Browse content similar to 23/01/2017. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello and welcome to Stormont Today on what was the penultimate day | :00:25. | :00:27. | |
of debate in the Assembly chamber in this shorter than | :00:28. | :00:29. | |
Last week, one MLA suggested the clock was counting | :00:30. | :00:33. | |
down with a whimper, but today there was still plenty | :00:34. | :00:35. | |
of important business to be discussed on the hill. | :00:36. | :00:39. | |
Sinn Fein unveiled its new Stormont leader and in the chamber MLAs spent | :00:40. | :00:42. | |
more than six hours discussing the Renewable Heat | :00:43. | :00:44. | |
So, coming up on tonight's programme... | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
She's just into the top job and weeks from an election, | :00:48. | :00:55. | |
but Michelle O'Neill is already sure how she wants to move forward. | :00:56. | :00:58. | |
Accusations after the RHI scandal rumble on during another marathon | :00:59. | :01:00. | |
Agreements must be honoured. Partnership government must mean | :01:01. | :01:07. | |
exactly that. Accusations after the RHI scandal | :01:08. | :01:08. | |
rumble on during another marathon I am suspended from the party for | :01:09. | :01:19. | |
telling the truth about people in the front bench and those behind | :01:20. | :01:24. | |
them are guilty of far more serious inappropriate relationships and | :01:25. | :01:25. | |
behaviour than I am. And joining me with his thoughts | :01:26. | :01:26. | |
on another busy day in the Assembly is our Political Correspondent, | :01:27. | :01:29. | |
Enda McClafferty. Everyone knew it would | :01:30. | :01:37. | |
be announced today - but no-one could be absolutely sure | :01:38. | :01:40. | |
who it would be. Sinn Fein named Martin McGuinness's | :01:41. | :01:43. | |
successor as party leader north of the border and, | :01:44. | :01:50. | |
as the bookies had been suggesting in recent days, | :01:51. | :01:53. | |
it was indeed Michelle O'Neill Here's what she had to say to party | :01:54. | :01:55. | |
activists and the media just after lunchtime, | :01:56. | :01:59. | |
and just to warn you there is some For me to be selected to lead our | :02:00. | :02:10. | |
party in the North is truly the biggest honour and privilege of my | :02:11. | :02:15. | |
life. I feel an enormous responsibility on my shoulders and | :02:16. | :02:19. | |
while I do not are never underestimate my task given the | :02:20. | :02:24. | |
changing political work locally, nationally and internationally, I | :02:25. | :02:27. | |
will not let you down. These are challenging times and we have set | :02:28. | :02:31. | |
ourselves a big objectives, but Republicans have never been afraid | :02:32. | :02:35. | |
of a challenge. I have never been afraid of challenge and I have never | :02:36. | :02:41. | |
been afraid to act. As Sinn Fein Minister for agriculture and rural | :02:42. | :02:45. | |
development I decentralised an entire government department, Lock, | :02:46. | :02:49. | |
stock and barrel. When the system told me it could not be done. As | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
Minister for health I ended the DUP's discrimination against gay men | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
donating blood and I did it because it was the right thing to do. Over | :02:58. | :03:02. | |
the course of the last number of weeks, one others have shouted from | :03:03. | :03:06. | |
the sidelines, it was Sinn Fein who stood up and confronted corruption. | :03:07. | :03:10. | |
It was Sinn Fein who called a halt to the arrogance and intolerance. In | :03:11. | :03:16. | |
the aftermath of the election, there can and there will be no return to | :03:17. | :03:21. | |
the status quo. What does that mean? It means Sinn Fein are only | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
interested in participating in a power-sharing institutions if they | :03:26. | :03:29. | |
deliver for all of our citizens and if they operate on the basis of | :03:30. | :03:32. | |
equality and respect. Agreements must be honoured. Commitments must | :03:33. | :03:40. | |
be delivered. Partnership government must mean exactly that. It means | :03:41. | :03:44. | |
that regardless of where you come from, what language you speak, what | :03:45. | :03:48. | |
your sexuality is, what gender you are, that you are treated with | :03:49. | :03:49. | |
respect. Michelle O'Neil according | :03:50. | :03:50. | |
