18/10/2011 Stormont Today

Hello and welcome it took Stormont. Inflation may be soaring,

unemployment on the rise amid fears for a lost generation of young

people, but here on the Hill, some members still can't help themselves.

Given that �18.3 million has gone into 14 gale, and forgive my

pronunciation, I have never had a great grasp of foreign languages.

And it was back to hang a member as the Deputy Speaker issued a warning.

It would be unfortunate if I found some members guilty of anti-social

behaviour during a debate on anti- social behaviour. And with me

From slurry spreading to booming food production, there was plenty

of farming taught here today. Jim, you represent food producers. How

do you think the assembly is shaping up in terms of protecting

your interests? I suppose what we have is food production as a main

source of income for our farmers. The ministers believe that it is

the basis on which we can have economic growth, so they are doing

their best to help producers. We are going to have cap reform and

various different things. They meet tomorrow to fight our corner in

Brussels because we need not protection, but help with food

production. We need exports. Through agriculture, we employ it

over 55,000 people, so we hoped the executive can get a good

understanding of our situation. some ways, I do not recession-proof

because of the help you get from a European funding? No, we are not.

If you look at the cost of production, we are not recession

Grove because we have fuel and the same input and costs as other

industries. At the moment we are getting slightly better prices, but

we can only produce a certain amount of product as what the

consumer can afford to purchase. Again, our input costs have gone up,

so we are not recession proof. you are doing well, so you are

unlike a lot of other people in every sector in Northern Ireland.

You have to consider from what base we come from. We have been at a

very low ebb these last few years. Income for farmers has decreased,

so it depends where we are coming from. We have quite a bit to come

up to level the playing field. with us. Now, his Irish a foreign

language? Should dogs get tattoos? Can Northern Ireland farmers feed

the world, and how should we welcome China's gymnasts? All

topics that came up in the pick and mix that is Question Time. He is

the Agriculture Minister on exporting docks. Legislation

requires that the movement of Dogs is in line with the council

directive, and specifically in relation to identification in line

with EC regulations. Article 4 requires dogs to be identified by

means of a microchip, or by a clearly readable tattoo. From 3rd

July any newborn dogs which are to be exported to another member state

will have to be microchip. For dogs being exported to Third World

companies, a health certificate will have to be completed. That may

include conditions such as identification by a microchip or

tattoo, or some other distinguishing mark. I am grateful

to the Minister for her reply. Is she aware of the concerns of many

local dog breeders of future changes to micro chipping

requirements in other countries which may jeopardise future export

markets? In my capacity as an MLA I have met with dog breeders who

expressed those concerns. When it comes to legislation around dog

breeding legislation, I intend to bring that forward in the near

future. What am going to have to do is go out to consultation again to

seek the views of dog breeders. If it is a competitive market, we

don't want to disadvantaged local dog breeders in any way. There will

be a full consultation on the way forward. One proposal is that all

puppies should also have a microchip. The population of the

Earth is expected to hit 7 billion any day now, and that could also

hit one of our highly successful industries. Food production.

Between 2007 and 2010, employment in the food and drink processing

sector has increased by 6%, whereas turnover increased by 30%. In

agriculture, gross output increased by 30%. There is a strong level of

self-belief about the future in the sector. The global human population

is growing rapidly and is expected to increase by 1 billion by 2030.

In addition, water shortages, climate change, are all expected to

impinge on the agricultural production capacity for other

regions of the world. For these reasons, there is belief that this

food sector will continue to blow - - Grove. -- Grove. What we need to

reach is a sure plan for export growth for this important sector.

Culture next, often a fractious session when the Unionists attend

to beat the Sinn Fein minister. The minister is often happen -- happy

to bite back. My department offers funding to small communities, and

in the last five years the Arts Council has provided over 800,000

to bounce across the North. Musical instruments and awards for all and

the small grants programme, again over 800,000. In addition, my

department has produced a toolkit for marching bands which can be

found on our website, which pivots -- provides information and

guidance on encouraging new approaches to maximise

opportunities for development. thank the Minister for her answer.

Can I just ask the Minister, given that �18.3 billion has gone into 14

Gayle - forgive my pronunciation, but a out of their annual budget.

That clearly has had an impact on her ability to fund other projects.

What advice can she get to my constituents who are in marching

bands, who are unable to obtain funding because the criteria of the

Ulster Scots Agency and the Arts Council has been constrained so

much by budgetary reductions? of all, I take exception to the

member describing the Irish language as a foreign language. I

do appreciate his attempt to pronounce it, at least he tried.

