27/02/2012 Stormont Today

Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. No Oscars for us sadly but

congratulations to Terry George and while our MLAs know how to bask in

reflected glory, one member had strong words of criticism.

What was done about this Assembly to make the best of this success?

What plans were put in place by the Department?

And learning about our shared history - it could be a steep

learning curve for some. Signing of the Ulster Covenant

coming up next year is an opportunity but there are other

issues. Remember, the covenant was signed 100 years ago.

Keeping me right tonight, historian Jonathan Bardon.

There's always a lot of talk about the past up here at Stormont but

today's debate took us way back to the Ulster Covenant and the Easter

Rising and how they should be commemorated. Jonathan Bardon is

here to give us some context. There may be one school of thought that

we should just ignore them? I don't think we should ignore these events

that were so momentous and did so much to shape our present that I

think they have to be marked in some way or other. I think the

danger is that you could cherry- pick and just choose one or two

events and the triumphalist about them. These events all connect with

each other up. We are is a sense of them and us but you get the

impression from the MLAs that they are trying to move away from that?

I hope so. For example, he Ulster day or the day that the covenant

was signed in September of 1912, that took place because of another

momentous event when the British Government got the day in April

1912 when the Titanic went down, introduce the third Home Rule Bill

to give the whole of Ireland a vote of devolution. Of course the

government was a reaction against that. The Easter Rising coming up

in a few years' time, balances things out? I have a problem with

that. The Easter rising was in 1916. The covenant was in 1912 so that

gives you a four-year gap. Again, it is cherry picking. One thing

leads on to another. At the Easter Rising would not have taken place

without the First World War or and of course of 1916 is important, not

just for the Easter Rising, but for the great offensive along the

western front in which so many people from Ulster and the whole of

Ireland died. More people were fighting on the Western Front, were

Catholics indeed were fighting on the Western Front, and fought in

the Easter Rising. The Alliance Party motion called

for a co-ordinated approach to the commemoration of these events.

The challenge is, can explore this past together in a way that both

aids understanding through education and discussion in order

to learn from our past and help us informed the possibility of a

better future. Should we feel this challenge, there is potential for a

divisive period rather than one focused on the future progress and

the degree of maturity displayed over the coming 10 years in how we

look at the past will ship how we live in the future. The signing of

the Ulster Covenant, coming up next year is an opportunity. But there

are other issues. The covenant was signed this year, 100 years ago.

That demonstrates my point because I think we have a lot to learn

about each other. My understanding of the covenant is that it was

signed in September of this year. Is that correct? That is the date I

had in mind so the point I would like to make his, we would in fact

learn from each other and we should because I do think that perhaps the

hard words we normally here and perhaps the noise and clamour of

that was because people didn't have the confidence that what they would

say it would be heard. I think we all have a responsibility, perhaps

not just for the past, but to take this opportunity, it is a

responsibility in my view and I want to make it clear, I want to

make this commitment on behalf of my party, we will participate in

these events and as many of these events, including those that

reflect the Unionist tradition as it is possible for us to do so.

SDLP believes it is vitally important that we don't just

remember the past but we ask almost critical questions of it and that

articulating a vision of the future is as much a part of the process as

looking back. But also offers us a picture of two to record and teach

our people and particularly our young people who the history, and I

mean the history, not our history or their history, which I have even

heard today in this chamber. I think to say our history or their

history is something that shouldn't be talked about. It is the history

of Northern Ireland and the people within it. I think it does a great

disservice to the people who were involved in these events when they

are labelled as our history for their history or one section of our

history for one section of our people or one section but we ignore

that part of history. That is their history, the history of Northern

Ireland and the people within it. Interesting to hear some of the

thoughts there but we have great difficulty with dealing in our

recent past, can we deal with the past 100 years ago? I think we can.

There are many experts who are extremely well versed in this who

could tell us about this. The BBC has a great archive of film. The

newspapers are full of useful material. Actually, the Ulster

Unionists in particular in 1912 were superb publicists and produced

lots of wonderful postcards and propaganda at the time and the

nationalists responded. Is there anything we can learn from it in

terms of killing? I think so. We learn by discovering that it is

more complex and we thought it was, it is not the kind of history that

you get in ballads more on gable walls or on banners. I think that

is what is so important and the more we know about it, the better.

The more capable we are a standing back and understanding each other

and opposite points of view. Emigration is a big issue in the

Republic, but here? It turns out no one really knows what the situation

is here as the Employment and Learning minister revealed during

questions. There were feisty moments when Arlene Foster dealt

with that hoary old topic, fracking. More on that in a second but first,

here's the chair of the DEL committee casting up to the past to

his minister on the issue of youth unemployment.

