:00:31. > :00:37.Hello. Welcome to Stormont Today. Well lady gatpwa may be coming to
:00:37. > :00:41.Belfast for the MT -- Lady GaGa may be coming to Belfast for the MTV
:00:41. > :00:48.awards. Given there is a forecast of severe
:00:48. > :00:53.winter to come this winter. I say that almost everywhere I go now I
:00:53. > :00:58.am met with dark predictions of weather conditions. The members
:00:58. > :01:02.would have money to burn to keep them warm. In the best and worst of
:01:02. > :01:06.times, the numeration for politicians will always be
:01:06. > :01:13.controversial. It is simple to understand why. With me throughout
:01:13. > :01:18.the programme is Fiona McCausland, from the Anti-Poverty Network.
:01:18. > :01:22.Heating or eating - that's a choice we hear many people are making.
:01:22. > :01:25.When Edwina Currie cast doubt on it at the weekend she caused uproar.
:01:25. > :01:29.What levels of poverty do we experience here in Northern
:01:29. > :01:32.Ireland? Is the former Tory MP out of step?
:01:32. > :01:36.Fiona McCausland from, the Anti- Poverty Network can give us her
:01:36. > :01:43.views. Is she out of step? Is she wrong? Well the people we talk to
:01:43. > :01:49.and the people who are experiencing poverty at the sharp end, they are
:01:49. > :01:55.making the choices between eating a hot meal or putting an extra bar on
:01:55. > :01:58.the fire. It is a reality for many people. It is not a cliche. It is a
:01:58. > :02:02.living reality. That reality will hit more and more people. People
:02:02. > :02:07.who were not in poverty last year or in poverty this year. Those
:02:07. > :02:12.numbers will grow next year. Last year, nearly 700 older people died
:02:12. > :02:17.because of lack of heating. That figure is expected to double this
:02:17. > :02:22.year. Yet, our Government has cut the Winter Fuel Payments that could
:02:22. > :02:26.help make the difference between life and death. Is there a lack of
:02:26. > :02:30.appreciation and lack of compassion among some people? Edwina Currie,
:02:30. > :02:36.presumably isn't alone in her views? There's a very powerful
:02:36. > :02:43.voice come from some of the press in London, putting blame on people
:02:43. > :02:47.who are most vulnerable such as migrant workers, lone parents, even
:02:47. > :02:52.older people. That tactic must stop because people will die and we have
:02:53. > :02:56.to become a more compassionate society. We have to become a more
:02:56. > :03:00.equal society. Do we have greater poverty in Northern Ireland
:03:00. > :03:06.compared to the rest of the UK or compared to the republic? Yes, we
:03:06. > :03:13.do. We are a community emerge from conflict. Conflict is fuelled by
:03:13. > :03:18.poverty, where there's a grievance, where there is an identity or an
:03:18. > :03:23.issue around borders. It's proven that poverty does cause conflict,
:03:23. > :03:28.not just on its own, but with those other factors interfacing.
:03:28. > :03:31.Following the conflict it is typical that persistent child
:03:31. > :03:36.poverty, that is children living in poverty for a long period of time,
:03:36. > :03:40.that is more common and that is an example of what happens in post
:03:40. > :03:45.conflict societies throughout the world. And Northern Ireland does
:03:45. > :03:49.experience that level of persistent child poverty. Fiona, stay with us.
:03:49. > :03:52.Plenty more to talk about later. With reports of snow in some parts
:03:52. > :03:56.today, it was good timing that the issue of treating roads and
:03:56. > :04:00.footpaths should come up in questions to the Regional
:04:00. > :04:04.Development Minister. Question Time was dominated by weather issues as
:04:04. > :04:07.the Social Development Minister was quizzed on warm homes. We start
:04:07. > :04:12.with regional development and good news for pedestrians. As the
:04:12. > :04:16.members are aware, there's no legal responsibility for either councils
:04:16. > :04:20.or road service to treat footpaths with salt or grit during adverse
:04:20. > :04:25.weather. However, my department's road service has held a series of
:04:26. > :04:32.meeting with representatives and the society of local authority
:04:32. > :04:36.chief executives throughout the months. I personally attended the
:04:36. > :04:40.first of these meet after which the executive continues the
:04:40. > :04:44.negotiations on my behalf. It was to establish a consensus on a
:04:44. > :04:47.number of points of principal which could be used as a basis for
:04:48. > :04:53.negotiations between road service and councils, relating to the
:04:53. > :04:57.removal of snow and ice from busy town centre footwells during
:04:57. > :05:04.prolonged periods of wintry weather. And pleased that agreement has been
:05:04. > :05:08.reached, providing a willingness to provide a service to local rate
:05:08. > :05:14.payers. Road service has incorporated these points into a
:05:14. > :05:19.draft amendment, which can be used to take account of preferences.
