:00:08. > :00:09.Hello and welcome to this special Spin Room programme.
:00:10. > :00:11.For the next 40 minutes, we'll be analysing and reacting
:00:12. > :00:16.I'm Tara Mills, and for the past hour we've heard the big five
:00:17. > :00:19.parties give us their take on the issues they believe
:00:20. > :00:22.will make the difference when the polls open on Thursday.
:00:23. > :00:25.There were some lively exchanges between the DUP and Sinn Fein
:00:26. > :00:28.on the race to be First Minister - and plenty of debate
:00:29. > :00:30.around job creation, hospital waiting lists and dealing
:00:31. > :00:36.I'm now on my way across this courtyard to another BBC studio.
:00:37. > :00:38.Waiting for me there, are the leaders of the smaller
:00:39. > :00:40.parties who'll be giving me their reaction to what they've heard.
:00:41. > :00:45.We also have an audience of young people, commentators,
:00:46. > :00:56.and representatives from the public and private sectors -
:00:57. > :01:02.Did you hear anything tonight to make you think the next mandate will
:01:03. > :01:07.be different? No, is the short cancer. There was nothing there that
:01:08. > :01:11.would give me hope things will change. -- is the short and serve.
:01:12. > :01:23.-- short cancer. What would you do differently? We
:01:24. > :01:26.had one MLA, Steven Agnew in the last assembly, and we need to look
:01:27. > :01:35.at how we can effectively use that position to create positions. Steven
:01:36. > :01:40.Agnew past a private members bill, the children's bill, and that looked
:01:41. > :01:44.at how we try to make our executive more functional. In terms of betting
:01:45. > :01:50.outcomes and results for people. It's now legislation that it's
:01:51. > :01:53.required all ministers have to work together and plan together and
:01:54. > :01:58.strategise together when they are going to be putting forward any
:01:59. > :02:02.plans for all children and young people. We will like to see more of
:02:03. > :02:05.that collaborative working together. A success from your point of view.
:02:06. > :02:09.We'll come back to some of your social issues in a minute. Jim
:02:10. > :02:21.Mackay is to, do you think things will be different? No. -- Jim
:02:22. > :02:26.McAllister. The fact is, there was a shambles, and squabble in Stormont
:02:27. > :02:30.over the last five years. We must judge these parties on collective
:02:31. > :02:36.responsibility in government on what they have done, not on what they
:02:37. > :02:41.promise. It is easy to come into a studio tonight and pretend they have
:02:42. > :02:45.created the failure and would give us a fresh start. The electorate are
:02:46. > :02:50.not foolish. They know these are the five parties who delivered the
:02:51. > :02:57.failure, squander and squabble of the last five years. All of that is
:02:58. > :03:00.crying out for change. It is crying out for an opposition to make
:03:01. > :03:04.Northern Ireland stronger, yet we are in the crazy position where we
:03:05. > :03:07.are only part of the Western democratic world where to date we
:03:08. > :03:13.have not been allowed in opposition. We go to vote on Thursday, but it's
:03:14. > :03:17.the only part of the world where you can't vote a party out of
:03:18. > :03:21.government. You can't change the government. Until we change that
:03:22. > :03:24.issue and moved to voluntary coalition where parties who fail can
:03:25. > :03:32.be exited from coalition by the government, we will never have
:03:33. > :03:41.stable and Europe will government. TUV have been the stable voice of
:03:42. > :03:49.opposition in government. -- stable and durable government. David
:03:50. > :03:54.McNarry, can you see a situation where we take politics out of
:03:55. > :04:00.health? I think the people who have been watching that programme will be
:04:01. > :04:06.very happy that on Thursday they have Ukip to vote for. Because they
:04:07. > :04:10.have no choice whatsoever going with that lot who have just entertained
:04:11. > :04:18.us for an hour. Absolutely the same old stuff and same old thing. Four
:04:19. > :04:23.of those parties are actually going to support David Cameron and Obama
:04:24. > :04:28.staying in Europe, yet they want to be ministers in a government in
:04:29. > :04:32.Northern Ireland. How can they do both? The electorate are telling me
:04:33. > :04:36.on the doorstep, and I will be telling everyone on Thursday, that
:04:37. > :04:41.you can't separate the referendum from this election. They are crucial
:04:42. > :04:44.together. We're talking about the Northern Ireland Assembly elections.
:04:45. > :04:48.You will not be standing, but what can your party do that is different?
:04:49. > :04:53.Tell the electorate something that is different that you would do. What
:04:54. > :04:58.we would do is be there. We would do what nobody else has been doing for
:04:59. > :05:03.a long time in politics in Northern Ireland, and that is to hold the
:05:04. > :05:08.five big parties, the cosy club, to account. But the same argument not
:05:09. > :05:13.go for those who have gone before? The five big parties with one MLA.
