:00:30. > :00:35.coming up, the slurry tank tragedy that claimed the lives of three
:00:35. > :00:40.members of the Spencer family dominated MLAs thought up the start
:00:40. > :00:44.of proceedings. As we visited the home, the sense of shock of the
:00:44. > :00:48.entire community was palpable. Enterprise Minister acknowledges
:00:49. > :00:53.the difficulties faced by those losing their jobs at F G Wilson.
:00:53. > :01:02.And which MLA was named and shamed after not turning up on time in the
:01:02. > :01:05.chamber? MLAs from all parties united to pay
:01:05. > :01:10.tribute to the three members of the Spencer family from Hillsborough
:01:10. > :01:19.who died at the weekend after being overcome by fumes in a slurry tank.
:01:19. > :01:23.Edwin Poots knew the dead man well. I had known them for over 30 years.
:01:23. > :01:29.They went to the same church as myself and they used to help out in
:01:29. > :01:33.the youth club. I used to take Mr Craig to that youth club. As a
:01:33. > :01:38.family, they have been well known throughout the Community. Graham
:01:38. > :01:43.came home to work on their successful farm. Nevin Spence
:01:43. > :01:48.helped out on the farm when he was not playing rugby for Ulster. He
:01:48. > :01:53.had come to be very well known for his skill on the rugby field. But I
:01:53. > :02:01.think whilst Ulster will replace a centre, maybe not as good as Nevin
:02:01. > :02:10.Spence, they will never replace him in the home, or the brother of the
:02:10. > :02:16.-- the brother or the Sun, or the husband or the father. As we
:02:16. > :02:20.visited their home yesterday, the sense of shock in the entire
:02:20. > :02:26.community was palpable. Can I start by also extending my sympathy and
:02:26. > :02:30.that of Sinn Fein to the family. The tragic events of Saturday
:02:30. > :02:36.evening have shot not just the farming community but also the
:02:36. > :02:39.sporting community. -- have that shocked. But wider in the community,
:02:39. > :02:44.people are just shocked. Our thoughts are with the family and
:02:44. > :02:48.one can only imagine the impact that this tragic loss of life is
:02:48. > :02:52.happening -- is having. Farm safety is an issue that we take very
:02:52. > :02:57.seriously and we need to take the opportunity to raise awareness.
:02:57. > :03:00.Earlier this year, myself and Mr Foster watched a far as safety
:03:00. > :03:04.partnership to attempt to highlight the dangers and pick up on some of
:03:04. > :03:08.the facts we are aware of. Farming is one of the most dangerous
:03:08. > :03:14.occupations. Tributes to the three members of the Spencer family whose
:03:14. > :03:18.death at the weekend struck a chord with MLAs at Stormont. Job losses
:03:19. > :03:23.at the engineering firm up F G Wilson dominated the Enterprise
:03:23. > :03:29.Minister's time in the chamber. Most of the 160 jobs will go in
:03:29. > :03:32.lauren. Caterpillar have made it clear that their decision was not a
:03:32. > :03:35.reflection on the scales, productivity or flexibility of the
:03:35. > :03:40.workforce. I am encouraged that for the employees affected, the company
:03:40. > :03:43.is striving to reduce some of the impact by offering an enhanced
:03:43. > :03:47.voluntary redundancy package and will help to redeploy displaced
:03:47. > :03:54.workers by providing training or on new skill sets of partnering with
:03:54. > :03:57.potential employers to host job fairs. For its part, Invest
:03:57. > :04:01.Northern Ireland has been in discussion with senior executives
:04:01. > :04:05.to develop a joint approach to assisting the employees as far as
:04:05. > :04:10.possible. In addition, I am able to announce a positive and welcome
:04:10. > :04:16.development today. Members will be aware that Invest Northern Ireland
:04:16. > :04:19.has not been in a position to invest -- fully support new
:04:19. > :04:23.businesses due to a legal challenge launched following the original
:04:23. > :04:26.procurement exercise. As a consequence, a further 10 per
:04:26. > :04:31.contra -- tender competition was held and the outcome of this has
:04:31. > :04:34.been advised today. As with all such exercises, there will follow a
:04:34. > :04:38.ten-day period before the contract becomes operational and the
