Browse content similar to 19/12/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to a special edition of Stormont Today, | :00:26. | :00:28. | |
and what an extraordinary day it has been. | :00:29. | :00:31. | |
Recalled to hear a statement by Arlene Foster on behalf | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
of the Executive Office, MLAs from every party except the DUP | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
walked out when Martin McGuinness withdrew his consent to that | :00:39. | :00:40. | |
statement being made, leading to fevered talk of a crisis | :00:41. | :00:43. | |
And a subsequent motion of no confidence in the First Minister saw | :00:44. | :00:48. | |
a spirited defence mounted by DUP Members under attack | :00:49. | :00:50. | |
Angry scenes as the Speaker is challenged for allowing | :00:51. | :00:58. | |
the First Minister's statement to go ahead. | :00:59. | :01:05. | |
I've asked you directly under which standing order you intend to | :01:06. | :01:11. | |
proceed, and the fact you cannot answer forces me to ask again, where | :01:12. | :01:16. | |
do you have the authority? Where do you have the authority? | :01:17. | :01:18. | |
And Arlene Foster continues to insist she did nothing wrong. | :01:19. | :01:22. | |
I also want to make it clear I support the need for an independent | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
investigation free from partisan political interference to establish | :01:30. | :01:31. | |
the facts around the incentive scheme. | :01:32. | :01:33. | |
And helping us to make sense of it all, Professor Rick Wilford | :01:34. | :01:35. | |
Recalls, walkouts and a no confidence motion that stood no | :01:36. | :01:44. | |
It's been a day of high drama at Stormont. | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
The First and Deputy First Ministers may agree on the need | :01:49. | :01:51. | |
for further investigation into the Renewable Heating Incentive | :01:52. | :01:55. | |
scheme, but they remain sharply divided on Mrs Foster's role in it. | :01:56. | :01:58. | |
Last week it was announced that the Assembly was to be | :01:59. | :02:02. | |
specially recalled, so we were always braced | :02:03. | :02:04. | |
for spirited exchanges - and we got them in spades. | :02:05. | :02:11. | |
Rick, some might say today brings to mind that immortal | :02:12. | :02:13. | |
Conor Cruise O'Brien phrase, GUBU - "groteqsue, unbelievable, | :02:14. | :02:15. | |
Indeed. I think he's got it in four words there, really. I watched like | :02:16. | :02:28. | |
you a whole raft of episodes over the years since we've had devolution | :02:29. | :02:32. | |
in Northern Ireland and we had some very spirited exchanges but today | :02:33. | :02:36. | |
was really quite remarkable and in a class of its own. It is | :02:37. | :02:40. | |
unprecedented certainly. Bizarre, yes. A bit like Alice In Wonderland. | :02:41. | :02:49. | |
Things go down the rabbit hole and get curiouser and curiouser. Quite | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
frankly, I can understand the anger of some of the members in | :02:54. | :02:58. | |
challenging the speaker in terms of how he was awarded status to the | :02:59. | :03:04. | |
statement by Arlene Foster. Lots more from you throughout the | :03:05. | :03:05. | |
programme. Thank you for now. Well, let's see how | :03:06. | :03:08. | |
the day panned out - and it started with MLAs gathering | :03:09. | :03:10. | |
for the special statement However, it quickly became clear | :03:11. | :03:12. | |
that this was not how Martin McGuinness saw it, | :03:13. | :03:16. | |
and be aware, there's some flash I want to make it very, very clear | :03:17. | :03:25. | |
from my perspective and that of my party that the statement which | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
Arlene Foster is scheduled to make to the Assembly today does not have | :03:30. | :03:34. | |
my authority or approval as Deputy First Minister. She is speaking in a | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
personal capacity and not in her role as First Minister. First | :03:42. | :03:49. | |
Minister should stand aside to allow the investigation to take place in | :03:50. | :03:53. | |
as conducive and atmosphere as possible. | :03:54. | :03:55. | |
The first attempt to get proceedings going was met by a walkout. | :03:56. | :03:58. | |
Sinn Fein and all the other parties left the chamber when the Speaker, | :03:59. | :04:01. | |
Robin Newton, refused to take points of order. | :04:02. | :04:03. | |
He called an adjournment for half an hour, but MLAs were no more | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
Having taken legal and procedural advice this morning, it is clear | :04:07. | :04:18. | |