:05:14. > :05:21.You are taking up my time and I will not take up yours. He voted in 23%
:05:22. > :05:24.of the votes in the last Assembly. When we talk about opposition we
:05:25. > :05:32.need to grasp the nettle, who will effectively do it? You are coming
:05:33. > :05:37.out as a one-man band, Jim. Better than a no man band. It's good to
:05:38. > :05:42.have an opposition to create solutions to problems. There is no
:05:43. > :05:47.sign of an opposition, it's a phoney opposition and the people don't want
:05:48. > :05:52.that. That's what we are faced with. We are faced with people wanting
:05:53. > :05:57.action. Everybody knows what the problems are. All we hear, time
:05:58. > :06:03.after time is we will fix it. People are looking forward to the fix. You
:06:04. > :06:08.mentioned the children's bill brought in by Steven Agnew. What
:06:09. > :06:12.else is on your agenda for the new Assembly? Going back to creating
:06:13. > :06:16.solutions and listening to the people, a politics that represents
:06:17. > :06:21.the people who elect them. Steven Agnew also brought forward the first
:06:22. > :06:25.debate on marriage equality to the Assembly. At the time it was not a
:06:26. > :06:30.majority support, but it was larger than I think we were expecting at
:06:31. > :06:36.the time, and we were delighted to watch how that progressed. It didn't
:06:37. > :06:42.come up tonight. But it passed, got a majority vote of support the last
:06:43. > :06:46.time it was debated. The petition of concern was brought in. That is a
:06:47. > :06:49.problem as well, but it's good to have that support. We are not afraid
:06:50. > :06:54.to bring forward those issues for discussion. We are also the only
:06:55. > :07:08.party in assembly Mac to support the 67 act in Ireland, again, something
:07:09. > :07:12.that didn't this evening. If Sinn Fein got 30 seats, do you imagine
:07:13. > :07:15.you would be hindered in the future if you were re-elected, that they
:07:16. > :07:21.would use the petition of concern to stop you getting some legislation in
:07:22. > :07:26.the future? When I brought in the bill to remove a convicted murderer,
:07:27. > :07:34.Sinn Fein being the friends of IRA murderers, if they could they would
:07:35. > :07:42.have stopped it. She was a Sinn Fein adviser, an IRA convicted killer.
:07:43. > :07:44.One of many IRA convicted terrorists sitting in this government and
:07:45. > :07:50.supporting this government. Absolutely not. Absolutely yes,
:07:51. > :07:54.there are terrorists in this government and on the benches of
:07:55. > :07:58.Stormont. There are parties who claim they are for the innocent
:07:59. > :08:03.victims, who sustain them there and will return as joint First Minister
:08:04. > :08:07.in the future. David McNarry, when it comes to the future, what can you
:08:08. > :08:11.offer, give me a concrete policy you have to make the lives of people
:08:12. > :08:18.watching tonight different. The policies Ukip are credible on the
:08:19. > :08:24.doorstep with, are talking about the pain, the waiting lists for
:08:25. > :08:29.hospitals. You say in your manifesto there would be no waiting lists. How
:08:30. > :08:33.would you achieve that? I hope you are not going to do what another
:08:34. > :08:38.programme on the BBC tried to do recently. We made it clear in the
:08:39. > :08:44.manifesto, we are talking about removing the appointment waiting
:08:45. > :08:47.lists. Unless you get the appointments out of the road, you
:08:48. > :08:54.will never get down to the procedures. What we are saying is,
:08:55. > :09:01.we need people. I was talking to a man not so long ago who, like
:09:02. > :09:06.myself, at a back injury. He waited 48 weeks to get an appointment. That
:09:07. > :09:11.has happened to a lot of people and we have covered that time and time
:09:12. > :09:16.again. What would you do about it? If you want people's votes you have
:09:17. > :09:20.to be specific about it. I would like to see politics actually
:09:21. > :09:27.talking as if what we run here is a business. We get a lump of money,
:09:28. > :09:31.and we can't manage it. We need to manage our own affairs, manage our
:09:32. > :09:35.money. We need to actually say, if I was there health minister, and you
:09:36. > :09:40.are right, I'm not going there, but some people from Ukip will be there.
