Browse content similar to 25/11/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
Line | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|
Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up on the programme tonight, | :00:27. | :00:31. | |
the failed tactics of the past. United condemnation of a car bomb | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
left in Belfast city centre last night. It could have caused death | :00:35. | :00:41. | |
and misery and mayhem in our city centre. Of that, there is no | :00:42. | :00:45. | |
question. A man who kept his faith with | :00:46. | :00:49. | |
politics - MLAs reflect on the life of Father Alec Reid. An | :00:50. | :00:53. | |
extraordinary individual who made an incredible contribution to the peace | :00:54. | :01:00. | |
process. Someone who was a friend of all of us in this chamber. | :01:01. | :01:05. | |
And here to cast his eye over proceedings is our political | :01:06. | :01:06. | |
reporter, Stephen Walker. Proceedings today were dominated | :01:07. | :01:13. | |
with fresh condemnation of a terrorist attack. This time Members | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
focussed their anger on last night's partially exploded bomb at the | :01:19. | :01:21. | |
entrance to the Victoria Square car park in Belfast. The attack has been | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
blamed on dissident republicans. The DUP's Jonathan Craig brought the | :01:27. | :01:32. | |
motion to the Assembly. On Sunday night at nine o'clock | :01:33. | :01:36. | |
approximately, and individual returning to his own home was | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
confronted by three masked men, the car hijacked, a bomb put in it and | :01:43. | :01:47. | |
he was forced to drive to the entrance at the Tahrir Square, | :01:48. | :01:51. | |
Musgrave Street police station. -- Victoria Square. Those are the | :01:52. | :02:01. | |
failed tactics of the past. A bomb with over 60 kilograms, of | :02:02. | :02:13. | |
explosives, it could have caused death, misery and mayhem in our city | :02:14. | :02:16. | |
centre. Of that, there is no question. These people need to know | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
they have no support whatsoever in the community, that the vast | :02:24. | :02:27. | |
majority of the people throughout Ireland -9 in the vast, vast | :02:28. | :02:34. | |
majority, to move the whole process forward, there is a democratic way | :02:35. | :02:42. | |
forward to pursue a united Ireland. So my message is simple. They need | :02:43. | :02:46. | |
to stop and they need to stop now. And there is no way that we are | :02:47. | :02:51. | |
going back to those days of conflict. Only politics works and | :02:52. | :03:01. | |
those that have carried out this act, which involved, incidentally, a | :03:02. | :03:07. | |
constituent, a man who was terrorised by this event. The fact | :03:08. | :03:12. | |
is we should be saying to those people that carried it out, yes, you | :03:13. | :03:17. | |
have carried out the failed tactics of the past. Politics works, nothing | :03:18. | :03:23. | |
else will work in terms of bringing about change and peace and stability | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
to our community. There is no point me using the word conned them. We | :03:31. | :03:37. | |
use it ad nauseam. What we must do is to identify those who are | :03:38. | :03:39. | |
responsible, track them down and make them subject to the rule of | :03:40. | :03:44. | |
law. In the absence of that, the public will conclude that these | :03:45. | :03:50. | |
people are, in essence, free to do what they want will stop I have said | :03:51. | :03:57. | |
before. People seem more wedded to the struggle than any possible | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
outcome because they must know that what they are carrying out can | :04:04. | :04:06. | |
achieve no political outcome. We stand here today as representatives | :04:07. | :04:11. | |
of Northern Ireland showing that democracy is what changes the way | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
things are managed. Should we not, and not just as a gesture but as a | :04:19. | :04:22. | |
body of all 108 of us, walk from this building together to this city | :04:23. | :04:28. | |
and make that statement a statement of solidarity by the people's | :04:29. | :04:33. | |
elected representatives against these people's and, not by doing | :04:34. | :04:40. | |
that showed to these people that there is a better way? | :04:41. | :04:43. | |
Our political reporter, Stephen Walker, is with me. Political | :04:44. | :04:47. | |
reaction to the bombing was not just confined to the Stormont chamber. | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