:04:38. > :04:42.successful tenderer can begin to deliver the contract. This means
:04:42. > :04:44.that after a period of over a year of being unable to provide a full
:04:44. > :04:49.support service to individuals interested in starting their own
:04:49. > :04:54.business, we will shortly be in a position to reintroduce a new
:04:55. > :05:00.business Start programme. In recent years, we have worked closely with
:05:00. > :05:06.caterpillar management to focus on new business opportunities. The
:05:06. > :05:10.company will continue to manufacture high value products in
:05:10. > :05:13.Northern Ireland that can be continued to be manufactured on a
:05:13. > :05:17.competitive basis locally. We have been successful in attracting
:05:17. > :05:22.various elements of the company's support functions to Northern
:05:22. > :05:27.Ireland thanks to the skills of our workforce. As a result we have 200
:05:27. > :05:31.people employed supporting Caterpillar's IT functions. The
:05:31. > :05:36.company have confirmed that as a consequence of the announcement, if
:05:36. > :05:39.they have a financial liability, they will honour it. The a
:05:39. > :05:44.Enterprise Minister on the challenges posed by the job losses
:05:45. > :05:52.announced by F G Wilson. Martina Purdy is with me. There has
:05:52. > :05:56.been a development this evening. Yes. It was described as a very
:05:56. > :06:01.bleak day by the First Minister. Really, it could turn into a brief
:06:01. > :06:06.-- bleak months and bleak years for many families. Tonight, Sinn Fein
:06:06. > :06:11.announced that it had met with the employment minister, a delegation
:06:11. > :06:13.led by Jennifer McCann from Belfast, trying to find out exactly what
:06:13. > :06:19.opportunities and support were available for workers losing their
:06:19. > :06:25.jobs and promising more meetings. Let us talk about education. It has
:06:25. > :06:32.been a dramatic day for Education in London that could have major
:06:32. > :06:36.repercussions over here. That's right. Michael Gove seems to have
:06:36. > :06:41.blind-sided the education ministers in both Wales and Northern Ireland.
:06:41. > :06:46.George O'Dowd said he was not consulted on the fact that Michael
:06:46. > :06:51.Gove was replacing the GCSE year 12 exam with an English Baccalaureate
:06:52. > :06:56.certificate. He says that this is effectively devaluing the GCSE here.
:06:56. > :06:59.He said he had some decisions to make. I think we will be looking at
:06:59. > :07:03.radical changes in education as a consequence. And is there any
:07:03. > :07:07.suggestion as to whether or not there is an inevitability about us
:07:07. > :07:10.having to follow the lead given by Michael Gove today? We do not have
:07:10. > :07:14.to. We are a devolved administration but when the
:07:14. > :07:18.Education Minister says that the GCSE exam has been devalued, it is
:07:18. > :07:25.clear were here is setting and it is heading towards a new exam. --
:07:25. > :07:29.it is clear where he is heading. There is a divide between England,
:07:29. > :07:33.Wales and Northern Ireland. Scotland does not have a GCSE.
:07:33. > :07:38.Wales and Northern Ireland were affected. John O'Dowd said he was
:07:38. > :07:41.not consulted. It was Michael Gove's right to pursue whatever
:07:41. > :07:45.direction he wants to. It is no secret that the Education Secretary
:07:45. > :07:50.does not think highly of GCSEs. He thinks they have been going
:07:50. > :07:54.downhill. The announcement today that the new certificate was coming
:07:54. > :07:59.in did surprise John O'Dowd. He said he is going to have to look at
:07:59. > :08:04.it. Finally, one week on from the announcement on the Maze
:08:04. > :08:07.Development Corporation, the Bristol controversy. Effectively,
:08:07. > :08:13.it should have been a straightforward announcement. --
:08:13. > :08:17.there is still controversy. If we were given scant information about
:08:17. > :08:21.to the 10 members were going to be. All we got was a cursory
:08:21. > :08:24.declaration of interest. We were not given biographies. I was try to
:08:25. > :08:34.figure out if there were women on the board. The only clue I had was
:08:35. > :08:35.