to Martin McGuinness has been Unlike him she does not have an IRA | :03:51. | :03:53. | |
past, but did we learn anything It was interesting but Martin | :03:54. | :04:10. | |
McGuinness took some time to set out Republican pedigree before regard to | :04:11. | :04:15. | |
the point when he talked about her role in leadership. He talked about | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
her father, he was a Republican prisoner. He was a councillor in | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
Dungannon. We know her uncle is involved in the movement which | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
fundraisers for Sinn Fein. We also knows that a cousin of hers was an | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
IRA man shot dead by the SS. She takes a lot of the boxes when it | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
comes to grassroot Republicans and what they would like to see in terms | :04:37. | :04:38. | |
of her past and family. There are big challenges piling up | :04:39. | :04:40. | |
in Michelle O'Neill's in-tray. There will be a short honeymoon | :04:41. | :04:53. | |
period because she has this election to fight and she knows she will be | :04:54. | :04:56. | |
in charge of a much smaller party at Stormont because of the fact that | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
you can analyse will not be returning after George II. She knows | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
the group would be smaller, but she also knows that the party faces a | :05:06. | :05:08. | |
big challenge from people before profit in west Belfast and in foil. | :05:09. | :05:13. | |
She knows in foil the party will be facing a bit of a dogfight for the | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
last seat because we know Eamon McCann pulled well last time and we | :05:17. | :05:21. | |
know Martin McGuinness is not on the ballot paper and that could have a | :05:22. | :05:25. | |
big bearing on the outcome of the election and it could come down to | :05:26. | :05:29. | |
the last seat between Sinn Fein and people before profit. There are | :05:30. | :05:32. | |
areas like that when the chalets will face a big fight. | :05:33. | :05:33. | |
We know the DUP in the last election used the prospect | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
of Martin McGuinness becoming First Minister to mobilise | :05:37. | :05:38. | |
its voters, what happens with that this time around, | :05:39. | :05:40. | |
now that there's a new leader in charge? | :05:41. | :05:48. | |
The so-called bogeyman is gone for the DUP because last time they built | :05:49. | :05:54. | |
their campaign around Martin McGuinness as being the big threat | :05:55. | :05:57. | |
to them in terms of becoming First Minister. This time round I would | :05:58. | :06:00. | |
imagine the tactic would be different because it is Michelle | :06:01. | :06:04. | |
O'Neill they are taking on. You can hear the language already talking | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
about taking on the Republican agenda. It is not about | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
personalities, it is about the republican movement as a whole in | :06:12. | :06:15. | |
terms of what they want at Stormont around the Irish lumberjack and | :06:16. | :06:17. | |
other bills they are proposing to take forward to which unionists | :06:18. | :06:21. | |
would have difficulty with. That will beat the strategy employed by | :06:22. | :06:27. | |
the DUP. Here in Northern Ireland, three of the main parties are led by | :06:28. | :06:31. | |
women. We have Michelle O'Neill, Arlene Foster and Naomi Long. Very | :06:32. | :06:40. | |
clear in here. Mary Lou McDonald was here as well. You could see that | :06:41. | :06:44. | |
this felt like a changing of the guard within Sinn Fein. Gerry Adams | :06:45. | :06:50. | |
is likely to handover party Mary Lou McDonald at some stage. Martin | :06:51. | :06:55. | |
McGuinness has done that with Michelle O'Neill. We could see the | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
three big party figures on the island of Ireland in the not too | :06:59. | :07:00. | |
distant future. It is significant. MLAs spent most of today debating | :07:01. | :07:12. | |
the plan by the economy minister to cut ?490 million loss to the public | :07:13. | :07:14. | |
purse of the renewable heating scheme. | :07:15. | :07:15. | |
The debate started in the chamber a week ago, but was halted to give | :07:16. | :07:19. | |
