Simon Hamilton
Strangford · Democratic Unionist Party · Northern Ireland
“I have emphasised to the Member and the House before, that, whilst I accept that those are not good enough — that is why we have been developing the plan — there are alternative technologies in place that can present opportunities for those who just cannot get acceptable speeds.”
“I thank the Member for his intervention. There are some initiatives that I believe will help and act as a driver to improve broadband access. One such intervention is the broadband universal service obligation (USO), which is being taken forward by Her Majesty's Government.”
“I thank the Member for his question. However, he is conflating two issues. I wrote to his party leader, and indeed to all Assembly party leaders, before making the announcement that I did last week about wanting to publish the details of the businesses in receipt of the non-domestic RHI scheme. It was my intention to do that tomorrow.”
“<BR /> <BR />The Chancellor, in his autumn statement, made some more funding available for telecommunications, and my Department is studying that and seeking to avail itself of that to the fullest possible extent.”
“In addition, my Department is managing a contract for the delivery of the superfast rollout programme, which, by 31 December, will provide access to superfast broadband with speeds of at least 24 megabits per second to a further 38,000 premises, both business and residential, across Northern Ireland, including in the Newry and Armagh cons…”
“I signalled the intention to do this a few weeks ago. The Member and the House will know that inspections of all installations would have taken place over the 20-year lifetime of the RHI scheme.”
The complete record
Every one of 3,625 lines we hold for Simon Hamilton, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 51 of 73.
“We should all appreciate the efforts that have been put in by Ministers in this place and, indeed, our captains of industry, who have made that happen. It is absolutely the case that it is we in Stormont — politicians who are locally elected, representing local people — who are best placed to take our economy further down that long road of transformation. What I will say to Members opposite — I hope that they appreciate the spirit in which all these comments have been made — is that we have to do it step by step. We have to make sure and steady progress down that road rather than try to fast-track to the end, only to find ourselves very quickly back at the start.”
“We have a well-educated population. We have a good global location. That is not something that the Executive have effected but a fact of life, I suppose. We have improving skills and improving R&D. We have a growing FDI attraction. Indeed, as Mr Flanagan talked about, we have an international reputation in certain sectors. I agree, but we have to accept that, at the same time, there are structural weaknesses in our economy that we are trying to iron out and deal with. By that, I mean the highest level of economic inactivity and under-representation in higher value-added sectors in our economy, such as finance and business services, and a low level of exports. <BR /> <BR />It will be a long road for us to travel to transform our economy. We have made huge progress in the past number of years. We should welcome that.”
“I remember having a debate with the Member in the past about income tax and its volatility. Volatility in percentage is smaller, but, because it is a bigger take, the percentage is worth more. The solidity of public spending moving forward is where the problem lies. <BR /> <BR />I thought that Ms Boyle's contribution was an interesting one, as indeed were those of many of her colleagues. The picture of Northern Ireland that they were painting was one of huge strengths in the economy. That is not something that I am used to hearing from the Sinn Féin Benches, but I agree with it nonetheless. It is undoubtedly the case that we have a lot of strengths in our economy that have been enhanced, improved or, indeed, started and encouraged as a result of policies that were pursued by the Executive and various Ministers.”
“<BR /> <BR />We do not compare favourably with, for example, our neighbours in Scotland. When pursuing more and more fiscal devolution, they do so on the basis of an economy that may be going through issues with the price of oil and went through issues in the past with the financial services sector, but is in a much stronger position economically than we are. Therefore, I believe that it can deal with more than we can. In the past, I have compared this with children growing up. Scotland is a child of about five and we are a child of one and a half, yet some propose that we take the stabilisers off our bikes at exactly the same time. The five-year-old will cope a little better. The one-and-a-half-year-old will fall over. That is where we need to be very careful.”
