:00:29. > :00:33.Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. It was another busy day up here in
:00:33. > :00:38.the House on the Hill and just as in big brother, the possibility of
:00:38. > :00:43.an eviction was on everybody's minds. Mr Wells must acknowledge he
:00:43. > :00:46.went overboard, crossed the line on this issue and could have quietly
:00:47. > :00:51.made amends for his actions... any suggestion of a further delay
:00:51. > :00:55.to the reform Bill was given short shrift by the Social Development
:00:55. > :01:01.Minister. This is not about welfare reform, this is about a squalid
:01:01. > :01:08.little squabble between the SDLP and Sinn Fein. And joining me with
:01:08. > :01:12.her thoughts, our Political Correspondent Martina Purdy.
:01:12. > :01:15.The day got off to a live lively start with a report on the
:01:15. > :01:19.committee on standards and privileges calling for the
:01:19. > :01:23.exclusion of Jim Wells for seven days following comments he made
:01:23. > :01:30.last year to the Sinn Fein Culture Minister and her adviser.
:01:30. > :01:34.I take no satisfaction whatsoever in asking the assembly to do this.
:01:34. > :01:40.However, I do think that the assembly has a duty to respond to
:01:40. > :01:43.the breach of the code of conduct that has been identified by the
:01:43. > :01:47.interim commissioner on the committee of standards and
:01:47. > :01:53.priflinls. All members have received a copy of the report on
:01:53. > :01:59.the complaints about the conduct of Mr Wells -- privileges. They were
:01:59. > :02:05.made by Miss McCullen and Miss McCardle. They complained about
:02:05. > :02:10.separate encounters they had with him in 2011. The complaints were
:02:10. > :02:14.investigated and members also have received a copy of the reports. Mr
:02:14. > :02:19.Wells must surely acknowledge he went overboard, crossed the line on
:02:19. > :02:25.this issue and could have quietly made amends for his actions. Of
:02:25. > :02:29.course, Mr Speaker, Mr Wells wasn't the only one outraged at the
:02:29. > :02:35.appointment at that particular time. We were all outraged. Mr Speaker,
:02:35. > :02:39.why is it so difficult for cup members and perhaps others in this
:02:39. > :02:42.assembly to say sorry -- DUP members. Disappointed to learn this
:02:42. > :02:46.morning that there was a petition of concern, another misuse of the
:02:46. > :02:50.mechanism of this House. I simply ask and indeed urge
:02:50. > :02:52.members to support this motion this morning. Thank you. This motion
:02:52. > :02:58.does nothing to protect the integrity of this House. Mr Speaker,
:02:58. > :03:04.let me put on record my reasons why I think this House should be
:03:04. > :03:06.opposing the motion as is on the order paper today. This is not a
:03:06. > :03:10.proportionate response. The issue here is that the member has been
:03:11. > :03:15.found in breach and it's in the report. I have to laugh when I
:03:15. > :03:20.heard him because I've experienced Mr Wells in the previous committee
:03:20. > :03:26.and mandate and I've never heard Mr Wells in my time mumble anything.
:03:26. > :03:30.He's very articulate in everything he puts across, I'll give him that.
:03:30. > :03:34.Other members who're mandated and represent the communities here also
:03:34. > :03:41.signed up to the Good Friday Agreement. This institution on
:03:41. > :03:45.how... This institution and the formation of the institution and
:03:45. > :03:54.they're here to respect that or they're not, so they're either
:03:54. > :03:58.going to follow the rules and regulations of it or they're not.
:03:58. > :04:05.Put the victims first by asking them what do they think about this.
