Browse content similar to 17/10/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello. Welcome to Stormont Today. Well lady gatpwa may be coming to | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
Belfast for the MT -- Lady GaGa may be coming to Belfast for the MTV | :00:37. | :00:41. | |
awards. Given there is a forecast of severe | :00:41. | :00:48. | |
winter to come this winter. I say that almost everywhere I go now I | :00:48. | :00:53. | |
am met with dark predictions of weather conditions. The members | :00:53. | :00:58. | |
would have money to burn to keep them warm. In the best and worst of | :00:58. | :01:02. | |
times, the numeration for politicians will always be | :01:02. | :01:06. | |
controversial. It is simple to understand why. With me throughout | :01:06. | :01:13. | |
the programme is Fiona McCausland, from the Anti-Poverty Network. | :01:13. | :01:18. | |
Heating or eating - that's a choice we hear many people are making. | :01:18. | :01:22. | |
When Edwina Currie cast doubt on it at the weekend she caused uproar. | :01:22. | :01:25. | |
What levels of poverty do we experience here in Northern | :01:25. | :01:29. | |
Ireland? Is the former Tory MP out of step? | :01:29. | :01:32. | |
Fiona McCausland from, the Anti- Poverty Network can give us her | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
views. Is she out of step? Is she wrong? Well the people we talk to | :01:36. | :01:43. | |
and the people who are experiencing poverty at the sharp end, they are | :01:43. | :01:49. | |
making the choices between eating a hot meal or putting an extra bar on | :01:49. | :01:55. | |
the fire. It is a reality for many people. It is not a cliche. It is a | :01:55. | :01:58. | |
living reality. That reality will hit more and more people. People | :01:58. | :02:02. | |
who were not in poverty last year or in poverty this year. Those | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
numbers will grow next year. Last year, nearly 700 older people died | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
because of lack of heating. That figure is expected to double this | :02:12. | :02:17. | |
year. Yet, our Government has cut the Winter Fuel Payments that could | :02:17. | :02:22. | |
help make the difference between life and death. Is there a lack of | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
appreciation and lack of compassion among some people? Edwina Currie, | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
presumably isn't alone in her views? There's a very powerful | :02:30. | :02:36. | |
voice come from some of the press in London, putting blame on people | :02:36. | :02:43. | |
who are most vulnerable such as migrant workers, lone parents, even | :02:43. | :02:47. | |
older people. That tactic must stop because people will die and we have | :02:47. | :02:52. | |
to become a more compassionate society. We have to become a more | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
equal society. Do we have greater poverty in Northern Ireland | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
compared to the rest of the UK or compared to the republic? Yes, we | :03:00. | :03:06. | |
do. We are a community emerge from conflict. Conflict is fuelled by | :03:06. | :03:13. | |
poverty, where there's a grievance, where there is an identity or an | :03:13. | :03:18. | |
issue around borders. It's proven that poverty does cause conflict, | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
not just on its own, but with those other factors interfacing. | :03:23. | :03:28. | |
Following the conflict it is typical that persistent child | :03:28. | :03:31. | |
poverty, that is children living in poverty for a long period of time, | :03:31. | :03:36. | |
that is more common and that is an example of what happens in post | :03:36. | :03:40. | |
conflict societies throughout the world. And Northern Ireland does | :03:40. | :03:45. | |
experience that level of persistent child poverty. Fiona, stay with us. | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
Plenty more to talk about later. With reports of snow in some parts | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
today, it was good timing that the issue of treating roads and | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
footpaths should come up in questions to the Regional | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
Development Minister. Question Time was dominated by weather issues as | :04:00. | :04:04. | |
the Social Development Minister was quizzed on warm homes. We start | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
with regional development and good news for pedestrians. As the | :04:07. | :04:12. | |
members are aware, there's no legal responsibility for either councils | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
or road service to treat footpaths with salt or grit during adverse | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
weather. However, my department's road service has held a series of | :04:20. | :04:25. | |
meeting with representatives and the society of local authority | :04:26. | :04:32. | |
