Browse content similar to 21/01/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Welcome to the programme. The Social Development Minister | :00:31. | :00:37. | |
outlines the planet to detect fuel poverty. And elderly gent a man was | :00:37. | :00:43. | |
able to tell me he reduced his fellow apps of oil by one. We hear | :00:43. | :00:46. | |
how he is going to do more to capitalise on environmental | :00:46. | :00:51. | |
heritage. And sharing his insides, our | :00:51. | :00:59. | |
political respondent Garratt Gordon. The first item on today's agenda | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
spilled over from last week, a delayed vote on an Ulster Unionist | :01:02. | :01:05. | |
motion on inclusivity and the rejection of violence. The motion | :01:05. | :01:09. | |
was passed, but not without some party political ramifications. With | :01:09. | :01:11. | |
me to discuss what happened is our political correspondent, Gareth | :01:11. | :01:21. | |
:01:21. | :01:23. | ||
Gordon. First of all, a lot of talk today about Basil McRae deciding to | :01:23. | :01:29. | |
vote against his own party. Why did he do that? It is complicated but | :01:29. | :01:34. | |
that debate last week was very fractious, over the issue of | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
identity and it was found by the flak to speak. The Ulster Unionist | :01:38. | :01:43. | |
motion called on the Assembly to reconfirm its principles of | :01:43. | :01:48. | |
inclusivity, mutual respect, peace and democracy. It called on all | :01:48. | :01:54. | |
parties to support the spirit of the Belfast Agreement. The DUP did | :01:54. | :01:59. | |
not like that because they did not sign up to the Belfast Agreement, | :01:59. | :02:03. | |
they were signatories to the St Andrew's Agreement. They wanted all | :02:03. | :02:07. | |
mention of the Belfast agreement removed. The vote was taken this | :02:07. | :02:12. | |
mine and the Ulster Unionists made clear they would be supporting the | :02:12. | :02:16. | |
DUP amendment which did not mention the Belfast Agreement. Basil McCrea | :02:16. | :02:22. | |
has lost the Ulster Unionist whip. He sat through the debate last week. | :02:22. | :02:27. | |
He did not speak at all. He was obviously fuming. It was too much | :02:27. | :02:30. | |
for him. End an article of this morning in Belfast paragraph, he | :02:30. | :02:35. | |
said he would not be voting with his Ulster Unionist colleagues. He | :02:35. | :02:39. | |
said for the first time ever he would be voting against them. He | :02:39. | :02:45. | |
accused them of failing to back the Belfast Agreement, an agreement to | :02:45. | :02:49. | |
which they were key. He said he would not be voting with his party | :02:49. | :02:54. | |
colleagues and he said that was for the first time ever. With Mr McCrea | :02:54. | :02:59. | |
facing this disciplinary charge, the fact that he did not vote with | :02:59. | :03:02. | |
the Ulster Unionists is likely to annoy them even more, you would | :03:02. | :03:08. | |
imagine? It ups the ante. At Christmas he lost the Ulster | :03:08. | :03:13. | |
Unionist whip. He spoke out about the flying of the Unionist flag at | :03:13. | :03:20. | |
Stormont. He is facing a disciplinary committee here on | :03:20. | :03:26. | |
Friday on -- on Friday afternoon. He will mount a stout defence. He | :03:26. | :03:31. | |
is not going quietly. By writing this article and taking the stance | :03:31. | :03:35. | |
he has taken, it has opened hostility from many in the party | :03:35. | :03:41. | |
towards them. He has upped the ante. We have his friend and colleague, | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
John McCallister, who lost a few months ago, the deputy leadership | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
of the party, when he accused the party leader, Mike Nesbitt, or | :03:50. | :03:57. | |
sleep walking towards Unionist unity. He up the ante by saying the | :03:57. | :04:03. | |
Unionist form, to which the Ulster Unionist Party are part, was a dead | :04:03. | :04:08. | |
end. Mike Nesbitt facing a dual attack. What has he been saying? | :04:08. | :04:12. | |
issued a statement this afternoon in which she said Basil McCrea's | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
concerns over the party moving away from the Belfast Agreement, he said | :04:16. | :04:20. | |
it should be clear that the amendment was never going to pass | :04:20. | :04:26. | |
and there was no threat to the commitment. Some people will think | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