:09:41. > :09:43.By some choice of the people. The first thing I would do is call in
:09:44. > :09:48.all my officials and say to them we will fix this now. We will not have
:09:49. > :09:53.reviews and enquiries. We will fix it now. Jim Allister, if you would
:09:54. > :09:59.answer the question on health, what would you do to make it better, but
:10:00. > :10:03.it has to be brief. First of all, this executive disastrously reduced
:10:04. > :10:07.hospital beds by 10% and then they are surprised by the queueing in
:10:08. > :10:13.A People on trolleys. I would get the money by cutting out of the
:10:14. > :10:18.squander, the 130 million we squander on useless outsource body,
:10:19. > :10:24.the millions squandered on wining and dining, the 5 billion per year
:10:25. > :10:32.paid to spin doctors. -- 5 million per year. We take our cut and put it
:10:33. > :10:35.into health. Your manifesto was about promoting but not much
:10:36. > :10:40.concrete detail about what you would do to make things better for people
:10:41. > :10:43.in the health service. I would like to see a more comprehensive look on
:10:44. > :10:49.health and well-being in general, and not just that critical care
:10:50. > :10:54.point. The last executive were talking about taking 330 million out
:10:55. > :10:58.of our budgets. I would want to impose corporation tax. That kind of
:10:59. > :11:02.money needs to be put where people really need it. We should start
:11:03. > :11:08.looking at health and well-being, be focused on that. We need to take
:11:09. > :11:11.advice from experts, support junior doctors, stand by what they are
:11:12. > :11:16.saying, and stop the privatisation of the health service. We can join
:11:17. > :11:21.our audience now to hear what you have to say. You were heavily
:11:22. > :11:25.involved in transforming your care. How do you feel about the debate
:11:26. > :11:31.over health and the idea we might take politics out of health? I'm
:11:32. > :11:37.delighted to hear the politicians want to take politics out of health
:11:38. > :11:41.care. The SDLP seem to have moved their policy position. It's a right
:11:42. > :11:44.sign to focus on integration, addressing health service
:11:45. > :11:50.inequalities. The reality is how we will do it, and we have not answered
:11:51. > :11:54.those questions. We have had expert review after expert review, and they
:11:55. > :11:58.all say the same thing. We know what the problems are. The question is,
:11:59. > :12:02.how we will transform a service that has been essentially the same over
:12:03. > :12:06.the last hundred years. It needs radical transformation. When it
:12:07. > :12:10.comes to your expertise, the idea that the DUP and Sinn Fein promise
:12:11. > :12:16.extra money, is that doable, is it the right way forward, or should we
:12:17. > :12:19.do Donaldson suggested? It's actually just addressing health
:12:20. > :12:24.service inflation, it's not giving more money to health. The issue
:12:25. > :12:27.isn't about giving more money, it's about radically transforming how we
:12:28. > :12:32.deliver services. We need to move away from acute services and put
:12:33. > :12:35.money into the community. We have an integrated health and social care
:12:36. > :12:39.system which wasn't clear from the politicians. We know the system of
:12:40. > :12:44.integration we have isn't working because social care is the poor
:12:45. > :12:48.relation. It's money is plundered to help the health service. We need to
:12:49. > :12:51.put social care at the front of the agenda. Also with integration, we
:12:52. > :12:57.need to think about it in terms of mental health and education systems.
:12:58. > :13:00.The education systems should deal with mental health issues and make
:13:01. > :13:07.sure children have resilience. A GP at the coal face, what do you think
:13:08. > :13:11.they need to do? I have been a long time at the coal face and I was
:13:12. > :13:15.interested to hear politics taken away from hell. I wanted to hear
:13:16. > :13:20.that for some time and it's good to hear the politicians agree. They
:13:21. > :13:25.haven't said how they will do it. We spent almost ?5 billion on an
:13:26. > :13:28.illness service and we haven't addressed life inequalities. Take
:13:29. > :13:33.the bus up the road, if you live at the bottom end of it you will die
:13:34. > :13:39.ten years before somebody who is at the top end. That's wrong. Isn't
:13:40. > :13:42.that about poverty? Health will not deliver good outcomes on its own. It
:13:43. > :13:46.needs to work with all the other sectors. Looking at what happens
:13:47. > :13:51.with the integrated service we have, throughout my career, care of the
:13:52. > :13:54.elderly, learning disability, children's services and mental
:13:55. > :13:57.health have been plundered to support secondary care. We need to
:13:58. > :14:02.look at different ways of doing things. The model of delivery is
:14:03. > :14:07.wrong. We need to look at different ways of teaching our population how
:14:08. > :14:11.to use the service. We have to respond to need, not want. We have
:14:12. > :14:16.to ensure that those who have needs are addressed rapidly and quickly,
:14:17. > :14:21.but the emphasis should be on health promotion and disease prevention.
:14:22. > :14:25.What do we spend on it, less than 2% of the 5 billion. That's wrong.
