Browse content similar to 19/09/2011. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Stormont Today - all that's worth watching from | 0:00:22 | 0:00:26 | |
the day's proceedings up here on the Hill. And with MLAs still | 0:00:26 | 0:00:29 | |
reeling at Martin McGuinness's big news, we hear from the new Deputy | 0:00:29 | 0:00:33 | |
First Minister as the hours tick down to him taking up his post. But | 0:00:33 | 0:00:41 | |
what will be his style of management? I am going to employ | 0:00:41 | 0:00:45 | |
the tactics of a fisherman - patience! And Jim Allister asks the | 0:00:45 | 0:00:52 | |
big money question. Can you advise the House if while the Deputy First | 0:00:52 | 0:00:57 | |
Minister pursues his project, he will be paid? Plus find out what | 0:00:57 | 0:01:00 | |
surprised the Health Minister Edwin Poots and how the Finance Minister | 0:01:00 | 0:01:03 | |
surprised everyone when he revealed there'll be no cut in corporation | 0:01:03 | 0:01:08 | |
tax for at least four years. To discuss that and more I'm joined by | 0:01:08 | 0:01:18 | |
0:01:18 | 0:01:19 | ||
Is the prospect of a cut in corporation tax here as far off as | 0:01:19 | 0:01:22 | |
ever? While the Chancellor, George Osborne, is poised to announce | 0:01:22 | 0:01:25 | |
whether the power to set the rate of corporation tax can be devolved | 0:01:25 | 0:01:28 | |
to the Executive, it now looks like an actual tax cut won't happen | 0:01:28 | 0:01:32 | |
during this Assembly term. This is what the Finance Minister, Sammy | 0:01:32 | 0:01:39 | |
Wilson, told members this afternoon. One of the reasons why I believe | 0:01:39 | 0:01:41 | |
there has to be very hard negotiations with the Treasury over | 0:01:41 | 0:01:48 | |
the autumn to make sure that we are not getting a bill which is totally | 0:01:48 | 0:01:52 | |
unsustainable for the devolution of corporation tax. The second thing | 0:01:52 | 0:01:57 | |
is, there's been no provision made in the current four-year budget for | 0:01:57 | 0:02:00 | |
the devolution of corporation tax so even if we got it down to a | 0:02:00 | 0:02:08 | |
figure which was manageable, there would still be an impact unless it | 0:02:08 | 0:02:11 | |
is deferred because many people argue that, look, it is the | 0:02:11 | 0:02:16 | |
certainty that the tax rate will be down to a certain level by a | 0:02:16 | 0:02:19 | |
certain time which will influence investment decisions. Since there | 0:02:19 | 0:02:24 | |
is a long lead-in for investment decisions, I don't believe we will | 0:02:24 | 0:02:29 | |
see a reduction within the lifetime of this Assembly. Business leaders | 0:02:29 | 0:02:32 | |
and politicians have campaigned to see the tax lowered from the | 0:02:32 | 0:02:35 | |
current UK rate of 26% to equal the Republic of Ireland's 12.5%, in | 0:02:35 | 0:02:38 | |
hopes of boosting the economy and helping Northern Ireland companies | 0:02:38 | 0:02:45 | |
compete with those in the South. So is this a sign of the times and the | 0:02:45 | 0:02:48 | |
tough decisions that our MLAs will have to make? With me is Neil | 0:02:48 | 0:02:54 | |
Gibson an economist with Oxford Economics. Thank you for joining us. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:57 | |
Sammy Wilson made this announcement at tea time. What do you read into | 0:02:57 | 0:03:03 | |
it? It is a bit disappointing. It sends a message of defeatism almost. | 0:03:03 | 0:03:07 | |
We know there are a lot of political challenges, but to send | 0:03:07 | 0:03:11 | |
out a message - he quoted a high figure for cost. He suggested it | 0:03:11 | 0:03:15 | |
would take a long time to get things through. It does not send | 0:03:15 | 0:03:22 | |
the right message to the business community that our local executive | 0:03:22 | 0:03:26 | |
is ready to get stuck in quickly. That will have been another four | 0:03:26 | 0:03:31 | |
years that have passed. Are we running scared? It does seem odd | 0:03:31 | 0:03:36 | |