:05:19. > :05:23.They are going to all councils to have this in place for this coming
:05:23. > :05:28.winter season. It should be stressed that under these efforts
:05:28. > :05:33.the focus will be on the busiest footwears as it would not be
:05:33. > :05:38.possible to treat them on a wide- spread basis. In addition to the
:05:38. > :05:43.2012 budget, to deal with the anticipated server weather, it does
:05:43. > :05:51.earmark funds to provide a salting service with the aim of helping
:05:51. > :05:57.main road traffic to move freely in winter conditions. Could the
:05:57. > :06:00.minister tell us if the executive has any discussions with him
:06:00. > :06:05.regarding additional budget? If there was additional money
:06:05. > :06:09.available, whether this would allow salt to be provided to council and
:06:09. > :06:13.to provide to council staff to do the work? A member for his
:06:13. > :06:20.supplementary. Can I say that almost everywhere I go now I am met
:06:20. > :06:24.with dark predictions of weather conditions, which are likely this
:06:24. > :06:28.coming winter. Whether or not that's from the almanac or made up
:06:28. > :06:31.to make me feel uncomfortable or not, I don't know. I know the
:06:31. > :06:39.member would not be in that category any way. I am not a
:06:39. > :06:44.prophet or a son of a prophet, nor do I read the almanac. Back in 2002,
:06:44. > :06:49.there was a discussion around a service, annual service fee to
:06:49. > :06:53.participating councils. No mention of that in the points of principal.
:06:53. > :06:58.Can the minister assure us that we are going to have a working
:06:58. > :07:01.relationship between DRD and local councils, for who ever is
:07:01. > :07:06.responsible to deal with the problem? And not do, as the member
:07:06. > :07:13.there was suggesting, pass the buck to the executive? I am grateful to
:07:13. > :07:17.the member. I'm reminded that when one talks about principals of what
:07:17. > :07:21.Marks said these are my principals and if you don't like them I have
:07:21. > :07:26.some more. Nonetheless there are important principals agreed which
:07:26. > :07:30.are being reflected between section engineers and local councils. Under
:07:30. > :07:35.the agreed principals, road service will made salt available for
:07:35. > :07:40.councils free of charge. Road Service will provide man power to
:07:40. > :07:45.councils where resources permit and pass on the legal indem knitty to
:07:45. > :07:50.my department to councils and groups working on their behalf such
:07:50. > :07:59.as chambers of commercial or -- chambers of commerce.