chief executives throughout the months. I personally attended the | :04:32. | :04:36. | |
first of these meet after which the executive continues the | :04:36. | :04:40. | |
negotiations on my behalf. It was to establish a consensus on a | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
number of points of principal which could be used as a basis for | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
negotiations between road service and councils, relating to the | :04:48. | :04:53. | |
removal of snow and ice from busy town centre footwells during | :04:53. | :04:57. | |
prolonged periods of wintry weather. And pleased that agreement has been | :04:57. | :05:04. | |
reached, providing a willingness to provide a service to local rate | :05:04. | :05:08. | |
payers. Road service has incorporated these points into a | :05:08. | :05:14. | |
draft amendment, which can be used to take account of preferences. | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
They are going to all councils to have this in place for this coming | :05:19. | :05:23. | |
winter season. It should be stressed that under these efforts | :05:23. | :05:28. | |
the focus will be on the busiest footwears as it would not be | :05:28. | :05:33. | |
possible to treat them on a wide- spread basis. In addition to the | :05:33. | :05:38. | |
2012 budget, to deal with the anticipated server weather, it does | :05:38. | :05:43. | |
earmark funds to provide a salting service with the aim of helping | :05:43. | :05:51. | |
main road traffic to move freely in winter conditions. Could the | :05:51. | :05:57. | |
minister tell us if the executive has any discussions with him | :05:57. | :06:00. | |
regarding additional budget? If there was additional money | :06:00. | :06:05. | |
available, whether this would allow salt to be provided to council and | :06:05. | :06:09. | |
to provide to council staff to do the work? A member for his | :06:09. | :06:13. | |
supplementary. Can I say that almost everywhere I go now I am met | :06:13. | :06:20. | |
with dark predictions of weather conditions, which are likely this | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
coming winter. Whether or not that's from the almanac or made up | :06:24. | :06:28. | |
to make me feel uncomfortable or not, I don't know. I know the | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
member would not be in that category any way. I am not a | :06:31. | :06:39. | |
prophet or a son of a prophet, nor do I read the almanac. Back in 2002, | :06:39. | :06:44. | |
there was a discussion around a service, annual service fee to | :06:44. | :06:49. | |
participating councils. No mention of that in the points of principal. | :06:49. | :06:53. | |
Can the minister assure us that we are going to have a working | :06:53. | :06:58. | |
relationship between DRD and local councils, for who ever is | :06:58. | :07:01. | |
responsible to deal with the problem? And not do, as the member | :07:01. | :07:06. | |
there was suggesting, pass the buck to the executive? I am grateful to | :07:06. | :07:13. | |
the member. I'm reminded that when one talks about principals of what | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
Marks said these are my principals and if you don't like them I have | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
some more. Nonetheless there are important principals agreed which | :07:21. | :07:26. | |
are being reflected between section engineers and local councils. Under | :07:26. | :07:30. | |
the agreed principals, road service will made salt available for | :07:30. | :07:35. | |
councils free of charge. Road Service will provide man power to | :07:35. | :07:40. | |
councils where resources permit and pass on the legal indem knitty to | :07:40. | :07:45. | |
my department to councils and groups working on their behalf such | :07:45. | :07:50. | |
as chambers of commercial or -- chambers of commerce. | :07:50. | :07:59. | |
These members wanted to know about lagged pipes. A considerable amount | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
of work has been undertaken to ensure that housing executive staff | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
and their contractors will be in a position to respond effectively and | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
speedily if there are severe weather conditions. Engineers are | :08:13. | :08:19. | |
checking that all water pipes are properly insulated when they visit | :08:19. | :08:22. | |
properties to carry out planned servicing to the systems. Any | :08:22. | :08:27. | |
missing or damaged insulation will be replaced at that time. This will | :08:27. | :08:33. | |
see improves to 3,800 properties. The housing executives magazine for | :08:33. | :08:36. | |
tenants views will be issued until the end of this month and will | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
include a full page of guidance on avoiding burst pipes, dealing | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
frozen pipes, with those that burst, finding the cock stop in the | :08:45. | :08:51. | |