that what we are fixated with is what the cost might be. Let's see | 0:03:36 | 0:03:41 | |
the cost and make our decision accordingly. We are almost putting | 0:03:41 | 0:03:44 | |
up problems before they have arisen. We are warning people there might | 0:03:44 | 0:03:48 | |
be a cost, which is a strange concept that anyone out there | 0:03:48 | 0:03:51 | |
should think that any form of economic development will be free | 0:03:51 | 0:03:55 | |
somehow. We are going to have to invest in a better economy. Let's | 0:03:55 | 0:04:00 | |
find out what the cost is and then make our decision. There are no | 0:04:00 | 0:04:04 | |
guarantees that all these companies which we think will come and invest | 0:04:04 | 0:04:09 | |
here in Northern Ireland, it is a gamble for the Executive? Any form | 0:04:09 | 0:04:14 | |
of policy change will carry some degree of risk. We have done some | 0:04:14 | 0:04:18 | |
modelling work and tried to look at what the returns might be. We only | 0:04:18 | 0:04:21 | |
have to look at the Republic of Ireland experience, very | 0:04:21 | 0:04:25 | |
challenging times that they have now. Look at the firms that came | 0:04:25 | 0:04:31 | |
there and didn't come to Northern Ireland. If we could only capture a | 0:04:31 | 0:04:36 | |
small portion of those firms, we would be in a better place than we | 0:04:36 | 0:04:44 | |
are now. The Executive have said we need to incentivise the private | 0:04:44 | 0:04:48 | |
sector. What about how the Government is looking forward. What | 0:04:48 | 0:04:53 | |
advice would you give them? It is difficult in that we are trying to | 0:04:53 | 0:04:56 | |
think long-term. Northern Ireland is dependent on the British | 0:04:56 | 0:04:59 | |
taxpayer continuing to subsidise our standard of living. They may | 0:04:59 | 0:05:04 | |
choose that they have problems of their own, they may decide to | 0:05:04 | 0:05:09 | |
reduce that. We need to think long- term. Can we prepare for a Northern | 0:05:09 | 0:05:13 | |
Ireland economy that is all the things we have talked about - | 0:05:13 | 0:05:23 | |
0:05:23 | 0:05:24 | ||
private sector led? So a bit of long-term planning is what we would | 0:05:24 | 0:05:29 | |
like to see. Stay with us. Well, the other big news of course is | 0:05:29 | 0:05:32 | |
that we're getting a new Deputy First Minister while Martin | 0:05:32 | 0:05:34 | |
McGuinness goes to seek his fortune in the Republic's presidential | 0:05:34 | 0:05:39 | |
election. While the six-week campaign is ongoing, he will be | 0:05:39 | 0:05:41 | |
replaced by the current Education Minister, John O'Dowd, who will | 0:05:41 | 0:05:47 | |
juggle both portfolios. We'll hear from Mr O'Dowd in a moment, but | 0:05:47 | 0:05:50 | |
first here's how the chamber reacted to the news this morning - | 0:05:50 | 0:05:58 | |
or rather, here's what Jim Allister wanted to know. Point of order. | 0:05:58 | 0:06:03 | |
Further to your announcement under Section 16A, can you advise the | 0:06:03 | 0:06:12 | |
House if while the Deputy First Minister pursues his project, he | 0:06:12 | 0:06:17 | |
will be paid as the Deputy First Minister of this House? Order. It's | 0:06:17 | 0:06:23 | |
not a matter for the Speaker. The Speaker has fulfilled his role this | 0:06:23 | 0:06:27 | |
morning. I simply received a letter from the Deputy First Minister, | 0:06:27 | 0:06:33 | |
that letter is very clear, it is correct and I am informing the | 0:06:33 | 0:06:36 | |
House this morning, that is where my role ends. I am sure the | 0:06:36 | 0:06:41 | |
educated member would also know that as well. It's now less than an | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
hour until John O'Dowd steps up to his new role. I spoke to him | 0:06:44 | 0:06:48 | |
earlier and asked him if he could shed any light on the issue of the | 0:06:48 | 0:06:51 | |
