28/01/2013 Stormont Today


28/01/2013

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Hello and welcome to Stormont Today. After the weekend killing of the

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Garter officer Adrian Donohue, the hunt is on for his killers. Also,

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the Deputy First minister it reaches out to flag demonstrators.

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I met with people who were involved in the protest and others who were

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a good influence and could stop the violence on the streets. And with

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her insides is our Political Correspondent Martina Purdy. The

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Justice Minister David Ford said that the PSNI and guard D Baugh co-

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operate to catch the killers of the Garda officer. Officers paid their

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respects to guard officer Adrian Donohue he was shot dead last

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Friday. For us and foremost, I am sure every member of this House

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will join me in condemning the callous murder of Detective Garda

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or Adrian Donohue. My thoughts are with his wife and family and other

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Garda officers. We are committed to working together against the

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criminal gangs and to protect all our communities, north and south.

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Can I ask if the minister will join with me to call on everyone with

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information to co-operate? person who has any information

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whatsoever relating to this or any other serious crime has a duty to

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inform be PSNI, the Garter or an organisation like Crimestoppers.

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The fight against terrorism and organised crime is a fight in which

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we are all united and one in which is clearly seen by the response

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coming from the PSNI of and the garden. The in respect of the

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reports that are coming that these serious organised crime gangs are

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moving from Dublin and residing in places like Newry, what response

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can the Minister give to ask that Northern Ireland is not a safe

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place for them to hide. Last week there was a report of significant

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efforts being taken by the PSNI along with their colleagues in the

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garda it to disrupt and deterred and dismember organised crime gangs.

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Sadly the reality is that some of these crime gangs spread across

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every part of Europe, if not wider. But I have no doubt that we will

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see corporation a cross the border and in the United Kingdom generally.

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-- across the border. There is no doubt in the work that I is going

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on in terms of cross-border co- operation. Is it by talk that a

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criminal agency in Northern Ireland will continue? I will continue to

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highlight the corporation on a 0- south basis. The current situation

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is a decision has not been reached about the serious and organised

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crime Association. I am keen to see we have a body operating in line

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with the police and contributing to the fight against organised crime,

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and a heinous crimes such as human trafficking. It is essential that

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there is a seamless transition from the old organisation to be new one

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-- to the new one. We need to join up law enforcement in the best way

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in both the jurisdictions of this island. That is why I have regular

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meetings with the Home Office and the Scottish cabinet minister for

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justice. All of that is necessary and it is important that Northern

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Ireland should be joined in to the appropriate UK agencies in the

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right way, just as we need to maintain the structures we have for

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the 0-South agreement. Political Correspondent Martina

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Purdy is with us. Please remind us of the issues regarding

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international crime? There are plans at Westminster to have this

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national crime agency which would be a very powerful agency. It would

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be the British version of the FBI. The difficulty is that criminal

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justice has been devolved to Norman Ireland. The Executive will need to

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be able to take back powers and legislate for this new organisation.

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It was bought to David Ford last week and there were objections.

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we are having a stand-off? There was an issue over accountability.

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One of the key concerns was this agency would report directly to the

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Home Secretary rather than the cheap constable. -- chief constable.

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Martin McGuinness and Alex at what are involved and after voting, the

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Unionists and the Alliance agreed to have backing from Westminster.

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It will have implications for what does or doesn't happen here,

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whatever happens in the UK? We are hearing that the DUP will do its

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best to legislate for a national agency. They do need national

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consensus for these agents to have powers here. There are concerns

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about accountability. The other issues include the proceeds of

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crime - do they stay here or go back to Westminster question its --

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Westminster? Thank you. We will hear more from Martina Purdy later.

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Today, the Deputy First Minister said but he met some of those

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involved in the flag protest. protests have led to difficult

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trading situations for businesses. I have met with representatives of

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the traders and hospitality industry in the area. They told me

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that over the weekend there have been 2 million tweeds. -- tweets.

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These protests should not put people off visiting Belfast. Apart

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from the financial and moral support, is it not necessary for

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the Deputy First Minister and First Minister to work together to calm

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the situation, to condemn violence and to condemn illegal protest?