that my role in relation to the procedures of the Assembly, not the | :04:19. | :04:24. | |
procedures of the Executive, and I have discharged my responsibilities | :04:25. | :04:29. | |
under standing orders to recall the Assembly. She is making this | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
statement on behalf of herself and that you have received the | :04:35. | :04:39. | |
correspondence to indicate that, but is it difficult -- the convention | :04:40. | :04:42. | |
that on behalf of the Executive the First Minister and Deputy First | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
Minister are advised to make two separate statements to satisfy the | :04:47. | :04:56. | |
recall of the Assembly. I think having taken the legal and perceive | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
right eyes this morning, it is clear that my role in relation to the | :05:01. | :05:09. | |
procedures of the Assembly, not the procedures of the Executive, and | :05:10. | :05:12. | |
that I have discharged my responsibilities in line with | :05:13. | :05:17. | |
standing orders to recall the Assembly. -- legal and procedural. I | :05:18. | :05:25. | |
ask you under which standing order you intend to proceed, and the fact | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
you cannot answer forces me to ask again, specifically which standing | :05:31. | :05:39. | |
order of the operating on, then? -- are we operating? I suppose we are | :05:40. | :05:45. | |
coming close to you challenging the chair's decisions. Where do you have | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
the authority to say to the Executive office, make two | :05:52. | :05:55. | |
statements?! You have a duty to explain that to the House, the | :05:56. | :05:59. | |
people of Northern Ireland and all those who endorsed the Good Friday | :06:00. | :06:02. | |
agreement. You've made yourself quite clear but I have discharged my | :06:03. | :06:06. | |
responsibilities under the standing orders to recall the Assembly. The | :06:07. | :06:14. | |
order paper decrees that we are hearing a ministerial statement. I | :06:15. | :06:18. | |
presume the order paper is administered under your direction? | :06:19. | :06:20. | |
Can you therefore indicate how this can be a ministerial statement from | :06:21. | :06:27. | |
the Executive office since once half of that office has withdrawn? Isn't | :06:28. | :06:33. | |
it the case that what ought to happen now is we should proceed as | :06:34. | :06:37. | |
quickly as it can be arranged procedurally and in relation to the | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
president to an election to this House? Because it's perfectly clear | :06:42. | :06:45. | |
that it does not operate as intended, it is not operating in a | :06:46. | :06:49. | |
way that serves the interests of the people of Northern Ireland and | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
procedurally it seems we are now in La La land and limbo land. Please | :06:53. | :07:00. | |
can we stop this charade! At what stage we going to let the First | :07:01. | :07:03. | |
Minister speak, giving you have outlined that you have taken | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
procedural advice and taken legal advice? At what point are we going | :07:08. | :07:10. | |
to proceed to hear the statement many people from outside of this | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
chamber actually want to hear from the First Minister? She no longer | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
has the confidence of the Deputy First Minister in making this | :07:20. | :07:22. | |
statement and it is my belief that you need to advise the House under | :07:23. | :07:26. | |
what standing order you are allowing this unusual arrangement to proceed, | :07:27. | :07:34. | |
if that was your decision. I am grateful to you for agreeing to | :07:35. | :07:37. | |
recall the Assembly today and permitting me to make the time and a | :07:38. | :07:45. | |
statement about my role in the renewables incentive scheme. Unlike | :07:46. | :07:49. | |
the normal practice, which, by the way, you endorsed, I want to make it | :07:50. | :07:52. | |
clear this statement has not been cleared or approved... | :07:53. | :07:54. | |
And as the First Minister began her statement, | :07:55. | :07:56. | |
Members from the other parties promptly left the chamber. | :07:57. | :07:58. | |
Rick, Members were clearly exasperated with the line | :07:59. | :08:02. | |
taken by the Speaker throughout those exchanges. | :08:03. | :08:07. | |
Not just exhaust rated but utterly confused. I think the speaker and | :08:08. | :08:15. | |
his officials in his office have tried post Hoch, as it were, to | :08:16. | :08:19. | |