property and what to do if you have no water. A further leaflet will be | :08:51. | :08:56. | |
included with the magazine. I have held a meeting the housing | :08:56. | :09:05. | |
executive to review preparations and response plans. Can I ask the | :09:05. | :09:13. | |
minister, telephone communications was an area the housing minister | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
has done. Has anything been done to improve this? A number of actions | :09:16. | :09:22. | |
have been taken to improve this. Including the staff willing to | :09:22. | :09:26. | |
respond to an emergency across the province has been enhanced A review | :09:26. | :09:30. | |
has been undertaken of the triggers which provide a warning of a | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
potential emergency, such as the volume of calls come into their | :09:34. | :09:38. | |
their customer service unit and the number of calls not being answered | :09:38. | :09:42. | |
to. Facilitate use by emergency services, public representatives | :09:42. | :09:46. | |
and community representatives, a priority call handling system of | :09:46. | :09:53. | |
silver numbers is now in place. When will the insulation be | :09:53. | :09:58. | |
upgraded to modern day standards? The member will be aware of recent | :09:58. | :10:03. | |
comments that I made in relation to the installation of double glazing | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
in all housing executive properties. And the current situation is that | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
60% of housing executive properties do not have double glazing only 40% | :10:13. | :10:18. | |
do. In some constituencies, including my own the figure is at | :10:18. | :10:22. | |
70%, in some areas it is lower. As part of the programme which will be | :10:22. | :10:28. | |
rolled out in relation to double glazing, associated with that will | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
be an improvement to the enhancement of the level of | :10:31. | :10:36. | |
insulation. You need to do the two together. The fact is that under | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
the current proposals by the executive it would be another | :10:40. | :10:44. | |
decade before that was fully completed. That's because, over | :10:44. | :10:52. | |
quite a number of years, the issue of double glazing and maintenance | :10:52. | :10:56. | |
and insulation on existing problems was de-prioritised. We are re- | :10:56. | :11:00. | |
prioritising that. I'm looking to work with the housing executive at | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
the moment and speaking to those who have their hands on the purse | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
strings to see what we can do. See what we can do to make sure | :11:08. | :11:11. | |
additional money is made available to have that programme completed in | :11:11. | :11:15. | |
a shorter period of time. One in five young people is unemployed and | :11:15. | :11:20. | |
getting them back into work is one of the Government's priorities. | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
Some 16-19 year olds came to Stormont Today to complain that | :11:25. | :11:28. | |
their training project has had its funding cut. Here's the project | :11:28. | :11:33. | |
leader. We're here because we want them to recognise what we're doing. | :11:33. | :11:36. | |
We have a programme which is a year old. We're not here talking about | :11:36. | :11:43. | |
this, we are talking and a model that is working. We're here to ask | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
them to recognise and identify what we're doing and identify us for | :11:47. | :11:55. | |
what we're doing. It's important. The kids are unique, they are | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
different. They need that programme to match it. I have asked for ages | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
for someone to physically come and visit the centre and see first-hand | :12:04. | :12:08. | |
the quality of the work these guys are producing. It's as simple as | :12:08. | :12:18. | |
:12:18. | :12:19. | ||
that. The last two feedbacks we had was a refer -- we've been fobed off. | :12:19. | :12:25. | |
I think there's a -- fobbed off. think there's an issue. These | :12:25. | :12:28. | |
people have come from difficult backgrounds. They have been led up | :12:28. | :12:34. | |
the garden path and dropped, so the committee will want to take it up. | :12:34. | :12:38. | |
If you do have a job and if you are asked if your salary was high | :12:38. | :12:42. | |
enough, what would you say? MLAs are being surveyed on pay and | :12:42. | :12:45. | |
allowances. Martina Purdy asked the chair of | :12:45. | :12:54. | |
the independent review panel if a It's within our powers to cut the | :12:54. | :13:01. | |
salaries by 50%, either do that or increase it by 50% or more or | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
somewhere in between. That's something which the evidence will | :13:04. | :13:08. | |