“<BR /> <BR />In recent times, the only two periods when we significantly closed the productivity gap were when there were huge injections of public spending into Northern Ireland. That will clearly not happen in the short term, never mind what the medium term might hold, so we will have to do things differently. That is why we have been pursuing the economic strategy and pursuing corporation tax. The subvention, which, the Member accepts, is sizeable, means that we should be cautious about full fiscal devolution. We run the very serious risk of huge volatility and huge reductions in the public spending that, in the short to medium term, we would be very reliant on. Put simply, at this minute, the Northern Ireland tax base is not strong enough to sustain that.”
“The Member has reiterated the point that he raised in his contribution about the lack of an economic plan. The Executive have agreed an economic strategy, which his party, through its representation on the Executive, has signed up to. So, there is an economic strategy that takes us up to 2030. The first point in the Member's intervention gets to the nub of what I am trying to discuss: how long would it take to become a place that can stand on its own two feet, whether in the medium or long term? Some people's idea of medium and long term is different from that of others, of course. My belief is that that is what we ought to strive for and what we are striving for. That is what our economic strategy is about. That is what devolving powers on corporation tax to try to transform our economy is all about. We are trying to close the gap.”
“I think that there is a risk of volatility, but I do not think that it is anywhere near as big or dangerous a risk as the volatility that there would inevitably be if you had income tax, National Insurance and all these other taxes as well. That is why I make the point about the deficit. It is important that Sinn Féin accepts that there is a multibillion-pound deficit. We modify the methodologies that we use, and we can look at those further to try to get more accurate figures, but I sense that that will always produce a result that shows a multibillion-pound deficit and a multibillion-pound subvention, and, of course, that argument does not suit Sinn Féin. Therefore, I believe that it will never accept the methodology underpinning any of the work done on that.”
“I want to reiterate the point that my position is not one of opposition to further fiscal devolution. By backing consistently the devolution of corporation tax and now securing that power, my party and I have shown that, in the right sets of circumstances, we are in favour of the further devolution of fiscal powers to this place. That gives us more of the economic power or levers that Members of Sinn Féin were talking about, and it will have a beneficial impact on our economy. <BR /> <BR />Full fiscal devolution, which, I think, is what is being advocated by Sinn Féin, and very quickly, runs the risk of huge volatility in tax receipts and, therefore, less public spending. Somebody may bounce up and say, "That is the case with corporation tax as well".”
“So, that is not unusual. Clearly, you would not want that to be the case if you could wave a magic wand, but it is a reality of many states. The same is true in France and Germany and anywhere around the world that you want to look at.”
“The Member is right about the huge benefit of the City of London to the UK as a whole, even with all its problems over the last number of years. It highlights the problem for a state such as ours, particularly given that Northern Ireland is peripheral to London and the south-east, which are huge drivers for the economy. The same is true, of course, in the Irish Republic, in that Dublin is a huge city that dominates the Irish economy. It offers a subvention through its wealth to places like Kerry, Donegal, the west of Ireland and many parts of the midlands.”
“The Member's contribution shows some progress in that he accepts that there is a deficit. That deficit is not £1, £100, £1,000 or £1 million; we are talking about billions of pounds. If Mr McCrea's contribution was not going to make the media, I can be absolutely certain that my contribution on the 'Net Fiscal Balance Report' will not make the media. The methodology applied to produce that report is similar to that used by the Scottish Government for their equivalent report. It has ONS status, and ours does not. If it is based largely on the same methodology, it is capable of getting ONS status, should we wish to pursue it.”
“Some of us got stuck in and kept at it, and we have now secured the power to lower the rate of corporation tax. You cannot question my commitment or my party colleagues' commitment to further fiscal devolution as long as it has a defined economic and social benefit for Northern Ireland. I do not think that anybody — well, there are some — doubts the case with corporation tax. It is not a point of principle that we are against further fiscal devolution because we are part of the unitary state of the United Kingdom. We have devolved APD as well as pursuing corporation tax.”