Deputy First Minister's salary, but first was he up to doing two jobs | 0:06:51 | 0:06:58 | |
instead of one. I will be stepping into take over Martin's role as DFM | 0:06:58 | 0:07:01 | |
for the next six weeks. It will be business as usual. There is a | 0:07:01 | 0:07:04 | |
programme of work which requires to be completed for the benefit of the | 0:07:04 | 0:07:09 | |
people whom we represent. I along with my colleagues, both in the | 0:07:09 | 0:07:13 | |
Sinn Fein and with all the other ministers, wish to see that | 0:07:13 | 0:07:18 | |
programme of work concluded. Do you think you can do both jobs | 0:07:18 | 0:07:22 | |
effectively? Six weeks is workable. I have spent the summer reading | 0:07:22 | 0:07:26 | |
myself into the education brief. I am preparing a major speech for | 0:07:26 | 0:07:31 | |
next Monday to the Assembly which will set out a range of initiatives. | 0:07:31 | 0:07:36 | |
I am very fortunate that within the Department of Education, I have an | 0:07:36 | 0:07:40 | |
experienced group of civil servants who know the thinking of the | 0:07:40 | 0:07:49 | |
minister. So that is fortunate. We have a very experienced group of | 0:07:49 | 0:07:59 | |
0:07:59 | 0:08:00 | ||
civil servants and advisors. You couldn't carry out both tasks over | 0:08:00 | 0:08:03 | |
a prolonged period. Are you confident that the important | 0:08:03 | 0:08:09 | |
decisions that need to be made over the next six weeks will still go | 0:08:09 | 0:08:12 | |
ahead? I can assure parents that the Department of Education is in | 0:08:12 | 0:08:16 | |
safe hands. I have spent my summer months reading myself into the | 0:08:16 | 0:08:20 | |
brief, deciding on the next steps in education. I will be setting | 0:08:20 | 0:08:25 | |
those out next week. A full programme of work will be rolling | 0:08:25 | 0:08:33 | |
out. It will involve the Education Library Boards. I will be keeping a | 0:08:33 | 0:08:37 | |
close eye on it. My department knows my thinking on the various | 0:08:37 | 0:08:44 | |
matters. So I would say it is in safe hands over the period. It is | 0:08:44 | 0:08:48 | |
interesting because the Deputy First Minister role is busy and | 0:08:48 | 0:08:51 | |
there are important decisions to be made, not least the programme for | 0:08:52 | 0:08:57 | |
Government? Yes, that is an executive collective decision. | 0:08:57 | 0:09:03 | |
There has been good work done over these last number of weeks. I am | 0:09:03 | 0:09:08 | |
confident that can move on. I am sure we will have a radical | 0:09:08 | 0:09:12 | |
programme of Government in place to set the course of direction. Do you | 0:09:12 | 0:09:17 | |
think Martin McGuinness will win? hope he will win. I believe the | 0:09:17 | 0:09:21 | |
potential that is building up behind his campaign puts him in a | 0:09:21 | 0:09:25 | |
good place. He will be a big loss to the party. If he does win, he is | 0:09:25 | 0:09:31 | |
taking on the President of Ireland. I think in the overall wellbeing of | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
the peace process, the nation, I think it is the right thing to do. | 0:09:34 | 0:09:40 | |
What about the issue of pay, then? Do you think is it fair that he | 0:09:40 | 0:09:44 | |
keeps the Deputy First Minister's salary and that you don't get any | 0:09:44 | 0:09:48 | |
acting-up pay? My understanding is that Martin won't be collecting any | 0:09:48 | 0:09:53 | |
salary over this period of time. That is my understanding. I'm | 0:09:53 | 0:10:00 | |
notested in acting-up pay. -- I am not interested in acting-up pay. | 0:10:00 | 0:10:07 | |
I'm fortunate that I do collect a wage. Certainly not an extravagant | 0:10:07 | 0:10:11 | |
lifestyle. What about the issues of the past? How do you think he will | 0:10:11 | 0:10:15 | |
handle those? How do you think that will impact on the Sinn Fein | 0:10:15 | 0:10:20 | |
campaign? Martin McGuinness has been a public figure for almost 30 | 0:10:20 | 0:10:25 | |