:04:05. > :04:09.Here is an interesting fact, Mr Speaker. Anne Travers feels guilty
:04:09. > :04:13.about what's happened in this chamber today. I don't need to tell
:04:13. > :04:18.Sinn Fein this. They get it immediately. But for the rest of us,
:04:18. > :04:23.the point is this. A part of Anne thinks it's her fault that we are
:04:23. > :04:33.having this debate, that if, and these are her words not mine, if
:04:33. > :04:38.she had not "Made such a fuss about Mary McCardle being promoted by
:04:38. > :04:44.Carol McKinle, we couldn't be doing this". I asked Anne if she had any
:04:44. > :04:47.advice and she said three words "Support Jim Wells". It has to be
:04:47. > :04:51.pointed out and maybe Mr Wells needs to know this, many members
:04:51. > :04:56.around the committee table tried to avoid this day. We didn't want to
:04:56. > :04:59.bring this to the chamber, mainly because we didn't want to give Mr
:04:59. > :05:05.Wells another platform and all the other people. We offered Mr Wells a
:05:05. > :05:10.way out. We offered him a way out. Mr Wells was offered to provide an
:05:10. > :05:14.apology to the offended parties which he refused to do and now we
:05:14. > :05:18.are here today so it's on Mr Wells why this is being debated in the
:05:18. > :05:23.House today. The bottom line - I'm sure you will have your say, Mr
:05:23. > :05:27.Wells - the bottom line is that it's income bent on everyone in
:05:27. > :05:30.this house to treat each other with respect, whether you like them or
:05:30. > :05:34.not, whether you agree with them or not or whether you are in
:05:35. > :05:43.Government with them or not, you have to treat each and every
:05:43. > :05:48.colleague in this House with respect. Miss McKiln said she found
:05:48. > :05:51.it unsettling with Mr Wells. I wonder why I for 14 years have
:05:51. > :05:55.treated Sinn Fein in a particular way and there's never been a
:05:55. > :05:58.complaint. I wonder why there's never been a complaint. Have people
:05:58. > :06:04.got the stomach for a complaint or do they not want to complain?
:06:04. > :06:06.What's the problem you have with placing a complaint?! This is not
:06:06. > :06:14.about political opinion or religious belief. This is not about
:06:14. > :06:21.what happened in our kunflict in the past, though Jim and his mates
:06:21. > :06:28.might try and dress it up about that -- conflict. This is about
:06:28. > :06:33.misogyny and sectarianism. Misogyny. The definition of misogyny is
:06:33. > :06:39.hatred or dislike of women and girls, and that is what Jim Wells
:06:39. > :06:43.has done here and been found guilty Sinn Fein will not tolerate
:06:43. > :06:47.bullying behaviour. We won't tolerate inequality. We certainly
:06:47. > :06:53.won't tolerate misogyny and we won't tolerate anyone being treated
:06:53. > :06:57.as a second class citizen. If Mr Wells thoughts he could intimidate
:06:57. > :07:00.two strong women, he has another thing coming. We are here in a
:07:00. > :07:06.situation where people are described as being offended and
:07:06. > :07:14.hurt by a comment Mr Wells made. And we are here today about
:07:14. > :07:20.misogyny and about the hatred of women coming from here. What hatred
:07:20. > :07:26.of women was involved when someone saw fit to pump full of bullets Tom
:07:26. > :07:30.Travers and his daughter Mary. That is a real hatred of women. To
:07:30. > :07:34.demand that Mr Wells on the other hand should apologise, for doing
:07:34. > :07:39.what? Waving his finger! It's not good enough if you actually wave
:07:39. > :07:44.your finger but it's all right if you put it on a trigger.