That's right. The first and deputy first ministers, Peter Robinson and | :04:53. | :04:58. | |
Martin McGuinness talking about jobs with which Telecom and in many ways | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
they were saying that the launch of these jobs was the symbol of the new | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
Northern Ireland and then we had the bomb attack in the headlines was not | :05:07. | :05:10. | |
as far as that was concerned, that was a sign of the old Northern | :05:11. | :05:16. | |
Ireland. They were asked about the bomb attack and this is what they | :05:17. | :05:22. | |
have to say. We are community. We cannot handed over to the police and | :05:23. | :05:26. | |
say solve that problem, it has to be the community which gets engaged in | :05:27. | :05:29. | |
dealing with this issue and that means providing information which | :05:30. | :05:33. | |
means making it clear to the people that we will not change course | :05:34. | :05:37. | |
because of it. The vast majority of people want to live normal lives and | :05:38. | :05:41. | |
they who find themselves in this little cocoon from a bygone age will | :05:42. | :05:51. | |
at some stage wake up and recognise that they are totally disengaged | :05:52. | :05:53. | |
from the community and that does absolutely nothing whatsoever for | :05:54. | :05:58. | |
the community. The Secretary of State has also been talking about | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
what happened. Yes, to Reza Villa said this was a reckless and callous | :06:04. | :06:08. | |
attack -- to Reza billions. She said families were forced and commuters | :06:09. | :06:14. | |
disrupted and businesses were disrupted. She said this was | :06:15. | :06:17. | |
ordinary people going about their daily business. She said the economy | :06:18. | :06:22. | |
was being held to ransom by this and she said it had to stop. Reaction | :06:23. | :06:30. | |
from Dublin as well? Some reaction, one said it was nothing short of | :06:31. | :06:34. | |
attempted murder and it comes in the way of recent incidents will stop he | :06:35. | :06:38. | |
said all of this had been perpetrated by people who have no | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
political support. He said it has to stop and likes of the other people | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
we have been hearing today, he said anybody with information should come | :06:47. | :06:49. | |
forward and contact the PSNI. Stephen, for now, thank you. Rural | :06:50. | :06:52. | |
crime and how to deal with severe weather were issues dealt with by | :06:53. | :06:55. | |
the Agriculture Minister at Question Time today. First, though, helping | :06:56. | :06:58. | |
the farming community with literacy problems. | :06:59. | :07:03. | |
I am aware that the level of literacy can cause some members of | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
the rule community to encounter difficulties when completing forms. | :07:08. | :07:13. | |
Many interactions with customers involve the completion of such forms | :07:14. | :07:18. | |
for various schemes and grants that are a minister. Where local offices | :07:19. | :07:23. | |
can explain these and the information needed, they are unable | :07:24. | :07:25. | |
to provide a level of assistance that would fill in a form. The | :07:26. | :07:31. | |
charity is well placed to support rural areas where anxieties and | :07:32. | :07:36. | |
difficulties are faced. This organisation receives funding | :07:37. | :07:41. | |
through the tackling rural poverty programme. And my depart provides | :07:42. | :07:57. | |
services -- my department. Staff in the local offices will advise that | :07:58. | :08:00. | |
the organisation can provide assistance to those with learning or | :08:01. | :08:04. | |
literacy issues. Appropriate guidance will be put in place to | :08:05. | :08:07. | |
ensure that the issues are handled with sensitivity. There are many | :08:08. | :08:11. | |
things that farmers can do to prepare for winter and the charities | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
have been very active in supporting training. One college embarked on a | :08:17. | :08:22. | |
programme of workshops, publications and face-to-face advice during | :08:23. | :08:27. | |
summer and this work will continue throughout the winter. Many attended | :08:28. | :08:33. | |
open days and attendees receive training on livestock management | :08:34. | :08:35. | |
topics including for the assessment and stock take. Grassland and | :08:36. | :08:38. | |
measurement, increasing efficiency and soil improvement. I am pleased | :08:39. | :08:44. | |