years. His past has been closely examined by the media in varying | 0:10:25 | 0:10:29 | |
degrees, from honesty to mistruths. I have no doubt Martin will be able | 0:10:29 | 0:10:33 | |
to handle any question placed in front of him about his past. I | 0:10:33 | 0:10:37 | |
think it's wrong - and I think the general public sees through this - | 0:10:38 | 0:10:43 | |
it is wrong to pick out an individual or a group from our past. | 0:10:43 | 0:10:48 | |
If you want to examine the conflict, let's examine the conflict in its | 0:10:48 | 0:10:52 | |
entirety. We have set out a process where we believe that can be | 0:10:52 | 0:11:02 | |
achieved. That is our proposal. I think the general public will judge | 0:11:02 | 0:11:08 | |
Martin McGuinness on his merits. He has been a successful politician. I | 0:11:08 | 0:11:11 | |
have no doubt the people of the South will judge him on his | 0:11:11 | 0:11:14 | |
character and the work he has achieved for the peace process in | 0:11:15 | 0:11:20 | |
Ireland. Why do you think the party has chosen you to step up? | 0:11:20 | 0:11:25 | |
tempted to say because I'm the tallest! I'm incensed - I have | 0:11:25 | 0:11:28 | |
taken a number of leadership positions in the party before. I | 0:11:28 | 0:11:33 | |
have a broad understanding of the issues which are currently rotating | 0:11:33 | 0:11:37 | |
around the Executive. It is for a six-week period. I will be relying | 0:11:37 | 0:11:43 | |
heavily on my support team and on my Executive colleagues. That | 0:11:44 | 0:11:48 | |
previous job in the kitchen, are you going to employ any of those | 0:11:48 | 0:11:56 | |
tactics, keeping everybody in order? I will employ the tactics of | 0:11:56 | 0:11:58 | |
a fisherman - patience. I will take one serious piece of advice - have | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
a wee bit of patience. It is not out of the frying pan and into the | 0:12:02 | 0:12:09 | |
fire? I don't think so. We heard from John O'Dowd. Can he do two | 0:12:09 | 0:12:12 | |
jobs? Is it appropriate to have the Education Minister be the Deputy | 0:12:12 | 0:12:16 | |
First Minister? I think there is certainly a challenge, not least | 0:12:16 | 0:12:18 | |
because he's only into the education brief. It does happen in | 0:12:18 | 0:12:23 | |
business all the time, people leave for sickness, or they are moving on | 0:12:23 | 0:12:28 | |
to another post. So it wouldn't be unusual and as he draws attention | 0:12:28 | 0:12:32 | |
to the fact, it is only for six weeks. It is a tough time. There | 0:12:32 | 0:12:36 | |
are big decisions to be made. It is quite a difficult period in which | 0:12:36 | 0:12:40 | |
he is taking over the role. Stay with us. Thank you. The Health | 0:12:40 | 0:12:43 | |
Minister, Edwin Poots, was under scrutiny at Question Time today | 0:12:43 | 0:12:45 | |
answering questions on fertility treatment and prisoner medication | 0:12:45 | 0:12:50 | |
among other things. First up today, though, was Sammy Wilson and who | 0:12:50 | 0:12:59 | |
was waiting to ambush him but that man again - Jim Allister. The TUV | 0:12:59 | 0:13:02 | |
leader wanted to know why he had agreed a pay rise for special | 0:13:02 | 0:13:05 | |
advisers when a pay freeze for civil servants is already in | 0:13:05 | 0:13:12 | |
operation. Well, the member seems to be very interested in everybody | 0:13:12 | 0:13:16 | |
else's pay but really doesn't - I could take that from some other | 0:13:16 | 0:13:21 | |
members in this chamber. But I could take that from some other | 0:13:21 | 0:13:28 | |
members... He doesn't like this. But this is the member, this is the | 0:13:28 | 0:13:36 | |
member who goes to court to keep his own pay... Order! Order! Just... | 0:13:36 | 0:13:41 | |
Order! The Minister has been asked the question and the Minister is | 0:13:41 | 0:13:47 | |
giving his reply. Can we have order, please? Minister? I think you see | 0:13:47 | 0:13:50 | |
