. > :01:25.First Minister, Deputy First Minister and the German body or the
:01:26. > :01:26.information, people are sitting beside them and sitting behind them
:01:27. > :01:28.of much more serious offences. So 300 days after we last went
:01:29. > :01:38.to the polls, we'll get the chance Following the refusal of Sinn Fein
:01:39. > :01:44.to nominate someone to the post of Deputy First Minister
:01:45. > :01:45.following the resignation of Martin McGuinness seven days ago,
:01:46. > :02:01.the Secretary of State has called I propose that a draft order in
:02:02. > :02:08.Council be brought forward shortly to set down election date of
:02:09. > :02:14.Thursday the 2nd of March. And to dissolve the assembly from the 26th
:02:15. > :02:21.of January, meaning that its last sitting day would be the 25th. No
:02:22. > :02:26.one should underestimate the challenge faced to the political
:02:27. > :02:32.institutions here in Northern Ireland, and what is at stake. While
:02:33. > :02:38.it is inevitable that debate during an election period will be intense,
:02:39. > :02:45.I would strongly encourage the political parties to conduct this
:02:46. > :02:49.election with a view to the future of Northern Ireland and
:02:50. > :02:55.re-establishing a partnership government at the earliest
:02:56. > :02:59.opportunity after that poll. This is essential to the operation of
:03:00. > :03:05.devolved government, and this means that all must remain open to
:03:06. > :03:14.dialogue. The government continues to span thermally -- I stand firmly
:03:15. > :03:19.behind the government and its successors, and our responsibilities
:03:20. > :03:26.to safeguard stability here in Northern Ireland. We will continue
:03:27. > :03:28.to do all that we can to find a way forward to secure the continuation
:03:29. > :03:30.of devolved government. James Brokenshire speaking
:03:31. > :03:31.at Stormont Castle earlier this evening.
:03:32. > :03:34.So how did we get to that point? Sinn Fein repeatedly said
:03:35. > :03:37.it wouldn't nominate and today, when given the opportunity,
:03:38. > :03:50.the party formally I am nominating Arlene Foster to be
:03:51. > :03:58.the First Minister. It's her rightful position. That alone
:03:59. > :04:05.because the DUP says it but because 202,000 people in the country said
:04:06. > :04:09.it. And we as a DUP, Democratic Unionist Party, we will decide who
:04:10. > :04:13.the leader of our party is. Not someone else sitting in this
:04:14. > :04:18.chamber. We don't dictate to others who should be their leader, and no
:04:19. > :04:24.one is going to dictate to us today who the leader of our party, which
:04:25. > :04:29.transpires to be the leader of the union is here in Northern Ireland.
:04:30. > :04:34.Mr Speaker, I very readily and with some degree of pleasure nominate
:04:35. > :04:41.Arlene Foster to be the First Minister. Sinn Fein will only be
:04:42. > :04:44.part of institutions which work and deliver for all in our community.