that is an odd position to take. As for the sleepwalking charge, he | :04:30. | :04:34. | |
said he remains committed to advancing the cause of the Unionist | :04:34. | :04:39. | |
and that is best achieved by working -- if that is best achieved | :04:39. | :04:43. | |
by working in opposition to other parties, that's what they would do. | :04:44. | :04:49. | |
As to the street protests, he would co-operate and he was grateful for | :04:49. | :04:51. | |
the overwhelming support of the party. | :04:51. | :04:54. | |
Gareth, for now, thank you. Two weeks ago, the Social | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
Development Minister, Nelson McCausland, announced the | :04:56. | :04:58. | |
replacement of the Housing Executive. Today at Question Time, | :04:58. | :05:01. | |
he faced scrutiny of what would happen to its employees. First | :05:01. | :05:07. | |
though, he was taken to task over fuel poverty. | :05:07. | :05:12. | |
Does the Minister agree with me that the recent reduction of the | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
overall proportion of households considered as being in fuel poverty, | :05:17. | :05:24. | |
from 44 % to 42 %, which is still significantly more than the 34 % we | :05:24. | :05:29. | |
had in 2006, it is so insignificant it is hardly worth boasting about. | :05:29. | :05:33. | |
Can we have a question, please? Does the Minister agree that the | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
direction he has taken and the strategies he has spoken of his | :05:37. | :05:41. | |
failing to tackle the sub-standard of course of fuel poverty? Can I | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
say, I do not agree. There are a number of things which contribute | :05:46. | :05:50. | |
to high level fuel poverty in Northern Ireland, one of them is | :05:50. | :05:56. | |
the high level of dependency on oil. Hence the work my colleague is | :05:56. | :06:01. | |
taking forward is a fundamental in addressing the fuel poverty issue | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
in Northern Ireland. In September, I launched the boy in a replacement | :06:04. | :06:10. | |
scheme for owner-occupiers, following on from the successful | :06:10. | :06:15. | |
pilot lasted -- I launched the boiler replacement scheme. This | :06:15. | :06:23. | |
will replace a boiler. A Housing Executive has received a lot of | :06:23. | :06:31. | |
interest in the scheme and acute -- applications are being processed. | :06:31. | :06:35. | |
It is important in terms of energy efficiency and fuel poverty because | :06:35. | :06:42. | |
in one case, I visited her home, the elderly chap told me he had | :06:42. | :06:48. | |
reduced his fills of oil per year by one entire Phil. House and | :06:48. | :06:52. | |
structures are about providing better services for tenants, | :06:52. | :06:56. | |
better-quality housing and also a structure which allows good value | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
for money for the tax payer. In essence, it is about creating a | :07:00. | :07:04. | |
system which is sustainable for the future. This is not that reducing | :07:04. | :07:10. | |
staff, cutting back or saving money. In fact, the member who sits on the | :07:10. | :07:13. | |
social development committee would be aware the review was never about | :07:13. | :07:17. | |
cutting jobs of saving money. It is about getting the structure right | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
for Northern Ireland moving forward. It is important to realise there | :07:20. | :07:25. | |
are still a need for functions the housing executive performs within | :07:25. | :07:30. | |
the new structure and, and staff will be required to consider those | :07:30. | :07:37. | |
functions and services to tenants. N I P S they will be consulted as a | :07:37. | :07:43. | |
key stakeholders representing the views of staff at a local land | :07:43. | :07:46. | |
higher level. We must be cognisance of the fact that we are at the | :07:46. | :07:52. | |
early stages of a project which has still a lot of work to be done. | :07:52. | :07:57. | |
This is high on the agenda of the programme board, of which the chief | :07:57. | :08:00. | |
executive of the housing and fictive he is a member. Let me be | :08:00. | :08:04. | |
clear, it would be pre-emptive and totally wrong to start speculating | :08:04. | :08:09. | |
at this stage. The fact is, I have stated repeatedly this has not and | :08:09. | :08:13. | |
never has been about cutting jobs. Could the Minister give more detail | :08:13. | :08:18. | |