support. We haven't gathered that evidence fully yet. Do you think | :13:08. | :13:14. | |
their pay is too low? Currently in comparison with the other | :13:14. | :13:20. | |
legislatures, in Wales for example, the level of pay is �53,000 per | :13:20. | :13:28. | |
annum, in Scotland, �57,000 per annum. With �43,000, per annum, | :13:28. | :13:34. | |
albeit for 108MLAs you might take the view there is a little headroom. | :13:34. | :13:39. | |
What is your view now? I don't have a view. I will have a view in | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
February. Even if the best of times or the worst of times, the level of | :13:43. | :13:46. | |
remuneration for politicians will always be controversial. It's | :13:46. | :13:51. | |
simple to understand why. And in terms of those MLAs who have | :13:51. | :13:55. | |
responded to your consultation, have any said they don't want to | :13:55. | :14:00. | |
take a pay rise? Not that I've seen. Well let's put that issue to our | :14:00. | :14:07. | |
guest. Fiona, what do you think about the pay MLAs receive. It is | :14:07. | :14:12. | |
significantly less than in Scotland and Wales. I mean everybody has a | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
right to fair pay. And also pay review and to see the pay is | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
commence rat with the skills and level of work they're carrying out. | :14:22. | :14:27. | |
At this time, when they're imposing cuts from the coalition Government | :14:27. | :14:34. | |
at Westminster, it would be seen as very insensitive. It is eradicate | :14:34. | :14:42. | |
poverty day across Europe. Is it realistic to see our getting rid of | :14:42. | :14:46. | |
poverty? Poverty is seen as abuse. So this special day comes every | :14:46. | :14:50. | |
year. Targets have been set. Unfortunately the Government at | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
Westminster and at Stormont do not look as if they're going to meet | :14:55. | :14:58. | |
the targets. We'll chat more in a moment. Now small rural schools | :14:58. | :15:03. | |
should be allowed to work together to survive Government cuts, that | :15:03. | :15:07. | |
was Conal McDevitt's call during debate this afternoon. Teachers and | :15:07. | :15:17. | |
:15:17. | :15:17. | ||
parents face uncertainty over the the future with classes decided as | :15:17. | :15:23. | |
not viable. The things putting schools under threat is a | :15:23. | :15:26. | |
conconstituency, the fact we aren't taking decisions in the proper way | :15:26. | :15:30. | |
at many other, in many other parts of the education governance | :15:30. | :15:36. | |
structure. Deputy Speaker, there is a problem with premature school | :15:36. | :15:42. | |
closures. Why should any of this be happening before the boards and the | :15:42. | :15:48. | |
department itself is reorganised? Surely they should rationalise | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
themselves and their costly support services before they begin to | :15:53. | :15:58. | |
butcher our rural schools. No-one denies, least of all me, the need | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
for maximum efficiency in the deployment of resources, but what | :16:02. | :16:09. | |
is open to question is the process we're engaged in to achieve this. | :16:09. | :16:13. | |
Boards appear to be jumping the gun with or without the tacit support | :16:13. | :16:17. | |
of the department and school closures are being predetermined | :16:17. | :16:21. | |
ahead of the audit the minister has announced. That's the perception | :16:21. | :16:27. | |
out there with the public. That is the perception of the principals in | :16:27. | :16:33. | |
the report I mentioned. There is one thing that I'm sure of and that | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
is that this premature race to close schools will tear the heart | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
out of many rural communities and will do so at a time when we need | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
to look at schools as a community resource. I will deal with each | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
school on the basis of need, not on the basis of creed. I will ensure | :16:50. | :16:57. | |
there is equality of treatment for all children and young people | :16:57. | :17:05. | |
regardless. Schools are there to meet the needs of puerp ills | :17:05. | :17:10. | |
whether in rural or urban settings. I am determined to reshape the | :17:10. | :17:14. | |
system to provide high quality education that can be sustained for | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
all pupils. I understand schools carry with them emotional | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
attachment and history. However, let's not let that cloud our | :17:22. | :17:25. | |
decision making with emotion or history. It's our young people's | :17:25. | :17:29. | |
futures we are dealing with. We should not blight that because we | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