:14:26. > :14:30.Politicians have not come up with solutions, lots of sound bites and
:14:31. > :14:33.good stuff, but I want answers. A health correspondent, did you hear
:14:34. > :14:36.anything in the debate tonight to make you think health would be
:14:37. > :14:40.treated differently in the next mandate? I think the most radical
:14:41. > :14:44.thing we heard tonight was that all the politicians were unified in
:14:45. > :14:50.their approach for change, saying to take politics out of health. That's
:14:51. > :14:55.what Simon Hamilton, the current health minister has been calling for
:14:56. > :14:59.prior to the elections. It is also what a professor is urging all
:15:00. > :15:04.politicians to sign up to. Two of the parties said that up until
:15:05. > :15:07.recently, the SDLP and Ulster Unionists, saying they thought it
:15:08. > :15:12.was nervous, they thought it was a risk to sign up to the Professor's
:15:13. > :15:16.principles, but we heard tonight all the parties saying it was the only
:15:17. > :15:20.way forward. I thought it was quite refreshing what they said. I have
:15:21. > :15:25.never heard such a unified approach from all the parties. It might have
:15:26. > :15:29.been signed bytes, but for once they said to do something about it. --
:15:30. > :15:34.sound bites. Colum Eastwood said to talk about health inequalities and
:15:35. > :15:38.we haven't heard that before. If they did what they said tonight, it
:15:39. > :15:42.actually could make a difference, and we could see politics taken out
:15:43. > :15:46.of health and help going off in a different direction in the new
:15:47. > :15:52.mandate. Glad to see you are so positive. We can hear from Mark.
:15:53. > :15:56.Will any of these party political leaders we have listened to make
:15:57. > :16:02.headlines tomorrow? Or will they be consigned to the small print of the
:16:03. > :16:11.inside pages. I'm joined by three of Donegal's Street's finest. You all
:16:12. > :16:32.very welcome. Suzanne, what jumped out at you from the debate?
:16:33. > :16:45.Stop very little, and that is what worries me. There is very little to
:16:46. > :16:50.energise young voters or people who haven't vote to come out and vote
:16:51. > :16:58.again. Did you see any obvious winners and losers? No, the entire
:16:59. > :17:06.campaign has been exceptionally dull, so there has to be concerns
:17:07. > :17:11.about turnout this year. If there was a moment here, it could have
:17:12. > :17:17.sparked something. I think people are talking more about Gerry Adams'
:17:18. > :17:21.tweet than anything that came up in this campaign. Do you think Mike
:17:22. > :17:27.Nesbitt appear to be making some effort to be more aggressive and
:17:28. > :17:31.push Arlene Foster? He had this five word plant, don't mention Peter
:17:32. > :17:36.Robinson. I think he possibly borrowed that from someone else, but
:17:37. > :17:44.he undermined the DUP campaign that they must keep him out at any cost.
:17:45. > :17:48.I think the DUP campaign undermined that themselves. It is difficult to
:17:49. > :17:52.both say you have to keep him out at all costs because it would be
:17:53. > :18:01.chaotic if he were to get in and at the same time say we are governing
:18:02. > :18:10.coalition, working together. Alison, our other contributors seem to think
:18:11. > :18:18.it was a yawn fest, were you falling asleep? I thought it was
:18:19. > :18:22.entertaining. In reality when you vote for the DUP you are voting for
:18:23. > :18:28.a DUP Sinn Fein coalition because that is what will happen. I think
:18:29. > :18:37.they miss read the electorate on that because really what that is, it
:18:38. > :18:41.is vote for us and keep the DUP out. I have seen from their manifestos
:18:42. > :18:47.there is very little between them. It was a bit of a loving. The
:18:48. > :18:55.aggression was between Arlene and Mike, and Martin McGuinness and
:18:56. > :18:59.Colum Eastwood. You have got this kind of business and you had it in
:19:00. > :19:02.the recent elections, like two parallel election is going on, and
:19:03. > :19:16.we talked about some of the exchanges between Arlene and Mike.
:19:17. > :19:22.There was a huge amount of pressure on Colum Eastwood's shoulders going
:19:23. > :19:28.into this tonight. I think he came out the winner. He's a very polished
:19:29. > :19:34.performer, he enthusiastic. I've rated Martin McGuinness compared to
:19:35. > :19:38.Gerry Adams in these scenarios, but there seems to be the single
:19:39. > :19:42.transferable speech from him about the benefits of Stormont and pretty
:19:43. > :19:48.lacklustre. I thought Colum scored points in terms of bringing up
:19:49. > :19:54.poverty in Belfast. I think his party particularly fighting marginal
:19:55. > :19:59.seats will be very happy with his performance. David Ford sometimes
:20:00. > :20:03.gets marginalised but he was involved at times, particularly in
:20:04. > :20:07.relation to Arlene Foster accusing him of leaking the story. She gives
:20:08. > :20:13.the impression she was surprised about that which I don't think is
:20:14. > :20:20.entirely correct. It doesn't look like it will change in the new
:20:21. > :20:25.mandate. Maybe they won't be fighting against each other so much,
:20:26. > :20:34.but the smaller parties will benefit because nobody stood out. And one
:20:35. > :20:42.question in which Arlene stood out, the question about blood donation. I
:20:43. > :20:47.don't think she was expecting that and it looks like she was caught on
:20:48. > :20:51.the hoof, other than that was very polished this time. In a previous
:20:52. > :20:54.debate she stumbled at the start where was this time she was on point
:20:55. > :21:01.apart from what she said about this question. We must leave it there,
:21:02. > :21:07.back to you, Tara. Let's talk about jobs and the
:21:08. > :21:13.economy now. Was there anything that gives you hope for the future? To be
:21:14. > :21:17.honest no, we were all a bit disappointed three quarters of the
:21:18. > :21:21.debate through the debate and no mention of the economy or business.