:04:45. > :04:51.There can be no return to the staters go. If something is broken,
:04:52. > :04:56.you stop and you fix it. That is the Sinn Fein approach. Today, Sinn Fein
:04:57. > :05:01.will not renominate for the position of Deputy First Minister. Sinn Fein
:05:02. > :05:06.has honoured all agreements, we have striven to make these institutions
:05:07. > :05:10.work. Martin McGuinness has acted at all times with integrity, with
:05:11. > :05:15.dignity, and with respect to stop he has taken personal and political
:05:16. > :05:20.risks to build a process of reconciliation. If we are to return
:05:21. > :05:24.to this chamber, then there must be real, meaningful change. There must
:05:25. > :05:29.be respect and equality for all sections of society. These
:05:30. > :05:33.institutions must operate to the highest standards, with no place for
:05:34. > :05:35.arrogance or malpractice. It is now over to the people to have their
:05:36. > :05:37.say. Michelle O'Neill confirming that
:05:38. > :05:40.Sinn Fein would not nominate anyone to the position of
:05:41. > :05:41.Deputy First Minister. And let's hear from
:05:42. > :05:43.the commentator, Alex Kane. We now have a date for
:05:44. > :05:53.an election - March 2nd... Yesterday, and I think it is strange
:05:54. > :05:56.because all the way through I didn't think it would come to this. No
:05:57. > :06:02.Grimmy you didn't you were wrong! You don't have deep rub it in. I
:06:03. > :06:07.think we would be ruthlessly good at keeping our problem is tight and
:06:08. > :06:10.internal, solving the problem of Northern Ireland. But she didn't,
:06:11. > :06:14.she wrapped it up all the way through. I'd thought Sinn Fein
:06:15. > :06:16.wouldn't call her bluff but they did and we are now in an election we
:06:17. > :06:16.don't need. Monday and Tuesday -
:06:17. > :06:34.and RHI is likely to be It hasn't gone away, and it was 40
:06:35. > :06:39.days a old. DUP broke that story, a very senior DUP story told me that
:06:40. > :06:44.it wasn't going to be interesting. 40 days later it is still debated,
:06:45. > :06:46.and in the next few days more worryingly it will be there all the
:06:47. > :06:48.way to the election for the DUP. You didn't think it
:06:49. > :06:57.would come to this. You weren't alone in that. They
:06:58. > :07:00.assumed that at the end of the Labour parties would come together
:07:01. > :07:02.and hammer out a deal and get over the obstacle and move onto the next
:07:03. > :07:03.issue. Arlene Foster's already
:07:04. > :07:11.said it's going to be A lots of people frankly agree with
:07:12. > :07:15.her. I think the interesting thing about this election campaign, we
:07:16. > :07:17.didn't see it coming, but it came from eight background where Sinn
:07:18. > :07:23.Fein were saying they were getting on very well, David Gordon being
:07:24. > :07:27.appointed, various articles saying they had been doing well, Sinn Fein
:07:28. > :07:33.providing government and suddenly they go from campaigning from RHI,
:07:34. > :07:36.no personal issue, no equality, Unionists just don't want to open
:07:37. > :07:40.any doors for republicans, they don't want to respect us... Again
:07:41. > :07:46.that came from nowhere, and that very moment it became clear that all
:07:47. > :07:51.the stuff we had heard about how good this relationship was was at
:07:52. > :07:55.best a lie, and once you get to do that storage, you are in a terrible
:07:56. > :07:58.mess. It is an interesting situation, and you have been here
:07:59. > :08:01.for much of the day and have been talking to various people in both
:08:02. > :08:04.parties. Talking to people thrive at Lee within the DUP and Sinn Fein I
:08:05. > :08:08.think what is striking is that they don't seem to be hearing what the
:08:09. > :08:12.other side is saying, they don't seem to be taking on board at all
:08:13. > :08:16.any of the concerns of any of the other parties, is that what you are
:08:17. > :08:21.getting as well? That is what I'm getting, and there are now two
:08:22. > :08:29.battles being fought. I think it is before the election mode was
:08:30. > :08:34.started, put up barriers, and Sinn Fein decided there was no gesture of