to report that with the support of these colleges and improved weather | :08:45. | :08:49. | |
in the summer this year, fodder yields have increased significantly. | :08:50. | :08:52. | |
Stocks on most farms have recovered to levels which are balanced with | :08:53. | :09:01. | |
projections. Livestock farmers are well prepared going into this | :09:02. | :09:05. | |
winter. Will be minister condemned the scurrilous accusations of | :09:06. | :09:09. | |
commerce made in the North Antrim press that some farmers are hoping | :09:10. | :09:13. | |
for another bad winter because the compensation they received was an | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
easy way to make money? I have not received a report that I would | :09:19. | :09:27. | |
absolutely condemn that. People and seeing the distress it is course. | :09:28. | :09:33. | |
Rural crime is a worrying and escalating problem. What new | :09:34. | :09:37. | |
initiatives has she taken to tackle this trend? I agree with the member | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
and we have seen quite a number of cases highlighted recently. | :09:44. | :09:45. | |
Particularly around cattle theft. I regularly engage with the PSNI and | :09:46. | :09:49. | |
chief constables and the Department of Justice to talk about how we can | :09:50. | :09:55. | |
work together because the levels of rural crime are concerning. I | :09:56. | :10:00. | |
recently met the Minister for Justice on the 14th of October when | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
we talked about the rural crime unit established and we now have | :10:05. | :10:09. | |
appointed Mr no plans to announce any cultural | :10:10. | :10:47. | |
bursaries yet, it is my intention to launch another bursary scheme this | :10:48. | :10:54. | |
year. The bursary scheme is aimed at broadening the appeal of the Irish | :10:55. | :10:58. | |
language and offers opportunity irrespective of traditions | :10:59. | :11:01. | |
backgrounds for eligible applicants to have a chance of attending an | :11:02. | :11:05. | |
Irish language summer course. The scheme also helps participants and | :11:06. | :11:13. | |
financial outlays which may occur as a barrier to access. I thank the | :11:14. | :11:20. | |
Minister. Can the Minister give an assessment of how she thinks it | :11:21. | :11:28. | |
could be encouraged among the Unionist community? The leaflet | :11:29. | :11:33. | |
initiative is about making language accessible to all and I think that | :11:34. | :11:41. | |
the initiative encourages that. This week, leafleting will take place | :11:42. | :11:48. | |
across Fermanagh organised by the grand Lodge of Ireland to bring | :11:49. | :11:52. | |
young people from Protestant Catholic backgrounds to explore our | :11:53. | :11:57. | |
cultural richness and ensuring learning through music and language | :11:58. | :12:01. | |
and culture and such events provide a good opportunity to promote this. | :12:02. | :12:09. | |
Another celebration will allow people across the community to | :12:10. | :12:15. | |
celebrate our cultural heritage. Following on from the previous | :12:16. | :12:20. | |
question's supplementary question, with the Minister agree that one of | :12:21. | :12:23. | |
the things that will attract the Unionist community to take part in | :12:24. | :12:28. | |
Irish line which classes was the Irish language was not used as a | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
political tool by politicians? You have dished deliberately just done | :12:33. | :12:41. | |
that! -- you have just done that. And this is experiences like that | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
where it is truly unhelpful and not very supportive where people from | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
your constituency are learning the Irish language, it is not giving | :12:51. | :12:53. | |
good leadership and agree with you are we need to not politicise any | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
language. If the Minister satisfied that things end Derry-Londonderry | :13:01. | :13:04. | |
have been promoted during the year as City of Culture? | :13:05. | :13:09. | |
There are always complaints and concerns at times where I thought | :13:10. | :13:13. | |
they were passed by but I have met many groups and not just the big | :13:14. | :13:18. | |
ticket events but many groups within the community who are not only happy | :13:19. | :13:23. | |
that the have not been involved but to try to strengthen the legacy from | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
this year and beyond and that is across the community. Can I ask the | :13:28. | :13:35. | |
Minister what her department has done or is doing for the annual | :13:36. | :13:46. | |