The design process by officials and consultants field. The business case | :07:20. | :07:29. | |
scrutiny process did not identify the problems. All of the evidence | :07:30. | :07:33. | |
given to the committee did not inform the recommendation. Remember, | :07:34. | :07:36. | |
the committee recommended the design of this. This house, all of the | :07:37. | :07:42. | |
parties across this house supported the original, flawed, scheme. The | :07:43. | :07:51. | |
member might recall that party colleague, William McCrea, used to | :07:52. | :07:54. | |
sing a little song called excuses, excuses. Does that not some up | :07:55. | :08:02. | |
exactly her speech and that of Mr done this morning? Trying to spread | :08:03. | :08:06. | |
the blame to everyone else and running away from the reality. It | :08:07. | :08:14. | |
was Arlene Foster and Arlene Foster alone who was the minister and alone | :08:15. | :08:20. | |
signed of this scheme without the cost controls. No matter who else | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
you might try to smear, that is the irreducible reality. Thank you for | :08:26. | :08:31. | |
your comment in relation to this. I had hoped you would have listened to | :08:32. | :08:35. | |
what I have said and what I said was this, this is not, all of the | :08:36. | :08:42. | |
evidence, I do think this has to go above and beyond party politics. We | :08:43. | :08:46. | |
have got to step back and look objectively at the evidence before | :08:47. | :08:50. | |
us. At the evidence in front of the DAC. The evidence we have all heard. | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
This was not the feeling of a single individual. Indeed, I listened to | :08:55. | :08:59. | |
the permanent Secretary, Doctor Andrew McCormick, he was at | :09:00. | :09:02. | |
committee earlier today and effectively what he was saying was | :09:03. | :09:09. | |
what we have here is the best available. Very different from good, | :09:10. | :09:14. | |
very different from sound, solid, as good as it gets. Just, within the | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
context, this is the best available. I think that is a fair assessment. I | :09:21. | :09:26. | |
would also say Doctor McCormick has done more than anybody I have heard | :09:27. | :09:30. | |
over the last number of weeks to try to maintain the integrity of these | :09:31. | :09:34. | |
devolved institutions and I thank him for that. Today, the committee | :09:35. | :09:41. | |
had the opportunity to shift their position from them did the | :09:42. | :09:44. | |
regulations to prevent the regulations. They did not. The | :09:45. | :09:50. | |
minister did not turn up. The member needs to be unaware that her party | :09:51. | :09:54. | |
did vote against the proposal to close the scheme last February. That | :09:55. | :10:00. | |
is a fact. You can say you like, you voted against that, as did the | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
Ulster Unionist party, the closure of the scheme, despite repeated | :10:05. | :10:07. | |
warnings about the cost that was going to be accrued and lost to the | :10:08. | :10:11. | |
public purse. Your party voted against closing the scheme. The | :10:12. | :10:15. | |
simple fact. I know you want at the time, so it is not your fault. Your | :10:16. | :10:20. | |
party as a party and other members who are still here and you were here | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
last year did vote to oppose the scheme. On that date, when the SDLP | :10:25. | :10:31. | |
presented themselves here, they, like other members in this house, | :10:32. | :10:37. | |
were very mindful that the quick execution and the early closure of | :10:38. | :10:42. | |
that scheme was placing legitimate businesses and legitimate access to | :10:43. | :10:50. | |
the scheme, that was putting them at risk, because there were people who | :10:51. | :10:54. | |
had signed up to a very good, worthwhile scheme at that stage. I | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
will finish my point. A very good, worthwhile scheme at that time. | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
Those businesses were in the process of realising orders coming into | :11:06. | :11:09. | |
their businesses. They were in the process of installing these boilers | :11:10. | :11:15. | |
and, again, I repeat, with the measures in place that should have | :11:16. | :11:20. | |
been there from the outset. So, your little red Herring has just died. | :11:21. | :11:27. | |