:08:35. > :08:37.goodwill. Barriers began to go up quietly, and now it has got to the
:08:38. > :08:40.stage where they aren't listening to each other, not listening to anyone
:08:41. > :08:44.else not the public, and they have stopped listening. We'll have to
:08:45. > :08:46.listen to the voters on March two. Alex, thank you, and we'll hear
:08:47. > :08:51.more from you later. It was supposed to be the chance
:08:52. > :08:54.for the Economy Minister to show how he would stop the huge financial
:08:55. > :08:56.losses of the Renewable Instead, as news of the Secretary
:08:57. > :09:00.of State's decision to call an election broke,
:09:01. > :09:02.the debate changed rapidly. And that led to more
:09:03. > :09:04.extraordinary allegations from the suspended DUP MLA,
:09:05. > :09:06.Jonathan Bell, who continued his Simon Hamilton outlined his plans
:09:07. > :09:11.to the Assembly, but before they could be voted on,
:09:12. > :09:15.the Ulster Unionist leader, Mike Nesbitt, called for the debate
:09:16. > :09:25.to be suspended for a week... The proposal today are the first
:09:26. > :09:30.steps towards reducing the burden on the Northern Ireland budget of an
:09:31. > :09:34.estimated ?490 million. I'm determined to take steps which will
:09:35. > :09:38.effectively reduce the overspend in future years to zero. This is not
:09:39. > :09:42.the occasion or the place to rehearse or gone to a conclusion on
:09:43. > :09:47.the wise or wherefores of what went wrong. That, Mr Deputy Speaker, will
:09:48. > :09:51.be the work of the PAC and an independent enquiry. My priority
:09:52. > :09:55.immediately is to bear down on the costs of the scheme for the 2017,
:09:56. > :10:02.2018 financial year. Costs for that year are projected to be around ?50
:10:03. > :10:05.million. Mr Speaker, while the original policy intentions of the
:10:06. > :10:08.scheme may have been laudable, it has been blighted by significant
:10:09. > :10:13.failings in its design, oversight and control. There have been many
:10:14. > :10:19.allegations of potential abuse which cast a shadow over legitimate uses
:10:20. > :10:22.of renewable heat installations, and I do recognise that some legitimate
:10:23. > :10:25.users will see a substantial reduction in their payments but that
:10:26. > :10:30.reflects the fact that the scheme was much more generous than was
:10:31. > :10:36.originally intended for stop earlier today we saw the DUP sadly trying to
:10:37. > :10:41.defend the indefensible, they went low. As the woman said when they go
:10:42. > :10:46.low, we go high. I want to go high today by referring to the disrespect
:10:47. > :10:53.which was shown to the public, the lack of respect to the public purse,
:10:54. > :10:58.the dereliction of duty, and the shameful way in which this entire
:10:59. > :11:02.debacle has been handled. The part here who designed this disastrous
:11:03. > :11:08.scheme are we are led to believe helped design a good litigation but
:11:09. > :11:13.it looks bad for everybody else and leaves us with a choice between the
:11:14. > :11:17.?85,000 per day lead indefinitely, if this case falls and we don't have
:11:18. > :11:21.another opportunity to fix it, versus the potential cost of legal
:11:22. > :11:25.challenges as well as all the cost of the very belated investigations,
:11:26. > :11:30.and this scenario, I think you will understand, people are a bit
:11:31. > :11:34.reluctant to just this view of those who designed the flawed scheme,
:11:35. > :11:40.designing the fix. Why delay? Very simple. It it as no cost to the
:11:41. > :11:45.public purse will stop the 85,000 a day that we are burning off because
:11:46. > :11:50.of the overspend continues even if these regulations are agreed today
:11:51. > :11:57.or next week, until at least the 1st of April. That's over ?6 billion.
:11:58. > :12:00.That ?6 million. There will be no cost to the public present wait for
:12:01. > :12:05.a week. Doing nothing is not an option. To delay for one week is a
:12:06. > :12:11.reasonable request and I do believe will give us time for some of that
:12:12. > :12:16.extra scrutiny that the previous speaker has mentioned. I would like
:12:17. > :12:22.it in the record that I spoke for the first time in the fashion that I