:08:35. > :08:38.that there was an unusual spelling of the word's Terry. -- the name
:08:38. > :08:42.Terry Scott. I was initially told it could not be given information
:08:42. > :08:47.because of data protection. By Friday night, after some research,
:08:47. > :08:49.the full disclosure came. Five pages of information from the
:08:49. > :08:53.office of the First and Deputy First Minister. The commissioner
:08:53. > :08:57.was critical of the way that the situation was handled, and we were
:08:57. > :09:00.told this was down to administrative error. I can tell
:09:00. > :09:04.you that Jim Allister has tabled a number of questions and he is
:09:04. > :09:11.asking how this process was undertaken and how these people
:09:11. > :09:16.came to be appointed. I think the controversy might run and run.
:09:16. > :09:19.questions to the officer of the Deputy Minister -- First and Deputy
:09:19. > :09:20.First Minister were to be answered by Peter Robinson but it fell to
:09:20. > :09:24.the Junior Minister to answer questions about the legal
:09:24. > :09:32.definition of marriage. There are no plans to change the definition
:09:32. > :09:37.of marriage in Northern Ireland. To do so would require the agreement
:09:37. > :09:42.of the Executive. Parties on the Executive are hopelessly divided in
:09:42. > :09:46.terms of a position in relation to that. The DUP is her be clear that
:09:46. > :09:53.the see gay marriage as an oxymoron and they see marriage between a man
:09:53. > :09:56.and the women. -- the do you see is very clear. The Alliance Party is
:09:56. > :10:01.united in their position of support for gay marriage and if you want to
:10:01. > :10:05.hear both sides of the argument, you can ask Mike Nesbitt, because
:10:05. > :10:14.depending on which of the MLAs used the two, one will agree with you
:10:14. > :10:19.and another will not. -- which of the MLAs you speak to. Can I ask
:10:19. > :10:23.him about his own business? Can I ask him whether he believes that
:10:23. > :10:26.the delay in the production of a sexual orientation strategy is
:10:26. > :10:32.successful, and if he can give a commitment to the House that it
:10:32. > :10:38.will definitively be published by the end of this year? I had been
:10:38. > :10:48.clear from the first time I spoke on the topic from this dispatch box
:10:48. > :10:48.
:10:48. > :10:51.that we will seek to have the draft orientation strategy, based on the
:10:51. > :10:54.original Timeline. We hope to have that out by the end of this year.
:10:54. > :10:58.One of the commitments in our programme for government is to
:10:58. > :11:02.press for the devolution of corporation tax, setting powers,
:11:02. > :11:10.and to reduce its level. Cost is an important issue and this needs to
:11:10. > :11:14.be affordable if it is to work. -- tax setting powers. The working
:11:14. > :11:17.group will meet again in London on 18th October with a view to
:11:17. > :11:21.resolving the outstanding issues. The United Kingdom government will
:11:21. > :11:25.then decide whether the Executive should be offered the opportunity
:11:25. > :11:29.to take responsibility for corporation tax setting. Over the
:11:29. > :11:33.summer had the privilege to visit the commission four times and
:11:33. > :11:36.clearly the commission's determinations demonstrated that
:11:36. > :11:41.they are discredited, out of touch and part of the problem, not the
:11:41. > :11:47.solution. Does the First Minister agree that the real anger in the
:11:47. > :11:57.Unionist community is as to how the loyal orders are treated and how
:11:57. > :11:59.
:11:59. > :12:03.those in the Republican community are treated? I think it is worth
:12:03. > :12:06.saying -- it is worth saying that I've heard complaints about the
:12:06. > :12:10.parades commission from all sections of our community and
:12:10. > :12:14.clearly people have been unhappy with decisions that have been taken.
:12:14. > :12:19.At the same time, I think we recognise that there is a need for
:12:19. > :12:24.us to have a mechanism to deal with parades, particularly where there
:12:24. > :12:27.is dispute. We are committed that we are going to lift this issue off
:12:27. > :12:31.the shelf and see if we can get Community agreement. It is
:12:31. > :12:38.essential that we get a way forward that has support across the
:12:38. > :12:43.Community. The shelf of Shelvey strategies must be pretty heavy
:12:43. > :12:48.these days. -- shelved strategies. Regardless of one's personal view,
:12:48. > :12:55.can he make it clear that it is incumbent for every member of a
:12:55. > :13:00.democratic society to respect the rule of law? I think it is a bit
:13:00. > :13:05.rich coming from someone who walked away from taking decisions on
:13:05. > :13:09.matters to be lecturing anybody about decisions that are on a shelf.