:07:59. > :08:04.These members wanted to know about lagged pipes. A considerable amount
:08:04. > :08:09.of work has been undertaken to ensure that housing executive staff
:08:09. > :08:13.and their contractors will be in a position to respond effectively and
:08:13. > :08:19.speedily if there are severe weather conditions. Engineers are
:08:19. > :08:22.checking that all water pipes are properly insulated when they visit
:08:22. > :08:27.properties to carry out planned servicing to the systems. Any
:08:27. > :08:33.missing or damaged insulation will be replaced at that time. This will
:08:33. > :08:36.see improves to 3,800 properties. The housing executives magazine for
:08:36. > :08:42.tenants views will be issued until the end of this month and will
:08:42. > :08:45.include a full page of guidance on avoiding burst pipes, dealing
:08:45. > :08:51.frozen pipes, with those that burst, finding the cock stop in the
:08:51. > :08:56.property and what to do if you have no water. A further leaflet will be
:08:56. > :09:05.included with the magazine. I have held a meeting the housing
:09:05. > :09:13.executive to review preparations and response plans. Can I ask the
:09:13. > :09:16.minister, telephone communications was an area the housing minister
:09:16. > :09:22.has done. Has anything been done to improve this? A number of actions
:09:22. > :09:26.have been taken to improve this. Including the staff willing to
:09:26. > :09:30.respond to an emergency across the province has been enhanced A review
:09:31. > :09:34.has been undertaken of the triggers which provide a warning of a
:09:34. > :09:38.potential emergency, such as the volume of calls come into their
:09:38. > :09:42.their customer service unit and the number of calls not being answered
:09:42. > :09:46.to. Facilitate use by emergency services, public representatives
:09:46. > :09:53.and community representatives, a priority call handling system of
:09:53. > :09:58.silver numbers is now in place. When will the insulation be
:09:58. > :10:03.upgraded to modern day standards? The member will be aware of recent
:10:03. > :10:08.comments that I made in relation to the installation of double glazing
:10:08. > :10:13.in all housing executive properties. And the current situation is that
:10:13. > :10:18.60% of housing executive properties do not have double glazing only 40%
:10:18. > :10:22.do. In some constituencies, including my own the figure is at
:10:22. > :10:28.70%, in some areas it is lower. As part of the programme which will be
:10:28. > :10:31.rolled out in relation to double glazing, associated with that will
:10:31. > :10:36.be an improvement to the enhancement of the level of
:10:36. > :10:40.insulation. You need to do the two together. The fact is that under
:10:40. > :10:44.the current proposals by the executive it would be another
:10:44. > :10:52.decade before that was fully completed. That's because, over
:10:52. > :10:56.quite a number of years, the issue of double glazing and maintenance
:10:56. > :11:00.and insulation on existing problems was de-prioritised. We are re-
:11:00. > :11:03.prioritising that. I'm looking to work with the housing executive at
:11:03. > :11:08.the moment and speaking to those who have their hands on the purse
:11:08. > :11:11.strings to see what we can do. See what we can do to make sure
:11:11. > :11:15.additional money is made available to have that programme completed in
:11:15. > :11:20.a shorter period of time. One in five young people is unemployed and
:11:20. > :11:25.getting them back into work is one of the Government's priorities.
:11:25. > :11:28.Some 16-19 year olds came to Stormont Today to complain that
:11:28. > :11:33.their training project has had its funding cut. Here's the project
:11:33. > :11:36.leader. We're here because we want them to recognise what we're doing.
:11:36. > :11:43.We have a programme which is a year old. We're not here talking about
:11:43. > :11:47.this, we are talking and a model that is working. We're here to ask
:11:47. > :11:55.them to recognise and identify what we're doing and identify us for
:11:55. > :12:00.what we're doing. It's important. The kids are unique, they are
:12:00. > :12:04.different. They need that programme to match it. I have asked for ages
:12:04. > :12:08.for someone to physically come and visit the centre and see first-hand
:12:08. > :12:18.the quality of the work these guys are producing. It's as simple as
:12:18. > :12:19.
:12:19. > :12:25.that. The last two feedbacks we had was a refer -- we've been fobed off.
:12:25. > :12:28.I think there's a -- fobbed off. think there's an issue. These
:12:28. > :12:34.people have come from difficult backgrounds. They have been led up
:12:34. > :12:38.the garden path and dropped, so the committee will want to take it up.
:12:38. > :12:42.If you do have a job and if you are asked if your salary was high
:12:42. > :12:45.enough, what would you say? MLAs are being surveyed on pay and
:12:45. > :12:54.allowances. Martina Purdy asked the chair of
:12:54. > :13:01.the independent review panel if a It's within our powers to cut the
:13:01. > :13:04.salaries by 50%, either do that or increase it by 50% or more or
:13:04. > :13:08.somewhere in between. That's something which the evidence will
:13:08. > :13:14.support. We haven't gathered that evidence fully yet. Do you think
:13:14. > :13:20.their pay is too low? Currently in comparison with the other
:13:20. > :13:28.legislatures, in Wales for example, the level of pay is �53,000 per
:13:28. > :13:34.annum, in Scotland, �57,000 per annum. With �43,000, per annum,
:13:34. > :13:39.albeit for 108MLAs you might take the view there is a little headroom.