the member doesn't like the truth being told. He loves the point the | 0:13:50 | 0:13:58 | |
finger, he loves to posture. He loves to blame everybody else and | 0:13:58 | 0:14:01 | |
identify what he believes are the faults of everybody else. I would | 0:14:01 | 0:14:06 | |
think he would have a bit more credibility if he was prepared to | 0:14:06 | 0:14:09 | |
have some transparency about the money that he gets from the public | 0:14:09 | 0:14:12 | |
purse instead of looking at the money other people are getting or | 0:14:12 | 0:14:21 | |
what he believes are getting. the member take his seat? No points | 0:14:21 | 0:14:27 | |
of order are taken through Question Time. You may raise later if you | 0:14:27 | 0:14:37 | |
0:14:37 | 0:14:37 | ||
wish. Thank you very much. I will be a bit more restrained than | 0:14:37 | 0:14:45 | |
hereto. Question two. OK. I thank the member - we know his customary | 0:14:45 | 0:14:49 | |
restraint. He will not be as restrained in his battle for the | 0:14:49 | 0:14:54 | |
leadership of the party! LAUGHTER am sure he will be fairly robust | 0:14:54 | 0:14:59 | |
when it comes to that. I was going to say I wish him all the best, but | 0:14:59 | 0:15:05 | |
that might be the death knell for him, so I'll not. I will keep that. | 0:15:05 | 0:15:09 | |
LAUGHTER The issue of issuing a bond is something which has come up | 0:15:09 | 0:15:16 | |
time and time again. As part of schemes where we are trying to | 0:15:16 | 0:15:21 | |
identify ways in which we can bring additional spending into the public | 0:15:21 | 0:15:30 | |
sector for projects which we have not been financed through, through | 0:15:30 | 0:15:34 | |
money we can raise by the sale of assets. The difficulty with this | 0:15:34 | 0:15:38 | |
issue - and I have explained this on a number of occasions - the | 0:15:38 | 0:15:44 | |
difficulty is that if we as an Executive borrow money, the | 0:15:44 | 0:15:49 | |
Treasury then takes that as part of the borrowing for the whole of the | 0:15:49 | 0:15:54 | |
United Kingdom and if borrowing targets are set, then they simply | 0:15:54 | 0:15:59 | |
reduce the amount of money which is given to Northern Ireland according | 0:15:59 | 0:16:05 | |
to the amount of money which will be borrowed. Questions to health | 0:16:05 | 0:16:11 | |
next. I would have concerns about that, | 0:16:11 | 0:16:17 | |
Mr Speaker. We do intend to look at that particular issue. We have the | 0:16:17 | 0:16:26 | |
problem - we have people who are getting prescriptions for things | 0:16:26 | 0:16:31 | |
like Ibuprofen, for things you can easily buy over the counter at low- | 0:16:31 | 0:16:41 | |
0:16:41 | 0:16:47 | ||
cost. We have already given guidelines on these. I should make | 0:16:48 | 0:16:54 | |
it clear that this Executive, this Assembly and this country spends | 0:16:54 | 0:16:59 | |
around �460 million per year on pharmacy. That is almost as much | 0:16:59 | 0:17:03 | |
money as the entire Department of Regional Development spends. We | 0:17:03 | 0:17:08 | |
need to get better efficiencies into the system. We need to get | 0:17:08 | 0:17:12 | |
value for money. We need to eradicate a lot of the waste of | 0:17:12 | 0:17:16 | |
drugs that we are buying and we need to maximise the amount of | 0:17:16 | 0:17:19 | |
generics we are using. There is a lot of work to be done on this | 0:17:20 | 0:17:23 | |
particular issue. There is a lot of savings to be made on this | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
particular issue. Community pharmacists offer a very important | 0:17:27 | 0:17:31 | |
role into the delivery of Health Service in Northern Ireland. We | 0:17:31 | 0:17:35 | |
don't want to make them the fall guy. We do need to make | 0:17:35 | 0:17:39 | |
considerable savings. The Minister gets annoyed at people failing to | 0:17:39 | 0:17:46 | |
attend hospital appointments. Introducing these measures, will | 0:17:47 | 0:17:51 | |