dance on the head of a procedural pain, and that is because the | :08:20. | :08:22. | |
original request for the statement to be recalled was made. -- | :08:23. | :08:32. | |
procedural pain. Clearly statements have been made in the past few days | :08:33. | :08:35. | |
about what it might or might not contain. It was said, I am not | :08:36. | :08:43. | |
prepared to stand without. So the speaker was put into the invidious | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
position where having received a request to summon the Assembly on a | :08:50. | :08:54. | |
joint basis, then proceeding as though that's still applied, where | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
in fact it didn't. So although the office, and certainly Arlene Foster | :09:00. | :09:07. | |
herself must have believed she was being First Minister, but it could | :09:08. | :09:12. | |
only be understood as a personal statement as the head of the DUP, | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
not as First Minister. The fact that he, as the speaker, was doing it as | :09:17. | :09:25. | |
a piece of politeness rather than a piece of procedure on the role she | :09:26. | :09:33. | |
performed. She says it was unclear or approved by the Deputy First | :09:34. | :09:36. | |
Minister but at no point does she say it is a personal statement. No, | :09:37. | :09:43. | |
I think had she said that it would have allayed any confusion felt by | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
members in the chamber, and they're clearly were very confused members | :09:48. | :09:52. | |
and they were very angry, and quite rightly, because it is not a | :09:53. | :09:56. | |
precious point, it's an important operational principle of an | :09:57. | :10:03. | |
institution, the Executive, that things are jointly exercised. Going | :10:04. | :10:07. | |
ahead on this basis, a unilateral basis, flies in the face of that | :10:08. | :10:12. | |
principle. And therefore it's no wonder that the other parties in the | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
chamber were actually very cross indeed, and I think quite rightly so | :10:17. | :10:20. | |
it was not allowed to proceed on that basis. | :10:21. | :10:22. | |
The Speaker took the unprecedented step of writing to MLAs this | :10:23. | :10:25. | |
afternoon to explain how he'd made his decisions about this | :10:26. | :10:27. | |
Various figures, among them Mike Nesbitt, Jim Allister | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
and Eamonn McCann, went on to suggest to the media | :10:32. | :10:33. | |
in the Great Hall that the Speaker's position is "very close | :10:34. | :10:35. | |
Well, of course, for those critics, they have been in quite recent form. | :10:36. | :10:57. | |
I don't think untenable but it has made things much more difficult. | :10:58. | :10:59. | |
Now, thank you. Extraordinary scenes, | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
and we haven't even heard So, finally, Arlene Foster got | :11:09. | :11:10. | |
to make her statement on the renewables scheme | :11:11. | :11:16. | |
at the centre of the controversy, albeit to a smaller audience | :11:17. | :11:19. | |
than she might have expected. It lasted almost half an hour | :11:20. | :11:21. | |
but here are some of the highlights. I want to make it clear this | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
statement has not been cleared or approved by the Deputy First | :11:28. | :11:29. | |
Minister. I felt it was important I came before the House at the | :11:30. | :11:31. | |
earliest opportunity. For almost two weeks they has been a barrage of | :11:32. | :11:36. | |
media coverage on this matter, including wild claims and | :11:37. | :11:39. | |
allegations, many of which have been based on spin rather than reality. | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
-- there has been. I want to give the actual facts to the Assembly. To | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
repeat what I've said in media interviews, I also want to make it | :11:49. | :11:59. | |
clear that in order to get to the bottom of this entire issue, I am | :12:00. | :12:01. | |
prepared to waive the normal conventions and give evidence to the | :12:02. | :12:03. | |
Public Accounts Committee. The one thing we can all agree on is that | :12:04. | :12:06. | |
there were shocking errors in the scheme and a catalogue of mistakes | :12:07. | :12:09. | |
all of which coincided to create the perfect storm, resulting in the | :12:10. | :12:12. | |
position in which we now find ourselves. In all of this it is | :12:13. | :12:15. | |
critical lessons are learned and that the costs of the scheme are | :12:16. | :12:19. | |