For the avoidance of any doubt that people would say to me that he did | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
not speak until very late, I have a letter to the First Minister. A | :11:31. | :11:36. | |
letter to Arlene Foster dated 23rd of March 20 16. Three pages of a | :11:37. | :11:45. | |
four, I give her my permission to put into the Assembly library and | :11:46. | :11:49. | |
make public. The first paragraph of that, after the introduction, was in | :11:50. | :11:54. | |
the renewable heat initiative. The first paragraph refers to the fact | :11:55. | :12:01. | |
that the special advisers advised me to keep the scheme open. All of the | :12:02. | :12:06. | |
difficulties in the 23rd of March 2016, given to Arlene Foster. It | :12:07. | :12:12. | |
surprises me when you see the contents of this letter that I am | :12:13. | :12:16. | |
suspended from the party for telling the truth while people on the front | :12:17. | :12:21. | |
bench and those behind them are guilty of far more serious, | :12:22. | :12:23. | |
inappropriate relationships and behaviour than I am. Far more | :12:24. | :12:31. | |
serious. We have a prize in one hand of some reduction in the public | :12:32. | :12:37. | |
spend, but we have the risk on the other hand of litigation, of | :12:38. | :12:44. | |
judicial review and a further waste of public money on expensive legal | :12:45. | :12:52. | |
challenges. With publication of the Auditor General report ought last | :12:53. | :12:55. | |
October with the publication of the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, they | :12:56. | :12:58. | |
could have brought forward the food plan the public deserves. Could he | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
explain why he, as committee chairman, has been absent from the | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
committee for the economy and by his two party colleagues have not | :13:08. | :13:11. | |
bothered to turn up? If his only issue with Sinn Fein is our | :13:12. | :13:15. | |
attendance at committee meetings when we recognised the full scale of | :13:16. | :13:19. | |
the impact in terms of these institutions, in terms of public | :13:20. | :13:23. | |
finance, in terms of public confidence that this scheme has | :13:24. | :13:28. | |
brought to this Assembly then the member is living in cloud cuckoo | :13:29. | :13:31. | |
land. This has been a disastrous scheme from start to finish. The | :13:32. | :13:35. | |
Handling has been disastrous, they provoked -- B proposal is not the | :13:36. | :13:39. | |
proposition outlined by the First Minister a couple of weeks ago. This | :13:40. | :13:41. | |
is a sticking plaster The real scandal here is that while | :13:42. | :13:51. | |
we have people unable to heat their homes and struggling to feed their | :13:52. | :13:57. | |
family, we have Barnes being raided by the police, empty Barnes, Mr | :13:58. | :14:02. | |
Speaker, with steam rising off them in the snow. I want that to stop. We | :14:03. | :14:13. | |
will not block these proposals today, despite our serious | :14:14. | :14:17. | |
reservations, and I hope that these proposals are a success, not for the | :14:18. | :14:22. | |
Minister and not for his party, but for the sake of the public who | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
ultimately are paying the price for this debacle, though they carry none | :14:28. | :14:34. | |
of the responsibility for it. I, am I department, have cooperated fully | :14:35. | :14:38. | |
with the Department of Finance and asked -- answered all questions and | :14:39. | :14:42. | |
queries and provided all requested information and yet no approval has | :14:43. | :14:50. | |
been forthcoming. The business case process is there to assess value for | :14:51. | :14:54. | |
money and also regularity and I understand that there have been no | :14:55. | :14:59. | |
issues raised in respect of either. I know the Finance minister is just | :15:00. | :15:03. | |
coming into the house and I would be happy to give way to him if he was | :15:04. | :15:09. | |
to offer approval for the scheme. The areas of concern remain state | :15:10. | :15:13. | |
aid approval and the fact that we do not have state aid approval. I know | :15:14. | :15:19. | |
that the commission has been contacted. I do have some concerns | :15:20. | :15:23. | |
in that regard. The scheme can't kick off on April one without the | :15:24. | :15:32. | |