:21:22. > :21:32.We got to the statements about inward investment book from a small
:21:33. > :21:39.business owner's point of view I felt let down. What would you like
:21:40. > :21:45.to see them do? Small businesses have been unacknowledged as the
:21:46. > :21:48.backbone, and we would like to see more help given to us to expand
:21:49. > :21:53.business, move onto that medium size, really grow the expertise
:21:54. > :22:00.within our business and appeal to more skilled staff to come forward
:22:01. > :22:03.for better jobs. John, you are in economics and business editor, what
:22:04. > :22:11.sort of things do you think were missing from the debate? I suppose
:22:12. > :22:17.it is that the two main parties have decided to spend this extra billion
:22:18. > :22:23.on health. Martin McGuinness seemed to be suggesting we were getting
:22:24. > :22:28.more money through Westminster, and the money redistributed through
:22:29. > :22:33.departments, but Elf already takes the lion's share in the monitoring
:22:34. > :22:36.rounds so we are getting to the point, it is going to be clear that
:22:37. > :22:43.if we are going to achieve this pledge other departments will have
:22:44. > :22:47.to lose out. I'm still not clear which departments will move out and
:22:48. > :22:54.by how much. It is not entirely clear yet. Caroline, you are an
:22:55. > :23:00.accountant so from your point of view is corporation tax the silver
:23:01. > :23:08.bullet? Not completely. I was disappointed to hear it was 47
:23:09. > :23:11.minutes in before we heard about the economy and business. It is
:23:12. > :23:17.brilliant to see we have the corporation tax cut coming in less
:23:18. > :23:20.than two years. We really need a corporation tax task force to
:23:21. > :23:26.grapple with the issues to make sure we are ready for business. Things
:23:27. > :23:35.around the skills development, infrastructure, property planning,
:23:36. > :23:36.export support, attracting FDI, more innovation. I think it is a door
:23:37. > :23:39.opener, I don't think it will be the silver bonnet but it will engage
:23:40. > :23:44.conversations. And again we will have to lose money from the block
:23:45. > :23:51.grant so services will have to suffer. Absolutely. The latest
:23:52. > :23:56.numbers are estimated at around 240 million per year it will cost us. As
:23:57. > :24:01.John was saying, the difficulty we have is no hard numbers. Maybe it is
:24:02. > :24:05.the sad account meant I am, I want to see the budget and how it will be
:24:06. > :24:14.carved out but we are not seeing that. There was a lot of talk again
:24:15. > :24:19.about FDI and attracting global companies but local again, we should
:24:20. > :24:25.be looking at indigenous businesses. I want to bring Colum in, you
:24:26. > :24:29.represent the hospitality industry which is a big part of our economy.