:13:39. > :13:43.What is your view now? I don't have a view. I will have a view in
:13:43. > :13:46.February. Even if the best of times or the worst of times, the level of
:13:46. > :13:51.remuneration for politicians will always be controversial. It's
:13:51. > :13:55.simple to understand why. And in terms of those MLAs who have
:13:55. > :14:00.responded to your consultation, have any said they don't want to
:14:00. > :14:07.take a pay rise? Not that I've seen. Well let's put that issue to our
:14:07. > :14:12.guest. Fiona, what do you think about the pay MLAs receive. It is
:14:12. > :14:18.significantly less than in Scotland and Wales. I mean everybody has a
:14:18. > :14:22.right to fair pay. And also pay review and to see the pay is
:14:22. > :14:27.commence rat with the skills and level of work they're carrying out.
:14:27. > :14:34.At this time, when they're imposing cuts from the coalition Government
:14:34. > :14:42.at Westminster, it would be seen as very insensitive. It is eradicate
:14:42. > :14:46.poverty day across Europe. Is it realistic to see our getting rid of
:14:46. > :14:50.poverty? Poverty is seen as abuse. So this special day comes every
:14:50. > :14:54.year. Targets have been set. Unfortunately the Government at
:14:55. > :14:58.Westminster and at Stormont do not look as if they're going to meet
:14:58. > :15:03.the targets. We'll chat more in a moment. Now small rural schools
:15:03. > :15:07.should be allowed to work together to survive Government cuts, that
:15:07. > :15:17.was Conal McDevitt's call during debate this afternoon. Teachers and
:15:17. > :15:17.
:15:17. > :15:23.parents face uncertainty over the the future with classes decided as
:15:23. > :15:26.not viable. The things putting schools under threat is a
:15:26. > :15:30.conconstituency, the fact we aren't taking decisions in the proper way
:15:30. > :15:36.at many other, in many other parts of the education governance
:15:36. > :15:42.structure. Deputy Speaker, there is a problem with premature school
:15:42. > :15:48.closures. Why should any of this be happening before the boards and the
:15:48. > :15:53.department itself is reorganised? Surely they should rationalise
:15:53. > :15:58.themselves and their costly support services before they begin to
:15:58. > :16:02.butcher our rural schools. No-one denies, least of all me, the need
:16:02. > :16:09.for maximum efficiency in the deployment of resources, but what
:16:09. > :16:13.is open to question is the process we're engaged in to achieve this.
:16:13. > :16:17.Boards appear to be jumping the gun with or without the tacit support
:16:17. > :16:21.of the department and school closures are being predetermined
:16:21. > :16:27.ahead of the audit the minister has announced. That's the perception
:16:27. > :16:33.out there with the public. That is the perception of the principals in
:16:33. > :16:38.the report I mentioned. There is one thing that I'm sure of and that
:16:38. > :16:41.is that this premature race to close schools will tear the heart
:16:41. > :16:45.out of many rural communities and will do so at a time when we need
:16:45. > :16:50.to look at schools as a community resource. I will deal with each
:16:50. > :16:57.school on the basis of need, not on the basis of creed. I will ensure
:16:57. > :17:05.there is equality of treatment for all children and young people
:17:05. > :17:10.regardless. Schools are there to meet the needs of puerp ills
:17:10. > :17:14.whether in rural or urban settings. I am determined to reshape the
:17:14. > :17:18.system to provide high quality education that can be sustained for
:17:18. > :17:22.all pupils. I understand schools carry with them emotional
:17:22. > :17:25.attachment and history. However, let's not let that cloud our
:17:25. > :17:29.decision making with emotion or history. It's our young people's
:17:29. > :17:33.futures we are dealing with. We should not blight that because we
:17:33. > :17:37.hanker after the past. With me is Mervyn Storey, chair of the
:17:37. > :17:41.Education Committee. Why did you not support the alliance motion
:17:41. > :17:47.about integrated education? Because surely that's the DUP's vision?