stated approval. Also, as the Minister knows, major concerns | :15:33. | :15:37. | |
around the inspection regime, and I'm sure the Minister will accept | :15:38. | :15:40. | |
and it will be in his narrative later that without rigorous, robust, | :15:41. | :15:47. | |
100% inspections, this interim solution will fall. I don't have a | :15:48. | :15:52. | |
business plan for the inspections regime, I do think it is like a | :15:53. | :15:56. | |
horse and carriage, both go together. The Minister knows that | :15:57. | :16:02. | |
state aid approval cannot be sought, and will not be given unless there | :16:03. | :16:07. | |
is both public finance approval and approval of this house. I am | :16:08. | :16:12. | |
reluctant to say it is a chicken and egg type situation given the issue | :16:13. | :16:18. | |
we are debating, but it is. The inspection regime minister is also | :16:19. | :16:21. | |
well aware of our intentions in respect of taking forward a tender | :16:22. | :16:26. | |
for 100% site inspection, and I will give him the commitment to continue | :16:27. | :16:29. | |
to work with his officials, as long as they response to that in good | :16:30. | :16:38. | |
faith and does keep this issue politics three, which is | :16:39. | :16:40. | |
unfortunately not a conclusion at this stage. | :16:41. | :16:41. | |
And that motion eventually passed on an oral vote. | :16:42. | :16:43. | |
There was just one question time today, education. | :16:44. | :16:45. | |
Questions were supposed to be asked of the Executive Office, | :16:46. | :16:48. | |
but despite Michelle O'Neill getting the new top job in Sinn Fein, | :16:49. | :16:51. | |
neither the First nor Deputy First Minister's positions | :16:52. | :16:53. | |
So, Peter Weir was the lone Minister facing the Assembly. | :16:54. | :17:02. | |
I am disappointed that the NUS UWT are engaged in ongoing industrial | :17:03. | :17:11. | |
action. A recognised negotiating forum for teachers terms and | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
conditions as the teachers negotiating Council that the | :17:15. | :17:19. | |
department represents. It is made up of representatives from the Northern | :17:20. | :17:21. | |
Ireland teaching Council, comprising the five teaching unions and the | :17:22. | :17:30. | |
management size which comprises representatives from education | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
authority, C CMS, sectoral interests and the Department. Management side | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
meets regularly with the teaching Council as part of its work on TMC | :17:38. | :17:45. | |
and it is committed to moving forward in a constructive fashion. | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
Can you outline any actions you are taken to ensure teachers will be | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
adequately played -- paid and work on the conditions and appropriate | :17:55. | :17:57. | |
support to deliver education for our children and young people. Number of | :17:58. | :18:03. | |
things in relation to that. In terms of workload there is a key issue | :18:04. | :18:06. | |
that has been raised by a lot of teachers with May and whenever we | :18:07. | :18:11. | |
have sought anything from schools and collated responses in terms of | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
not simply where there could be additional responsibility or | :18:18. | :18:19. | |
opportunity, but a greater level of flexibility for schools. Why it was | :18:20. | :18:28. | |
sore, not simply that, but also in terms of suggestions of easing | :18:29. | :18:32. | |
burdens. It is a tight financial situation and looking well began | :18:33. | :18:35. | |
these burdens on schools and teachers is important as well. I am | :18:36. | :18:42. | |
also a bit disappointed for those unions that have taken the view of | :18:43. | :18:46. | |
non-spike action -- strike action that there is an impact in terms of | :18:47. | :18:50. | |
non-cooperation around the Inspectorate that can impact on | :18:51. | :18:54. | |
pupils learning. As regards the broader financial situation I think | :18:55. | :18:57. | |
it is important that there is a focus of where we move from 2017 | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
because it isn't a big pot of money sitting somewhere that is ready to | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
be paid to make up for what has happened to date. With the Minister | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
