:00:26. > :00:30.Hello and welcome to Stormont today. Coming up in the next 30 minutes:
:00:30. > :00:34.You can go your own way was the message from Michael Gove on
:00:34. > :00:37.A-levels today. That wasn't the only education story making headlines.
:00:37. > :00:42.The member has said that the department failed to listen to
:00:42. > :00:48.schools. Well, that's partially true. It's partially true across a
:00:48. > :00:51.number of delivery agencies within this and as minister for, in charge
:00:51. > :00:54.of the department I have to take a certain amount of responsibility for
:00:54. > :01:01.that. As the Shared Future document is debated Peter Robinson comes
:01:01. > :01:05.under fire. It is unfortunate, Mr Speaker, that the hiss tarks of the
:01:05. > :01:09.First Minister last week did sour the tone of a potentially
:01:09. > :01:16.constructive engagement around a Shared Future document. I'm joined
:01:16. > :01:21.by the former school principal Michelle Marken.
:01:21. > :01:25.The cost of training teachers is almost 40% higher here than it is in
:01:25. > :01:27.England. That's according to the Minister for Employment and
:01:27. > :01:34.Learning, Stephen Farry. Today he delivered a statement to the
:01:34. > :01:37.Assembly that raised questions about the future of St Mary's and
:01:37. > :01:41.Stranmillis teacher training colleges. I outlined my concerns
:01:41. > :01:44.that the system for training teachers in Northern Ireland was not
:01:45. > :01:48.sustainable. To best achieve longer term improvements, it is important
:01:49. > :01:52.that Northern Ireland has a system of teacher education that is both
:01:52. > :01:56.financially stable and is sufficiently flexible to address the
:01:56. > :01:59.needs of an increasingly shared society. Therefore I announce aid
:01:59. > :02:05.two-stage study of the teacher education infrastructure in Northern
:02:05. > :02:11.Ireland. The research completed in stage One Show that's Stranmillis
:02:11. > :02:20.and St Mary's are the only establishments in the UK which
:02:20. > :02:26.receive additional funding. The cost of this in 2011/12 was 2. 16
:02:26. > :02:31.million. In the 2011/12 year the cost of training a teacher in the
:02:31. > :02:34.colleges in Northern Ireland was almost 40% higher than in the
:02:34. > :02:39.comparative English institutions cited in the reports. We are
:02:39. > :02:43.spending more to train the teacher for what can be best described as an
:02:43. > :02:48.uncertain employment market than to train an engineer. Under the current
:02:48. > :02:52.system the cost 23,500 to train a teacher arguably we are training too
:02:52. > :02:56.many and 21,000 to train an engineer and arguably we are training too
:02:56. > :02:59.few. The second stage of the study of the teacher education
:02:59. > :03:03.infrastructure in Northern Ireland will set out options for a more
:03:03. > :03:10.shared and integrated system for the delivery and funding of teacher
:03:10. > :03:13.education. Everything should be on the table. Matters for greater
:03:13. > :03:16.collaboration to be considered could include services, facilities and in
:03:16. > :03:20.particular, joint teaching. Institutionally alternative to the
:03:20. > :03:25.current arrangements may include models such as some or all
:03:25. > :03:35.institutions coming together through some type of confed rated
:03:35. > :03:40.arrangement, through to a fully train training system with one or
:03:40. > :03:45.more campuses. The colleges viable as long as student numbers are
:03:45. > :03:53.maintained? Like other institutions, they require supportive government
:03:53. > :03:56.policy for them to develop so St Mary's and Stranmillis become not
:03:56. > :04:00.viable if the minister makes them unviable. Do you propose to take
:04:00. > :04:06.such action in the face of opposition to it? I thank the member
:04:06. > :04:12.for his questions. I'm not proposing to do anything at this stage. We are
:04:12. > :04:20.undertaking the second stage of this review with the objective of placing
:04:21. > :04:25.the system on a sustainable basis. Minister, the Dell committee visited
:04:25. > :04:28.St Mary's college and were impressed with the vibrancy, commitment and
:04:28. > :04:32.the college was very much at the heart of the community in. Terms of
:04:32. > :04:40.the talk in the Assembly about diversity and ethos and how does the
:04:40. > :04:44.minister square that with, in terms of sustainability and quality? What
:04:44. > :04:48.about diversity? The other thing that came out of the discussion is
:04:48. > :04:53.that people were telling us that they are definitely not going away.