:12:23. > :12:27.did because journalists were able to conclusively prove to me that they
:12:28. > :12:31.had contacted the press offices of the delicate Unionist party a day
:12:32. > :12:36.after day after day and were being fed back misinformation that
:12:37. > :12:42.Jonathan Bell was unavailable. Mr Speaker, I also want a very major
:12:43. > :12:47.concern bed into the record of this house that instruction went out from
:12:48. > :12:50.DUP special advisers John Robinson, currently special adviser to the
:12:51. > :12:53.economy minister, and Andrew Crawford, the current special
:12:54. > :13:04.adviser to Michelle Michael Butler Michelle McLean. ... Under no
:13:05. > :13:04.adviser to Michelle Michael Butler circumstances allow Jonathan Bell to
:13:05. > :13:12.be called. This is a quote. These matter need to be deeply
:13:13. > :13:17.investigated. Can I just asked Mr Bell... We are moving outside of the
:13:18. > :13:20.scope of the RHI. When we're talking about an adjournment for a week,
:13:21. > :13:25.these matters can be investigated in this week alongside the very first
:13:26. > :13:28.piece of information given to me in a ministerial office. By the DUP
:13:29. > :13:35.party officer appointed special adviser to the terms that you will
:13:36. > :13:38.not be allowed to reduce the tariff is the bag on the scheme because
:13:39. > :13:42.Timothy Johnston, special adviser to the then First Minister, and John
:13:43. > :13:46.Robinson, the current at that time director of communications to the
:13:47. > :13:50.DUP, and now the special adviser to the economy minister, had such
:13:51. > :13:54.extensive interest in the poultry industry, Minister, this is not
:13:55. > :13:56.being allowed on the agenda. I have the information to murder Mr
:13:57. > :14:01.Speaker, I have kept the records in many, many formats will stop this
:14:02. > :14:05.party has suspended me for telling the truth while I gave the First
:14:06. > :14:12.Minister and the deputy leader and the chairman of the partly all the
:14:13. > :14:13.information. People that are sitting behind and beside them of much more
:14:14. > :14:14.serious offences. In response, the DUP dismissed
:14:15. > :14:16.Mr Bell's allegations The party said Timothy Johnston has
:14:17. > :14:19.no interests whatsoever in the poultry industry and does not
:14:20. > :14:22.benefit or have any family members who applied to,
:14:23. > :14:26.or benefit from, RHI. It also said John Robinson has
:14:27. > :14:28.no personal interest His family home farm has chicken
:14:29. > :14:33.houses which are not Andrew Crawford told the BBC last
:14:34. > :14:38.month that his brother is the director of a company
:14:39. > :14:40.which successfully applied to the RHI scheme, but he said
:14:41. > :14:44.he 'never sought to keep the RHI scheme open at the original
:14:45. > :14:46.higher tariff against The ability of the Executive
:14:47. > :14:53.to mitigate against the Bedroom Tax before any dissolution was batted
:14:54. > :14:57.back and forth between the Finance and Communities Ministers
:14:58. > :15:01.over the last week. Mairtin O'Muilleior argued that no
:15:02. > :15:04.fresh legislation was needed. Paul Givan disagreed,
:15:05. > :15:17.and earlier today brought his Members are able to see from the
:15:18. > :15:20.draft set of regulations that the general provisions in the budget act
:15:21. > :15:26.would not give my department the powers necessary to make decisions
:15:27. > :15:31.in the different scenarios set out in the regulations. So, Mr Speaker,
:15:32. > :15:34.that nails everything that the finance minister has been doing what
:15:35. > :15:39.he is engaged in a Twitter battle the public can see who the twit is
:15:40. > :15:44.as he has went along, making it up, on social media in respect to how
:15:45. > :15:52.this is being issued. In two and a half years, Sinn Fein cost the
:15:53. > :15:57.public purse ?174 million in penalties from the Treasury. Money
:15:58. > :16:03.that was lost in public services into a half years, and what do we do
:16:04. > :16:08.whenever these issues were raised? We worked through them, despite the
:16:09. > :16:13.reckless activities Sinn Fein, that cost ?171 million.