The SDLP's minister wants to know if Northern Ireland would benefit

from the presence of the Chinese but gymnasts ahead of the 2012

Olympics. There are key benefits arising from the Chinese Olympics

gymnastics team training here, and not only does it improve -- include

the promotion of sport, but also hit being a world-class venue that

has been chosen by the Chinese. This was raised before, but the

Chinese are coming here with a film crew and with presenters. Each day

during their training this will be broadcast all over China, promoting

potential benefits around tourism. It is important with those

countries of Brazil, Russia and China, economies by the markets are

developing. I think there is a significant boost to having that

attention here, and we are keen to exploit that opportunity for local

investment. Finally, it was back to the DUP's topic of the day. I want

to ask the Minister, has she any plans to have lessons given to the

deputy first minister before he returns to his duties, given the

fact that DG 4 was going to have its Presidential programme but had

to be given in English, given the fact that Michael Higgins was the

anyone who could competently speak the language? Order, order. All

members know that the topic matter must relate to the original

question. Businesses here that have problems

getting money from banks will soon be able to turn to Invest NI for a

loan. The new loan fund is a sign that the agency is responding to

economic Tangiers, or so we are told. - macro economic challenges.

What we have discovered in the business is that small and medium-

sized businesses have been starved of credit by the banks. The banks

say they are lending, businesses said they are not lending. I think

this is a good way by Invest Northern Ireland to circumvent the

banks. If the banks are not lending, then Invest Northern Ireland should

lend. I think this is an imaginative scheme. They have to be

a number of caveats. One, at the time period for repayment should

not be too excessive. Also, in addition to that, the rate of

interest should be in -- reasonable. I know that the rate of interest

being discussed might be higher than the bank rate. Yes, they did

say that. That might put people off. Thirdly, the bureaucracy in terms

of vetting people for a loan should not be excessive either. Is this

replacing grants, or will it run alongside them? I think it will run

alongside grants. This is an extra weapon that Invest NI has brought

to try and stimulate the economy here. As everybody knows, the

economy here it relies very much on small and medium-sized businesses.

This will be a shot in the arm for those businesses, and I hope it

will help businesses to invest and to expand their workforce. We need

that, and this is a good initiative Are you satisfied Invest NI is

operating properly? There is that about what they have given out in

loans and whether they are giving out money generously enough to our

struggling business people? position is this; the reason in the

main why money was sent back to the finance department was because

Invest Northern Ireland could not spend that money because of the

companies they had earmarked to grant the money to had slowed down

in terms of their business operations. In other words, it was

indicative of the sluggishness of our own local economy. That

highlights the problems that we have here - an economy which is not

coming out of recession quickly. this an example of the executive

doing something? �50 million available within three months?

is a great idea. It is a good initiative. I think that Invest

Northern Ireland have responded well to the critical circumstances

that small and medium-sized businesses find themselves in. I

hope this will work. I hope it will work well. They need the help.

Thanks for joining us this evening. Well, you could say it was the

hawks verses the doves in the chamber over, during a debate on

antisocial behaviour T DUP want the police to be given more power to

deal with the problem. Others say that greater partnerships is the

answer. This is the way rather than giving more powered to the --

powers to the police. We would be opposed to the original motion. I

would apose it on three planks. First of all, the police aren't

asking for more powers. Secondly, what powers the police have are not

always utilised properly. Thirdly, experience shows that the best

results come when the police, the community and statutory agencies

work together. Therefore we need to take action now to bring it under

control and then we let these programmes suggested by the members.

There'll be long term, they will be very expensive and there'll still

be people, let's be honest, the vast majority of young people in

Northern Ireland are decent citizens there are young people in

Northern Ireland who are frankly evil in what they're doing to our

communities. They simply, they are feral, they have lost control.

Their parents no longer have any authority over them whatsoever.

They are causing great difficulty. There has to be the strong arm of

the law to bring those people under control. I cannot accept the point

of view that they may end up in prison for a few weeks. I think

they might need that "short, sharp shock" treatment, to realise they

cannot continue to torture their community. Tackling antisocial

behaviour is a key thing of my department. We have intervention

enforcement which has contributed to 20% reduction in this behave

wror since 2007-2008. It is of interest the target was 15% and we

have achieved 20%. If you bothered to do your homework you would have

seen what people say. There is report after report, which says

people want more physical policing, policing on the ground. Would he

make his remarks through the chair. As I was saying, deputy Speaker, as

I was admiring the fine art work around here! I will not give way. I

will not give way because you would not give way earlier when we tried

to have the debate. The issue here is that you have been....