:04:53. > :04:57.I would pose the question back. We don't have to respect and
:04:57. > :05:02.acknowledge diversity through the fragmentation of our teacher
:05:02. > :05:08.education system. We want to promote sharing in both respects, but
:05:08. > :05:15.sharing isn't about some hop odge nighed society where we treat
:05:15. > :05:19.everyone the same. Under that umbrella we have to respect sharing
:05:19. > :05:25.and with respect training that we embrace that range of diversity.
:05:25. > :05:28.That can't be -- can be done in a range of formats. Tong that is the
:05:28. > :05:33.former school principal, Michelle Marken. Thank you for joining us on
:05:33. > :05:39.the programme. What's your reaction first of all to those figures quoted
:05:39. > :05:42.bit minister about the cost of training teachers here? I'd like to
:05:42. > :05:49.unpick those figures a little more. You do know that in the last number
:05:49. > :05:52.of years there's been a liberal arts degree put into both Stranmillis and
:05:52. > :05:57.St Mary's. Students can graduate and then go on and do a teacher
:05:57. > :06:00.qualification. I understand that is where the extra funding comes in to
:06:00. > :06:04.support that liberal arts degree. In the examination that the minister
:06:04. > :06:08.has decided he's going to conduct, the second level examination, I hope
:06:08. > :06:12.they will look at where that comes into the equation about cost. I
:06:12. > :06:16.would argue there's value for money here. Probably very good value for
:06:16. > :06:20.money in the quality of young teachers who come out of the
:06:20. > :06:24.establishments. The problem that he was highlighting is that we're
:06:24. > :06:27.training too many teachers and it costs more to train them than we're
:06:27. > :06:32.training engineers and we need more engineers. This is true. I think
:06:32. > :06:35.it's right that there should be an examination of costs. It should be a
:06:35. > :06:40.five-institution examination not just focussed on two university
:06:40. > :06:43.colleges. I think we have to argue for well educated young people
:06:44. > :06:47.coming out, but also to keep the costs down. There are more ways than
:06:47. > :06:52.one to do that. I would argue that the minister is doing it the right
:06:52. > :06:59.way. He's looking for the best advice and guidance on it. Were you
:06:59. > :07:04.surprised to hear that it costs �23 this afternoon,000 to -- �23,500 to
:07:04. > :07:09.train a teacher? No, if you consider the number of contact hours, for
:07:09. > :07:15.example, that a young person has when in university versus contact
:07:15. > :07:22.hours when in teacher training, it's vastly increased. You may send your
:07:22. > :07:26.young son to university and he may have ten, 12 contact hours a week.
:07:26. > :07:29.But they will have more hands-on experience. What about the
:07:29. > :07:32.unsustainable costs of running the two colleges side by side, do you
:07:32. > :07:40.accept there's a point there? do. That has to be honestly
:07:40. > :07:43.examined. I know that St Mary's University values highly what it
:07:43. > :07:46.delivers to young people and to students. I think maybe that can be
:07:46. > :07:53.replicated, perhaps there is a way forward where there is shared
:07:53. > :07:57.education on one side, where there's a guaranteed, you know, support of
:07:57. > :08:00.teaching, training teachers for Catholic schools. Final thought on
:08:00. > :08:04.this apparent parting of the ways with England on A-levels. Should we
:08:05. > :08:09.be concerned about that? I think we have to keep a cool head. I think
:08:09. > :08:14.the minister actually is keeping a cool head. Parity is what we always
:08:14. > :08:17.aimed for. When we put in GCSEs and A-levels in the 1980s, we worked
:08:17. > :08:23.closely with the universities. We worked closely with our colleagues
:08:23. > :08:28.in England to do that. We made sure that we moderated across the system.