:16:14. > :16:22.I am clearly stating we support the regulation be for us. No one needs
:16:23. > :16:29.to explain to me the impact this will have. I have liaisons dealt
:16:30. > :16:32.with many constituents who have highlighted their concerns and fears
:16:33. > :16:36.so whilst the rest of us have no fear of going through the
:16:37. > :16:42.electorate, the DUP in Sinn Fein will continue to politic with some
:16:43. > :16:46.of the most vulnerable in society. Had Sinn Fein not stood firm to
:16:47. > :16:54.ensure the most vulnerable were protected and to ensure they were
:16:55. > :16:58.protected properly, irrespective of legislation from Westminster, then
:16:59. > :17:03.we collectively we been in a much different position. We stood by our
:17:04. > :17:09.convictions and to the best of our ability we got a deal to protect
:17:10. > :17:15.those most vulnerable. In relation to fines, the people and claimants
:17:16. > :17:21.we all talk about, not 1p came out of their pockets. Yes it came out of
:17:22. > :17:29.the block grant but why? Because people were waxing lyrical about the
:17:30. > :17:33.need to ensure our blog rant was protected and they failed to look
:17:34. > :17:40.over and other shoulder. -- block grant. The ministers stated that
:17:41. > :17:48.there was very little to nothing he could do to bring forward the
:17:49. > :17:51.mitigation meant -- measures to protect the most vulnerable. He
:17:52. > :17:58.stated categorically that was the truth. Why do I believe he did it?
:17:59. > :18:03.Because he wanted to put pressure on his partners in government and
:18:04. > :18:06.prevent them calling an election. The deadline was the 20th of
:18:07. > :18:11.February and we knew this needed done since we were elected last May
:18:12. > :18:16.so there was every opportunity for due process and scrutiny to take
:18:17. > :18:20.place but it seems that everything MS please has to be subject to a
:18:21. > :18:26.last-minute rush, back of the envelope calculations and perhaps we
:18:27. > :18:30.would not be sitting you today is that culture were to end.
:18:31. > :18:32.Another contentious issue on the order paper
:18:33. > :18:34.today was the position of Robin Newton as Speaker.
:18:35. > :18:36.He was the subject of a lot of criticism before Christmas
:18:37. > :18:39.when he called on Arlene Foster to make a statement
:18:40. > :18:41.as First Minster, when the Deputy First Minister had
:18:42. > :18:45.The motion was brought by Sinn Fein, but for the second time today things
:18:46. > :18:56.So we come to date to debate confidence in the speaker, which is
:18:57. > :19:00.a normal motion given the circumstances we found ourselves
:19:01. > :19:05.then before Christmas and the behaviour that led to the first
:19:06. > :19:10.Minister making a statement when she had not the authority to do so. We
:19:11. > :19:14.find ourselves hamstrung by a petition of concern. The DUP have
:19:15. > :19:22.deployed petitions of concern over 80 times in this Assembly. ET to
:19:23. > :19:27.pose as a party on their own. The irony is petitions were built into
:19:28. > :19:33.the Good Friday Agreement to protect the rights of minorities and protect
:19:34. > :19:37.citizens from being trampled by larger parties. The DUP as the
:19:38. > :19:41.largest party had used it 82 times without support from other MLAs. On
:19:42. > :19:47.a number of occasions they have used it to protect their own members from
:19:48. > :19:52.censure with them this Assembly. They do so again on this occasion.
:19:53. > :19:58.He may find this amusing but they do it again. The DUP have yet to learn
:19:59. > :20:04.that that is public outcry not just regarding the scheme, the speaker's
:20:05. > :20:09.handling of some of these issues but the DUP refusal to recognise the
:20:10. > :20:13.damage they are doing to public confidence in these institutions
:20:14. > :20:16.which they continued to do when they deploy that petition of concern. The
:20:17. > :20:21.use of petitions to protect their own members is a corruption of what
:20:22. > :20:29.petition of concerns were intended to do. I will finish what I am
:20:30. > :20:33.saying. It is a corruption of these institutions and something that the
:20:34. > :20:37.DUP would do well to look to. We are now to have a debate in this
:20:38. > :20:43.institution and relation to confidence in the speaker with the
:20:44. > :20:49.outcome already decided. The outcome has been frustrated regardless of
:20:50. > :20:53.every other MLA, expressing their lack of confidence, that outcome
:20:54. > :20:59.will be overturned by the use of a petition of concern, used in a
:21:00. > :21:04.corrupt fashion to protect their own by the DUP. On those grounds, I will
:21:05. > :21:09.not agree with this motion. I do not believe there is any purpose in
:21:10. > :21:12.keeping people year for debate in which the outcome is predetermined.