On 8th June, you stated that we recognise the committee has an

important role to play, not just in scrutinising policy. Can you

explain why you have not brought these issues to the Committee for

discussion and can you tell us if you proposals that you have shared

with colleagues, if they will be a rehash of what is going on in the

rest of the UK or if you have something a bit of thinking to

bring to this matter? First of all, he raises a couple of questions and

I will try to address those. If the chair of the committee wants to

invite officials to break the Committee on this matter of

importance, I am more than happy to make my officials available to them.

At times the committee has asked for a whole host of briefings to be

made to the committee on matters small and occasionally on matters

large and certainly in this large matter, I would welcome the

committee having a discussion around the matters. Of course the

committee will appropriate that it is for the Executive to determine

the policy and that is where agreement has to be found. After

that, we look to the finance minister in terms of resourcing

mess. Secondly, while we are mindful of the policies being

developed in the rest of the UK, we are devolved region and we do not

follow what happens in other jurisdictions. However we will take

on board the lessons of what is working in the rest of the UK and

indeed I am keen to add a premium up with the Northern Ireland of a

dish nullity that is linked to our own economy and the proposal I'd

put forward towards skill areas we have a Northern Ireland so we

insure this is not simply about dealing with unemployment but also

about an investment in the future of our economy by ensuring we are

investigating -- investing in the right areas. He could I asked the

Minister said his department has carried out any assessment of the

number of young people who have emigrated particularly from rural

areas in search of work and does the Department have a strategy for

tackling youth unemployment in rural areas? I am very much aware

of the issues he is raising but it is difficult to give a precise

figure for emigration at this stage. It is not something for which the

Executive is responsible and terms of monitoring those issues. He but

we are aware of the issues. I am mindful of making sure there is a

range of policies across Northern Ireland both for urban and rural

areas. He will be aware for example that we have ruled out a project

into areas like Cookstown and more oil recently so we are recognising

that there are rock pockets of disadvantage where we need to make

some particular interventions. Arlene Foster next and the possible

income -- impact on tourism. With the Minister agree that there is a

danger to tourism because of for a king. Was she assure me that

stakeholders will be consulted before any input into the decision

process. Also when the Minister agree that the other form of

alternative energy, especially around the Ballycastle area. I have

already indicated that there are no plans in place for hydraulic

fracturing in the north Antrim area. Neither Rathlin energy or or

singleton intense to use that but I do say this to remember, I was then

an area last week which provides 80% of gas to the UK. That is the

same state that is hosting the 2022 World Cup, it doesn't seem to have

done any damage to their tourism infrastructure and indeed their

bedding for the 2020 Olympics so the benefits which the production

of gas can bring to a particular part of the world are huge. In

answer to his first of many questions, do I see that fracturing

damages tourism? Not if it is carried out in the way in which

will comply with planning permissions, environmental impact

assessments. I do not see a direct lineage between tourism and

hydraulic fracturing and there has been whipped up, in certain parts

of our country, quite disgraceful at putting it stories which are a

disgrace of instead of looking at the facts. We are at a stage where

a planning application needs to put in place, where an environmental

impact is to be put in place and people would do well to wait until

those are in place before getting I would thank the minister for

reminding us for the position and exploration of gas. Cot minister

explain to the House what it will mean to Northern Ireland if there

is gas there and if it would be feasible to do so, what it will

mean for Northern Ireland. Well, the work that has been taken on at

present by the particular company, a company which has now met with

both myself and the minister of environment, are really carrying

out work to see whether it is feasible to take shail gas out of

the basin and in and around Fermanagh. That work is ongoing.

They will carry out more work and then put in a planning application

and a strategic environmental impact assessment. If they can take

gas out of county Fermanagh in a safe way, which respects the

environment and respects what happens in county Fermanagh, and

can I say, I find it quite offensive for people to say that I

would in some way damage county Fermanagh, Mr Speaker, as if.

to the issue of some of these commemorations. There's the Ulster

covenant, Easter rising, Titanic. There's the sufferage movement that

we don't hear much about. Tem us about that. Ulster played its part

in the campaign for vote for women. There were some very active

suffragettes coming up towards to the First World War, for example,

making an attack, I think, burning down the cave hill tennis Pavilion.

There were teachers in Victoria College on a Friday would then take

the boat to Britain and go down to London and join other suffragettes

in throwing rocks through plate glass windows in Oxford Street and

be back in the class on Monday morning. They certainly took things

into their own hands a lot of it was quite violent. Yes it was the.