:08:28. > :08:32.If we lose that status, I'm not sure how we will ensure standards are
:08:32. > :08:37.there. We'll have to do. It south of Ireland does it. Scotland does it.
:08:37. > :08:41.We can do it too. I don't think we should panic on it. Thank you.
:08:41. > :08:45.From university level to primary schools and John O'Dowd was next in
:08:45. > :08:49.the spotlight, following technical details encountered by schools last
:08:49. > :08:53.Autumn, the Education Minister commissioned a review of
:08:53. > :08:57.computer-base add associatements. Today he brought that review to the
:08:58. > :09:00.Assembly -- computer-based assessments. It presented
:09:01. > :09:04.significant challenges. These challenges were faced by schools and
:09:04. > :09:08.significant number of them reported difficulties in the operations of
:09:08. > :09:12.the new assessment. If the department makes it a legal
:09:12. > :09:16.requirement for schools to use the assessment this places a requirement
:09:16. > :09:21.on my department to ensure it works. Clearly, this was not always the
:09:21. > :09:26.case last year. A policy that was intended to help and support
:09:26. > :09:30.teachers had, in many cases, the opposite effect. Of most concern
:09:30. > :09:35.were the experiences relayed to me directly by teachers about the
:09:35. > :09:38.pressures they felt in administering the assessments and in some cases
:09:38. > :09:44.the distress felt by pupils when they faced technical difficulties.
:09:44. > :09:54.This is clearly not good enough. That is why I have instigated
:09:54. > :09:57.reviews of the implementations of the nukeracy -- implementations of
:09:58. > :10:01.the numeracy and literacy assessment. User experience was
:10:01. > :10:05.often reported as poor and there were real issues for teachers in
:10:05. > :10:08.terms of the ease of set up and compatibility with hardware. In
:10:08. > :10:14.recognition of the concerns expressed by schools, I have decided
:10:14. > :10:18.the department will not specify the literacy and numeracy assessment for
:10:18. > :10:24.monitoring use in the forth coming term. There will be no legislative
:10:24. > :10:28.requirement on schools to assess pupils for diagnostic purposes using
:10:28. > :10:34.CBA or other assessments. I think the most striking aspect of this
:10:34. > :10:38.debacle isn't just the technical failures or the �900,000 spent in
:10:38. > :10:42.the first year of public money. It wasn't just the time and energy
:10:42. > :10:45.schools have wasted in trying to make these tests work. It isn't even
:10:45. > :10:52.the stress and anxiety these tests have caused many of our primary
:10:52. > :10:59.schools. I suggest that the key to the mystery is that the department
:10:59. > :11:06.and the minister's abject failure in listening to schools and we could
:11:06. > :11:12.say- so what? However we are in a very serious situation. Will the
:11:12. > :11:19.minister, today, give this house an explanation as to why it took him so
:11:19. > :11:22.long to press the delete button on computer-based assessment?
:11:22. > :11:27.member has said the department failed to listen to schools. That's
:11:27. > :11:32.partially true. But it's partially true across a number of delivery
:11:32. > :11:36.agencies within this and as minister in charge of the department I have
:11:36. > :11:41.to take a certain amount of responsibility for that. But I can
:11:41. > :11:47.assure you now that no-one was in -- within my department, no-one in the
:11:47. > :11:50.delivery agencies involved in this are under illusions about who they
:11:50. > :11:54.should be listening to. They should listen to the schools and learn from
:11:54. > :11:57.the experiences. The next programme of work rolled out in regards to
:11:57. > :12:05.this will be based on the experiences of schools in the first
:12:05. > :12:14.place. I welcome the U-turn on mandatory computer assessments.