agree that the potential for a resolution to teachers Bay has been | :19:11. | :19:21. | |
compromised due to the shenanigans in this assembly? Is the Minister | :19:22. | :19:23. | |
confident a resolution with some post-election when he abandoned his | :19:24. | :19:26. | |
post? I am not sure that abandoning is quite the right word on that side | :19:27. | :19:29. | |
of things, although clearly we have had in terms of issues around the | :19:30. | :19:35. | |
broader perspective, the fact that the executive has been collapsed by | :19:36. | :19:38. | |
one party and in particular it has been done ahead of any budget | :19:39. | :19:43. | |
settlement is not helpful to the overall situation. I think the | :19:44. | :19:47. | |
opportunity for a greater level of resolution and a greater level of | :19:48. | :19:50. | |
result the Matiz that people look forward to 2017 and is not realistic | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
that there is a pot of money out there to cover the situation between | :19:55. | :19:59. | |
2015 and now, or to backdate that. It is the case that it is not just a | :20:00. | :20:03. | |
question of finding a one-off pot. If you make changes to the pay and | :20:04. | :20:07. | |
conditions it is actually having a long-term impact in terms of school | :20:08. | :20:10. | |
budgets and it places a level of pressure on the baselines within | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
that so that must be borne in mind. I think the opportunities for that | :20:15. | :20:18. | |
will be potentially looking forward to 2017. The reality is wait it is | :20:19. | :20:25. | |
myself or someone else impose the issues remain the same. I think | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
simply a belief that if there is a change of personality is that it | :20:31. | :20:34. | |
will suddenly make resolution very easy, I don't think, I think that in | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
many ways misunderstands the nature of the problem. | :20:39. | :20:41. | |
Peter Weir on the continuing stand-off on teachers' pay. | :20:42. | :20:43. | |
The day's business opened with a Matter of the Day | :20:44. | :20:45. | |
about the gun attack on a police officer in North Belfast last night. | :20:46. | :20:49. | |
The officer was shot at least twice in the arm while in a car | :20:50. | :20:52. | |
MLAs united in their condemnation of the shooting. | :20:53. | :20:57. | |
It could easily have been talking about death here today, and a family | :20:58. | :21:04. | |
suffering that death, instead of hopefully the recovery that we are | :21:05. | :21:12. | |
going to see. It could also have been in the open court of the | :21:13. | :21:15. | |
Garrard, other people killed or maimed in that. Let me condemn it | :21:16. | :21:22. | |
absolutely and let me also say as a representative for the area and all | :21:23. | :21:26. | |
the other representatives of that area will be in one voice that | :21:27. | :21:30. | |
people that vote for us, and I mean that right across the board, are | :21:31. | :21:34. | |
absolutely opposed to the people who are involved in this. There are many | :21:35. | :21:37. | |
issues that divide us in this house but it is clear today that there is | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
an issue that unites us, and that is our unreserved condemnation of what | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
took place last night. The truth this violence has no place in our | :21:47. | :21:51. | |
society. All it serves to do is to create heartache, pain and | :21:52. | :21:55. | |
suffering, and as each and every one of us in this house knows, there are | :21:56. | :22:00. | |
far too many families in our constituencies who endure that pain | :22:01. | :22:06. | |
and suffering on a daily basis. This was not an attack on an individual | :22:07. | :22:11. | |
police officer or an attack on the PSNI, this was an attack on our | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
entire community. It says all that we need to know about the kind of | :22:16. | :22:19. | |
people who were involved, that they would attempt to kill a person who | :22:20. | :22:23. | |
was serving their community and do so with such reckless disregard for | :22:24. | :22:27. | |
the community in which they serve. These people are nothing but | :22:28. | :22:31. | |
despicable cowards. They have nothing to offer the people of | :22:32. | :22:35. | |