on the potential benefits of the new landlord function being out | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
with the public sector? The member will be aware that this | :08:24. | :08:29. | |
affords an opportunity to address a major problem. We need to have more | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
houses built. Secondly, we need to have better quality. There are some | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
older properties which need a tremendous amount of work done to | :08:38. | :08:44. | |
them. We are talking about billions of pounds of work in the short-term, | :08:44. | :08:49. | |
to get back stock up to a standard which we should be able to expect | :08:49. | :08:54. | |
and tenants should be able to have -- expect. That money is not | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
available at the moment but if we moved the stock eventually it over | :08:58. | :09:04. | |
to effectively a housing association sector, it enables them | :09:04. | :09:08. | |
to borrow money so there for the work can be funded. I would want to | :09:08. | :09:15. | |
come back to one point, this concern that staff have and I can | :09:15. | :09:18. | |
understand that. I have written to every staff member in the housing | :09:18. | :09:23. | |
sector already and there will be communication there with the trade | :09:23. | :09:27. | |
unions and I know the Housing Executive, the chief executive has | :09:27. | :09:32. | |
been writing to the staff as well. What does not help, and it is back | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
to the issue of welfare reform, is misinformation. If somebody had | :09:37. | :09:40. | |
picked up one of our local newspapers on Saturday, they would | :09:40. | :09:44. | |
have read that the Housing Executive's was to be broken up and | :09:44. | :09:51. | |
its range of roles transferred to housing associations. That is not | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
the case. We are creating, if we go down this road, we will be creating | :09:56. | :10:01. | |
a regional housing body, staffed by housing professionals, to carry out | :10:01. | :10:06. | |
the regional services and regional polls. A total misunderstanding but | :10:06. | :10:10. | |
that misinformation going out there does not help and does create fears. | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
If some he was working in the housing sector in the red, I could | :10:14. | :10:17. | |
understand why they should be concerned. | :10:17. | :10:19. | |
The Social Development Minister, Nelson McCausland. | :10:19. | :10:22. | |
The Ulster Unionist party may be going through a tough time, but its | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
minister says he is going nowhere. A touchy subject perhaps, because | :10:25. | :10:28. | |
during Question Time today, Danny Kennedy joke twice that there are | :10:28. | :10:31. | |
no ministerial vacancies. But first, Mr Kennedy began by giving a | :10:31. | :10:39. | |
breakdown on how funding for the A5 will be allocated. | :10:39. | :10:46. | |
I recognise fully the importance of the objective and growing the | :10:46. | :10:51. | |
economy and I realise the advantage it will bring to jobs in the short | :10:51. | :10:55. | |
term and the longer term. The Department for roads services will | :10:55. | :11:00. | |
robustly defend the legal challenge. In terms of finance, total 330 | :11:00. | :11:08. | |
million has been allocated to construct a section, however, my | :11:08. | :11:12. | |
department will have to await the outcome of the legal challenge | :11:12. | :11:16. | |
before the funding can be determined. At least to confirm | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
that corporation between my department and D F P officials has | :11:19. | :11:25. | |
enabled some repro filing of expenditure which will allow for | :11:25. | :11:32. | |
the deferral of the A5 allocation and so it is required at my | :11:32. | :11:37. | |
prompting. The Finance Minister has secured flexibility from Her | :11:37. | :11:41. | |
Majesty's Treasury to carry-forward monies for reinvestment and reform | :11:41. | :11:48. | |
initiative, 50 million borrowing power into 2014 / 15. This helpful | :11:48. | :11:54. | |
in managing the on going delays to the project. | :11:55. | :12:00. | |
Deputy Speaker, I welcome the Minister's response. Can I ask the | :12:00. | :12:05. | |
minister in light of that, in terms of should the legal challenge be | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
protracted, could the minister outlined by house what steps have | :12:09. | :12:13. | |