:13:09. > :13:14.As far as respect for the rule of law, that is something that all of
:13:14. > :13:19.us in this House should be upholding, and encourage everyone
:13:20. > :13:23.else to do so. It came to an update on the historical abuse inquiry,
:13:23. > :13:26.and it was a junior minister, Jonathan Bell, who brought MLAs up
:13:26. > :13:36.to date. He said over the summer there has been significant progress
:13:36. > :13:43.
:13:43. > :13:49.This will allow those who suffered in institutions as children to
:13:49. > :13:55.register to have their experiences hurt by the acknowledgement forum.
:13:55. > :14:03.It will also be as significant moment for victims and survivors.
:14:03. > :14:08.Can I ask the Minister if he can confirm that there is no intention
:14:08. > :14:15.to consider or treat those victims of abuse which occurred outside the
:14:15. > :14:22.terms of the inquiry has in any way second class. There is absolutely
:14:22. > :14:28.no intention, nor would I allow that to happen. For 21 years of my
:14:28. > :14:34.life, every working day I worked with the victims of child sexual
:14:34. > :14:42.abuse in social services. Sadly, of the hundreds of those children that
:14:42. > :14:49.I Delworth, and adults, there is a protocol, criminal investigation
:14:49. > :14:54.and criminal compensation continues. The reason the inquiry was
:14:54. > :15:00.established was specifically because there were many people who
:15:01. > :15:07.could not go home to a mum or dad or step mum or whoever they carer
:15:07. > :15:13.was, when abuse occurred, they could not go back x side of the
:15:13. > :15:18.environment where the abuse occurred. For people in residential
:15:18. > :15:20.and state care, they had nobody to go to and that is the specific
:15:20. > :15:24.reason why the Historical Institutional Abuse Inquiry is
:15:24. > :15:27.dealing directly with those people. Meantime, a new railway halt at
:15:27. > :15:30.Ballykelly and the work on the line between Coleraine and Londonderry
:15:30. > :15:40.topped the agenda for questions to the Regional Development Minister,
:15:40. > :15:41.
:15:41. > :15:46.Danny Kennedy. My Department has not received any approaches for a
:15:46. > :15:50.new rail link to the headquarters at Ballykelly. If such an option is
:15:51. > :15:55.to be considered, a business case would be required to test the
:15:55. > :16:00.commercial viability and funding would need to be found. There is no
:16:00. > :16:08.funding in my department in the current budget for a station at the
:16:08. > :16:14.Ballykelly side. I believe the minister is aware in my interests
:16:14. > :16:23.in the upgrade of the Coleraine to Londonderry line as a whole. It was
:16:23. > :16:28.welcome news for the relocation of the headquarters to Ballykelly. It
:16:28. > :16:35.would benefit the workforce and the wider local economy give some
:16:35. > :16:43.funding could be found. grateful for his interest in this
:16:43. > :16:47.particular issue. I have clearly outlined that both myself and my
:16:47. > :16:54.department were and sited in terms of the announcement made by the
:16:54. > :16:59.minister, announcing the relocation of the Department of Agriculture
:16:59. > :17:06.and Rural Development. We have not had any conversations or
:17:06. > :17:15.correspondence on the issue. If such a request is made, we will
:17:15. > :17:20.seek to co-operate. The next question is number two, and the
:17:20. > :17:26.number is not in her place. If they're not here in the chamber,
:17:26. > :17:36.they will be named in the chamber. Let us move on. Question number
:17:36. > :17:40.three, please. Can I say in respect of questioned two, I had lots of
:17:40. > :17:43.questions ready! It was really good! The Regional Development
:17:43. > :17:46.Minister, Danny Kennedy, in jocular form after that rap on the knuckles
:17:46. > :17:49.for the missing MLA, Dolores Kelly. Later this afternoon MLAs debated a
:17:49. > :17:57.motion tabled by the DUP's Gregory Campbell, seeking an apology from
:17:57. > :18:06.the Irish government for its alleged role in the Troubles.