The Government was very concerned about it. The Prime Minister who

introduced the third home rule bill, Herbert Henry Asquith was in Dublin.

He was cheered by great numbers of Nationalists when suffragettes

attacked him. Our MLAs love a bit of reflected glory and what could

be better than Hollywood glamour and razzmatazz. They were queuing

up at the start of business to praise local director and

screenwriter Terry George, whose short film The Shore won its

category at the Oscars. This is a fantastic achievement given the

prominence of the Oscars as being the highest accolade possible in

the film industry. Whilst we have a number of nominees from Northern

Ireland in the past, including Liam knee son, Keneth brana, to win this

year in this category is outstanding. What was done by this

Assembly to make the best of this success, what plans were put in

place by the department ofent price, or the department of leisure to

mark such a significant occasion on the winning of this occasion? Where

was invest NI for example. Over recent years film making in

Northern Ireland has been growing dramatically. This is helped in no

small part not only bit funding given to Northern Ireland screen

but also the ability of Northern Ireland to attract film makers to

our shores, through the work of the Northern Ireland executive. With

major television shows like game of thrones and movies like your

Highness and killing Bono, we're developing the technical skills to

go with the artistic talent to go with directors such as Terry George.

I was fortunate enough some years ago to be one of the first trainees

on the Irish broadcasting fund. From that fund we have accepted a

number of companies which are currently producing film and

television. So when we get an achievement of this world standing

nature, it's something that we should shout about. I'm sure it's a

great celebration in County Down and of Coney Island as well, which

was made so famous by van Morrison. The former Chief Operating Officer

of loch shore investments said the main reason she invested in The

Shore was the impact it could have on the branding of Northern Ireland

to the world as, and Terry George in his speech said we negotiated a

peace and proved to the world that the Irish are great talkers. The

film itself, Mr Speaker, is about someone who fled to America because

of the Troubles. What a different peace when people leave for totally

different reasons. Robin Swan joins me now. You waste nod time on

getting this onto the agenda today. It's a fantastic achievement for

Terry George and the film industry, especially when we're promoting the

creative industries. Fantastic opportunity to put Northern Ireland

on the world stage. You sounded a note of criticism. Of missed

opportunity. The world was there, the world was watching, Terry

George had no support from the Northern Ireland executive, there

was nobody there to say this is a Northern Ireland product ah, part

from Terry himself. He finished up with the Irish film boards after

awards party. There was nothing there to celebrate Northern

Ireland's achievement. Does the film not speak for itself. The film

was a great reflection on Northern Ireland and what had happened,

especially the story behind the entire film and the production

itself. I think we're missing opportunities like this. We have

Rory McIlroy in the world of golf, and nobody supporting him as the

Northern Ireland executive. More need to be there to capture that

spirit and the opportunity there to promote Northern Ireland. Would

that not lead to criticism of MLAs only need to plan a trip to San

Diego and there's shout of junkets, would that not lead to people

accusing them of wasting money. it's industry based, I'm not

talking about MLA junkets, this is serious contributions and support

of the creative industries in Northern Ireland and being there on

the world stage and making ourself known as a world player. We have

the game of throne world wide series, let's maximise the

potential and maximise all that is good about Northern Ireland. It's a

fantastic achievement and not to take away from it, we've had short

films nominated in the past, can you see a time when we would have a

full length, feature film nominated or winning an Oscar? Certainly.

We've had previous actors nominated from Northern Ireland Liam Neeson,

we have the ability there. If we put enough investment into the

creative industries into screen NI and into all the creative

individuals who are out there, surely, before long, we will

produce full length films here that will take the Oscars no, problem,

same as Terry George did. Thank you for joining us. The SDLP's kolum

Eastwood was put in his place earlier. Would he be bold to

criticise the spending plans again. This budget has a lack of any real

focus on job creation. There's a weakness in dealing with the

threats to people amongst the poorest in our society and

threatened by the oncoming onslaught of welfare reform. The

devolution of corporation tax is moving at a far too slow pace. Mr

Deputy Speaker, the politics of this budget is equivalent to a

splash of bright paint on a distinctly grey canvas. Political

choreography cannot distract from the reality of the defishcy of good

Government. How can we convince anyone that the leadership is

capable of dealing with more fiscal powers, when it hasn't fully

utilised the block expenditure in its possession. It's sad to see for

someone so young, he has got himself into a state of despair,

which, I mean, usually, the youth are the people who have got

idealism that lifts them beyond the circumstances in which they find

themselves, help to pull themselves out of the mud an the mire and look

to rise for a brighter future. I'm afraid that the young people in the

SDLP have got their eyes as firmly on the ground in front of them as

some of the older members who have had the batterings and beatings of

electoral defeat after electoral defeat and therefore, have got into

this kind of negative attitude. Well that's him told. Now, Stormont

committees cover all sorts of topics, but sometimes MLAs can

wonder off down unexpected avenues, leaving guests a little bewildered.

