Browse content similar to 30/04/2013. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Hello, and welcome to Stormont Today. Coming up on the programme: | :00:28. | :00:32. | |
more care homes are to close, this time in the west of Northern | :00:32. | :00:34. | |
Ireland. The Health Minister defends the move towards more care | :00:34. | :00:41. | |
at home. We're very clear early - focused on what we want to do, and | :00:41. | :00:45. | |
that's create better options for elderly people to maintain their | :00:45. | :00:51. | |
independence and dignity. We'll be joined by the chair of Store moth's | :00:51. | :00:56. | |
health committee. Also tonight, all transport issues were on the agenda | :00:56. | :01:01. | |
from the A15 to Narrow Water Bridge. We have run out of road or bridge | :01:01. | :01:04. | |
when it comes to this matter being concluded, and if that doesn't | :01:04. | :01:10. | |
bring people to their senses, I don't know what will. Martin | :01:10. | :01:13. | |
McGuinness gets his acronyms in a twist. I think the work that is | :01:13. | :01:23. | |
:01:23. | :01:26. | ||
happening from the IRA - sorry - the IFA. Whoa! So the Western | :01:26. | :01:30. | |
Health Trust has joined the northern and southern trusts in | :01:30. | :01:33. | |
announcing the closure of its residential homes. Relatives and | :01:33. | :01:38. | |
residents were told the plans. It's all part of major change approved | :01:38. | :01:42. | |
by the Health Minister last month which is aimed at allowing more | :01:42. | :01:47. | |
elderly people to be looked after at home. This is what Edwin Poots | :01:47. | :01:53. | |
took -- told Newsline. We want to create better options for elderly | :01:53. | :01:57. | |
people to maintain their independence and dignity, and we | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
believe that support and care is a much better option for the elderly. | :02:01. | :02:05. | |
However, there is an issue about how we handle those elderly people | :02:05. | :02:08. | |
who are currently in residential homes who are content, and we | :02:08. | :02:14. | |
understand that it can cause a huge amount of stress to them if there | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
is a proposal to move them. What we're looking at is a | :02:17. | :02:23. | |
different form of care. The care will provide support for people who | :02:23. | :02:26. | |
become frail and will have to move into residential care, and that is | :02:26. | :02:30. | |
different option for them. I think the people who are currently in | :02:30. | :02:34. | |
care, those are the people we need to demonstrate to that we will | :02:34. | :02:38. | |
treat them with dignity, care and respect, and the trust have | :02:38. | :02:43. | |
identified they want to close 100% of homes. There's a consultation | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
exercise to take place, and it's very important we listen. I am | :02:49. | :02:57. | |
joined by the chair of the health committee at Stormont, Sinn Fein's | :02:57. | :03:01. | |
Sue Ramsey. We know it was proposed closing 50% | :03:01. | :03:05. | |
of care homes with a much greater emphasis on caring for people in | :03:05. | :03:10. | |
their own homes, supported care, it's called system that something | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
you're happy with in principle? think most people are happy with | :03:14. | :03:18. | |
the vision of transforming your care. The committee is happy with | :03:18. | :03:22. | |
the vision. What struck me is when you're building a house, you have | :03:22. | :03:25. | |
your plans and put your foundation in. We need to see the foundations | :03:25. | :03:32. | |
around Transferring your Care. And closing residential homes now | :03:32. | :03:38. | |
actually doesn't go a long way to people buying into this. We have | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
the cart before the horse - the closure of the homes before the | :03:42. | :03:45. | |
framework that'll succeed them in place? That's some of the stuff we | :03:45. | :03:49. | |
need to tease out, and we have the committee meeting tomorrow. We'll | :03:49. | :03:52. | |
be asking the Chief Executive of the board to answer those questions, | :03:52. | :03:58. | |
but the concern is some people don't know what Transforming Your | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
Care is, and eldly people who have been in homes - some of them 10, 15, | :04:03. | :04:09. | |
20 years are being told the home will close. We need to have people | :04:09. | :04:12. | |
buy to this it to have the plan in place. The Minister says that | :04:12. | :04:17. | |