“As long as the corporation tax debate has gone on, we have tried to be very careful to say that one fiscal devolution — in this case corporation tax, which is fairly significant — is not in itself a panacea to all our economic ills and is not the silver bullet that will solve our economy, but the Sinn Féin position seems to be that outright, almost immediate fiscal devolution is the panacea for all our economic ills. I am not, and nor is my party, against further fiscal devolution, and we pursued the devolution of corporation tax aggressively. <BR /> <BR />Some Members wanted us to move on to plan B. I recall that the deputy First Minister, who is from the Member's party, came out of a meeting in Downing Street stating his belief that the devolution of corporation tax would never happen.”
“If it does not believe that, there is something seriously wrong with the position that it is espousing. <BR /> <BR />Accepting, as most of us do, that there is a fiscal deficit, some of us believe the figures in the net fiscal balance report. Perhaps some others do not, but most people accept and agree that there is a fiscal deficit. It is important that we accept that there is a gap, because it goes to the heart of the other points that Ms Boyle and others on the Sinn Féin Benches were making. <BR /> <BR />Sinn Féin Members got up one after another and talked about the need for more and more fiscal devolution and for it to happen almost immediately.”
“<BR /> <BR />She talked about an over-estimation of the fiscal deficit — a point that was picked up by several Members in the corner, principally Mr McCrea and Mr McCallister. This is a fundamental issue: what is the subvention, the fiscal gap, or the fiscal deficit? Sinn Féin's stated position is that it does not believe the figures that are put out there showing that there is a subvention. The most recent figure in the net fiscal balance report is that it is £9·5 billion. If I was to not believe those figures but believe the Sinn Féin position that that figure is wrong, it begs the question of what Sinn Féin believes the fiscal deficit is. Does it believe that there is a fiscal deficit? I am not even sure whether it believes that there is a fiscal deficit.”
“They are usually standing in front of him with a placard, protesting against the reforms. I can probably include several party colleagues in that. In asking the Minister to bring forward reforms, we all have a responsibility to try to support him and those in the NHS more as they do try to reform in what is a very difficult set of circumstances. <BR /> <BR />I turn to Michaela Boyle's contribution. I am not picking on her, but the comments that she made were pretty typical of comments made from Sinn Féin Benches throughout the debate. It is not a personal attack on her. Sorry, I have prefaced it by saying "attack"; I should not say that. It is not a personal critique of her comments. It is a critique of Sinn Féin comments more broadly.”
“The pressures that our health service is facing — and undoubtedly it is facing pressures — are not just pressures that are being faced in Northern Ireland. These are pressures that are happening elsewhere in the United Kingdom, that are being faced in the Republic of Ireland and, arguably, that every Western Government is facing in terms of difficulties in funding, need and demand in health. <BR /> <BR />Not too many people spoke about health spending today, but while Mr Lunn talked about the need for reform — and he is absolutely right that there is a need for reform in the health service — whenever the Minister comes forward with any number of different reforms, those who call upon him to introduce reforms are very rarely standing behind him, backing his reforms.”
“<BR /> <BR />Another uncertainty, I suppose, if you want to use that word, is the savings that we will realise through the voluntary exit scheme. Whilst we do not have to deal with the cost issue right now, we have some time to prepare, and there will be some things that I believe will work out beneficially for Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Mr Lunn criticised allocations to the Health Department; I point out again that health and education account for 65% of our total Budget. Health alone is 46% of our Budget. As an Executive, we have sought to increase, and agreed to increase, our budget for health by £204 million, which is over 3% of an increase. I agree with Mr Lunn that the Health Department still requires reform, but the points made by Mr Weir are worth bearing in mind.”
“<BR /> <BR />The net effect of all of that for Northern Ireland is actually quite positive. Sixty-five per cent of our Budget is spent on health and education, and we get almost full comparability. That means that, if that is what happens after the next election, whoever is in Downing Street, it is good for Northern Ireland. It might put our public spending in a somewhat better position than perhaps we might have feared. I am not saying it is going to be easy, by any means. There will be challenges ahead, but if those promises are fulfilled after the election, it could have beneficial outcomes for Northern Ireland. There are still areas of negotiation, particularly around the ongoing adjustment formula for corporation tax.”