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important thing as we move forward is to see and it ends of conflict

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and violence on the streets. All be political parties have expressed

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their opposition to the violence. Over two weeks ago I met whip some

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people who were involved in a protest. I also met with some

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people who I believed could influence the ending of violence on

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the streets. I know that the First Minister is also equally committed

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to ensuring an end to be violence on the streets, as I am. It is

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crucially important we all work together and that we are seen to be

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working together. As in the case of previous incidents, it is important

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we send a clear message to be violent extremists -- the violent

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extremists. Would the Deputy First Minister agreed that what the

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entire community would like to see is the First Minister and Deputy

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First Minister standing shoulder to shoulder to condemn not only the

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violence of today, but all violence, past as well as present? It is

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vital that all of the members in this Assembly and all the political

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parties in this Assembly are speaking with one voice. I know

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people have issued their own individual statements. I accept all

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the people in this Assembly are totally opposed to violence of any

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description whatsoever and individually all of the political

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parties have made it clear they won the protests to end. It is also

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important that we offered to speak to those people involved in the

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protests. I am willing to speak to more people. I am extending my

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offer to do this. I am willing to go to the waterside because this is

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an important year for the city. If this year is a success, every

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community, every single political party, all of the churches,

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community sectors will benefit from how we bring the City of Culture

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here. Also, the legacy we leave could provide were needed

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Higher and lower at engagement with gay rights groups and they are

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concerned that there is an increase in Hamill full beer in schools but

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that is a matter for the schools, and any form of bullying is wrong

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and that includes a homophobic bullying and bullying is often the

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products of exterior forces to the school and attitudes within

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communities on behalf of the household -- and we have to lead

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from the household. And society has a major role to play in ending the

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type of language and behaviour we see from adults and if we do that,

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we will see a decrease in homophobic bullying. Does he

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believe that teaching in some schools that homosexuality is a

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saying is against the duty of teachers? It has not been brought

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my attention that any individual school is teaching that and the

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ethos of any school is a matter for the board of governors of that

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school but it isn't a job to deal with morality issues, I have to do

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with educational issues and I do not believe that such practices are

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beneficial to the well-being of the community. In the 21st century, we

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should treat all of our citizens with equality and respect and that

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being gay and being in a loving relationship isn't descend and in

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any context of the word by would have. Does the education minister

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share by aspiration for moving to a single educational system and can

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he give some idea of a time from? My aspiration is to ease this

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legislation over the line and that will be the first step towards a

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greater sharing of sectors and there ever has been before. With

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the education and library boards around one table but we are now

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bringing all the sectors around one table under one authority

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responsible for the delivery of educational policy in the north.

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That is a major step forward. Education has been pointed to a

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many times as the solution to sectarianism and I believe that has

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a significant role to play in resolving sectarianism but

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education isn't the cause as the terrain isn't. Therefore, it cannot

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be held up and be responsible for all the ills in the society.

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Committees and all of us have to move forward to ensure we can reach

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a stage where everyone is comfortable with a single education

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system. At the moment, the educational skills are authority,

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this is a significant step forward. A as a result of the area planning

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process, does he foresee closer co- operation in border communities

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between primary schools either side of the board? It is a logical

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outcome of closer co-operation under the educational sector that

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we require closer co-operation along the border. It is to benefit

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the people who live along the border corridors that these

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proposals are into this but it makes sense in health and an

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education. It is one of the issues and will raise with my counterpart

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minister when they next meet. There is no career out there that if you

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study for you are guaranteed a job and teaching is clearly one of

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those areas. In terms of graduates and postgraduates coming out of

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universities across a wide range of subjects, there is no guarantee.