SPEAKER: The order will resume his seat. It would be unfortunate if I

were to find some members guilty of antisocial behaviour. You should

not make a remark from a secondary position. When it came to the vote,

members were on their best behaviour, agreeing a community not

a police response was the answer and the Ulster Unionist motion was

agreed. A breaking story, if you like today,

about the potatoes rejected in Morocco in 2010. There seems to be

some development, but it may not be good for the farm es who sent those

potatoes. The development, as far as I am aware was discussed today

and as far as I'm aware the potatoes were inspected here and

they met the perimeters to be eligible for export. When they

reached their destination there were inquiries and then apparently

they were inspected again. So, I'm not sure exactly what the problem

is now in Morocco. But the difficulty is that there are a

number of producers here who have produced what they reckon is

quality produce to the requirements of the purchaser, which were

certified as such and now... Again it was put to the agriculture

committee, it was put to the represents today that perhaps some

sort of compensation could be sought for the producers. From a

producer's perspective we tonight want to see them losing. There is

dialogue going on. Where money is available for this, it's the same

almost with every avenue - it's all down to finance. �1 million, that

is what the Londonderry City of Culture is looking for from a Leeds

sponsor. They came here to meet MLAs and business people in the

hope of securing money to help them fund the year of events in 2013.

is one of a whole series of engagement events. We were in

Dublin last week. We want to be here in Stormont to tell people in

Belfast, tell community leaders, arts, businesses about the energy

and the buzz and what is happening in Derry being the City of Culture.

Are you looking for sponsorship? are. As you can imagine, it is a

huge challenge to deliver on all of the ambitions. We'll need our

commercial partners. We had BT as our partner. We want others to get

involved with this amazing project. You are looking for a lead sponsor

and it is big money? Yes, it is big money to put on a showcase of

events like the ambition we have for 2013., yes it is big money, and

also this is the first ever time the city has been given the UK City

of Culture title. In terms of benefit back to business it is

unprecedented. What do you think it will mean for the people of Derry?

I think it will be a transformation. I think the impact on the people of

Derry, in terms of their belief, confidence, ambition, ideas - just

that sense of right here in our own town that this can happen. I think,

the same as Liverpool and Glasgow, cities which have held the European

title in the past, I think that catalyst in transformation is what

we're looking for. What about everybody else in Northern Ireland?

What do you think it will mean for everybody else? I think Northern

Ireland is a small place. We work closely together. We are talking

with arts organisations here in Belfast and right across Northern

Ireland. We're working with other local authorities across Northern

Ireland. So, I think the benefits will be felt across the whole

region. And the sense of community then? Yeah, I think people will

find it irresistible as well. There is a sense of energy behind this

project. Even in Dublin last week they described it as there was an

energy happening in the north-west of the island which they hope will

have a viral effect across. That is what we intend to do. Sinn Fein

were accused of chasing rainbows in their attempt to recoup money paid

to the Queen. Around �1 million a year is paid by wind farms and fish

farms in the coastal waters of Northern Ireland. That money goes

into the Crown Estate. Sinn Fein think control of the money should

be given to the executive. If it is not so profitable why would the

Crown Estate want to give that up and hand it back to Northern

Ireland? If we mess around in the way the member is proposing there

is every chance that the opportunity that we have, the

capital -- to capitalise on off- shore renewables and the potential

around his constituency will be lost. Now, it is time to stop

looking at chasing moon beams. We are chasing after nonsense here.

When we are losing sight of the bigger picture. I can understand

the financial attraction of identifying new revenues for

Northern Ireland. Indeed, we need to do more of that. Our recent

experience has shown that some opportunities necessitate a

clawback from the black grant. The recent was the air passenger duty.

We saw the problem that came at a cost to the Assembly. It was to

note that the Scottish Government have their eye on the same issue.

They used to have -- wish to have full devolution of the Crown Estate

in Scotland. 50% has been suggested. But the riches of the off-shore oil

and gas industry remain immense in that part of the United Kingdom.