:07:44. > :07:49.community was outraged because they felt McCardle was rewarded for her
:07:49. > :07:54.murder of the totally innocent young woman by being given this
:07:54. > :07:59.very important post. Now, that caused outrage. I was angry. The
:07:59. > :08:02.community was angry. I was concerned. Having a right in a
:08:02. > :08:06.democratic society to express that concern - yes, because if I don't
:08:06. > :08:11.have the right to express that concern forcibly in a way that can
:08:11. > :08:15.even cause concern, that even can cause upset, then there is no
:08:15. > :08:21.freedom of speech in this building. I have to have that right and I
:08:21. > :08:25.exercise that right. I make it absolutely clear. I accused Mary
:08:25. > :08:31.McCardle of murdering Marie Travers because it's true and I said she
:08:31. > :08:35.was unfit to be an adviser. debate has descended in the way it
:08:36. > :08:41.has into name-calling and abuse across the chamber and to some
:08:41. > :08:46.extent disrespect from both sides of the House when we are here to
:08:46. > :08:54.discuss the code of conduct of members and how we should act
:08:54. > :08:58.respectively towards each other. It seems to me incongruous that the
:08:58. > :09:03.DUP on one hand wish to sit in Government with Sinn Fein but then
:09:03. > :09:09.believe it's OK to name call. I believe that it's disrespectful,
:09:09. > :09:13.not only to the member who you abuse in that way, but to these
:09:13. > :09:18.institutions which all members in the House to some degree have to
:09:18. > :09:23.accept when they take their seat in this chamber. The Green Party's
:09:23. > :09:26.Stephen Agnew. The motion was rejected and Jim Wells survived to
:09:26. > :09:32.fight another day. Martina Purdy, the vote was very close? You can
:09:32. > :09:39.see from the film that the House was sharply divided so it was a
:09:39. > :09:44.close vote, 51-49 against, effectively evicting Jim Wells from
:09:44. > :09:47.the House for a week, from Stormont. They had a device called the
:09:48. > :09:51.Petition of 7 concern which forces both sides of the House which would
:09:51. > :09:58.have had to agree to punish Jim Wells and would have given the DUP
:09:59. > :10:02.a veto which they didn't need in the end. Jim Wells didn't say sorry,
:10:02. > :10:06.we are clear about that. Do you think perhaps he regrets the
:10:06. > :10:10.incident? As we have heard, he says he's not sorry for what he said. I
:10:10. > :10:15.would say he regrets the amount of time this incident's taken. I mean,
:10:15. > :10:19.it's been hanging over him for almost 18 months. And when the
:10:19. > :10:22.Standards Commissioner starts to investigate something, there's a
:10:22. > :10:25.lot of correspondence going back and forward between your office and
:10:25. > :10:28.the commissioner. You are also dealing with a lot of lengthy
:10:28. > :10:31.questions and inquiries. So he could have done without it. I
:10:31. > :10:36.suppose other members looking at this will say to themselvess if
:10:36. > :10:42.they have something to say that's robust, they might decide to say
:10:42. > :10:46.nit the House. The controversy is not about to go away however?
:10:46. > :10:51.Although Mary McCard sell no longer a special adviser, she's moved to
:10:51. > :10:55.another post, the legacy of that appointment goes on because Jim
:10:55. > :11:02.Alastair's table add private members Bill seeking to disqualify
:11:02. > :11:07.anyone who's served five years or more in prison from that. That bill
:11:07. > :11:11.is with the Finance Committee for scrutiny and Anne Travers whose
:11:12. > :11:16.sister was murdered 30 years ago and Mary McCardle served time for
:11:16. > :11:20.that, she'll give evidence to the committee this week so it will run
:11:20. > :11:24.and run. It will be a public discussion. It's an issue that will
:11:24. > :11:27.remain on the agenda for the foreseeable? It is. It's a very
:11:27. > :11:33.controversial appointment, at the time it was controversial and
:11:33. > :11:36.indeed Anne Travers' complaints to the assembly and to the media
:11:36. > :11:40.caused such a controversy it actually spilled over I think into
:11:40. > :11:45.the Irish presidential race when Martin McGuinness was standing, so
:11:45. > :11:50.it had repercussions beyond this assembly for sure.
:11:50. > :11:55.Stay with us because that debate wasn't the only frank exchange
:11:56. > :12:00.today. The controversial Welfare Reform Bill and the bid to set up a
:12:00. > :12:05.committee on equality and human rights prompted testy exchanges.
:12:06. > :12:09.Alex Maskey spelt out why he thinks it's needed. It was equally made
:12:09. > :12:15.clear why it was felt that it was not needed.