within three to five years, 50% are closing. Now it seems all the homes | :04:17. | :04:21. | |
are closing. You, as chair of the committee, and your committee, in | :04:21. | :04:26. | |
allowing the Minister to go down this road - if he said 50% of homes | :04:26. | :04:31. | |
would close - that's what he expected would happen - was that | :04:31. | :04:34. | |
not the green light to the trusts to close all the homes, which was | :04:35. | :04:38. | |
exactly what they have done? It was inevitable? I don't think we have | :04:38. | :04:43. | |
missed the trick. It's not a final decision, and tomorrow, as chair of | :04:43. | :04:47. | |
the Health committee, I have asked Mr Compton to come up and explain | :04:47. | :04:52. | |
as the Health and Social Care Board to explain what this means. The | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
final decision rests with the Minister. If he's saying 50% of the | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
homes will close between three and five years, and the trust says | :04:59. | :05:03. | |
we're doing it now, he needs to say, I am the Minister. You'll do as I | :05:03. | :05:08. | |
say. That's an interesting question as to where the balance of power | :05:08. | :05:13. | |
lies. It's actually up to the trusts to deliver the health care | :05:13. | :05:14. | |
on the ground. That's not the Minister's responsibility. | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
deliver on his proposals and his policy, and the Transforming Your | :05:19. | :05:22. | |
Care policy is about ensuring more services are available at ground | :05:22. | :05:26. | |
level. This proposal coming from the trust is proposing homes close | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
right away. The Minister told us it would be 50% within three to five | :05:30. | :05:34. | |
years. He has serious questions to ask of his trust's Chief Executives. | :05:34. | :05:38. | |
He was asked on BBC Newsline tonight, do these announcements go | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
too far? Is it too far to say, as three of the trusts have said, that | :05:42. | :05:46. | |
a hundred percent of their trusts would close? He didn't say it was | :05:46. | :05:51. | |
going too far. He said it was going further than he expected. There are | :05:51. | :05:55. | |
currently proposals. As the Minister, he has the duty to ensure | :05:55. | :05:58. | |
his policies and strategy is implemented. If the trust is going | :05:58. | :06:02. | |
beyond what he has requested, he needs to question them. You can | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
understand it because the trusts are under pressure. They're having | :06:05. | :06:08. | |
to make savings left, right and centre. This is one way of doing it | :06:08. | :06:11. | |
and doing it in a relatively straight forward way and saving | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
quite a lot of money in a pretty straight forward way.Ing see the | :06:16. | :06:20. | |
attraction of it. By attacking the most vulnerable. Is that the way | :06:20. | :06:24. | |
you see it? The elderly and our children we always see as the most | :06:24. | :06:27. | |
vulnerable in our society. The issue - we would then need to pay | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
for that care, so if that care is in the community, we'll have to pay | :06:30. | :06:34. | |
for it anyway. If people need care in private, homes will have to pay | :06:34. | :06:38. | |
for it, so we need to look at efficiency savings, but not by | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
attacking those who are the most vulnerable. That's very colourful | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
language to be using. You're obviously not very happy about it, | :06:46. | :06:50. | |
but what are you actually going to do about it? We have John Compton | :06:50. | :06:54. | |
in front of the committee tomorrow and will be questioning him. The | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
other issue we'll be dealing with within the committee is over | :06:57. | :07:01. | |
187,000 cancelled appointments last year within the trust, cancelled by | :07:01. | :07:04. | |
the hospital and by consultants. That's where we can get efficiency | :07:04. | :07:07. | |
savings which will free up more. Interesting to watch how the debate | :07:07. | :07:12. | |
unfolds in the weeks and months ahead. Thank you very much for | :07:12. | :07:19. | |
joining us. Cross-border relations were top of the agenda when the | :07:19. | :07:28. | |
assembly convened this morning. First up was the Deputy fir pir -- | :07:28. | :07:38. | |
:07:38. | :07:44. | ||