shutting of the Gates pageant as a major cultural event? I am not aware | :13:47. | :13:51. | |
of the department giving any specific support for that. They have | :13:52. | :13:59. | |
been part of the cultural programme and what I can do is chat with them | :14:00. | :14:06. | |
to see if there are any requests. We are certainly supportive. As a woman | :14:07. | :14:11. | |
living in north Belfast there are many things we can look towards the | :14:12. | :14:15. | |
apprentices for as regards what we need to do because up and down the | :14:16. | :14:18. | |
road it almost becomes a tale of two cities. Caral ni Chuilin. | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
Current careers advice is failing our young people, that was the | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
message coming from the floor of the chamber today as MLAs discussed a | :14:28. | :14:30. | |
report by the Employment and Learning committee on careers | :14:31. | :14:33. | |
education here. Work experience should be used in a | :14:34. | :14:37. | |
very meaningful way by introducing students to the work environment. | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
Currently they are many flaws in the system and students have to find | :14:44. | :14:46. | |
their own placements and if they are unsuccessful they can spend a week | :14:47. | :14:53. | |
picking litter from the school grounds. An information gap does | :14:54. | :14:57. | |
exist and there is a weak understanding of the labour market. | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
There appears to be little awareness of the different routes to success. | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
Young people pursue educational journeys where they do not find | :15:08. | :15:11. | |
works relevant to their qualifications when they leave | :15:12. | :15:14. | |
school. What makes a good careers service? This has been alluded to by | :15:15. | :15:19. | |
other people. A motivated careers teacher and we need ongoing careers | :15:20. | :15:25. | |
development for these teachers. Secondly create better school and | :15:26. | :15:28. | |
business links where there are opportunities for teachers to | :15:29. | :15:33. | |
experience the world of the work environment and vice versa. I | :15:34. | :15:36. | |
welcome the recommendation to place a requirement on schools to inform | :15:37. | :15:43. | |
students in the years ten, 11 and 12 of the variety of opportunities that | :15:44. | :15:47. | |
exist, academic and vocational routes. This is a key recommendation | :15:48. | :15:53. | |
of the report. As the committee chair has recommended, crucial to | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
delivering on that responsibility will be adequate resources. One | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
thing we heard last week is that the majority of young people currently | :16:04. | :16:06. | |
going through education will be employed in jobs that have not yet | :16:07. | :16:11. | |
been invented. It is hard to get our heads around that but it highlights | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
the fact that the jobs market is changing and young people need to be | :16:16. | :16:20. | |
equipped for that market. We do not want to limit the horizons of our | :16:21. | :16:23. | |
students in Northern Ireland. We should look at it from a global | :16:24. | :16:27. | |
point of view. It is not just Northern Ireland, it is not just | :16:28. | :16:32. | |
Scotland and the UK, it is the whole world and we must find our place | :16:33. | :16:38. | |
there. We have decided to begin a formal review of careers strategy | :16:39. | :16:42. | |
and careers provision. It will take into account the recommendations of | :16:43. | :16:45. | |
the employment and learning committee enquiry report. I cannot | :16:46. | :16:51. | |
overstate the importance to the transformation of our economy of | :16:52. | :16:54. | |
effectively investing in our people and developing their skills. I | :16:55. | :16:59. | |
believe that good careers policy and delivery structures should be | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
considered a foundation stone of a strong economy. Key to this is | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
ensuring a good match between supply and demand. | :17:08. | :17:16. | |
A new focus on careers advice. Now, Robin Swann is with be now. Are you | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
pleased at this outcome? I am pleased. Our main agenda was to get | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
the Minister and the education minister involved in making sure our | :17:28. | :17:34. | |
careers service is fit for purpose. In those closing comments he talked | :17:35. | :17:37. | |