:12:16. > :12:20.I assure the minister and the department that the purpose of this
:12:20. > :12:25.motion is not about delaying, it's about making sure we max mews the
:12:25. > :12:29.scrutiny available to this House on its concern about human rights. The
:12:29. > :12:32.Human Rights Commission made it clear that they had not been
:12:32. > :12:39.involved in proper consultation with the department over the whole
:12:39. > :12:48.process of this Bill thus far. The equality commission also had a
:12:48. > :12:51.number of kshs. -- concerns. None of the assurances have been
:12:51. > :12:56.realised. The Human Rights Commission and the equality
:12:56. > :12:58.commission comes to me and tells me they are not satisfied A with the
:12:58. > :13:03.degree of consultations that's been had with them or that their
:13:03. > :13:08.concerns have been addressed, I will ensure that this House will be
:13:08. > :13:12.given the full benefit to make sure this Bill complys with the human
:13:12. > :13:16.rights. My department carried out a detailed analysis of the proposals
:13:16. > :13:20.contained in the Bill for the conformity with the requirements,
:13:20. > :13:23.including, I might add, a public consultation on these same
:13:23. > :13:29.proposals. It was on the 5th September last
:13:29. > :13:31.year, more than a year ago, that the department published its draft
:13:31. > :13:37.equality impact assessment on the proposals contained within the Bill.
:13:37. > :13:43.It's worth noting that neither the Human Rights Commission, nor indeed
:13:43. > :13:48.the SDLP bothered to respond. The fact is that if this process
:13:48. > :13:52.proceeds in the direction indicate and it's taken away from the DSD
:13:52. > :13:57.committee into an ad hoc committee, the matter is then stalled until
:13:57. > :14:01.that ad hoc committee's finished its work. We are already operating
:14:01. > :14:06.under a very tight timetable and framework. If we go beyond that,
:14:06. > :14:10.and that would be the result of what is proposed. I noticed the
:14:10. > :14:15.chair said that it was not the intention to delay, but the fact is
:14:15. > :14:20.that it will delay. Let's look very clearly at the implications of that.
:14:20. > :14:24.If we delay this by ten days, and I take the figure of ten days because
:14:24. > :14:30.30 days is the normal period set out for an ad hoc committee, but if
:14:30. > :14:36.we delay it by ten days, the cost to the budget in Northern Ireland
:14:36. > :14:42.is �4 million. �4 million for a ten-day delay. If it was the full
:14:42. > :14:46.30 days, it would be �13.1 million. And if we go beyond that and, if
:14:46. > :14:50.you look very carefully at the timetable, it might well go beyond
:14:50. > :14:55.it, it would run up to �28 million. Now, the fact is, there's no need
:14:55. > :14:59.to squander that money. There's no need to waste that money. Because
:14:59. > :15:04.it is possible for the mittty itself, the social development
:15:04. > :15:08.committee, to explore fully the issues around equality and human
:15:08. > :15:13.rights without the sort of delay that they are contemplating. This
:15:13. > :15:19.is not about welfare reform. This is about a squalid little squabble
:15:19. > :15:22.between the SDLP and Sinn Fein where the SDLP want to be able to
:15:22. > :15:26.say and it all came out in the press statement this morning from
:15:26. > :15:31.Mr Durkin, they want to be able to say we led Sinn Fein by the nose,
:15:31. > :15:34.we pulled them along, we are the people who did it, we got them over
:15:35. > :15:38.the line. This is about an internationalist squabble.