brought under control. I'm sorry that the initial scheme did not | :12:20. | :12:23. | |
contain cost control measures and that there were fundamental flaws in | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
the design. This is the deepest political regret of my time in this | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
House. As minister, I accept responsibility for the work of the | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
department during my time at DETI. Once again, for the avoidance of | :12:39. | :12:42. | |
doubt, I feel it is right and proper I answer to this Assembly it about | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
my role in the scheme, and not for one moment do I seek to shirk or | :12:48. | :12:51. | |
skirt around that responsibility. But if we are to learn lessons from | :12:52. | :12:55. | |
this entire experience, it is essential we know exactly where | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
things went wrong. One question asked by many is why we did not | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
simply replicate the Great Britain arrangements into Northern Ireland. | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
The answer is quite simple. In Great Britain, the main obstacle to the | :13:08. | :13:10. | |
growth of renewable heat was and is the wide availability of affordable | :13:11. | :13:19. | |
natural gas. Here, the main heating fuel is oil and gas market is | :13:20. | :13:21. | |
relatively immature. It was even more so in 2012. Hence it is clear | :13:22. | :13:25. | |
that to simply import the arrangement would not have been | :13:26. | :13:29. | |
appropriate at that time. Well this statement is not the place to | :13:30. | :13:33. | |
rehearse every feeling or flaw in the process, there is one matter I | :13:34. | :13:37. | |
believe it is important I addressed. Because it is this error that goes | :13:38. | :13:40. | |
to the very heart of why the costs of the scheme ran out of control. | :13:41. | :13:44. | |
The crucial mistake in scheme was that the tariff for the most | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
commonly used boilers, small to medium biomass, was set at a level | :13:50. | :13:53. | |
higher than the market price of the relevant fuel, namely wood pellets. | :13:54. | :13:58. | |
In essence, this created an incentive to continue to benefit | :13:59. | :14:00. | |
your oval and above the levels required for the relevant functions. | :14:01. | :14:06. | |
-- to continue to burn the fuel. I would remind I did not simply impose | :14:07. | :14:10. | |
this scheme on the people of Northern Ireland. The tariff was set | :14:11. | :14:15. | |
out in schedule 3 and was scrutinised by the investment | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
committee and passed after debate by the Northern Ireland Assembly, and | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
indeed the chair of the committee said, and I quote, the committee's | :14:24. | :14:29. | |
scrutiny of the development has been considerable and reflects the | :14:30. | :14:33. | |
importance and long-term nature of the proposals. Before supporting the | :14:34. | :14:36. | |
RHI, the committee sought and received insurances on incentive and | :14:37. | :14:42. | |
tariff levels, incentives for domestic consumers, payments to | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
participants and support levels for the renewable payment he scheme. The | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
unfortunate reality is nobody in government or in this Assembly in | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
their work creating a passing this legislation picked up on this | :14:56. | :14:56. | |
crucial failing. Mrs Foster then moved on to two | :14:57. | :14:59. | |
major figures in this whole saga - the whistleblower who attempted | :15:00. | :15:02. | |
to alert her then department to flaws in the heating scheme, | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
and her former colleague, She turned first | :15:06. | :15:07. | |
to the whistleblower. The BBC's Spotlight programme and | :15:08. | :15:16. | |
comment has neared play of a concerned citizen and I would ask | :15:17. | :15:20. | |
the entire assembly to join me in thanking a person for all she did to | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
try and prevent the calamity we have fallen into. She deserves our | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
highest respect and a sincere apology on behalf of my former | :15:28. | :15:31. | |
department which should not have dismissed claims with disbelief but | :15:32. | :15:35. | |
examined them with diligence. It is no exaggeration to say that had she | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