about supply and demand and that was the thrust of why we started the | :17:38. | :17:42. | |
enquiry. We see a number of young people leaving our education system | :17:43. | :17:45. | |
with no prospect of employment but we have employers and business | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
crying out because of a skills shortage so it is important to get | :17:50. | :17:54. | |
those two things matched up. For many of us careers advice was | :17:55. | :17:59. | |
limited. What changes do you think need to happen? Ltd, I think, would | :18:00. | :18:03. | |
be a benefit or even a step up from some of the evidence we saw in the | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
enquiry where we saw systemic and other examples of poor careers | :18:10. | :18:15. | |
advice. There was also very good examples. We want careers advice to | :18:16. | :18:19. | |
become a statutory requirement in the schools provision so that | :18:20. | :18:24. | |
schools must require -- must provide it. Careers teachers should have a | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
qualification in careers teaching. We found it a surprise that actually | :18:29. | :18:34. | |
most careers teachers are actually the history teacher or the PE | :18:35. | :18:39. | |
teacher who has a spare period in the week rather than a specifically | :18:40. | :18:44. | |
trained teacher. It varies from school to school, obviously, but in | :18:45. | :18:48. | |
many it is a bit of an adjunct. Would you like a focused approach | :18:49. | :18:52. | |
where it is taught as a core subject. That is one of the | :18:53. | :18:56. | |
recommendations in the report. We would like it to be part of the | :18:57. | :18:59. | |
curriculum because that is the only way we feel we can embed it in the | :19:00. | :19:04. | |
education system so that young people have the opportunity to make | :19:05. | :19:07. | |
sure that their careers prospects and careers guidance are the best | :19:08. | :19:12. | |
they had to offer. The whole work landscape has what just -- has | :19:13. | :19:18. | |
changed so much. One criticism often levelled at schools is that they | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
encourage children to take the wrong subjects and pursue wrong subjects. | :19:22. | :19:27. | |
Subjects that might have been appropriate ten or 20 or 30 years | :19:28. | :19:32. | |
ago but may not be appropriate now. It is one of the things that we did | :19:33. | :19:35. | |
find as well, the jobs that our young people will be looking for are | :19:36. | :19:39. | |
jobs that have not been created. It will not be the jobs in medicine and | :19:40. | :19:43. | |
law that have always been seen as the safe and reliable jobs and | :19:44. | :19:49. | |
professional professions that the parents want their children to go | :19:50. | :19:53. | |
into so we have two look into the future and that is what we have been | :19:54. | :19:57. | |
getting from the industry as well, to make sure we're giving children | :19:58. | :20:00. | |
and young people the skills to go into the future job market. We have | :20:01. | :20:05. | |
recently got back from the future employment forum where we had that | :20:06. | :20:09. | |
90% of jobs in the next ten years will require a basic qualification | :20:10. | :20:13. | |
in ICT and we should be investing in our young people to make sure those | :20:14. | :20:17. | |
qualifications are in place. Very interesting to see that does indeed | :20:18. | :20:21. | |
happen and if the ministers take on the advice that you are giving | :20:22. | :20:22. | |
there. Robin Swann, thank you. | :20:23. | :20:25. | |
It was a busy day for the Culture Minister as she was also called upon | :20:26. | :20:29. | |
to answer a motion concerning the transferring of broadcasting powers | :20:30. | :20:32. | |
to the Assembly. A DUP petition of concern prevented a vote, but the | :20:33. | :20:35. | |
Assembly was divided on the issue. Sinn Fein tabled the motion, which | :20:36. | :20:38. | |
also called for Irish language and Ulster Scots funding to be | :20:39. | :20:45. | |
transferred to the Assembly. There are a host of practical and | :20:46. | :20:48. | |
operational reasons why it would be a good thing to have powers over | :20:49. | :20:53. | |
broadcasting devolved to the north, an idea also being promoted in | :20:54. | :20:57. | |
Scotland and Wales. The main argument in my view for such a move | :20:58. | :21:02. | |
is to create an environment where decisions on what is broadcast is a | :21:03. | :21:06. | |
result of a local decision making process. The Irish language | :21:07. | :21:10. | |
community makes up a sizeable section of our community. Those | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