been taken to ensure money ring- fenced goes to that specific | :12:13. | :12:20. | |
project? Can I thank the Member for his supplementary question, early | :12:20. | :12:26. | |
promotion in January, for you! But not at the expense of the Ulster | :12:26. | :12:36. | |
:12:36. | :12:37. | ||
Unionist Party. The short answer is we are maintaining a strong defence | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
of our actions in respect of the A5 project and we very much hope that | :12:43. | :12:47. | |
will successfully conclude and allow us to move forward. It do you | :12:47. | :12:51. | |
think giving the protracted delays in the legal challenge it would be | :12:51. | :12:54. | |
appropriate your department to bring forward further projects | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
which are already have approval, for example, the A six and the dung | :13:00. | :13:09. | |
Devon bypass? Of course, the member will be aware that the works have | :13:09. | :13:17. | |
already commenced on a 80 and they are shortly about to commence on | :13:17. | :13:26. | |
the A two, which he will know of. I think that I continue to bring | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
forward and encourage and instruct my officials to bring forward | :13:30. | :13:37. | |
schemes such as the schemes that he has mentioned, in preparation for | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
the next round of available finance. I am looking beyond spending the | :13:43. | :13:47. | |
money on the A5 that has already been allocated and as Roads | :13:47. | :13:52. | |
Minister, I want to see the instruction -- infrastructure | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
improved overall. I am keen to bring for projects such as the ones | :13:56. | :13:59. | |
mentioned. Will the Minister clarify if he is | :13:59. | :14:05. | |
aware of the impact on health and well-being, any delay on the bypass | :14:05. | :14:15. | |
:14:15. | :14:18. | ||
will have on the local and wider I thank the member. There are no | :14:18. | :14:28. | |
:14:28. | :14:28. | ||
vacancies for ministers, by NOAA! - - by be away! There are substantial | :14:28. | :14:32. | |
benefits from the Dungiven bypass scheme and not least the | :14:32. | :14:36. | |
improvement of air quality. There would be a reduction of something | :14:36. | :14:43. | |
like 60% of heavy vehicle traffic currently going through Dungiven. | :14:43. | :14:49. | |
For all of those reasons, I am aware of the representations made | :14:49. | :14:53. | |
by the members and Limavady Borough Council and others, and it is a | :14:53. | :14:59. | |
scheme that would be well worth doing and of course, if the member | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
wants to approach the Finance Minister to assist me with that to | :15:03. | :15:05. | |
deliver that at the earliest possible stage I would not be | :15:05. | :15:10. | |
standing in your way. The Regional Development Minister. | :15:10. | :15:15. | |
Take a look at these images. Carrickfergus Castle... Dunluce | :15:15. | :15:20. | |
Castle... Carrick-a-rede rope bridge... And the City of Derry's | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
historic walls. All examples of Northern Ireland's historic | :15:24. | :15:27. | |
environment. Could places like these be used better to help our | :15:27. | :15:33. | |
economy grow? This new report thinks so, but the DUP has | :15:33. | :15:36. | |
questioned whether the Environment Agency is the right organisation to | :15:36. | :15:41. | |
capitalise on the potential. Joining me now, David McIlveen and | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
You're one of the members who brought this issue to the floor of | :15:47. | :15:52. | |
the chamber. What were due seeking clarification on, or what was your | :15:52. | :15:56. | |
motivation for raising this? First of all we have to highlight this | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
was a positive story. The reality is, there is over half a billion | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
pounds spent on historical environment in Northern Ireland | :16:04. | :16:07. | |
every year. For ever �1 that the public sector spends be debt-free | :16:07. | :16:17. | |
:16:17. | :16:19. | ||
back. -- for every �1. -- we get ��3 back. The issue we wanted to | :16:19. | :16:25. | |
raise, are other areas we can do better? And are there? I do believe | :16:26. | :16:31. | |
so. We are at a third of our capabilities per-capita compared to | :16:31. | :16:35. | |
the Republic of Ireland, won the eighth compared to Scotland. The | :16:35. | :16:39. | |