:15:38. > :15:43.The social and development minister there. Martina, the minister isn't
:15:43. > :15:47.happy with this move to put the Bill before an ad hoc committee for
:15:47. > :15:52.scrutiny. What do you understand to be his concerns? His concern is
:15:52. > :15:56.that he says there is a tight time frame for this Bill to pass by next
:15:56. > :15:59.spring and if the executive doesn't pass the Bill swi matching
:15:59. > :16:05.legislation already passed it to change our welfare and to really
:16:05. > :16:09.give it a radical overhaul to change the way credits are paid
:16:09. > :16:12.every month, that if they don't make that deadline, he says the
:16:12. > :16:17.Treasury that the Government could penalise the block grant and the
:16:17. > :16:22.figures he gave today were that, for example, a ten-day delay could
:16:22. > :16:28.lead to �4 million cost to the block grant here. Now, his concern
:16:28. > :16:33.is that if this goes to an ad hoc committee to examine whether the
:16:33. > :16:35.Bill meets equality and human rights standards, that the social
:16:35. > :16:39.development committee which was looking at the bill and doing its
:16:39. > :16:44.job of scrutinising it has to stop its work while the ad hoc committee
:16:44. > :16:48.does its work. He's concerned about delay and his reference to the SDLP
:16:48. > :16:53.Sinn Fein dates back to the executive and where Sinn Fein
:16:53. > :16:57.delayed agreing to bring the Bill before the executive finally did,
:16:57. > :17:03.but the SDLP objected saying the Bill needs more work, so he's
:17:03. > :17:07.saying Sinn Fein is dancing to an SDLP tune. So it's not been
:17:07. > :17:11.resolved? No, Alex Maskey isn't happy with the remarks the minister
:17:11. > :17:14.made in the chamber today and I'm told he button-holed the minister
:17:14. > :17:18.afterwards to quiz him on the figures he gave saying they want
:17:18. > :17:23.the figures that he gave him at a meting last week. Sinn Fein is
:17:23. > :17:27.saying we have to get this Bill right and Alex Maskey isn't
:17:27. > :17:30.convinced the Government will penalise if there's extra time
:17:30. > :17:33.taken to ensure this Bill does meet equality standards, so Sinn Fein
:17:33. > :17:37.are determined to go ahead. They've tabled the petition of concern and
:17:37. > :17:42.so this is coming up for a vote tomorrow. OK, thank you very much
:17:42. > :17:46.for now. The possible introduction of 20mph
:17:46. > :17:49.zone and their role in protecting cyclists was raised with the
:17:49. > :17:54.regional development minister Danny Kennedy during Question Time this
:17:54. > :17:59.afternoon. First he had to deal with the clever question linking
:17:59. > :18:09.roadworks. Indication about how much funds has been transferred
:18:09. > :18:10.
:18:10. > :18:19.from the A5 pot for road maintenance for us? Very ingeniusly
:18:19. > :18:29.delivered question by the member! I have made plain that whilst the
:18:29. > :18:36.
:18:36. > :18:43.In relation to reprioritising the alLe Kateed fund and we very much
:18:43. > :18:48.hope the situation can be resolved. I still believe that it would be
:18:48. > :18:52.possible to bring forward the A5 scheme hopefully at the earliest
:18:52. > :18:56.possible point. Thank you, Mr Deputy speaker.
:18:56. > :19:00.Question six, please? Mr Deputy speaker, I want to begin by saying
:19:00. > :19:06.that I fully appreciate the concerns and frustration of
:19:06. > :19:09.cyclists caused by vehicles parked within cycle lanes during their
:19:09. > :19:14.operational hours. Motorists should be mindful and considerate towards
:19:14. > :19:18.cyclists when using our roads and should not park illegally in cycle
:19:18. > :19:25.lanes. However, my department road service Hadad viezed a traffic
:19:25. > :19:31.attendant can issue a tenlty charge note toys a vehicle park -- has
:19:31. > :19:37.advised that a traffic attendant can issue a penalty charge. However
:19:37. > :19:46.one can not be issued unless other parking restrictions apply, for
:19:46. > :19:51.example bus lanes or clearways. The traffic observant, when he notices
:19:51. > :19:54.that, the appropriate enforcement action will be taken. The beginning
:19:54. > :19:58.of Road Safety Week, Mr Deputy speaker, could the minister
:19:58. > :20:03.indicate to the House whether he'd be willing to strongly consider the
:20:03. > :20:07.merits of introducing 20mph zones on a statutory basis or supporting
:20:07. > :20:13.the private members Bill for the house in the coming months to do
:20:13. > :20:18.so? I'm grateful to the member for his supplimentary and I recognise
:20:18. > :20:22.him as a keen cyclist and a very good cyclist. Can I say I'm aware
:20:22. > :20:31.of the private members Bill and also aware of the representations
:20:31. > :20:37.made by those in favour of introducing 20mph schemes. While
:20:37. > :20:45.not being opposed, it seems to be the issue is one of enforcement and
:20:45. > :20:50.how such limits are to be enforced while they're not PSNI committing
:20:51. > :20:54.to necessary resources or whether people responsible, motorists and
:20:54. > :21:00.vehicle users, will be prepared to accept the restrictions that are
:21:00. > :21:05.placed upon them. I think it's an ongoing disRussian that I'm having
:21:05. > :21:09.with my officials -- discussion that I'm having with my officials.