been listened to on any of the three occasions when she approached DETI, | :15:42. | :15:44. | |
the crisis would have been avoided. Unfortunately it has been difficult | :15:45. | :15:48. | |
to establish the exact facts around contact between the concerned | :15:49. | :15:51. | |
citizen and myself in the department. When I asked by | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
Spotlight about the concerned citizen, I said I pass them onto | :15:57. | :15:59. | |
officials to investigate and it is now obvious that these investigation | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
should have highlighted the failings of the scheme and action should have | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
been taken. I made this statement from memory and an advice appeared | :16:08. | :16:13. | |
to indicate that she raised concerns with me directly. This is my normal | :16:14. | :16:17. | |
and the appropriate practice to pass any concerns received from members | :16:18. | :16:21. | |
of the public to the relevant officials. However, my response was | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
made without the benefit of having reviewed the original letter. It is | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
now clear that the initial communication to me did not raise | :16:30. | :16:35. | |
concerns with the RHI scheme and I understood from the Department of | :16:36. | :16:38. | |
the economy officials who have spoken to the person that this was | :16:39. | :16:41. | |
the only correspondence sent directly to me. A subsequent e-mail | :16:42. | :16:53. | |
to my private account the following week has now come to light in which | :16:54. | :16:55. | |
there are references to concerns about the scheme. Since the | :16:56. | :16:58. | |
announcement of my decision to make the statement, the former minister | :16:59. | :17:00. | |
has given an interview to the BBC and he makes a number of allegations | :17:01. | :17:03. | |
in relation to the decision to amend and subsequently close the scheme. I | :17:04. | :17:05. | |
think that it is important that I also take this opportunity to put on | :17:06. | :17:08. | |
record the factual position in relation to a number of those | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
allegations. Mr Bell alleged on several occasions that he took | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
action immediately to introduce cost control measures into the scheme and | :17:17. | :17:20. | |
signed off the submission at the most immediate point that he could. | :17:21. | :17:25. | |
This is untrue. Mr Bell further claims that other SPADs became | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
involved in the process who were not allowing the scheme to close. The | :17:32. | :17:35. | |
fact remains that the Minister signed off a proposal which was to | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
take effect from the 4th of November, 2015. The only further | :17:41. | :17:43. | |
delay in the introduction of cost-control measures was as a | :17:44. | :17:47. | |
result of legal and financial issues are being resolved by departmental | :17:48. | :17:50. | |
officials and which were unconnected to any ministerial decision. This is | :17:51. | :17:54. | |
not an exhaustive rebuttal of the allegations made by Mr Bell but I | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
hope will convey with documentary evidence of what happened. I also | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
want to make clear that I support the need for an independent | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
investigation, free from partisan political interference to establish | :18:07. | :18:13. | |
the facts around the Isles of Sheppy. This must be made public and | :18:14. | :18:18. | |
any investigation must be conducted speedily to assist in building | :18:19. | :18:19. | |
public confidence --. RHI. It's likely, then, that we will see | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
an inquiry in the New Year, but any fears that the institutions | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
were under real threat because of today's events seemed | :18:29. | :18:30. | |
to be allayed when Martin McGuinness gave an interview to my | :18:31. | :18:33. | |
colleague Mark Devenport. The Deputy First Minister says he's | :18:34. | :18:34. | |
more interested in repairing any financial damage the flawed | :18:35. | :18:37. | |
scheme has caused. We need a robust, independent | :18:38. | :18:47. | |
investigation into the biggest financial scandal any bus have | :18:48. | :18:51. | |
witnessed in a long time regarding the RHI scheme. We need a credible | :18:52. | :18:59. | |