hanker after the past. With me is Mervyn Storey, chair of the | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
Education Committee. Why did you not support the alliance motion | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
about integrated education? Because surely that's the DUP's vision? | :17:41. | :17:47. | |
think the DUP's vision is for shared education. Therecy -- there | :17:47. | :17:56. | |
is a difference. It has created considerable difficulties | :17:56. | :18:01. | |
particularly for the control sector. We wanted to ensure that we have a | :18:01. | :18:05. | |
debate which focuses around the needs of schools and this debate | :18:05. | :18:10. | |
today was an important debate because there's huge amount of fear, | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
concern and suspicion with parents and teachers right across Northern | :18:14. | :18:17. | |
Ireland, about what their future is. I think the debate today was | :18:17. | :18:22. | |
extremely useful to have those issues aired. What is that future? | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
The future is to ensure we have sustainable schools which give the | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
best quality education to our children. So under a certain number, | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
the schools will automatically close, do you support that? We need | :18:35. | :18:41. | |
to move away from this arbitrary figure, unless it has 105, if it's | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
a rural school or 500 if it's an urban post-primary school, that | :18:46. | :18:50. | |
somehow that school is unviable. We have to look, the minister was | :18:50. | :18:53. | |
indicating that today, about the quality of the education and I | :18:53. | :19:00. | |
think we have to ensure that we have the buy in from the local | :19:00. | :19:03. | |
communities tone sure we have communities which are content and | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
happy with the education provision which they have in their area. | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
People aren't going to be happy if their small, rural school, just | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
down the road is going to close. That surely is going to happen in | :19:14. | :19:18. | |
many cases, if not the majority. The sad reality is particularly in | :19:18. | :19:23. | |
the control sector, we have seen the closure of some rural schools. | :19:23. | :19:28. | |
There are some rural schools which should never have been built. I can | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
think of one particular school in my constituency that was opened in | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
2006, at a cost of well over �500,000 where somewhere in the | :19:37. | :19:42. | |
region of 25 pupils. Today it's closed. The issues we have to face | :19:42. | :19:47. | |
is to ensure that we have education provision, which is the very best | :19:47. | :19:51. | |
and I think that's looking at the needs of the local community. And | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
it ensures that our children, either in the primary, post-primary | :19:55. | :19:58. | |
sector, are getting the best possible opportunity to have the | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
best possible education. On another issue, where do you stand on this | :20:02. | :20:06. | |
issue of MLA's pay? I know it's been taken from your hands. Have | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
you to take what they have said, are you happy to take a pay | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
increase at a time when services are being cut and so many thousands | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
of people out of work? The DUP's position has always been that we | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
wanted an independent advisory panel to look at this. That has | :20:23. | :20:26. | |
happened. We have come through on rer does situation in the past, | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
when the focus has been around what MPs have been paid and all the | :20:31. | :20:35. | |
issues around expenses. I think that now we have a situation | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
whereby this will be put into independent hands and they will | :20:38. | :20:42. | |
make the decision, I'm happy to abide by that. You'll accept a pay | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
rise if they give it to you? think we have to look at what is | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
said coming out of the review. It would be foolish of me to pre-empt | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
what that is. Certainly, in the economic climate that we're in | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
today, I think we have to look at every option in relation to | :20:59. | :21:03. | |
payments, expenses, all of those things. We are well scrutinised and | :21:03. | :21:07. | |