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Over the last number of years we have reduced the trainee teacher

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intake by 32% and our current teacher training colleges are just

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about operating on a basis when they are viable so we have choices

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to make in society, we can decide to continue to dramatically reduce

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the teacher training intake to abbesses weather training colleges

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become unviable and what will happen is students will travel to

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England, Wales and the South of Ireland to train and they welcome

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back here and whoever is in the ministerial post will be asked a

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question, how many teachers are working? We will have similar

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figures, we will have lost the colleges, the ability to train our

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own teachers and the murder might shake his head. I am sure when he

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was looking at teacher-training numbers for nurses and doctors and

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other medical professions, this was in his head. To be completely

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abandoned training here? Or do we plan provisions that allow for an

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intake which is at the moment around 600. What we have done in

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tandem is we have encouraged schools to recruit newly qualified

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teachers, encouraged schools to ensure that when they are looking

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for substitutes, they use newly qualified teachers so the

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department has done everything within its power to ensure newly

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qualified teachers are given a fair playing field. Members are going to

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have to ask themselves and answer the question, do they want teacher

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training here or do they want students to travel? That is the

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next decision. The Education Minister, John O'Dowd. What is the

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Social Development Minister doing to deliver his department's

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commitments to tackle social disadvantage? Today, MLAs debated

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that very question during a motion brought forward by Sinn Fein.

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underlying principle is to get people into work and off benefits

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and nobody would disagree with that. The reality is that there are no

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jobs and to introduce cuts and penalise people at this time will

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only make the situation worse. A recent report stated that to have a

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reasonable standard of living, a person needs to earn �7.20 each

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hour and the minimum wage here is �6.19. A report has found that half

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of the children in poverty live in working hustles and some of the

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most deprived wards in the north, poverty figures stand out 63%, an

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appalling statistic. The average and council areas is 21% in Britain.

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Explaining how the department is tackling social disadvantage,

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perhaps a master could spend less time selling welfare reform and

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getting on with the task of alleviating hardship and

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deprivation across the six counties. The DST has implemented a number of

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initiatives that are having a real effect on committees. Campaigns to

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encourage people to claim benefits, they have no doubt made a direct

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contribution to raising people out of poverty. I believe the time is

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right to continue building on the success and try to ensure that

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current economic climate that the find ourselves in and the impending

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necessary welfare reforms, we need to keep momentum. It is important

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to ensure that people realise that people have the system to help them

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when they need it but life on the system should not be considered as

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an acceptable alternative. Tackling social deprivation must surely be

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one of those issues which truly unites all parties. We might differ

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about what matters we think our past or what programmes are more

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effective than others, but on the whole, nobody could disagree with

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the broad objective of tackling fuel poverty and social exclusion.

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Unfortunately, recent difficulties have made what was already at

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difficult life for many people in Northern Ireland even harder. We

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have the highest level of economic inactivity across the UK. And even

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Astwick, we learnt that a number of people claiming unemployment

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related benefits stood at a startling 65,200. That was in

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December. An increase of 500 over the previous month. The month in

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which Christmas a Kurd. The Minister will not be surprised to

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hear that I believe he is failing to deliver adequate social housing.

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He will stay -- say he has met its targets but even given that the

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social housing development programme has significantly

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underspent to the tune of �8 million this year, that in some

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ways shows a lack of ambition on his part. I looked at the number of

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people on waiting lists, especially those in housing stress, and I

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don't see it being reduced enough to merit the handing back of so

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much money. The targets for the last Programme for Government left

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a lot of lines in Red Ed writing, which meant that those particular

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targets had not been met. There was a target to have child poverty

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halved by 2010 and that was not delivered. The target to work

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towards ending severe child poverty by 2012, obviously not delivered.

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The target to make the reduction of 15% on the rate of suicide, still

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in the red. And to reduce by 50% a life-expectancy differential

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between the most disadvantaged areas and the Northern Ireland

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average, still in the red. There was a target to increase attainment

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levels in primary schools to which the majority of pupils with their

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neighbourhood renewal areas would be within 5% of the average, still

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not delivered. We have a real difficulty, 120,000 young people

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and children still living in poverty and I am not going to stand

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here and defend the Minister for Social Development because they

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understand he has a very particular role in dealing with this and it is

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very difficult when we look at what has coming down the tracks. None of

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us can stand on the sidelines and pretend it is the fault of Mr

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McCausland or someone else, each and every minister in the Executive

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has responsibility to deliver the end of social disadvantage and the

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end of child poverty. I hope all parties take that very seriously.