:21:13. > :21:18.The corruption of this institution in the eyes of the public has to
:21:19. > :21:20.stop. We should get a different the DUP return tear on the other side
:21:21. > :21:22.the election. Conor Murphy. We did have some regular
:21:23. > :21:26.business today and amongst it was Question Time for the Finance
:21:27. > :21:28.Minister. It's likely to be the last time
:21:29. > :21:30.for quite some time that Mairtin O Muilleoir faces
:21:31. > :21:33.the Assembly, and it was no surprise that the ongoing problems
:21:34. > :21:43.at Stormont dominated exchanges. The minister is good at running
:21:44. > :21:48.around and telling other ministers what they should be doing but I
:21:49. > :21:52.would put it to you, your number one duty is to produce a budget. We are
:21:53. > :21:58.facing a situation where there will be no budget. This will have a
:21:59. > :22:03.profound impact for example on the Department of Health. I am asking
:22:04. > :22:07.you what other contingencies in place to prevent a detrimental
:22:08. > :22:12.impact on public services? It is a great pity that my colleagues and
:22:13. > :22:17.the other side of the chamber did not consider this before Christmas
:22:18. > :22:20.when they became subsumed in covering up RHI and refuse to allow
:22:21. > :22:28.the public the investigation they were entitled to. It is a pity the
:22:29. > :22:31.DUP did not consider the institutions given their attacks on
:22:32. > :22:39.the Irish language and Irish identity. It is a great pity that
:22:40. > :22:45.before Christmas when I met the DUP ministers and discuss their budget,
:22:46. > :22:50.what happened? It was not my party who had a former minister on his
:22:51. > :22:58.knees in a TV studio praying to tell the truth. It was the DUP who became
:22:59. > :23:04.consumed with RHI and discussions since then have not resigned. So the
:23:05. > :23:08.blame for where we are this day and the fact that credibility is drained
:23:09. > :23:20.from these institutions does not lie with any other party in this
:23:21. > :23:24.Assembly but my colleagues opposite. Could the minister give an
:23:25. > :23:28.assessment on what he thinks the economic impact will be to Northern
:23:29. > :23:33.Ireland on the antics and catastrophic mess the DUP, Sinn Fein
:23:34. > :23:46.government have done -- provided during this last mandate? There must
:23:47. > :23:50.be an election coming and I hope and trust that all those who have spoken
:23:51. > :23:58.today do very well in that election. When we go to the doors, the people
:23:59. > :24:04.will ask one pertinent question, they will seed did you stand for
:24:05. > :24:10.equality? Did you stand against the disrespect shown to our ethnic
:24:11. > :24:14.minorities and the LG BT community and to the disrespect shown to the
:24:15. > :24:21.Irish language community? Did you stand up for tolerance, and mutual
:24:22. > :24:30.respect? When that question is asked, I am convinced that we will
:24:31. > :24:32.be able to answer positively to the public and the public will respond
:24:33. > :24:37.So, three hours before the election was officially called it seemed
:24:38. > :24:40.there was talk of little else in the chamber -
:24:41. > :24:42.and Emma Little Pengelly continued on the attack
:24:43. > :24:43.as the Health Minister, Michelle O'Neill, rose
:24:44. > :24:51.What representations did you make to the Deputy first Minister bed rather
:24:52. > :24:55.than resign when he did, he should wait and a lower budget to be put
:24:56. > :24:59.down an order for your department and all the people who need to use
:25:00. > :25:05.health services get their help and support they need when they needed
:25:06. > :25:12.it? Mark McGuinness said the right thing, he was no longer prepared to
:25:13. > :25:15.lead his party and a government who are not interested in equality and
:25:16. > :25:20.mutual respect. Our position is clear. I want to be at my desk to
:25:21. > :25:27.drive forward health care but I will not be in a government where the DUP
:25:28. > :25:30.are not interested in equality. We cannot be in government but the
:25:31. > :25:39.party only clear that certain people in certain sections of society, not
:25:40. > :25:43.good enough. Supplementary. I think sadly we have heard and Minister for
:25:44. > :25:47.health reading of a Sinn Fein election cue card rather than caring
:25:48. > :25:52.about the many thousands of people who will be impacted by the lack of
:25:53. > :25:54.budget. The health department will be starting this financial year
:25:55. > :26:01.without a budget and planning and that will impact on those most in
:26:02. > :26:06.need. The responsibility lies with you is Minister of this department,
:26:07. > :26:10.you cannot duck those responsibilities to ensure there was
:26:11. > :26:14.a budget in place. What contingencies have you put in place
:26:15. > :26:20.to insure public services in health are not impacted detrimentally?