Realistically there is no chance that the UK Government will offer

arrangements to evolve in some cases over centuries. It appeared

to work very well. This system appears to be efficient. I frankly

doubt it to arrange the commitments any more efficiently than they are

dealt with by the Crown Estates. Sinn Fein's Oliver McMullan

proposed the motion. Are you disappointed it didn't succeed?

am disappointed with the attitude of the DUP. I thought they would

have taken a more gentlemanly point of view. What we're talking about

is money back into the Assembly. It turned into a political agenda

and saving the Crown and saving the union. It has nothing to do with

that, whatsoever. The Crown estate we work with because of its name.

You can call it whatever you want. If the DUP cannot get their head

around what we're trying to do, to bring extra money back into the

assembly they should go back into the streets and tell the people out

there who are in poverty, the people who the community trusts

have stopped taking to hospital for appointments, pensioners who cannot

make the decision to eat or heat. That is what they have to do. It

was very disappoint from their point of view. Personally, they

made absolutely fools of themselves today. Was it good use of Assembly

time? Given if your motion had succeeded we would not have been

able to change the rules on Crown estate? I would not agree with that.

It opened up an avenue of discussion. That is what we were

trying to do. We have the marine -- Marine Bill and that would come in

for discussion. Because reserve matters cannot be touched the

justice power to hand it back here, they reserve matters. All that can

be discussed. That is what we were trying to do. They said 50% of the

income they get back is now going to be given back in the form of

grants. So, in some ways the money is already going back in, isn't it?

We are talking 50% of �1 million. We are talking �450,000. I would

have thought the other � 450,000 the crown east tailt is keeping

would not -- Crown estate is keeping would not made a dent.

Could they not argue and take that off the block grant? If we had it

in one hand it would be taken off the oh thiser? -- of the other?

According to the Crown estate they are looking at taking out new

leases and giving them to these people who want to invest in the

marine. Now, it only follows if you take out new leases you'll up the

rent. That could be �10 million in ten to 15 years' time. If we're

going to give away that money, so lightly, without putting up a fight

for it because Sam mi Wilson told us in the Assembly we have to look

for alternative revenue streams. We have identified one on our back

door. For the DUP to turn it around into a sham fight and retaining the

union, keeping the Crown, and then on the other hand the official

unionists backed the amendment and then turned around and voted

against it. It turned out to be a phase from the union's point of

view today. We'll have to leave it there. Thank you for coming in. Now

the countdown is on to find the new leader of the SDLP. The final

campaign launch happened today. Patsy McGlone, Alasdair McDonnell

and Conal McDevitt set out their stalls. Alex Attwood had the big

guns out today. He had one of the Guildford four praising his

tenacity, saying he was a boxer who punched above his weight. There was

a letter read out. And of course the former MP for South down was

there. He gave an impassioned speech. Indeed he almost threatened

to upstage Alex Attwood himself. We have a clip of that from earlier

today. The Government at the moment in Stormont is not a reflection of

what was intended by the Goodwood Treasure.

The Goodwood Treasure -- the Good Friday agreement. It is about

partnership, reconciliation and co- operation. That is not what we have

there, that is what I want Alec to put there as leader of the SDLP.

course he did address the press conference. He appealed for support

saying he had shown leadership skills at various levels of the

party, including the minister's post. He has three other people in

that race with him. It will be decided the first week into

November. Alex Attwood says he doesn't mind being the underdog.

The cost of north-south council meetings? The executive were given

a hard time when there is a perceived waste of money. The first

and deputy minister said they can save money on north-south

ministerial meetings. They could cut the cost to �5,000. It is a

moutful, but there is some information on the cohesion and

integration strategy? That is known as CSI. In simple terms it is about

a shared future. The proposals were published last July. Criticism at

the time that, although the executive are trying to tackle

issues around sectarianment and peace walls, the critics said the

first and Deputy First Minister's office has not gone far enough in

terms of substance and targets. For example, when will peace walls come

down? There was a public consultation last year. And the

results are now being discussed publicly. The people who carried

out that consultation will brief the office of first and Deputy

First Minister's committee. There'll be a fair amount of

interest in that tomorrow. other biggish shoe facing farmers

is the CAP reform. What do you think of what we know so far?

honest the new document had been leaked. At the same time, what came

out, if you like the aims and aspirations we have, the next year

or more than a year to decide what we can get for Northern Ireland. We

need tweaks and changes to suit the farmers. Thank you very much for

being our guest this evening. That's it from Stormont tonight. We

are back next Monday, of course, at the usual time. Before then you can