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And that we understand that it is a cross cutting issue. The most

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important issue to try to end social disadvantage. My Department

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has made and continues to make good progress in meeting our targets.

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Four other six targets concern housing issues. Housing plays a

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hugely significant role in creating as safe, healthy and prosperous

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society had my first strategy in Northern Ireland, launched with

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public consultation in October, set out my vision for housing in

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Northern Ireland. In this I have set out my proposals for housing as

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a means to have support and sustain economic recovery created -- create

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employment and to regenerate some of our most deprived communities.

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The strategy not only focuses on the delivery of the Programme for

:24:55.:24:59.

Government but goes much further in creating the conditions for stable,

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sustainable, accessible, good quality, affordable and well-

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managed housing to support economic growth and prosperity. The Social

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Development Minister, Nelson McCausland. The issue of who pays

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for the shake-up in our local councils was raised by the SDLP

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this afternoon. There are plans to cut the number of councils from 26

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to 11 and Dolores Kelly told the chamber that central government

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should do more to help fund the cost. As members will know, the

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SDLP is the only party which did not support the budget, which did

:25:32.:25:37.

not allow for any funding for the RPA. The guidelines agreed by the

:25:38.:25:43.

Executive at that time were that the implementation costs associated

:25:43.:25:48.

with reform would not be met by central government. Local

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government would be required to bear these costs. There is a huge

:25:51.:25:55.

amount of work but the cost to the ratepayer is something that we are

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very concerned about and that concern is one which colleagues at

:25:59.:26:04.

local council level share. By and large, and I don't seek to speak

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for everybody, but we have moved forward in debates about the review

:26:09.:26:14.

of public administration and whether it should happen. It is

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happening and how should it be funded? That is one area of comfort.

:26:21.:26:25.

The second principle adopted by the council past year is that the

:26:25.:26:30.

Executive would not play for those upfront costs and it would be a

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matter for local government on the basis that they would be the

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beneficiary. That is unreasonable argument. We have a scenario, we

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are being asked to buy a car and we don't know it has tyres for wipers

:26:46.:26:53.

or lights, but this has to go ahead. Why? RPA was nonsense. This isn't

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going to work, there is nothing local about this. This is a dirty

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deal between yourselves and Sinn Fein. You are trying to force this

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through. You even add about yourselves... Other councillors

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don't want it. They don't want this deal. Small parties don't want this

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deal. Why? Ross Hussey. Martina Purdy John Smith Bay. -- Martina

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Purdy is with me. Obviously money is tight. Why shouldn't the

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councils pay for the shake-up when they will benefit from savings?

:27:32.:27:37.

Isn't that what the previous Executive decided? Yes, in the last

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term but Alex Attwood says that they are going to have to move off

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this position and his paper says the cost of this shake-up is around

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100 and out �2 million and the upfront costs are around �40

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million. Everybody agrees the councils will make savings but the

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Minister says there are some costs that will not make savings. If you

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have a severance package for councillors, for example. If the

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councils don't get the money from the Executive, they will pass it on

:28:07.:28:10.

to ratepayers. The SDLP is obviously championing its Minister

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but there seems to be some sympathy for his position that money is

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needed from the Executive. Money might be tight, but as the old

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adage has it, you must speculate to accumulate. The DUP failed to get

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the amendment passed and the SDLP, Sinn Fein and Ulster Unionists

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decided that the Executive needs to come on board. What has happened is

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that will go back to the Executive, and they can ignore the vote but

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there will be more pressure on Sammy Wilson, who continues to say

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no. The deputy and First Minister might meet to resolve this. Do So

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our two top Ministers might well be off to Rio? They have been

:28:50.:28:53.

consulted about the possibility of travelling to Brazil in March ahead

:28:54.:28:58.

of the visit to the west for St Patrick's Day and Brazil as one of

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