fish fish with matters all iernd. - 2020 period compared with 2007, | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
2013 - obviously, that's disappointing. We continue to | :07:49. | :07:53. | |
ensure the final agreement delivers a flexible cap particularly in | :07:53. | :07:59. | |
relation to the move to flat-rate payments. I would like the thank | :07:59. | :08:04. | |
the Deputy Prime Minister for - Deputy First Minister for His | :08:04. | :08:10. | |
statement, and I wonder, could he update us, was the A5 and the | :08:10. | :08:17. | |
Narrow Water Bridge, these very important cross-border projects | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
discussed? Our Government are fully implemented to the A5 project. | :08:21. | :08:25. | |
Everybody is conscious of the recent judicial review where a | :08:25. | :08:29. | |
judgment was made in the context of one of 12 objections. The Minister | :08:29. | :08:35. | |
decided not to appeal, but to go for a remedy. It appears that that | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
remedy will probably require a period of some - a year to 18 | :08:40. | :08:44. | |
months to resolve. There is still a total commitment from the checktive | :08:44. | :08:48. | |
and the Irish Government to the scheme. We also took the | :08:48. | :08:53. | |
opportunity during the course of the discussions with Mr Gilmore to | :08:53. | :08:59. | |
remind him that the First Minister and I in previous conversations | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
with Enda Kenny pressed the Irish Government to ensure the decision | :09:02. | :09:06. | |
they took to withdraw from their part of the scheme with the | :09:06. | :09:11. | |
exception of 50 million, that that needed to be reviewed on an ongoing | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
basis. The Taoiseach actually gave us a commitment that would be | :09:14. | :09:18. | |
reviewed in 2013. In relation to the Narrow Water Bridge, the | :09:18. | :09:24. | |
Department of Finance and Personnel are currently undertaking a | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
rigorous critical review of that bridge project. I hope there is an | :09:27. | :09:33. | |
early and positive decision, given that the vital importance of this | :09:33. | :09:38. | |
project - and certainly from my own experience and the Speaker himself | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
knows well the impact that a very small bridge in our own city has | :09:43. | :09:47. | |
made not just to the architecture of the city, but to the psychology | :09:47. | :09:51. | |
of the citizens. What do you think the legacy will be at the end of | :09:51. | :09:55. | |
the presidency, that people can look back on and say, we have moved | :09:55. | :09:58. | |
forward. This was our main achievement during that six months' | :09:58. | :10:02. | |
period? Well, obviously, the presidency has been held by the | :10:03. | :10:08. | |
Irish Government, and I think from their perspective, we had our own | :10:08. | :10:13. | |
discussions with them prior to taking over the presidency. The big | :10:13. | :10:16. | |
concern was around whether or not there would be agreement at the | :10:16. | :10:21. | |
European level on the budgets, and the last time the First Minister | :10:21. | :10:24. | |
and I were in Brussels, the British Government in particular were | :10:24. | :10:27. | |
getting a very bad press from European leaders. | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
That has now been resolved. At a governmental level, there is | :10:30. | :10:36. | |
agreement. At European level, there is agreement. The only body now to | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
adjudicate this - and I think the vote will probably come in June - | :10:39. | :10:44. | |
will be the European Parliament. If that goes through, if the cap | :10:44. | :10:48. | |
negotiations go through in the way in which they have designed them, I | :10:48. | :10:51. | |
think the Irish Government will consider that to be a major success | :10:51. | :10:57. | |
for them. The Deputy First Minister there who touched on the A5 road | :10:57. | :11:00. | |
project, and the transport theme continued with statements from the | :11:00. | :11:03. | |
Environment Minister and the Minister for Regional Development, | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
but it was building bridges, not roads, they were concerned with, | :11:06. | :11:12. | |
and in particular, the Narrow Water Bridge project between Counties | :11:12. | :11:18. | |
Down and Lythe. Let's be frank about this. We're at the 11th hour | :11:18. | :11:22. | |
or one minute to midnight or whatever way you want to convey it. | :11:22. | :11:27. | |