:21:09. > :21:13.We'll see what emerges. unemployment figures were released
:21:13. > :21:18.last week and it remained unchanged. MLAs wanted to know what the
:21:18. > :21:24.Minister for Employment is go doing to help get people back to work.
:21:24. > :21:29.Here is what he had to say. return to work programme is due to
:21:29. > :21:34.end on the 31st March 2013 when the current contract force delivery
:21:34. > :21:38.expire. Steps to success is being developed as the successor to the
:21:38. > :21:41.outgoing programme. The public consultation exercise outlining the
:21:41. > :21:45.high level design of steps to success ended on 12th October,
:21:45. > :21:48.resulting in over 80 responses from a wide and varied range of
:21:48. > :21:51.organisations. This level of interest in the programme is very
:21:51. > :21:56.encouraging. My officials are now collating and evaluating the
:21:56. > :22:00.responses received and will use this feedback to inform the design
:22:00. > :22:03.of the programme. A summary response to the consultation
:22:03. > :22:07.exercise which will include recommendations on the way forward
:22:07. > :22:12.will be published once this work has completed. It's planned to
:22:12. > :22:17.commence procurement for the plan in February 2013 with an
:22:17. > :22:20.anticipated start date of February 2014. There must be some connection
:22:20. > :22:27.between welfare reform and universal credit. I wonder if you
:22:27. > :22:31.could identify what that is for us? Well, in Northern Ireland, we have
:22:31. > :22:37.had the steps to work programme as the main employment programme. That
:22:37. > :22:40.itself was a successor to the new deal and even without welfare
:22:40. > :22:43.reform taking place in Great Britain and now in Northern Ireland,
:22:43. > :22:48.we would have been in the aichwaition where we would have had
:22:48. > :22:53.to recontract and to redesign our main employment programme --
:22:53. > :22:57.situation. Obviously an employment programme is important because it's
:22:57. > :23:01.critical to enabling people who've been out of work for a prolonged
:23:01. > :23:05.period of time to assist them to return to work. Obviously,
:23:06. > :23:10.universal credits themselves are designed to improve the
:23:10. > :23:14.employability of people and to incentivise people who've been on
:23:14. > :23:18.benefits to find work itself more attractive or a combination of
:23:19. > :23:23.benefits and work and also to address the catchment that many
:23:23. > :23:27.people find themselves on benefits of not finding work being
:23:27. > :23:31.beneficial and paying its way. What we do in terms of the work
:23:31. > :23:39.programme is critical to maximising the employability prospects of
:23:39. > :23:41.people who are on benefits today and on unit universal credit. My
:23:41. > :23:44.department through the redundancy advice service is working in
:23:44. > :23:51.partnership with the social security agency, further education
:23:51. > :23:57.colleges, HMRC and other agencies to provide 15 clinics across all
:23:57. > :24:01.three FG Wilson sites affected by the announcements. At vice was
:24:01. > :24:05.provided on job advice and mentoring, entrepreneurship,
:24:05. > :24:10.education opportunities and creating advice, as well as
:24:10. > :24:14.benefits and taxation issues. The service was delivered free of
:24:14. > :24:17.charge to employees fashion redundancy. In addition, Dell
:24:17. > :24:22.arranged six job and training affairs and again these were
:24:23. > :24:26.delivered across all three sites. My officials worked proactively to
:24:26. > :24:34.target and identify over 30 companies who expressed an interest
:24:34. > :24:41.in attending the jobs fares with 28 attending the larn event, 16 in
:24:41. > :24:46.another area and 16 in yet another area. We worked in partnership with
:24:46. > :24:50.industry experts, employment and careers councillors. There was
:24:50. > :24:54.access to opportunities and pathways into a different career.