:12:14. > :12:19.Account minister tell us how much this debacle has cost and will cost?
:12:19. > :12:24.The system set up including procurement and all the issues, to
:12:24. > :12:28.set it up was around �900,000. Next year the costs are somewhere in the
:12:28. > :12:34.region of �300,000 to run the system. I would have preferred to
:12:34. > :12:39.see the system running properly all, all schools using it etc. However we
:12:39. > :12:43.are involved in contractual obligations with the providers. If
:12:43. > :12:46.we moved away from those obligation as head of the end of the contract,
:12:46. > :12:52.I am advised there may be significant further cost.
:12:52. > :12:56.Education was very much a theme at Stormont today. The leader of the
:12:56. > :13:01.Ulster Unionist Party, Mike Nesbitt, joined in. During a debate on a
:13:01. > :13:07.shared future he read extracts on a teaching aid used to teach students
:13:07. > :13:12.during the hunger strikes in 1981. Discuss how the pupils would have
:13:12. > :13:17.felt in their shoes. Discuss whether they would have made the same
:13:17. > :13:24.decisions as the hunger strikers. Teachers could explore texts about
:13:24. > :13:28.Northern Ireland or about other situations, for example, Nazi
:13:28. > :13:34.Germany, South Africa, during apartheid, a clear link between
:13:34. > :13:38.Northern Ireland and Nazi Germany and South Africa under apartheid.
:13:38. > :13:42.Explore other sources, cow read of the factual writings from the time
:13:42. > :13:50.of the hunger strikes. Now I thought maybe at this point they would
:13:50. > :14:00.suggest a journalist of some repute, or perhaps an historian of the
:14:00. > :14:01.
:14:01. > :14:08.stature of Paul Lord Bute. The first individual they recommend? For
:14:08. > :14:14.factual descriptions, Danny Morrison, the chief prop beganedist
:14:14. > :14:18.of the -- propegand ist of the Republican movement. Mike Nesbitt
:14:18. > :14:22.during the debate on the Shared Future document. Following that
:14:22. > :14:26.debate a DUP supported amendment to the Alliance Motion was passed. It
:14:26. > :14:29.backed the station by the first and deputy first ministers on building a
:14:29. > :14:34.united community in Northern Ireland. Here's a sample of the
:14:34. > :14:39.debate. Despite reports of progress and some level of agreement from the
:14:39. > :14:44.office of First Minister and deputy First Minister, a failure to find
:14:44. > :14:47.compromise on contested issues at a political level has left many
:14:47. > :14:54.disillusioned and disengaged. We have to set out a vision and a plan
:14:54. > :14:56.to tackle all unsettled issues that remain. Patterns of segregation,
:14:56. > :15:01.intimidation and fear that all continue to have a serious impact on
:15:01. > :15:05.our economy and the quality of life of people across Northern Ireland.
:15:05. > :15:09.Perhaps I could begin by explaining why we're unable to support the
:15:09. > :15:15.motion, as brought forward by the members of the Alliance Party. It's
:15:15. > :15:21.very simple. There is no mention in the motion of the lack of prior
:15:21. > :15:26.consultation between FM and DFM and their executive colleagues, which, I
:15:26. > :15:34.find, almost inexplicable given a few short days ago their party
:15:34. > :15:38.leader was jumping on my colleague Danny Kennedy's band wagon on BBC
:15:38. > :15:42.television to make much of the fact there had been no consultation with
:15:42. > :15:52.executive colleagues. Yet a few days later, they seemed to have moved
:15:52. > :15:55.from the tribe of -- tribe to the so whatters. We will never shirk our
:15:55. > :15:58.responsibilities in terms of scrutinising projects like this and
:15:58. > :16:02.asking what sometimes might be viewed as tough questions. But
:16:02. > :16:08.they're asked to try and ensure that we get the best possible Government
:16:08. > :16:17.and the best possible chance to build a Shared Future for all our
:16:17. > :16:27.people because God knows we need it. It is unfortunate, Mr Speaker, that
:16:27. > :16:29.