“Before some people jump down my throat and say, "Well, if there are uncertainties, that is why you shouldn't proceed with the devolution of corporation tax," I want to point out that these are uncertainties that will only become more certain in the next number of years. One is what the next comprehensive spending review means for Northern Ireland. Like many of us, I am observing the utterances coming from the Conservative Party and the Labour Party about what they propose to do with various areas of public spending. Each time, they try to outdo one another, one by protecting health in cash terms, and then the other wants to protect it in real terms. The next day they want to protect education spending in cash terms, and the next day, another party outdoes them by wanting to protect it in real terms.”
“It, at least, begins to deal with some of our longer-term financial problems by focusing on workforce restructuring and enabling that to happen, and on reorganising our Departments and reforming our public sector, particularly through the likes of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD's) review. <BR /> <BR />Mr Lunn asked what the Budget was doing in respect of preparing for corporation tax. There is ongoing preparation in terms of investment in skills, infrastructure and economic development. Of course, there is no need to address the cost issue in next year's Budget. There are still a number of what could be described as uncertainties around corporation tax and its cost.”
“<BR /> <BR />Trevor Lunn criticised the Budget and said that it did not deal with financial problems or the financial issues that the Executive are facing. I disagree, and you would expect me to do so. It is a balanced Budget. It was a requirement that we had a balanced long-term sustainable Budget or there would have been no proceeding with the legislation on corporation tax. That, and progress on welfare reform, was a condition. I appreciate that the Budget is not to everyone's satisfaction, but it is a balanced Budget and it is getting us back on to a longer-term and more sustainable footing, and that is being endorsed by the actions of Her Majesty's Government in taking forward corporation tax legislation.”
“I hope that the Minister, in the proposals that he has yet to bring to the Executive to create a panel to look at that, might want to consider that there are other option hybrids between those that might realise ongoing receipts for the Executive short of selling the port and putting it into private hands. <BR /> <BR />Mr Cree asked for an update on INTERREG funding. Our INTERREG programme was agreed by the European Commission as recently as Friday, and the fund has £282 million in it, which will be spent on areas including research and innovation, environmental protection, sustainable transport and health. It is hoped that by the spring or at least the early summer INTERREG IVa will be open to calls.”
“There would be a large receipt to be had from the sale of the port, and that makes it attractive to examine, but as many commentators and I have made clear, whilst there would be a large receipt from the sale of the port, the port is an economic driver in Northern Ireland, and that is a factor that you would have to consider in moving towards any sale. <BR /> <BR />I do not think that it has to be just an issue between keeping the port in broad public hands and selling it. I think that there are other options short of a sale that we should also consider.”
“Yet, last week, on the aforementioned 'The View' on the BBC, Mr Kennedy said that he was "not inclined" to support the sale or privatisation of Belfast harbour. If there is a difference in opinion anywhere, it is less between me and Mr Kennedy and more between Mr Kennedy and his own party leader. However, as the Member will appreciate perhaps better than anyone, no difference there. <BR /> <BR />I have stoked those fires, as I did in the past. For what it is worth and to make my position clear, our Budget next year or in future years will not be predicated on the need to sell the port and get a receipt from its sale.”
“With regard to his comments about the Port of Belfast, that is an issue that his own party colleague, the Minister for Regional Development, is responsible for. Whilst I am touching on the Port of Belfast, Mr McCallister referred to it in some of his final remarks. I am not sure what he thought the differences were in the views expressed by me and Minister Kennedy. I think that the real difference in views around the sale of the Port of Belfast is not so much between me and Danny Kennedy; I believe it is between Mr Kennedy and his party leader, Mr Nesbitt. In the 'Belfast Telegraph' on 17 December, Mr Nesbitt confirmed that the sale of the harbour had been proposed by his party during the Stormont House talks process.”
“He will note, as will Members, that, in the Budget for next year, that is not specifically allocated to any Department at this stage, because decisions are required on the bodies that will deal with the past and on shared and integrated education. There needs to be agreement between ourselves and Her Majesty's Government about those projects as they move forward. As they are agreed, those projects will require the release of funding, and that will go into the Department of Education's budget as appropriate. He asked about the voluntary exit scheme and whether there was going to be any delay. There is no delay. I think that some of the comments I made during Question Time will have have leapfrogged his query. As I said at that time, it is opening on 2 March and is only one of several strategic personnel interventions that we plan to do.”