you take into account particular circumstances and particular cases | 0:17:51 | 0:17:55 | |
such as people with bad eyesight and in terms of appointments going | 0:17:55 | 0:17:59 | |
out, would it be standard, or is it standard to have them in large | 0:18:00 | 0:18:05 | |
print? Well, those are issues and I accept that sometimes when people | 0:18:05 | 0:18:10 | |
don't turn up it is not necessarily their fault. However, 61% of people | 0:18:10 | 0:18:16 | |
who didn't turn up had forgot, 16% of people who didn't turn up felt | 0:18:16 | 0:18:20 | |
embarrassed about coming to the outpatients and another 13% didn't | 0:18:20 | 0:18:25 | |
think it was important and another 10% tried to cancel but couldn't | 0:18:25 | 0:18:29 | |
get through. So I think you can take from those figures that the | 0:18:29 | 0:18:34 | |
main core of the problem is people who fall into the category of | 0:18:34 | 0:18:39 | |
forgetting or who didn't think it was important. Drugs in prison are | 0:18:39 | 0:18:43 | |
a long-standing problem but what about prescribed drugs? How many | 0:18:43 | 0:18:48 | |
prisoners are on medication? levels of prescribing up to three | 0:18:48 | 0:18:56 | |
Northern Ireland prison establishments, 80%, 58%, 38%, | 0:18:56 | 0:19:00 | |
these levels of prescribing reflect the fact that prisoners tend to | 0:19:00 | 0:19:09 | |
have poor physical and mental health in the population at large. | 0:19:09 | 0:19:18 | |
Healthcare service is provided at the three prison sites. I am sure | 0:19:18 | 0:19:27 | |
prisoners' needs are appropriately met. I think thank the Minister for | 0:19:27 | 0:19:33 | |
his answer. There is obviously doctor-patient confidentiality. | 0:19:33 | 0:19:41 | |
Does his department have any view or do they put in place any | 0:19:41 | 0:19:47 | |
monitoring process to ensure the high level of drug use in prison is | 0:19:47 | 0:19:55 | |
monitored? I will have to say that I am shocked by these figures. So I | 0:19:55 | 0:19:58 | |
welcome the fact that it's been brought to our attention. I | 0:19:58 | 0:20:05 | |
certainly will be asking questions as to whether this high level of | 0:20:05 | 0:20:09 | |
prescribing drugs to people in prison is necessary, or whether | 0:20:09 | 0:20:18 | |
it's suitable because prisoners are camera as a result of it. Prisons | 0:20:18 | 0:20:23 | |
are reform institutes. If people are coming out having received | 0:20:23 | 0:20:27 | |
large quantities of prescription drugs, as opposed to overcoming | 0:20:27 | 0:20:31 | |
their problems, there is some degree of failing. Agreeing a | 0:20:31 | 0:20:34 | |
programme for Government has been one of the trickier tasks up here | 0:20:34 | 0:20:37 | |
on the Hill. Today the Ulster Unionist Party released its own | 0:20:37 | 0:20:42 | |
plans for the economy and party leader Tom Elliott joins us now. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:46 | |
Thank you for coming in. We have had an election this year, your | 0:20:46 | 0:20:53 | |
party manifesto was there. What is the reason for publishing this | 0:20:53 | 0:21:00 | |
Dockham document? It was indicated to the two main parties that we | 0:21:00 | 0:21:04 | |
needed a programme for Government. We had set a bung et in March but | 0:21:04 | 0:21:09 | |
we suggested that the programme for -- budget in March but we suggested | 0:21:09 | 0:21:12 | |
that the programme for Government was done before the budget was set. | 0:21:12 | 0:21:16 | |
We do need a programme for Government. Just last week, we | 0:21:16 | 0:21:19 | |
witnessed the student fees project having to be changed and that's | 0:21:19 | 0:21:22 | |
changed to the budget already, only a few months into this budget. What | 0:21:22 | 0:21:27 | |
we are saying is, there are probably going to be many more | 0:21:27 | 0:21:32 | |
changes throughout the four-year period. Let's have collective | 0:21:32 | 0:21:38 | |