:24:30. > :24:34.Yes, and we did hear tourism mentioned once. The economy was the
:24:35. > :24:39.also run in the conversation. It was really light on detail and we didn't
:24:40. > :24:44.see any real commitment. We need to see them talk about how they will
:24:45. > :24:48.create the right environment with tax and legislation. It will cure
:24:49. > :24:54.some of our health problems, it will cure some of our problems from the
:24:55. > :24:58.past because if people have a job, they feel better and we can invest
:24:59. > :25:02.more in health and bring people out of poverty. It was really
:25:03. > :25:07.disappointing, 47 minutes in before we even get to it. We need to put it
:25:08. > :25:11.as the priority, not the tail end. Interesting to hear some views from
:25:12. > :25:18.younger people as well, we have heard a lot from the Good Friday
:25:19. > :25:22.Agreement generation and the coming of age. Have you heard anything in
:25:23. > :25:30.the last two weeks that has changed your mind? No, that debate was very
:25:31. > :25:34.disappointing for me. It's clear we are not the target audience for
:25:35. > :25:37.these politicians. There was no mention of social issues which is
:25:38. > :25:42.something I feel young people are very interested in. There was a lot
:25:43. > :25:49.of mention of the past which we are not as well interested in. Obviously
:25:50. > :25:54.the discussions around the past have been stuck for the last 20 years,
:25:55. > :25:58.and it does seem there is a generation gap then between people
:25:59. > :26:05.who feel strongly about it and those who don't, could you see that? It
:26:06. > :26:09.appears to me we are not very well represented. These politicians were
:26:10. > :26:15.so preoccupied with the past. I wasn't born during the Troubles, it
:26:16. > :26:19.is all very distant to me. Lindsay, just tell me what you thought of the
:26:20. > :26:25.debate and how you think you will vote. I once again didn't think it
:26:26. > :26:30.was applicable to the younger generation. Arlene Foster's 5-point
:26:31. > :26:35.plan is I feel keep the younger people out. I think it is quite
:26:36. > :26:41.significant we are at the back table of this studio and I think that's
:26:42. > :26:46.how young people feel, when they are voting, the backbenchers of
:26:47. > :26:52.politics. We certainly don't view you in that way. Adam, have you
:26:53. > :26:57.decided who to vote for? Is there anything you have heard during this
:26:58. > :27:03.campaign that has swung you one way or another? Not really, when I think
:27:04. > :27:06.of the past in Northern Ireland I think of the country that wants
:27:07. > :27:10.dominated shipbuilding and the linen industry. I am actually more worried
:27:11. > :27:14.about the future. Where are the specifics about how we will create
:27:15. > :27:20.jobs and make Northern Ireland a good country for people to come and
:27:21. > :27:24.set up businesses? Where is the concern for the future? In fairness
:27:25. > :27:31.to Arlene Foster, she would say she has created 40,000 jobs over the
:27:32. > :27:36.past mandate, and they want to create 50,000, which could in
:27:37. > :27:41.essence held you in the future. I appreciate that but I'm doing
:27:42. > :27:46.masters and still not in a secure job. So you feel there is still work
:27:47. > :27:48.to be done. We have heard from the youth generation programme, has
:27:49. > :27:56.nothing happened that has changed your mind? I will be voting the same
:27:57. > :27:59.way. It was ridiculous how childish the First Minister was being. This
:28:00. > :28:04.isn't what young people want to hear. All the parties were talking
:28:05. > :28:11.about the First Minister's position in her defence. But she was so
:28:12. > :28:16.childish, I felt like I was watching Donald Trump. That is very unfair to
:28:17. > :28:22.make such a comparison but... Young people don't want to hear a squabble
:28:23. > :28:27.about the position in the executive. Good to hear your thoughts. One
:28:28. > :28:36.area, education, didn't get a lot of mention. There was a question about
:28:37. > :28:41.integrated education, the sector you are representing. Yes, there has
:28:42. > :28:43.been a lot of talk tonight about integration of many different areas
:28:44. > :28:48.within Northern Ireland. Unfortunately the question wasn't
:28:49. > :28:53.answered. However, obviously I'm here to talk for integrated schools.
:28:54. > :28:57.Likewise all of the leaders in Northern Ireland are dealing with so
:28:58. > :29:02.many issues with budget cuts, trying to manage them, special needs,
:29:03. > :29:06.mental health issues, underachievement. But in terms of
:29:07. > :29:10.the bigger picture, I feel there has been no pledge, no promise from the
:29:11. > :29:15.other parties to say they will look at how they will support and invest
:29:16. > :29:19.in education. Strictly speaking, if we want to try to make a difference
:29:20. > :29:24.for society in the future, we need to invest in our children and find a
:29:25. > :29:28.way of working together to try to move things forward so we are not
:29:29. > :29:35.just talking empty words about a shared future, that we can look at
:29:36. > :29:38.how to integrate education more. Chris, you would take on an opposing
:29:39. > :29:41.view given that you work in a catholic school. Do you think
:29:42. > :29:46.integrated education is gone in terms of expansion now because of
:29:47. > :29:53.the emphasis Sinn Fein and the DUP have on shared education? I think
:29:54. > :30:01.education was a nonstarter tonight. They hardly made a reference. There
:30:02. > :30:03.were big discussions, there are big discussions that have to be had
:30:04. > :30:11.about shared education, how we look after the ethos of the sectors that
:30:12. > :30:14.exist. Can we afford all the sectors we have realistically? There's ways
:30:15. > :30:19.in which the different sectors can rationalise. There was a discussion
:30:20. > :30:25.during the last mandate where Tom Elliott accused the minister John
:30:26. > :30:33.O'Dowd of closing catholic schools were structurally it was proven...