Northern Ireland. Mr Speaker, I have no doubt that this attack was | :22:36. | :22:40. | |
intended to kill. Thankfully the officer is in a stable condition but | :22:41. | :22:43. | |
we could have been hearing the loss of life this morning. This is not | :22:44. | :22:47. | |
just an attack on our police service, it is an attack on the | :22:48. | :22:52. | |
community, an attack on our country. It was reckless, multiple automatic | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
rounds fired into a public safe -- space and I am disgusted. This is | :22:58. | :23:01. | |
the first shooting of a police officer that eight years in Northern | :23:02. | :23:04. | |
Ireland, clearly an attempt by evil people to kill police and also the | :23:05. | :23:10. | |
general public. Totally random and indiscriminate, as others have said, | :23:11. | :23:13. | |
gunfire into a forecourt of a Garrard Jinnah built-up area -- a | :23:14. | :23:24. | |
forecourt of a garaged. There were 12 members of the general public and | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
the police there at the time. This is my last opportunity to speak to | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
this assembly. Some of you may be glad to know that I am retiring from | :23:35. | :23:40. | |
politics, but I hope that in the next assembly no politician has to | :23:41. | :23:44. | |
stand up and condemn a murderous attack on a police officer. Anyone | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
who is prepared to wear the uniform should get the support of this | :23:50. | :23:55. | |
assembly. I pledge my support to the Police Service of Northern Ireland, | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
incorporating the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and I hope that | :24:01. | :24:01. | |
everyone else does. Ross Hussey, who said he'll not be | :24:02. | :24:02. | |
standing for re-election. We return now to the Sinn Fein news | :24:03. | :24:05. | |
conference and before handing over the reins of power Martin McGuinness | :24:06. | :24:09. | |
gave a little more insight into why he was stepping down and thanked | :24:10. | :24:12. | |
Ian Paisley for comments he made on last week's edition of The View, | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
and again there were plenty of cameras flashing | :24:16. | :24:18. | |
as Mr McGuinness spoke. I had made a decision well in | :24:19. | :24:28. | |
advance of the particular circumstances that affect me at the | :24:29. | :24:37. | |
moment, that come May eight of this year, that would've been the tenth | :24:38. | :24:40. | |
anniversary of going into government with Ian Paisley, that that was the | :24:41. | :24:45. | |
right time for me to stand aside, so that a decision that I would have | :24:46. | :24:54. | |
stood by. Circumstances have intervened, the calling of the | :24:55. | :24:59. | |
election, the scandals that have existed, and of course we find | :25:00. | :25:02. | |
ourselves in a situation where it is physically impossible for me to | :25:03. | :25:10. | |
continue until May the 8th and I regret that very much because I have | :25:11. | :25:16. | |
very fond memories of working with Ian Paisley for that year that he | :25:17. | :25:24. | |
was in the office. I have very fond memories of not just building a | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
positive working relationship with him but we actually built a | :25:28. | :25:29. | |
friendship that was a real friendship that lasted until the day | :25:30. | :25:36. | |
he died, and they also want to pay tribute to Ian Paisley Junior and to | :25:37. | :25:40. | |
Eileen Paisley, Ian 's wife Andy Carroll Paisley for their remarks | :25:41. | :25:44. | |
during the course of last week. They are all good friends, and they are | :25:45. | :25:52. | |
all people who like Ian were very dedicated and committed to the | :25:53. | :25:53. | |
success of the peace process. Martin McGuinness speaking | :25:54. | :25:55. | |
in Stormont's Long And let's have a final | :25:56. | :25:57. | |
word from Enda. No surprise that Mr McGuinness | :25:58. | :26:00. | |
should show his gratitude to the Paisley family for their warm | :26:01. | :26:02. | |
words about him last week, Enda. Yes, this was his first opportunity | :26:03. | :26:12. | |
to publicly acknowledge what was said by Ian Paisley, Kyle Paisley | :26:13. | :26:15. | |
and Baroness Paisley. What Ian Paisley told you on the view last | :26:16. | :26:20. | |