Government. We have come out with our own proposals. Before we get on | 0:21:38 | 0:21:41 | |
to those, just looking at the reasons for having a programme for | 0:21:41 | 0:21:48 | |
Government, was it not the case the SDLP and the Ulster Unionists sat | 0:21:48 | 0:21:52 | |
on the outside of discussions, so again what is the point in doing | 0:21:52 | 0:21:59 | |
this right now? I think you sit outside if you are kept outside. | 0:21:59 | 0:22:02 | |
The Ulster Unionists and SDLP weren't involved in that process | 0:22:02 | 0:22:09 | |
because we weren't invited to be. We have come forward with our own | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
proposals, hopefully that we can set up a stage for the next four | 0:22:13 | 0:22:18 | |
years so we can make decisions together and hopefully make a | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
better decision-making process. is about joined-up Government | 0:22:22 | 0:22:27 | |
rather than any idea of opposition now? What we are doing is putting | 0:22:27 | 0:22:31 | |
forward our proposals. The proposals that we have put forward | 0:22:31 | 0:22:34 | |
today are very reasonable. They are workable within a Government, | 0:22:34 | 0:22:38 | |
within an executive of Northern Ireland. I am sure that all parties | 0:22:38 | 0:22:42 | |
won't find too much wrong with them. I hope it will set a basis we can | 0:22:42 | 0:22:47 | |
work to. We need to get that collective Government and hopefully | 0:22:47 | 0:22:53 | |
that we can do that now. It's not an easy task. We do know the two | 0:22:53 | 0:22:57 | |
major parties are dominant in the Executive. Quite a lot of the time | 0:22:57 | 0:23:02 | |
they want to exclude the SDLP and ourselves. Just reading through the | 0:23:02 | 0:23:08 | |
document today, it is a wish-list. But some of the proposals seem a | 0:23:08 | 0:23:16 | |
bit woolly on some reading of it. Reduce poverty by 2015 and | 0:23:16 | 0:23:20 | |
completely by 2018. Almost half the population is in fuel poverty, is | 0:23:20 | 0:23:26 | |
that realistic? What we want to do is set this as a basis for | 0:23:26 | 0:23:30 | |
discussion document. There may be some other proposal that will come | 0:23:30 | 0:23:33 | |
forward from the other parties. We are inviting that. If they want to | 0:23:33 | 0:23:38 | |
come forward with their proposals, we are happy to discuss those | 0:23:39 | 0:23:45 | |
issues. But unless we get progress on corporation tax - and I noted | 0:23:45 | 0:23:49 | |
Sammy Wilson's suggestion today in the Assembly that it appeared | 0:23:49 | 0:23:52 | |
somewhat ambiguous as to whether we would move forward in this term or | 0:23:53 | 0:23:56 | |
not with at least the powers to reduce corporation tax and then | 0:23:56 | 0:24:00 | |
hopefully that we would do it. I also noted that he said that he | 0:24:00 | 0:24:07 | |
didn't know what the meaning of "enterprise zones" were. Enterprise | 0:24:07 | 0:24:15 | |
zones, you may be able to give tax breaks, business start-ups, for | 0:24:15 | 0:24:25 | |
certain individual projects. The North West could be a tourist | 0:24:25 | 0:24:29 | |
enterprise zone. Briefly, Martin McGuinness said that victims' | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
feelings are being whipped up around this issue of him running | 0:24:32 | 0:24:37 | |
for Irish President. What do you think about that? Well, it's up to | 0:24:37 | 0:24:41 | |
the people of the Republic of Ireland who they elect as their new | 0:24:41 | 0:24:46 | |
President. The point I would make is that I don't have to whip up the | 0:24:46 | 0:24:52 | |
fears within the victims' sector. That tension is there. There is a | 0:24:53 | 0:25:02 | |
0:25:03 | 0:25:09 | ||
frustration there. There is a traumaisation there. -- | 0:25:09 | 0:25:17 | |
traumatisation there. I think it is time that he came clean. I think he | 0:25:17 | 0:25:21 | |