:26:21. > :26:24.There is a crisis of confidence in these institutions. People do not
:26:25. > :26:29.trust the DUP so I absolutely think Mark McGuinness took the right
:26:30. > :26:33.decision and it is now up to the public to have their estate. --
:26:34. > :26:38.Mairtin O Muilleoir McGuinness. Our track record speaks for itself. In
:26:39. > :26:44.terms of putting equality at the core of our department. We would
:26:45. > :26:48.only be in this Executive and returned to these institutions if
:26:49. > :26:50.there is equality embedded in the call of these institutions.
:26:51. > :26:52.Michelle O'Neill - and Alex Kane is here for a final word.
:26:53. > :26:55.As far as Sinn Fein's motion of no confidence in the Speaker,
:26:56. > :27:00.Robin Newton, is concerned - you couldn't have made it up.
:27:01. > :27:07.You couldn't have made it up. I think even they realise that and
:27:08. > :27:13.decided there is no point going through with this. It could not
:27:14. > :27:18.succeed? It could not and it was an abuse of the house. You cannot have
:27:19. > :27:22.a serious debate about complaints against the speaker because we have
:27:23. > :27:27.protected them. It took away the nonsense that the speaker was
:27:28. > :27:35.neutral. It was the DUP concern. Sinn Fein said we're not going to
:27:36. > :27:40.indulge out in this. A couple of days of debate in the chamber ahead
:27:41. > :27:45.of us. But we know now if we come back after the 2nd of March that.
:27:46. > :27:48.But we know now if we come back after the 2nd of March that.
:27:49. > :27:51.There will be wholesale change in terms of the make-up
:27:52. > :27:54.of the chamber no matter what happens - and already we know
:27:55. > :27:56.that Cat Seeley and Catriona Ruane won't be coming back.
:27:57. > :28:00.It is interesting in the case of Cat Seeley because she is one of the
:28:01. > :28:07.younger ones and she is only in there. If then some sort of message.
:28:08. > :28:10.She has a full-time teaching job. She has chosen that auction. She has
:28:11. > :28:17.given up the political career so she will not come back and abandon a
:28:18. > :28:23.teaching career. It is sad to say ago, she was one of the better
:28:24. > :28:31.younger ones. In terms of the five into six, better off. You can maybe
:28:32. > :28:38.bank 40 or 50 as certainties. It will be very chaotic but it will be
:28:39. > :28:42.fascinating to nerds like us. You cannot be sure very much. It will be
:28:43. > :28:46.great for those of us who like to put bet on. We look forward to it.
:28:47. > :28:50.Thank you very much as ever. The Assembly is sitting tomorrow
:28:51. > :28:52.and we'll have a Stormont Today So for now, from everyone
:28:53. > :29:03.in the team - good night! The View holds politicians to
:29:04. > :29:06.account and we ask the questions that our audiences
:29:07. > :29:09.want answers to. We reflect what's happening in the
:29:10. > :29:13.political world but I think we also set the agenda in the interviews
:29:14. > :29:16.that we conduct on the programme. I always assume that an interviewee
:29:17. > :29:19.is telling the truth but the question is,
:29:20. > :29:23.is that necessarily the whole truth? One of the key things about The View
:29:24. > :29:26.is Commentators Corner. A great breadth of knowledge and
:29:27. > :29:29.a context to the political conversation that's
:29:30. > :29:33.just taken place.