We have run out of road or out of bridge when it comes to this matter | :11:27. | :11:30. | |
being concluded. President Barrosso opens up the European funding door | :11:30. | :11:34. | |
for us, a door that in my view we have a lot more to do in order to | :11:34. | :11:38. | |
get through, and that's a comment upon on my own department as it is | :11:38. | :11:43. | |
a comment upon Government. So how do we reconcile that Barroso opens | :11:43. | :11:48. | |
a door for European funding, and we close the door when it comes to | :11:48. | :11:53. | |
Narrow Water? I think that doesn't add up politically. I think it is | :11:53. | :11:56. | |
disrespectful to the European authorities, and I think, more than | :11:56. | :12:02. | |
anything else, it cuts off our nose to spite our face. So I think that | :12:03. | :12:07. | |
if this matter doesn't conclude itself in the next couple of weeks, | :12:07. | :12:11. | |
then we may be past one minute to midnight in terms of getting us | :12:11. | :12:18. | |
over the line, and therefore, I think that there is only one way | :12:18. | :12:21. | |
forward, and that is make the decision, and make the decision now. | :12:21. | :12:29. | |
There is a battle - an ongoing battle, it seems to me, a turf war, | :12:29. | :12:37. | |
of a type, competing between the SDLP and Sinn Fein as to the | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
ownership of this project and how - and who should celebrate who can | :12:43. | :12:49. | |
claim victory with it. I have no interest in that. It's not - that | :12:49. | :12:54. | |
is not relevant to the work of me or my department. I'm dealing with | :12:54. | :13:00. | |
the legal processes which I have to deal with. I will consider after | :13:00. | :13:05. | |
the consultation period has ended whether or not I am bound to | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
consider, actually - whether or not it will be necessary to bring | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
forward a public inquiry. I am aware that the Minister for Finance | :13:13. | :13:15. | |
and Personnel has to consider the business case. I have no doubt that | :13:15. | :13:21. | |
he will consider that on its proper basis. But it is not helped to have | :13:21. | :13:28. | |
to say by unnecessary political grandstanding, which has been | :13:28. | :13:33. | |
engaged in by the two Nationalist parties in that area attempting to | :13:33. | :13:43. | |
:13:43. | :13:49. | ||
Let's talk about a couple of these projects, the Narrow Water Bridge. | :13:49. | :13:52. | |
It was said this was the 11th hour, definitely going to happen, has to | :13:52. | :13:56. | |
happen. Not sure where the DUP stands on it. Do you think it is | :13:56. | :14:06. | |
going to happen? I think it probably will. I think they're used to be a | :14:06. | :14:10. | |
phrase about people playing silly games and I think that he is trying | :14:10. | :14:16. | |
to make a point about the political issue. Quite why, I don't know. It | :14:16. | :14:26. | |
:14:26. | :14:31. | ||
is an �18 million project, a lot of jobs, good for tourism, | :14:31. | :14:35. | |
communication, trade. This is happening as part of an EU peace. We | :14:35. | :14:43. | |
had people saying yesterday they were trying to complete a euros with | :14:43. | :14:47. | |
the Executive saying they would not go ahead would be a very negative | :14:47. | :14:52. | |
message to the European Union about the interest that people of Northern | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
Ireland have about the money. We also have a very unclear picture as | :14:57. | :15:01. | |
far as A5 is concerned. Martin McGuinness said he is still | :15:01. | :15:07. | |
committed to its construction. is a lot of confusion around the | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
project, with the question of the land that has been vested and now | :15:13. | :15:17. | |
apparently has been given back to the farmers, from whom it was vested | :15:17. | :15:24. | |
in the first place. That is a muddle at the moment and how it is going to | :15:24. | :15:28. | |
be resolved would be pretty tricky. Maybe they have spent the money they | :15:28. | :15:34. | |
have already got. On the bigger picture, it looks like it is going | :15:34. | :15:40. | |
to take a few years. The Irish government said they are politically | :15:40. | :15:46. | |
committed to seeing the work achieved but, unfortunately, they | :15:46. | :15:49. | |
don't have the money saw not financially committed. If things | :15:49. | :15:54. | |
pick up in the next few years, maybe the money will come. Ireland is | :15:55. | :16:04. | |
:16:05. | :16:06. | ||