week. He was also listening to Kyle Paisley 's interview on BBC Radio | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
four as well of the interview with Baroness Paisley on talkback and it | :26:25. | :26:27. | |
is clear from what he had to say that his relationship with them runs | :26:28. | :26:31. | |
very deep and as he talked about there whenever Dr Paisley was in | :26:32. | :26:34. | |
hospital and they exchanged texts and so on, so it is pretty clear | :26:35. | :26:38. | |
that what was said by the Paisley struck a chord with Martin | :26:39. | :26:39. | |
McGuinness. We heard today that the Ulster | :26:40. | :26:40. | |
Unionist Ross Hussey Well, Ross Hussey would say himself | :26:41. | :26:49. | |
that he is in poor health and he needs to get to need replacements | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
and he said in a statement today that that is why he has decided to | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
step down because he knows it will be a long recovery period for that | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
and he will essentially be out of politics during that time so it has | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
taken the decision now that he would be better out outside of politics to | :27:04. | :27:07. | |
allow time to recover but of course he was a subject of a sting | :27:08. | :27:12. | |
operation by a Sunday newspaper some months ago when he sent nude photos | :27:13. | :27:16. | |
of himself to an undercover reporter Andy talked about it today described | :27:17. | :27:20. | |
as an indiscretion but he said that was not why he was stepping down | :27:21. | :27:24. | |
from politics, it was purely on the grounds of the South. -- of his | :27:25. | :27:28. | |
health. And also missing from the chamber | :27:29. | :27:29. | |
will be the SDLP's Gerry Mullan. He's being replaced on the ballot | :27:30. | :27:32. | |
paper in East Londonderry by his predecessor, John Dallat, | :27:33. | :27:34. | |
but all is not well Yes, that's for sure. It's not the | :27:35. | :27:40. | |
first time we have said that, coming up to an election there seems to be | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
infighting within the SDLP. It comes down to a clash of personalities | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
between these men and it goes back to the employment of John Downer 's | :27:50. | :27:52. | |
daughter in Gerry Mullins office and he employed her when he took over | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
from John Dallek in the last election and she was let go from the | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
office and that did not go well with that family and they stopped | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
speaking from that particular point forward. Now the opportunity is come | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
round again for him to put his hat in the ring again and there was an | :28:09. | :28:11. | |
interview panel over the weekend that decided who would run and John | :28:12. | :28:15. | |
Downer came out on top there and Jerry Mullin is unhappy and says he | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
is disappointed and taking legal advice. We know he has been in storm | :28:20. | :28:25. | |
on talking to the party leader and let him know about what is | :28:26. | :28:28. | |
happening. This is not good for the party because if they are to retain | :28:29. | :28:31. | |
their seat in East Londonderry they need all their foot soldiers on the | :28:32. | :28:34. | |
ground in the last thing they can afford right now is to be not | :28:35. | :28:37. | |
pulling in the same direction for the various workers who do work on | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
the ground. Interesting times, that is for sure. | :28:42. | :28:42. | |
The Assembly is sitting tomorrow and we'll have a Stormont Today | :28:43. | :28:45. | |
So for now, from everyone in the team, good night. | :28:46. | :28:58. | |
The View holds politicians to account and we ask | :28:59. | :29:01. | |
the questions that our audiences want answers to. | :29:02. | :29:04. | |
We reflect what's happening in the political world but I think we also | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
set the agenda in the interviews that we conduct on the programme. | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
I always assume that an interviewee is telling the truth | :29:13. | :29:16. |