question has to be asked, the Northern Ireland Environment Agency, | :16:39. | :16:43. | |
who are protection rather than promotion, are they the right | :16:43. | :16:47. | |
people to do the job? Do you agree with David McIlveen and his | :16:47. | :16:50. | |
colleagues, that that part of your environment Aaron Pryor, if you | :16:50. | :16:59. | |
want a comet that, could do better? -- the environment empire, if you | :17:00. | :17:04. | |
want to call it that. He if we are going to grow the tourism industry, | :17:04. | :17:12. | |
a free are going to do that with the jobs and investment that can | :17:13. | :17:16. | |
bring and the protection of heritage, we need to do that. | :17:16. | :17:21. | |
have argued for more investment in our belts archaeological heritage | :17:21. | :17:26. | |
and we will be all the better for it. I am not precious. I am not | :17:26. | :17:31. | |
precious about beat Environment Agency taking the work forward. If | :17:31. | :17:35. | |
there is a better model and if you go to Scotland you will see that in | :17:36. | :17:40. | |
Scotland there is independent bodies to do this work on behalf of | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
the Scottish government for the Scottish people. So you would like | :17:43. | :17:50. | |
to see a re-Configuration? If that is the best way to bring about | :17:50. | :17:53. | |
heritage led development and continuing to protect their | :17:53. | :17:58. | |
heritage environment we have, you will have no argument with me. Do | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
we as a government, does the Assembly fully recognise that in | :18:02. | :18:06. | |
terms of heritage led development there are enormous economic | :18:06. | :18:12. | |
opportunities? As David. That compare -- as David points out, | :18:12. | :18:20. | |
compared with others in the UK we are behind. Are your hands tied? | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
if you look at the Executive's decision in October, more money | :18:25. | :18:29. | |
went to tourism initiatives and listed building support. That | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
indicates good form about going forward. But, a strategically it is | :18:34. | :18:39. | |
required in terms of policy and resources in favour of Heritage | :18:39. | :18:45. | |
Labour firmament as a major economic driver going forward. -- | :18:45. | :18:52. | |
heritage development. Heritage led development, around are natural, | :18:53. | :18:59. | |
build, EDO larger gulf and Christian environment, is a huge | :18:59. | :19:09. | |
:19:09. | :19:10. | ||
opportunity. -- environmental and Christian environment. If Alex | :19:10. | :19:14. | |
Attwood puts something on the table, would he get the backing of the | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
DUP? We have to come back to the report, which makes a number of air | :19:20. | :19:24. | |
recommendations. Many of those are said to have to implement. For | :19:24. | :19:32. | |
example, recommendations about clear signage. The air is a bigger | :19:32. | :19:37. | |
issue than that, it is not just signage. If we look at Scotland, I | :19:37. | :19:44. | |
think the minister makes a good point. Scotland have had excellent | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
system in place. They have a website. It is ultimately | :19:49. | :19:51. | |
accountable to the Scottish Executive and that is something we | :19:51. | :19:55. | |
have to look at. We have to make sure we are getting things in the | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
right order. David McIlveen says we need to look at it, you say it is a | :20:00. | :20:04. | |
model you quite like. It sounds like you are singing of the same | :20:04. | :20:11. | |
song sheet. What is the problem? is a difference of response. On a | :20:11. | :20:15. | |
daily basis since I have been minister I've been trying to drive | :20:15. | :20:20. | |
the department in favour of heritage. That is why I have put | :20:20. | :20:27. | |
money into archaeology and working with their Heritage Lottery Fund in | :20:27. | :20:31. | |
protecting the village next to Dunluce Castle. We can do work | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
around better marketing, website, signage and interpretation. We are | :20:37. | :20:42. | |
doing all of that. The issue behind it all is a strategic decision to | :20:42. | :20:47. | |
invest significantly more resources, time and effort around the Hausa -- | :20:47. | :20:52. | |