:17:47. > :17:56.think the DUP's vision is for shared education. Therecy -- there
:17:56. > :18:01.is a difference. It has created considerable difficulties
:18:01. > :18:05.particularly for the control sector. We wanted to ensure that we have a
:18:05. > :18:10.debate which focuses around the needs of schools and this debate
:18:10. > :18:14.today was an important debate because there's huge amount of fear,
:18:14. > :18:17.concern and suspicion with parents and teachers right across Northern
:18:17. > :18:22.Ireland, about what their future is. I think the debate today was
:18:22. > :18:26.extremely useful to have those issues aired. What is that future?
:18:26. > :18:31.The future is to ensure we have sustainable schools which give the
:18:31. > :18:35.best quality education to our children. So under a certain number,
:18:35. > :18:41.the schools will automatically close, do you support that? We need
:18:41. > :18:46.to move away from this arbitrary figure, unless it has 105, if it's
:18:46. > :18:50.a rural school or 500 if it's an urban post-primary school, that
:18:50. > :18:53.somehow that school is unviable. We have to look, the minister was
:18:53. > :19:00.indicating that today, about the quality of the education and I
:19:00. > :19:03.think we have to ensure that we have the buy in from the local
:19:03. > :19:06.communities tone sure we have communities which are content and
:19:06. > :19:10.happy with the education provision which they have in their area.
:19:10. > :19:14.People aren't going to be happy if their small, rural school, just
:19:14. > :19:18.down the road is going to close. That surely is going to happen in
:19:18. > :19:23.many cases, if not the majority. The sad reality is particularly in
:19:23. > :19:28.the control sector, we have seen the closure of some rural schools.
:19:28. > :19:32.There are some rural schools which should never have been built. I can
:19:32. > :19:37.think of one particular school in my constituency that was opened in
:19:37. > :19:42.2006, at a cost of well over �500,000 where somewhere in the
:19:42. > :19:47.region of 25 pupils. Today it's closed. The issues we have to face
:19:47. > :19:51.is to ensure that we have education provision, which is the very best
:19:51. > :19:54.and I think that's looking at the needs of the local community. And
:19:55. > :19:58.it ensures that our children, either in the primary, post-primary
:19:58. > :20:02.sector, are getting the best possible opportunity to have the
:20:02. > :20:06.best possible education. On another issue, where do you stand on this
:20:06. > :20:10.issue of MLA's pay? I know it's been taken from your hands. Have
:20:10. > :20:13.you to take what they have said, are you happy to take a pay
:20:13. > :20:19.increase at a time when services are being cut and so many thousands
:20:19. > :20:23.of people out of work? The DUP's position has always been that we
:20:23. > :20:26.wanted an independent advisory panel to look at this. That has
:20:26. > :20:31.happened. We have come through on rer does situation in the past,
:20:31. > :20:35.when the focus has been around what MPs have been paid and all the
:20:35. > :20:38.issues around expenses. I think that now we have a situation
:20:38. > :20:42.whereby this will be put into independent hands and they will
:20:42. > :20:47.make the decision, I'm happy to abide by that. You'll accept a pay
:20:47. > :20:50.rise if they give it to you? think we have to look at what is
:20:50. > :20:54.said coming out of the review. It would be foolish of me to pre-empt
:20:54. > :20:59.what that is. Certainly, in the economic climate that we're in
:20:59. > :21:03.today, I think we have to look at every option in relation to
:21:03. > :21:07.payments, expenses, all of those things. We are well scrutinised and
:21:07. > :21:11.people know well what is the situation with regards to our
:21:11. > :21:15.financial situation. Mervyn Storey, thanks for joining us. Now we've
:21:15. > :21:18.seen tears and tantrums at recent committee meetings. At the Justice
:21:18. > :21:22.Committee last week one civil servant got a grilling. We'll see
:21:22. > :21:28.that in a moment. First the Education Committee discussing poor
:21:28. > :21:36.leadership in schools. Members will wish to note that no Prince pals,
:21:36. > :21:40.vice Prince pals or teachers have been dismissed for unsatisfactory
:21:40. > :21:43.performance in the last five years. You may wish to consider the
:21:43. > :21:47.information about the correlation between class size and the levels
:21:47. > :21:54.of attainment. The issue in relation, I don't want this to
:21:54. > :21:58.sound as though you're sort of trying to make principals and
:21:58. > :22:04.teachers scapegoats for the issue of underperformance, however we
:22:04. > :22:08.have a responsibility. It is concerning that there are saying
:22:08. > :22:18.that nobody has been dismissed. We want tone sure that we have a
:22:18. > :22:20.