still in a time of austerity. It could be quite a while before we see | :16:06. | :16:12. | |
cars blazing down a motorway in the north-west. A lot of people want to | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
see that but, as you say, it could be quite some time. I wanted to get | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
your reflections on Sarah Scottish Education Secretary -- Sue Ramsey's | :16:18. | :16:20. | |
comments. She took quite a tough line on what has happening. She | :16:20. | :16:24. | |
talked about the Minister attacking the most vulnerable in our society. | :16:24. | :16:31. | |
That is, as I suggested, pretty colourful language for the Chair of | :16:31. | :16:38. | |
the committee to be using, in relation to a minister's position, | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
isn't it? It is a sensitive position. If you have an elderly | :16:41. | :16:44. | |
parent or grandparent facing that dilemma, you would need some | :16:44. | :16:48. | |
certainty. You don't want a situation where the card is put | :16:48. | :16:51. | |
before the horse. You want to know that if you're going to have care in | :16:51. | :16:58. | |
the community it is going to be proper. If you're not going to have | :16:58. | :17:01. | |
proper care then you want a home for your elderly parent or grandparent | :17:01. | :17:07. | |
to go to. Very interesting to see quite how that plays out in the | :17:07. | :17:09. | |
months ahead. Environmentalists hopes for a Marine | :17:09. | :17:12. | |
Management Organisation have suffered a major setback. The | :17:12. | :17:16. | |
Assembly has dropped an amendment on the Marine Bill that would have | :17:16. | :17:18. | |
created a new organisation to oversee all coastal areas of | :17:18. | :17:22. | |
Northern Ireland. The Alliance MLA Anna Lo tabled the amendment. | :17:22. | :17:27. | |
Sustainable development does not seek to stop us from growing our | :17:27. | :17:31. | |
economy. Rather, it aims to put in place a balance of economic, social | :17:31. | :17:34. | |
and environmental measures to ensure we continue to do things effectively | :17:34. | :17:40. | |
in the years to come. I asked him why did you not go for, as England | :17:40. | :17:43. | |
and Wales, the independent model. The response came back from Scotland | :17:43. | :17:49. | |
that they believed they were too small to have an independent MMO. | :17:49. | :17:51. | |
Whenever you consider that Scotland accounts for roughly two thirds of | :17:51. | :17:56. | |
all of the UK territorial waters, for them to believe that that was | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
too small for them to govern, I think really highlights the fact | :18:00. | :18:05. | |
that, perhaps, Northern Ireland which is a much smaller percentage | :18:05. | :18:15. | |
:18:15. | :18:17. | ||
is far too small. Are we seeing that we want another committee to look | :18:17. | :18:23. | |
after Marine? That is the question that has to be asked. I know that | :18:23. | :18:27. | |
the juror brought up issues of money and the Minister hopefully will | :18:27. | :18:33. | |
reflect on them. I did not hear what his comment was to the cheer at that | :18:33. | :18:38. | |
time but I would like to know because, if that is what it is about | :18:38. | :18:44. | |
and if we are considering cost of an issue, then, if we bring forward | :18:45. | :18:49. | |
legislation, cost will always be an issue. It is a very special place. | :18:49. | :18:55. | |
It has been trashed. It is the only word for it. Vantage have been able | :18:55. | :19:00. | |
to scuba dive. When you drive along the worst mussel beds, or what where | :19:00. | :19:05. | |
horse mussel beds, it looks like you're diving a ploughed field. | :19:05. | :19:10. | |
Except, a ploughed field is ploughed for a purpose. The purpose is to | :19:10. | :19:18. | |
grow new stuff. To manage the land. This has been raped. I listen to | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
Mister McDevitt say that when you step into the sea and butcher | :19:22. | :19:31. | |
goggles on you are in a different world. I accept that. If you go to | :19:31. | :19:36. | |
some of the country places you will feel you are in a different world. I | :19:36. | :19:40. | |
don't believe that is an argument just to have a Marine Management | :19:40. | :19:48. | |
Organisation. I think at the heart of many people's frustrations with | :19:48. | :19:53. | |
these institutions, and probably most of the Executive and government | :19:53. | :19:59. | |
departments, is the failure to work together and the mentality that is | :19:59. | :20:04. | |
perceived at the heart of government. I do believe it is | :20:04. | :20:11. | |