working relationship between Simon Hamilton and Martina Willey in order | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
that we cut back on the money which potentially we could lose over the | :19:06. | :19:10. | |
course of the next two decades and of course, in my conversation with | :19:11. | :19:16. | |
Arlene Foster, a number of days ago, outlined, not an instruction, but | :19:17. | :19:23. | |
what I would do if I was in a similar circumstance -- Mairtin O' | :19:24. | :19:28. | |
Mueillor. That was to accept a robust investigation and that I | :19:29. | :19:33. | |
would stand aside for what I think would be a short period to allow the | :19:34. | :19:38. | |
investigation to report. Arlene Foster made it clear that she was | :19:39. | :19:41. | |
not standing aside and she went ahead with this statement, has that | :19:42. | :19:46. | |
damage the joint nature of your office? My concern about the | :19:47. | :19:49. | |
statement and the staters of the statement would have been, if there | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
had been anything in the statement that indicated an action, on behalf | :19:54. | :19:59. | |
of herself, either as leader of the DUP or, depending on her thinking, | :20:00. | :20:05. | |
as First Minister, that would have brought us to a major crisis. In the | :20:06. | :20:11. | |
event, none of that happened. Gerry Adams said in a speech on Saturday | :20:12. | :20:14. | |
that your health issues were making the handling of this more | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
problematic, what can you share with us about your health at the moment? | :20:19. | :20:23. | |
I am being attended to by a wonderful group of doctors and | :20:24. | :20:27. | |
nurses from our health service and I think that is all I need to say | :20:28. | :20:30. | |
about it at the moment. Is it the kind of thing where you can come | :20:31. | :20:33. | |
back to work, you're confident you will be able to come back to work? | :20:34. | :20:54. | |
We made it clear from the very beginning, when they issued the | :20:55. | :20:56. | |
statement explaining the circumstances of China that I was | :20:57. | :20:58. | |
continuing with my ministerial duties and anyone who has seen me | :20:59. | :21:01. | |
recently and today can see that I am doing that. | :21:02. | :21:01. | |
Martin McGuinness talking to Mark Devenport. | :21:02. | :21:03. | |
What is Sinn Fein's strategy in all of this? | :21:04. | :21:06. | |
Is the party endeavouring to position itself in the hope | :21:07. | :21:08. | |
They are leaving some concessions and other policy areas. I think they | :21:09. | :21:12. | |
are determined, as they see themselves, Sinn Fein that is, as | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
the defenders of the institution, to ensure that would ever investigation | :21:16. | :21:20. | |
or enquiry is undertaken, is actually seem to be robust and is | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
fully transparent. There is a real difference between an investigation | :21:26. | :21:29. | |
which is what the DUP one, which suggests to me, and in-house | :21:30. | :21:34. | |
investigation by officials, which is what Sinn Fein is asking. Those | :21:35. | :21:39. | |
things are very far apart. They are and the judge led enquiry would have | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
many more powers and would be much more forensic in its approach and it | :21:44. | :21:48. | |
would be external to the Assembly and all the other institutions. | :21:49. | :21:53. | |
There is one point worth acknowledging as a result, whether | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
it is an investigation, or a full-fledged enquiry, in opting for | :22:01. | :22:05. | |
an enquiry or some kind of investigation, it actually says we | :22:06. | :22:09. | |
do not have any confidence in the Public Accounts Committee of the | :22:10. | :22:13. | |
Assembly, it pulls the rug from underneath its authority. Just a | :22:14. | :22:16. | |
quick word about the performance of Arlene Foster. Did she flirt with | :22:17. | :22:21. | |
humility as one commentator said in advance of her statement, that you | :22:22. | :22:24. | |
very much needed to do? I agree with that. I thought a prime requirement | :22:25. | :22:31. | |
for Arlene Foster is that she should take a big helping of humble pie and | :22:32. | :22:38. | |
she didn't, she was quite abrasive and non-conciliatory and competent. | :22:39. | :22:41. | |
We had come to expect that from her, ordinarily, but this is not an | :22:42. | :22:45. | |
ordinary situation. This is an extraordinary situation and the | :22:46. | :22:49. | |