people know well what is the situation with regards to our | :21:07. | :21:11. | |
financial situation. Mervyn Storey, thanks for joining us. Now we've | :21:11. | :21:15. | |
seen tears and tantrums at recent committee meetings. At the Justice | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
Committee last week one civil servant got a grilling. We'll see | :21:18. | :21:22. | |
that in a moment. First the Education Committee discussing poor | :21:22. | :21:28. | |
leadership in schools. Members will wish to note that no Prince pals, | :21:28. | :21:36. | |
vice Prince pals or teachers have been dismissed for unsatisfactory | :21:36. | :21:40. | |
performance in the last five years. You may wish to consider the | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
information about the correlation between class size and the levels | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
of attainment. The issue in relation, I don't want this to | :21:47. | :21:54. | |
sound as though you're sort of trying to make principals and | :21:54. | :21:58. | |
teachers scapegoats for the issue of underperformance, however we | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
have a responsibility. It is concerning that there are saying | :22:04. | :22:08. | |
that nobody has been dismissed. We want tone sure that we have a | :22:08. | :22:18. | |
:22:18. | :22:20. | ||
process that works. What sanction is there against inner schools | :22:20. | :22:24. | |
where there's identified a leadership issue. We all have | :22:24. | :22:30. | |
examples of where there may be an issue of the leadership in the | :22:30. | :22:34. | |
school and, I can think of one particular, and we have lost over | :22:34. | :22:40. | |
the last term at least 25 to 30 children from the school. It | :22:40. | :22:45. | |
becomes almost impossible to stop that. If we're not measuring poor | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
leadership and a school becomes unsustainable because of poor | :22:49. | :22:54. | |
leadership, it is nearly waiting for the inevitable to occur. It's | :22:54. | :22:57. | |
the department letting poor leadership continue because there's | :22:57. | :23:01. | |
no control mechanism there and the inevitable occurring, the numbers | :23:01. | :23:05. | |
go down. It becomes unsustainable and the community ends up paying | :23:05. | :23:11. | |
because someone didn't interview. Staff morale as well. The whole | :23:11. | :23:14. | |
thing. There's correspondence from the chief executive of the forensic | :23:14. | :23:17. | |
science Northern Ireland on the back of our indications we would | :23:17. | :23:22. | |
like to visit the facilities. In the response he has said that those | :23:22. | :23:28. | |
members that are going to attend will need to have DNA taken. That's | :23:28. | :23:36. | |
to ensure that the evidence or any of the items isn't contaminated, if | :23:36. | :23:40. | |
they're taken before a case, someone says actually it wasn't me, | :23:40. | :23:47. | |
such and such was here. They've advise today will not be detained. | :23:47. | :23:51. | |
Have there been assessments made that would indicate yes, we believe | :23:51. | :23:55. | |
this breach of security requires action to be taken or is it just a | :23:55. | :24:00. | |
general yeah, there may be a threat, but it doesn't war Anthony specific | :24:00. | :24:06. | |
response. I'm not asking you to name anybody. As you'll expect I've | :24:06. | :24:10. | |
taken advice on what to say on this because I don't do the assessment. | :24:10. | :24:15. | |
The advice is that it would not be advisable to give details of where | :24:15. | :24:20. | |
they've gone. I want to say, however, if there is action | :24:20. | :24:28. | |
required, it will be taken as the minister has directed. Mr Wells? | :24:28. | :24:34. | |
You didn't do very well on this one, did you? First of all Mr Rogers, | :24:34. | :24:39. | |
can I say I can spot when someone is trying to hide when someone is | :24:40. | :24:44. | |
trying to hide an embarrassing fact. I've been in this business for 30 | :24:44. | :24:50. | |
years. You don't want to tell us something. That's why you are | :24:50. | :24:53. | |
hiding behind that about security measure. The chairman is not asking | :24:53. | :25:00. | |
you to reveal anything. We -- he doesn't want to point the finger. | :25:00. | :25:06. | |
He wants to know has someone been so alarmed by something that has | :25:06. | :25:12. | |
happened and have the police been equally alarmed that action has | :25:12. | :25:17. | |
been taken. I ask the question again: Has there been anyone out | :25:17. | :25:22. | |
there, no name mentioned or locality, whose personal security | :25:22. | :25:27. | |
has been compromised by this debacle that urgent action had to | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
be taken? If you refuse to answer that again, the committee can draw | :25:30. | :25:35. | |
its own conclusions. I'm not able to answer that question. Are you | :25:35. | :25:42. | |
not able or not willing? I think it would be inadvisable for me to | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