Heritage product. That needs to be agreed round the table. Let's do a | :20:52. | :20:57. | |
million things better but let's recognise that the one thing is | :20:57. | :21:02. | |
investing in heritage led development. Let's see if David | :21:02. | :21:07. | |
McIlveen can leverage money out of the Finance Minister's Perce! | :21:07. | :21:12. | |
Good work done, but more to do. That was the enterprise minister's | :21:13. | :21:17. | |
message during a statement on improving telecoms ever stricter. | :21:17. | :21:26. | |
On mobile phone coverage, Arlene Foster expressed concern about | :21:26. | :21:34. | |
second-generation and looked We need to have a telecoms | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
infrastructure that meets the needs of business to allow them to be | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
competitive and promote their services and products. Over the | :21:41. | :21:44. | |
last three years my department and the Northern Ireland Executive have | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
invested �45 million in improving our telecoms infrastructure and | :21:50. | :21:53. | |
some �21 million has been specifically earmarked to support | :21:53. | :21:56. | |
improvement of networks in rural and remote locations where there is | :21:56. | :22:02. | |
no likelihood of private sector investment. We have provided | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
investments to stimulate super-fast broadband services, given Northern | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
Ireland its first international telecoms link to North America, | :22:10. | :22:14. | |
ensured continued access to a broadband service at reasonable | :22:14. | :22:19. | |
cost for business and residential consumers who are unable to get | :22:19. | :22:24. | |
broadband by a wire, and established a free advisory service | :22:24. | :22:26. | |
for all businesses to help them understand how they can exploit | :22:27. | :22:32. | |
these new services. We are not resting on our laurels are becoming | :22:32. | :22:34. | |
complacent. I know our infrastructure is not perfect and | :22:34. | :22:39. | |
there is more to be done. The Ofcom report indicates there are still | :22:39. | :22:47. | |
some broadband blackspots and Northern Ireland has the lowest | :22:47. | :22:52. | |
take-up of basic broadband services in the UK at 63.9%. This is | :22:52. | :22:55. | |
something I want to address and my department has plans to further | :22:55. | :23:01. | |
improve broadband coverage. A total of �19 of farming -- a total of | :23:01. | :23:04. | |
Mmac 19 million of funding has been earmarked and we will have a | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
consultation to identify areas we need to intervene in. We received | :23:09. | :23:13. | |
over 700 responses and they are presently being analysed. On the | :23:13. | :23:16. | |
question of mobile-phone services I'm disappointed that Northern | :23:16. | :23:25. | |
Ireland has at their lowest outdoor coverage of TG mobile services. It | :23:25. | :23:32. | |
is 80%, just above Wales. On 3G, we have the second worst outdoor | :23:32. | :23:39. | |
coverage at 55.9%, just above Wales at 52.4%. This is a priority for me. | :23:39. | :23:44. | |
The mobile market has not remain static and is continuing to evolve. | :23:44. | :23:47. | |
Providers are can tot -- consolidating services and | :23:47. | :23:52. | |
preparing for the introduction of 4G. The switch off on analogue TV | :23:52. | :23:58. | |
last year created space for more or more by traffic and an auction has | :23:58. | :24:04. | |
commenced for this space across the UK. -- mobile traffic. I have | :24:04. | :24:07. | |
lobbied for Northern Ireland and secured a target of 95% coverage | :24:07. | :24:12. | |
here when licences are awarded. It strikes me that there is an | :24:12. | :24:15. | |
opportunity when the G8 Summit comes to Fermanagh and the | :24:15. | :24:18. | |
Spotlight falls on the province that we can positively showcase | :24:18. | :24:22. | |
what we have achieved in Northern Ireland. No doubt, demand for | :24:22. | :24:25. | |
communications services will increase in certain areas and were | :24:25. | :24:30. | |
temporary solutions may be deployed for the event, it gives the energy | :24:30. | :24:35. | |
-- industry an opportunity to leave a permanent legacy for the local | :24:35. | :24:38. | |
community's benefit. It is something I would be pleased to see | :24:38. | :24:41. | |
happening and I would encourage the industry to seize that opportunity | :24:41. | :24:46. | |
positively. I would be very disappointed at the figures that | :24:46. | :24:52. | |