should stop trying to justify the 30-year campaign of terrorism in | 0:25:21 | 0:25:26 | |
Northern Ireland. That is the one thing that continues to niggle the | 0:25:26 | 0:25:30 | |
victims of Northern Ireland. Thank you very much. We've already been | 0:25:30 | 0:25:32 | |
talking about the programme for Government. As our political editor, | 0:25:32 | 0:25:39 | |
Mark Devenport, told me earlier it's also on the agenda tomorrow. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:44 | |
The SDLP has a motion which will be debated tomorrow, calling for the | 0:25:44 | 0:25:47 | |
Executive to get together a new programme for Government, | 0:25:47 | 0:25:51 | |
criticising the delay that there has been since the election in | 0:25:51 | 0:25:56 | |
having that. That has in turn been criticised by Sinn Fein who argue | 0:25:56 | 0:26:03 | |
the SDL is disingenuous, that you can't brush aside the budget that | 0:26:03 | 0:26:10 | |
had previously been pushed through. The challenge facing the Executive | 0:26:10 | 0:26:16 | |
parties will be can they get through a programme for Government | 0:26:16 | 0:26:21 | |
when John O'Dowd is acting up? Will all the parties buy into it? Or | 0:26:21 | 0:26:28 | |
will we see a breakdown where the bigger parties may go one way and | 0:26:28 | 0:26:32 | |
the smaller parties go another way? Martin McGuinness has already been | 0:26:32 | 0:26:39 | |
facing questions about his past. Of course, Mark, the past is very much | 0:26:39 | 0:26:41 | |
the backdrop for all of the political debate up here? Yes. It's | 0:26:41 | 0:26:46 | |
going to be a question which will be coming back again and again in | 0:26:46 | 0:26:49 | |
relation to the Irish presidential campaign. It is something he is | 0:26:49 | 0:26:55 | |
used to. So many of the debates here - we had the debate on the | 0:26:55 | 0:27:05 | |
0:27:05 | 0:27:06 | ||
Police Ombudsman earlier on today. Various speakers were harking back | 0:27:06 | 0:27:12 | |
to that image of a young Martin McGuinness as a self-confessed IRA | 0:27:12 | 0:27:20 | |
leader. I think this is something that which we will have to get used | 0:27:20 | 0:27:26 | |
to. Martin McGuinness isn't the only politician who is on the move? | 0:27:26 | 0:27:31 | |
No. He's going south. But certainly a number of politicians, four | 0:27:31 | 0:27:36 | |
members of the regional development committee and the regional | 0:27:36 | 0:27:40 | |
development ministers are off to France, for a shorter period of | 0:27:40 | 0:27:45 | |
time, just for a couple of days. They are going to look at the bus | 0:27:45 | 0:27:50 | |
way in Nantes in France to see whether that might form some | 0:27:50 | 0:27:54 | |
example for the much talked about but so far little actually built | 0:27:54 | 0:28:02 | |
bus way that's been talked about in relation to Belfast. So, four of | 0:28:02 | 0:28:09 | |
them will get to make the trip. A number of them won't. But here is a | 0:28:09 | 0:28:19 | |
0:28:19 | 0:28:20 | ||
sight of what they are missing. Thank you. Neil, Sammy Wilson | 0:28:20 | 0:28:24 | |
laughed off that question about public sector pay. It could | 0:28:24 | 0:28:27 | |
potentially save the Government a huge amount of money? Absolutely. | 0:28:27 | 0:28:31 | |
Although it was a loaded question, the sentiment behind it, it | 0:28:31 | 0:28:35 | |
shouldn't be laughed off. We talk about the need to implement cuts | 0:28:35 | 0:28:39 | |
and how difficult the climate is. The public sector pay bill is the | 0:28:39 | 0:28:45 | |
biggest element of our expenditure. So you can make quite a significant | 0:28:45 | 0:28:51 | |
saving. That is really the world we are in now. We need to talk about | 0:28:51 | 0:28:57 | |
things like welfare reform, public sector pay. These are very | 0:28:57 | 0:29:01 | |
difficult subjects. Thank you very much. That's it from the programme | 0:29:01 | 0:29:03 |