:24:54. > :24:58.welcome the clinics that have happened and the training fairs et
:24:58. > :25:02.cetera, but is the minister able to indicate what the outcomes have
:25:02. > :25:08.been in terms of the number of employees, whether agency workers
:25:08. > :25:12.or permanent employees of FG Wilsons who've been able to get
:25:12. > :25:16.alternative employment? I thank the member for his sum plimentry. We
:25:16. > :25:21.don't have the precise figure yet of the placements and jobs that
:25:21. > :25:25.have been filled as a consequence. It's very much a work in progress -
:25:25. > :25:32.- supplimentary. The number of people to date who've been affected
:25:32. > :25:36.by the redundancies are 490, broken down to 108 agency staff, 332
:25:36. > :25:40.hourly production staff and 50 salary and engineering staff.
:25:40. > :25:45.employment and learning minister. Martina is with me once again. A
:25:45. > :25:50.lot of interest for the cross Border Edgecation debate tonight.
:25:50. > :25:55.How did that turn out? That was brought under a private members
:25:55. > :26:00.business. The minister is concerned ability the announcement last month
:26:00. > :26:03.that he and his Dublin counterpart were serving families on the board
:26:03. > :26:09.tore ask them about provision for schools and it's been noted that
:26:09. > :26:12.this is taking place. The concern is that it's a very narrow area of
:26:12. > :26:16.Northern Ireland that's been surveyed. He's concern tad the
:26:16. > :26:21.minister should get his priorities right that there are more pressing
:26:21. > :26:26.issues that the minister should be focused on. David Ford has some
:26:26. > :26:33.decisions to make. We know about the future of McGilligan prison. He
:26:33. > :26:39.was lobbied on that difficult issue today? That's right. Finlay Spratt
:26:39. > :26:42.lobbied the minister with a petition of 5,500 signatures. There
:26:42. > :26:46.is concern about jobs and the future of the prison. It was
:26:46. > :26:49.recommended that the prison should close and to have another facility
:26:49. > :26:54.close to Belfast perhaps. The minister is looking at the issue.
:26:54. > :26:59.He is going to make an interim statement next week and a final
:26:59. > :27:02.decision in January. If McGilligan stays open, I think there will be
:27:02. > :27:05.changes to it but the minister hasn't closed the door all together.
:27:05. > :27:11.One last thing. Opposition, much discussion about that in the
:27:11. > :27:16.corridors up here, we know. The SDLP ended up talking about it at
:27:16. > :27:22.its conference two weeks ago. John McKallis ter, the Ulster Unionist
:27:22. > :27:31.MLA, we understand, is making a speech about how our position might
:27:31. > :27:37.work tonight, do we know anything about that -- McCallister?
:27:37. > :27:41.didn't win his argument but he's going to look at other ways of how
:27:41. > :27:45.to press the issue. There are issues, he agrees there should be
:27:45. > :27:49.an opposition but he has to get Sinn Fein's agreement. For example,
:27:49. > :27:55.they wouldn't necessarily need to Leggett at Westminster to have an
:27:55. > :28:00.on zition - orb opposition. You could try for some opposition
:28:01. > :28:04.rights. Jim Alastair accused the Ulster Unionists and the SDLP of
:28:04. > :28:09.being door mats, saying they should pull out of the executive. I don't
:28:09. > :28:19.think we are at that point yet but until we get opposition, we'll hear
:28:19. > :28:23.a lot about it. Thank you very much indeed. That's it from all of us