public is justifiably very cross about this. I would have thought | :22:50. | :22:54. | |
that humility would have been one of the strap line of her approach, but | :22:55. | :22:56. | |
it was not there. Thank you. The other big discussion | :22:57. | :23:00. | |
point today, of course, was an SDLP motion of no confidence | :23:01. | :23:03. | |
in the First Minister. It was never going to pass as it | :23:04. | :23:05. | |
required cross-community support, but it did give Members a chance | :23:06. | :23:08. | |
to voice their concerns about Arlene Foster and for her | :23:09. | :23:10. | |
party colleagues to speak up Today members were expecting to | :23:11. | :23:20. | |
scrutinise the draft budget from the Finance Minister. Yet we meet today | :23:21. | :23:24. | |
to discuss the career of one individual. During the week, there | :23:25. | :23:28. | |
was confusion at whether an Executive Office press release was | :23:29. | :23:32. | |
actually a DUP press release, today we are informed that the First | :23:33. | :23:36. | |
Minister is speaking without the authority of her joint office. All | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
of this is because the DUP leader will not do the decent thing, the | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
dignified thing and step aside. We can't go on like this. The longer | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
the First Minister clings on, the more her credibility will fade and | :23:53. | :23:56. | |
let me assure the First Minister, Christmas will not save her. The RHI | :23:57. | :24:03. | |
to be fully investigated and understood and understood and that | :24:04. | :24:05. | |
is what will happen. We need to know exactly what went wrong and how we | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
are going to fix it. What does not serve the people of Northern Ireland | :24:10. | :24:13. | |
well are those who seek to play cheap political points. I know | :24:14. | :24:17. | |
Christmas is coming, but the attempt to turn this issue into a political | :24:18. | :24:21. | |
pantomime is it a version and a distraction from the important work | :24:22. | :24:26. | |
that is going on. This motion turns what has been a very serious issue | :24:27. | :24:40. | |
into low farce. I am ready and willing to go to the Public Accounts | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
Committee. I have made that clear. But by magic, that is not good | :24:46. | :24:47. | |
enough, they will be out before I get near the committee before I get | :24:48. | :24:50. | |
asked a single question or even open my mouth. So much for due process, | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
so much for justice, so much for the facts. While I might have little | :24:54. | :24:56. | |
sympathy for Jonathan Bell in many things, he was clearly handed a pass | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
if ever there was one. Yet there is no minister who is responsible. It | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
is all the fault of the officials, it was someone else, it was the | :25:08. | :25:10. | |
previous minister. The responsibility, the accountability | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
and need to atone for this disaster lies with only one person. The First | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
Minister was called on today to voluntarily stepped down and allow | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
an investigation to take place without prejudice. I said that last | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
week and they say it again now, to put the integrity of office against | :25:29. | :25:33. | |
the interests of a party. She still has time to do so. The previous | :25:34. | :25:38. | |
First Minister stood aside in order to allow investigation into a ?50 | :25:39. | :25:45. | |
million land deal. ?50,000 land deal pales into insignificance in | :25:46. | :25:49. | |
comparison to what we are dealing with here. I'm embarrassed standing | :25:50. | :25:53. | |
here listening to the debate and the debate that has happened so far. | :25:54. | :25:57. | |
You're losing the run of yourselves. This issue is about public | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
confidence. The previous Speaker talked about how the Executive has | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
delivered in the last number of months and it has delivered on many | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
fronts, but every action and delivery that has happened to date | :26:10. | :26:12. | |
has been overshadowed by the fact that the DUP cannot accept that as | :26:13. | :26:16. | |
leader needs to stand aside to make sure there is a full investigation | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