perception. I think to not introduce an MMO, or even almost, I suppose, | :20:11. | :20:21. | |
:20:21. | :20:26. | ||
be half way house of the Scottish model, -- model... I see this as a | :20:26. | :20:31. | |
model for which this Government can define and reconfigure its ambition | :20:31. | :20:37. | |
over the lifetime of this mandate. The Marine Bill should be followed | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
by a climate change bill. Before the climate change Bill, there should be | :20:43. | :20:47. | |
a second levy bill. After the climate change Bill, there might yet | :20:47. | :20:54. | |
be a national parks bill. The environment Minister. The role | :20:54. | :20:59. | |
of the Public Accounts Committee is to scrutinise the working of public | :21:00. | :21:04. | |
bodies and how they manage their money. Last week, the troubled Fire | :21:04. | :21:11. | |
and Rescue Services was called into these questions on how it operates. | :21:11. | :21:16. | |
There have even management problems. Here is a flavour of | :21:16. | :21:18. | |
seedings in our weekly look at committee business. The problems | :21:18. | :21:25. | |
started to come late in 2009. You are saying today that you are still | :21:25. | :21:29. | |
tried to appoint people. That is four years afterwards. That is | :21:29. | :21:33. | |
taking too long. For years in a culture that has been particularly | :21:33. | :21:39. | |
bad according to this report. This report is damning the organisation. | :21:39. | :21:45. | |
It comes to light in 2009. We are still talking about it in 2013. | :21:45. | :21:50. | |
came to light in 2009. We then had a change of board, change of German, a | :21:50. | :21:58. | |
series of changes. It was around the time of the investigation into the | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
whistleblowing that Peter retired and I then had to have very serious | :22:02. | :22:07. | |
discussions with the cheer as to how to then deal with the situation. I | :22:07. | :22:13. | |
was also talking to the Chief Fire rescue adviser to local communities | :22:13. | :22:18. | |
and government in England. To take advice at the highest level as to | :22:19. | :22:23. | |
how to provide interim leadership in a context where there was not a pool | :22:23. | :22:32. | |
of applicants stepping forward. We have had such a turnover. So, yes, | :22:32. | :22:36. | |
some things began to emerge in 2009 but the full picture, coming through | :22:36. | :22:38. | |
the whistleblowing, and we need to acknowledge and appreciate that that | :22:38. | :22:45. | |
happened, and make sure that, that came through during 2011. It was a | :22:45. | :22:49. | |
gradually emerging picture. If I sound a little bit annoyed it is | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
because, there was a whistleblower in 2002. He gave valuable | :22:55. | :22:58. | |
information that could have resolved all these problems. That | :22:58. | :23:03. | |
whistleblower was sacked. -- sacked from the border during a period of | :23:04. | :23:08. | |
suspension. That person was Rosemary Creek. She won't mind me mentioning | :23:08. | :23:15. | |
that. You know it anyway. We are now dealing with a new set of | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
whistle-blowers and we know what happened to them before. We know | :23:18. | :23:24. | |
what happened to others. We know about Mister Boyle has spent several | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
months down in Enniskillen. If you are a professional accountant, has | :23:28. | :23:33. | |
humiliated mustard be to be taken from your posts and sent out to | :23:34. | :23:37. | |
Siberia, so to speak. Doctor McCormick, in view of the evidence | :23:37. | :23:44. | |
before this committee today, do you not think that there is scope for a | :23:44. | :23:48. | |
further deep dive investigation into what was going on, particularly | :23:48. | :23:53. | |
since the current chairperson is not prepared to acknowledge that he did | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
anything wrong, that he was not part of the problem and, in my opinion, | :23:58. | :24:07. | |
quite honestly, should call? I think we need to reflect on all of the | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
conclusions that you reached that were accountable to you and in your | :24:10. | :24:16. | |
report on this issue that that would then go to the Minister, not only to | :24:16. | :24:21. | |
myself but, at that stage, when you make your recommendations, those | :24:21. | :24:25. | |
that we financially consider, my advice, at the present time is that, | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