:16:29. > :16:35.the hi -- hysterics soured the tone over the Shared Future document. It
:16:35. > :16:39.did confirm one thing: Peter Robinson seems to be stuck in an old
:16:39. > :16:45.testament world when people out there are desperately crying out for
:16:45. > :16:50.something new. I hear the party basically saying- we weren't
:16:50. > :16:52.included in the discussions. I heard them saying this announcement was
:16:52. > :16:57.made without consultation with themselves or consultation with
:16:57. > :17:02.anybody else. Well, that party has had a week to be able to say
:17:02. > :17:07.actually, we don't like the Shared Future details because it doesn't go
:17:07. > :17:10.far enough or whatever the criticism might be. Maybe some of the
:17:10. > :17:14.criticism is justified. They need to put options on the table. It's not
:17:14. > :17:22.enough, I want to make it clear from our party's point of view, it is
:17:22. > :17:26.simply not good enough for the SDLp to come here and say they're here to
:17:26. > :17:33.ask tough questions. We're all here to ask tough questions. What a
:17:33. > :17:39.remarkable impact a pending visit of President Obama can have that
:17:40. > :17:46.suddenly, whatever it takes to please in terms of social
:17:46. > :17:53.engineering is possible. Be it housing, be it education, be
:17:53. > :17:58.whatever is on the shopping list and the instruction list of the visiting
:17:58. > :18:03.president. Can I begin by welcoming the statement last week and it's not
:18:03. > :18:09.surprising that all of the naysayers have had their go around so just to
:18:09. > :18:15.put Mr Swan's mind at rest from the very start, we will not be with
:18:15. > :18:21.drawing our amendment and we will be putting it to the vote. Just let
:18:21. > :18:28.me... Just let me be clear about that so that you know right from the
:18:28. > :18:34.very start, and I see the chair of the OFM doing his usual act, one or
:18:34. > :18:39.two headline grabbing things, producing some document today, but
:18:39. > :18:44.that's typical of the leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. So nobody
:18:44. > :18:48.will be surprised about that. Spratt. The Justice Minister has
:18:48. > :18:55.told the Assembly he expects work on the long awaited police and fire
:18:55. > :19:00.college near cooks down to start in October. -- Cookstown. He revealed
:19:00. > :19:05.details for the G8 summit and the future for the historical inquiries
:19:05. > :19:08.team. Comments were provided back to the
:19:08. > :19:14.programme team for its consideration. If these points are
:19:14. > :19:20.adequately addressed and both departments are satisfied that the
:19:20. > :19:24.college represents value for money it will be submitted for approval.
:19:25. > :19:28.The reality is we are looking at a relatively short slippage in the
:19:28. > :19:31.time to complete the work. The delay is currently being looked at in a
:19:31. > :19:35.period of something like four months with an expectation that
:19:35. > :19:38.construction can begin by the month of October. So given the very
:19:38. > :19:45.significant cost change, I believe that's hay fairly reasonable
:19:45. > :19:53.position to be in and I'm optimistic that can be adhered to. PSNI and
:19:53. > :20:01.plans for security for the G8 are at an advanced state. It has been
:20:01. > :20:04.decided that some 4700 PSNI officer and 3600 officers under mutual aid
:20:04. > :20:07.arrangements will be deployed. All the officers will be under the
:20:07. > :20:12.direction and operational command of the Chief Constable throughout in.