into the issues which have been played out, drip fed into the public | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
either for the last number of weeks. I'm not interested in the internal | :26:25. | :26:29. | |
wrangling of the DUP, get mother, fight among yourselves. The First | :26:30. | :26:32. | |
Minister said arrogantly that she has nothing to hide but she | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
certainly does. She was the architect of this whole scheme and | :26:37. | :26:38. | |
she intervened on several occasions to keep it in operation, despite | :26:39. | :26:43. | |
warnings from senior civil servants and others about the scheme. This | :26:44. | :26:48. | |
isn't some administrative air or something that she can pass the buck | :26:49. | :26:51. | |
on -- error. Nowhere else in the world would politicians be allowed | :26:52. | :26:54. | |
to get away with theirs and her position is untenable. I will not be | :26:55. | :26:58. | |
supporting the motion tabled by the opposition because I believe it to | :26:59. | :27:02. | |
be premature. You're asking me to support a motion that excludes the | :27:03. | :27:10. | |
First Minister on the basis of no confidence. My confidence in the | :27:11. | :27:12. | |
First Minister or lack of confidence in the First Minister will be based | :27:13. | :27:15. | |
on unsubstantiated information, not allegations manifested in the media, | :27:16. | :27:18. | |
particularly as Justice Minister, it would be remiss of me to pass | :27:19. | :27:22. | |
judgment without a full hearing. No court in the land would do so. Mrs | :27:23. | :27:29. | |
Foster says this is a Tobacco, the Oxford dictionary defines that as a | :27:30. | :27:33. | |
supplement and ignominious failure. It is a story about confidence, | :27:34. | :27:40. | |
ineptitude and powerlessness. We will now vote, those who go that way | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
are voting for a career, those who go that way are voting for the | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
integrity of these institutions. When it came to it, Sinn Fein | :27:49. | :27:51. | |
didn't turn up to vote, despite taking part in the debate, | :27:52. | :27:54. | |
and, as expected, the motion fell. Has Arlene Foster managed to lance | :27:55. | :27:56. | |
the boil, for now at least? I think she has put a sticking | :27:57. | :28:08. | |
plaster, but if you like to use at theatrical metaphor, this was a | :28:09. | :28:12. | |
prologue to the main proceedings, which is the form that some kind of | :28:13. | :28:16. | |
enquiry or investigation will take. That is the centrepiece of this. My | :28:17. | :28:22. | |
own preference would be for a formal judge led enquiry, I figure would be | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
more frantic and it could be done efficiently. She has not put an end | :28:26. | :28:33. | |
to this, this is just the overture. How wounded do you think she has | :28:34. | :28:39. | |
been by the last week to ten days? I do not think there is any question | :28:40. | :28:44. | |
other than she has been damaged, don't forget, this is a party which | :28:45. | :28:50. | |
prides itself on physical conservatism and here have a party | :28:51. | :28:54. | |
now at the centre of an enormous controversy over the potential | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
overcommitment of ?400 million of taxpayers money. Not only is her | :29:00. | :29:02. | |
personal reputation damage, and it was not helped today by her lack of | :29:03. | :29:08. | |
humility, the party image has been damaged as well. Just finally and | :29:09. | :29:13. | |
briefly, how damage do you think the key relationship at the heart of | :29:14. | :29:17. | |
government in Northern Ireland, that relationship between the DUP and | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
Sinn Fein? The default position of that relationship has always been | :29:22. | :29:25. | |
one of mutual mistrust and suspicion, it is at best and on | :29:26. | :29:29. | |
civil partnership, it is not a happy marriage, this will not have helped, | :29:30. | :29:35. | |
but no doubt, I suspect what will happen in the fullness of time is | :29:36. | :29:39. | |
that they will muddle through. We have proven very adept at muddling | :29:40. | :29:42. | |
through in Northern Ireland and I suspect this is how this will end up | :29:43. | :29:44. | |
as well. Thank you. That's it from this special | :29:45. | :29:48. | |
edition of Stormont Today. We'll be back in January, | :29:49. | :29:50. | |
but until then, from everyone You only grow old once, | :29:51. | :29:52. | |
so you might as well enjoy it. | :29:53. | :30:18. |