Irish speakers and the Ulster Scots communities have the right to have | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
their ways of life reflected on the TV screen. While there have been | :21:21. | :21:23. | |
improvements in recent years and there is absolutely no doubt about | :21:24. | :21:28. | |
that it has happened in quite a haphazard way and still does not | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
have secure funding. Surely that cannot be the most appropriate way | :21:34. | :21:37. | |
to make provision for what is a significant section of the | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
population. 15 years after the Good Friday agreement we have no real | :21:43. | :21:46. | |
movement on promoting the Irish language and the Ulster Scots | :21:47. | :21:52. | |
dialect. The Department of arts and leisure have paid lip service to | :21:53. | :21:54. | |
promoting languages but they have failed to deliver the changes we | :21:55. | :21:57. | |
have seen in Scotland and Wales for example. This debate is too | :21:58. | :22:04. | |
important to be discussed in 90 minutes. These decisions should be | :22:05. | :22:07. | |
considered carefully by the executive before any proposals are | :22:08. | :22:12. | |
agreed. I am not to wear that this has even been mentioned at the | :22:13. | :22:16. | |
executive. In the light of that it would be wholly inappropriate for | :22:17. | :22:19. | |
decisions such as this to be made on the hoof or on the basis of a short | :22:20. | :22:25. | |
Assembly debate. Certainly we would be prepared to consider the issue in | :22:26. | :22:28. | |
the longer term and take into account all of the arguments. In any | :22:29. | :22:33. | |
event, further devolution issues should be for the first and the | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
deputy first ministers to negotiate with the UK Government. An | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
independent panel would need to fully scrutinised by ability of this | :22:43. | :22:48. | |
proposal, specifically costings. Would we be able to fund this | :22:49. | :22:51. | |
ourselves without the subsidy from the rest of the UK's licence fee | :22:52. | :22:57. | |
payers? At the risk of sounding blunt, it strikes me as little point | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
in devolving broadcasting into a situation where decision-making can | :23:04. | :23:09. | |
be slow or indeed characterised by total deadlock. Our overarching | :23:10. | :23:14. | |
policy is to support a multi-language strategy. This motion | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
continues to measure the subject in orange or green and that was | :23:19. | :23:23. | |
referred to in the opening statement. There is the disparity | :23:24. | :23:26. | |
between the Irish language body and the abilities of the Ulster Scots | :23:27. | :23:32. | |
language body. There is little point in this becoming a Sinn Fein power | :23:33. | :23:37. | |
game in an attempt to detach Northern Ireland from the UK. | :23:38. | :23:43. | |
Northern Ireland is of enormous economic importance and the content | :23:44. | :23:50. | |
on other channels touches all of our lives here and shapes our opinions | :23:51. | :23:56. | |
on international and national subjects. Broadcasting policies and | :23:57. | :23:59. | |
funding remain the responsibility of Westminster. The BBC in particular, | :24:00. | :24:08. | |
but not on its own, should not be able to short-change us. If we had a | :24:09. | :24:12. | |
role in the credibility of the BBC and other networks we can ensure | :24:13. | :24:15. | |
that the North is properly represented and valued across the | :24:16. | :24:17. | |
whole networks. Caral ni Chuilin. | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
Earlier MLAs marked the passing of Father Alec Reid who died in Dublin | :24:21. | :24:24. | |
on Friday. He was a key figure in the Northern Ireland peace process, | :24:25. | :24:27. | |
acting as a go-between with the IRA and politicians. The tributes were | :24:28. | :24:33. | |
led by the Deputy First Minister. An extraordinary individual, who | :24:34. | :24:36. | |
made an incredible contribution to the peace process. Someone who was a | :24:37. | :24:46. | |
friend of all of us in this chamber. It is a long way from | :24:47. | :24:51. | |
Tipperary to the disadvantaged streets of West Belfast but for over | :24:52. | :25:00. | |
40 years Father Alec Reid laboured on behalf of the community that he | :25:01. | :25:07. | |
was so much a part of. An image of Father Alec Reid depicted crying | :25:08. | :25:12. | |
over the bodies of some army corporal 's will live for ever in | :25:13. | :25:17. | |