“It is significant, I believe, that, in November, he published draft rates supporting grant levels for local government but did not change one iota between draft and final budget. In my view, no serious effort was made by the Minister to do anything to offer additional support for local government. So, when Mr Bradley asks what the rationale for the reduction is, he would be better asking his colleague. <BR /> <BR />Mr Leslie Cree is not here. In a break with modern tradition, I do not think that he asked about a review of the financial process. He asked about a range of things around the £50 million for shared and integrated education and the money that was allocated in the Stormont House Agreement for the past.”
“That work will be done on the basis of new Budgets, because, obviously, the Budget has an impact on Departments' ability to meet targets or to stretch them further. <BR /> <BR />Mr Bradley also asked what the rationale was for a reduction in the rates support grant to local government. That, of course, is a question, not for me, but the SDLP's Minister, Mark Durkan. He should be asked why he took a decision to reduce the rates support grant. I believe that he played politics in doing so. He has full policy responsibility for the rates support grant; it is not my responsibility. I appreciate that the Minister, like many Ministers, has a budget cut to deal with, but it is up to him to prioritise his budget.”
“I want to correct several inaccuracies made by Mr Bradley in his contribution. He said that the basis of any Budget should be an agreed Programme for Government. The SDLP said that there was no agreed Programme for Government. There is an agreed Programme for Government. The Budget Bill before us tidies up the end of the current financial year that we remain in. That is clearly covered by the agreed Programme for Government that, when it was designed, was due to conclude in the 2014-15 financial year. It will be extended by the Executive. The Executive have agreed to extend the Programme for Government, build upon many of the commitments that are there, and add to them with new commitments.”
“Sometimes not every business pays rates either, but not every business pays VAT, so that is not a sound basis upon which to do it either. <BR /> <BR />One of the other downsides of moving away from rates is that, with rates, there is a lack of volatility in the take-in. That said, it has gone down. Since some businesses have not been able to pay in recent times, because of the crisis, it has, perhaps, not been as much as we might have expected, but you do not get the same volatility as there is in sales taxes or taxes that are based on income, profit or whatever it might be. Imperfect as the rates system is — I accept that — there are downsides. Therefore there would be losers in moving away from a system that is at least well understood. <BR /> <BR />I turn now to the Deputy Chair of the Committee, Dominic Bradley.”
“I mean that we will start it off in this calendar year. It will take some time to work it through. If there was a recommendation for change, it will take some time to work that through the system, whatever way it is done. I say this having no preconceived conclusions about what the results should be, but I have heard it suggested by colleagues of his that, perhaps, it should be based on audited accounts. Not every business in Northern Ireland meets the threshold to have audited accounts, so that does not work for every business. I have also heard it suggested by some of his party colleagues that we should use VAT returns as the basis upon which, somehow, we assess the taxation bill for local businesses. Not every business in Northern Ireland pays rates — sorry, VAT.”
“I enter into that with no preconceived conclusions, but I appreciate fully that it will be a challenging undertaking to find an alternative system that is better than the current one. I am not arguing that our rating system is in any way perfect, but, perhaps, one of its benefits is that it is at least understood. Far from perfect as it is, people at least understand how it works.”
“The small business rate relief scheme has been extended for a further year. That will offer some support, particularly for smaller businesses, which may see their rates go up as a result of the revaluation. There have been comments by some Sinn Féin Members over the last week or so, including by Mr McKay and Mr Flanagan, of the need to review the non-domestic rating system in Northern Ireland. I stood in the Chamber, having been not long in office, and made the point that, after we went through the range of changes that are happening to the rating system this year — RPA; rates convergence; the revaluation — and that had all settled down and bedded in, it would be an opportune moment for that, because it would be almost 10 years since the last review of the non-domestic rating system. That will be carried out very, very soon.”