Here's what happened when a presentation to the education

committee on preschool places took a slight diversion and listen out

for sometimes torturous similar Liz as we look at the work of the

committees here on the Hill. This is a bit like, this has turned

into the debate about food globally, I mean, I presume you do believe

there's enough food in the world to feed snerch I'm not qualified to

comment on that. You don't have an opinion? I'm not here to answer

question abouts that. I may well be if there is and it's not

necessarily in the right place. That's why we have familiarins and

food shortages. That's why the food of Africa gets thrown up. This

debate is turning into one of these arguments. Yeah we all want to

eliminate global hunger but we can't take the necessary steps to

do it. So we tolerate 10% of kids not getting a place. It's not 10%.

In some areas we're hitting 100%. Some areas it's about 90%. This is

very close. We are looking at the experience from last year. Even the

figures about parents who didn't get placed aren't entirely accurate.

I think areas we need to do a bit more work. We also need to look at

parents who don't apply. There's a number of parents who actually

don't apply for a place for their children. We need to look at that.

We need to look at parents who drop off during the application process

and find out why that is. We need to look at the cohort and if

there's barriers to applications, address those. Once people come

into the application process make sure it works better for them so

they get the places at the end. minister mentioned, I think it's

worth noting, that the DSD is putting in money. It's always been

the view and strongly the view of the MAC that it can't be a stand

alone place. Part of the reason why it was put there was because of the

clustering, the sense of clustering of cultural activity and those two

would feed off each other. The point that we made is that you

can't fund the MAC and strip everything else back. It's like

putting Wayne Rooney out without any other players around them. The

MAC is a focal point for arts and culture activities in the cathedral

quarter. Everything else has to keep going and that includes the

black box, which has become a very important part of what cathedral

quarter is. The other big thing that the minister mentioned was the

managed work space and 50% subsidy and so on. That is a really

important part of clustering. I think we can do that a lot better.

Wod' like to work with the department more on that front.

Every little bit counts. Every little bit counts. Sean will tell

you if you get 5% or 10% from a Government, that leverages another

10% from somewhere else. This is a set of dominoes. You take one piece

out and the rest don't fall. Sean has to cut back, reduce prices or

whatever it might be. The cocktail is important. It's like not putting

gin in a gin sling, I don't know, I've never had a gin cling, I just

thought of that. The cocktail is really important. These numbers

were very important. We're so grateful that they've been restored.

Peter Robinson says the conflict transformation at the former maize

jail could provide a space for people to share their experiences

from the Troubles. But the executive is having difficulty

finding someone to head the development of the site. It's not

great news. The first and deputy First Minister had hoped to

announce shortly the appointment of a chairman of the board, along with

board members. But in weekly answer booklet today, the Ulster Unionists

found out that they weren't able to appoint a chairman because they

didn't get a suitable candidate. The pool will stay but they will

look again at finding a chairman. Some speculation that the first and

deputy First Minister couldn't agree. I spoke with Mike Nesbitt

and asked how concerned he was. very disappointed. But I'm

concerned yes, because you would have thought for such a big and

potentially exciting development, you would have had a queue of

suitably qualified people coming forward. Yet, according to them,

not one. What about the David McNargolery issue and the plans to

discipline him glrb McNarry. understand a date has been set but

the party will not comment, nor will they comment on suggestion

that's other people are also going to appear before the disciplinery

panel. The SDLP now, Alastair McDonald had a baptism of fire when

he took over as leader. But he has reached the 100-day stage. First

the lights, then a party row, public row, over MLAs and salaries.

He got good news, given to us today, that is that he had set a number of

targets for his first 100 days in targets. He's met those targets.

His fundraising target of �20,000 was met before Christmas.

A final word from you. Is there a danger in all these commemorations

of stirring up old wounds from the past. There certainly is and the

Government needs to lead to ensure that doesn't happen, to make sure

it's inclusive, non-triumphalist and brings everybody on board by

looking at the sequence of events from April of 1912 all the way up