:30:34. > :30:37.Those discussions have to be had and parties have to be challenged. The
:30:38. > :30:44.big issue that will dominate in the short and medium-term is budget
:30:45. > :30:48.cuts. That will result in actual job losses. At a time when parties are
:30:49. > :30:51.producing documents to show how they are tackling educational
:30:52. > :31:01.underachievement, no one will argue you will tackle that by taking
:31:02. > :31:02.teachers out of classrooms. You have tackled underachievement in a
:31:03. > :31:07.different way at your school, can you talk about that briefly. If the
:31:08. > :31:12.young people are at the back, we are in the cupboard and that's how I
:31:13. > :31:16.felt about it tonight. Utterly depressed. Education brings us to
:31:17. > :31:20.the future. The programme for government said they would tackle
:31:21. > :31:26.underachievement and promote the economy. We are not doing that. We
:31:27. > :31:31.segregate pupils, we label them at 11. The third of our young people
:31:32. > :31:37.leave school without five GCSEs including maths and English. The
:31:38. > :31:43.boys entitled to free school meals, 70% of them leave school without
:31:44. > :31:47.five GCSEs. Post-conflict, we need social cohesion. We don't need to
:31:48. > :31:57.create problems in the future of a complete underclass, skills deficit,
:31:58. > :32:01.people who will early and feel disenfranchised from society. Not
:32:02. > :32:05.one person mentioned selection. It is the elephant in the room. What is
:32:06. > :32:15.your perspective on education? Mike Nesbitt said health should have
:32:16. > :32:20.an impact on education policy. We hear about needing a joined up
:32:21. > :32:24.approach, marrying the outcomes and then agreeing ways forward. That's
:32:25. > :32:29.what they said in 2011 as well. I would like to see education and
:32:30. > :32:35.everything else properly put in a strategic way. The UUP have good
:32:36. > :32:40.ideas on education. The SDLP in their manifesto have put higher
:32:41. > :32:44.education on in important factor for improving the economy. I would say
:32:45. > :32:47.to the smaller parties, if you cannot get the education manifesto,
:32:48. > :32:54.go into opposition and show us a workable alternative. Thank you, we
:32:55. > :32:59.want you out here, not in the cupboard making your views known. I
:33:00. > :33:02.would be interesting to hear your perspective on this, as somebody who
:33:03. > :33:08.wasn't born in Northern Ireland. What do you make on the debate? It
:33:09. > :33:15.was rather disappointing. We witnessed the Assembly forming, and
:33:16. > :33:24.it would be now nice to see them performing. There was a report that
:33:25. > :33:28.said that only 42 out of 82 pledges from the latest programme for
:33:29. > :33:32.government were met. This would be totally unacceptable in a private
:33:33. > :33:37.sector. Or a committee sector. This is what we have to address
:33:38. > :33:40.post-elections. You were not born here but have been here a long time.
:33:41. > :33:48.What do you make of the political debate? it's still an election, so I
:33:49. > :33:52.still see green against Orange. They give you different policies but
:33:53. > :34:00.don't give you the real solution. I haven't heard about education, how
:34:01. > :34:04.they will reduce waiting lists, how they will grow the economy. That's
:34:05. > :34:08.the most important thing. When you grow the economy you grow the income
:34:09. > :34:12.of the state and then you can improve all the other departments.
:34:13. > :34:15.When it comes to some of the people who have come here, and you have
:34:16. > :34:21.worked with refugee families, do they feel hopeful about the future?
:34:22. > :34:25.Whenever they looked at the green and orange policies, it puts them
:34:26. > :34:31.off politics. A lot of them don't even go to vote. When they hear that
:34:32. > :34:37.kind of debate, fighting to grab the sectarian votes, it puts them off.
:34:38. > :34:43.We need to see a real politics here. Does it worry you that the green and
:34:44. > :34:47.orange is still at the forefront? I think I was very disappointed in the
:34:48. > :34:50.debate tonight and the lack of focus on standard policy issues that I
:34:51. > :34:56.think the electorate want to hear about. I want to hear where our
:34:57. > :35:01.childcare strategy has gone. It's still missing from our landscape. I
:35:02. > :35:06.work with women training in employability and skills and they
:35:07. > :35:10.can't move to work if there isn't childcare available. Other issues
:35:11. > :35:13.like corporation tax. Childcare is as important as that. It was still
:35:14. > :35:19.orange and green tonight and that will turn people off. We need more
:35:20. > :35:27.debate on substantive policy issues. We can get some more debate and
:35:28. > :35:33.reaction. It was same old, same old. It seems we are in for another five
:35:34. > :35:37.years if those current parties are elected. The sectarian card was
:35:38. > :35:42.played left, right and centre. There is nothing in what was said that
:35:43. > :35:45.will tackle poverty, or that will do anything about affordable childcare.