:18:06. > :18:12.we are doing is saying to Mr Kenney, to the Irish Republic's government,
:18:12. > :18:18.you acted as a midwife at the birth of the monster that we had to deal
:18:18. > :18:23.with for 30 years. It took 30 years to defeat and his song that monster,
:18:23. > :18:28.but eventually that was accomplished. What we want now is
:18:28. > :18:32.to try and bring closure to people who suffered for those 30 years,
:18:32. > :18:36.what we want is for you to acknowledge and it said that there
:18:36. > :18:43.was a part that was played by the government in that emerging force,
:18:43. > :18:46.and to apologise for it. We were then closed the book and move on.
:18:46. > :18:51.did not know of any Republican who would not say that there was not
:18:51. > :18:56.fault on all sides. There were many protagonists and there were those
:18:56. > :19:01.who created the conditions of conflict that eventually erupted. I
:19:01. > :19:06.lay there to add 50 years of misrule and denial of democratic
:19:06. > :19:12.rights by the old Stormont government, in which the Unionists
:19:12. > :19:17.had one-party rule for far too long. I make a plea to Unionists, letters
:19:17. > :19:21.get real, and at the start to engage on the truth, the whole of
:19:21. > :19:28.the truth. The role of the old Stormont government cannot be left
:19:28. > :19:31.out of it. The role of the British government. There are many
:19:31. > :19:39.elections than they were involved in for which there is complete
:19:39. > :19:48.denial. Joining me to discuss that motion is Gregory Campbell of the
:19:48. > :19:52.DUP. The argument is that it is partial and partisan. What does
:19:52. > :19:58.seeking to do is to open up the concept of dealing with the past.
:19:58. > :20:02.What we have had is a series of inquiries, inquests, there have
:20:02. > :20:08.been numerous opportunities for various Provisional IRA
:20:08. > :20:12.spokespersons to end up to one they did. Each and everyone has declined.
:20:12. > :20:20.The Deputy First Minister, on the Bloody Sunday inquiry, pleaded the
:20:20. > :20:25.Fifth Amendment. We want to move it on to the government of the Irish
:20:25. > :20:29.Republic, he were at the birth of the Provisionals, and so, when
:20:29. > :20:36.you're a dollars the part that you played and the subsequent movement
:20:36. > :20:41.across the border of IRA activists? How can Enda Kenny apologise for
:20:41. > :20:46.something that his government played no part in? His predecessor
:20:47. > :20:52.government was the one that set aside �100,000, half of which was
:20:53. > :20:57.used to put your arms for the fledgling IRA. If you can get the
:20:58. > :21:03.British Prime Minister Tony Blair apologising for the famine, of all
:21:03. > :21:07.things, why are unearthed cannot Enda Kenny say this is a much more
:21:08. > :21:14.relevant and recent phenomenon, and I would like to acknowledge the
:21:14. > :21:18.part that we played. Does it not play into the hands of the IRA and
:21:19. > :21:22.the republican family in suggesting that it had the backing an active
:21:22. > :21:27.involvement of a sovereign government? No, I think what it
:21:27. > :21:32.does do is bring us back to the real politics of 1969, which was
:21:32. > :21:37.that the small number of ministers in the Cabinet at the time colluded
:21:37. > :21:42.to finance the Provisional IRA. as individuals, not as
:21:42. > :21:47.representatives of the government. There is conflicting evidence about
:21:47. > :21:50.that. But I think Enda Kenny could make a clean breast of it, by
:21:50. > :21:55.saying, what ever happened, however it happened, our government should
:21:55. > :22:03.not have done the things that they did. And there are things that they
:22:03. > :22:09.did not do that they should have done. It will be a clean breast, we
:22:09. > :22:16.have to acknowledge it, apologise, and move beyond. Does it not
:22:16. > :22:25.overlooked the fact that on the streets of Northern Ireland -- on
:22:25. > :22:34.the streets of the Republic of Ireland, gardai were being killed
:22:34. > :22:39.by members of the IRA? Yes, we have to admit our mistakes as well.
:22:39. > :22:43.now, why all of a sudden the one this apology? We have been working
:22:43. > :22:48.on this for the last few years. We have had repeated attempts at
:22:48. > :22:52.inquiries and inquests and wishing to get nowhere in other than
:22:52. > :23:00.pursuing the police and the army, so let us see what the governor
:23:00. > :23:02.that helped to form the IRA have to say about their role?