:22:20. > :22:24.process that works. What sanction is there against inner schools
:22:24. > :22:30.where there's identified a leadership issue. We all have
:22:30. > :22:34.examples of where there may be an issue of the leadership in the
:22:34. > :22:40.school and, I can think of one particular, and we have lost over
:22:40. > :22:45.the last term at least 25 to 30 children from the school. It
:22:45. > :22:49.becomes almost impossible to stop that. If we're not measuring poor
:22:49. > :22:54.leadership and a school becomes unsustainable because of poor
:22:54. > :22:57.leadership, it is nearly waiting for the inevitable to occur. It's
:22:57. > :23:01.the department letting poor leadership continue because there's
:23:01. > :23:05.no control mechanism there and the inevitable occurring, the numbers
:23:05. > :23:11.go down. It becomes unsustainable and the community ends up paying
:23:11. > :23:14.because someone didn't interview. Staff morale as well. The whole
:23:14. > :23:17.thing. There's correspondence from the chief executive of the forensic
:23:17. > :23:22.science Northern Ireland on the back of our indications we would
:23:22. > :23:28.like to visit the facilities. In the response he has said that those
:23:28. > :23:36.members that are going to attend will need to have DNA taken. That's
:23:36. > :23:40.to ensure that the evidence or any of the items isn't contaminated, if
:23:40. > :23:47.they're taken before a case, someone says actually it wasn't me,
:23:47. > :23:51.such and such was here. They've advise today will not be detained.
:23:51. > :23:55.Have there been assessments made that would indicate yes, we believe
:23:55. > :24:00.this breach of security requires action to be taken or is it just a
:24:00. > :24:06.general yeah, there may be a threat, but it doesn't war Anthony specific
:24:06. > :24:10.response. I'm not asking you to name anybody. As you'll expect I've
:24:10. > :24:15.taken advice on what to say on this because I don't do the assessment.
:24:15. > :24:20.The advice is that it would not be advisable to give details of where
:24:20. > :24:28.they've gone. I want to say, however, if there is action
:24:28. > :24:34.required, it will be taken as the minister has directed. Mr Wells?
:24:34. > :24:39.You didn't do very well on this one, did you? First of all Mr Rogers,
:24:40. > :24:44.can I say I can spot when someone is trying to hide when someone is
:24:44. > :24:50.trying to hide an embarrassing fact. I've been in this business for 30
:24:50. > :24:53.years. You don't want to tell us something. That's why you are
:24:53. > :25:00.hiding behind that about security measure. The chairman is not asking
:25:00. > :25:06.you to reveal anything. We -- he doesn't want to point the finger.
:25:06. > :25:12.He wants to know has someone been so alarmed by something that has
:25:12. > :25:17.happened and have the police been equally alarmed that action has
:25:17. > :25:22.been taken. I ask the question again: Has there been anyone out
:25:22. > :25:27.there, no name mentioned or locality, whose personal security
:25:27. > :25:30.has been compromised by this debacle that urgent action had to
:25:30. > :25:35.be taken? If you refuse to answer that again, the committee can draw
:25:35. > :25:42.its own conclusions. I'm not able to answer that question. Are you
:25:42. > :25:47.not able or not willing? I think it would be inadvisable for me to
:25:47. > :25:51.answer it because I am trying to protect the security of the
:25:51. > :25:57.individual. Why would giving that information compromise the security
:25:57. > :26:01.of anyone. It's a long standing principle in dealing with security
:26:01. > :26:06.matters, if you confirm in one case that security is breached, in
:26:06. > :26:12.another case you are not going to confirm and by a process of
:26:12. > :26:20.elimination you confirm which each is. Out of 183, you would have to
:26:20. > :26:23.be a genius. I'm operating on advice. Don't mess with Jim wells.