:20:12. > :20:16.Addition, 600 private security personnel will be contracted to work
:20:16. > :20:20.on security-related duties during the summit. I'm confident there will
:20:20. > :20:24.be sufficient human resources in place to ensure a successful summit
:20:24. > :20:32.and any protests would be well policed. Other areas within my
:20:32. > :20:37.department are developing plans to deal with any arrests. In the -- I'm
:20:37. > :20:43.confident there will be sufficient human resources in place to deal
:20:43. > :20:51.with any evengeuality. Can I ask the minister what assurances can he give
:20:51. > :21:01.to former members of the royal Royal Ulster Constabulary who hold a
:21:01. > :21:10.
:21:10. > :21:16.except -- sceptical view over all of this happening. If former members of
:21:16. > :21:19.the RUC or PSNI hold that view of the HET I'm not sure that anything I
:21:19. > :21:22.say will counteract that feeling that they have. Certainly what I
:21:22. > :21:26.have seen of the HET in particular in terms of looking through the
:21:26. > :21:30.business case for the extension of its work has shown that it is
:21:31. > :21:36.robustly carrying out its duties. Wonder if the minister would take
:21:36. > :21:41.the opportunity to assure the House that the HET has the necessary
:21:41. > :21:45.funding to be able to complete its programmed work and that its
:21:45. > :21:52.operational independence will not be jeopardised in any way by means of
:21:52. > :21:57.the way it is funded? I thank him for that point. The business case
:21:57. > :22:04.for the extension of HET funding was approved by my department last
:22:04. > :22:08.month, subject to further conditions being met. That will then result in
:22:08. > :22:13.a potential extension of �13 million to its existing budget aloe
:22:13. > :22:21.indication. The secondary -- allegation. The secondary intention
:22:21. > :22:26.is that the case load will be completed bit end of March 2015 on a
:22:26. > :22:29.completion rate of 30 cases per month. David Ford. It's been some
:22:29. > :22:32.time coming but the Marine Bill passed through its final stage at
:22:32. > :22:37.the Assembly today. The bill is designed to coordinate the
:22:37. > :22:41.protection of Northern Ireland's coastline and the wildlife that
:22:41. > :22:46.lives there. Is that enough? I'm joined by Marguerite Tarzia from the
:22:46. > :22:51.Marine Task Force. Good evening. First of all, remind us what the
:22:51. > :22:54.Marine Task Force is. It's a coalition of ten environmental
:22:54. > :22:59.organisations and we've been campaigning on marine issues for
:22:59. > :23:03.quite a while. It's a ten-year campaign, specifically related to
:23:04. > :23:08.mat reen bill. We are very -- the Marine Bill. We are very pleased to
:23:08. > :23:12.see it here again. The legislation go far enough? There are some
:23:12. > :23:15.disappointments with it. Before we go through the disappointing sides I
:23:15. > :23:19.think the Marine Task Force is thrilled that we have this
:23:20. > :23:23.legislation in place because it is a new legal framework for managing our
:23:23. > :23:27.seas, for conservation and marine planning. In terms of the things
:23:27. > :23:36.that we would like to have seen in it, there are some things that we
:23:36. > :23:40.think are missing, moat -- most note yaebl a marine organisation, and we
:23:40. > :23:43.campaigned that it would help the governance for marine matters in
:23:43. > :23:46.Northern Ireland. The matters are distributed across five departments
:23:46. > :23:50.in Northern Ireland. That's a lot of departments to make coordinated
:23:50. > :23:54.decisions on marine issues. So we think that a marine management
:23:54. > :23:58.organisation would really help. campaigned strongly for the agency,
:23:58. > :24:01.it's not there. You say you're disappointed. Is that going to make
:24:01. > :24:07.a huge difference? You've said that's the downside, there are plus
:24:07. > :24:10.points as well. Are the plus points outweighed bit negative dimension of
:24:11. > :24:14.net getting the management agency? think that's going to be an issue
:24:14. > :24:18.which will be ongoing. Obviously with the Marine Bill, now it's
:24:18. > :24:24.becoming an act, there are going to be important decisions to be made in
:24:24. > :24:31.terms of the marine kon conservation zones and mat reen planning, which
:24:31. > :24:34.is cross sectors. Will need a lot of buy-in from people. I think issues
:24:34. > :24:41.will arise throughout the implementation of this bill that
:24:41. > :24:45.will make it evident that marine governance needs to be resolved.