answer it because I am trying to protect the security of the | :25:47. | :25:51. | |
individual. Why would giving that information compromise the security | :25:51. | :25:57. | |
of anyone. It's a long standing principle in dealing with security | :25:57. | :26:01. | |
matters, if you confirm in one case that security is breached, in | :26:01. | :26:06. | |
another case you are not going to confirm and by a process of | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
elimination you confirm which each is. Out of 183, you would have to | :26:12. | :26:20. | |
be a genius. I'm operating on advice. Don't mess with Jim wells. | :26:20. | :26:23. | |
Foreign visitors to Stormont are not usual. This week we have more | :26:23. | :26:26. | |
than our fair share. Some of our politicians have been on their | :26:26. | :26:33. | |
travels too. Some of the people involved in the peace process here | :26:33. | :26:38. | |
and leading up to the Good Friday Agreement are in the Basque country | :26:38. | :26:42. | |
today? Yes, there have been ongoing contacts between politicians from | :26:42. | :26:46. | |
here and in the Basque country for some time. We had a former senior | :26:46. | :26:50. | |
civil servant here appointed to the monitoring commission, monitoring | :26:50. | :26:55. | |
the ETA ceasefire. A big occasion at the start of this week with | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
Gerry Adams, Bertie Ahern and Jonathan Powell all in the Basque | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
country calls for ETA, the separatist group there, to | :27:05. | :27:08. | |
difintively abandon violence, to disband in the expectation that ETA | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
will come up with the goods on that and that the Spanish government, | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
they hope, will then respond positively. What are you hearing so | :27:16. | :27:22. | |
far? Certainly Bertie Ahern has spoken along those lines, made that | :27:22. | :27:29. | |
call. If this comes off, I suppose, it would be seen as the most | :27:29. | :27:31. | |
difintive example of the local peace process here being exported | :27:31. | :27:36. | |
somewhere else. They talk about it in the Basque country as the Irish | :27:36. | :27:40. | |
peace process. Apart from being of interest internationally, it's part | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
of a growing cottage industry here, that we witness at Stormont. People | :27:43. | :27:48. | |
are coming here, trying to learn lessons from what's happened here. | :27:48. | :27:52. | |
We've had visitors from the Middle East, Columbia, looking at the | :27:53. | :27:57. | |
diary this week, we have Americans tomorrow. On Wednesday, we have | :27:57. | :28:04. | |
leaders from Nagaland, which is an area in north eastern India where | :28:04. | :28:09. | |
they have a long ethnic dispute. They're trying to see if they can | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
learn lessons. That's kept politicianed and political | :28:13. | :28:18. | |
commentators on their toe. Another contender for the SDLP leadership | :28:19. | :28:25. | |
set out his stall today? Yes, but the SDLP involved in the ongoing | :28:25. | :28:30. | |
election. Alastair McDonnell was saying this is the last opportunity | :28:30. | :28:34. | |
to stop the terminal decline of the party as some might see it. He | :28:34. | :28:41. | |
launched his manifesto earlier on today. Tomorrow, we have Alex | :28:41. | :28:46. | |
Atwood, setting out why he believes he should be leader. Colin McDevitt | :28:46. | :28:50. | |
set out his campaign last weekend. He was talking then about | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
renegotiating the Good Friday Agreement, maybe leading towards | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
opposition. Still I think the bookies think that the man to be | :28:56. | :29:04. | |
beaten is the man would declared first of all. Fiona, we talked | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
about rural schools tonight, is there a difference between poverty | :29:07. | :29:14. | |
in rural areas and in cities? in rural areas the costs, the more | :29:14. | :29:19. | |
isolated the areas, the cost would increase. The cost of basic things | :29:19. | :29:29. | |
:29:29. | :29:30. | ||
like food and transport and fuel are increased. What the Government | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
must do, what Stormont must do, is do an impact assessment to see how | :29:35. | :29:40. | |
this affects the most vulnerable, these decisions and to look at | :29:40. | :29:45. | |
alternatives. As I was listening to the discussion, I was very aware | :29:45. | :29:50. | |
that Stormont is now imposing cuts that will impact the most | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
vulnerable in society. What we need is alternatives to ensure that we | :29:56. | :30:00. | |
don't go back to the dark days of the conflict that poverty is not an | :30:00. | :30:04. |