:26:23. > :26:26.Foreign visitors to Stormont are not usual. This week we have more
:26:26. > :26:33.than our fair share. Some of our politicians have been on their
:26:33. > :26:38.travels too. Some of the people involved in the peace process here
:26:38. > :26:42.and leading up to the Good Friday Agreement are in the Basque country
:26:42. > :26:46.today? Yes, there have been ongoing contacts between politicians from
:26:46. > :26:50.here and in the Basque country for some time. We had a former senior
:26:50. > :26:55.civil servant here appointed to the monitoring commission, monitoring
:26:55. > :27:00.the ETA ceasefire. A big occasion at the start of this week with
:27:00. > :27:05.Gerry Adams, Bertie Ahern and Jonathan Powell all in the Basque
:27:05. > :27:08.country calls for ETA, the separatist group there, to
:27:08. > :27:12.difintively abandon violence, to disband in the expectation that ETA
:27:12. > :27:16.will come up with the goods on that and that the Spanish government,
:27:16. > :27:22.they hope, will then respond positively. What are you hearing so
:27:22. > :27:29.far? Certainly Bertie Ahern has spoken along those lines, made that
:27:29. > :27:31.call. If this comes off, I suppose, it would be seen as the most
:27:31. > :27:36.difintive example of the local peace process here being exported
:27:36. > :27:40.somewhere else. They talk about it in the Basque country as the Irish
:27:40. > :27:43.peace process. Apart from being of interest internationally, it's part
:27:43. > :27:48.of a growing cottage industry here, that we witness at Stormont. People
:27:48. > :27:52.are coming here, trying to learn lessons from what's happened here.
:27:53. > :27:57.We've had visitors from the Middle East, Columbia, looking at the
:27:57. > :28:04.diary this week, we have Americans tomorrow. On Wednesday, we have
:28:04. > :28:09.leaders from Nagaland, which is an area in north eastern India where
:28:09. > :28:13.they have a long ethnic dispute. They're trying to see if they can
:28:13. > :28:18.learn lessons. That's kept politicianed and political
:28:19. > :28:25.commentators on their toe. Another contender for the SDLP leadership
:28:25. > :28:30.set out his stall today? Yes, but the SDLP involved in the ongoing
:28:30. > :28:34.election. Alastair McDonnell was saying this is the last opportunity
:28:34. > :28:41.to stop the terminal decline of the party as some might see it. He
:28:41. > :28:46.launched his manifesto earlier on today. Tomorrow, we have Alex
:28:46. > :28:50.Atwood, setting out why he believes he should be leader. Colin McDevitt
:28:50. > :28:53.set out his campaign last weekend. He was talking then about
:28:53. > :28:56.renegotiating the Good Friday Agreement, maybe leading towards
:28:56. > :29:04.opposition. Still I think the bookies think that the man to be
:29:04. > :29:07.beaten is the man would declared first of all. Fiona, we talked
:29:07. > :29:14.about rural schools tonight, is there a difference between poverty
:29:14. > :29:19.in rural areas and in cities? in rural areas the costs, the more
:29:19. > :29:29.isolated the areas, the cost would increase. The cost of basic things
:29:29. > :29:30.
:29:30. > :29:35.like food and transport and fuel are increased. What the Government
:29:35. > :29:40.must do, what Stormont must do, is do an impact assessment to see how
:29:40. > :29:45.this affects the most vulnerable, these decisions and to look at
:29:45. > :29:50.alternatives. As I was listening to the discussion, I was very aware
:29:50. > :29:56.that Stormont is now imposing cuts that will impact the most
:29:56. > :30:00.vulnerable in society. What we need is alternatives to ensure that we
:30:00. > :30:04.don't go back to the dark days of the conflict that poverty is not an