:24:45. > :24:50.an example of what will be better with the new legislation. It gives
:24:50. > :24:55.us the opportunity to designation marine kon conservation zones. Up
:24:55. > :25:00.till now we only have European marine sites and areas of special
:25:01. > :25:05.scientific interest. Also sites designated for wetlands. We haven't
:25:05. > :25:11.got that many protected areas, even though the European sites are
:25:11. > :25:14.important. The conservation zones will let us designate sites for
:25:14. > :25:18.protection for a range of different species that are representative of
:25:18. > :25:23.the UK marine area. That's good for the species that live in our coastal
:25:23. > :25:28.waters? Yes, very good for the species. We can cover more species,
:25:28. > :25:32.more habitats and protect more. Marguerite Tarzia, thanks very much
:25:32. > :25:35.indeed for joining us. Now, into the West was very much the
:25:35. > :25:40.theme for questions to the Regional Development Minister this afternoon
:25:40. > :25:45.with the A 5 and roads even a possible railway line in Fermanagh
:25:45. > :25:50.on the agenda. First up was the troubled bridge at Narrow Water.
:25:50. > :25:57.There's been no delay in the part of my department. Every effort has been
:25:57. > :26:02.made to progress these necessary orders. Understand of -- information
:26:02. > :26:12.was only finalised on April 10, 2013. I should say that in Northern
:26:12. > :26:12.
:26:12. > :26:18.Ireland the construction of a bridge over waters quite rightly requires
:26:18. > :26:28.legislation. Loudge County Council only requires consent of the
:26:28. > :26:32.
:26:32. > :26:35.minister. We met the QPA yesterday in relation to the delay in the A5
:26:35. > :26:41.and they're concerned about the delay. They're concerned about the
:26:41. > :26:47.moratorium on the roads, which is 11 days, I think it's ten or 11 days
:26:48. > :26:55.prior to the G8. A decision that the previous Minister of Justice told us
:26:55. > :27:01.half an hour ago that you took. the issue that he raises on G8
:27:01. > :27:06.moratorium, he will know, as a constituency representative for the
:27:06. > :27:11.area of countery Fermanagh and indeed as a member of this House and
:27:11. > :27:16.deputy chair of the regional development committee, that G8 is a
:27:16. > :27:21.very significant and important event for all of Northern Ireland and I'm
:27:21. > :27:26.very pleased to offer my department's support to the PSNI in
:27:26. > :27:35.managing arrangements for the summit. So at the request of the
:27:35. > :27:39.PSNI, DRD has agreed to reprogramme planned works on key routes during
:27:39. > :27:45.the G8. The department has brought forward a considerable amount of
:27:45. > :27:49.resurfacing work to improve the road network in the run up to the G8. My
:27:49. > :27:57.colleague Mr Elliott was telling me some of the locals in Fermanagh
:27:57. > :28:02.instead of calling it the A 4 road now call it the G8 road. Is there
:28:02. > :28:07.any further evaluation or assessment into developing a rail network into
:28:07. > :28:13.the west of Northern Ireland? grateful to the member for his
:28:13. > :28:16.question and indeed, he will know that we have recently been holding a
:28:16. > :28:23.consultation exercise on the future of railways all over Northern
:28:23. > :28:28.Ireland. We've had very interesting feed back. Even in my own area,
:28:28. > :28:38.significant feed back on the possibility of a reopening the old
:28:38. > :28:38.
:28:38. > :28:43.lines. Indeed, the line that he mentions mentioned, there are issues
:28:43. > :28:49.of infrastructure and cost. We would have to look carefully before we
:28:50. > :28:53.would embark on even a serious study. The Regional Development