the minister has given us about mobile services here in the north. | :24:52. | :24:57. | |
That is very disappointing. Also, the potential arising from the | :24:57. | :25:05. | |
roll-out of 4G services, could be minister specified, I know but she | :25:05. | :25:11. | |
-- but she noted she had lobbied for coverage, is that indoor or | :25:11. | :25:14. | |
outdoor and did the firms themselves during their | :25:14. | :25:17. | |
conversation with the Minister give us any time frame for the roll-out | :25:17. | :25:23. | |
of that project? I thank the chair man for his question. It is | :25:23. | :25:26. | |
disappointing to see big coverage. The second-generation coverage | :25:26. | :25:32. | |
problem arises from the fact that we did not have an there for the | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
national targets set by Ofcom meant they did not have to do as much in | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
Northern Ireland as we would have liked to see. Given that we now | :25:41. | :25:45. | |
have this 4G target it is my understanding that it is an art. | :25:45. | :25:52. | |
Target for 95% coverage. -- out. Target. That will vary in relation | :25:52. | :26:01. | |
to outdoor -- indoors. I am asking be industry to exceed the target. | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
According to the gear and the legacy it will leave for Fermanagh, | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
can I ask for further information about the permanent improvements | :26:08. | :26:12. | |
that will be made to mobile phone and broadband coverage in rural | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
Fermanagh, particularly in rural areas instead of the inevitable | :26:17. | :26:25. | |
temporary benefits to serve world powers? Some of us are delighted to | :26:25. | :26:30. | |
see them coming but he makes a fair point in relation to temporarily | :26:30. | :26:34. | |
insulation -- installations that may be used at that time. I have | :26:34. | :26:41. | |
said to be industry, whether it is everything everywhere are Vodafone | :26:41. | :26:46. | |
-- or Vodafone, I have said to each, take this opportunity to put in | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
legacy infrastructure. The cross- departmental group which has been | :26:51. | :26:55. | |
set up to ensure this event is a success and to deal with these | :26:55. | :27:00. | |
issues knows very well might use in relation to these issues. We have | :27:00. | :27:05. | |
commenced discussion with relevant stakeholders about venues and | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
telecoms providers and indeed, with the national government about | :27:10. | :27:18. | |
Our political correspondent is with me. What would shoot -- should we | :27:18. | :27:24. | |
be looking out for tomorrow? Karen Aim: Answers questions, she | :27:24. | :27:30. | |
will be asked about the perceived lack of recognition of Protestant | :27:30. | :27:34. | |
loyalist culture. -- Karen Woo Coonan. She will also be asked for | :27:34. | :27:40. | |
an update of the world police and fire games. I also understand a | :27:40. | :27:46. | |
senior PSNI officer has been trying to reassure those coming to | :27:46. | :27:49. | |
Northern Ireland for big games? they are not be Olympics but there | :27:49. | :27:56. | |
is a lot riding on this. There are 25,000 people coming. The Assistant | :27:56. | :28:00. | |
Chief Constable, Judith Gillespie, has used her blog to calm any fears, | :28:00. | :28:04. | |
saying she wants to reassure people that the majority of recent | :28:04. | :28:11. | |
protests have been peaceful and disorder has been in small areas. | :28:11. | :28:15. | |
She sees a lot of nervousness and is trying to calm fears. It will be | :28:15. | :28:19. | |
interesting to see what Caral Ni Chuilin says about how things are | :28:19. | :28:26. | |
going. A lot of people very sad to hear about the death of Inez | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
McCormack, the trade unionist and campaigner? The word legend is | :28:32. | :28:40. | |
over-used, but where Inez McCormack is used it applies. -- is concerned. | :28:40. | :28:46. | |
In the 1980s she was always present. We hardly did a story that did not | :28:46. | :28:49. | |
feature her somewhere. She was a veteran trade unionist and a human | :28:49. | :28:54. | |
rights campaigner as well. Her fame spread be on Northern Ireland. She | :28:54. | :28:58. | |
was once played by Meryl Streep on Broadway and last year named by | :28:58. | :29:04. |