“Glyn Roberts, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Independent Retail Trade Association, spoke for the majority of non-domestic ratepayers when he welcomed the outcome of the rates revaluation and said that it represented good news for independent retailers and town centres. That sentiment was shared by a Sinn Féin councillor Mr Jay McCauley, from the Strabane area, who was quoted back in November as saying that the revaluation — he said "re-evaluation", but I have polished it up for him — would:”
“I do think that the concerns expressed by some — a small number of people have expressed concerns about their valuation — is a reflection of the fact that their valuation has gone from here to there and they see that as one move, as opposed to perhaps happening over a 13- to 15-year period. It is important that we get back, very, very quickly, to regular five-year revaluations, almost come what may and despite the circumstances in the wider economy. <BR /> <BR />Again, I make the point that the whole purpose of a revaluation is not to increase the overall take on rates; it is to smooth that out and for a fairer distribution of the rating liability across businesses. There will be some winners; there will be some losers; and there will be some who remain the same.”
“It will be only when that is worked through that an increase in the valuation will be reflected in an increase in the rates bill as well. <BR /> <BR />Mr McKay is right: it is a long time since we have had a revaluation; 13 years, in fact. There were very valid reasons for postponing the previous revaluation, which was due to go ahead a couple of years ago. Such was the lack of movement within the market that it may have produced very distorted results, which would have been appealed by probably the vast majority of people and ended up in a significant increase in work for our valuation teams.”
“My concern around APD for short-haul flights has always been that, if it was reduced, it would also be reduced for many of the holiday routes to the Mediterranean, the Canary Islands and elsewhere, which would take money out of Northern Ireland and not bring money back into Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />Mr McKay and Mr Flanagan raised the issue of rates, and did so on the back of the revaluation, which is starting to roll out. I make the point, as I have in a lot of correspondence to Members and in various press utterances, that the revaluation is not itself the rates bill. It is to do with the net annual value (NAV) and the valuation of the property. Councils are in the process of setting their rates and we have struck a low increase in the regional rate of 1·4%.”
“In the last months, for example, daily routes to Amsterdam by KLM have been announced; the Flybe flight to London City was introduced and then extended to two flights a day; and flights to Verona, Rome, Prague and now Barcelona have been announced. Some of those will be more for outward tourism, but some, such as those to Rome, Prague, Barcelona and Amsterdam, will bring tourists back in the other direction as well. Those are the sorts of routes that I want to see us increasingly getting. Get into bigger markets, cities and hub airports, yes, but I also want to see routes to where the resident population might want to come in this direction as well.”
“The argument made by the Member, and by some others, although I think that the number is decreasing, is that we should extend the devolution of APD to short-haul flights. My stated position, and it remains the case, is that it is an issue for Her Majesty's Government to deal with, but I think that they should eradicate it. I think it is punitive to remoter parts of the United Kingdom, particularly to Northern Ireland, which shares a land border with the Irish Republic, where there is effectively no tax on flights in the same way that there is in Northern Ireland. <BR /> <BR />However, we should acknowledge the good work that has been done in attracting new routes to Northern Ireland, particularly recently, even without having no or a reduced rate of APD for short-haul flights.”
“I say that without having studied the report particularly and without looking at whether there are downsides to it. I tend to view Treasury offers of the devolution of things with that perspective. There are opportunities, and I can see some particularly for our renewables sector and our fishing sector that might be huge for Northern Ireland. It is a matter on which I very much have an open mind. <BR /> <BR />The Member has frequently raised the issue of APD. As the House knows, we already have devolved APD for direct long-haul flights. That is kept in place, albeit on a reduced service now. There is the United Airlines flight to Newark, and some other long-haul flights have been added, albeit most of them are to outward tourist destinations.”