our memories. A real act of grace and compassion and images that went | :25:18. | :25:26. | |
right across the world. He was a man who, when it came to the pursuit of | :25:27. | :25:30. | |
peace, would not give up on the pursuit of peace and anyone who met | :25:31. | :25:37. | |
with him and talked with him, especially in the run down to the | :25:38. | :25:41. | |
cease-fire, knew that he was not going to be derailed. Today we hear | :25:42. | :25:47. | |
there may be a documentary broadcast tonight which will include comments | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
which I imagine the Unionist community will find utterly | :25:53. | :25:57. | |
unacceptable, but I hope that was not the abiding memory of Father | :25:58. | :26:01. | |
Alec Reid. Through the many decades of the troubles many people were | :26:02. | :26:04. | |
very critical of organised religion and said that the churches did not | :26:05. | :26:08. | |
do enough to end the troubles. They did not like to get involved in | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
controversial issues, they did not like to roll their sleeves up and | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
get their hands dirty. Father Alec Reid did. Those outside the | :26:17. | :26:22. | |
political limelight to deserve much of the praise and whose contribution | :26:23. | :26:28. | |
by its very nature may be -- may never become fully known and Father | :26:29. | :26:32. | |
Alec Reid was definitely one of those. Father Alec Reid kept the | :26:33. | :26:37. | |
faith, not only in his Christian witness but kept the faith in | :26:38. | :26:40. | |
politics that there was another way of bringing real change. | :26:41. | :26:42. | |
NI21's John McCallister with his tribute to the late Father Alec | :26:43. | :26:44. | |
Reid. And I'm joined again by our | :26:45. | :26:49. | |
Political Reporter, Stephen Walker. The house was united in paying | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
tribute to Father Alec Reid. Yes, I think it was one of those rare | :26:54. | :26:57. | |
occasions when unionists and nationalists and the Alliance and | :26:58. | :27:00. | |
independence came together to pay tribute to Father Alec Reid. He was | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
an individual who, as we heard, he was not just known in Belfast, he | :27:06. | :27:09. | |
was known right across Ireland and regarded by some as the father of | :27:10. | :27:13. | |
the peace process and he was an international figure who stood up | :27:14. | :27:17. | |
for his community. He was sometimes controversial but an individual who | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
you would say was a Christian to his fingertips and anything that he did | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
was with Christian intent. A quick look ahead to proceedings. A | :27:26. | :27:30. | |
few busy things. For ministers will appear tomorrow. John O'Dowd is | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
talking about education. Danny Kennedy will talk about road racing | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
and after lunch question Time with Martin McGuinness and the employment | :27:40. | :27:44. | |
minister. One of the committees tomorrow will be pretty topical. | :27:45. | :27:48. | |
Yes, the procedures committee has a lot on its plate. They are looking | :27:49. | :27:53. | |
at standing orders, talking about the Attorney General and the | :27:54. | :27:56. | |
Attorney General's right to participate in proceedings. In | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
recent days John Larkin has been in the news every day so he is a figure | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
that will pop up again tomorrow. The committee is also looking at the | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
emergence of political parties during this mandate. Obviously big | :28:09. | :28:15. | |
interest in that. There will be a review of topical questions which is | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
something that has been introduced in this Assembly term. They will | :28:20. | :28:22. | |
look at it to see if it is actually working so a lot at -- a lot on | :28:23. | :28:27. | |
their plate tomorrow. No Richard Hass? No, he has gone back to | :28:28. | :28:32. | |
America for Thanksgiving and then he will be back in Belfast on the 9th | :28:33. | :28:37. | |
of December and there will be two weeks of talks and may hope for a | :28:38. | :28:41. | |
agreement by Christmas. Thank you very much indeed. | :28:42. | :28:44. | |
That's it for tonight. I'll be back at the same time tomorrow night. | :28:45. | :28:48. | |
Until then, from everyone on the team, bye bye. | :28:49. | :28:54. |