:35:46. > :35:51.They talk about the number of jobs they have created. I think they said
:35:52. > :35:57.40,000, but we already know from the programme at 17,000 of those were
:35:58. > :36:01.lost. We already know that we have something like 30,000 zero hour
:36:02. > :36:05.contract jobs. I think in Northern Ireland we have nearly 50% apathy
:36:06. > :36:10.from the voting population, and no wonder looking at that this evening
:36:11. > :36:14.from our five main parties. I'm not surprised the other 50% wouldn't be
:36:15. > :36:18.put off by that whole debate. The party leaders, the only thing they
:36:19. > :36:21.could agree on was that store Mont wasn't working. I would say to
:36:22. > :36:25.people that if they want real change they look at the Conservatives as a
:36:26. > :36:30.viable option moving forward long-term. We have seen this debate
:36:31. > :36:36.tonight, and all they talked about was the past, whether it was the
:36:37. > :36:40.legacy, the recent five years of DUP and Sinn Fein. Arlene was talking
:36:41. > :36:44.about a 5-point plan, but what she means is five more years of pain.
:36:45. > :36:48.Sinn Fein say they are anti-austerities but they are happy
:36:49. > :36:53.to give the Tories the right to cut benefits in the north. When we go
:36:54. > :36:59.around the doors in North Antrim and other areas where the Labour Party
:37:00. > :37:02.are standing, we are finding that young people are fed up of the
:37:03. > :37:07.politics of the past, the politics of failure, and fed up of the
:37:08. > :37:12.politics of DUP and Sinn Fein. We can get more views from our season.
:37:13. > :37:17.Servers. Alex, I hope you don't mind me calling you that. What did you
:37:18. > :37:23.make of it? -- seasoned servers. I thought it was the equivalent of a
:37:24. > :37:27.general aesthetic. Nobody was listening and half the audience
:37:28. > :37:30.probably left. What annoys me is all the parties talking about the bad
:37:31. > :37:35.old days, but they were the bad old days. All that whingeing about whose
:37:36. > :37:39.fault it was, that's what's putting people off, and the young people
:37:40. > :37:43.were right, they were not being engaged, and nobody else was either.
:37:44. > :37:47.The exercise was to get people voting on Thursday and they have
:37:48. > :37:51.failed. Taking politics out of the health service, I would take
:37:52. > :37:54.politics out of education, justice and every department like that,
:37:55. > :38:03.because they are incapable of doing everything anything with that. It
:38:04. > :38:08.was the same old, same old. It became background noise rather than
:38:09. > :38:13.a constructive debate. We have heard from everybody tonight on the things
:38:14. > :38:17.they feel passionate about. A lot of people feel passionately about, what
:38:18. > :38:21.stops politicians tackling those issues? They know they have to
:38:22. > :38:26.appeal to their core electorate. We talk about the dog whistle noise a
:38:27. > :38:30.politician makes, is when they say something that only their own
:38:31. > :38:35.supporters here. There was a lot of that going on. A lot of politics in
:38:36. > :38:38.Northern Ireland is dog whistle. I have to say certain things otherwise
:38:39. > :38:45.my core electorate will not vote for me. And that's all that matters.
:38:46. > :38:49.Part of that is electorate not voting. That's a big part of it, if
:38:50. > :38:54.I had my way I would have compulsory voting like Australia. For those
:38:55. > :38:58.thinking of not voting, people are dying all over the world for the
:38:59. > :39:01.chance to vote, so go and vote on Thursday. Who were your winners and
:39:02. > :39:07.losers tonight in terms of performance? I think by about 35
:39:08. > :39:10.minutes in most people in this room had stopped listening. The noise had
:39:11. > :39:15.risen and people were talking to each other. I think the dominant
:39:16. > :39:19.figure tonight was Martin McGuinness, because he actually made
:39:20. > :39:23.Arlene Foster smile when he said how much he enjoyed working with her. He
:39:24. > :39:27.was constantly looking to the future. He was being sniped at by
:39:28. > :39:32.Colum Eastwood and a couple of others, but he was actually acting
:39:33. > :39:38.the statesman and was being avuncular and charming. He was the
:39:39. > :39:42.one constantly looking to the future. People started asking about
:39:43. > :39:47.the past and so on, but Martin McGuinness was the one acting the
:39:48. > :39:52.statesman. Who was your winner? I don't think there was a winner. The
:39:53. > :39:55.main thing for all the parties, nobody did any damage to anyone
:39:56. > :40:00.else. It was a dull campaign, and this was a dull end to it. I think a
:40:01. > :40:07.lot of people will have switched off and the decision they will have made
:40:08. > :40:11.is not to vote. That's all from us tonight, we will be back on Friday
:40:12. > :40:17.at 3pm on BBC One for all the election coverage. Goodbye.
:40:18. > :40:22.This Assembly election will bring many new faces to the MLAs' benches.