“If there is not political agreement to move forward on the Budget at all — never mind within certain preordained stages in time — the memorandum of understanding, even with the best will in the world, will not work in many regards. <BR /> <BR />Mr McKay mentioned the Smith commission and further fiscal devolution. There are a couple of points that I want to touch on there. One is to do with the Crown Estate. That is something that is contained in the Smith commission report as a recommendation for the Scottish Government, and one that they are keen to take forward. Although it would have little or nothing to do with my Department's policy responsibility, I see merit in exploring that proposed power further to see whether it is something that could reap a benefit for Northern Ireland into the future.”
“I am content for work on it to resume, but, if the experience of the past year is indicative of anything, it is that the memorandum of understanding would not have worked in the circumstances that we have. I do not think that the memorandum was fit for purpose to have been engaged in this Budget process. I think that the process would have collapsed and fallen apart fairly quickly. <BR /> <BR />It is useful for us to be able to reflect on the Budget process this year, try to tweak or change the memorandum of understanding accordingly and then, hopefully, get the MOU in place for next year. However, for it to work, it obviously has to adhere to certain timetabling issues and, as the Chair and Committee members will appreciate, that is somewhat outside my control.”
“It is probably now too late for that review to go through as it is, and it may not even be required to go through as it is currently crafted. The reorganisation of Departments from 12 down to nine probably requires us to change the financial process somewhat anyway, because there will be fewer Departments. That therefore gives us another opportunity before this mandate is out. Mr McKay made the point about whether it is an effective or efficient process, so I hope that he takes time to reflect on the fact that it is his party that has refused to let the review of the financial process proceed. <BR /> <BR />The memorandum of understanding between the Committee and the Department would not, of course, have decreased the number of debates that we have had this year.”
“Mr Cree is not here. He is usually the first to raise this issue during these debates, and all Members who do so are absolutely right. I inherited a review of the financial process that had been taken forward by my predecessor. It was probably not initially perfect, but it was amended to reflect various concerns raised by the Minister for Regional Development and the Minister of Education. Changes were made to try to reflect their concerns. <BR /> <BR />Reflecting on the final points made by Mr McCallister, about the operation of the Executive, I can say that the paper before the Executive that is the longest outstanding is that on the review of the financial process, and the party that is holding it up is Sinn Féin.”
“Usually, we do them back to back, on a Monday and a Tuesday. In retrospect, the benefit of doing it that way is that energy is sapped from Members on the Monday, and, consequently, the debate on the Tuesday is usually much shorter than this has been. It seems that the week that has passed has reinvigorated Members, so we have had to endure probably a longer debate than we might have had to in the past.”
“We at least had the benefit — it is a dubious benefit — of having a week between the debate on the Estimates and the debate on the Second Stage of the Budget Bill.”
“I know that it shocks many Members to learn that. I appreciate the time that Members have given to the Bill and the debate, and I will do my very best to respond to as many of the issues raised as possible, although, given that we would all like to get home for some form of tea at some stage, I will not respond to every issue raised. <BR /> <BR />I start with the Chair of the Finance Committee, Mr McKay. I thank him for his work in that capacity and for ensuring that accelerated passage was secured. I think that he spoke on behalf of the Committee when he said that there was a "fundamental weakness" in our budgetary process and begged the question of whether it was "effective or efficient". Those are questions and points that I have considered many times.”
“You have to endure it. It is payback time, Mr Allister. <BR /> <BR />I thank Members who contributed to the Second Stage of the Budget Bill. As I did in my opening remarks, I want to place on record my thanks to the Committee for Finance and Personnel for ensuring accelerated passage, which means, of course, that the tight legislative timetable can be adhered to at this critical point in the financial cycle. <BR /> <BR />Many issues have been covered in the debate. Some Members clearly heard my opening remarks about keeping their speech focused on the Budget Bill, but I think that only one Member did so. It is safe to say — it is probably the safest thing that I will say in the Chamber — that some Members may have strayed somewhat beyond the specifics of the Bill.”
“Mr Deputy Speaker, you are now the fourth Chair of the debate. Mr Basil McCrea congratulated the Deputy Speaker last in the Chair for his longevity. I have had to sit here through the entire debate while the Chair has had the luxury of changing. <BR /> <BR />I thank Members —”