my judgement is, that we have investigated to inappropriate and -- | :24:31. | :24:36. | |
to an appropriate stage. The Social Development Minister has | :24:37. | :24:40. | |
told the Assembly that the restructuring of the Housing | :24:40. | :24:43. | |
Executive in Northern Ireland is in no way predetermined. Nelson | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
McCausland also explain the new form of registration for landlords during | :24:46. | :24:51. | |
Question Time today. Immediately following my statement in February | :24:51. | :24:56. | |
on the proposals, I met with the Housing Executive board and the | :24:56. | :25:02. | |
chief Executive to agree how we could work together to allay staph | :25:02. | :25:05. | |
anxieties throughout the process. My officials have met and will continue | :25:05. | :25:09. | |
to meet with trade unions to ensure staff concerns are raised and keep | :25:09. | :25:15. | |
them as up-to-date on an ongoing basis. With regard to tenants, I | :25:15. | :25:20. | |
have a meeting scheduled with the network established to make sure | :25:20. | :25:26. | |
that tenants have a meaningful involvement. Can ask the Minister if | :25:26. | :25:30. | |
you can reaffirm his previously stated commitment that there will be | :25:30. | :25:34. | |
no predetermined outcome to the future of the Housing Executive? | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
my original statement, I set out a general direction of travel. The | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
details of all of this has still to be worked out. There is a lot of | :25:44. | :25:48. | |
work to be done about getting business case is prepared, to look | :25:48. | :25:51. | |
at various options. There will have to be detailed discussions with | :25:51. | :25:54. | |
attentional funders to see what the best model would be. Therefore, | :25:54. | :25:59. | |
there is nothing predetermined at the moment. They are looking at a | :25:59. | :26:06. | |
direction of travel but nothing else. I informed the Assembly on the | :26:06. | :26:10. | |
15th of January 2013 that it was intended that a landlord | :26:10. | :26:17. | |
registration system would be ready by the summer. While thermal be -- | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
may be slippage, work is well underway on the design of the system | :26:20. | :26:24. | |
and a final decision on who will act as the registrar should be made very | :26:24. | :26:31. | |
soon. Can I ask the Minister what specifically is the calls of the | :26:31. | :26:41. | |
:26:41. | :26:47. | ||
delay? -- the cause. The civil servants who are working on these | :26:47. | :26:52. | |
working very hard on them. Like most things in life, it is always very | :26:52. | :26:56. | |
difficult to predict exactly, down to the weeks or days, how long it | :26:56. | :27:01. | |
will take to complete a piece of work. I'm sure the member, in all | :27:01. | :27:05. | |
his years of business and other areas of life, will have found his | :27:05. | :27:12. | |
own experience of that fact. The Bangor town Centre master plan | :27:12. | :27:16. | |
produced to lead a major develop meant scheme was needed to | :27:16. | :27:20. | |
regenerate the town centre. Schemes of this size and ambition are | :27:20. | :27:24. | |
complex and challenging to deliver. A number of key steps need to be | :27:24. | :27:29. | |
taken. The first is to assemble the site. My department has completed | :27:29. | :27:34. | |
the first major step by agreeing to purchase the developer's land. | :27:34. | :27:38. | |
Following completion of the sale, my officials will speak to the | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
remaining property owners within the proposed boundary to discuss our | :27:42. | :27:47. | |
plans for the area and to negotiate the purchase of these properties. | :27:47. | :27:50. | |
Work will also be commenced on the planning application, taking | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
approximately two years. Following approval, it will take another two | :27:54. | :28:01. | |
to three years to complete the design and bring on board a contract | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
to construct the scheme. If all progresses smoothly, construction | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
will commence in 2018. The social -- the Social Development | :28:08. | :28:13. | |
Minister. Just before we go, the otherwise businesslike atmosphere | :28:13. | :28:17. | |
today was treated by his accession of politicians getting their | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
transitory twist. Danny Kennedy referred to the Republic as the Free | :28:21. | :28:27. |