:23:02. > :23:04."Serious weaknesses" in management of Northern Ireland Housing
:23:04. > :23:08.Executive contracts - that's what an Audit Office report revealed
:23:08. > :23:10.earlier this month. Well last week it was the turn of the Housing
:23:10. > :23:13.Executive management to appear before the Public Accounts
:23:13. > :23:15.Committee to defend the organisation. The company's Chief
:23:15. > :23:25.Executive described examples in the 100 page report as "embarrassing",
:23:25. > :23:27.
:23:27. > :23:33.as we'll hear now in our weekly look at committee business.
:23:33. > :23:41.There were the paper structures and other issues. A lot of issues were
:23:42. > :23:46.not being done correctly. The Office of governance and, has made
:23:46. > :23:56.the point that these contracts were wrong, they were not fit for
:23:56. > :24:05.purpose. They were coming from the early phase. They were not the
:24:05. > :24:14.tight, clear contracts so you need to implement. A key element Anki
:24:14. > :24:23.focus was to ensure that we got a change in contracts -- key element.
:24:23. > :24:27.That has taken longer than we would have liked. But I'm glad to say
:24:27. > :24:33.that from August of this year, a new, much tighter contracts are in
:24:33. > :24:39.place. This report depicts what can only be described as a complete
:24:39. > :24:45.breakdown in control other top of the organisation. Indeed, there are
:24:45. > :24:52.serious questions over a number of points. The nature and quality of
:24:52. > :24:58.information going to the board. The handling of internal audit and
:24:58. > :25:04.inspection report. Over 280 identified breaches of standing
:25:04. > :25:10.orders. And a significant issues not being brought to attention of
:25:10. > :25:16.the Board of presented in a way there was not appropriate. So, and
:25:16. > :25:22.my question to you, to the panel, where does the buck stop on this?
:25:22. > :25:30.We accept there have been mistakes made. We are not here to make
:25:30. > :25:34.excuses about that. I am here to account for the actions of the
:25:34. > :25:39.organisation but my focus is principally about taking this
:25:39. > :25:43.forward, addressing the shortcomings, and making this right.
:25:43. > :25:47.Higher offer a number of observations about clearing of
:25:47. > :25:52.internal audit report. It is regrettable, I am bears to be here
:25:52. > :25:57.before this committee, and there are examples in report were order
:25:57. > :26:02.reports were not dealt with in a timely way. Since becoming chief
:26:02. > :26:09.Executive I have made it clear to my colleagues that it is exempt
:26:09. > :26:19.will to challenge an order report, it is not acceptable to use it as a
:26:19. > :26:19.
:26:19. > :26:25.means for not progressing report. You have to judge us by our actions.
:26:25. > :26:28.We do have a programme of work in hand but we're not naive about that.
:26:28. > :26:33.We have realised that solving this problem is not just about
:26:33. > :26:36.initiatives. It is about being vigilant moving forward and there
:26:36. > :26:43.except that the Housing Executive has perhaps not put the effort into
:26:43. > :26:49.making sure that it has remained vigilant. How many disciplinary
:26:49. > :26:54.procedures have there been and how many are on going? In the context
:26:54. > :27:00.of, for example, up Red Sky case- study, we had 29 people who have
:27:00. > :27:05.been interviewed and assess through the disciplinary process. Eight
:27:05. > :27:10.people have received formal disciplinary penalties. How serious
:27:10. > :27:14.were they? The most serious is a file written warning, which means
:27:14. > :27:17.that if it happens again there would be automatic dismissal.
:27:17. > :27:20.McPeake, Chief Executive of the Housing Executive, ending our look
:27:20. > :27:28.at committee business. Now, a final word from Martina, who's still with
:27:28. > :27:34.me. This evening's debate about the Irish government role in the
:27:34. > :27:39.Troubles. Sorry, it seemed, is the hardest word. There was a very
:27:39. > :27:44.emotional debate, a very lively debate, and a tone of debate there
:27:44. > :27:48.you have not seen in the Assembly for some time. They tend to try to
:27:48. > :27:54.keep its very measured. So these frictions and tensions over the
:27:54. > :28:02.past 10 to be kept to a minimum. It was interesting to see some of the
:28:02. > :28:07.language being used, quite emotive language. And for DUP will be
:28:07. > :28:15.pleased because it got the motion through. The motion did pass, as